Previously: The sex.
House of Grams. Pacey, Jack, Joey, and Audrey are in the kitchen, chopping and sautéing and slicing and dicing and pan-frying and boiling and basting and mashing. Joey peers over Pacey's shoulder, and informs him that his rice "looks gummy." Pacey informs her that it's not rice, it's risotto, and it needs to finish cooking. Audrey plops down on a stool in front of the butcher-block island and wonders "what gives with the fancy rice." Joey pauses in her chopping and remarks that Audrey ought to be pleased to get a break from the dining hall. Audrey wrinkles her nose and plays with the tomatoes on the table. "Well, you promised me a Grams, and I'm seeing no Grams, so this evening is clearly ruined," she chirps. "Liking the décor, however," she says, looking around Grams's cozy kitchen. There's continued cooking, and general cheerful banter, and Joey wonders where Jen and Dawson are. Jack tells everyone that Jen called Grams and told her that they were going to stay in Hooksett an extra day. "Something about soaking up the atmosphere." Well, Jen's soaking up something, all right. Ew, that was disgusting. I'm so sorry.
Outside, Dawson's taking luggage out of the car and thinking about how he's finally a man. "Well, back at Grams's," Jen sighs. "Right. Reality. Life at Grams's. Endless cycle of home-cooked meals and grueling knitting sessions," Dawson says. They stare at the house. Jen sighs that she just enjoyed their little "escapist adventure." And she can't think of what to say to people. You know, about them. Dawson doesn't see why they have to say anything. "Are you proposing we sneak around, Dawson Leery, because -- you know what? I am that kind of girl," Jen smiles. They look at the house some more, and Dawson suggests that they just "enjoy what [they] have going on and not worry so much about what to tell other people." Jen cocks a brow. "Who is this footloose and fancy-free boy?" she asks, as Dawson backs her up against the portico and starts sucking her face. When they finally come up for air, Jen suggests they head inside.
Inside, there's further mackery. Eventually, Audrey wanders into the hallway, and watches them. Soon, she's joined by the whole gang. "Hey, guys," Audrey calls, raising one very well-manicured brow. "Pacey made rice." Dawson and Jen jump apart and make stricken faces. Pacey grins wildly. Jack covers his mouth so as not to burst out laughing. Joey just looks very, very surprised.
So, the whole lot of them sit at the dinner table and push their risotto around on their plates. Joey flashes Pacey a bright smile. Audrey chews calmly. Jack, still, is cracking up. Jen just stares straight ahead. "Look, it's not supposed to be this gummy," Pacey says. Apparently, risotto must be served immediately, before it coagulates. Jen mutters that she'll take full responsibility for "the coagulation." She had no idea they were all going to be there… "Or that Pacey would be cooking," Dawson adds. "Who would have guessed?" Jen offers weakly. "Already finishing each other's sentences," Jack comments. Dawson and Jen look down at their risotto. And Audrey looks around the table and tosses a giant forkful onto her shoulder. "Oh, look at that!" she cries. "What gets out rice?" Audrey grabs Joey's hand and pulls her out of the room. The camera pans out to a wide shot, revealing that Dawson and Jen are holding hands under the table.
The Bathroom Of Grams. "Subtle, Audrey," Joey hisses. Audrey widens her eyes and asks if Joey needs "serious girl talk," or not. Doesn't she just want to kill herself? And it's not like they're missing the dinner of the century. "Seriously, Joey. Are you okay?" Joey rolls her eyes and assures Audrey that she so is. "Believe, it's literally nothing I haven't seen before," she says, and makes to return to the dining room. Audrey stops her. "Joey, come on," she says. "This isn't like, First Week Audrey that you're talking to here. This is December Audrey. I am wise. I have been studying your people for a great many months, here. And I know how it works. And also, I know a thing or two about the casual kiss, and that looked decidedly un-casual." Joey makes a thoughtful face. "Look, I know you're just this nice country girl who grew up on a stream, or whatever, but don't you know what I'm talking about?" Audrey asks. Aw, man. That stream crack sealed the deal: I love Audrey. Joey shakes her head. "I'm sorry. What was the topic again?" Audrey tosses her hair. "That, clearly, relations were had. You know, scantily-clad and possibly fully-naked relations?" Joey makes a face. "Thank you for that image," she snips. "God, word," the audience mutters. Audrey gives her the once-over and declares that she needs a "slap in the face." You know, metaphorically. "I need a reaction, woman!" Joey shrugs. "I'm sorry, but I don't have a reaction," she offers.
