The following morning.

When Dawson woke up the next morning, the bed was empty. He looked over to Andie's side and just saw her pajamas neatly folded on top of her pillow. A part of him felt lonely that she wasn't there when he woke up, but another part felt comforted and reassured by the sight of her clothing, a reminder of the permanence, or at least semi-permanence, of their new arrangement. The pain was still there, getting duller by the day. Dawson stared off towards his dresser and reflected on the sardonic irony that the duller the pain got, the more it penetrated, the more it spread. It was almost as if his emotional defenses were designed to withstand a direct barrage but not a diffuse attack. The pain was just now a part of who he was.

"La-di-da, la-di-da. Oh, Dawson, you're up! Good."

Andie frolicked in and out of his field of vision, wearing only her towel. He wasn't sure if it had been a minute or an hour since he woke up. He had lost all track of time, lost in his own thoughts. While they did dwell on his pain, they did so more in an abstract manner and less on the concrete reasons for the pain. He didn't know what to make of Andie's chipper mood this morning, but he was glad for it. Her high spirits rubbed off on him. He continued to stare at the dresser as she talked.

"I'm sorry, I should have waited for you to wake up, but I had no idea how long you were going to sleep, and I hadn't had a chance to shower since I got here."

"It's fine, Andie. I appreciate your willingness to constantly be at my side, but I think I can manage 15 minutes on my own while you shower."

"Okay, well, whatever you need, just tell me. Promise?"

"Yes, Andie, I promise."

Her doting was starting to get annoying, but it was annoying in a good way. He was glad to have someone who cared so much. She jumped up on the bed and grabbed his legs by the shins. Dawson looked away from the dresser for the first time.

"So, what do you want to do today?" She asked brightly.

Dawson was shocked to see that she was already dressed, wearing a pastel sundress. His first thought was wondering how she changed so quickly. His second thought was to wish she would show a little more modesty. What was done was done, and he had no desire to get into that discussion this early in the morning. She must have taken his silence for a lack of thoughts in regard to her question because she continued.

"I know we need to go grocery shopping. Then, maybe we could go to the beach, see if Jack and Jen want to join us."

"Not Jen."

"Dawson, she loves you so much. You're going to have to forgive her, sooner rather than later."

"I do forgive her. It's not her fault. It's just, she serves as a reminder, and it hurts."

"Okay, then we'll take Jack to the beach, see if we can find some hot men for him."

Dawson laughed cheerfully at her overeagerness to set up her brother on some dates this summer.

"Sounds like a plan. Oh, speaking of Jack, I want to stop by the video store, too. Return the movies that he brought and pick up some new ones."

"So that's what you want to every night? Watch movies until you've gone through every movie at the video store?" She let go of his legs, sat up straight, and pursed her lips.

"That's what Joey and I used to do."

"Fine," she let out an exasperated sigh.

Dawson was confused. How did she go from doting on his every whim and wish to being annoyed that he wanted to watch movies? She knew that movies had always been his greatest source of comfort pretty much his entire life, besides Joey of course. At least he could still have one of them. Surely Andie understood that. This time he decided to press the issue.

"What? Getting tired of watching movies already?"

"No, it's not that, it's just, never mind. I'm sorry, I'm doing a bad job being supportive."

"Don't be ridiculous. If it weren't for you, I'd be an empty shell of myself right now. Your constant presence has been the one thing keeping me whole, making me actually act like a semi-functional human being."

She beamed at him, and he didn't give the matter any further thought.

"You should take your shower, too, so we can get on with the day."

"Might as well." He walked to his dresser. "Oh, would you like me to clear a drawer for you? I don't think you want to keep having to live out of your suitcase like that."

"Really? You'd do that? Yes, just one drawer, though, I don't want to impose."

"No, it's fine, half this stuff is my winter clothing anyway."

He gathered his underwear and undershirt, along with a pair of jeans and a plaid button-down. He heard another exasperated sigh from Andie as he walked to the door and turned around to see what she wanted.

"Sorry, did you need something?"

"What? Oh, no, I was just wondering, what do you want for breakfast?" Her smile looked forced as she asked him the question.

"Uh, anything is fine."

"Eggs? An omelet?"

"Yeah, that's great."

He continued to the shower trying to piece together Andie's apparent mood swings this morning. He figured she was just going through as much emotional turmoil as he was and trying to put on her happy face for him. He appreciated the effort.

Later that morning.

When Dawson came down, he was immediately greeted by the smell of eggs being fried and the sound of Andie singing. His spirits were immediately buoyed. When he went into the kitchen, he saw that she was dancing as she cooked the omelet. He couldn't help but think how adorable she looked. He went over and hugged her. She purred softly at the contact.

