Joey shifted and sighed, awake yet not quite ready to open her eyes to acknowledge the rays of early morning sunlight she felt filtering in from the large windows in her dorm room. She stretched, her body gliding against the cool cotton sheets before it came to rest against the warm, solid body behind her. She tucked her hand under her pillow, a smile lingering around the corners of her lips.

Her eyes blinked open as she felt him stir, the smile on her face disappearing along with the warmth from his body as he rolled away. The mattress creaked slightly with his movements, and then there was a brief moment of stillness and silence in which Joey could almost hear her heart start to pound against her chest. Then he was moving again, getting up out of the bed, and she sensed, rather than felt, a vast expanse of empty space he left behind.

She closed her eyes abruptly, almost on reflex, as she listened to him cross the room to the bathroom and close the door. After a moment she rolled over onto her back, opening her eyes to stare up at the ceiling, running one hand over the spot where he had just been. She finally sat up and watched the door, chewing nervously on the inside of her lower lip, until he appeared through it.

His head was bowed and he was rubbing his hand over his hair as he walked out into the room. He hesitated slightly when he looked up to see her sitting there and then his face softened as he smiled, his warm blue eyes taking her in. “Hey.”

“Hey.” She couldn’t help but smile back at him, the deep, husky voice he always had in the mornings wrapping around her like a familiar comfortable blanket.

He had pulled on his jeans at some point from when he left the bed and finished buttoning up the fly as he walked over to sit next to her. “So…” He spoke softly, a small smile still on his face. “I guess this is this the part where we talk about last night?”

Joey dropped her head with a half smirk, tucking her hair behind her ear and then pulling the sheet up around her, bunching it in her lap. “I guess so. I’m not quite sure how this works.”

Pacey nodded, looking away. “Yeah, I’m not too sure about that either.”

“Really?” She regarded him slyly, arching a skeptical eyebrow as she teased him. “You’ve never found yourself in this kind of situation with an ex-girlfriend, Pace?”

He brought his eyes back to her, the intense clear blue almost making her catch her breath. “No. I’ve never found myself in this kind of situation with you.”

Joey tried to not let her eyes drift below his face, the smooth skin of his broad chest and shoulders, the curve of his bicep, the ripple of muscles in his stomach all there in her peripheral vision. Scenes from the previous night started to flood her memory, the kind of sensual, intimate moments that should have probably made her blush under the current circumstances, but she held his gaze evenly.

They were quiet for a long while, more of a contemplative pause rather than the result of any kind of awkwardness between them, until Joey spoke. “Why do you suppose it happened now…after all this time, I mean?” She watched him carefully, waiting for a response.

Pacey shrugged and sighed. “I don’t think I have an answer to that one either, Jo.”

“You’re a lot of help.” She reached out to give his shoulder a playful shove, resting her hand on his warm skin for a moment as he smiled. “I was hoping you’d be able to tell me what to do here, Pace.”

“Oh, I’d say you still know exactly what to do.” He gave her a teasing grin as he reached over to gently rub her leg, his sleep-tinged voice lowering to a soft growl.

“Pacey!” She gasped, her eyes widening as she tried not to laugh. She flopped back onto the bed, pulling the sheet up to cover her face. “You’re unbelievable.” Her muffled giggle from under the covers made him chuckle.

“Why, thank you.”

Joey laughed and shook her head at him as she pulled the sheet away from her face. Running her hand through her tousled hair, she stared up at the ceiling and sighed. “I guess things like this are bound to happen. If, you know, you find yourself in certain situations.”

“If you’re talking about situations like we were in during the cab ride over here last night, yeah, I’d have to agree.”

Joey looked over at him, shaking her head with a wry smirk as she narrowed her eyes. “No. That’s not what I mean. And thank you very much for reminding me of that particular embarrassing scene.”

“Why would you be embarrassed about that? If anything, I’d think you’d be embarrassed about the thing in the stairwell on the way up here after the cab dropped us off.”

Joey grabbed her pillow out from behind her head to hit him with it. “Will you shut up?” She laughed with him before covering her face with her hands to moan. “I can never show my face in this dorm again. I’m not leaving this room the rest of the semester.” Her laughter suddenly faded as she dropped her hands to look at him. “Oh…Audrey is going to find out. I’m going to have to tell her.”