In the dining room, Jen pushes away from the table and tells the boys that she's going to see if Audrey needs her help
Bathroom. A knock at the door. Jen: "Audrey, do you need to borrow a shirt?" Audrey gives Joey a Significant Look, and tells Jen that "that'd be great." They trot off.
Dining Room. Boys. Pacey leans back in his chair, a giant grin plastered across his mug. "Soooooo," he drawls. "Dawson. Dawson Leery." Dawson looks at the centerpiece. "That's my name," he confirms. At the other end of the table, Jack continues to burst with barely-contained hilarity. Pacey would like to know why Dawson chose to take "the lovely and talented Jen Lindley" away for the weekend. "A woman not even my tribe can resist," Jack pipes up. "A woman who tugs at the heartstrings of rehabilitated rebels and frat boys alike," Pacey narrates, "and here you are, not sharing the details." Dawson shrugs and tells them that there's nothing to tell. "Really? So that's why you're staring at the bathroom door like you wish you have telekinetic powers," Pacey asks, adding that Dawson must be either very concerned about Audrey's wardrobe, or he's worried about Joey. Jack pipes up that he doesn't think Joey would mind "a little kissssssing." He and Pacey smirk at each other. They're both getting immense pleasure out of ribbing Dawson. As they nod at each other, Joey walks down the hall behind them and into the kitchen. "Unless, of course, something more happened," Jack continues, raising his brows. Dawson's watching Joey. "Now, there's an interesting idea!" Pacey chirps. "But what more could have happened?" Dawson sort of glances distractedly at Pacey. "Guys, I'm not going to go over the bases with you," he says, getting up and heading for the kitchen. "I didn't say 'bases,'" Pacey says, pointing his finger in the air. "Did you say 'bases'?" Jack pokes his risotto, smiling. "Guys, we don't need details," he smirks. " 'Bases' is plural," Pacey points out loudly. Hee! Pacey and Jack have good chemistry. Oh, not like that. Well, maybe. Nah. Well? No.
Dawson joins Joey in the kitchen. They look at each other.
Back at the dining room table, Jack and Pacey exchange glances. "He did," Jack says. "You think?" Pacey asks. Jack nods. "Yeah, definitely did. You feel different?" Pacey makes a faux-thoughtful face. "I do. I do. I feel different. I mean, here was Dawson Leery, walking amongst us, and I gotta tell you, I'm a little worried he wasn't prepared. I mean, we didn't even get to have the talk!" Jack chuckles. "How do you know?" Pacey asks him. It's not so much Dawson as it is Jen, Jack explains. "I know the look," he says. "Oh, man," Pacey says, leaning back in his chair. "You know, we almost did, too," he offers. "I know, I know," Jack says. "Come to think of it, we almost did, too." They look at each other. "What do you think it takes?" Pacey asks. "A virgin and a straight guy," Jack answers. "Damn!" Pacey mutters. Heh.
