Teaser:
It’s very early in the morning at the loft shared by Dawson Leery and Joey Potter. There’s a feeling of nostalgia in the air, as the two lay side-by-side on the bed, totally dressed up to go to work.
Dawson begins to cough, as Joey puts her hand against his forehead.
“I don’t get it!” she complains. “This came out of nowhere! You work way too much Dawson. The Spielberg show, and whatever you say you’ve left; you’re still involved in ‘The Creek’. Not to mention I know you have something else going on in your head.”
Dawson looks at her surprised, although only a little, that she actually knows that. Joey just nods her head knowingly with a ‘if you think you can fool me at this stage of the game, you’re the only fool here’ look.
“How did you know that?” Dawson asks.
“Because I know you way too well. And working so much can be no good.”
Dawson manages a small smile, amused at her preoccupation.
“Nah, it’s not about work. Actually I think it must be all those times we spent out in the pouring rain,” he jokes, sniffling slightly.
Joey half-smiles at him.
“Probably a 24-hour bug or something,” she suggests. “I’m sure it’ll pass, but in the meantime you’re gonna take some aspirins,” she says as she stands up and heads out the room. Sighing, Dawson takes a hand to his forehead and knows that she is probably right and he needs some aspirin.
He sits up on the bed just as Joey walks back into the room and sits by his side, handing him the pills and a glass of water.
“Just don’t give it to me,” she jokes as he stands up and swallows the drugs with some water.
“Or you’ll do what?” Dawson challenges, leaving the glass of water on his nightstand and walking back to the bed, a smirk on his face that is mirrored by Joey’s.
With a quick movement, Dawson pulls her down on the bed. Giggling, Joey squeals and looks at him in the eyes, smiling mischievously.
“What?” he inquires playfully, and Joey kisses him. Dawson kisses her back, cupping her face and they end the kiss smiling against each other’s lips.
“Ok, I got it.” Dawson says, Joey’s eyes still closed as Dawson opens them and looks at her lovingly. Then they rest foreheads and stay like that for a brief moment before Joey speaks again.
“Isn’t strange how we’re taking the term ‘living in the past’ to the extreme?” Joey asks him. “I mean, me going back to school and everything.”
Dawson shrugs.
“I prefer to think of it as ‘righting wrongs’,” he suggests.
“Lord,” Joey complains. “The way you said it makes us sound like the three amigos.”
“Who’s the third?” Dawson jokes.
In response, he receives a shove from her.
“Hey, careful!” he warns her chuckling. “I’m a sick man, remember?”
“And it’s dangerous to tease me!” Joey reminds him, half-smiling, half-threatening him, but the only thing that she gets is that he embraces her even tighter, to what she happily obliges.
“In all seriousness, Dawson…” she continues, playing with the hem of his shirt. “You’re sure we’re not just having a mid-mid-life crisis?”
He shakes his head and laughs, kissing the tip of his nose.
”Joey, we can’t be going through a mid-life crisis yet, when we don’t even are 30. I think we can have over…” he makes a mental math, “14 years more of stability”
Joey pretends to punch him in the stomach and he laughs, “All I know is that it’ll be so cool dating a college girl,” Dawson jokes, taking her fist in his hand, Joey interlacing her fingers with his. “You know…since I sorta spent a grand total of six months actually taking college courses?”
Joey laughs.
“And who’s fault was that, Mr. Leery?”
(Music of the credits starts playing in the background)
Dawson just smiles and gets closer to her, staring at her lips. A lazy smile curves Joey’s lips as she sees Dawson approach her. They start to kiss again, slowly first, playfully and deeper then, when Joey throws her arms around his neck. After a moment, Dawson stops and places a strand of her hair behind her ear.
“Um…Jo?” he asks as Joey nuzzles his neck, so all he gets as a reply is a muffled ‘Hmmm?’ Dawson looks over the clock with a smile pasted in his face because Joey’s lips feel so good that for a moment he forgets what he was going to say. “You remember we’re supposed to be leaving for work, right?”
“I told you, you work way too much. I’m sure no one is gonna notice you’re ten minutes late.” she states clearly as she moves to the other side of his neck.
Dawson can’t help but chuckle as he closes his eyes, knowing that he is losing this battle. And damn if he cares.
“And you do remember that I’m sick, right?”
“Pft!” she scoffs, muttering the last words into his mouth. “Ask me if I care.”
A low chuckle escapes Dawson’s throat as they continued to make out.
