Charlie woke up to the sound of laughter drifting up from the kitchen below him. He stretched languidly for a moment debating whether he wanted to lie there for a little while longer or go an grab a cup of coffee and see what was so amusing.

The decision was made for him when a heavy knocking on his door preceded Pacey's entrance. He came in grinning and passed Charlie a mug of coffee before flopping down on the chair in the room. He grinned wryly at Charlie. "Needed to escape the womenfolk," he explained.

Charlie raised his eyebrows, taking a cautious sip of his drink. Wincing slightly as the liquid burnt his tongue he stared at Pacey curiously. "What did you do?"

Pacey agitatedly threw his hands in the air. "Why is it that upon the expression of amusement from the women in our lives you automatically assume that I am the one who amuses them?"

Charlie didn't answer just took a sip of his drink and looked at him pointedly. Pacey shrugged. "I can't help it. My position as the Boston nee Capeside joker has been cemented for years." He stood up, draining the last of his own drink. "Suppose I better get back down there and provide some more hilarity." He pulled the door open, tossing over his shoulder. "The girls told me to tell you to get your ass downstairs for breakfast." He turned and grinned. "Joey's cooking."

Charlie grinned back. "And the source of your jibing is revealed."

"Pretty much," Pacey laughed, before closing the door, his footsteps heavy on the stairs as he went back to the kitchen.

Charlie watched after him reflectively for a moment, realising, however cheesy it sounded, that he was glad that he and Pacey got past all their issues over Joey, as he was a good friend. He took a gulp of coffee. Because the good friends always provided the coffee.

*

Tugging on a t-shirt Charlie ambled into the kitchen to find everyone assembled around the large table. He blinked blearily at the clock as he headed towards the coffee maker, his now empty mug gripped tightly in his hands. "You do realise that this is an insanely early hour to be up on a Saturday, right?"

Joey shrugged, handing him a slice of toast over her shoulder. "We're headed down to Capeside for the weekend."

Charlie looked at the toast for a moment, keeping his expression blank. "All of you?" He looked at CJ and David, the only other people who were only Capeside alum by association with their respective partners. "Yep," said Jack, noticing his gaze. "You're totally welcome to come, man. Just toss some clothes in a bag."

Charlie shrugged as he dropped into the empty seat, hating once again the lack of history that he shared with these people. It was one of the reasons that he often felt closer to CJ and David, though by all rights CJ should've hated him. Of course, though, even him and David had their connection to the group through their partners. As silly as it sometimes sounded even in his own head, Charlie sometimes felt that being a 'friend' of this close knit group was really hard work.

And Charlie had never really had to work for friends before.

He shrugged in response to Jack's offer. "Nah, I got some stuff to do, it's cool," he plastered a smile on his face, "And it might mean that I get some space instead of being constantly bombarded by my roommate's girlfriends," Jen threw a piece of toast at him, he held up a hand to ward her off, "and maybe I won't be woken at an insanely early hour by one of my roommates." he glared at Pacey.

"Well, I figured New Leaf Charlie wouldn't be entertaining," Pacey said with a grin.

Charlie decided to ignore that. "I still don't see why I had to get up so early though."

Pacey held up his hands in surrender. "Hey, don't blame me. That was the girl's idea."

Joey patted him on the head. "We wanted to say goodbye and made sure you ate some proper food."

Reaching for the sugary cereal in the centre of the table, Charlie found his hand being swatted. "Proper food, Charlie." Pacey admonished jokingly holding up his spoon with which he had been eating the very same cereal, earning a glare from his girlfriend.

Charlie smiled at him and grabbed the box, rooting through it's contents. "Hey, where's my toy?"

*

Whenever Charlie had the house to himself he always had the overwhelming urge to do something constructive, like practice his guitar or do some of his schoolwork or even perhaps clean his room. But all Charlie ever seemed to be able to do when he is all alone, with no worry of interruption, was to look through the ragged box that sat at the back of his closet.

As Charlie heard the car set off down the street he trudged back up to his bedroom, the silence of an empty house almost comforting to him, reminding him of his childhood home far more than he wished it did.

He stared at his bed for a moment, the comfy mattress and heavy duvet calling to him. Charlie hovered indecisively for a moment before his gaze was drawn to the door of the closet. Yanking it open Charlie shoved aside the shoes that littered the floor of the closet, grabbing the box and depositing it in front of him on the carpet.

He sighed heavily, opening the lid almost gingerly. The first photo that lay in the box made his breath catch in his throat. The woman was pretty, stood on a white beach with dark blonde hair falling in perfectly coiffed waves and blue eyes that shone in a reflection of Charlie's own. She was smiling at a camera, clutching a small baby in her arms as her hair was blown to the side by the sea breeze. Charlie lightly traced his finger over the picture trying to remember if his mother had ever smiled like that when he was old enough to actually remember.

He gulped, remembering the expressions he was more used to seeing on his mother's face. Glazed detachment, those blue eyes dulled by a decade's heavy drinking. Not that she ever really looked him in the eye.

The next picture explained why. Charlie was smiling in it, his uncontrollable hair seriously out of control, sticking up in all directions underneath his baseball cap. His father was behind him, a protective hand on his son's shoulder as he grinned broadly for the camera, the smile and everything else about him identical to Charlie's now mature face. A face his mother couldn't bear to look at.

Charlie threw the picture away in disgust. He doubted his father even remembered his son's name, now-a-days. Underneath the few photographs that Charlie had salvaged from his old life lay the scant reminders of the existence that he used to lead.

His old passport lay with a dozens of different stamps in it along with his birth certificate and a few other documents. His Chilton tie was sandwiched in his yearbook and it was this that Charlie turned to next.