In the kitchen. Joey's all smiley-faced, telling Dawson that seeing him kiss someone else is always going to be "a little weird," but that it makes sense for Dawson and Jen to get back together. He flares the nostrils and says that he hadn't thought about it that way. "We're such different people now." Joey nods. "I guess we all are, I hope," she says, and asks Dawson how, you know, it went down last weekend. Dawson muses that he doesn't quite know, that it all took them both by surprise, but they were out of town and in the honeymoon suite, and…his voice trails off. "There's no handbook for this, is there?" he asks. Joey smiles. "No," she says. "Maybe we should think of co-authoring one." Dawson forces a grin and admits that there's just not "any graceful way" of having this conversation. "What conversation?" Joey asks. "We're talking about a kiss." Dawson gives her a look. Joey makes an "ooooh" face. The Piano Of My Soulmate Had Sex With Someone Else tinkles mournfully in the background. Joey begins to babble that she ought to have known blah blah she's not naïve blee blee blee. "I get it," she says. "We don't have to make this into a thing. In fact, let's not make it a thing, okay?" she asks. I can vote for not making it a thing. Here's one big fat vote for No Thing. She smiles, and walks out of the kitchen. Dawson looks sad that Joey isn't trying to kill herself with the cheese grater because she didn't get to deflower him.
Dining room. "I hate to break this to you guys, given the obvious level of enthusiasm, but it's time for the second course," Pacey announces. Joey smiles brightly and offers that if they're all tired "from whatever," they can call it off. But Pacey won't hear of that. "There are many more courses to come," he says. I paused the tape here, and it stops by chance at a hilarious shot of Jack, hunched over his plate as if in fear. Pacey says that he "put a lot of time and energy into this, so it has to be worth something, right?" He gets up to serve up the course. After an awkward moment of staring at Jen and Dawson, Audrey, Joey, and Jack all push away from the table and race after him, ostensibly to help. "So, they know," Dawson tells Jen, who puts her head in her hands. "And Joey knows," he says. "Oh boy," Jen sighs. "How did she react?" Dawson shrugs. "Like Joey," he says. "Is she upset?" Jen asks. "She is and she isn't," Dawson non-answers. Jen mentions that, last week, Joey sort of passed the torch to her, with the whole taking-care-of-Dawson thing, but that she doesn't think "this was what [Joey] had in mind." Dawson picks up her hand and kisses it. "As much as I love and care about the people in the room," he says, "I'm happy with you." Jen makes a schmoopy face. Dawson says something unintelligible. They kiss.
Kitchen. "Look, I'm just going to say it, all right? It's a little weird," Jack blurts out. He says that Dawson is still "shell-shocked and vulnerable" since his lover -- er, "father" tragically died. And Jen's still getting over Charlie, and it's not the best time for either of them to be "experimenting," like they're out in the living room snorting coke and considering an orgy. Pacey's at the stove, and because I'm not completely formed from stone, I must admit that I think he looks darling in his apron. "Okay," Audrey says. "Okay. But seriously? Where is the Grams? You guys have been evading the question all night. What, do you keep her locked upstairs in the attic or something?" Hee. Again. I think I've typed more "hee"s in this one recap that I have in all the recaps combined. Joey jumps on this, agreeing that "it's very inappropriate" to be doing this dinner thing in the house without Grams, and as such, they must leave immediately. Jack's all, I have to live here, and you're not leaving me alone with them. Pacey seasons something, and points out that, while the idea of bailing is both easy and attractive (much like myself), it's not always best to take the easy way out. Audrey leans down and stares at the chickens roasting in the oven. "Is it supposed to be birthing the lemons like that?" she asks. Pacey makes an exasperated face and explains that the chicken is stuffed with lemons for flavoring. "Let's serve it up," Joey suggests. Pacey insists that the chicken isn't done cooking. Joey swears that she "loves her chicken raw." Jack nods enthusiastically, and agrees that "the cavemen used to do it." ["I thought that that line would surely lead to an extremely annoying salmonella-related subplot. How gratifying that the writers proved me wrong." -- Sars] Pacey throws up his hands. "Suuuuuure," he drawls. "Yes! That's a great idea! Let's serve it up, bloody as hell." Man, Pacey sure is bringing the charm tonight.
