Chapter Text

Why Can't We Be Friends?

Chapter 1

Pacey steps out into the cool October afternoon air, stretching and leaving the school day behind him. He spots a certain brunette making her way across the school lawn. “Jo!” he calls, hopping down the steps. “Jo!” He jogs to catch up with her. “Hey! Potter!!” He yells finally, only a few yards behind. Joey Potter turns at this, rolling her eyes to see his approach.

“To what do I owe the displeasure?” Joey groans, hugging her algebra book to her chest.

“Is that any way to greet one of your dearest and oldest friends? Let me get these for you,” Pacey slings an arm across her shoulders and takes the books out of her hands.

“What do you want?” Joey asks, wrestling out from under his arm.

“What are you doing tonight?”

Joey represses a sigh. Taking a breath, she bites out cheerfully, “Movie night! With Dawson…and Jen…” She finishes, resigned.

“How would you like to do…literally anything else?” Pacey asks, stopping their trek home to turn and look at her. Joey doesn’t answer, but he’s known her long enough to know that the silence means she’s interested. “Come hang out with me tonight. I heard about this band playing –" She rolls her eyes and moves to take her books back from him. “Come on Jo, make him miss you for once.”

She meets his eye. He watches as she weighs through her options. A resigned sigh is the only answer he needs. A broad smile is plastered on his face. “Great!” he exclaims, dumping the books into her arms once again, “I’ll come by around seven!”

“And as quickly as he appeared, the mutant swamp thing returns to the mist,” Joey mutters as she watches Pacey wander off in the direction of the docks.

Joey brushes out her hair again. “What time are you heading out?” Bessie calls from the couch.

Pacey said he’d be here around seven,” Joey says. She grabs her purse off the table and begins to go through it, making sure she wouldn’t be forgetting anything.

“Pacey?” Bessie exclaims. Her pregnant belly the only thing keeping her from jumping off the couch in surprise. “I thought you were going to Dawson’s?”

“I was, but he-I thought him and Jen- Pacey asked me to go see this band with him,” She finishes lamely.

“Oooh,” Bessie smiles in understanding, leaning back against the couch cushions again. “Using Pacey to make Dawson jealous. Smart girl!”

“Ew, not even close!” Joey scrunches her nose. A knock at the door stalls any further protests. Pacey steps in as Joey opens the door.

“Ready?” he asks, rubbing his hands together to warm them after the chill from outside. “You look nice,” he tells her easily, giving her a quick glance up and down.

Joey ignores the comment. “Night, Bessie!” She tosses over her shoulder as she turns to grab her coat.

“Josephine,” Bessie beckons her over. Joey obliges with an eye roll and leans over her sister, still glued to the couch. “Is this a date?” Bessie whispers, glancing at Pacey across the room.

Joey rolls her eyes again, decidedly against dignifying the comment with a response. “Night, Bess,” she says again, strolling back over to Pacey. He holds the door open for her as they step out into the night air.

“So, where are we going to see this band?” Joey asks as they walk down the long Potter driveway.

“Uh…” Pacey begins, followed by a cough, which he seems to think is an answer.

“What?” Joey repeats, scrunching her nose at his aloofness.

“They’re playing at Sully’s” Pacey concedes with a shrug.

“Sully’s?!” Joey repeats, incredulous. She stops in her tracks. “Pacey! That’s a bar!”

Pacey pretends to ponder this. “Is it?” He asks, scratching at his chin.

“Pacey!” Joey all but growls. She turns on her heel, determined to march back to her little row boat and catch the 2nd feature of Movie Night.

“Wait, wait!” Pacey grabs hold of her arm, preventing a retreat. “Look, it’s not as seedy as you’re thinking, we don’t have to drink, and I’ll be with you the whole time!”

“Oh, a real comfort,” Joey bites. “How would we even get in?” she challenges.

“I know one of the waitresses,” Pacey shrugs. He takes his hand off her arm, sensing the immediate threat of desertion has passed. “Jo, this is what high school is supposed to be about! Getting into a little bit of trouble, making memories…not watching someone else’s.”

Joey weighs her options. “Fine,” she concedes, moving to continue down to the main road. “But if anyone-" she begins a warning.

“Say the word, and we’ll leave,” Pacey promises, drawing a cross over his heart.

The rest of the walk into town is littered with talk of school, family, work, and speculation about Jen and Dawson.

“Where are you going?” Joey asks as Pacey turns a corner into a large alley. “Sully’s is the next street over.”

“We are fifteen years old, Josephine. We can’t exactly waltz through the front door of this establishment!” Pacey informs her. He continues down the alley as Joey jogs to catch up.

“I thought you said you knew a waitress?” Joey asks, nerves filtering into her stomach.

