It hurts to be around you. When I see you, even from across the room, it brings up a thousand memories. Not just of us, but of my entire life before. It's like I'm frozen in this place that I can't bear to be. I care about you so much. As long as I can remember, everything's always come back to you. I mean, even no matter what was happening between us even the thought of you is at least a constant comfort, but I can't go back. It just hurts. —Dawson
Love is so short. Forgetting is so long. —Joey
I'm afraid because you are the single most important being ever to grace my existence. —Pacey
You have to have faith that sometimes things happen when they're least expected. —Jen
You know you love someone when you can spend the entire night just sitting by the fire, watching him sleep. —Grams
Andie: Dawson? For what it's worth, I'm not over the pain of this yet either. Letting go isn't a one time thing. It's something you have to do over and over again every day.
Dawson:
Get out of the gutter. No thingamajig involved. It was just the sweetest, most romantic, Fourth of July fireworks, waves crashing on the shore, beyond any movie I could ever imagine kiss.
Pacey:
Congratulations. I'm happy for ya. But more importantly, are you gonna do it?
Dawson:
...she kissed me. It meant nothing. She was completely wasted. Obviously mistook me for Brad Pitt. Which, which is understand...
Pacey:
Ooh, Dawson, my fine oblivious friend. One of these days you're gonna have to take a gigantic fact check, my friend. Alright? She didn't mistake you for anyone, okay? This girl is head in the clouds, 100% ass backwards in love with you, alright?
Dawson:
Dude, Pacey. Joey and I have a great time together, and it's great to have someone you know so well that you don't even have to verbalize what you're thinking most of the time. The other person just gets it, picks up on it, and I, it, it's like that with Joey and me. It's great. And...and I like it, but it...it's not love.
I'm right, aren't I? You dated, it didn't work out, but then you got past all your issues and now you actually trust each other, right? — Penny, dance instructor, to Dawson and Jen
Joey:
Andie, as a veteran of multiple break-ups with the same boy, I know what you're going through. I just wanted to let you know that...that the dark nights will pass. Eventually you will find peace.
Andie:
I wish I could believe you, Joey. Because sometimes, it is so unbearable, and it's like this feeling of being uncomfortable in my own skin, and it's like I have to keep busy, 'cause if I stop, even for just one minute, all I can think about...is how badly I hurt him and how badly I got hurt.
Oh please; this whole friend dance you do. As if you were actually over each other. As if you haven't vaguely wounded each other's psyches and doomed all your future relationships. – Dru to Dawson
Pacey: There's nothing I want to change because it's life's little twists and turns and bumps and bruises that make you who you are. So why regret that?
Joey: So we're friends, and then we're a couple, then friends again, then a couple. So what are we now?
Dawson: We're Dawson-and-Joey.
Joey: Do you think every Joey has a Dawson and every Dawson has a Joey?
Dawson: I hope so, for their sake.
Joey: Growing up sucks, not all kisses are magical, and most boys do not live up to your expectations. But there are those times when everything, I mean love, romance, relationships, it all falls together perfectly and it's incredible. It's those moments, no matter how depressingly few and far between, that makes growing up worth it, and it will be okay.
Dawson:
How could you simply be friends with someone when every time you look at them, all you think about is how much more you really want them?
Joey:
Well, you know, I'm no expert at this, Dawson, but i think it can be done.
Pacey: Dawson, you're not a little Oompa Loompa anymore. You're a big, bad, manly Oompa Loompa.
Pacey: I mean, maybe not all friendships have to be saved. You know, maybe we're just meant to spend a certain part of our lives with certain people and then move on. Isn't that what this year is supposed to be about? Moving on?
Doug: You know, what you think you're leaving behind here is just going to be that much bigger when you're out there all alone. Does Joey know you're leaving? Pacey: If she does, I didn't tell her. Doug: I guess she doesn't really know how you feel about her either, right? Pacey: She knows how I feel. Doug: Pacey, have you spelled it out to her? I mean in clear, unwavering terms? Have you done that? Pacey: And what exactly do you think would happen if I did that, Doug? Doug: Worst case, nothing. Best case... She gives you a reason to stay. Pacey: You see, that right there is what happens to the male mind when it is exposed to too many Katherine Hepburn movies. Doug: Every time you look at the stars you're going to see her face. You can't run away from her, Pacey. Pacey: Well I can try.