CREDITS.
Later in the morning, but still early, a New York Street.
Jack is walking with Audrey with her arm linked with his. We see them walking from afar, talking and sorting people but we don’t get to hear what they’re saying until they get closer.
“So how was our fave couple this morning?“ Audrey asks, referring to Dawson and Joey, since she knows Jack is staying with them as he always does every time he comes to the big apple. Dawson gets offended if he doesn’t. “I talked to Dawson on the phone yesterday and his voice sounded odd. I told him I thought he was getting a spring cold.”
“I don’t know, I haven’t even talked to them this morning. I left before they woke up. I wanted to go and take a walk and just… take some time for myself. Get lost in this big city, Jen’s city,” he says, looking around him with a smile lingering in his lips. “That is something I can’t do in a place like Capeside, a town so small that I know way too well.”
“I know what you mean, although my feelings are sometimes the opposite,” Audrey is saying, pouting her lips lightly as she looks straight ahead and Jack looks down, listening to her. “Sometimes I feel as if this town engulfed me, as if I couldn’t breath in it, you know? I am trying to find myself and I can’t do it with all the people, the noise, the buzz around me. Sometimes I feel as if getting out of here, but as if I had nowhere to go.”
Jack looks at her inquiringly.
“Are you ok Audrey? I mean, everybody is concerned about me, but sometimes I wonder if everybody is ok, or not, and you all are just avoiding to tell me because you think I have too much going on in my mind already.”
Audrey shrugs her shoulders and flips some hair over her shoulder.
“I am still thinking about it. It’s been a rough week and I don’t really know what’s wrong. I just know that there is something wrong, and I… I need to find out what it is and fix it, if it can be fixed.”
“I don’t think there is nothing in you that needs to be fixed Audrey. I just think you need an objective to focus in. Something that motivates you.”
“And so said the teacher,” Audrey laughs, getting a laughter from Jack as well.
“I think I have…” she continues, “I think I have found it. It is music. I love music. It makes me feel alive. But maybe I am looking at it from the wrong perspective,” she says, but the thoughts still not taking from in her head, the thoughts that have been there for a while now, but are still as evasive as the first day. “I mean, I keep fighting for it, because you just have to fight when you want something, you know? You have to fight and try or you’ll never know what it could have been and that just sucks,” she says vehemently, in true Audrey’s style, making Jack chuckle quietly even though he knows she is being serious and he agrees with her. But Audrey always makes him smile. “With time, you will regret that”.
“You are right,” he says, looking in front of them as they walk quietly for a moment.
“A penny for your thoughts?” Audrey asks tentatively.
“What you said before. About not trying, no fighting and about regretting it later.”
“Nothing is lost with Amy, and you are fighting like a lion Jack,” Audrey says, trying to encourage him. Jack smiles at her, and then shakes his head.
“It’s not that?”
“Oh,” is all she says about it. “So… have you seen him lately?”
“Yeah, a few times. Sometimes I see him as he pass driving the police car in some of the daily tours/shifts? He likes to make to make sure everything is ok. Sometimes we have even met at the B&B, because he likes to visit Amy as well. And each time, I keep thinking if maybe… if maybe I was wrong asking him for time.”
They come to a stop and Jack looks at the impressive building in front of them. Audrey looks up at it as well, to the building that seems to reach for the sky.
“If I was wrong to push him out of this, out of my life,” he says, and Audrey looks at him with a serious expression. “And I miss him.”
“Have you told him?”
Jack looks at her as if she was crazy.
“Tell him I miss him? That maybe I was wrong?”
Audrey nods her head silently, her arm still linked to his. Jack seems to ponder the right answer to her question.
“Do I have the right to do so?” Jack replies with another question. “I mean, how can I go to him and tell him that I am reconsidering all the things I said? To disturb his life like that again.”
“And what if that is what he is waiting for you to do? To go back to him,” she shoves him gently, and Jack smiles.
“I don’t know. So maybe… maybe you’re right.”
“And, not to break the moment, but what about this other guy? The one you have been kinda dating here in New York.”
“Dating? I wouldn’t call that dating. We have been out for dinner a couple of times whenever I have been here. He’s been a good friend, helping me go through this experience that he has experimented as well in some form. But that’s… that’s basically it. I thought that maybe it could be more. That maybe since he understood me, since he knew what I was going through and since he has been out of the closet for long time just like me, things would just… happen if they had to. But they didn’t.”
