After their successful screening, and positive review from Amy Lloyd, Dawson and Oliver put out some feelers to try and get their movie distributed. They managed to organise a meeting with a Scotland-based company, that specialised in smaller, independent productions. They caught a train to Edinburgh to meet with them.

Along the way, Dawson began to worry about what Oliver might say, so he said to Oliver "When we get there, let me do most of the talking, okay?"

"Why?" Oliver asked

"Because you have a tendency to, er, ramble"

"Relax, buddy. Once we get in there, it will be all business."

"Okay, but just let me do the talking alright?"

"Sure, whatever you say buddy. You're the boss. I'll let you handle things. I'll only insert myself if needed"

"It won't be"

"Okay, fine. You're the expert"

After waiting in the lobby for what seemed like forever, they were finally called in.

"This way, please" the executive said, ushering them into his office

"First off, let me just say, on behalf of Oliver and myself, thank you for taking the time to see us" Dawson said

"Well, thank you for coming to us. We were very impressed by your film and we think you have a lot of potential"

"If I may..." Oliver interjected, causing Dawson to worry, and shrink into his chair slightly

"What is the film industry always looking for?"

The executive glanced at Dawson, who was now struggling to maintain his calm facade.

"Young talent. And that's where my partner and I come in. We are young, and we are talented"

"We agree, which is why we agreed to meet with you" the executive said, before turning to Dawson and saying "Is he alright?" in a slightly softer voice. Dawson simply shrugged, and then looked down at the floor in despair.

"Let's cut to the chase, shall we? And where does that expression come from? It's a Hollywood term. No one wanted to just sit through boring hours of narrative. They wanted to get right to the exciting chase sequence. Isn't that right?"

Dawson began squeezing the bridge of his nose.

The executive nodded, and said "yes"

"Sir, we don't want to waste your time..." Oliver began to say

"Well, in that case, it was nice meeting you. We'll be in touch" The executive said cutting him off, and escorting them out of the office.

As they were walking out, Dawson didn't say anything, or even look at Oliver until they were out of the building. Then he grabbed Oliver by his collar, and pinned him against a wall.

"I told you to let me do the talking!" he yelled

"You said most of the talking. You were boring him. I made the meeting more exciting. He'll remember us now"

Dawson calmed down, and released Oliver.

"You don't get it, do you? We blew it. You blew it! For both of us!"

"He said he'd be in touch"

"He won't be"

"Well, there'll be other opportunities"

"No, there won't Oliver. This was our one and only shot, and now its gone, thanks to you"

"Would you relax. You're gonna give yourself a heart attack at this rate"

"Oliver, as of this moment, our partnership is over, and I want nothing more to do with you"

"But we still have to work, study and live together"

"Not for much longer" Dawson said, as he was walking away.

After that, Dawson stopped talking to Oliver. On the train ride home, they didn't sit together. Dawson took the opportunity to call Joey (but Jen answered), and catch up with what his friends were up to. They were on spring break, and staying at a beach house in Miami, Florida. There had been some tension among the group, which Jen filled him in on. She also said that Pacey wasn't there, because his sister was sick, so had flown to New Jersey to see her. So, next he called Pacey, and learned that Gretchen was in fact, getting better. Pacey mentioned seeing Daria, so he then called her, to talk about her experiences of following Mystik Spiral on tour, while nursing a back injury. It turned out Daria too, was on the mend.

Dear Dawson,

Just when things are starting to go your way, life has a funny way of throwing a monkey wrench into your plans, you know what I mean? The reason I say this is, the restaurant I'm working at is under new management, and I don't know if, or for how long, I am going to stay there. I'm hoping I can talk some sense into the new manager, but I'm not getting my hopes up.

However, I'm sure things are going much better for you. That movie you made, with your new partner, it sounds like that's going pretty well. I expect a screening when you get back.

Catch you on the flip side, D-man.

Sincerely

Pacey Witter

Dawson and Oliver's boss at the video store reworked the schedule, at Dawson's request, so that Oliver and Dawson were no longer rostered on together. Emma changed the chore roster for the same reason. Back at school, Dawson stopped participating in class discussions, and wouldn't even look at, or acknowledge Oliver in class.

One day, they were both summoned to the Dean's office. Apparently, the school had learned of their meeting with the distributor. Since they had submitted it as part of their coursework, the school owned it, and the school didn't generally distribute their students films commercially. The whole meeting was quite awkward, but the Dean understood that it was an honest mistake, and let them go without further incident.

After this, they had end of year exams to study for. Oliver repeatedly tried to persuade Dawson to study with him.

"C'mon, c'mon. We're studying the same things. It makes sense for us to study together" Oliver said, but Dawson simply ignored him.

"Are you ever going to say anything to me?" he finally asked

"I hate to say it, but he has a point" Emma said

"Emma?" Dawson said "I'm trying to study, so could you and your cousin please leave me alone?"

"Alright, forget I said anything" Emma said

After his exams, Dawson prepared to return to the United States. But first, he went to say goodbye to Andie.

"I guess this is it" he said

"Are you sure you don't want to forgive Oliver?" Andie said

"Not you too"

"Well, aren't you coming back in a few months, to finish your course?"

"Yeah, but I don't really want to think about that right now"

"I guess I'll see you then, then"

"Is there anything you want me to tell Jack, or anyone else?"

"Only that you didn't see me, and I was never here"

"They're going to figure it out, sooner or later"

"Hopefully later"

And then they hugged, and parted ways.

On the morning of his flight, Emma drove Dawson to the airport, and made one last effort.

"Are you sure there's no way you can work things out with Oliver?" she asked

"Maybe if he apologizes, but I don't see that happening anytime soon" Dawson said

"Well, when you get back, you've got a couch waiting for you" and then they hugged, and he got out of the car, grabbed his suitcase from the back seat, and said "see you in a few months", after which he walked into the airport, and she drove off.

Dear Dawson,

As much as I'd love to spend summer with you in the backwater that is Capeside, something has come up, so I won't be able to make it right away. But don't worry, we'll catch up. After all, I know where you live.

Sincerely

Daria Morgendorffer

I hope you enjoyed this story. From here, the story continues with Summer of 2002 special, and there will be one more installment in this series, that continue on from that, which will be in parallel with season 6, and mainly be inspired by story-lines from that season.

If you enjoyed this story, please rate, review, share with anyone you think might enjoy it, and subscribe to be notified when I publish stories in the future. If you haven't already done so, you can read previous stories in this AU on my profile.

A special thanks goes out to my beta readers Matt and Marcus