"I'm freaking out!" Joey declared anxiously. "Why aren't you freaking out with me?"

"I am, but on the inside," Dawson said as he stared at the restaurant's entry way.

They sat at their table, both of them clutching their beverages in anticipation. They both continued to stare towards the entry way, waiting to see Spielberg in all his glory to finally appear. Although they arrived twenty minutes early, they kept expecting him to show up any minute.

"Do I look silly? Do you think this dress is too formal?" Joey asked.

"It looks fine, Joey." Dawson said without looking away from the entrance. Even as the server arrived with refill requests, he would answer without moving his vision's focus. He couldn't risk missing the absolute moment when Spielberg himself arrived into physical vision.

"Is it 3 o'clock yet?" Joey asked.

Dawson raised his watch up towards Joey's face.

Joey rolled her eyes, "Almost three."

Dawson let out a sigh of impatience. He couldn't believe this was happening. He had no words to describe what he was feeling. No understanding for how to act or sit or even breathe. After another minute had passed, he finally gripped his hand onto Joey's and looked at her.

"I'm scared," he panicked.

"Dawson, it's okay, everything will be -"

"I don't know about this. What if he doesn't reach my expectations of what he's really like, and it'll blow my entire naive childhood daydreams out of the water?"

"You're thinking too much. Whether he's just how you pictured him or not, he's still Spielberg! The man behind E.T and Jaws and every other movie you had hung up on your bedroom wall."

"I know but -"

"And no matter what, he's still the man who inspired you to be who you are today. You're a successful film-maker because of what he's taught you and inspired you with." Joey explained. She held on tightly to his moist hand and looked deep into his eyes as she said this.

Dawson looked at her. His anxious face finally let up with a smile, and he laughed.

"What?" Joey asked.

"Well come on, give yourself some credit, Joey," he said.

"What do you mean?"

"Sure, he may have inspired me to be a film-maker, but if anyone has taught me more about what I do, it would be you." he said.

"What?" Joey replied.

"I was such a naive kid back then," Dawson said. "I saw everything as a movie, it was like I wanted there to be drama in my life in order for me to understand anything that was going on. All films have a plot line, and when something in my life happened, I assumed I knew what to do next or what should happen next, you know?" Dawson continued to hold onto Joey's hand. He could feel the grip she had on his. "You taught me that life wasn't a movie. You showed me what it was like to really feel these emotions I only saw being portrayed on screen. Happiness, jealousy, fright, love. You were the one who made it all real to me.

Joey smiled and looked at their hands.

"If it weren't for you, Joey, I would probably still be stuck in my bedroom filled with Spielberg posters, wondering why everyone else gave up on me and why my life didn't end the way I planned it would," he laughed.

"I never would have given up on you," Joey said.

Dawson looked at Joey as she smiled at him. He was calm again.

Suddenly, there was a ring. Dawson reached into his jacket pocket for his cell phone as Joey reached into her handbag for her's. Dawson flipped open his phone and answered the caller; Joey slipped her phone back into her bag with a smirk.

"Hello?" Dawson answered. "Oh hi! Yes, I'm here right now." He smiled and glanced over at Joey as she glanced back, sipping her drink.

Joey watched Dawson's facial expressions as he talked to the caller on the phone. "Oh?" he said. His bright smile faded a little. Joey was nervous. "Right, that's no problem at all," Dawson continued to smile. Joey felt relieved and took another sip.

After Dawson finished his phone call, he was silent.

"Everything okay?" Joey asked.

"Yeah," Dawson said. "It's just that, um. He isn't coming."

Joey's face fell, "What happened?"

"I uh. He's. Um. I think he's stuck somewhere? Or um, in Tahiti maybe? Working on something, I don't know . I lost focus when my assistant said he wasn't coming.

Joey sighed and closed her eyes. Just imagining how distrought he must be feeling right now. "Dawson, I'm so sorry."

Dawson looked up to her. He admired the way she looked so empathetic towards him, and he smiled. He drank the last of his beverage and hailed the server to ask for a refill and two menus.

"You alright?" Joey asked as she held her menu open in her hands.

Dawson looked up from his menu, "You know what, I'm going to be fine."

"I know, but right now?"

"Joey," Dawson said. "It's not often I get to see you. I'm not going to let this bring me down when I'm here in the city with my bestest friend in the whole world. I have a plane ride tomorrow, so I plan to make this daytrip worthwhile with you."

"Dawson, are you sure?" she began to whisper to him with concern, "I mean, come on. You were supposed to be meeting -"

"Joey, you're more important." Dawson smiled, raising his glass to her. Joey smiled back and joined in his toast.