Study Sessions
Part 5
by Begonia

Disclaimer: Of course I don’t own “Dawson’s Creek.”  If I did, would I be going to college?

Props:  Kevin Williamson, for starting something good, even if it’s sort of disintegrated.  Josh Jackson and Michelle Williams, for holding up and making the best (and really the best) of a bad situation.  You guys deserve better; I hope you get it.  Glory, Girl Writer, ‘cause you’re incredible.  Tracia, ‘cause “Every time I think I’m out, you draw me back in!” Thanks for the inspiration and the motivation.  Alex, for putting up with me.  I love you.  Tyler, Sebastian, Martin, Robin, Kjerstin, Tiffany, Victoria, Elizabeth, Ellie…you guys are all in here.  Be flattered!

Author’s Note: This story takes place sometime around the beginning of senior year, but basically nothing having to do with Pacey and Joey getting together ever happened.  They’re still just friends and sparring partners.  Pacey and Andie are splitsville, not because she cheated but just because it wasn’t working out. They’re still good friends.  Dawson and Eve are also (thankfully) no longer together.  Jack is still gay. (Dammit!)  Henry came and went, and Jen is single.  Pacey now lives with his sister, Gretchen, having had his room taken away by his other sister and her kiddies.  Dawson has a crush on Gretchen.  That’s about it!  I realize that the show has made its way past this point, but I don’t like how they did it, and anyway, I enjoy writing Pacey puppy-dog stories.  The italics are flashbacks.  On to the story…

Love him…love him and let him love you.  Do you think anything else under heaven really matters?
~James Baldwin

 “Note to self: skip physics more often,” Pacey said glibly, as Joey kissed him on his chin, his cheek, his nose, and finally his mouth.

 “Hey, I’m being good.  I just have a study hall this period and the proctor doesn’t even show up half the time.”  She kissed him lightly on the lips, then harder, pressing herself into him. Her hands edged up under his shirt, lightly caressing his back and stomach.

 Pacey steadied himself by leaning into the wall.  “Jo…whatever you are being…good is not the word to describe it,” he said a little breathlessly, then inhaled sharply as her hand dipped below his waist and barely grazed his groin.

 “Eh, being good isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.”

 “Well, you know what I always say…” Pacey said, grinning.  His hands slowly drifted from her waist up her sides, his thumbs gently brushing her stomach.

 She closed her eyes and let her head loll back, enjoying the sensations his hands were creating.  “I know, I know…sometimes it’s right to do the wrong thing.”   She grasped his shoulders lightly and brought her lips to his again, kissing him with a ferocity she didn’t know she possessed.  They broke apart for a second to catch their breath, and Joey smiled.  “Less talk and more action, Witter.”

****************

 “Less talk and more action, Witter.”

 Pacey shot Joey a look.  “You’re quite the little slave-driver, aren’t you, Jo?  May I remind you that I’m the one who offered to use my precious free time to help you fix this place up?  Where’s the eternal gratification?”  He tapped the nail into the board, narrowly missing his fingers.

 “Non-existent, evidently.”  Joey sat down on a chair beside him and ran a hand through her hair, which was tangled and wet from a recent shower.

 “Funny, funny.”  Pacey wiped his sweaty forehead with one hand.  “Here I am working my ass off, and all I get is lip, lip, lip.”  And not at all the kind of lip I want to be getting, I might add, he thought.

 She stuck out her tongue.  “Bite me, Pacey.”

 “I would, Jo, but you might get excited.”
 
“Asshole.”  She pulled her hair off her neck and sighed.  “Don’t forget, Pace-I’m helping you out here.  You’re sleeping on my couch.   Your parents kicked you out, and your other option is Doug.  So be grateful for small favors, okay?”

 “Hey, Doug might be the most closeted homosexual in existence, slightly obsessive-compulsive and have horribly bad music taste, but at least he doesn’t make me work for my room and board.  I have a job.”  Pacey stretched, rolling his shoulders back.   His shirt rode up slightly, and Joey got a glimpse of his tight stomach muscles before reluctantly looking away.

 “Your job is hardly even a job,” she bit back.

 “Oh, whatever,” Pacey said tiredly.  “The video rental industry can be very taxing on the body and mind.”

 “Sure, sure.  I want an example.”

 A mischievous smile turned up the corner of Pacey’s mouth.  “Well, I met Ms. Jacobs on the job, and she was quite taxing--”

 Joey put up a hand.  “No more, Witter.  I don’t want to hear about your pathetic and often illegal sex life.”

 Pacey feigned innocence.  “Hey, who was talking about sex?  She was just a rather demanding customer, that’s all…wanted all kinds of videos, all times of the day and night--”

 “Pacey Witter!”  Joey stood up.  “Let’s not go there, okay?  She was my English teacher too.”  She sniffed delicately.   She had neglected to mention that lately,  thoughts of Pacey Witter in a sexual context, rather than repulsing or amusing her, made her tingle all over.  Watching him work at the B&B, wearing only a sleeveless shirt that was tight in all the right places, seeing how his body had become more muscular over the last several years…it was killing her.  And there is absolutely nothing I can do about it, she thought sadly.