Jen: Dawson, please. Listen to me. I've to take a few steps back. I've I've got to try life on my own for a while.
Dawson: You can't just make me fall for you and then bail as soon as I can't.
Jen: I'll miss you, you know.
Dawson: Yeah.
Jen: I'll be sleeping 80 feet away from you and it will feel like a thousand miles. I'll regret my decision constantly. I'll kick myself to no end and when I come crawling back to you, you'll have every right to say 'take a hike, Jen, I'm with somebody else now.'
Dawson:Somebody who appreciates me. Somebody who doesn't blow into town with her dysfunctional past and play mind games with the boy next door. Somebody who is capable of a healthy, committed relationship and unfortunately, somebody nothing like you.
Gretchen:
But do you know what my teacher said was the most bogus line in Hollywood cinema?
Dawson:
What?
Gretchen:
"There's no place like home."
Dawson:
Wizard of Oz.
Gretchen:
Exactly. It's what everybody remembers about the movie, but it doesn't resonate with th rest of the story. Think about it. You know, home is this desolate, gray dustbowl of a place where this nasty old lady is trying to kill your dog. And Oz is...
Dawson:
Technicolor.
Gretchen:
And sure it has its problems. Poppy fields, flying monkeys...
Dawson:
Talking trees...
Gretchen:
But along the way, you make friends. Good friends. With people you didn't even know existed when you were growing up. Straw people, tin people...
Dawson:
And lions.
Gretchen:
Exactly. And you help each other to realize that all the things you want to be, you already are. And it's fun.
Pacey: If you felt even one shred of what I feel for you...then we wouldn't be standing here having this conversation.
Pacey:
C'mon Jo, say something.
Joey:
What exactly do you want me to say, Pacey? You were right? You were right, okay? Right as always. Pacey Witter, the only person in my life who ever speaks the truth .
Pacey:
That's not entirely accurate.
Joey:
Well, you told me what was going to happen.
Pacey:
Which was what, Jo? What happened up there?
Joey:
There was another girl.
Pacey:
I'm sorry Jo.
Joey:
You know, the whole time that I was watching them, I just kept thinking this is it, this is real; just like Pacey said. This is the real thing. And it reminded me once again what exactly I don't have.
Pacey:
Keep looking you'll find it.
Joey:
No I won't. I mean isn't that obvious by now? I'm not meant to.
Pacey:
Why? Because you're sixteen and alone? Come on.
Joey:
No, because I'm sixteen and in my entire life there've been two people who've actually known me, Pacey: Dawson and...
Pacey:
This AJ guy didn't know you. I don't care how you felt about him, Jo, he didn't know you. Because if he did he never woulda walked away.
Joey:
I was going to say you, Pacey.
Pacey:
Okay.
Joey:
Have you totally lost it?
Pacey:
Not totally. Alright, what did you mean by that?
Joey:
About what?
Pacey:
About me knowing you better than anybody else.
Joey:
Exactly what I said, Pacey. You know me, okay? In a way that no one besides Dawson ever has.
Pacey:
We're not talking about Dawson right now, we're talking about me. You can't keep doing this to me, Potter.
Joey:
What, so I count on you, and I tell you secrets, and suddenly...
Pacey:
And you call me in the middle of the night to pick you up: why?
Joey:
Well I'm sorry that I'm called. I thought that I could...
Pacey:
I'm not mad that you called me, I just want to know why you called me.
Joey:
You were the first person that I thought of, Pacey.
Pacey:
And what does that mean, Jo?
Joey:
It means that...I guess it... It means that I can talk to you, and that you're there for me...
Pacey:
Don't you ever get tired of talking?
Do you have any idea the monumental implications of that meaningless little impulse? The ripple effect it could create on our small but fragile universe? —Joey, to Pacey re kiss
You know what, I was thinking about what you guys said earlier, about how all guys are twits... And I think you're right. But, I think there's more to it than that. Because sometimes, you know when they give you that certain look? You know, that look that says that you are exactly where they want to be right now. And you feel it for them too. And then you just melt... —Andie
Joey: So you buy into this whole raging hormones theory? So you think it's okay for two people who aren't in love to just let their sexual impulses run wild?
Dawson: No, what I'm saying is if Jen and Pacey made some sort of agreement, I don't think they made it because they wanted sex. I think they wanted comfort.