Pacey frowned slightly, and then reached out to take her hand, giving it a gentle, reassuring squeeze. “I know. But I really don’t think it would be that big of a deal to her, Jo. Audrey and I broke up over six months ago and she’s had a new boyfriend for a while now. Besides, you have to consider the circumstances. It’s not like she didn’t know…” His voice drifted off as the frown lines in his forehead deepened for just a second.

“Didn’t know what?” Joey asked him when he didn’t continue. “That we used to be together?”

“Yeah.” Pacey mumbled hesitantly and shrugged, not meeting her eyes as he lightly traced circles over the back of her hand with his thumb. He exhaled loudly. “But you’re the one who lives with her. It’s up to you if you want to tell her, but I wouldn’t stress about it too much.”

“I guess she’d probably understand a one-time thing like this, huh?” Joey murmured, returning her gaze to the ceiling.

Pacey glanced over at her. “Yeah.” He agreed softly before he dropped her hand and stood up abruptly, his tone changing as he cleared his throat. “So, the benefit of choosing your old boyfriend as a one-night stand is that you also get a free breakfast out of it.”

Joey smiled at him as she sat up. “One of the perks they don’t tell you about, hmm?”

“Exactly.” Pacey nodded. “So, get your ass out of bed and out of my shirt, Potter, so I can get dressed and we can go.”

Joey glanced down at the familiar t-shirt she was wearing, a faint blush rising up in her cheeks. “Oh.” She giggled, vaguely remembering when she had picked it up off the floor to pull it on sometime just before dawn, only to crawl back into bed and back into his arms. “Sorry.” She swung her legs over to the edge of the bed and jumped up, grabbing some clothes from her closet before disappearing into the bathroom. She emerged a few moments later, fully dressed, and handed him the shirt with a small smile. He narrowed his eyes at her playfully as he grabbed it from her and Joey scrunched her nose to make a face, sticking her tongue out at him.

Pacey smiled and then watched her a minute as he finished getting dressed. “You don’t seem to be very hung-over. Didn’t I see you and Jen doing those disgusting syrupy shots they were passing around at the bar last night?”

“Jen was. I took one sip and put it down.” Joey shook her head and shuddered at the memory. “I really only had a couple of beers all ni…” She stopped what she was saying and frowned, hesitating as she pulled on her boots.

Pacey smiled to himself, dropping his head to look at the floor.

“Ready?” Joey jumped up to brush by him and head for the door, avoiding his eyes.

“Yep.” He followed her out, the smile lingering on his face.

Joey looked up at him over her stack of pancakes. “So, do you think everyone knows? You know…that we left together?”

Pacey shrugged. “By everyone do you mean Jack, Jen and Dawson? Or do you just mean Dawson?”

Joey gave him a small scowl, the disdain clearly evident in her voice. “Dawson can kiss my ass.” Pacey grinned at this as he picked up his coffee cup and Joey smirked knowingly. “You just like to hear me say things like that, don’t you?”

“It is kind of amusing, yes.” Pacey placed his coffee cup back on the table and hesitated before meeting her eyes again. “Would it bother you if everyone knew?”

“Well, besides the fact that I’m getting a little tired of every aspect of my personal life being on public display…no, I wouldn’t really care.” Joey shrugged and then grinned conspiratorially at him. “I guess I was just curious if we were as covert as I thought we were.”

Pacey made a face as if he were considering this, a faint trace of skepticism and amusement in his eyes.

Joey watched him, wrapping her hands around her coffee cup. “Well, I mean…we weren’t that obvious, were we? We weren’t waving any flags or anything, right?”

Pacey chuckled. “Well, no, I wouldn’t say we were exactly waving any flags…although you pretty much had me at half mast before we left the bar.”

“Oh, God…” Joey dropped her head in her hands, blushing a deep crimson color as she laughed. “Why do I even start these kinds of conversations with you? Why don’t I know better by now?”

Pacey laughed as well. “All right, all right. Sorry. That’ll be the last time, I swear.”