Joey opens door to the dining room, revealing Dawson and Jen leaning their foreheads against one another's and gazing moonily into each other's eyes. They jump apart when she enters the room. Joey starts gathering the plates for the chicken, and Dawson races into the kitchen to "help." "Um. Joey?" Jen begins. "Just so you know, for whatever it's worth and I don't know what that is, I just didn't…I didn't plan on this." Joey smiles, and tells Jen that she never thought that she did. Awkward. Awkward. "This boy has always been between us in one way or another, and I feel like you and I were finally getting close and I would really hate for that to be negated by this development," Jen says. Joey shakes her head and assures Jen that she's fine! Fine! Her reaction, contrary to what everyone seems to think, is not going to be "apocalyptic." They stare at each other. "You're a good person, Jen," Joey says. "That's exactly what Dawson needs right now." Jen looks at the table, relieved.
Everyone sits around the table, staring at the chicken. "Pace, if I spot a vein, do I win a prize?" Jack asks. Pacey grins, and admits that "the chicken was taken a bit before its time. But that said, [he] did serve [them] the cooked parts." The meal shouldn't pose "a health hazard," Pacey says, "so eat in peace." Everyone picks at his or her meal. Jack finally alights on a topic of conversation. "Aside from the obvious," he asks, "how was the film festival?" Dawson yammers about how everyone loved him, and then mentions that he thinks he might check out this film school he heard about. In Boston. "Really?" Joey asks. Dawson mutters something else unintelligible. I guess getting laid has rendered him unable to speak clearly, an unexpected but welcome side effect. "So, then, you'd end up in Boston after all?" Joey asks. Dawson admits that it looks that way. Jack says that, if he's looking for somewhere to live, there's plenty of room at Grams's. Jen turns bright red. Pacey stifles a chuckle. Dawson stares at his plate and says that's "a definite possibility." Awkward moment. Awkward moment. Audrey looks around the table and then just dumps her entire plate of chicken on her lap. "God! Not again! Joey?" She grabs her roommate's hand and drags her out of the room.
In the kitchen, Joey cleans off Audrey's pants and reminds her that, usually, the person who needs to talk is the person who does the spilling of food. Audrey grabs Joey's arm and hisses that she needs to talk. Joey sarcastically wonders what she can do to make Audrey feel better. They sit at the kitchen table, and Joey complains that everyone is treating her like "a delicate flower." "So?" Audrey asks. "Why aren't you a delicate little flower? Have you no soul, just a black, black void?" Heh. "Which question should I answer?" Joey asks. Audrey asks how Joey feels about Dawson moving to Boston. Joey responds that she feels nothing. She's feeling nothing! His moving isn't that shocking, she says. The Melancholy Piano Of Her Soulmate Boned Another starts up again. "You know what?" Joey begins, "When [the Flash] died, it cancelled everything out." She admits that she and Dawson were "at the point of possibilities," but they'll never know what could have happened. Because the Flash died! He died! "So, yeah, maybe, if this broke my heart, I wouldn't have any right to say so," she says. Audrey looks sad. "Honey, you have the right to say anything you want when it comes to how you feel," she says. Joey shakes her head, and tells Audrey that it doesn't matter, anyway. The situation is what it is. She gets up and heads back to the dining room. Audrey stares at the bowl of fruit on the table.
The doorbell rings. Jen gets it. It's Charlie. Chad Michael Murray looks like he just smoked a bowl of chronic and then took a nap and woke up two and a half minutes before he was due on set. The Wacky Tuba Music Of Too Many Boyfriends toots in the background. "Hi," Charlie offers. Jen stands, stunned, in the doorway. Behind her, Jack, Pacey, and Dawson peek out of the dining room. Two of the three of them look thrilled by this dramatic development.
