I just-- I want to ask you one thing before you go.
RRich
As long as it doesn't involve me holding you while you cry.
Well, I was just wondering if maybe you could cover me? Loan me a little money?
RRich
You're kidding, right?
No. I wish I was, but... you have no idea how hard it is for me to ask you for this, Rich, but a friend of mine a couple of weeks ago, he came to me and he wanted to double his money really fast. So I just put it all into Stepatech.
RRich
That was a stupid move, Pacey.
But he wanted to pull out, and I told him not to, I told him to just trust me and ride the thing out, and this guy is my oldest and closest childhood friend. I cannot screw him like this, Rich.
RRich
It's already done, Pacey.
No, I'm serious. All I want to do is give him back his initial investment. And then I'll pay you back with whatever interest you want.
RRich
What about you? What happened to your disposable income?
I got nothing left. Everything I had was in Stepatech. I'm worth like, I don't know, 300 bucks right now.
RRich
You know, it's funny. You're so good at your job, you're so confident, I sometimes forget how young and stupid you are.
Please, Rich, I need your help, not the speech right now, ok?
RRich
Oh, I think you do, actually. And I'm gonna say to you what you should have told your little friend in the first place. No.
That's it? That's all you have to say to me? I come to you, embarrass myself, and you're just gonna say no?
You know, Rich, sometimes you're so good at your job I forget what an unfeeling prick you are.
RRich
You work for me. I'm your boss. You watch your tone.
Ok, Rich, I'm just asking you for this one favor! Just one time!
RRich
I...don’t...do... favors, Witter.
Why not? 'Cause god forbid you have to drop the Gordon Gecko routine for a second? I mean, this would be so easy for you, man. Just help me out here!
RRich
Help you out?! I gave you a job, Witter! I gave you a chance to escape some bottom feeder existence, and every step of the way, you have been a holier-than-thou pain in the ass. So you tell me, why should I help you out? Take this pen. Take this pen, Witter, and write down today's date. Because from this day forward, you're going to amount to nothing. You are a failure and a loser, and you deserve everything that can-- uhh!
[Pacey hits him and they begin fighting]
RRich
It's all over, Pace. Don't worry... you're fired. That's what you wanted all along, anyway. Loser.
I got 3 credit cards in the mail last week, maxed them out in, like, a day. Got lights, cameras, this awesome sound equipment. I'm going completely overboard, but I don't care. I'm talking a mile a minute. I haven't even asked you what brought you to Capeside.
Man. Ha! Being in this room, it just takes me back to a whole other era. When the future was a clean slate for all of us, you know?
Well, the room may have gone back in time, but I think you and I have moved ahead rather nicely. It's about all the obstacles we went through when we were kids. We both ended up doing exactly what we wanted to do.
Well, there was that brief period of time I toyed with the idea of being a rodeo clown, but I guess this'll do. Heh heh.
But you made something of yourself, Pace, and now you're making something out of me.
So they told me you went away for a while.
Let's not be awkward exes, Pacey. I was drying out in Malibu.
Ok. Well, you look great, anyhow.
Clean living, my friend. So, what happened to your job? I know you're not just taking a long lunch break. You're a little too hard-core for that.
Well, I've been reassessing how I allocate my time.
You're thinking about taking a tasty downward spiral? Oh, you'd better quit while you're ahead. You're not cut out for this.
What are you talking about? I could spiral with the best of them. Speaking of... shouldn't you really avoid places like this?
I, um, can't hide from my problems forever. It's kind of how I ended up in rehab in the first place, right?
Well, that's brave of you. But you were always good like that.
Yeah, well, I'll be your personal superhero, ok?
Unless of course you want to spend the rest of your days hiding out in dives like this. What are you hiding from, Pacey?
I'm hiding from the suit, because it's evil. Bad things happen when it's on. I allowed people to believe in me for a second, which was foolish, and now it's really coming back to bite them in the ass.
You know what? This isn't you talking. This is your former self rearing its ugly head. Come on, Pacey. I know moments like these. One path is the harsh reality, and one path is the comfortably numb. But guess what? In the morning, when you're all sobered up, the problem's still gonna be there. Only, now it'll be like a big festering wound, and you'll just be the jerk who sat back and let it get worse.
Well, thanks for not walking on eggshells around me.
It's weird, huh? This room used to be the official meeting place where we'd discuss what happened that day. And now it's just a film set, and I don't even know what happened this year.
Yeah. I was kind of hoping I could just climb up the ladder and... magically fill in all the lost time.
How's that working for you?
Maybe I was gone for too long.
