Dawson was lying in his bed, but he was far from asleep. He was angry at his best friend. Angrier that when he hurled a basketball at him and broke his nose. He checked his clock, as it read 4:00 in the morning. He can't stand it anymore, he gets up, put some clothes on, climbs out his window and heads down to the dock.
Poor guy… He's going to come back from this trip totally heartbroken. I swear, if he had the slightest ounce of common sense, he'd be in Capeside right now, sleeping quietly, fantasizing about bedding down the cheerleaders. But nooooo… He thinks that he's the big man on campus now… Dammit, Dawson, you're still pissed because he has a sex life and you don't!!!
Dawson puts his head between his hands as he tries to figure out what's going on with him. He lies back on the dock, drifting off to sleep.
Mitch Leery gets up at around 7:00 in the morning, as he needs to do some work on the house. As he steps out of the basement with a can of paint, he notices his son fast asleep on the dock outside his house.
"Yo, champ! Wake up" says Mr. Leery, nudging his son on the shoulder
"Huh, what? It's too early, dad…" says Dawson, half groggy from the sleep on the dock.
"What the heck are you doing sleeping out here?"
"You know, I don't remember" says Dawson, scratching his head
"Well, you're mom's off for the entire day with the rest of the 6 and 11 action news team for the day, they're having some sort of picnic down at the Cod. I couldn't go because I had to paint a few things around the house, and I figured you didn't want to spend the entire day with her, with Bob there…"
"I'm surprised you're not ready to inflict serious pain on Bob… I'm more surprised you trust Gail over in the Cod, alone with him…" says Dawson, getting up
"I've got to start somewhere…" says Mr. Leery, shaking his head, as he walks back to the pile of tools near the house. "Try and get some sleep, son, you look like you slept through a hurricane…"
Pacey slowly wakes up, and finds himself on the comfortable couch in Jen's living room. He's still in the same clothes he was last night. As he tries to get up, he notices he can't move his arm. That's because Jen's head is buried in his shoulder. They fell asleep together after last night's party.
Pacey slowly tries to roll her head off his shoulder, he REALLY needs to use the bathroom. Jen slowly starts to wake up.
"Hey, sleeping beauty…" says Pacey, as he makes a run for the bathroom, and stands over the toilet, letting out the beers he had.
Jen wakes up slowly, as she stretches out, and gets some coffee…
"Prince charming, top of the morning to you…" says Jen, continuing on the fairy tale motif, as she sips some coffee.
"So, do you have any plans today?" asks Pacey.
"If you mean a party, hell no… I don't need a party right now…" says Jen, as she stares out the window. "You know, I came up here to try and get away from what was going on in Capeside. I thought I'd come back to a familiar place, where everyone knows me here, where I was raised. And I thought I was going to have a great time, I thought I was going to get some peace and quiet. I love New York, I do… Even though I almost became a rape statistic last night, I got a lot out of it. It made me realize what I left behind, and what I've got in Capeside. I'd be a total fool to under appreciate it…"
Pacey walks to the refrigerator, and gets some ice for the hand he used to punch out A.J. He walks over to Jen, holding the ice in on his knuckles, and rubs Jen's arm a little with his free hand, reassuring her that she had someone to lean on.
"Don't worry about it… Can't spend the rest of your life wallowing over something that almost happened. You know, I wouldn't tell anyone in Capeside that someone almost tried to bone you against your will. A) You just might give your grandmother a seizure, B) You'll have everyone's eyes piercing through you with their stares, and C) Rumors will spread over town, getting twisted along the way, so fast, by the end of the day people will swear that Richard Gere tried to hump you in the Statue of Liberty."
"My lips are sealed" says Jen, as Pacey walks off into the bathroom to take a shower. After Pacey comes out and gets dressed, she gets up and walks into the shower. Pacey walks over to the phone, and searches for a phonebook. After failing to find one, he waits for Jen to get out of the shower to ask her.
"You have a phone book somewhere around here?"
"Yeah, Manhattan area is I think under the left drawer in front of you, and the State directory is in that closet over there. You know anyone here?" asks Jen, curious
"Oh, an old friend…" says Pacey, lying through his teeth.
He opens the state directory and turns to the J's.
Jacobs, Jacobs, Jacobs… Here we go… 5 Jacobs in the Rochester area. Dammit, which one is her sister!?!?!?!? Eeenie meenie miney moe…
Pacey dials up each number, only to get a wrong answer response. On the final number he calls, he hits the jackpot.
