==================================================
Memories light the corners of my mind
Misty water-colored memories, of the way we were
Could it be that it was all so simple then?
Or has time rewritten every line?
If we had the chance to do it all again
Tell me would we? Could we?
==================================================
Andie and Jack were in one of the living-rooms of their father's house. Andie was intensely focused on a book about endocrinology. She was dressed in a blue and white checked cotton dress, bobby socks, with a pink barrette in her hair.
Jack had arranged himself dramatically on the couch in an imitation of the painting known as the Death of Marat. Every few minutes he sighed deeply. Andie pointedly ignored his display.
Andie checked her watch and put down her book, turning to Jack.
"Jackers, could you do me an enormous favor?"
Jack looked up at her and whined, "What is it, Andie? Can't you see I'm busy." He moved into a new position of tragic suffering.
Andie giggled and said, "Stop being silly. I have a conflict in my schedule today."
Jack sat up. "That's a first. Are you feeling OK?"
Andie continued, "Pacey asked me to drop by his brother's place to pick up his passport. It's important to be over there no later than 5:30 because his brother is working nightshift this week and he'll be getting ready to go to work. I forgot that I have to be at Jen's house by 5:45 to help plan the "Welcome back" party for Henry. Pretty please. Be a dear and get Pacey's passport for me." Andie gave Jack an imploring look.
Jack rolled off the couch and ran his fingers through his immaculately styled hair. Jack pretended
to be their father checking his daytimer.
"Let's see,
7-8: Breakfast.
8-12: Miss Ethan.
12-1: lunch.
1-3: think of what a jerk I must have looked like kissing Ethan in front of his boyfriend.
3-5: hang out with sister and mope"
Jack pretended to write in the book.
"OK, I have an opening between 'nobody understands me' and 'I'll never have a boyfriend.' I'll pencil you in. That leaves plenty of time for dinner and 'I hate myself'"
Andie said, "Welcome to the world of multitasking. Get out of the house and blow some of the stink off of you.
Jack winced, "Gross, you've been talking to Pacey too much on that cell phone. Doesn't it kind of weird you out, I mean spending an entire week on "True Love" with your old boyfriend and his new girlfriend?"
Andie shrugged, "I'm fine. When we were dating it seemed as if we were magically destined to be together for eternity. Six
months later, you know that you'll never, ever be together. Life moves on and you move with it or you get left behind. It's good that we're friends now."
"Is that a hint about me? You think I should be over Ethan already?"
Andie sighed.
"Listen Jackers, Pacey and I broke up after I had spent the summer in a nuthouse, having a sexual relationship with another boy. That would strain the strongest relationship to the breaking point. I'm soap-opera girl. Next year, I'll wake up from a coma, with amnesia, and find that my (previously unknown) evil identical twin has shot J.R. Ewing. Give him a break! Pacey would have to be sooooo codependent to put up with that sort of stuff that I wouldn't want to be around him."
Jack sighed.
"As for you, my fine gay brother, ETHAN is the screw-up in your relationship. He was major dishonest with you and he lied to you. It was nice seeing you with someone you could love but he mind-fucked you royally. I wish you had just tricked with someone instead. The old, Find 'em, Feel 'em, Fuck 'em and Forget 'em."
"Andie! That's Jen speaking, not you. What about love?"
Andie said, "What about it? You've been dragging around the house for the last month because the first guy you took a chance in liking turned out to be a shallow, lying, manipulative, little BITCH! I would rather have someone take advantage of your bod than of your innocence. You were his 'spare boyfriend' just in case things didn't work out with his real boyfriend. And no one deserves that."
Andie trembled with anger.
Jack said, "Andie, it isn't really that bad. When I met him I thought 'WOW, someone else has gone through all the shit for me.' It doesn't work like that. He liked playing the mentor's role and it went to his head. But it wasn't fair to expect him to solve all the problems in my life. Pretty much, I'm over him. I've just become accustomed to sulking."
Andie smiled at him, "You've been hanging around Dawson Leary too much."
Both of them laughed. Andie walked over and gave Jack a hug.
She whispered in his ear, "But it still hurts, doesn't it?"
Jack whispered back, "yeah."
==================================================
It's raining, it's pouring,
My love life is boring
Me to tears
I'd always dreamed I'd find a perfect lover
But he turned out to be just like every other
Man I've known
And I won't cry another Tear
==================================================
5:30 at the residence of the Witter brothers.
Jack pulled up on his bike and locked it up. He wore his football jacket over a Tommy Hilfinger T-shirt, with Gap khaki shorts, athletic socks and an old pair of running shoes.
Jack thought, "Andie was right. It's hard to stay depressed when I'm out in the sunlight and fresh air. I don't know if I'm ready to let go yet."
He went to the door and rang the bell.
It took thirty seconds for Doug to answer the door. His short brown hair was wet and he still had some foam behind his left ear. Water glistened on the hair on his chest. Jack swallowed and flushed a healthy pink. He tried nonchalance but his voice squeaked.
"Hi, I'm a friend of Pacey's."