“Love sucks,” Audrey states firmly and passionately. Once again, Jack laughs.
“Yes, it does.”
They both look at the building again and Audrey finally squeezes his arm lovingly.
“Go there and fight them tiger!” she says. “Get your little baby back.”
Jack smiles at her and places his hand over hers.
“Thanks for coming Audrey,” he says.
“Absolutely no problem Jackers,” she smiles back and watches him go, an idea forming in her head.
At the same moment, in Capeside.
Pacey runs his hand along the bar top at the Ice House. He stops to look above the middle of the bar at the poster of The Creek that hangs there. He remembers the day that the Ice House had been reopened. He often wondered after the opening if he had chosen to reopen the restaurant that Joey’s family had once owned because he wanted her back in his life in some way or was it just the right opportunity for him at the time. Deep inside he had known the answer then just as he did now.
Back in his office now, he glances around at all of the things that are on the wall. He glances at one it reads, “Capeside´s Restaurant of the Year” while another one reads, “Capeside´s Best New Restaurant”. While renovating the Ice House had been a difficult task, Pacey had embraced the challenge and now as he peered at the walls of his office at the time the awards that he had received had fed his self-esteem but now, he knew how to do that on his own. He smiled remembering a recent time when he and Andie had been in Capeside to see Jack, Amy and Doug. They had chosen to go to the Ice House late that evening before returning to Boston. The restaurant had closed early that evening and they were all alone. Andie had helped him cook dinner and as they were finishing their meal she had reached out her hand covering his and had looked him in the eye then softly said, “I always knew you could do whatever you put your mind to you just needed to figure that out for yourself,” was all that she had said. She had been right, you have to do things for yourself and not for anyone else and that is where true happiness lies.
(‘100 years’ by Five For Fighting starts playing in the background)
Walking out of his office back in to the restaurant area, his eyes catch someone sitting on the patio area of the Ice House. Pacey smiles and goes to join him. Mike notices him and smiles, shaking the papers in his hands.
I'm 15 for a moment
Caught in between 10 and 20
And I'm just dreaming
Counting the ways to where you are
“The order to Boston. The new oven will be here in a couple of days. The bills are already paid but the 40% that will be paid once the oven is installed, as you said” Mike says triumphantly.
Pacey just smiles and nods his head in approbation. Mike notices that there is something in the young man’s mind and putting the papers aside, he stares at Pacey. Pacey notices and taking a deep breath, he takes a step that he knows he has to take, and that there’ll be no turning back.
I'm 22 for a moment
She feels better than ever
And we're on fire
Making our way back from Mars
“I’m gonna sell this place,” Pacey says confidently.
For a moment Mike just keeps staring at him.
“How come? You’ve done so much with this place. It is like I had always imagined it could be. It is like I was trying to make it be before…,” his voice trails off.
15 there's still time for you
Time to buy and time to lose
15, there's never a wish better than this
When you only got 100 years to live
“I know. I like the place. I love this place, and it was great being here, and it helped me to find myself somehow and it helped again now. When it all started this was all that I needed, all I wanted. This, and what this… represented. Now I don’t. Now I wanna start a new phase in my life. A new chapter. And I can’t do it here” he says as he looks around appreciatively, but knowing that each and every one of his words are holding the truth.
“I’ve always been curious, what made you buy this place?”
Mike’s question takes Pacey a bit by surprise.
I'm 33 for a moment
Still the man, but you see I'm a they
A kid on the way
A family on my mind
“I know what you’re thinking Mike and… yes, in part it had to do with Joey. But it wasn’t only that. Maybe it had to see with all of us. This place always had great potential. I could even see it when we were all younger and used to hang out here. But I think that was part of the reason as well: I had memories, I had a story here. It somehow represented everything I thought I had lost or all the times I could never get back and that… that was a part of why I liked it so much.”
“That’s not a bad reason, as long as it doesn’t stop you from moving forward.”
I'm 45 for a moment
The sea is high
And I'm heading into a crisis
Chasing the years of my life
15 there's still time for you
“I know. And that is why I am leaving. I can’t move forward here. I am still here, but already feeling as if this is a part of my past, even though I haven’t left just yet.” A beat. As Pacey tries to explain once again his feelings and thoughts, not only to Mike but also to himself. “I guess you could say that I’ve learned what I can from an old friend,” the look on Mike’s face is one of confusion causing Pacey to continue. “This place,” he motions around the restaurant, “is like an old friend and it is has taught me so much and now I’m ready to move on and let it go, “ Pacey states flatly.