"What was that for?" She asked smiling.

"For knowing how to cheer me up."

"That's what I'm here for." Her smile grew as she said that.

"And for that I thank you."

"Now, pour the coffee and sit down."

He complied, and she brought over the frying pan. She put half the omelet on each of their plates, and he started eating right away.

"This is great, Andie. Thank you so much."

"My pleasure. Now, let's figure out what we need for groceries."

"Oh, I don't know, I'd have to look around to see what we need."

"I mean, I already took inventory, I just didn't know what you wanted to replace."

"Okay…"

"We definitely need more coffee and eggs. We're almost out of vegetables. Milk is running low, but I don't know how much milk you drink." She was writing everything down as she talked.

"Mostly only for cereal. Do we have enough cereal?"

"Mhm. We don't have anything for sandwiches."

"I usually just have ham and cheese."

"Okay. That just leaves dinners."

"Andie, can I take you out to dinner tonight? You've been so amazing to me, and I just want to show some small measure of appreciation."

"I'd like that, but, we have a big day planned. Are you sure you're going to be okay with all the activities and then going out for dinner?"

"I think so."

"Promise me we'll cancel the dinner if it becomes too overwhelming."

"Okay, but then we'll just reschedule for tomorrow?"

"Mhm. We still need dinner food for the rest of the week, though."

"Chicken, potatoes, ground beef?"

She wrote all that down without saying a word.

"We are low on apple juice, but we have plenty of orange juice."

"That's fine."

"I think we're good then."

"This is weird."

"What's weird?"

"I don't know. I've never had such a, you know, domestic life before. If my parents were here, my mom would be cooking dinner, and my dad would have taken care of all the groceries. If I were alone, I'd just be ordering a lot of pizza."

"It's fun, though, isn't it?"

"I guess it is." He meant it. They planned the logistics of the rest of the day as they finished their breakfast.

That afternoon.

Grocery shopping had been an adventure, Andie meticulously going through their shopping list and getting satisfaction from every item she crossed off the list. They added a few treats, and Andie squealed with delight as they added those items to the basket, sometimes chasing each other down the aisles. It bordered on flirtatious, and Dawson didn't mind. The pain was still there, but he wasn't thinking about Joey anymore, or at least he hadn't been until they drove home.

He wasn't sure which was worse, if he was going to be perfectly honest, the searing pain when he thought about her, or the ever-present dull, aching pain. Andie smiled at him as they drove him. She always seemed to know just what he was thinking and how to cheer him up. She put her arm on his shoulder as he drove, without saying a word. No words needed to be said. They put the groceries away in silence.

"I'm so excited we're finally going to the beach! Gotta get a start on my tan." She examined her arms. "God, I'm as pale as a ghost."

Dawson laughed at her self-abasement. "Let's go get changed, then, before Jack gets here."

She had an added skip in her step as they went upstairs. Dawson found his bathing suit before moving aside so that Andie could retrieve hers from the drawer he had cleared for her earlier. She pulled out a yellow bikini that reminded him of an old Brian Hyland song. He reflected on the irony of that, given that Andie, while blonde, was anything but bashful.

"You can get changed in here," he said to her, "I'll go change in the bathroom."

There was that exasperated sigh again. He finally thought he understood the sigh, but this was a conversation he really didn't want to have with her, especially in light of what Jack had discussed with him yesterday. He ignored it and walked to the bathroom.

That evening.

They had an amazing day at the beach, splashing each other in the water, running down the sand, or else just tanning in the sun. They even found a beach volleyball game to join, which they easily won with Jack on their side. Andie found a boy for Jack to flirt with, and he seemed to have forgotten all about Ethan. For that matter, Dawson and Andie had forgotten about Joey and Pacey, each entirely enthralled in each other's company. She was dancing by the water, and his mind started to wonder to what it would be like to actually date Andie, but he put it aside immediately. The sun was starting to set.

"Andie," he called out, "we should go home to change for dinner. Our reservation is in an hour."

"Okay, let me go find Jack, then we'll go."

The McPhee siblings came back a few minutes later, and Jack's glee dropped from his face to give Dawson a piercing look. He knew what the look meant, and he just nodded at him understandingly.

"Dawson, you're sure you're up for dinner tonight?" Andie asked. "We don't have to go. It's been a long day already, and I've had so much fun. We can just order pizza if you want."

"I want to go," he said firmly.

"Okay, then!"

They rinsed off whatever remnants of sand and sea they had on their bodies before putting on the rest of their clothes and walking to the car. They went to drive Jack home, and Mr. McPhee was waiting outside, enjoying a drink in the side yard. They walked up to him, and he stood up to shake Dawson's hand again. He embraced Andie in a big hug.