“I do,” Pacey replies confidently, “and she’s meeting us at the door to the kitchen,” After passing a few more darkened buildings, Pacey stops at a door next to an overflowing dumpster. The small doorstep lit only by a bare bulb hanging in what used to be a decorative sconce just above the buzzer.

“Love the ambiance, Pace,” Joey says sarcastically, scrunching her nose against the smell of stale beer permeating the alley. She grips her jacket closer.

“Har, har, har,” Pacey throws back. Just then, light spills into the alley.

“Witter,” a shapely blonde woman, several years their senior, steps momentarily into the alley to look around.

“How goes it, Tee?” Pacey asks enthusiastically as the woman pulls him into a quick hug.

She smiles over at Joey. “Hey, girlie,” the woman greets.

“Tabitha, Joey. Joey, Tabitha,” Pacey introduces the two girls.

“Hi,” Joey’s voice comes out small. She’s not sure what to make of the whole encounter.

“Come on in, hurry up. Jess is out front, for now, manning the line.” She waves the two teens in and leads them through a narrow hallway. “How’s Gretchen doing, by the way? I haven’t seen her in a minute!”

“You’d know better than I would,” Pacey shrugs, shuffling past a stack of boxes, “You know she never calls home.” He reaches out to guide Joey around a mop bucket hidden in the shadows.

They come out to a tight galley kitchen as the sound of a hi-hat comes from the bar. “Hey, they’re starting up soon. You kids better get out there!” Tabitha leaves them as they push through the door behind the bar. The din nearly knocks them back as they squeeze between bodies, trying to find an open space.

“Good crowd!” Pacey says loudly over the commotion.

“She’s pretty!” Joey shouts, leaning in.

“Who?” Pacey asks, trying to look above the crowd to get the lay of the land. He glances back down at Joey and takes in her pointed expression. “Tabitha?” He asks incredulously. Shaking his head with a lopsided grin, “Yeah, pretty, but practically like my sister.” He informs her.

Joey nods. The lights come up on the stage, “Who are we seeing again?” she shouts above the cheers and wolf whistles.

Pacey leans in close, lips almost against her ear, “Taming June,” he shouts, “They’re up from Boston. Tabs says they’re like The Cranberries meets REM. Yeah, I don’t know what that means either.” He chuckles at the look on her face when he pulls back.

The band starts up. They actually kind of rock. Four songs in, and Pacey leans down to her ear again, “They’re not bad!” She nods up at him. No way is she going to lose her voice yelling at Pacey all night.

Joey smiles in spite of herself. She’s actually having a good time—with Pacey, of all people. She pictures what her night almost looked like—awkwardly camped out as the third wheel in Dawson’s tiny bedroom. Why did she ever think that would be a fun Friday night?

They leave the bar before the show is over. The late-night crowd is getting rowdy. And when one particularly drunk young man gets a little too belligerent around Joey, Pacey decides to call it a night.

The walk home is quiet, a slight ringing in their ears notwithstanding.

“Thanks again for the CD, Pacey, you really didn’t have to-” Joey says as they turn down the drive to her house. She pats the hard plastic case poking out of her purse.

“I know I didn’t have to – I wanted to,” he shrugs. “Besides,” he continues, turning to her emphatically, “we had to commemorate the one night that Joey Potter and Pacey Witter went out on the town, and both lived to tell the tale.

Joey scrunches her nose at the sentiment. “We’re not that bad, are we?” She asks as Pacey kicks at the gravel under their feet.

He turns to her with a smirk, seeming to contemplate for a moment, “No, we’re not that bad.” He concedes, “At least, I don’t think so.” He shrugs. They’re silent for a moment. Pacey pauses in the clearing in front of the Potter’s porch. “It’s easier sometimes –“ He pauses again, considering his words. “I mean, when it’s the three of us-"

Joey nods in understanding. Glancing up at the house to collect her thoughts, she notices the light in the front room is still on. Bessie must be waiting up. “I know,” is all she can come up with.

“Well,” he breaks the silence and pulls himself up straight. “Let’s call a truce.” He holds out his hand. Joey eyes it, a weary smirk on her lips before taking his hand in hers. “Besides,” Pacey whispers, pulling her in slightly, “Dawson’s busy with other ventures.” She rolls her eyes and slaps her, now free, hand down on her thigh as she’s released. Pacey turns to leave and she’s already regretting this agreement.

“You’re going to be seeing a lot more of me, Miss Josephine Potter!” The retreating figure calls over his shoulder.

“It’s not nice to threaten young ladies!” She calls back.

He turns around to look at her as he backs down the driveway, throwing his arms out wide. “I agree! It's a good thing there aren’t any here!”

“I loathe you!” she spits out, though with less venom than usual. She watches as he laughs and disappears into the shadows toward the main road.