Well, we'll piece it together between the two of us then, right? The lost year of Dawson and Joey.
Not talking to you. Maybe it seemed like it was. And I guess it just... became routine, just another thing that I didn't do. Well, like shooting heroin or driving drunk.
Wow, I'm up there with the dangerous activities.
Or casual sex. Dawson, for so long, you were the only person in the whole world I wanted to be with. Then somehow you became my only one-night stand.
I never meant for it to be like that.
I know. I know. Maybe being in this room makes it easier. Having it set up this way, you know, I'm so familiar, and... seems insane not to talk. And sometimes the hardest things to say are the things that... really matter.
Hmm. Why do you think I've spent years trying to write an entire screenplay about you?
I read it in one sitting.
Ok. I hope you don't think that I gave it to you so that you could just say all the obligatory nice things.
And why would I feel obligated?
Exactly, because if I can't get an honest opinion from the girl who loathes me more than anyone else in the world, who can I trust, right?
You've always been this devilishly clever.
Well... yeah. But... uh, I got--I got-- I wanted you to read it because... well, you're really the only person in the world who can tell me if I got it right this time.
You grew up, Dawson. You grew up. I always wanted to think that you were this hopeless dreamer and I was the adult that escaped. But I didn't escape anything, not really.
Sure you did. You got out of Capeside. Wasn't that the original plan?
Couldn't escape myself, could I? You were right. So much of what I was fighting was growing up. And I figured out this past year that it's hard for me... to talk about sex, to talk about... getting close with someone. And maybe... I'm not supposed to lose myself. Now it's not part of the plan. But then again, I never thought that losing you was part of the plan, either.
I think sometimes... you have to lose somebody completely before you can figure out what they really mean to you. I missed you, Jo.
You got it right this time, Dawson. I missed us.
You don't have to do this.
Sit out here with me. I know you'd rather be in the house with Dawson, so why don't you just go and help him lick his wounds?
Things never change here, do they?
No... because these are the roles we were destined to play.
No, Pace, these are the roles we chose to play. I mean, look at us, sitting out here on this dock in front of the same house we've been haunting for years. We're practically ghosts of our former selves, and honestly, I don't think anyone really remembers what they're mad about anymore.
Mm, I wouldn't be so sure about that.
Pacey, if I wanted to go back into that house, I would've gone a long time ago. Don't you know me at all by now?
Well, I don't want you sitting here feeling sorry for me.
I don't feel sorry for you. I feel for you, Pacey. God, can't you ever tell the difference?
I don't know. [Sighs] I don't know, because you and I have had a very confusing run of things. Especially lately.
Ok. You know, and no matter how much I love you or how long I stay with you, you're only gonna remember the moments when I leave.
Well, you gotta give me that much, because those are pretty much the most painful moments in my life.
That's because you ask for them, Pacey. I'm sorry. You do. Your whole life, you spend so much time expecting the worst that you don't even notice the moments when people are loving you, and, Pacey, people spend a lot of time loving you.
Well... with all due respect, Jo, my best friend just walked away from me, but that's not even the worst of it. The worst thing is he hasn't even really known me for the last 3 years, so please, clarify that for me. How does that qualify me as a man with a support network?
Well, you have a person sitting right here, don't you? But of course, that's not enough. Not until you let it.
In what world do I have you?
Look, just because I don't fit into that... place you want me to doesn't mean there's not a place for me, Pacey. Does it?
Joey, this isn't your fight, anyway.
You're right. You're right. It's not my fight because it's been over for a really long time, Pacey. And it is up to you to make it right.
I don't know how to make it right.
Well, you're gonna have to figure it out. You know, that's the thing about ghosts. They say that... they don't leave until they're at peace with what they left undone.
Hey. Jo, come in. I'm finally starting to understand these soap operas. They're pretty good.
All right, dirt merchant. Put some pants on. You're coming with.
Yeah. I don't think I'm going to be able to do that. The Young and the Restless is just about to come on. I gotta see how J.T. talks his way out of this one 'cause Colleen was about to kill him. I wouldn't miss that for all the pizza in Capeside. But, please, feel free. Pull up a seat. We got chips.
Well, yeah. Kind of comes with the territory. Now I'm not sure what you want me to do about it.
I want you to come with me. I want you to help me figure out how to get Dawson’s movie made on $10 and a dream.
I'd just end up ruining the whole thing, and Dawson knows that, I know that, and in your heart of hearts you know that. I'm a dangerous man, a lethal weapon, so we're all better off if I just lay here on my couch, watching my stories.
Cut, cut. Audrey, you're gonna have to take the robe off.
