Hmm. Maybe we could just stay in tonight.

I smile to myself. I've been standing here staring at myself in the mirror for the past ten minutes, clad only in my underwear. I feel tired - in a nice kind of way. Tired isn't even really the right word for it. Languid, maybe. Loved.

I wonder what he's doing in his room?

My hair is still a bit damp from our shower. By the time we finished, we had to get ready for Jen and Jack's Christmas dinner, so I came straight to my room to get dressed. I turn slightly from the mirror on my closet door and look around.

I hardly ever sleep here anymore, but all my clothes and most of my things are still here. A few items have invaded his room - my laptop, my pillows. In some ways, I guess I like leaving them there. Just to leave some imprint of myself in his territory.

I turn back to my closet. He hasn't seen the dress that I plan to wear tonight. I saw it in a store window on 34th Street the day that I was doing all my last minute Christmas shopping, and promptly decided to splurge a little and buy it for myself.

The dress is a rich, dark red, with a deep, wide V neckline. The hem stops just below my knees. I dab perfume on all the prescribed places and send a little prayer to the heavens, thanking them that our friends live in the same building. If I had to go out in this dress, I'd probably freeze like Frosty.

"Joey?" He taps lightly on the door. "You ready?"

"Yeah, come in," I watch in the mirror as he comes into the room.

"Wow."

That's all he says, but the look in his eyes is enough to make me blush to the roots of my hair, and suddenly I feel as self-conscious as a high school girl on prom night. I turn my back to the mirror and focus on him. "It was on sale," I babble unnecessarily. God, how girly of me.

Pacey just smiles. "You look incredible."

"Thank you. You don't look too bad yourself." I grin. Actually, he's wearing a long-sleeved dress shirt in a shade of blue that perfectly compliments his eyes, and he looks good enough that I again consider suggesting that we stay in.

He offers me his arm with a flourish. "Shall we go?"

When we get to Jen and Jack's, the sounds of people laughing and chatting can already be heard through the door.

"Joey, Pacey!" Jack greets us with a big smile. "Merry Christmas."

We hug one another warmly. Pacey hands him our Christmas present just as Jen appears with two glasses of eggnog. "Where's mine?" She grins and hugs us both.

"All you get this year is coal, Lindley." Pacey replies. "You've been naughty."

"Shut up, Witter, and go help David in the kitchen or something while Joey and I mingle." Jen smiles at me and loops her arm through mine. Pacey's eyes hold mine as she leads me away, and I smile at him helplessly as he shrugs and heads for the kitchen.

"Come on, Joey," Jen waves her hand in front of my face to get my attention. "I'm getting worried, you know. The amount of time the two of you spend together is not healthy at all."

She's teasing, of course. She's trying to look serious, but her lips are dying to curve into a grin, so I just sip my drink casually. "I know, Jen." I play along, pasting an earnest expression on my face. "I'm actually getting sick of him. You'd better find me a nice, hunky guy to have a wild fling with."

We laugh, but I know that she's got something on her mind.

"Okay, now tell me." I prod.

She looks guilty. She sighs and looks away, hesitating, before taking a deep breath and plunging in. "Joey, I'm really, really sorry, but David said we had to do it out of courtesy. I mean, they are clients, and we didn't even think that they would come -"

What she's saying doesn't make the least bit of sense to me until I see Jack out of the corner my eye welcoming more guests into the apartment. It's Anne, the woman Pacey had been living with before… us.

I must have been wearing a look of horror on my face because Jen turns to see what I'm staring at and abruptly stops mid-sentence.

She's got two other people with her, both men. Probably the owners of the company that hired Pacey and David's web design firm. I haven't seen her since the day that Pacey moved out of our apartment to live with her, so there hasn't exactly been any sort of soap opera-like confrontation between us, but right now I'm really wishing that I'd decided to stay home tonight.

I look away before she can catch me staring. There's a weird, churning feeling in my stomach, which intensifies when I see David and Pacey come out of the kitchen to greet their clients.

He's got a big smile on his face. He takes their coats, kisses her cheek, acts completely natural. I forget that I'm not breathing until my chest begins to ache a little.

I force my eyes away from the scene and walk inconspicuously to the kitchen to get a hold of myself.