SOS by Glory, Girl Writer.pdf - Dawson's Creek Fandom Wiki

"Well," Dawson said, picking up his coat and heading for the door, "I hope the two of you
will be very happy together." He put on his coat and then turned back, as if with an
afterthought. "I meant you and Joey, of course. I mean, it might have been confusing
and everything, what with the fact that you're also with Jen, but hey, they're both terrific
girls, so I'm sure you'll work something out." He slammed the door and was gone.
Pacey turned to look at Joey. "You look so tired," he said.
She smiled. "Yeah, a little." She rubbed her eyes.
"Can I tell you something before you go back to sleep?"
"Sure."
He walked over close to her. "I'm not with Jen."
Her eyes widened. "You're not?"
"No." This was the more difficult part. "I'm saying I'm not with her now, we're not dating,
it's not an ongoing thing."
It was the word "ongoing" that made it clear to her. "Oh." She nodded slowly. "I -- well,
that's -- okay. I'm glad you told me, I guess."
He frowned a little. "Are you not upset?"
She raised her eyebrows. "About what? You and Jen?" Joey walked over and sat back
down on the couch. "I'm sad, if that's what you mean. I'm sad that I went to California
and didn't stay here. I'm jealous, of course -- I don't exactly love the images that are in
my head, whether they're the right ones or not. But . . . what am I going to say? 'How
dare you fool around with somebody else while I'm living with somebody else?' That
would seem a little galling, don't you think?"
He smiled and came to sit beside her. "You've had a hell of a week."
"You know," she said, "it's like crossing a bridge." He looked at her, puzzled, so she
went on. "I was in California, and I decided to just change everything and fix it all, and it
was like walking out on one of those rickety bridges they always have in the movies,
where it's 'one false move, and you're in the river,' you know? I felt like everything was
crazy, but I stepped out there anyway. And I walk out on this bridge, and I can see the
river, and I'm looking at my feet, and suddenly I'm halfway across and I don't know if I
can make it the rest of the way. I mean, I'm okay so far, but it seems like so much work
is left to get to the other side. So part of me wants to forget the whole thing, but the
other part of me thinks that now that I've come halfway, it's just as much work to go back
as it is to just keep going. Dawson was here, and saying all these things to me that I'm
sort of afraid of anyway, and it was like my mind was just, you know . . . 'quit or cross,'
'quit or cross.'"