Joey: I'm sure that's all they were doing on your bed, Dawson. Providing each other with comfort.
Dawson: It's not impossible. It's all you and I ever did. Aw, give 'em a break, Jo. They're just lonely.
Joey: Dawson, being lonely is no excuse to just throw yourself at the first available warm body. I mean, could you sleep with someone that you didn't love?
Dawson: No, and neither could you. But I do understand the impulse.
Joey: The impulse?
Dawson: The impulse to... To put your hand out and want someone there at the end of your reach, to...to want to be close to, to want to kiss or touch, even if it's wrong.
Joey: That's just it, Dawson, it's wrong. If a kiss is just some purely physical thing, and if there's nothing else behind it, what's the point?
Dawson: The point is that you can't control those feelings, Jo. Even if they're wrong, they're there. They're always there. You can understand that, can't you?
Pacey:
Well I should probably just state first that you, Josephine Potter, have just wrecked me. In the best possible way, you have absolutely wrecked me. Because, you see, I fell in love with you knowing that there was never any possibility of being with you. Knowing full well that a sizeable chunk of your heart would always be wrapped up in our friend Dawson. And that was actually okay with me. Right up to the point that you chose me. 'Cause then you just turned everything on it's head. And I got everything that I wanted, and from that day forward, I've just been a wreck.
Joey:
Why?
Pacey:
Because now all I can do is wait for the other show to drop. You know, just wait for you to realize what a big mistake you've made. Wait for you to realize that I'm just going to be a big disappointment. And just wait for you to realize that Dawson is the guy that you want to be with.
Joey: Do you know what made it so nice, Pacey? You probably don't even remember. It was just this thing. There you were, above me, and you started brushing my hair off my forehead, and it felt so nice. It made me feel...safe. Like no matter what, you were gonna protect me. Years from now, when I think back, I'm not gonna remember the clumsy positioning or the morning-after awkwardness or if the experience itself met the textbook definition of great sex. What I'm gonna remember is how sweet you were. And how you took me to this brand new place. I'm glad I had sex, Pacey. And I'm glad I had sex with you. And now, I just want to go home. So we can do it again.
Pacey:Take it from someone who's been there. It's a defining moment. When you finally see your parents as human beings, with their own set of problems. In a weird way it's liberating. Realizing they're even more messed up than we are and that it's not worth despising them for it, you know?
Dawson: You can't choose what you love, it chooses you.
Pacey: I know that things between us are pretty much beyond repair right now. And I wouldn't ever presume to try and make everything better with a conversation, so that's not what this is. But I just wanted to tell you...I wanted to say about everything that happened last spring...I'm sorry. I'm sorry for the pain it caused you. But mostly I'm sorry for my part in it. And I'm sorry for the pain I know it caused you. But mostly I'm sorry because I miss our friendship. And however far off it may be, I look forward to the day that we can be friends again. So until then...
Dawson: Until then.
Dawson: She believes in me. And I'm a dreamer so it's so good to have somebody like that in my life. If she goes away, I don't know what I'm going to do. I mean, she's my best friend, you know? She's more than that...she's everything.
Pacey: Some of us are just trying to get through the day without breaking something.
Joey: It's a whole new year, Dawson. Things can be different.
Dawson: If people are truly, madly, deeply in love with each other, they will find a way.
Dawson: Joey, if we were truly meant to be, then we will find our way back to each other.
Jen: You have to have faith that sometimes things happen when they're least expected.
Henry: I used to spend every day thinking about you. When you walked by, I lost myself. Do you know what that's like? To love someone so much but not have them love you back? You miss the way I looked at you. Well I don't miss the way you didn't look at me.
Pacey: One week you're soul mates. The next week you're giving each other up for the greater good. I mean, do you think it's possible that sometime soon you could make up your mind? Please?
Joey: You think because you were together, what she did to you hurts more? It doesn't. There's no difference, Pacey. She's sixteen, and so are you. We talk like we know what's going on, but we don't. We don't know anything, we're really young and we're gonna screw up a lot. We're gonna keep changing our minds and even sometimes our hearts. And through all that, the only real thing we can offer each other is forgiveness. I couldn't do that. Or at least I did it too late. Don't make my mistake. Don't let yourself become so angry that you stop loving, because one day you'll wake up from that anger and the person you love will be gone.
Joey: It's not about the right time or the right place, Dawson, it's about the right person.
