You want me to take off the happy mask? Then happy mask is off. So, now answer me this one question Joey, why are you with me? Why are you with me? Cause I don't know why I'm still with you. I used to know, but now I don't anymore. What I do know, I feel like I'm Josephine Potter's little charity project. I feel like I'm the designated loser...
No, it is about you. It's about you and how you make me feel when I'm with you! I feel like I'm stupid, I'm worthless, I'm never right! You know what I realize? It's not my fault! When I'm with you it's "poor Pacey, he didn't get into college," or "stupid Pacey forgot the limo, he ripped my dress, he messed up the corsage."
But I want you to care! I don't want you to accept it like it's supposed to be. We are not trapped on this boat. You and I are trapped in this relationship! I can't take it anymore Joey. When I'm with you, I feel like I'm nothing. That's why I flinch when you touch me. That's why I never touch you, why I never think about it. Because when I do, it just reminds me that I'm not good enough.
You've spent your entire life trying to get out of Capeside, Joey, because you felt like you deserved better. Well, I am Capeside. That's why I didn't get out and you did, and you do deserve better. You deserve better than this place, and you deserve better than me.
Joey
You break my heart into a thousand pieces, and you say it's because I deserve better? Just... leave me alone.
Um, well... Kubelik wants me to work on his boat this summer. That's what the offer was about. It didn't have anything to do with going to Worthington.
Uh, you know what? I think I'll go. But I think that you should stay here, Jo. I've been watching you in there. You've been... gliding from conversation to conversation with complete confidence and ease this time. I don't know if you remember the last Worthington party that you and I attended together, but... you were kind of a jumble of nerves. I guess I was kind of hoping that... you would need for me to be your savior again tonight. But... that's no longer the case. You don't need that now. Everything's different. I think that they're better this way. The only thing that remains the same is you're still the most beautiful girl in the room. This is... this is your life, and you should enjoy it.
I know what I said. And I know how I said it, and it makes me sick to my stomach every time I think about it. Blaming you for my insecurities and... then making you feel guilty for all the things that you've accomplished, when you should feel nothing but proud. And I'm so proud of you.
You want to know what the truth is, Jo? I still love you, and I probably will love you for a very long time. But I can't just be your buddy. 'Cause, as much as I enjoy the concept of being just friends, in reality, it's a bizarre form of torture, and I'm just not willing to participate in it. So, right now, what I want to do is just move on and get over you, and the only way for me to do that is to not be around you anymore.
Joey
And you can't see any time in the future when you and I could be friends?
I think I... I should probably go off and live my own life for a little while. That certainly doesn't mean that this is how I want it to end between us. So hypothetically speaking... if I were lucky enough one day to find myself owning a sailboat again, and I were to ask the woman that I love to go sailing with me... would she?
You know, I was just gonna... keep my mouth shut and let you go... but...[Sighs]... It's not me. That's some Merchant Ivory movie, you know, where people suffer in silence, and you're supposed to be so impressed by their restraint. Well... you know... sorry, but screw that. My best friend in the whole world is leaving tomorrow, and a big part of me wants him to stay... so I hope you don't hate me.
I could never hate you, Joey... and not for lack of trying, either.
Joey
These past couple of years, it's been one big soap opera. I wouldn't take it back. I wouldn't... take any of it back, but... I'm glad that it's over. 'Cause I like the way things are now. My life being the cruel joke that it is, now that things are so nice... you're leaving.
Jo... if I thought for one second it was the right thing to do, I would stay, but it's time to go. It's time for me to get out of this room, and it's time for you to discover who you are without us. This chapter's over, Jo. I can feel it.
Joey
[With tears running down her cheeks] Do you believe in magic? I never used to. I mean, how could I? 13, your mom dies. You hope against hope for--for magic, something to make it all better. It never comes, and, you know, you look to your father who's unable to overcome all of his tragic flaws. Well, no abracadabra there. And then there's Pacey. Well... any magic that was there, that ran out, didn't it? But, uh, then there's you. There's proof that someone out there is thinking of me... my friend who was with me always. It's pure magic. I guess this is pretty much just a long-winded way of saying that, um... I'm gonna miss you, Dawson.
Which is precisely why we should go. It’s a new year, guys, okay? I mean it. We need to spread our wings. Challenge any preconceived notions we had of college. And most important, to reinvent ourselves.
Yeah the pay sucks, but it allows me to combine two of my passions. Performing in front of a small audience, and getting strangers to fall in love with me.
You. That’s why I got upset this morning, Dawson. I had spent the entire weekend thinking that you had heard everything I had to say on that message and that you came anyway. That you understood me.
Joey, as long that I live, I will never understand you. I mean, I had this fantastic weekend. Hanging out with you. Hanging out with my friends. Questions whether or not, I even wanted to go back to LA, and then I wake up this morning to find out that the girl that was so upset that I couldn’t come, could actually kiss me off in the waning hours of Friday night.
Joey, I am here. I’ve been here for two days, and only now are we finding a way to talk about stuff that really matters. Like why you left that message. All right? And you know, maybe that is the ending we are supposed to have. Maybe every other attraction that we feel each other is just, fear of moving on, fear of growing up.
I don’t know, but I do know that if I get on this plane, I am never going to find out. All right, because, we’re gonna, we’re gonna move on, we’re going to grow up, and four years from now we are going to wake up, and we are going to be complete strangers to each other. The only thing that I know for sure, it that I don’t want that to happen. Do you?
Ok. On that note... I'm gonna go to the bathroom, and when I get back, I'd like it very much if this week's episode of Sex and the City had come to an end.
You love academia because of the rules, and you hate relationships because of the lack of them. Joey, no one's gonna grade you on how you handle this, you know? No one's gonna come along and tell you what's expected so you know how to succeed. Relationships are messy. That's their nature. They start messy, and they end messy, and if you ever want to have another relationship in your life, you better just stop worrying about the mess.
[Looks at her, surprised to see her. Then he smiles] What? The stars? Um, no you can't see them very well, but what the hell, I've seen them all before, right? [They pause and look at each other, then Joey smiles]
What are you so nervous about? It's just Dawson. You guys have like known each other since you were placenta.
Joey
Exactly. It's Dawson. My best friend in the entire world who needs me right now more than he probably ever has and that's a lot of pressure. You know, what if I mess up and I say all the wrong things and at the end of the day I'm not enough.