Everyone's back at the table except for Jen. They're passing the salad around. There's a bit of banter about the correct placement of the salad course, and then everyone stares at his or her plate and wonders if they ought to eat, or to wait for Jen. "Who knows how long Pretty Boy is going to take to -- oh, look! Bread," Jack says, reaching for the rolls and avoiding Dawson's eye. Dawson looks around, and decides he's going to go check on Jen. He wanders out into the foyer, but is stopped by Pacey before he gets to the door. "She'll be right in," Pacey says. Dawson swears he's not going to cause a scene. "I'm all for scene-causing," Pacey says, drying his hands on his apron. "I wanna serve the guy up as garnish for the third course. But don't be that guy. I know you. You're better than that guy." Dawson makes a face as Pacey explains that checking in before a check-in is due and basically "checking out the competition, which, let's face it, is what [Dawson's] doing here" only starts a relationship on "a needy overtone" and is a "rocky-road best left untravelled." Dawson raises a brow. "That doesn't sound a whole lot like me," he says. What, nosey and needy? Sounds like you to me. "Why do I get the feeling you're this guy?" he asks. Pacey punches him in the face. They fight. Eventually, Pacey overpowers Dawson and pummels him to death with the fireplace poker. He then kidnaps Joey and goes on the lam, eventually driving over the border and deep into Mexico, where they buy a fleet of shrimp boats and live off the fruit of the sea. Not really. Actually, Pacey just grins and tells Dawson that, "generally, [he's] a very wise man." Dawson insists that he appreciates Pacey's advice, but…"you're going ahead anyway," Pacey says. Dawson agrees. "Can't say I blame you," Pacey says.
Outside. Dawson pokes his head out of the front door. "Everything okay?" Jen tells him that it is. Are they holding dinner for her? Dawson assures her that they'll wait. Jen swears it'll only be a minute. He goes back inside. "Nice to meet you," Charlie smarms at the closed door. Jen's like, I'd have introduced the two of you, except for the part where I hate you. Charlie admits that -- you know what? Screw this boring scene. Long story short: Charlie brings Jen back her Flaming Lips t-shirt. She tells him that she has "the habit of picking the wrong guy, and [she] feels like maybe this time [she] made the right choice." He wants her to be happy. She is happy. Maybe they'll see each other around sometime. Jen suggests graduation. The end.
Inside. Jen takes her seat, apologizing. "T-shirt returned, case closed," she says, with a close-mouthed smile. Joey watches as Dawson reaches over and takes Jen's hand. She smiles tightly and looks at her plate, then stands up and announces that she's going to get some more salad. She skedaddles. Dawson chases her. Everyone looks at the ceiling. Jack stands up and grabs Jen and tells her to come with him to "change the music." Jen shrugs. "Excuse me, I guess," she offers to the rest of the table.
Living room. Jen switches CDs. "You happy now?" she asks. Jack's not. He wants to pretend they're best friends for five minutes so they can talk about this whole having-sex-with-Dawson thing. "You're sleeping with Dawson?" he asks. "I mean, come on! Any steps you want to fill me in on, here?" Jen mutters that it just happened. Jack's scared that Jen's moving too fast. She's still getting over Charlie, Dawson's dealing with The Death Of The Flash. "I don't think you're aware of how delicate this little scenario is," he tells her. She insists that she is. "If you think what's going on in the kitchen doesn't affect me, then you're wrong. It does," she tells him. And then she snaps that everything would have been much easier if they hadn't come home to this entire dinner thing. Jack tells her that "it's not an intervention." Jen snorts that it sure feels like one. And she's all, who are you to talk? "You've conveniently erased yourself from my life over the past few months," she reminds him. Jack tells her that "it's a two-way street" -- it's not like she's been around all that much, either. Jen snaps that she can't talk to a "guy who would choose a beer bong over his boyfriend." And he snaps that he can't explain things to someone who's already made up her mind! "Then you should know how I feel," Jen tells him. She sits down to him on the sofa. This introduces the "what happened to our love?" portion of the evening. "It's like you haven't known me over the past two years if you think I'm capable of hurting Dawson," Jen says. "How could you think that?" Blah blah blah. "You knew how I took my coffee," Jen says sadly. "I knew how you liked your toast. What happened to those people?" Jack and Jen sit on the sofa and look sad.
Dining room. Pacey chirps that he's "as happy living in denial as the guy, but is the food really that bad?" Audrey smiles, and says that she gives him "kudos" for holding it together throughout the entire drama of the evening. Pacey gives her props, in turn, because it's nice to see someone, he says, "who's not ready to kill herself, or the person directly to her right." Audrey raises her water in a toast "to not hating each other." That's the traditional Christmas toast in my family, by the way.