Jack cleared his throat and tried again in his more adult tone,
"I'm a friend of Pacey's. He told my sister to pick up his passport at 5:30. If it isn't convenient I'll come back tomorrow."
Doug crossed his hands over his chest.
Jack thought, ~what the hell is going on. He's just looking at me and I feel like screaming or singing or something. You've met him before, this is Pacey's asshole cop brother. Get a grip on yourself. (Jack's brain supplied him with an image of the best place to grasp.) STOP THAT!!!~
"I told him that I finish work at five, and he knows that I like to have a shower after work. That is just like Pacey to get the times wrong."
Doug stepped back from the door and made a broad gesture inviting Jack in.
"You're here now. Come on in. Did he happen to mention where he left his passport?"
Jack said, "Yes, it's either under his bed or in the closet. He told me that I would find what I'm looking for in the closet here."
Jack entered the living room while Doug went to the closet and took out a wooden hanger.
"Here, you look really hot in that jacket, I mean, it's hot in here and you'll be more comfortable in fewer clothes, I mean, just hang up your coat."
~Hell, I'm babbling. Didn't the twerp tell me something about the football player brother of his old girlfriend.~
"Thanks, great apartment. It's hard to imagine Pacey living in such an elegant place." Jack said.
Doug said, "Sit down for a while. I'll finish getting dried and dressed. Do you like lemonade?"
"Great, that would be nice! Thank you." ~Maybe I'm coming down with something, I have butterflies in my stomach, and my knees are shaking. I better sit down before I fall down. ~
Jack caught Doug's eye, he stroked behind his left ear, and Doug wiped away the shampoo. Doug smiled at Jack for the first time.
~My heart just skipped a beat~.
Doug toweled down his hair as he went into his bedroom. He grabbed a fresh pair of socks from his drawer.
~Hmmmm! I still have those packages of strawberry flavored condoms. Why in the hell did I just notice that?~
He looked through his t-shirts and fished out one of his tightest. He combed his hair into order and popped a couple of breath mints. He steadfastly refused to speculate about his behavior.
Doug went to the kitchen. Got two of the nice Crystal D'Arques tall glasses (rather than the usual McDonald's he and Pacey used on a daily basis), poured out the lemonade, put a sprig of mint into each glass and took them out to the living room. He put the glasses on doilies on the coffee table in front of Jack.
Jack reached over and took a sip. ~Nice. Definite husband material. Oh, get over it boy! Even if he were queer, which he's not, why would he be interested in one of his brother's friends?~
Doug thought, ~He has such blue eyes.... Where the hell did that come from?~
Jack asked, "Would you mind if I had a look at your record collection?"
"Sure, go ahead but I doubt that you'll find anything to your taste."
Jack said, "Hey, you have a great collection: Cher, Celine Dione, Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, Annie Lenox, Madonna, Bette Midler, Barbra Streisand. Could I hear Barbra's Classical Album, I've heard that it's wonderful but I don't know anyone else who has it."
Doug said, "Well, it's not one of her best albums. But you have to listen to her version of the lullaby from Songs of the Auverge and compare it to Kiri te Kanawa's version. Every great soprano has done a cover of that song."
The two young men listened in rapture to Barbra Streisand singing a husky version of the Berceuse followed by Kiri te Kanawa diamond pure rendition. They sat silently together for a moment then Jack said, "I better look for the passport now. Where's Pacey's room?"
"Right down the hall. I'll help you look. Would you like a pair of rubber gloves? Pacey's ideal living conditions are quite a bit different from mine. Well, let's make that 'humans'"
Jack shrugged, "It can't be that bad. You're exaggerating."
=============================================
Soun soun, beni beni beni
Soun soun, beni beni, soun soun
{Sleep my dear one, sleep.}
=============================================
"Oh, Good God in Heaven. What happened?" Jack asked.
"Hurricane Pacey. Don't say I didn't warn you. Well, he does have nice underwear BUT I generally throw mine out BEFORE they get 'skid-marks'."
"This tells me more about Pacey than I ever wanted to know. OK, let's look under the bed first."
They maneuvered their way through the piles of unwashed clothes, magazines and posters, until they reached the bed and found three boxes under it that looked promising.
The first box had a collection of old Magic the Gathering playing cards. Divided up into red, white and black decks. The second box had a pile of photos.
"Who are these kids?" Jack asked.
"These are photos of Pacey, Dawson and Joey when they were kids. They pretty much have known each other all their lives. It's a pity. I don't know how Pacey can deal with losing his best friend."
"I kind of know what you mean. When you're young you love your friends. Plumbing doesn't matter. The hormones hit
and everything changes. But I still wish I could have had friends like them when I was younger. I have my sister but sibling stuff is different."
"Tell me about it. He lives with me but he would never have kept any photos of his big brother. I'm a stopgap between our parents and freedom." Doug bitched.
Jack picked up another set of photos that were held together by elastic bands.
"Well, what about this set of photographs here. This teenager definitely has your smile and a photo of you in a football uniform and here's photos of you graduating high school and graduating the police academy and this one of you in uniform beside a police car." Jack observed as he rifled through the photos. "You might have sold him short."