Time to buy, Time to lose yourself
Within a morning star
15 I'm all right with you
15, there's never a wish better than this
When you only got 100 years to live
“So… who is gonna buy it?” Mike asks, trying to disguise the light anxiety in his voice, going through some papers that are on the table.
“Who else? You.” Pacey states calmly, looking him in the eye when Mike looks up at him surprised.
“I’d really be interested in buying the place from you,” Mike quickly states. “There’s a problem though with me buying this place.”
“And what’s that?”
Half time goes by
Suddenly you’re wise
Another blink of an eye
67 is gone
The sun is getting high
We're moving on...
“Money,” they both lightly chuckle. “Money…the root of all evil or so they say,” Mike continues as they both nod their heads.
“Just think about it ok?” Pacey says as he stands up, ready to open the door to the early clients that he knows will arrive soon. His brother Doug among them. “I’m sure there is a way,” he adds, patting Mike’s back as he walks away.
I'm 99 for a moment
Dying for just another moment
And I'm just dreaming
Counting the ways to where you are
As we see Pacey´s back as he walks back inside the restaurant, Mike looks at the papers he is holding in his hands and then leaves them softly on the table. With a pensive face, he leans on the chair and stares to the sight in front of him, thinking about Pacey´s proposal.
Every day's a new day...
15 there's still time for you
Time to buy and time to choose
Back to New York City.
It’s another lovely day of Spring. People are walking quickly down the street as if they are in a hurry to get to their destination. Many are talking on cell phones or listening to music, oblivious to everything around them. In the midst of the crowd we see Dawson and Joey walking together down the street, talking intimately, Joey laughing as Dawson kisses her cheek with their arms around each other. Compared to everyone else on the street, they are taking their time, enjoying the weather and each other’s company. They finally stop in front of an office building and Joey jumps in Dawson’s arms, kissing him passionately for a few minutes while people continue to move around them.
“Well that’s some goodbye,” Dawson says, pulling away breathlessly as Joey looks at him mischievously.
“I don’t want to go to work today, how about you pretend to still be sick so we can go home and play doctor,” she says, raising her eyebrow seductively at him. He laughs nervously, but considers her proposal for a minute.
“As much fun as that sounds, if you plan on taking me out for a ‘glad your better’ dinner, you need to go to work today,” he says, leaning in for another kiss, chuckling as she wraps her arms around his waist, pulling him closer.
“You, Dawson Leery, are no fun, losing your edge at your old age?” she laughs.
“Old age? Please little girl, once I’m back in tip-top shape I’ll show you that this man in front of you still a young man at heart,” he says, faking an all macho posture.
“Okay I think I can handle that,” she says, hugging him tightly.
“Hey I almost forgot, did you call about art classes yet?” he asks, holding her hands, playing gently with her fingertips.
“Yeah I did and apparently all of the studio painting and drawing classes are full so my only option outside of basket weaving is sculpture,” she frowns, trying to hide her disappointment.
“Sculpture eh?” he asks, pondering her statement. “Well even I know the importance and artistic expression of basket weaving but I think sculpture is a great alternative.”
“Really?” she asks, surprised.
“Oh yeah,” he says, moving back a bit. “In high school you were mostly focusing on canvas and painting so maybe the change of pace will really get you back into this, expand your horizons and expose you to other artistic endeavours.”
“Well you might have a point there, I guess I could give it a try,” she says, pondering his statement.
“Plus I am dying to get some new vases and statutes for our living room, I know the mantle is just crying out for a flower vase,” he says with a smile, feeling her swat him on the shoulder.
“Well maybe I’ll be able to produce you something along those lines,” she laughs. “But it won’t go on the mantle, it would have to be the bookshelf near the kitchen.”
“Negotiable, we can discuss more later,” he laughs, wrapping his arms around her, growling gently as he kisses her neck, moving closer to her lips.
“Okay mister, if you want this dinner then I should get going,” she says softly, trying to wiggle out of his arms.
“I may be changing my mind Miss Potter,” he says. “Maybe we could just dine in toight so we could go home now.”
“No, no, you need to get all of your strength back and I have to go to work before Ethan and everyone begins picking through my desk,” she says firmly, kissing his lips a few quick times.
“Alright, go, call me later?” he asks hopefully, giving her puppy-dog eyes.
“Later yes, but for sure not in the next ten minutes,” she laughs, hearing him sigh.
