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

Pacey narrowed his eyes. "You'd rather I hit him again?"
"I, for one, would rather you got over it," Jen interjected. "As a concession to the
shortness of life, can't you just shake hands and move on? I understand this thing with
Joey was very hard on both of you --"
"This isn't really about Joey," Pacey interrupted. "Believe me when I tell you that there
were bad things going on between me and Dawson long before I got involved with her.
Before either of us got involved with her, actually. He and I built our entire friendship on
this idea that he was good and true and pure and dull, and I was fun and entertaining
and unreliable and destined for the scrap heap. He's said plenty of things to me that
have nothing to do with Joey that are just . . . too much to take back."
"And what about you?" Jack asked. "Did you play no role in this ongoing feud at all?
The Hatfields made trouble while the McCoys stayed inside and played gin rummy?"
"I'm not saying that. I'm just saying that whatever I did, I'm not waiting for him to forgive
me, and whatever he did, he shouldn't be waiting for me to forgive him, either." Pacey
looked over at Jen, and saw that she was looking over his shoulder with a look that was
an interesting mix of curiosity and concern. Turning his head to follow her stare, he saw
Joey making her way toward them. He looked down and saw that his hands were
shaking again. Looking up, he saw that Joey was laughing. She was ambling down the
path with loose-limbed ease, carrying a bag of groceries on her hip, just behind a guy
carrying what looked like a plate of brownies. Pacey smiled.
And then it occurred to him. That guy isn't just walking down beside her. That guy is
with her. He was tall, or at least taller than Pacey, and he was laughing, too. They were
walking along together, laughing. She had brought someone to the party. She could
have at least warned me.
"Hey," Joey said in a cheery but slightly shaky voice. As Jack and Jen greeted her,
Pacey kept his eye on her date, who was shifting back and forth a little uncomfortably.
"You guys," Joey finally said, gesturing toward him, "This is my friend Chris. Chris, this
is Jack, Jen, and Pacey."
Chris's eyes widened a little at the mention of Pacey's name. "Oh, right, okay."
Pacey hated him instantly. He looked snotty and rich and entirely too old for Joey.
Bastard.
Jen, on the other hand, took to him immediately, which made her a traitor, as far as
Pacey was concerned. "Chris, let me show you where you can put those down." She
walked off toward another table, and after shooting a glance at Joey, who gave an
encouraging nod, Chris followed her. Pacey, Joey, and Jack stood in silence for what
seemed to be an interminably long time, after which Jack muttered something under his
breath and just walked away, defeated entirely.
Joey looked sideways at Pacey with a smile. "Pace?"
He cleared his throat. "Yeah?"