Kitchen. Joey washes one dish over and over. Dawson, standing by the sink, cracks that Grams is sure going to be happy that Joey's rubbed the pattern off her bowl. Joey puts the crockery down. He tells her that she doesn't have to pretend that she's fine. "Do you miss me?" Joey asks suddenly. "Do you miss being around me?" Dawson responds that of course he does. Joey sits at the kitchen table and tells him that she can't stop thinking about how their lives don't happen together anymore. "I think some part of you won't forgive me for changing the future," she says. But Dawson reminds her that he's the one who changed the future. "How did I go from being on the corner of possibility to being nothing at all?" Joey asks. And Dawson tells her, of course, that she's not nothing at all. She'll never be nothing. "I wish…I wish I could give you an explanation," he begins, and Joey interrupts to tell him that she doesn't want an explanation because Dawson thinks she deserves it; she just wants him to want to tell her. "Something shifted when [the Flash] died," Dawson begins. "Something was lost. And, uh, part of me, the part of me that was still hopeful, thought that you and I could be on hold, but…blah blah…path…blah blah sense blah blah blah I couldn't breathe, yada yada yada." Apparently, when Dawson and Jen got out of town, "it was like starting over." Joey asks if it would have been different if she'd gone with him to Hooksett. Well, duh -- he wouldn't have slept with Jen. Dawson doesn't know if he can answer that question. "When I was with Jen, I was me. Just me." For the first time in a long time, he wasn't censoring himself. "You can't be yourself around me?" Joey asks, all hurty-eyed. "Joey, it hurts to be around you," Dawson tells her. Seeing her reminds him of "his past life." And he cares about her, but he can't bear to be around her. "I can't go back. It just hurts," he says. Joey nods, tight-lipped. Good job from both of the actors there. Yeah, you heard me: the Beek did a good job there. Who says I don't give credit where credit's due?
Dessert time! It's chocolate. Much cooing over the cake ensues. Joey mispronounces "espresso." Pacey promises that their dinner will go more smoothly. Everyone's all, "time?" "You don't stop riding a bike just because you smash into a tree," Pacey says. Joey looks around the table and suggests that, actually, they all take a break from each other. "How did we get here?" she asks. They're drifting apart, she says, despite their best efforts. Pacey corrects her, saying that the occasional cup of java doesn't constitute much of an effort. Speaking of java, Dawson hands Jen her cup of coffee. She sets it down for a moment, then looks over to see Jack pouring the cream into it. They smile at each other. Dawson says that it's natural to drift apart. "We're not in high school anymore," he sighs. Audrey looks around the table, then asks the group if they have any idea how lucky they all are. She can't name two people she knew when she was fifteen that she still speaks to. And none of them can cook. And they're all on drugs. Joey guesses that it is "a lot to expect" that they all stay the same. "We're all still sitting here. Must be something worth sticking around for," Joey agrees. "Yeah, the dessert," Audrey cracks. "Oh, and the lifelong friendships," she adds, offhandedly. Everyone toasts their coffee to the whole lifelong-friendships hoo-ha. Mid-toast, Grams comes into the dining room, taking off her cardigan. Audrey leaps up from the table. "This is the Grams!" she says, hugging her. "You're kind of a lot cooler than I thought you'd be," she says. "I do seem to get that quite a bit," Grams says dryly. Joey introduces Audrey. "Your reputation has preceded you," Grams tells her. "Well, it usually does," Audrey says. Grams tells the kids that it's nice to see their little reunion, but she's going to bed. Jack gets up from the table, admitting that he's got people to meet out on the town. And Joey has to study. And Audrey's going with her. "Pacey, always a pleasure," she says. "You can make me a tart anytime." Pacey grins. "Be careful what you wish for," he purrs. Audrey grins: "Okay, you got that one for free." Jack and Jen and Dawson agree to meet for breakfast the morning; Joey thanks Pacey for dinner and tells the other people to take care, and then books. Dawson and Jen stare at each other.
