Invisible String - Pacey Witter

Chapter Twenty-Five

♡➶︎♡

All along there were an invisible string tying you to me

I continue to kiss him for a while, until I rip his head away from mine and tear up a bit.

"Daphne" his voice softens a bit. I hug myself into him.

"Pacey I don't think this is a good idea. People could really get hurt."

He doesn't say anything, he just lets me hug into him as I weep.

"How about we get something to eat" he suggests.

He didn't have his truck, so he drove my car and we went to the waffle house.

We sit at the same table as we did last time.

He orders us an order of pancakes and an order of waffles.

We sit across each other and look at each other.

"Pacey I..." I say and trail off until things are silent.

"Daphy, did I ever tell you why I call you Daphy?"

"Well I just assumed it was to annoy me. Like the joke was you were mispronouncing it to make fun of me. Or that stupid cartoon duck."

"When I was really little, around the annoying toddler stage of my life" he starts.

"You never did get out of that stage" I joke with him.

"Can I finish?"

"Yes sir."

"Well when I was three, my parents took me and my siblings to the park or something. They were being present in our lives, I know surprising. We got to a bush of flowers my sister loved and picked some out. They all tried to get me to pronounce them, best they could with a stupid toddler. Well I kept getting it wrong, calling them 'Daphy's' instead of Daphnes. No wonder I'm the screw up of the family. Then we went out and got ice cream. That was one of the best days of my life when I was little."

"Sounds like it" I smile to him.

"A few years later I met my best friend and his family. When I finally met his sister, I picked on her and destroyed everything. Then when I finally said her name, I mispronounced it like I had before. It's sort of an inside joke to myself. Every single time I call you that and see you, I am reminded of some of my best memories. After I'm done reminiscing on them, I get to look and realize who I am with. I get to take a breath of relief because I am with you. But I also hold my breath to you. You make me do both Daphne."

"Pacey I like you, like a lot. So much that I feel so much right now. I mean when you are young you really don't know anything, but right now I know how much I want to be with you. I really can't explain it. But you and I both know the complicated nature in the relationship we hold with on another. My brother, your best friend. Your ex girlfriend, my friend. Your friends, my friends. And there is everything in between. That's not something I want to put them through."

"So why tell them?"

"Well they do need to know Pacey."

"I mean not immediately."

"What" I say with a concerned look.

"I mean we date secretly for a while, ease it into them. I mean then they won't be surprised or hurt when we inevitably tell them the truth. It's a fool proof plan."

"Yeah until they find out."

"They find out on our terms, when it seems like they would be content with the idea."

"Pacey I'm not too sure about all of this."

"I mean I'm not either" he pauses for a second. "But Daphne I really would do anything to be with you. Date in secrecy, date with having hate coming towards me, running off with you, or even waiting. I can wait, I am able to. But if you don't want to make you do something you don't want to do, we don't have to go out with each other. But know, I would be the happiest, luckiest, most ecstatic person alive on this here earth."

There was a second there that had me thinking over my whole life. What this whole thing would do to the people around me, the implications of it all. I mean I really didn't want to hurt anybody in my life. But I wanted to be happy. That's what I wanted, to be happy. I felt happy most with Pacey, even when I didn't like him like that. These months had been leading to this, what I wanted. What I was going to decide. I made my decision.

"Pacey we better not get caught doing this" I tell him and lead over the table to peck his mouth.

"I swear" he said as I sat back down and our pinky's locked in promise.

♡➶︎♡

All along there were an invisible string tying you to me