Pacey: You're starting to look all kinds of cute.
Pacey: Maybe it wasn't wrong after all, maybe it was your heart telling you that I'm not the one. Because that's what my heart is telling me now, that you're not the one.
Jack: I know how sad it is to hide from something you really want.
Dawson:
And maybe I tried too hard, but I didn't want to miss my chance to dance with you, to hold you, to make you remember what it was like between us. I thought maybe, you know, if I could make it perfect, then...
Joey:
That I'd pick you. Say it, Dawson—you thought that if you orchestrated this whole evening I'd be convinced into picking you over Pacey.
Dawson:
You have to pick somebody, Joey, that's why I have to remind you what you'd be missing if you didn't pick me. You'd be missing a lot, and so would I; we'd be missing everything.
Joey:
I think I'm in love with you.
Pacey:
You think or you know?
Joey:
I know. I've known it since the moment you kissed me and maybe even before that. And as scary as it is, I don't wanna deny it anymore. I don't want to run from it or let it run from me.
Pacey:
So what are we gonna do here, Jo?
Joey:
I'm still not gonna ask you to stay.
Pacey:
I see.
Joey:
I want to go with you.
Pacey:
Wait a second... Are you crazy?!
Joey:
I want to stop standing still. I want to move forward. I want to go with you, Pacey.
Pacey:
What about Bessie and the B&B? They need you.
Joey:
Not as much as I need you Pacey.
Dawson: I am well aware of the Potter neuroses. Joey: I prefer to think of them as quirks.
Dawson: I haven't moved on, I haven't let go. And that is why I am clinching on to the one thing I hold dear in my life.
Joey: Hang on, Dawson. It's gonna be a bumpy life.
Joey: I thought this was what I wanted, for you to see me as beautiful, for you to look at me the way you look at Jen. But the truth is I don't want that, I don't want that at all. I want you to look at me and see the person you've always known and realize that what we have is so much more important than just some passing physical attraction. 'Cause you know what, Dawson? It's just lipstick and it's just hairspray. You've had a lifetime to process your feelings for me, and I can't spend the rest of mine hoping you might throw a general glance in my direction between your tortured teen romances with whatever Jen Lindley rolls into your life next. I can't do it.
Joey: No, I was just kinda hoping to take a vacation from large choices that carry even larger consequences.
Jen: Come on, Jack, what do you want? You want to just be angry, fine. But at some point you're going to have to tell me how to fix this. And you want me to say sorry, I have. I've apologized for making a mistake. For poor judgement. I've apologized for things that I don't even think were really my fault. I'm 17 and I just...I did something stupid. But when you're close to somebody and they do something unexplained or out of character, you don't just abandon them. You of all people should understand. It's killing me what you're doing. You may not ever do what I did, but what you're doing right now, I can tell you I would never do to anybody. Especially you.
Mr Brooks: As you take on years, Mr. Leery, you'll come to realize that you don't always lose people from your life by choice. Sometimes it just happens when you make the wrong ones.
Andie: I just wanted to show you guys how much I love you both. You guys are so good together. And Joey, you're so nice. Well, except for the time when you dumped Dawson for Pacey. That was pretty cold. But really, who can blame you? It was Pacey. I pretend not to care, but I have to admit, Pace, you are the love of my life, and I am so not over you. I hope it's okay that I said that. I mean, we're all really good friends, so it shouldn't be that big of a secret.
Joey: This is news to me, Andie.
Andie: You totally don't have to worry. Pacey is so over me. And such the faithful type. If only I had been. Maybe we'd still be together.
Honesty is a big word and it changes things and it complicates things. Are you sure you're ready for all the things that come along with telling the truth? —Joey
Jack: Do you ever wish you could just rewind your life?
Love to the tips of your fingers. And when you find that love — wherever you find it, whoever you choose — don't run away from it. But you don't have to chase after it either. You be patient, and it'll come to you...when you least expect it. Don't be afraid. And remember — to love is to live. —Jen
A single moment of true joy is powerful enough to supersede a lifetime of sorrow. —Grams
Dawson: It doesn't matter how it ends up because fiction is fiction, and this time my life is real. It doesn't matter who ends up with who. Because in some unearthly way, it's always going to be you and me.
Joey: Soulmates.
Dawson: What we have goes beyond friendship, beyond lovers. It's forever.