“If you say so,” he says, giving her another quick kiss before she disappears in the building, giving him one last wave. After she’s gone, he smiles and turns around, ready to mix in with the rest of the crowd on the streets.
Jack’s lawyer building.
After talking to his attorney, Jack goes out of the office building to call Grams with his cell phone. Being inside there for too long sometimes makes him nervous, and he feels as if he needs to breath some fresh air.
“Hello?” A shaky voice says on the other end of the line.
“Grams?” He questions, although he knows that he has called the right number it.
“Yes, Jack,” she says as she clears her throat.
“Are you okay?”
“Jack I’m fine. I’ve just been drinking some tea waiting for your call and almost fall asleep,” she laughs softly, making Jack smile.
“I have good news. The lawyer said that having you on my side is probably the only way that we have some chance of winning.”
In the other side of the line, Grams lightly sighs but Jack doesn’t notice as he keeps on speaking. She knows that she is doing the right thing, but this is just one more thing that has come between her and her daughter.
Jack shuffles his feet for a moment before asking the next question.
“Have you heard anything from Helen?” he asks not to sure if he wants to know the answer.
“No,” she states rather quickly. “And I doubt I will. Until the moment she is informed I’m fighting for Amy’s custody I guess.”
“I’m sorry Grams. It was never my intention…” he starts to half explain half apologize what they both know already, but he can’t help it. It hurts him that Grams, at her old age, finds herself in such an uncomfortable situation.
Just then something catches Jack’s eye: a father with his little girl. The little girl is dressed in yellow, her hair a medium blonde blows slightly in the wind. Jack continues to watch as he shifts her from one side to the other talking to her and playfully jostling her up and down slightly. The little girl giggles and so does the father.
And Jack knows that he doesn’t regret it. That yes, he wishes that things could have been different, easier. For him and for Grams. But he wouldn’t do it any other way. He wants to be that father. He wants to have Amy back and…
“Jack?” He hears a voice call.
“Uh yeah,” he says, finally snapping out of his thoughts and watching as father and daughter walk away.
“Thought I lost you.” Grams says, worried.
“No, still here sorry,” he answers, “sorry”.
“Are you feeling ok? You stayed at Dawson and Joey’s, right? Is any of them with you now?”
Jack can’t help but laugh.
“No Grams, they both are working. And too immersed in their little happy world forever and ever after, so I didn’t want to bother them with this. Audrey came with me though.”
“God blesses her here,” Grams smiles, because even though Audrey is a nutty case sometimes, she likes the young woman.
“She seems to be a little troubled lately, so we gave each other some company this morning. Gotta call her later…” he murmurs, more to himself than to Grams. “Anyway we’ve got a court date, a definite one.”
Grams stops what she is doing realizing that it is finally going to happen. In one way she is glad, in another she knows that this could be when they lose Amy.
“Yeah I know. Scary, isn’t it?” Jack says, knowing exactly what is going through Grams’ mind just like it went through his when he was given the date.
“Yes it is, but we have nothing to be afraid of. The end is near, but it can only mean good things for us and that little angel,” Grams says, convinced.
Jack smiles remembering all of the times that Grams had been the voice of reason, the voice of compassion and the voice of faith.
“Thanks. It saddens me though that no one is really a winner here, not really. If we win, Amy could lose the chance to get to know her grandmother. If she wins, my promise to Jen will mean nothing and you won’t be in her life,” Jack’s voice catches in his throat.
“Now Jack I won’t have that kind of talk! Think positive thoughts. I know that I am, and that is what we both need to do. Haven’t you ever heard the idea of when you send out positive thoughts they are returned to you? So this is what we are going to do.”
Jack laughs, “Yes, Sir!” He can’t help but to smile. “I’ve got to get going, have some things I need to do before I head home. I’d like to do some more researching in the library of this place about any other gay’s parent’s trials.”
“Ok then, just go. I’ll see you when you get home.” She says, and is about to hang up when Jack calls for her.
“Grams?”
“Yes Jack?”
“Thanks,” he smiles and so does Grams.
Jack pushes the end button on his cell phone and is still glancing down at it as he walks through the front door of the building and looks up just in time not to run in to someone.
“Oh, sorry, I didn’t see… you” he says, the last word hanging in the air as his eyes focuses in the tall, dark haired man standing in front of him.
“Jack?”
Jack’s mouth hangs in surprise when finally, recognition hits him.
