03x08 - Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

[destinyros2005]

Episode 308 - Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?

[Scene: Inside the local store. Jen and Pacey are shopping for items for the Thanksgiving dinner.]

Jen: Uh, don't let me forget to get the creamed onions, either.

Pacey: Oh, no. Mm-mmm.

Jen: What's the matter? You don't like creamed onions?

Pacey: No, man, they creep me out. I'm being dead serious here, too. Just the thought of 'em makes me sick to my stomach.

Jen: Ok, Pacey, how about this? I promise to keep all offending vegetables out of your line of sight at all times. Good?

Pacey: You know, Jen, when I suggested that we hook up today, this is not exactly what I had in mind.

Jen: Believe me, Pacey, I know, but unfortunately, Grams' Thanksgiving feast Takes precedence over our burgeoning sex life.

Pacey: Correct me if I'm wrong, but we don't actually have a sex life yet, do we?

Jen: What, and you think that that's my fault?

Pacey: Uh...Yeah. I do actually think that that's your fault.

Jen: I'm sorry, Pacey I just find it difficult to... To watch you paw at me with... [Laughs]

Pacey: Foreplay is no laughing matter. How do you expect a guy to do his best work in the face of scorn and derision?

Jen: It's just that we're friends...Right? And seeing as how we are friends, but now we're friends that... Do that, um... It's just gonna take a lit le time getting used to. Although maybe we could find a moment later?

Pacey: I can't. I think I have to go to my parents' for Thanksgiving.

Jen: Ok.

Pacey: I'm sorry. I have to. I figure it's probably the right thing to do, seeing as they brought me into the world and all.

Jen: Gee, you sound so excited.

Pacey: Well, it's such a joyous occasion. Just imagine it-- the Witter women slaving over a hot stove all afternoon just to be told that the butterball is too dry, and this coming from a guy who's been sitting on his derriere all day getting drunk and watching football.

Jen: Well, even despite the creamed onions, You gotta love grams for offering an alternative.

Pacey: I do. Speaking of, you know you never told me who else is coming.

Jen: Don't worry, Pacey. Andie politely declined the invite.

Pacey: Hey, I wasn't going there.

Jen: Please. I think that she's making dinner for Jack and her dad tonight.

Pacey: Sounds nice. It's good for her to have family at Thanksgiving.

Jen: Come here.

[She gives him a big hug.]

Pacey: Mmm! Good lord, do you smell good.

Jen: [Snorts]

Pacey: What was that?

Jen: [Laughing]

Pacey: Oh, come on!

Jen: I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!

[Opening Credits]

[Scene: Inside the Leery kitchen. Gale is cooking food for the Ryan's Thanksgiving dinner and Dawson enters after walking through the living room where Mitch is watching football.]

Dawson: Hey.

Gale: Hey. So. What do you think? Tell me the truth. I want my contributions to Mrs. Ryan's Thanksgiving dinner to be straight out of gourmet magazine.

Dawson: It looks like the cover of the November issue to me.

Gale: Ah. So while those cool, I can now get started with this oyster stuffing.

Dawson: So how goes the apartment search?

Gale: Oh, it's... It's coming. But you don't mind, do you, I mean me taking up temporary residence in the guest room?

Mitch: [From the other room] Go! Go! Touchdown! All right! Whoo!

Dawson: This is starting to feel oddly familiar.

Gale: What, your, uh, father watching football and me in my apron?

Mitch: Hey, Dawson, you're missing a great game in there. Whoa! Check out these pies! Dawson, grab a Kn*fe. Let's see if they taste as good as they look.

Gale: Uh-uh. Don't even think about it. Hands off. I cannot show up at Mrs. Ryan's with half-eaten baked goods.

Mitch: That hardly seems fair, does it, Dawson? She invades our kitchen, fills the house with the scent of pumpkin pie, and then tells us we can't have any.

Gale: Fair or unfair, no one is going to spoil their Thanksgiving dinner on my watch.