"I hadn't thought that he had kept any of them. This one with the car was taken my first day on the job. I didn't even know that the twerp had a copy."
"OK, enough meandering. It's not in this box. Let's try the last one."
Jack pulled out the last box and looked inside. He burst out laughing.
"What's so funny?" Doug asked.
"Mr. Cool and Sophisticated collects Spice Girl magazines. Wait until I tell the others. He'll never, ever live this down."
Jack picked up the top magazine.
"Eeeeeuuuuuhhhhhh! Euh,euh, euh, euh, euh!"
Jack held the magazine between his thumb and index finger. The pages of the book were gummed together. Doug fell over laughing as Jack continued to make thoroughly disgusted noises.
"Too much information, far too much information. This never happened. I know nothing about Pacey and the Spice Girls. I don't even want to think of Pacey and any type of spice." Jack said.
Jack made to throw the magazines out but Doug stopped him.
"It's obvious that Pacey has a deep... sentimental... attachment to these magazines. Let's just put them away and forget we ever saw it."
They went to the closet next, and it was readily apparent why Pacey's clothes were on the floor rather than in the closet. There just wasn't room for X-men comics, spaceship models, AND games and clothes.
"Think, where would Pacey put something like a passport. Something important that he'll probably never use." Doug thought out loud.
The two young men looked at one another and had a simultaneous revelation.
Sure enough, the passport, birth certificate and other identification was with his school stuff. Specifically, under his algebra text.
==================================================
Listen to me, abba
Are you with me, abba.
Tell me why, where is it written every limit
On who I'm ever meant to be?
Why give birds wings,
If they're not allowed to fly free.
==================================================
Jack went back to the living room to get his coat. He paused for a minute at the door and asked, "Could I have another lemonade? All the dust in Pacey's room made me thirsty."
~Lame. That's just so lame. I don't want to leave yet. I know nothing's going to happen but I like hanging out here. I haven't
thought about Ethan all the time that I've been here.~
"Sure, let me get some fresh from the fridge." Doug went into the other room.
~God, I'm lonely for some company. I'm even missing the twerp. After growing up in that hellhole all I've wanted from life is
peace, quiet and order. Hell, something must be missing when I'm entertaining my little brother's friends instead of my own. When did I end up so alone?~
Doug brought two fresh glasses of lemonade out to the living room. The two young men sipped the lemonade in silence, not knowing what to say or how to say it. They both broke the silence at the same time.
"What were you/What were your-"
They both fell silent.
Jack [finally] said, "I don't really have anything on for tonight. I wouldn't mind listening to some more music, unless you're busy."
"No, no. I was going to watch one of my old movies tonight. I love the old movies. They're so romantic."
~Fuck, fuck, fuck. Why the hell did I say THAT!~
Doug looked at Jack, "If you have the time would you like some re-heated Chinese and a Bette Davis movie?"
Jack licked his lips, the butterflies were back. ~He can't have meant that the way that it sounded. He must just be trying to be nice to one of his brother's friends. That's it. It's a hell of a lot more fun thinking about someone's fictitious problems rather than one's own.~
"OK, which ones do you have?" Jack asked
"Have a look. I put the movies into alphabetical order by the last name of the actress and then the actresses movies in chronological order. The only one that I had trouble with was "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?", should I list it under Bette Davis or Joan Crawford. I ended up buying two copies."
~God, I sound like a total dweeb.~
Jack shrugged and said, "Well, I loved Titanic. I saw it five times. I cried at the scene where Leo sacrifices himself to the cold in order to keep what's-her-name alive." He couldn't hide his smile.
"Hey, me too. I saw it seven times. If you liked that you'll love Dark Victory. It's with Bette Davis."
"OK, shove it in."
Doug turned on the TV and put the video in. He pressed the start button and {{leaned}} back on the couch beside Jack. Without thinking, Jack snuggled up to Doug and the two of them froze.
Doug thought, ~Holy fuck. What's happening? What the hell do I do? Oh, OK. I know.~
Doug turned to Jack and dropped one hand on the bulge in Jack's trousers, kissing Jack passionately.
================================================
enough is enough is enough is enough is enough
=================================================
Outside the house
Andie jumped up in the air and brought down her fist. "He went for it! Finally."
Jen spoke into the cell phone, "Pacey, you were right. This worked a heck of a lot better than that road trip. Christ, your brother's repressed. We've been waiting out here for three hours now. OHMYGAWD! I had no idea that Jackers was so *Impressive*. He's not noticeably co-ordinated although. That must have hurt!"
Jen spoke over the phone, "Doug is a very, very, very lucky boy. Yow! let me rephrase that both of them are very lucky boys."
Andie grabbed the phone, "Give me Joey for a minute. Joey, you know why Pacey has to wear those really baggy pants all the time. Uhh-huh! A bit longer but not quite as thick. Ooooooops, Jack seems to be having some trouble."
Jen said, "Maybe we can give them a bit of privacy now. Dawson! Put down that camcorder."
THE END