“Drue?”
New York street, near Joey’s publishing firm.
“Dawson!” A voice says behind him as he is leaving Joey’s office building. He turns around, surprised to see Ethan walking towards him.
“Hey. Seems like everybody is getting late today,” he smiles at him as they shake hands.
“I only hope Joey’s reason was as good as mine,” Ethan smiles and Dawson laughs out loud, male complicity passing between them.
“I hope so. But I guess that means Samantha will be late as well?”
All the reply he gets is Ethan shrugging his shoulder, and he shakes his head, amused.
“Anyway, just the man that I want to see. I was actually going to call you sometime today if I didn’t catch you here.”
“Why is that?” Dawson asks.
“Do you have a second?”
Dawson can see that something is going on but not to sure what it is, he is guessing though that it might have something to do with Samantha.
“Something tells me that you need more than a second from me,” Ethan lightly laughs and Dawson smiles.
“Actually, you’re right.”
Dawson takes a look at his watch, “I’ve got about 10 minutes.”
“Great,” and Ethan begins to ramble a bit, “Its about Samantha. She’s amazing and I have these feelings for her and I’d like to give her a surprise and I need your help,” a pause “I really like her Dawson,” he adds with a big grin on his face.
Dawson half laughs, “Yes, I get that impression.”
They both laugh
“So how can I help you?”
“I do know one definite way of making Sam happy is taking her to some sort of sporting event, so I was thinking to take her to this big event the Yankees are preparing for next week, but I have no way to get a couple of tickets. So I was thinking that maybe…”
“That maybe I could get you a couple of tickets?”
Ethan nods his head, hopeful.
“I can always try” Dawson smiles at him and Ethan smiles back, happy. “I’ll even let her off early if you two want to go to a game,” Dawson adds playfully, pretending to be all bossy.
“We can even go together, the four of us, what do you think?”
“I think it sounds great, let me ask Joey and I’ll get back to you…” he states, raising his eyebrows as his cell phone rings.
“Dawson Leery,” a pause, “I’m on my way,” he hangs up the phone.
“Seems like you gotta go.”
“Yes, I better.” Dawson replies.
“Dawson thanks,” Ethan says, shaking hands once again.
“No problem. I’m glad that she’s found a guy that cares about her.” Dawson smiles at him sincerely.
“You can be sure of that,” Ethan says honestly. “Tell her I said hi, ok?”
“Will do,” Dawson says, quickly walking to the road to stop a taxi when his cell phone rings again. He smiles big when seeing the ID in the screen, and pushing the answer button, he puts it to his ear without saying a word.
“Ok, so I lied. It’s been like nine minutes, but I almost did it this time!” Joey’s voice says happily as Dawson chuckles and gets on the cab.
Still in the lawyer’s building, outside.
Jack and Drue are still standing face to face, as people pass them by.
“Wow,” Drue exclaims, a big grin in his face. “Look who we got here.”
“Drue Valentine,” Jack says softly, not tearing his eyes from Drue’s, still trying to process that he had to meet him, of all people, in such a big town like New York.
“Oh come on Jack, don’t look at me like that,” Drue winks at him. “It’s always nice to meet someone from the good old Capeside´s days,” Drue says, although is clear he is being sarcastic. “Let me invite you to a coffee.” Drue suggest happily once the initial shock wears off.
Jack isn’t crazy about the idea. Drue Valentine had never been one of his favourite people, but manners tend to hold priority over old grudges.
Then again, this was the snot-nosed punk who gave his sister drugs.
Eventually Jack’s better nature wins. High school had been a lifetime ago. It is possible the guy has matured. So he finally agrees to join the guy for a cup of coffee.
“Imagine my surprise to find Jack McPhee in the Big Apple,” Drue remarks once they are comfortably sitting in a little cafeteria near the place where they met. “Came a long way, haven’t you? Me, I never thought they’d let me leave Capeside. That place was like a prison.”
Jack sighs.
“Well, I still live there,” he explains. “It’s a long story. I’m just in town for a bit.”
Drue nods, understanding.
“Staying at the Ritz, are we?” he jokes.
“Actually, I’ve stayed with Dawson and Joey,” Jack corrects him. “It pays to have friends in the city.”
Drue’s eyes go wide and then his face transforms to a mischievous smile.
“Wait, back up!” he says. “Did you say you were staying with Dawson AND Joey? As in, they’re living together? When’d they get hitched?”
Jack laughs at the assumption.