Dawson: [Laughs] Why do I suddenly feel like I'm stuck in an episode of the Waltons?

Gale: Honey, why don't you go change?

[Scene: Inside Gram's Kitchen. Grams is there when Jen enters carrying the grocery bags.]

Jen: Ok. Grams!

Grams: Ah, there you are!

Jen: Hey, Sam says hi.

Grams: Who's Sam?

Jen: You know Sam, the deli guy. The one with the bad dentures, the liver spots, and all that nostril hair? I think he likes you.

Grams: Jennifer, there's something I need to tell you.

Jen: I know, I know. I won't eat any of the food before the meal is served. I will clean out my closet to hang up the guests' coats in, and I will think of something to be thankful for so I won't embarrass you in front of your prayer group.

Grams: Yes. Actually, no. No, that's not what I want to talk to you about—

Jen: Seriously Grams, you gotta relax. It's just a meal.

Grams: It's a meal with a long history.

Jen: I'm sure it is. I gotta go get ready.

Grams: Jennifer, I just want you to bear in mind that--that Thanksgiving is a holiday with a tradition, a tradition of people with differences, different ideas, different beliefs coming together... Sitting down together, breaking bread together in harmony.

Jen: Well, despite the fact that I learned all that in kindergarten when we made those little indian construction paper headdresses, I really do appreciate the refresher course. But don't worry. I plan to stay as far out of your way on this, as humanly possible.

[They walk down the hall to her room, as they talk and when she enters her room someone is there.]

Jen: Mom.

Mrs. Lindley: Hello, Jen.

[Scene: The Potter kitchen. Joey and Bessie are in there talking while cooking.]

Bessie: I'm so stupid.

Joey: What?

Bessie: Oh, my god. I totally forgot-- I forgot that-- you know, I forgot that thing that goes inside the bird. What's it called?

Joey: The gizzard bag?

Bessie: Yeah.

Joey: Oh, yuck I swear, I mean, if mom were still alive, she would probably have her own cooking show on the food network by now. And look at us.

Bessie: The truth is, I'm glad we're having Thanksgiving at the Ryans'.

Joey: Me, too. I don't know. Maybe it's just the holidays, but... I just feel like any minute now, she's gonna come walking through that door and... Out of the kitchen, everybody!

[Scene: Dawson's Bedroom. Dawson is in there getting ready when there is a knock on the door.]

Gale: Dawson?

Dawson: Come in.

Gale: Hey. Ah, you're wearing your new sweater.

Dawson: Mom.

Gale: Ha. Sorry. Um...You know, honey, I didn't want to say anything earlier in front of your dad, but, uh...You're never gonna guess who I ran into this morning. Helen Lindley.

Dawson: Jen's mom?

Gale: Mm hmm. So what do you think that means?

Dawson: What do I think it means?

Gale: What, you think it's not possible at this very moment the two of them could be discussing a certain half-sister?

Dawson: I think that's highly unlikely, considering Jen doesn't know she has a half-sister.

Gale: You didn't tell her?

Dawson: No.

Gale: Dawson, I'm impressed. I had no idea that you had such self-control.

Dawson: I'd like to brag and say it was self-control, but I think it was more gutlessness than anything.

Gale: Well, then it's just a coincidence.

Dawson: What's just a coincidence?

Gale: Well, that one week you discover a skeleton in the Lindley closet, and then the next the aforementioned family just happens to get together for the first time in over a year.

[Scene: on the Dock. Jen is sitting there and Grams comes up to sit next to her.]

Grams: You've been down here for nearly a half an hour now, Jennifer. You have to come up sooner or later.

Jen: How could you not tell me that she was coming?

Grams: I didn't know! She just... Arrived. It seems your father was detained unexpectedly in Europe on business.

Jen: Now that I can believe. Probably tossing back a vodka martini about now, drowning his sorrows... As if he actually felt any.

