For the first time since she was four, Josephine Potter was car sick. Not particularly because of the ride, more or less from the driver.
They’d only been on the road for two hours yet she was sure he had hit every possible pothole. ‘Okay, maybe it is from the ride,’ she admitted to herself.
"Pacey...Can we cease searching the open roads and rest for awhile?"
Keeping his eyes affixed on the road he nodded, "There’s a diner up the road about five miles. We can eat there."
Joey held her stomach, giving a displeased smile. "Great. Food and lots of bumps...Noo, I’m not going to be sick." She muttered with a hint of sarcasm.
He smirked. He gave her a quick glance then turned back to the road. "You’re too sensitive."
"I am not."
"..and you argue everything."
"I do not!" She replied defensively. Catching her words, she gave an agreeing nod. "Ok, so I argue everything. The point is you hit every bump in the road!"
Pacey dropped his jaw. "How did that shift into being the point?"
"What?" Joey shook her head resisting the urge to chuckle. "Just shut up. You’re not even making sense anymore."
"Ahh, so you admitted I have made sense to you?"
She let out a sigh of irritation and pointed to the barely visible diner. "There it is."
"Great, I’ll call D from there and--"
"Why." She interrupted, suddenly finding their conversation very intriguing. "Why call him now?"
"To let him know we’re coming."
"You mean to tell me..." Her car sickness suddenly disappeared and was replaced with confusion. "..that we’ve been driving for two hours to go see him..." she paused, letting it all run through her head. What if Dawson didn ’t want her to come? She’d just expected when Pacey had told her everything was under control, that everything was exactly that. Under control. "...and he doesn’t even know we’re coming?"
"Well I figured this way if he said no I could take you to New York and we could party like it’s 1999.."
"Pacey I’m serious, this isn’t the time to make your smart ass remarks. What if he doesn’t want to see us Pacey..Huh? Did you think about that. What if he doesn’t want his new friends in Chicago to see him hanging around with two small town wanna-be’s like us? Did that thought ever cross your petty mind?" By now she was shouting. Pacey remained silent, listening to her harsh words. She raked her hands through her thin brown hair, nervously breathing in and out.
No one spoke until they pulled into the diner parking lot. As he got out of the car, Pacey suggested that Joey grab her coat if she was coming in then slammed the door behind him, leaving Joey to sit alone.
She kicked off her loose sandals and brought her legs up onto the seat, wrapping her arms around them. More than anything she wanted to apologize. The words she’d said were mere reaction, a bad reaction. He knew she didn’t mean them. Or didn’t he?
The Pacey Witter she had known before never took her insults seriously. But Joey was starting to wonder if maybe deep down he had. Of course she’d said worse before, but...
The sound of someone opening the driver’s door awoke her from deep thought, causing her to look up at the individual.
"Um...Do you want me to order you something?"
Joey shook her head and muttered, "No thanks."
"Ok. I’m going to get a bite then call Daw--I’ll be back." Pacey tried to give her a smile, failed, and shut the door once more.
Re-entering the small café, Pacey stopped at the telephone and dropped a quarter into the slot. He picked up the receiver and dialed his prior best friend’s phone number. It rang twice and then was picked up by the familiar voice of an older woman.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Mrs. L. Is Dawson there?"
"Hi Pacey! How are you?"
"I’m fine."
"That’s good."
Silence.
"Um, Mrs. Leery..."
"Yes?"
"Is Dawson --"
"Oh, hold on a moment I think he’s upstairs." She shouted his name, waited for a few moments then tried once more. "Sorry Pacey I guess he’s not here. If you want I could have him call you back later."
"Actually Joey and I were just on our way out to visit you guys..."
"Oh." Mrs. Leery’s enthusiasm dropped. "Well it’s a long drive, why don’t you kids wait until ..."
"If you don’t want us to come just say so." He twisted the phone cord between his fingers, wondering if he was going to have to tell Joey she was right.
"I’m just saying...Oh here. Dawson’s home." Pacey listened as Gale plunked the phone onto the table and hollered at her son. As Dawson came into the room Pacey listened in to their conversation.
"Honey, it’s Pacey." Gale.
"What does he want." Dawson.
"He says he and Joey are coming to visit..."
It was as if someone had hit the mute button.
After a moment, Pacey could hear bits of hushed whispers between the two but that was all. Getting the picture, he slammed the receiver onto its hook and collapsed against the filthy wall. He clutched his stomach to keep from crying.
‘You never cry Witter, get over it. So what if your best friend doesn’t want you to visit...you don’t need him.’
Those words, his own words, stung more than Joey’s.
Joey watched as he exited the café after what seemed like forever. She dragged her legs off the seat and slipped back into her sandals. He climbed into the car, revved the engine and drove back onto the main road.
"So..." Joey began hesitantly.
"So."
His stony expression told her things hadn’t gone well. She took the conversation no further.
A half hour down the road, Joey had fallen asleep. By now they were in an actual city with more appealing sites than the farms and small towns of Massachusetts’. New York City.
An evil thought came to mind. Why not let Joey sleep through New York? After all, the girl needed her beauty rest. Quickly Pacey discarded the idea and shook her gently with his free hand.
"Hey, Potter. We’re in an actual city."
She re-shifted in her sleep, and inhaled deeply.
"We’re out of Massachusetts’s aren’t we?"
He nodded. "Yeah."
"How far." She yawned, blinking her eyes open. Slowly she rubbed them with the back of her palm.
"Not a ways. About an hour, less."
"Yay." Her enthusiasm was faked. He smiled anyways.
"Yeah, NYC nonetheless."
Still not fully alert Joey gave him a quizzical look. "NYC..."
"New York City."
"Oh...Oh! Pacey, can we shop? Just one store. Please...?" She pleaded. Joey Potter never pleaded. "Be persuasive, Ms. Potter, and maybe I’ll do your bidding." He grinned and waited for a comeback. Instead, what he heard surprised him.
"I’m sorry..." She didn’t know she’d said it until it was too late. But, it was something she’d been planning on saying since they approached the diner and it was better to get it off her chest.
She didn’t have to explain. "I know."
"I said things that I didn’t mean..." She paused. "Things that aren’t true. I guess I was so concerned with my own well beings and Dawson...that I, stop me if you heard this before, went off on you."
A Potter apology. If he had it on tape it would have gone in his scrapbook. "I should have called him back in Capeside. So, I guess I brought it on myself." He bit back his lip, pondering whether he really believed that.
A Witter admittance. ‘Two miracles in one day, who’da thunk?’ He smiled to himself and watched as Joey tried to figure him out. Heck, It was normal for someone who had made a total of two apology’s in their life to question if the apology was actually accepted. Finally she spoke. "Are we..."
As if reading her mind, he nodded. "We’re cool."
She grinned back and bobbed her head. "So that means we can shop."
"Oh god."
"Please? One store. Just ONE store..and maybe a quick bite to eat?" She put on a pout, and furrowed her brow. Also known as, the puppy dog look.
He couldn’t help it, Joey Potter was a woman no man could say no too. Not even a guy who thought himself just as unavoidable.