“They didn’t,” he informs Drue. “Yet. But they are living together. It’s kinda complicated.”
“Oh please!” Drue scoffs, taking another sip of his latte. “When isn’t it with those two? Pacey must be freaking out. Admit it… they’re getting the third degree from Grams for ‘living in sin’ aren’t they? I can picture it now: ‘Jennifer, could you please tell your friends…’”
(‘Play crack the sky’ by Brand New starts plating in the background)
We sent out the SOS call
It was a quarter past four in the morning
When the storm broke our second anchor line
Suddenly, Jack’s face acquires a somber look. He knew this moment would come. Drue stopped in mid-sentence, realizing something’s wrong.
“So, how’s Jen doing anyway?” Drue says, changing the subject. “I can imagine her surprise when her favourite n’er do will shows up on her doorstep again.”
Four months at sea
Four months of calm seas only
To be pounded in the shallows off the tip of Montauk point
“She died last year,” Jack whispers.
At this moment, Drue’s face falls. Jack could have sworn he was shocked by the news. Almost…heartbroken.
They call them rogues
They travel fast and alone
One hundred foot faces of god's good ocean gone wrong
“Oh my god…” Drue whispers, struggling to find words. “I’m – I didn’t know. I mean, no one told me. How…? I mean…I never even had the chance to say goodbye.”
Despite himself, Jack feels pity for him. The guy seems to be truly shocked and… something more he can’t decipher.
“I’m sorry,” Jack admits, with a sigh. “Giving this kind of news is not easy, not even giving them to someone like you”
Drue looks at him clearly hurt and Jack regrets his words, so he tries to drift the direction of the conversation.
“Amy’s the lucky one, I think. She’s too young to know she lost her mother. Too young to even remember her.”
What they call love is a risk
Cause you will always get hit out of nowhere
By some wave and end up on your own
“Amy?” Drue asks, in his face disconcert, quite not believing what he thinks he has heard.
“Her baby daughter,” Jack explains. “Before Jen died, she left Amy to me. Now Jen’s mother is trying to take her away and we’re in a fight for the custody. Me and Grams, that’s why I am here today.”
Drue’s eyes go wide and he seems to be more confused and shocked than ever.
The hole in the hull defied the crews attempts
To bail us out
And flooded the engines and radio
And half buried bow
“Daughter?” he asks, seeming as if he hasn’t even heard the rest of Jack’s words. “Wow…that’s just…” and then slowly, almost magically, Drue’s expression changes from one of shock and sadness to one of panic.
“How old is she?” he asks, matter-of-factly.
“Huh?” Jack asks. “Amy?”
Drue nods his head, impatient. Jack furrows his eyebrows, weird out by the question.
“Why do you…?”
Your tongue is a rudder
It steers the whole ship
Sends your words past your lips
Or keeps them safe behind your teeth
“Dammit Jack, how old is she?!?”
Jack is taken aback by the intensity of the question. He assumes Drue is shaken up by the news of Jen’s death so he doesn’t take it personally, but finds it strange though. All that intensity.
“Just over a year,” he answers. “Why?”
Drue takes a deep breath, collecting himself.
But the wrong words will strand you
Come off course while you sleep
Sweep your boat out to see
Or dashed to bits on the reef
“Do you know who the father is?” he asks after a moment.
“No,” Jack replies, shaking his head. “She never introduced him to us, you know Jen.”
It is now that Jack notices Drue’s face has gone a pale white. He looks like he has seen a ghost.
”Didn’t she talk to you about some guy named Greg? Or something like that?” he asks, urgently.
“Why?” Jack inquires. “You know him? Did you met him or know where to find him?” jack asks as something very similar to panic starts to rise and spread through his body.
This story's old but it goes on and on until we disappear
Calm me and let me taste
The salt you breathed
While you were we are underneath.
“I gotta go” is all that Drue replies, his voice practically a whisper.
I am the one who haunts your
Dreams of mountains sunk below the sea
I spoke the words but never
Gave a thought to what they all could mean
Before Jack can even begin to protest, Drue leaves some money on the table and quickly makes a beeline to the exit.
I know that this is what you want
A funeral keeps both of us apart
You know that you are not alone
Need you like water in my lungs
“Drue, wait! Wait a minute!” Jack says, standing from his chair, making the people around him look at him with curiosity.