Grams: Be generous, Jennifer.

Jen: Why? My mother isn't here 'cause she really wants to see me. She's here 'cause she's got nowhere else to go.

Grams: You don't know that.

Jen: You know what. You're right. I don't. And how would I? The only contact that I've had with her in the past year was a phone call.

Grams: You know what I think?

Jen: What?

Grams: I think that underneath all this, you're really pleased to see her. Well, maybe pleased is not exactly the right word. Maybe it's more like...Prepared. You are prepared to deal with the past. You're prepared to start facing the problems between you.

Jen: I can't even look at her... Let alone talk to her.

Grams: Maybe you can't find the right words because there's too much to say. Jennifer, for the past 14 months, I've been watching you. I've watched you change. You're more serious now. You're more at peace with yourself. It's like...You've crossed some kind of a threshold.

Jen: Threshold. It's more like a crossroads, like I... Like I could just go either way.

Grams: Well...I know that you will choose the right way.

Jen: But in the meantime...

Grams: In the meantime, one foot in front of the other starting in that direction. Come on, Jennifer. You can't stay down here all afternoon. People are starting to arrive. Besides, I'm willing to bet your mother is just as nervous as you are.

Jen: You think?

Grams: Absolutely. In some ways, the two of you are more alike than you know.

[Scene: Outside Grams House. Pacey is outside riding up on his bike, when Jack and Andie arrive.]

Jack: Hey, Pacey. Happy Thanksgiving.

Pacey: Yeah, you, too, man. Happy Thanksgiving, Andie.

Andie: You, too, Pacey.

Pacey: I, uh... I thought you guys were spending the afternoon with your dad.

Jack: Well, that was, uh, plan "A." But he got stuck in Chicago. Any other dad would have found a plane, train, automobile. Anything to see his kids, but not Joseph McPhee.

Andie: You know what, Jack? I'm sure he did everything he could to get here.

Pacey: What'd you bring, Andie?

Andie: Apple pie.

Jack: Yeah, she made it herself.

Pacey: Yeah. It looks amazing.

Jack: Uh...What'd you bring?

Pacey: It's, um... Ha. It's...Cranberry sauce. In a can. Ha ha. Little on the lame side, I know, but it's about the extent of culinary expertise.

Jack: Don't knock cranberry sauce. I mean, it's the backbone of any good Thanksgiving dinner.

Pacey: Yeah. So how you been, Andie?

Andie: Me? Fine! Why do you ask?

Pacey: Well, it's been a while since you and I touched base. I just wanted to check in and see how you're doing.

Andie: Ha ha. Ok, can somebody please tell me why guys always do that? I mean, you want to be the nice, polite friend after the break-up. You know what, Pacey? You made a decision. So at least have the strength to believe in your convictions.

Pacey: You're right. Ahem. You're absolutely right. Um...Listen... Jack, I think, uh, I'm just gonna mosey. You know? I'm just gonna get off to my second stop on my Capeside tour of Thanksgiving.

Andie: No, no. You know what? We are the ones who came at the last minute, so I really should be the one to...

Pacey: Andie, I wouldn't think of it.

Andie: I should be the one to leave.

Jack: You're not going anywhere, and neither are you. Ok? It's Thanksgiving. Now, I think it's pretty cool of Grams to play host to this group of misfits. If the two of you can't get over your history for just a couple of hours and enjoy the company of your friends, you should be home eating a TV dinner under a bare bulb, ok? So get over yourselves already. God.

[Scene: Outside Gram's House. Joey, Bessie, Mitch Gale, and Dawson arrive together.]

Gale: Look who's here! Look at this guy. Alexander! You are so big! Happy Thanksgiving.

Bessie: Happy Thanksgiving.

Joey: Happy Thanksgiving.

Gale: You are getting so handsome!

Joey: It's weird to see your parents together. They seem to be getting along.

Dawson: So it would appear.

Grams: Hi everyone. Happy Thanksgiving. Come on in.