 “I’m just messing with you, Jo,” Pacey said lightly.  He was trying to read her face, which had suddenly gone from jokingly disgusted to downright pissed.  “I’ll stop.  I don’t mind working for you guys.  I want to do anything I can to help this venture get off the ground, and if that means busting my butt while you sit there and sunbathe, then so be it--”

 “Hey, I work too, buster.” Joey poked him in the chest.  Her eyes had softened a bit.  “I work very, very hard.”

 “I know, I know.”  Pacey stopped hammering for a second to look at his friend.  Their eyes met, and he found himself speechless.  She’s beautiful.  She’s beautiful and she’s smart and she’s feisty and goddamn it if that thing she does with her lip doesn’t drive me absolutely insane, but…she’s the ultimate unattainable woman.  It’s killing me, and there is absolutely nothing I can do about it.

 Pacey cleared his throat and looked away.  “Thank you, Jo.”

 Why won’t you let me in? she thought.  “For what?”

 “For…I don’t know, for using me as you see fit.  I like being useful.  I spend a lot of time feeling useless, so it’s nice every once in awhile to feel like I’m being productive…” He shrugged.  “I don’t know what I’m talking about.”

 “I understand, Pace.  And you are useful.  You’re more than useful.  I give you a hard time, but…I am eternally grateful.  For so many things.”

 He looked at her, surprised.  “I can never get used to you being nice to me, Potter.  It just throws me off completely.”

 “Yeah, well…we always did relate better on an antagonistic level.”

 “There you go with the big words again.  We fight well.  Right?”

 “Correct, Mr. Witter.  Indeed we do.”  Joey tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

 “Was that agreement we just had there, Potter?”

 “No, of course not. We never have that.”  She pushed him lightly.  “As I said, less talk, more action, Witter.”

***************

 “Okay then, Josephine.  As the lady desires.”  He picked her up easily and set her down on a rickety table, kissing her fervently.

 “Perhaps we should change locale,” Joey said in between kisses.

 “What, the boiler room doesn’t turn you on?” he asked jokingly.

 “Unlike some people who enjoy illicit activity in public places, I am not turned on by the fear of getting caught,” Joey said playfully.  Pacey winced at the reference to one of his previous sexual exploits that had been forever immortalized on video tape.  “It just makes me nervous,” she added.

 “Well, since there are very few places in this school that offer a great deal of privacy, I guess we should just go back to class,” Pacey said.  “I hear Newton’s theory of gravitation calling my name.”

 Joey bit her lip.  “Come home with me later and I’ll be the one calling your name,” she said quickly, the words spilling out of her mouth before she could stop herself.

 Pacey raised an eyebrow.  “Indeed, Jo.  Indeed.  I like this new you.”

 “And you didn’t like the old me?” Joey asked, lightly tracing one finger down his chest.

 He inhaled sharply.  “Jo, I was already in love with the old you.  I just didn’t think I could ever have her.”

 Joey looked up into his eyes, surprised by his honesty.  “Pace-I-“

 “It’s okay, Jo.  I understand if you don’t feel the same way.  I mean, you’re you…Josephine Potter, straight-A student, smart, beautiful, endless potential for success, and…I’m…well, who knows what I am.”  He sighed, letting his hands drop from her waist to his sides.

 “Pacey…”  Joey took his hand in hers.  “We’ve been dancing around each other for so long that I forgot how not to.  The truth is that…” she sighed.   “I love you.  I always have, in one way or another.”

 “Do you love me like you love Dawson?” Pacey asked tentatively, his eyes cast on the ground.  I don’t know why I always questions that I already know the answer to, he thought.

 “No,” Joey said firmly.

 Pacey took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.  “Well, I guess I knew--”

 “Pacey, I love you like I’ve never loved anyone before.  I love you as my best friend, my biggest challenger, an amazing listener and comforter, my protector, as someone who is both incredibly handsome and incredibly modest, a combination that is so hard to find…and I’ve been fighting it for so long because I was so afraid that if I told you, you’d just shut me down…I was afraid that you still saw me as that dorky, 12-year old overachiever who was too skinny and not pretty enough for anyone to notice her.”  Joey paused to catch her breath.  “But when I saw you on the dock…yes, I’d had a couple of drinks and I was feeling kind of bold and…suddenly none of that bullshit mattered any more.  It was just about what I felt for you…and so I kissed you.”

 There was a long pause.  Pacey looked up into Joey’s eyes.  “We’re crazy, you know that, right?”

 Joey smiled slightly.  “That’s one way to put it.”

 “We both felt exactly the same way, but--”

 “We were too insecure to tell each other,” Joey finished.

 Pacey lightly kissed the tip of her nose.  “I love you, Joey.”

 “I love you too, Pacey.”

 “See, that wasn’t so hard!”  He smiled.  “I should probably go back to class.”

 “Yeah, I’m sure I could use study hall to do something productive…”

 “You have been,” Pacey interrupted.  “Doing something productive, that is.”

 She punched him lightly in the stomach.  “Witty, Mr. Witter.”

 He kissed her one last time on the cheek before saying, “For the record, Jo, I thought you were absolutely beautiful when you were 12.”

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