Kitchen. Pacey. Jen. She muses that she hasn't had a piece of his mind yet. "Hit me with your best shot," she offers. Pacey can't help her, he says. "You'll get no judgment out of me." Jen fake-pouts that his judgments "are the best kind." Pacey pauses in his cleaning and grins. "How about this?" he asks. "I would be satisfied if everyone would just do what makes them happy and leave it at that," he says. Jen smirks that "the planets would collide and the seas would boil" if that were to occur. "Don't I know it," Pacey agrees. "But you seem happy. At least for the first five minutes. Maybe not so much after that." Jen thanks him, and tells him that she'll clean up since he cooked. "I'll take it," Pacey says, and kisses her on the forehead, and goes.
The streets of Boston. "Joey, are you seriously going to study all night? Don't you feel like going out, doing a couple of shots, and, like, punching someone in the face?" Audrey asks. "You mean, someone other than you?" Joey cracks. "Oh, that's right! Keep it up with the funny," Audrey squeals. Pacey catches up with them as Audrey's saying that an evening "with Professor Potter" sounds pretty horrid, and that she's going to tag along with Jack. Audrey takes Jack's arm, and they take their leave. "Okay," Audrey tells him as they go, "we are so going to a gay bar. Your efforts to set me up so call for revenge!" Pacey and Joey grin.
Joey and Pacey walk and talk. Joey says that she envies Pacey's ability to "see the big picture." Pacey shrugs. "I am the visionary of our group," he says. Blah blah blah he started all over himself with the whole take-off-on-the-boat, come-back-and-be-a-chef thing. Pacey thinks Joey's giving him too much credit. He only knew that he wanted to get out of town "Only later, it became a profound journey," he cracks. They walk in silence for a moment. "I just feel like I'm acting how Joey Potter is supposed to act," Joey offers. Everything she wants has shifted, she says. She feels like she's floundering. Yeah, well, welcome to college. Pacey looks at her and tells her that, in fact, she's "becoming the woman he always knew she was going to become." Joey smiles at her feet. "So, where is the flaw in that?" Pacey asks. Joey kicks at the pavement and confesses that she expected this from Dawson. "How could I possibly think everything else would change, but we somehow would remain the same?" she wonders. "I mean, promises we made before we even knew how we'd turn out? It seems a little crazy." They walk in silence for a moment; then Pacey tells her that "the things we really want always seem like a good idea at the time." Isn't that the truth? Exhibit A: My red leather pants. "Pace? I don't think I exactly wanted it," Joey confesses, and the world breathes a sigh of relief. She tells him that she's actually relieved that Dawson's out of her hands. "You just didn't expect to lose your place?" Pacey offers. "It sounds horrible," she says. Pacey shrugs that it just sounds like the truth. "And I am a firm believer that things happen for a reason. And that things have a wonderful habit of working themselves out, no matter how you plan them to the contrary." Joey shoots him a half-smile that slowly becomes a full-blown grin. Pacey hugs her. Over his shoulder, Joey closes her eyes and beams.
Grams's. Jen takes Dawson up to his attic room. "So this is where you take your conquests to die?" he asks. We can only hope. Some banter about being afraid of the dark, and how it's not proper to "have relations" with him while Grams is home, blah blah, please wrap this up, you two. At one point, Dawson picks her up and tosses her onto his bed. Jen sits on him. "So, want to talk about what happened tonight?" she asks him. "Nah," Dawson sighs. "Okay. Guess you can't change reality," Jen says. Dawson calls the evening "cathartic," and Jen drapes herself over his legs and sighs that she's had it with catharsis. "Can we just be boring? I want to be very, very, very boring," she says sleepily. ["Dawson's your boyfriend, hon. Ask and ye shall receive." -- Sars] Dawson hates to disappoint her, but he thinks they have years of drama ahead of them. For my mental health, I hope not. Jen sighs that she thinks his room "has possibilities." What kind, Dawson wonders. "The kind we can talk about tomorrow," Jen murmurs. They smile contentedly and lie on each other.