Jen: All right, everybody. Coats.

[Jen brings the coats into her room, where she finds her mother still there getting ready.]

Jen: Sorry. I didn't realize you were still here.

Mrs. Lindley: Oh, please, we can share. It is your room now, after all.

Jen: No. I was just gonna drop these coats on the bed.

Mrs. Lindley: I'm sorry. Jen. Um...Would you mind? Thanks. My god, you're getting so beautiful. I'm sorry. Did I say something wrong?

Jen: No. No, I--I--I was--

Mrs. Lindley: Tell me.

Jen: I was just remembering how I used to watch you in the mirror when I was little. Watching you put on your lipstick, brushing your hair. I just studied your every move.

Mrs. Lindley: Like I was the most important person in the world.

Jen: Something like that.

Mrs. Lindley: Here, I have something for you. My mom gave these to me when I was about your age, and I figured that it's, um, about time to pass them on.

Jen: They're beautiful, mom.

Mrs. Lindley: You know I've always thought so.

Jen: But I can't.

Mrs. Lindley: Why not?

Jen: Because where would I wear them? I mean, at home, maybe, but... I mean, in New York maybe, but here? And this is where I live now.

Mrs. Lindley: Save them for a special occasion.

Jen: Mom, you're the one that taught me pearls lose their luster if you don't wear them. I guess that they're like people in that regard. You should keep them close to your skin.

Mrs. Lindley: Jen, please.

Jen: I need to go help grams in the kitchen.

[Scene: inside Gram's kitchen. Gram's is there, and Joey and Dawson enter, Jen follows shortly behind.]

Joey: Is there anything we can help you with, Mrs. Ryan?

Grams: Pray.

Jen: Got anything in particular?

Grams: General prayer would be fine.

Dawson: Jen.

Jen: Hey.

Dawson: Rumor has it your mom's in town.

Jen: Yeah.

Dawson: Are we gonna get a chance to meet her?

Jen: Um, I would love for you guys to meet her, but--it just that we seem to be having a little failure to communicate right now. She's currently primping in the mirror.

Grams: I'm sure that she'll be down shortly.

Dawson: Did you know she was coming?

Jen: No.

Dawson: Mm-mmm. Big surprise.

Jen: Guerrilla style. It seems my mom is a graduate of the Ho Chi Minh school of parenting.

Dawson: Is she here for some reason other than Thanksgiving? Any news on the home front?

Jen: What, you mean is she begging me to return home to the familial fold? I don't think so.

Dawson: Well, did you talk to her? I mean, it's been a long time. She must have a lot to tell you.

Jen: Like what?

Dawson: Like maybe she misses you. Maybe she's sorry that she sent you away, you know. I mean, I know she hasn't always been there for you.

Jen: Dawson, ever since I was 13 years old, that woman has done nothing but stare at me with a look of mild disregard, like I was some stranger who spilled a cocktail on her carpet.

Joey: Jen, um, we're all strangers to our parents. I mean, they love us, but they don't really know us. And sometimes before we get the chance to know them, they're gone. And so we can't ask them all the things we want to know About turnips or turkey gizzards. You know, what they were like when they were young.

Jen: Joey, I'm sorry.

Joey: Oh, it's ok.

Jen: No, I am. I--I totally—

Joey: No, look. What I'm trying to say is... Why don't you give her a chance? She's your mom and, um, the reality is that, you know, she came here today to talk to you and to be with you. And I think you owe her that much.

[Scene: By the Creek. Mrs. Lindley is there standing by the water's edge when Dawson comes up to her.]

Dawson: Mrs. Lindley. Hi, I'm Dawson, Dawson Leery.

Mrs. Lindley: Oh, Gale's son. Of course. Hello, pleased to meet you.

Dawson: Pleased to meet you.

Mrs. Lindley: Don't think I could have imagined a more beautiful day. Sometimes I forget how magical this place could be.