"You kids holding up all right?" He asked.

"We are, Daddy," Andie said cheerfully.

"Andie has been a complete delight, Joe." The name hurt less to say than it had yesterday.

"That's my little girl. She knows how to cheer anyone up."

"Thanks, Daddy," Andie shied at the compliment.

"I won't hold you up any longer, Jack told me you had dinner plans. Enjoy."

"Thanks, Joe." They shook hands again, and he walked with Andie to the car.

They reflected fondly on the day together as they drove back to his house. When they got home, they both raced upstairs, eager to get ready for dinner. Dawson was determined to ward off another awkward situation about changing in front of each other. He decided instead to face it head on.

"Andie."

"Dawson?"

"Sorry, it's just, there's something I think we need to address. Maybe I'm wrong, in fact I hope I am wrong, and then I'll just look like a fool, but I can deal with that. I can't deal with this passive-aggressiveness every time we change clothes."

"You're not wrong, it's just, I don't know. Why are you so shy about it?"

He couldn't answer that question. He tried to logically explain it, but it was just one of those things, one of those societal rules that didn't really withstand strict scrutiny. He tried his best, but he was still dumbfounded.

"I don't know."

"See! Look, we're living together, we're sharing a bedroom, a bathroom, it just seems an unnecessary burden to go to such lengths to avoid changing in front of each other. I'm not telling you to stare, but why go through all that trouble of changing in separate rooms?"

"We're friends, Andie. Won't that be awkward?"

"Didn't you and Jen go skinny dipping together last year? When you were still all mopey about Joey and Jack."

"Yeah."

"And was that awkward?"

"No, it made me feel alive, like I was actually living out my life as a teenager."

"Then why are you making such a big deal out of this. It seems to me that you put so much effort into repressing your feelings for Joey growing up that it defines all of your relationships with female friends."

"So, what are you suggesting?"

"That we stop talking about this, stop thinking about it, and just don't worry about this false modesty anymore."

Dawson hesitated.

"I just don't want things to get weird. I couldn't have gotten through these past few days without you, and if things get weird between us, I don't know what I'll do."

"Dawson, they'll only get weird if you let them. Besides, how could it be any weirder than this conversation?"

"I guess you're right. Let's just get ready for dinner."

It wasn't exactly like they could see each other as he changed by the closet and she changed by the dresser, their backs at right angles towards each other. She was right, though, far from it being awkward, it just made things more comfortable, more casual between them, not having to put so much effort into being modest around each other. When he turned around, she was in her underwear, still trying to pick out a nice dress for dinner.

"What do you think of this one?" she asked.

It took him a second to get over the shock of seeing her standing so casually in her underwear in front of him, but then he realized they had just spent the entire day at the beach with her wearing a bikini that was more revealing than her underwear. He looked at the dress approvingly.

"I like it!"

She shrugged and slipped it on. "Ready to go?"

"Yeah, let's stop by the video store first. I'm worried they might be closed after dinner."

"Okeydokey!"

That night.

Dawson was immediately hit by a ton of bricks they walked into the restaurant. It was the same restaurant he had taken Joey for their one-month anniversary. The memory of it, how happy they had been together, was more painful than he thought it would be. Andie seemed to notice his change in demeanor, and she grabbed his arm and gave their name to the hostess. She waited until they sat down to bring it up.

"Tell me what's wrong, Dawson."

"I brought Joey here for our one-month anniversary, just over a year ago."

"Oh, we can go somewhere else if you want."

"No, actually, come to think of it…" he started laughing as he remembered the details of that evening.

"What?" Andie started to laugh with him.

"It was a complete comedy of errors. My dad was there on a date with my film teacher, and the restaurant mixed up the two Leery parties, so we had to sit together. I was completely clashing with her, and then my mom and Jen showed up. Joey and Jen tried to 'Parent Trap' my parents into getting back together. It was quite the evening."

They both started laughing, but the laughter didn't last long for either of them.

"Then Joey and I rowed back to my house, and I thought, maybe, as she put it, we'd 'close the deal.' She said that we were still young. Well, look how that turned out."

Andie grabbed his hand across the table. He got the impression that she wasn't doing it to comfort him this time. Something was clearly bothering her.

"What is it, Andie?"

"When was this?"

"Last May."

"Oh, no no no no."

Dawson started to rub Andie's hands. He was glad to be the one comforting her this time, as it helped alleviate his own pain to take care of her instead.

"Andie, tell me what's wrong."

"That was the night, that, I can't say it." She was on the verge of tears, and he just kept rubbing her hands, not knowing what else to do.