I thought we'd be in tight enough so we wouldn't see it, but it's right there.
This is, like, my dream day.
Ok, Dawson, what if I just show a little shoulder?
Problem is, I need bare skin.
You need, like, spaghetti straps.
She's right. You have to have something to match the wardrobe Audrey would be wearing if Pacey junior hadn't walked into her chest with a jelly doughnut.
We don't have an E.T.A. on that dress yet, do we?
Yes. Spin cycle. Your mom says it's gonna be about, uh, 20 minutes.
Uh, excuse me. Is there any scenario in which she could just take off all her clothes? You know, at least for one take? Because then, you know, I feel like I could really give you an appropriate on-camera react—
[Joey grabs him by the ear.]
Can I have 5 minutes alone with this guy?
You don't know how long I dreamed of hearing you say that.
[sits in the Director’s chair] Oh, my apologies, sir. Force of habit.
No, stay there. Stay there. You bailed my ass out today.
That's right, you little bugger. My bloody dogs are barkin'.
Makes you feel for the little people, doesn't it? Makes you wanna go back and apologize to every crew member you ever threw a hissy fit at, I bet.
Hell, no. Makes me wanna produce.
[voiceover] I used to be afraid of so many things...That I'd never grow up. That I'd be trapped in the same place for all eternity. That my dreams would forever be shy of my reach. It's true what they say. Time plays tricks on you. One day you're dreaming, the next your dream has become your reality. And now that this scared little girl no longer follows me wherever I go, I miss her. I do. 'Cause there are things I wanna tell her-- to relax, to lighten up, that it is all going to be ok. I want her to know that meeting people who like you, who understand you, who actually accept you for who you are, will become an increasingly rare occurrence. Jen, Jack, Audrey, Andie, Pacey, and Dawson. These people who contributed to who I am, they are with me wherever I go, and as history gets rewritten in small ways with each passing day, my love for them only grows. Because the truth is... it was the best of times. Mistakes were made, hearts were broken, harsh lessons learned, but all of that has receded into fond memory now. How does it happen? Why are we so quick to forget the bad and romanticize the good? Maybe it's because we need to believe that the time we spent together actually meant something, that we were there for each other in a time in our lives that defined us all, a time in our lives that we will never forget. I can't swear this is exactly how it happened. But this is how it felt.
Looks like somebody's in quite the hurry this morning.
Sheriff Doug, hey, look, I'm sorry. I'm late and I'm trying to get to class.
Well, I have no choice but to issue you a citation for doing 40 in a 25.
Look, I already have all these points against my license. You think maybe there's something I could do to...get you to look the other way.
May I remind you, Mr. McPhee, that attempting to bribe a public official is a serious offense?
Uh, you know, I was just hoping that maybe, um... I could appeal to your greater sense of compassion?
[Doug leans in and kisses him]
All right. Just this once, I'll let you go with a warning.
No, no, never, never call me honey.
Dude, it's a deserted road. Chill.
Don't call me dude, either.
All right, tonight? Dinner later?
Yeah. I'll cook. My place.
Great. I'll bring the handcuffs. Kidding. I'll see you.
Yeah, I'll see you. Jack... slow down.
Mr. Hampton... is there a problem?
HHampton
Do I have to keep reading?
Well, the poem's not finished.
HHampton
No offense, Mr. McPhee, but this is a poem by a guy about another guy. It's, like, a gay poem.
I wasn't aware that poems had sexual orientation. See, this gay poem and others like it actually got Whitman fired from his job. See, he was an outcast most of his life. But he didn't care. He loved his country. He loved the freedom that it stood for, and he celebrated the American spirit every chance that he got. And here we are 150 years later, and we're still laughing at him. Your assignment for this weekend is to find a way to say, through the conventions of poetry, what you are afraid to say. I want you guys to write about something that you're scared of. We're gonna read these things out loud on Monday to each other, so I would hope that you give the same courtesy to each other that you did not give to Mr. Whitman today. Have a good weekend.
We’ve been through so much Dawson. So many good times and bad. When I loved you, you loved Jen. When you loved me, I needed to be on my own. So I left you for Jack. Then he realized he was gay.
And then I convinced you to turn your dad in for trafficking cocaine and...you said you’d never speak to me again.
But I did. I offered myself to you at that party, after you crashed your dad’s boat.
And I refused...for some reason. And so you fell for Pacey.
And years passed... until finally here we are... saying, "I do." The way it should be... the only way it can be for star-crossed, ill-fated soul mates. So, I do.
[Dawson wakes up]