Dawson: Um, you know that Jen and I actually dated for a little while. We--uh, we're still very good friends. I care very deeply about her.

Mrs. Lindley: Well, that's nice to hear, Dawson. I'm glad that Jen has a friend in you.

Dawson: Um... There is also something else that you should know.

Mrs. Lindley: Yes?

Dawson: It is not going to be easy to say this, so I'm just gonna say it and you can tell me if I'm out of line.

Mrs. Lindley: I'm listening.

Dawson: A few, uh-- not too long ago, I met a girl who was just passing through Capeside. And, uh, I got to know her a little bit, and it came out that she had been given up for adoption. Um, she just recently discovered this, and she was determined to find her birth mother.

Mrs. Lindley: What does this have to do with me, Dawson?

Dawson: Mrs. Lindley, this girl was carrying a picture of you.

Mrs. Lindley: And, uh, where is she? Is she still here in town?

Dawson: No, she's not. By the time I realized who she was, she left. So it's true?

Mrs. Lindley: Does Jen know anything about this?

Dawson: No. I wrestled with telling her, but I... I ultimately decided it wasn't my place, which is why I'm really glad you're here.

Mrs. Lindley: This is a very difficult and very personal issue.

Dawson: I'm sure it is.

Mrs. Lindley: But as you said, the girl is gone. That's why I don't see any reason for Jen to know anything about this.

Dawson: That's not entirely true. I mean, there's nothing to prevent Eve from coming back into town.

Mrs. Lindley: Eve?

Dawson: That's her name. Eve Whitman. And, for all I know, she could approach Jen herself. Something tells me that this information would be much better coming from you than from her.

Mrs. Lindley: Remember when you asked me to tell you if you were out of line?

Dawson: Look, I'm not an authority on functional families, but I-I've seen what happens when families keep these kinds of secrets from each other. I just don't want to see Jen get hurt.

Mrs. Lindley: Neither do I.

[Scene: Gram's Porch. Andie is watching Pacey and Jack set the table up outside. Joey comes up to her.]

Joey: It gets easier, you know.

Andie: What does?

Joey: Being in the same room with him.

[Cut to Jack and Pacey]

Pacey: Does she ever ask about me?

Jack: What do you think?

Pacey: I'm thinking she'd probably hate me right about now.

Jack: Ah, only every other day.

[Cut to Andie and Joey]

Joey: Andie... As a veteran of multiple breakups with the same boy, I know what you're going through. And I just wanted to let you know that the dark nights will pass. Eventually, you will find peace.

Andie: Wish I could believe you, Joey. Because sometimes it's just so unbearable, and it's like this feeling of being uncomfortable in my own skin. And it's like I have to keep busy because if I stop, even just for one minute, all I can think about... Is how badly I hurt him and how badly I got hurt.

[Cut to Pacey and Jack.]

Jack: Well, it's not a judgment, it's a fact. I mean, you broke my sister's heart.

Pacey: And she broke mine.

Jack: Ok, so, imagine how much pain she's in.

[Cut to Andie and Joey.]

Andie: So, you guys have gotten to be pretty good friends lately.

Joey: Yeah. I mean, Pacey's a doofus, but, you know, he has his moments.

Andie: So, does he talk about me?

Joey: Not really, Andie. You know Pacey. I mean, if he can't come up with a clever quip about something, then he goes stoic. The way he feels about you, he keeps that close to his heart. It's really precious to him, Andie

[Scene: The Thanksgiving table. Everyone is seated around it, and Grams stands up to get people's attention.]

[taps on glass]

Grams: And now a favorite part of the meal. Shall we all stand and join hands? Dawson Leery, would you begin?

Dawson: Uh, sure. I would like to give thanks for the wonderful food that was just on our table.

Pacey: Indeed.

All: Hear, hear.

Mitch: Great cranberries.

Dawson: [Laughs] Um, I'd also like to give thanks for the opportunity to gather with friends and family, who in the best of all worlds are one and the same.

