2nd most-quoted character in Dawson's Creek: in 209 of its 557 quotes Most scenes with: Joey Potter (84), Dawson Leery (27), Andie McPhee (16)
Scenes with Pacey Witter 173
Pacey
It's not that I don't want you to be able to go off and realize your dreams, Joey, because I do. But for the first time, I just... I felt like it wasn't me that was holding you back from it.
Pacey, you've never held me back. You have to stop thinking like that.
Pacey
You know what? I could stop thinking like that if you'd just promise me one thing, that if the day ever comes, and it may come much sooner than either one of us thinks, but if that day ever comes where you did feel like I was holding you back... promise me that you'd cut me loose, yeah?
Joey, we're not talking about this today, because we're not talking about anything negative today, because today is your day to celebrate this most amazing accomplishment that you have worked so hard for.
I'm at the prom, Pacey. I'm at the prom again. I mean, I graduated 4 years ago and I'm still here. You know, tonight for the first time, I didn't just feel older than Dawson, I felt old. Too old to be here. Too old to be doing what I'm doing.
Pacey
Want pathetic? How's this for pathetic... I'm technically still a junior. I'm not even supposed to be here.
You know... last year... I felt like I could give you something that no one else could give you. I could give you that wall to paint your mural on. I could take you away on a sailboat for a summer. I could even give you that night in the ski lodge. But I don't feel like I have anything left to give you now, Jo. I guess I'm spent. I've become a man who hates himself so much he can't even look at his own reflection in the mirror, and I wish that I could tell you that being with you doesn't make that worse, but it does... because the more that you love me in spite of that, the angrier that I get at you... and the more that I stop loving you back.
Why don't you just tell me how you want me to act? 'Cause I can't win with you, Jo. If I act like I'm unhappy, you get angry with me. But if I act like I'm happy, you get angry with me.
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.
Look, I just don't think you should go to the party tonight, Pace. I mean, even if you and Joey are supposed to be together, you both need to take some time apart to figure out what went wrong. Otherwise you're gonna wind up making the same mistakes all over again. Trust me. I know from whence I speak.
Pacey
Trust you? Miss pack-up-and-leave-town? Forgive me if you're not exactly my relationship role model right now.
I'm just trying to help, Pace. I don't want to see you getting hurt.
Pacey
Well, it's too late for that. I'm already hurt. And that's exactly the situation I'm trying to rectify. That's why I gotta go to this party, just to see what the gods have in store for me.
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.
Did you study for that final you so dramatically walked out on?
Pacey
I can categorically say that I studied my ass off, sir.
KMr. Kasdan
Care to prove it?
Pacey
You did hear everything that I had to say in class today, didn't you?
KMr. Kasdan
Oh, I did. You're not an idiot or a punch line. You are why I teach. Those honor students that turn your stomach... they don't need me. They're gonna forget me as soon as they walk out the door. But you...
Pacey
I have a funny feeling I'm gonna be telling this story for years to come.
KMr. Kasdan
And if that should turn out to be the case, please describe me as a strapping, handsome man, possessed of an immense charity and a great, great goodwill.
Pacey
I can do that.
KMr. Kasdan
[handing him a test] Mr. Witter, you have 45 minutes.
Look... look, Pace, I know it's over. I just want to be your friend. I want to help you.
Pacey
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.
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?
She's, um... you know, she's doing the same thing you are, Pace. She's keepin' busy. (Sighs) She doesn't say much, but, um... you know, I get the feeling that she thinks about you every 10 seconds or so. I know she'd appreciate a call.
Pacey
Uh, you know, I just don't think that's a place I'm ready to go quite yet, Dawson.
I just... I realized that you're the only person in Capeside that I actually regret not saying good-bye to, because, you know, for a long time there, Dawson, being your best friend was all I really cared about in my life. I just wanted you to hear from me that despite everything that's happened between us and the miles that may be between us right now, you know, I still think about the way things were.
[laughs] Yeah, Pace, I'm... I'm really glad you called, because the worst thing about not saying good-bye was I didn't get a chance to tell you something I wanted so badly to tell you.
Dawson's Creek · 557 quotes
Pacey
