| The Ladder Came Down
Jen had just gotten off the phone with Henry. It was another one of their marathon conversations that teenagers newly in love seem to have. She was all smiles. Henry was the first real boyfriend that she had in a while and she was enjoying it.
With a spring in her step she went over to her next door neighbor’s home. She was going to see Dawson. She wanted some of her good mood to rub off on him. Even though said that he was having a good summer, Jen knew that he was hurting. She knew it wasn’t easy letting Joey go and that she was out sailing with Pacey.
Sometimes she would look at Dawson and he seemed to be preoccupied. When she or Jack or Andie would ask him what he was thinking about, he would always mutter something about looking for the best way to get a picture wherever they were at. But Jen knew better. She knew that he was thinking about Joey. Sometimes they would talk about it and sometimes he dodged the subject. She knew from their conversations and non conversations that it was going to take some time for him to heal from all that had happened.
She took it upon herself to try and cheer him up. Actually, everyone did; Jack, Andie, even Grams and Mitch and Gale. However Jen tried harder and did more than everyone had. She felt guilty and responsible. Dawson had found out from her about Joey and Pacey and that made her feel a personal responsibility to help Dawson to get over this. A part of her felt kind of stupid. After all, if she hadn’t told him, he would have eventually found out some how and would still be hurt. But he did find out from her and that fueled her to help the situation in anyway that she could.
She walked over past the Leery porch. She intended to use the ladder to go up to Dawson’s room. She thought a surprise entrance would lift his spirits more. The surprise would be on her though. When she rounded the corner, a major element of her surprise plan had been defeated; the ladder was gone.
Dawson was sitting on the roof of his home just outside his window, drinking a can of pop. A pizza box was next to him with a partially eaten pizza in it. The Leery house was quiet. He was the only one home. His parents were gone, again. They went away to spent some time together on their fifth or sixth installment of their second honeymoon. His parents had rediscovered their love and were back to their old tricks and Dawson was happy about that.
He was also happy to have such great friends to spend the summer days. Jen, Jack, Andie and he were sort of like the four musketeers. They had been doing a lot together. They went to the beach, watched movie at the Rialto and his home and he spent a lot of time taking all kinds of pictures of them. Sometimes, they would protest at his picture taking, but they mostly went along with it. Dawson was having a lot of fun with photography over the summer.
As he glanced out over the creek and saw the moonlight hit the water, he thought it was very beautiful and thought it would picture perfect for a night out. It was, however, a bittersweet thought. Seeing the image made Dawson think of a person that he would have liked to have shared this with, a person who lived down the creek, Joey.
He glanced down at the dock that leads to his house. The dock was the last place that he saw her. He saw her running away from him and into the arms of his best friend. Sadness came into his mind as he continued to relive that moment. The moment that he let her go. It was the right thing to do though. Had he made her stay, which he almost succeeded at, she would have made him regret it all summer. So, he had no choice.
That didn’t make it any easier watching her go. It hurt like hell. He had done his best to get through it. He was having a great summer with his friends but there were times that the pain showed. The moonlight, which at first he thought was beautiful, was now becoming a source of pain. He thought about Joey and Pacey enjoying the same moonlight wherever they were at. The thought of the two of them enjoying a romantic moment made him close his eyes and wish this was all just a dream. But it wasn’t it was very real. It was probably better for him that they weren’t around. Having to se them together would have probably made things a lot worse. At least not seeing him, he could always come back to the “it’s not as bad you think” line of thought
All of these thoughts were making him hurt. He decided not to torture himself any longer. He crawled back into his room and brought the pizza box and pop with him. He sighed trying to shake the thoughts that were bothering him as he picked up the pizza box and headed towards the door of his room when he saw it open. Jen Lindley stepped though it. She was wearing thin strapped, yellow t-shirt and jean shorts.
“Hi Dawson,” she began, looking for the right words. “You know, you might want to call the police, someone stole the ladder.” She finished with a smile trying to joke with him. |
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