Pacey: Well, I'd just like to pass my thanks along to the ladies of the Ryan brood for an outstanding meal and an afternoon of peace. Both of which will be sorely lacking from the noisy, dysfunctional family feast I'll be having in about 45 minute.

Andie: First of all, I'd like to thank Mrs. Ryan for her kindness and for welcoming me into her home at the last minute.

Grams: Of course, dear.

Andie: I guess what I'm most thankful for is my friends. All of you around this table have helped me in so many ways that you'll never know, and without you I'd be lost.

Jack: Uh, I'd like to give thanks for the kind of people that take strays into their life. And the kind of person to whom it doesn't matter whether or not you're family. Just that you have a home.

Joey: It's my turn, I guess. Um... I guess I-- I would just like to give thanks to all the people we love who aren't necessarily with us today for whatever reason. Just because they're not here doesn't mean we love them any less.

Grams: It's your turn, Jennifer.

Jen: Let me think. Well, in keeping with the theme, I guess I'd like to give thanks for second chances. For the opportunity to try and rebuild bridges that were once thought beyond repair. And for the promise of many more Thanksgivings to come.

Grams: That was lovely, dear.

Mrs. Lindley: Excuse me.

[She leaves the table.]

Jen: Grams, I'll go.

[Scene: Along the water's edge. Jen is running to catch up with her mother who is walking along it.]

Jen: Mom. Wait up. I didn't mean to upset you. I meant what I said. I was just being honest.

Mrs. Lindley: You didn't upset me. I was just thinking.

Jen: About what?

Mrs. Lindley: Oh, maybe I did something right for a change.

Jen: What do you mean?

Mrs. Lindley: Sending you to live with Grams.

Jen: Sending isn't the way I'd put it.

Mrs. Lindley: Fair enough, Jen. But I don't think you realize how lucky you are. I've been searching in vain for friends like that all my life.

Jen: Well, I'm glad that it makes you feel better, but as good of friends as they are, they're not family.

Mrs. Lindley: No. You're right, Jen.

Jen: This past year has been anything but easy for me. I've stumbled and picked myself up stumbled and picked myself up. Over and over and over with no safety net.

Mrs. Lindley: I know I should have been there for you. I should have written or called.

Jen: So why didn't you?

Mrs. Lindley: I wish I could tell you that. For a thousand different reasons, I kept wanting to.

Jen: You have no idea how much that hurts.

Mrs. Lindley: I know.

Jen: What did I do that was so bad? What was so wrong?

Mrs. Lindley: Nothing, Jen, nothing was so wrong.

Jen: Then what?

Mrs. Lindley: Let me try and explain this.

[Scene: At one of the picnic tables. Gale and Mitch are sitting there joking when Dawson comes up to them.]

Dawson: You mind if I join you?

Gale: Well, of course not. Sweetheart, I was very proud of what you said at the table today.

Mitch: Dawson, check out your mom's pie. It's well worth the wait.

Dawson: All right, guys, that's enough.

Gale: What's wrong?

Dawson: You two, acting like Rob and Laura Petrie. One more moment of false sitcomy good cheer, I'm gonna throw up your oyster stuffing.

Gale: We're just trying to become friends again, Dawson.

Dawson: Friends or more than friends? Mom, you move back into town and you take up residence in our guest room.

Gale: What is that supposed to mean?

Dawson: Are you part of the family, or are you a tenant, or what?

Gale: It's not that simple, Dawson.

Dawson: [Sigh] It never is with you two. All right, look. I'm obviously out of the loop here, but maybe that's for the best, ok? Because the last thing that I want to do is be caught in the middle of your drama. But...Guys, if there's something going on that affects me, then I need to know about it. Ok, you guys have to be honest with me.

[Scene: Along the creek side. Jen and Mrs. Lindley are still talking.]