"Hello, is Tamara there?" asks Pacey, hoping not to get a wrong number
"Oh, I'm sorry, she moved out. This is her sister, may I ask who is calling ?"
"Uhhh, a former student of hers… Can you provide me with her new number, if she has one?" asks Pacey
"Sure, just a second. Here it is, 555-1136…"
"OK, thank you very much…"
"You're welcome…"
Pacey writes down the phone number, and hangs up. He takes a deep breath, and picks up the phone again, and dials the number.
"Come on, pick up, pick up…" mumbles Pacey to himself. The phone picks up, and a man's voice answers.
"Hello?"
"Hi, can I please speak with Tamara?"
"Who's calling?"
"A former student…" says Pacey, mustering up all his guts, as he's about to talk to her.
Why are you putting yourself through this, man!?!? She split town because you couldn't keep your big mouth shut! You have to talk to her, you need to know that she's OK… This is just killing me… AARRRGGH…
"Just a second…"
The few seconds seem like eternity to Pacey, who is nervously tapping the pencil on the pad. He notices Jen is blow-drying her hair, so she probably won't hear the conversation. Or lack thereof, whichever the case may be.
"Hello?" answers Ms. Jacobs, glaringly unaware that on the other end is Pacey
Pacey can't find the words…
"Hello?" repeats Ms. Jacobs
"Tamara?" says Pacey as, he squints his eyebrow, expecting the worst
"Yes, who is this?"
"Ummm, an unpleasant memory from Capeside…" replies Pacey, smacking himself on the forehead, scolding himself for saying the wrong thing…
"Ohhhh no… Confirm my suspicion, and answer this question for me" says Ms. Jacobs, rubbing her forehead. She just got a bad headache. "Pacey?"
"Gee, you remembered…" says Pacey, quietly, almost to himself.
"You know, I think this could qualify as stalking in some sectors…" says Ms. Jacobs, taking a deep breath. Humor should work, it almost always does.
"I see your sense of humor hasn't been affected…" says Pacey, lightening up a bit.
"Listen, Pacey, I don't know why you decided to track my phone number down, but need I remind you that the district attorney almost had me for lunch because of you?" asks Ms. Jacobs, impatiently
"I didn't "track your phone number down", Tammy… I took advantage of an opportunity which presented itself upon hearing of a trip to New York…" says Pacey, a little angry
"Oh god, please don't tell me that you're in New York…" says Tamara, about to faint.
"Well, it's a big state, I mean I'm here in Manhattan, thinking you were over in Rochester…" Pacey is cut off by the older woman again…
"Manhattan!? Doesn't that just beat them all… I just got settled into an apartment in Manhattan…" says Ms. Jacobs, dealing with her emotions with a little bit of humor…
"I wasn't hoping to see you, just call you, but hey, same borough… who knew!?" says Pacey, trying to work his way into his point… "But since we are close to each other as it is, why don't I grab a cab on over…"
"NO! Pacey, this cannot go beyond what happened back in Capeside! Listen to me, what we had I will treasure and will always treasure. You meant, and still mean, a lot to me. I've settled in, I found someone my own age…" Ms. Jacobs is cut off by Pacey
"Oh, so that's who answered the phone?" says Pacey, angry, annoyed, frustrated. All the emotions welling up inside him.
"Yes it was. Pacey, you can't pursue this. It has no future. As you say sometimes - "Nothing, Nada, Nein…" Put yourself in someone's, anyone's, shoes… Try to imaging a 36 year old woman, suffering through her mid life crisis, and seducing a guy 20 years younger than her…" says Tamara, as she takes a sip of her drink. She needs all the alcohol she can get her hands on at this point.
"I have watched "The Summer of '42" and "The Graduate" over and over again, it's not such a hard image to put together in one's head." says Pacey
"What do you want from me!? And don't you dare say that you want me, Pacey… Don't you dare…" says Ms. Jacobs, frustrated to the brink of tears
"I don't know what I want… I don't know why I even called you…" says Pacey, at a loss for words
Ms. Jacobs lets out some tears, as she throws her drink across her living room in an outrage of anger.
"Great, that makes two of us…" says Ms. Jacobs, trying to regain her composure… "Go back to Capeside, live your life the way it was meant to be, don't agonize over a deranged middle aged woman…" says Tamara.
"But…" Pacey can't even finish the sentence
"No buts, Pacey... I can't afford to see you again... Can't you see? If I see you again, I might fall all over you again... And as much as I want be with you, I can't have that..."
"I just needed to know..."