His smiling visage practically winked at him from the page and he cringed at how conceited and arrogant he looked. He risked a glance in the mirror, his sleep tousled image thankfully nothing like the yearbook picture. To further reassure himself he looked at the group photo tacked into his mirror, recognising that the relaxed posture and easy smile lacked a lot of the arrogance it used to possess.

Not that it was completely gone. Charlie cringed again, and wondered why he always put himself through this, when he began to read the comments jotted in the book. From the suggestive to the downright lewd the comments from the girls were enough to make even possibly Jen blush and the ones from the guys weren't much better.

Charlie ran a hand through his hair as he thought of the girls that he'd bedded at college. He wondered what they would have written in his yearbook if he'd had one. Or even if he'd hung around long enough to get their name. A surge of anger rushing through him, Charlie hefted up the yearbook and tossed it at the wall, it's resounding thud doing nothing to make him feel any less annoyed with himself.

He half-heartedly kicked the box before wandering downstairs, deciding that getting dressed could wait until he'd drowned his sorrows and forgot about the life he was leading with some morning cartoons.

*

"It was cool to be home but sometimes it's just nice to back with your friends and hanging out, you know?" Pacey leant against the cabinet and smiled at Charlie as he busied himself making a sandwich.

Throwing the knife onto the table, Charlie turned to face him. "You and Joey had a fight, hey?"

Pacey actually looked surprised at this. "What? How did you… Did she say something?"

Charlie held his hands up in surrender, munching on his sandwich. "Nope but she ain't here and the only time she ain't here is when you guys fight.

"Who had a fight?" Jen strolled into the kitchen, her satin robe tied loosely around her. She scowled at the coffee maker and began to make a new pot. She glanced around her and made a knowing face. "Oh, Joey's not here. So, I'm guessing the two of you."

Pacey shrugged. "It wasn't like it was a huge deal."

"But you're freaking out about it." Jen pointed out sensibly, tied her curly hair back in a messy ponytail.

"You and Joey have a fight, man?" CJ asked as he came into the kitchen and saw who was there. He grabbed Jen around the waist and kissed her on the cheek, spinning her so she was leaning comfortably back against his chest. Charlie smirked at the question and took another bite of his sandwich so as not to laugh at the look on Pacey's face.

"How does everyone know that?"

"Because she's not here," CJ said sensibly as though Pacey was an idiot.

"Yeah," said Charlie, hastening to steal a cup of coffee from the machine and earning a glare from Jen. He looked at her as he spoke, grabbing another cup and filling it for her. "I don't see why you and Joey don't just give up and get rid of your place." Jen glared at him even more fiercely as CJ awkwardly cleared his throat. Charlie just grinned. "Or forgot I said anything." He handed Jen her mug as she continued to glare at him. "What? No thank you?"

The slam of the front door had them all turning to the entrance as Joey walked in, her slim figure wrapped up against the chill air. She smiled sheepishly at the others before turning to Pacey. She smiled and shrugged her shoulders at him and he grinned happily, gathering her up in his arms.

Jen cooed over the moment as they made up without words. "I can't believe that you guys can get over a fight that easily now. What happened to all the angst?"

Joey extracted herself from Pacey's arms. Shrugging as she draped her coat over the back of one of the chairs. "I guess we grew up."

Smiling, Pacey looped an arm around her shoulders. Charlie looked away, a gnawing pain in his stomach growing. He knew it had nothing to do with specifically Joey, more just the whole couple situation. It still made him acutely aware of his single status among the group.

"Hey, Pace?" Jen asked as she flicked through the newspaper on the table. "You working the lunch shift today?" Charlie glanced over at her. CJ hovered inches away from her, he didn't even seem to notice his proximity, like it was just his natural position.

"Yeah," said Pacey, breaking off whatever he was whispering in Joey's ear, a conversation that Charlie was sure he didn't want to be privy to, "I finish at six. Why?"

Jen shrugged. "Figured we could all go catch that movie. You know, the one with the bugs?"

"Yeah, I'm in," Pacey said, leaning back down to Joey. She giggled and then spoke up.

"Count me out," she said, sighing. "One, I got a ton of reading to catch up on. Two, I got that writer's seminar for the journal and three, big, creepy bugs? So not my cinematic cup of tea." She grinned suddenly. "Oh, take Dawson though. He has serious issues with spiders." She smiled up at Pacey, "You remember? The garage when we were eight?"

Pacey burst into hysterical laughter and didn't seem to be able to do anything but nod. Charlie glanced at the others. Jen was just watching them with an amused look on their face, apparently she'd become used to their shared childhood jokes. CJ didn't seem to care and Charlie, knowing him, thought that that was most likely the case.

But Charlie couldn't help but feel suddenly jealous. He had a sudden inexplicable burst of homesickness for the kids that he'd gone through school with up until his ejection from Chilton.

Taking a deep gulp of coffee to quell the feeling only to find the mug empty, Charlie slammed the cup down harder than he had intended, making Pacey stop laughing. "You okay?" CJ asked, sounding genuinely concerned.

"Yeah," Charlie muttered. It had been a long time since he'd felt any sort of homesickness and he could only imagine that it was because of the sifting through of old memories that he's partaken in that weekend. They were all watching him curiously. "I just remembered something that I've got to do, okay? I'll see you guys later."

He was half way out of the door when Jen's voice stopped him. "You coming to see the movie tonight?"

Turning to look back at them Charlie knew that the last thing he wanted to do was see a movie. But they were his friends. And he needed them. He offered a shaky smile. "Yeah, I'll be there."