Jen: Ok, let me see if I understand. Mother finds daughter in compromising position, and instead of sharing her own experiences as a teenager-- when she actually got pregnant and had a child-- mother instead turns into a hypocrite and sends her daughter into exile.

Mrs. Lindley: It wasn't only me. There was your father to consider.

Jen: Oh, yeah forgot about him.

Mrs. Lindley: Just for a minute, try to put yourself in my place.

Jen: Why didn't you tell me this earlier? Didn't you once think that maybe it would help me with what I was going through that you would make something easier on me? Instead of pushing me away and turning your back?

Mrs. Lindley: It was a shameful secret, a secret I've had to carry for over 20 years.

Jen: So the answer was then to make me feel dirty and ashamed?

Mrs. Lindley: That was never my intention.

Jen: Know what I think? I think that you were just afraid of dad finding out, about your indiscretion. The story of my life, just waiting for the day that you decide to take my story for once over his.

Mrs. Lindley: You can think what you want, Jen. But I was not and am not prepared to wind up alone.

Jen: That's the difference between you and me, mom. Because I would rather be alone than in a pathetic, loveless marriage.

Mrs. Lindley: Don't go.

Jen: Mom, you are the most intensely selfish person that I have ever known. Look at you. You can't even cry. Something's taken that away from you. You're numb. And you know what? You're grateful for it. Know why you're so afraid of being alone? Because the day you are, you're gonna have to look inside of yourself and you're gonna see what I've known for a long time. There's nothing there.

[Scene: At another table. Bessie is standing up with Alexander. She is getting ready to go, when Dawson comes up to them.]

Bessie: Well, he's had it. [crying] It's definitely time for us to go.

Joey: I'm just gonna say good-bye to everyone.

Bessie: Oh, just us, not you. You stay. Be with your friends.

Dawson: Hi, Bessie. Are you leaving?

Bessie: Oh, yeah.

Dawson: Hey.

Joey: So, I saw you huddle up with your parents over there. What's going on with them?

Dawson: I was seeing the final chapter of the Mitch-Gale saga.

Joey: What do you mean?

Dawson: The divorce is final. The Leerys at Capeside are officially finished as a family.

Joey: You know how sorry I am.

Dawson: I know.

Joey: So what did you say to them when they told you?

Dawson: I really let them have it this time. I looked them both in the eye, and I said "congratulations."

Joey: Good for you, Dawson.

Dawson: But, you know, I figure after a year of if-ing and but-ing, any decision is a good decision. Right?

Joey: Um-hmm.

Dawson: Besides, the only homes we ever have are the ones we make ourselves.

Joey: I know what you mean.

Dawson: So what do you say we really cut loose tonight? Yeah? Act out our teenage ennui in wanton, destructive ways.

Joey: What do you have in mind?

Dawson: Sex, dr*gs, rock and roll. Or maybe... We could just sit right here and have a mind-blowing 3-hour conversation.

[Scene: Pacey is leaving the house, when Jen comes up and grabs his arm and pulls him along.]

Jen: Come here.

Pacey: Uh, where are we going?

Jen: To the gardening shed to play in the enriched potting soil.

Pacey: Did I miss something here?

Jen: No. We agreed to be available at a moment's notice. Besides, don't you like getting dirty?

Pacey: I--I do, but you see, I don't want to sound like a prude here, Jen, but I actually-- I really can't do this right now.

Jen: Come on, Pacey, I can say with absolute certainty that there will be no giggling right now.

Pacey: You--you, uh, just need to give me a second to catch up here.

Jen: Pacey, our arrangement precludes any sort of emotional foreplay.

Pacey: Yes, it does, which by extension also precludes the idea of angry sex. Now you want to tell me what just happened with your mom?

Jen: Nothing. Ok, long story short. Like mother, like daughter. Seems that I'm not the only girl in the Lindley family who can't say no.

Pacey: Well, wake up and smell the sanctimony, mom.

Jen: My sentiments exactly. I plan to file it under "wish I never knew."

