Pacey held up his hand as Joey approached him. "Don't say a damn word, Potter. The last thing I need after the crappy week I've had is some smart ass comment from you."
"It wounds me that you think I'm that shallow, Pacey. I mean, would I be that cruel to someone suffering from such a debilitating ailment?"
"Right. I forgot. You're all heart." He slung his backpack over his shoulder. "No pun intended."
Joey smirked and followed him down the hallway. "Aw, did poor little Pacey's cunning plan for scoring another older woman fall through?"
Pacey stopped walking, his fingers tightening around the strap of his backpack. "Fuck. Off. Joey."
She stared after him, stunned as he slammed through the outside door. After a quick glance back toward the classroom she was supposed to be in, she followed after him, rushing down the steps.
He was gone.
Joey sighed and sank down on the steps as the second bell rang. "Wow, skipping class. Did kissing Dawson bring you down to this level or is it just a result of your lifelong acquaintance with me?"
She glanced over at the bike rack where he sat, his arms over his knees as he stared down at the ground. Getting to her feet, she walked down the stairs and moved behind him, settling on the rack he was leaning back against. "I'm sorry."
"No you're not." He held up a hand as she started to protest. "Because you don't have any idea what you said that set me off." Glancing back at her, he smiled slightly. "Right?"
"I'm sorry. I know you're sensitive about the Miss Jacobs thing." She wouldn't meet his eyes as she spoke. "I mean, Dawson told me that…"
"Dawson told you, huh?" He nodded and stood up, brushing off the back of his jeans. "And who told you everything else?"
"Andie."
"Ah, well, it's nice that everyone seems more than happy to spread around all my good news for me." He held out his hand. "If you're going to skip class, Potter, you should know that sitting right outside the building isn't the smartest hiding place."
"It's where you were."
"Maybe I was waiting for you."
"You thought I'd come after you?"
"Not really," he shook his head and unlocked his bike, his thigh brushing against her knee.
"Why not?" She pulled away as he freed the front wheel and pulled the bike out onto the sidewalk.
"You've got class. You've got Dawson." He shrugged one shoulder. "I figured I was even farther off your radar now that I'd ever been."
"Pacey…"
"So I'm going." The words were dismissive, ending whatever she was going to say. "Are you coming with me?"
Joey chewed the inside of her lip and glanced back at the school while Pacey straddled his bike. "Where are we going?"
"I don't know, Potter. I'm just going to ride." He pulled his sunglasses from the inside pocket of his coat and slid them on. "Are you coming with me?"
She didn't respond and he shook his head, pushing off strongly. He'd gone about ten feet when he heard her call his name. Stopping, he looked over his shoulder at her, bouncing lightly on the balls of her feet. "Where do I sit?"
He waved her over and she jogged up to him, grabbing the handlebars and lifting herself onto them. His thumbs brushed her hips as he steadied her, then moved away as he grasped the handles. Joey's hands grasped the metal right next to his, curling around the slim bar as he pushed off and started riding, leaning slightly to the side to see around her.
"Will you tell me about it?" She spoke loudly, hoping he could hear her over the wind and his own hard breathing.
"What for?" He panted, pushing himself harder as he headed toward the outskirts of town. "Sounds like you know the juicy details."
She looked back over her shoulder, watching the rivulets of sweat trickle down his flushed face. "Not about your hair."
He cracked a smile and shook his head. Joey smiled back and faced forward, watching as he headed toward the bend in the creek. There were trees shading them now, branches almost long enough to brush the top of her head as he turned onto the trail leading toward the water.
The path was jutted with tracks, jerking her hard as she clung tightly to the handlebars. Next to hers, Pacey's knuckles were white, holding the bike as steady as he could. It straightened out as they hit higher ground and he slowed to a stop beside a huge oak. Joey slipped off the handlebars, rolling her muscles to uncoil them, watching Pacey as he dropped the bike to the ground. His backpack landed with a thump as he moved over to the edge of the water.
"You want to talk about it?"
"No. Not at all."
"Okay." Joey nodded and moved a ways away from him, sitting at the water's edge and dangling her feet over the side of the small drop-off.
"Okay?" Pacey looked skeptical. "Since when do you ever do something courteous like actually respect my requests for privacy, Joey?"
"As I recall from all of our past encounters, Pacey, you're the one who's got a thing for peeking in on me when I'm changing costumes. If anyone's got invasion of privacy issues, it's you."
"Voyeurism is one of my best talents, and here you go disparaging it." He sighed heavily. "You wound me, Potter. You really do." Leaning back, he stared up into the trees and the filtered sunlight beyond. "Did you like the hair?"
"I only saw it once." She tilted her head so she was looking at him out of the corner of her eye. "But…"
"But what?" He laughed and shook his head. "But it looked like crap, right? I looked like a first class idiot? Dumb ass?"
"Actually, I kind of liked it." She shrugged and blushed at the same time. "At first I didn't realize it was you."
"Which would explain the liking it part." He laughed softly. "So you liked it, but it wasn't me?"
"It could be you."
He thought for a moment, closing his eyes. "Nah. I don't think so."
"No?"
He turned his head and looked at her. "You ever wonder when all the bad stuff is going to stop, Jo? Wonder when something's going to go right?"
"All the time." She blushed, opening her mouth to tell him about Dawson, about their kiss.
"It was stupid, I suppose. Thinking I had a shot with someone like Kristy. Like anyone, I guess."
"What do you mean?" Joey lay back, turning on her side to look at him. "You dated an older woman, Pacey. Every guy in school looks at you and wonders if it was true and what you've got that they don't."
"She wasn't real though, Jo." He smiled at her raised eyebrow. "I mean, she was real. It was real. But it was just as much make-believe. Make believe we could go out on a date, be seen in public, have her acknowledge me as something other than her student. I pretended that it was a real relationship, she pretended there wasn't something wrong with what we were doing."
"But you loved her?"
He looked away. "What do you think of Andie?"
"Nice. A little neurotic though."
"Yeah." He chuckled. "Tell me somethin', Jo."
"What's that, Pacey?"
"Given my present medical condition, will you visit me in the hospital?"
"No. But I'll plant flowers on your grave."
He nodded, satisfied. "Thanks, Potter."