Joey shook her head at him in resignation, smiling affectionately. “Why don’t I believe you?”

Pacey just shrugged, holding her gaze as he smiled as well.

Joey looked down thoughtfully at her plate as she pushed the food around aimlessly with her fork. Leaning forward towards him, she lowered her voice to a discreet whisper. “Did you think it was…different at all? From how it was before, I mean?”

Pacey shook his head without hesitation, as if he had been expecting this question. “Not in the good ways. Not the part that matters.”

Joey wrinkled her forehead, still speaking softly. “The part that matters?”

Pacey smiled. “The part where it’s me and you.”

Joey nodded, her eyes shining a little as she looked back down to her breakfast with a sad smile. After a long while she raised her eyes to meet his again. “What if I told you I wasn’t so sure anymore I wanted this to be a one time thing?”

Pacey’s mouth fell open slightly as his face went blank, but he didn’t say anything for a moment. “I thought we agreed… I thought last night you said that…”

“What if I changed my mind?” Joey cut in quietly.

Pacey’s eyes turned dark and serious as he watched her, a troubled look clouding his features. He sighed, looking down before bringing his eyes back to hers and lowering his voice. “No matter how amazing and incredible last night may have been, Jo, you can’t let one night be a reason…”

“What if I had been thinking about this before last night?” Joey blurted out and Pacey became quiet across the table. She watched him for a minute. “Can you honestly tell me you’ve never thought about it, Pace?”

Pacey looked away, a pained expression on his face. “No. I can’t tell you that.” He admitted finally, not meeting her eyes.

They sat there, neither one knowing where to look or what to say next. Joey was the first to break the silence.

“You have to admit that half the reasons we broke up aren’t even reasons anymore, Pacey.”

“Yeah, but maybe they’ve been replaced with a whole new set, Jo. We aren’t exactly on the same life path here and you know that what may seem like insignificant differences when you are just friends with a person can become magnified a hundred times when you are actually in a relationship with that person.”

Joey bit down on the inside of her lower lip, picking up her coffee cup and gazing out the window next to their table before she turned to face him. “So, let’s figure it out. We’ll make a list. Pros and cons.”

Pacey furrowed his brow, leaning forward to stare at her incredulously. “A list?”

“Yeah.” Joey shrugged. “We’ll see exactly what we have going for us and against us and then we’ll decide if it’s worth it to consider giving it a second chance.”

Pacey continued to stare at her as if she was speaking a foreign language and then he slowly sat back in his seat. “Sure. Why the hell not?” He threw his arms up helplessly in the air and shook his head. “Let’s go for it. Make a list.”

Joey held his gaze before turning to wave to their waitress. “Do you have a pen I could borrow, please? Thanks.”

Pacey watched her as she took the pen and reached over to grab a napkin, pushing her plate out of the way and carefully smoothing it out on the table in front of her. She hovered over it, poised to begin writing and glanced up to meet his eyes. “So?”

Pacey shook his head again with a chuckle of disbelief. “Oh, no. Why don’t you start it, Potter. This is your idea.”

Joey looked down and then back up at him. “Well, first we’ll go with what you just said. Different life paths will go under Cons.”

Pacey watched her carefully script the words onto the napkin, an amused smile beginning to play around the corners of his mouth as his eyes drifted over her. “Great sex.”

“And great sex can go under Pros.” She murmured as she continued to write before sitting back to look at him. “See how it works?” She smiled triumphantly.

Pacey shook his head at her, rolling his eyes, but he had a full smile now. “All right, what about the fact you sometimes tell me I’m too hyper and I irritate you?”

“Well, just last week you told me I was boring. And you always tell me I drive you crazy with the radio whenever we’re in the car together.”

They grinned at each other and then Joey bowed her head to scribble on the napkin. “I guess both Cons, huh?”

“Yeah.”

Joey tapped the pen on the table. “But, despite all that, you do understand me like no one else does, Pace. You’re the one person I know I can always talk to.”

“Right back at ya, Potter.”

“So, there’s two Pros for two Cons.”

“Well, technically, I think understanding each other can only be one Pro.”

