After school, Pacey comes down the steps towards Andie sitting at a picnic table. They approach each other, and they step all over each other's apologies, Andie saying she failed him, Pacey admitting he got obsessed, blah blah blah fishcakes -- long story short, they forgive each other after realizing that they love each other as people and not as ideals, or something. And they kiss. Aw.

Outside Bessie's Bastard Barn (tm Wing), Joey has lit every tiki torch in the state of Massachusetts (where she has set up dinner outside. In late fall. On Cape Cod. Whatever). Jack walks up behind her as she lights the candles, and she remarks that he came early (my words, not hers) before she could finish getting everything ready. Jack comments, "Wow -- Joey, this is magnificent," and she tells him, "Yeah, I'd be pretty impressed if I were you." Jack says she shouldn't have done this; Joey, who looks very pretty with some makeup on and her hair down, says that she wanted to, and Jack says brusquely, "I know. But you shouldn't have." Joey catches the first scent of something wrong in the air, and as she sits down, she says slowly, "This is the part where I say 'uh-oh,' right?" Jack plunges in with, "Joey, uh, I don't, I don't know what to say, really, or even where," and he stops, and Joey tells him, "Just be honest with me, I mean, this time, just be honest," and she looks terribly sad and also like she knows exactly what's coming. Jack seats himself at the table. Biting his lip to keep from crying, he doesn't say anything for a minute, and then he rushes through it: "This morning I told my father that I was gay." Joey looks down, doing this weird bewildered nodding thing with her head, and says, "So, you are -- you're gay," and Jack sort of cringes and says, "Well, I mean, not," and Joey breaks in hopefully, "You're not gay?" and Jack says testily, "No," and Joey loses patience and asks, "Part gay?" and Jack sort of laughs. Joey says, "No, please don't laugh at me, Jack, 'cause I don't know what you're trying to say, okay, um -- are you gay?" Jack folds his lips together again to keep the tears in and nods slowly, and Joey mirrors his nod as he tries brokenly to explain: "When I wrote that poem...it clicked something inside of me that has been quiet for so long...and it made me realize that whatever it is I'm going through is not going to go away, maybe ever." Joey still does that stunned nodding, and I must give Katie Holmes credit for conveying a mixture of Joey's own pain and Joey's deep sympathy for Jack's pain. Jack hasn't finished yet, assuring Joey that he cares so much about her and that she's been such a good friend to him, and he can't stand the thought of losing her but he doesn't want to hurt her either. Joey tersely says, "I know. I know the rest." After a minute, she thanks him for his honesty, and he reaches across the table and holds her...finger, and says, "Thank you for being you." She smiles thinly. Not to mar this heartbreaking scene with snide commentary, but I have to say it -- OUCH! THAT'S GONNA LEAVE A MARK!