But it is too late. Drue is already gone. Now alone, Jack looks down at his own cup, trying to think of what could have spooked him so badly. And what it is more important, if maybe Drue knows something that could help him with Amy. Sighing, he leans back on his chair and closes his eyes for a moment, tired.
This is the end
Lunch time, New York.
"So where to Miss?" The cab driver asks Joey as she settles herself in the backseat of the cab placing her portfolio next to her.
"28th Street and 42nd Road," she tells the cab driver who nods his head and proceeds to force his way back in to the traffic causing a couple of people to honk at him.
Joey looks down; her hands rolled and unrolled the catalogue in her hands. She isn’t exactly nervous, just a bit apprehensive. She had called several weeks prior to inquire about their program and they had offered to send her a catalogue and make an appointment for her. At the time, she had just been exploring the possibility of taking art classes but now she feels that the tide had shifted a bit. For a fleeting moment, she wonders why things had changed. Was it because she had shown Dawson the painting that she had done of his house and the creek? Or was it something that she had always yearned for, knowing someday it would find her once again? She knows it was a combination of both.
The cab comes to a quick stop; Joey pays the driver and gets out of the cab to stand in front of the building. Not hesitating, she opens the door and walks in to the building. Her high heels clank against the tile floor causing an echoing of her footsteps to be heard in the building. The air smells of paint and paper, something that always makes Joey smile, probably because it reminds her so much of her mother. After her mother died, she would curl up in her mother's painting smock because the smell seemed to ease her pain and then of course, there was Dawson who would put his arm around her and just sit quietly with her while she cried.
"Miss Potter," she hears a voice behind her causing her to turn around.
"Yes," she answers.
"I'm Anna --- we spoke on the phone?"
Joey nods her head, "Yes, I remember." She says as Anna outstretches her hand to shake Joey's.
"I see that you brought your portfolio with you," Anna look down at the attaché' that Joey is holding in her right hand.
"Yes...yes, I did."
"Well, how about if we go put that in my office and I take you on a tour of our facility.”
Joey nods her head in agreement and follows Anna down the remainder of the hallway going inside an office and placing her portfolio on the floor.
As they walk around, Anna tells Joey about the school's history and what classes that she thought she might be interested in. Joey feels exhilarated as she walks around the school.
"And last," Anna points towards the long wall next to her office, “these are some of the drawings and paintings that our students have done. We've found that people not only come here to hone their artistic skills but to find out more about themselves and who they are."
"I see," Joey states as Anna walks ahead of her in to her office with Joey following behind. Once inside, they take a seat and Anna smiles politely to Joey.
"Would you mind?" she asks, pointing to Joey's portfolio.
Joey grasps it and lifts it up her hands and she watches as Anna takes her time to look at each piece.
"Why is this one last?" She asks, Joey knowing which is she was referring to.
"This is the last one that I've done," she answers while Anna watches her eyes soften and a simple smile plays across her lips.
"This one should be first, the use of coloring and shadowing is impressive. This must have taken some time," Anna looks down at the painting once again.
"Actually, it was fairly easy," Joey states.
"Joey you have real talent, it isn't pushed upon you and it is something that you can just learn it comes from deep inside you. You are born with it and given the right nurturing it can flourish and grow."
Joey smiles softly as memories fill her mind.
"My mother...," Joey begins as Anna listens attentively, "my mother used to draw pictures for my favorite books. She was amazing."
Anna nods her head, not wanting to ask further than that.
"Joey I think you would love it here. We have wonderful, patient instructors, some of the best. And, we both know that you have the talent," Anna says, smiling brightly at Joey. Joey smiles her back, one of trademark all teeth showing up.
"This feels like a good place to be."
"Well then, lets take a look at the classes that you want to take and see what we have available," Anna turns in her chair to face the computer and pull up the class schedule.
Joey watches her as she scrolls down the screen, "A lot of the classes are already full, I know I told you that you could only be able to attend some sculpture classes, but…" Anna scrolls down a bit more and puts her finger to the screen then she prints something out. "Let’s see what we can do about that” she winks an eye to her and Joey smiles. “Why don't you take a look at these while I go and get some paperwork that I need you to fill out."
"Okay," she hands Joey what she had printed from the computer and leaves her alone in the room. Joey looks at the paper and realizes that are the classes Anna chose for her are all advanced classes. 'Do I really belong in these classes?' She thinks to herself, slightly freaking out. But then she remembers her promise to Dawson about making some vases and painting a mural on their loft, and she smiles as she reads the list all over again, more confidently this time.