clarkson_fan

She said yes before the Jack thing. I think she was just so hopeful that it was a step in them getting to be friends again, even though deep down she knew it wasn't - and said so to Bessie.

But Joey was so concerned those few eps about making Dawson happy so he could forgive her (and yet Dawson whined and complained about Joey being miserable with him...uh, I wonder why!) and they could be friends again.

I think she had a glimmer of hope they could have a good time as friends and move towards patching things up.

But of course Dawson had ulterior motives and I think the second Dawson showed up on her doorstep, and with his mom's earrings, Joey knew it was a mistake but by then couldn't back out - or felt she couldn't - and probably kept telling herself up until she finally said something that things would look up, they would get better somehow.

She was obviously telling herself that, but the minute Pacey showed up, Joey couldn't stop thinking about him. Like Pacey might have been staring at her and Dawson dancing "all night" but Joey's mind was not with Dawson, and she had to make herself look away from Pacey when they left to go dance and Pacey & Andie had sat at the table.

And she totally used Jack's advice as an excuse to dance with Pacey. (Not that Dawson was in the right in his temper tantrum, at all, but Joey wasn't trying to be friends with Pacey, at least deep down.) On the surface Joey might have been chanting to herself "we're all going to be friends again, it's all going to be okay" but of course the minute she and Pacey start dancing there's passionate chemistry between them and it can't be a friendly dance.

I mean, Joey's feelings were apparent the whole time she was "with" Dawson. Dawson acted all smug in that cafeteria when he saw Pacey, like he'd "won" Joey and was taking her to prom, but Joey was miserable the whole time and just wanted to be with Pacey and when she finally got to dance with Pacey she got lost in him.

It's just like Joey says in the series finale. It was never a choice between Pacey and Dawson, but a choice she had to make with herself. It was pretty clear it was always Pacey for her, but she was scared to lose what Dawson represented for her (not Dawson himself, but that sense of safety, security, home and family which can be appealing when you're a young, scared teenager.)