"Andie, please, it's me, you can tell me," he said forcefully.

"Okay, that was the night, the night that I had the breakdown and started having hallucinations of Tim. Pacey and Jack were there for me, and they, they got me through the night, but then, then, they called my dad, and, and he made go away to that place, that awful place where I cheated on Pacey."

She couldn't hold back the tears anymore. Suddenly his own pain seemed infinitesimal compared to what Andie must be going through. She had been doing such a good job of hiding it, of being strong for him, but now it was all coming out.

"Andie, I'm so, so sorry. I don't know what to say. I'm here for you. I don't know if that helps, but that's all I've got. I'm here for you."

She withdrew her hands, and Dawson worried he said the wrong thing. She dried her eyes and smiled at him. It was a pained smile, but it was genuine.

"It does." She gave him back her hand, and they held hands in silence until the waiter came with the wine list.

Dawson looked over the wine list, unsure what to make of it.

"Uh, do you want to get a bottle, or…"

"Dawson, based on our history, I'm going to say that's a bad idea."

"Oh, God," Dawson laughed. "Remember what happened last time?"

"Yes, we got arrested by Pacey's brother and had to be bailed out by your father."

"Ohhh, I wasn't even thinking about that. I was thinking of my 16th birthday party."

"No! You went on a rampage and tore everyone a new one, and then we spent the night throwing up in the bathroom together."

They both laughed at the memory.

"So, no wine?"

"No wine."

The waiter came back with the food menu, and they told him they'd be sticking to water. He listed some specials, but Dawson was lost while Andie was listening intently. He walked away and left them to peruse the menu.

"I have no idea what to order. I just want something simple. Steak frights, what's that?"

"Frites, not frights. It's just steak with French fries."

"Oh, that's easy. What's the below it? Steak ow Poy-ver?"

"Au poivre. It's a pepper sauce. You'd probably like it."

"Okay, that settles it, then. Appetizers?"

"Uh, can we share the Tuna Tartare?"

"What's that?"

"It's chopped, raw tuna."

"Fine by me. What are you going to get for your main?"

"I was thinking the Confit de Canard."

"And that would be?"

"Duck."

Dawson ducked his head and looked around dramatically. Andie laughed at his joke.

"Dawson…"

"Yes, Andie?"

"I mean, the dish is duck."

"Ohhh."

They waiter took their order, and they spent the meal making easy conversation. As much as they enjoyed the meal, they enjoyed each other's company even more. They allowed themselves a glass of dessert wine with a chocolatey dessert that's name escaped Dawson's memory the moment he heard it. As long as it was chocolate, he was happy. They held hands as they walked back to the car. For a moment, he was tempted to kiss Andie as they got into the car, but the moment passed quickly.

Later that night.

The meal had taken a lot out of them, and they struggled to get up the stairs, the rich food slowing their movements. Dawson wanted nothing more than to change out of his nice clothes and watch a movie. Andie seemed to share the same sentiment, and she wasted no time in changing, starting even before he could get to his closet. He hung up his nice clothes and went to grab his pajamas. He started putting them on when he looked over at Andie and froze in shock.

She was wearing her pajama bottoms, but her top was still on the pillow. His first thought was how much more well-endowed she was than Joey or Jen. His second thought was that she was always a fast changer, so if she hadn't finished changing yet, it was on purpose. This was the last thing he wanted right now. He handed her her top.

"Careful, there, I might get the wrong impression," he laughed nervously.

She took the top from him but made no effort to put it on.

"What if it's not the wrong impression?" she asked seductively.

"Andie."

"What, Dawson? I'm not good enough for you?"

"It's not that."

"Then, what is it? Is it because I'm not Joey?"

"Andie…"

"I can pretend to be Joey, and you can pretend it to be Pacey. It'll be like role-playing, it'll be fun."

"Andie!"

"Fine, you can just be you, and I'll be Joey." She turned the corner of her lip up into a slight smirk and started playing with her hair. The way she effortlessly captured Joey's mannerisms was haunting.

"Please put your top on."

"Fineeeeeee." She turned away from him and put her top on. "I can sleep in another room if you want."

Dawson hesitated. He was reluctant to have Andie leave, her constant presence his greatest source of comfort, but Jack's words stuck with him. Besides, he wasn't entirely sure she wasn't just trying to get back at Pacey. He was tempted to similarly get back at Pacey for betraying him, but he knew it just wouldn't be fair to Andie.

"The guest room is just down the hall."

She seemed on the verge of tears as she left his room. Dawson had to fight back the tears himself. He missed her as soon as the door closed. He watched his movie, but that failed to provide him the solace movies usually did.