Joey frowned. “I guess you’re right.” She wrinkled her forehead as if in deep thought. “We have a history.”

Pacey chuckled. “But is that a Pro or a Con?”

She looked up at him and they smiled. “Both.” They agreed in unison.

“We have different interests.”

“Why does that have to be a bad thing?” Joey shrugged.

“It doesn’t necessarily.” Pacey agreed. “But I think it can kind of escalate. You tell yourself it doesn’t really matter in the big picture, but then gradually you realize that it does, and before you know it, it’s this huge thing between you.”

“Is this because Audrey didn’t like boats?” She smirked.

“Tell me, what did Dawson really like that you liked?”

“Fair enough. But I still don’t recall that ever being a problem where you and I were concerned.” Joey muttered as she tossed her hair back over her shoulder, ignoring his smirk as she added it to the Cons list. She looked up at him again. “You’re spontaneous and I’m analytical.”

“But…” Pacey held a finger up. “We do tend to even each other out in that regard.”

Joey narrowed her eyes, shaking the pen at him before she returned it to the napkin. “Right. We provide balance to each other. That’s got to be a Pro.” She paused, looking over the list. “How about the fact that we have the same friends?”

“Con, obviously.” Pacey laughed.

“Yeah, right.” She agreed with a smirk.

The waitress approached their table at that moment. “More coffee?”

Pacey met Joey’s eyes with a small smile before turning to the waitress. “Yeah, please. I think we’re going to be here for a while.”

Pacey shifted in his seat, arching his back to stretch his arms out. “How many do we have now?”

Joey tapped the pen on the napkin, softly counting to herself under her breath. “Nine, ten for Pros. And…” Her voice drifted off and came back. “Seventeen, eighteen for Cons.” She looked up at him and he couldn’t help but smile at the forlorn look on her face. “That’s almost twice as many.”

“Here…let me see it.”

Joey passed the napkin over to him and Pacey scanned the lists with a thoughtful look.

“That doesn’t seem right, does it?” Joey asked sadly.

Pacey raised an eyebrow. “What’s the matter? Are there supposed to be the same numbers in each category? Is that the point to this game?”

Joey frowned. “There should at least be less of a gap than that.” She sighed heavily. “After all this time and everything that happened…I mean, you’re my best friend. The fact we are even sitting here together right now should mean that there’d be more Pros than that, don’t you think?”

“Hmm.” Pacey nodded, looking back to the list. “Well, yeah. You do seem to be missing one.” He passed the napkin back to her.

Joey placed it on the table in front of her and bowed her head to prepare to write. “Okay. What is it?”

“That I still love you.”

Joey raised her eyes slowly to meet his, the tears already welling up in the corners. “If I still love you, too, would that be one or two Pros?” She whispered.

“I don’t really know.” Pacey sighed, reaching over the table to take her hand. “But I don’t think it matters because that pretty much cancels out most of the Cons.”

Pacey leaned over from where he had been laying next to Joey to kiss her on the cheek. “I’m going to take off now. I’ll just see you tomorrow.”

She glanced up quickly from her reading. “You’re leaving? Why?”

“I’ve got to be at work early.” He kissed her again on the forehead, playing with her hair a minute before he sat up on the bed.

She mock-pouted, slamming the book shut to sit up as well. “Audrey isn’t even coming home tonight. I never have the room to myself.”

“I know, Jo.” He reached over to hug her, pulling her close as he gave her a gentle squeeze. “But I don’t have any clothes with me for tomorrow and I…”

“I’ll set my alarm for you. You can just get up a little earlier and then still have time to run home and get ready for work.” She nuzzled his neck as she wrapped her arms around him, brushing soft kisses along his warm skin.

“I thought you said you had a lot of reading to catch up on for your class tomorrow?”

Joey shook her head, grabbing the front of his shirt and pulling him on top of her as she rolled over to lie back down on the bed. She kissed him, her lips lingering against his. “I only have one more chapter and I’m done.” They kissed again, deeper and slower this time before she reluctantly broke away. “Just stay tonight.” She whispered breathlessly.

Pacey chuckled softly as he lowered his lips back to hers. “Oh, sure. And where have I heard that one before?”