You know your entire day is going to be strange when you’re awakened by one of your closest friends, sitting cross-legged on your bed and staring at you while you try to remember if you have clothes on beneath the covers.

Covering my head with the blankets, I desperately try to wish Jen away, having forgotten then we’re supposed to go shopping today.  After a few minutes of silence, I peek around the edge of the quilt.

Jen waves cheerfully.  “Still here.”

“Damn,” I mutter groggily.  Where is Pacey?  He wouldn’t let this happen to me.  He wouldn‘t let her ambush me like this.  “Timesit?”

She glances at her watch.  “Ten.”

“Ten?  Exactly?”  How can it be ten already?  I never sleep this late.

“Well, no.  It’s 10:13,” she elaborates.  “Exactly.”

“I hate you,” I groan, my voice scratchy from sleep.  It’s too early.  It’s too late.   She’s too perky, especially for being Jen.

She laughs, taking a sip from the steaming hot cup of coffee in her hand.  My mouth literally waters.  “No, you don’t,” she says confidently. 

“Actually, you’re right.  I don’t,” I agree, squinting against the brightness of the sunlight flooding my room.  “But only if you brought me coffee, too.”

“It’s on your nightstand,” she says, indicating the cup with a point in its direction.  “But you’re naked, so I wouldn’t recommend reaching for it.”

“What?!”  I can feel myself blushing hotly and she lets me splutter for a moment.  “How - how do you . . . did you see me?”

She bursts out laughing again after trying unsuccessfully to maintain a straight face.  I kick her from beneath the covers. 

“Don’t worry, it was merely an educated guess,” she tells me, which really just makes me crankier. 

“Based on what?  I’m completely covered up,” I point out, the heat in my face intensifying at the barely contained smirk I receive.

Before she takes another sip from her cup, she casually remarks, “Pacey makes great coffee.”

“Oh, really.  I didn’t know that,” I reply sarcastically. 

“Along with breakfast,” Jen added. 

Wait a minute.  “He made you breakfast?”

“Actually, he was cooking when I got here.”

What the hell?  Why isn’t anything making sense? “Why didn’t you wake me up?”

“Because Pacey said you needed your sleep.  So I waited until he pulled out of the driveway to come in here,” Jen informs me as if it‘s silly that I didn’t come to that natural conclusion myself.

“You couldn’t wake me up like a normal person?” I grumbled, though for some reason I wasn’t truly irritated.  “You had to sit there and stare at me?”

“Worked, didn’t it?”

“Go away,” I whine perhaps a bit unattractively.  “I need to get dressed, as you so kindly pointed out, and I’m starving.  Did he leave me anything?” 

“Pffft,” Jen snorts.  “He left you a heaping plate of scrambled eggs and bacon and hash browns in the microwave.”

The smile I can’t stop from spreading across my face garnered more teasing. So maybe he’s not the worst boyfriend ever.   “Awwwwww,” Jen mocks, her hand fluttering dramatically to her heart.

“Shut up!  He loves me,” I laugh, sticking my tongue out.

“Of course he does.  I’m gonna go watch tv while I wait,” Jen says, getting up to leave.  Haughtily she adds, “Hurry up, would you?  I’ve been waiting forever this morning.  My time is valuable.”

“Oh, shut up,” I laugh.  “You got a free breakfast out of it.”

I shower quickly and blow dry my hair, then dress quickly in old blue jeans and a green sweater.

In the kitchen, I open up the microwave to see what he’s left for me.  The air is heavy with the intoxicating scent of fried eggs and bacon, and my stomach growls audibly in response.  Inside there’s a plate laden with food, along with a note written on a napkin.

I smile, taking the napkin out and shutting the door, pressing the necessary keys to start it.  His sloppy handwriting is adorable, nearly illegible.  I read it clearly.
 

‘I was going to bring you breakfast in bed, Sleeping Beauty, but Jen showed up in the middle of cooking.   I went to your room to get you up but you looked so peaceful, lying there naked under the quilts and snoring your heart out, that I didn’t have the heart to wake you. 