Pacey: I wouldn't be so hasty.

Jen: What, Pacey?

Pacey: For what it's worth, as a guy who's just gone through this himself, what just happened to you is a defining moment. When you come to see your parents as human beings with their own problems, it is, oddly, kind of liberating. When you realize... They're way more messed up than you are. It's not worth your time or energy to go on despising them for it.

[Scene: Later that night at Gram's House. Mrs. Lindley is packing up the car. When Jen comes out to her.]

Jen: Leaving so soon?

Mrs. Lindley: I think I've wreaked enough havoc for one holiday, don't you?

Jen: If you're worried that I'm going to spill your little secret to dad, don't. I won't get in the middle. It's your marriage and your life.

Mrs. Lindley: Jennifer.

Jen: And I don't regret saying any of the things that I did. I won't take them back.

Mrs. Lindley: I deserved them. I deserve everything that happens to me.

Jen: What do you mean?

Mrs. Lindley: Don't marry a cold man, Jen. Don't wake up at 40 and realize that one false move and everything you've built your life around could be pulled out from under you.

Jen: Why don't you just divorce him?

Mrs. Lindley: I can't.

Jen: Why not?

Mrs. Lindley: Because do you realize what happens to women like me when their marriages fail? The charity events stop, the social register inexplicably loses your address, and you disappear. You just disappear.

Jen: Ever since you put me on that plane, I always thought that you hated me. But you never did, did you?

Mrs. Lindley: No.

Jen: If anyone, you just hated yourself. If I had realized that earlier, this past year would have been so much easier for me.

Mrs. Lindley: I'm sorry, Jen.

Jen: I know.

Mrs. Lindley: I guess now I have to stop worrying you'll turn out like me. Because you're already so much stronger than I ever was. I guess I should be going.

[Grams comes out and outs her hands on Jen's shoulders.]

Grams: Good-bye, Helen.

Mrs. Lindley: Bye, mom.

Jen: Bye, mom. Call me sometime.

Mrs. Lindley: I will.

Grams: You all right?

Jen: Yeah. I'll be fine.

[Scene: A little later. Pacey comes riding up to Jen who is walking to the group around the bonfire.]

Jen: Pacey, what are you doing here?

Pacey: Ah, I just couldn't do it. You know, I got right up to my front door, and I thought to myself, what the hell am I doing here? I mean, honestly, who would I rather spend my time with, my family who thinks I'm an idiot, or my friends who think I'm an idiot?

Jen: [Laughter] well, I'm glad that you're here.

Pacey: Yeah? There's no hard feelings for this afternoon?

Jen: Except for ones of utter embarrassment. No. I'm sorry about what happened.

Pacey: Sorry? There's no need for you to apologize to me. I know this may be hard for you to believe, but it's actually not every day that a beautiful woman throws herself at me.

Jen: And--and thank you.

Pacey: For what?

Jen: Conduct above and beyond.

Pacey: Ah, it was nothing.

Jen: Pacey, you're a 16-year-old boy. That must have taken superhuman restraint.

Pacey: Oh, Jen, you have no idea .

[Scene: Around the bonfire. All of them are seated around it.]

Pacey: This seat taken?

Andie: It is now.

Dawson: You know what I'm thinking? It's been kind of a while, you know, since we've all ended up in the same spot together . I must say it's nice.

Jen: You know, Dawson, you're right. I feel like I'm in the middle of a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving special.

Andie: Oh, I love that one. That's where they all eat on the ping-pong table, but it keeps collapsing, and then they end up making the popcorn.

Joey: Yeah, well, I think the group hug is a little premature, however. I'm sure we'll find a way to be estranged again in no time.

Dawson: Well, before we do, I would just like to say that in a world where people who raise you end up letting you down, it's an honor and a privilege to have you guys to turn to.

Joey: I can't wait for the Oscar speech. I mean, there's not gonna be a dry eye in the house.