"Needed to know what? That I'm OK? I've got some bad news, because I'm far from OK at this point. I'm pretty far from OK, Pacey... I'm taking Valium pills because of you..."
"I'm flattered..." half jokes Pacey... He pinches his nose, he's getting a headache...
"Fuck you, Pacey..." says Ms. Jacobs...
"Excuse me?"
"You heard me... Fuck you..."
"What?" Pacey can't even finish the sentence as, she hangs up.
Pacey hangs up in frustration, rubbing the back of his head, trying to figure out why he subjected himself to torture by calling her.
Jen has been watching Pacey during most of the conversation. He sees him with his head between his hands, and walks over.
"Pace, you knew what you were doing when you begged and pleaded to come with me, didn't you?"
"I knew what I wanted to do, I didn't know what was going to happen" says a dejected Pacey, taking a deep breath.
"Do you get some twisted satisfaction out of knowing you've probably ruined the rest of that woman's life?"
"Not particularly… I just… I just… I just needed to know how she was…"
"Normally, that would be sweet of a guy to do such a thing, but considering you were born around the time she became a legal adult, that may qualify you as certifiably insane…"
"Sure, rub it in…"
"I didn't mean that, and you know it, Pacey… Just don't let it haunt you for the rest of your life. Otherwise, we'll be seeing you in a room with rubber walls and a straight jacket…"
"Sometimes I think I belong in a loony bin. Why is it that I can never take myself serious enough to be taken seriously by everyone else?? Is it a birth defect or something??"
"Pacey, you can't worry about what other people think or say about you… No matter how hard you try, there will always be someone out there, who you haven't pleased. It's just the way life goes. You can't expect to like every track on a CD, you know?" says Jen, as she walks over to Pacey.
"Why can't I find someone my own age!? What did Tamara see in me, that the rest of the narrow minded girls of Capeside, present company excluded, don't?"
"I don't know why the other girls of Capeside don't find you to be a nice, funny to the point of hilarious, and handsome guy…"
Pacey looks up at Jen.
"That's the first time a girl's ever told me I'm handsome…" says Pacey
"Really? I'm surprised…"
"Why? I mean, you might as well be ugly if you're a loser…" says Pacey, as he holds up a big L with his hand to forehead
"You're not a loser, Pacey… You are so much above the people in Capeside who think you're a loser… The only way you'd ever be a loser is if you think of yourself as a loser… If anyone's a loser here, it's me..."
"Why do you say that?"
"Look at me! Look at what I did to Dawson... I'm not insecure about my looks, I know that guys look at me and dream about being on top of me, moaning my name. And I take advantage of that... I know there are other girls that dream of attracting guys like flies are attracted to garbage. But whenever I find someone I'm happy with, something happens... Inevitably, something happens... I can never lean on anyone... I dump them all, and I feel like I've totally alienated them away... Driven them off... Yet I keep coming back, looking for love... It's like I'm addicted to love... It's a curse, it's a goddamn curse!!!!"
"That's not true... As dense as Dawson can be sometimes, you haven't driven him away... Besides, you've got me to lean on..."
"Then why do I still feel like the unwanted musketeer among you guys back in Capeside???"
"It's just you Jen, you're making it out to be worse than it is..."
"You really think so?"
"I know so... Besides, if anyone's an outcast in Capeside, it's me... I don't care anymore, I stopped caring a long time ago... I just wish that people other than Dawson and Joey would take me seriously..."
"Pacey, I take you seriously... You saved me last night. I'd hate to think that it counts as being a loser…" says Jen, as she puts her hand on Pacey's shoulder. "I don't think anyone else would have cared…"
Pacey lets out a tear, as he grabs Jens hand in return, stroking the back of her hand with his thumb.
"I bet if I had done the same thing for any other girl in Capeside, they would have probably not even have thanked me… They probably would've called me a moron for breaking up a perfectly good make out session…" says Pacey, humorously.
"That reminds me…" says Jen
"A make out session reminds you of something? Kinky…"
"Actually… I never thanked you…" says Jen
"Don't worry about it…" shrugs Pacey
"No, really…" says Jen, as she closes in, and kisses Pacey on the cheek…
Pacey looks at Jen, who is smiling.
"You know, I may have boned an older woman, and I've kissed you before, but that's the first time a girl has ever done that…"
"Really? I'm surprised…" laughs Jen, as she walks off to the living room.
"Oh yeah… It was worth all the sex and kisses in the world..." says Pacey to himself, smiling…