I had to leave because I have shopping of my own to do, and it looks like you’ve got your day set.  I’ll come by around seven to pick you up for the party. 

Love you.’

I kinda like him.

She comes into the kitchen and leans against the counter while I wait for my breakfast to heat up.  She drinks her coffee quietly, looking around the kitchen.  Something’s bugging her.

“Well?” I prompt her, turning to the microwave as it begins to beep.

“Well what?” she asks immediately, though she doesn’t seem all that surprised.

I burn my fingers on the edge of the plate and nearly drop it when I get to the table.  “What’s wrong, Jen?”

“God, am I really that obvious?” she asks, sitting down with her coffee beside me.

I shrug.  We’ve gotten to know each other pretty well over the past year or so, and I know there’s something on her mind.  “Kinda.”

She surprises me with her question.  “How long have you and Pacey been making plans?”

“Um, I don’t know,” I say, caught off guard..  “For the past few months, I guess. Since I sobered up after your non-birthday party.  Why?”

“Oh, I was just thinking.  Last night, everyone was so vague and iffy about their futures, but you two weren’t,” she comments, stealing a piece of bacon.  “You two just really seemed to have your shit together.”

“But you knew that.  You knew he and I planned to go wherever I get accepted,” I point out.  I’d confided in her not too long after he and I had come to that decision.

She nods and I wonder what this is really about.  “Well, yeah.  I knew that you two weren’t going to let college come between you.  I just, I guess I didn’t know just how extensively you’ve thought about this.”

“Do you think what we’re doing is wrong?” I ask, my eyebrows furrowing in confusion.  I thought she was supportive of our decision, but she seems to be bothered by it.

“No, no!  I do,”  she rushes to reassure me.  “I just think there are those among us who are perhaps not as  . . . accepting as I am.”

Her meaning sinks in immediately.  “Dawson.”

She’s relieved that I caught on so quickly.  But really, who else could be pissed about it?  Jack? 

“Yeah,” she nods.  “I think the last thing he expected to hear last night was that you two are going to go away together when the rest of us are going to go our separate ways.”

“I don’t think he honestly expected us to break up after graduation,” I tell her.  “I mean, he’s gotten past the anger and the hurt, for the most part.”

An expression flits across her face but it’s gone before I can pinpoint it’s meaning.  “Joey, do you honestly believe that Dawson is over you?”

“I think he’s getting there,” I answer after a moment.  “I’ve seen the efforts he’s made to reach out to both me and Pacey.  He wants to be friends with us again, and I don’t think he’d want that if he still harbored intense feelings for me.”

She’s quiet for a moment, munching on her kiped piece of bacon.  “What if he was just pretending to be Pacey’s friend to remain close to you? He was pretty upset last night when he left.”

I shake my head, dismissing her fears.  “I know him.  He was probably more upset that I hadn’t told him earlier than he was about Pacey and I leaving Capeside together.”

Jen looks at me and while she tries to smile, there’s a worried look in her eyes.  Does she know something I don’t?  “Tell me,” I demand.

“It’s nothing.  Just me being paranoid,” she says, her ever brightening smile retaining every ounce of phoniness.

“Are you sure?”

“Absolutely,” she nods affirmatively.  “Are you done yet?  We need to get going if we‘re going to find that perfect dress for you.  Why did you wait until the day of the party to buy it, anyway?”

I accept her change of subject without challenge, but it’s still there.  She thinks Dawson isn’t as accepting of my relationship with Pacey as he’s seemed lately.  And now, I can’t help but wonder if maybe she’s right.

I don’t want to think that.  I hope it’s not true.

I turn my thoughts back to the matter at hand, finding the perfect dress.  Tonight is going to be wonderful, the first of many Christmas parties Pacey and I are going to attend together; our first holiday season as a couple.  Nothing is going to go wrong tonight, I just know it.