May 2008
New York, New York

Joey still couldn't believe it. Her Dawson was going to meet his idol tomorrow. How many times had they fantasized about this, just a tiny fraction of it, even a chance encounter? He was going to have a real meeting with him. She looked at Pacey, but he didn't seem like he wanted to talk about it. His mind was elsewhere, and she was pretty certain she knew where.

"Are you sure you're okay with this? I don't think I can deal with your jealousy all over again."

"Jealousy? Personally, I've always liked Tarantino better, anyway."

"You know that's not what I meant."

"I know. How many times do I need to tell you I'm fine with it before you'll believe me?"

"At least once more."

"Okay. 'My soul belongs to Dawson, but my heart belongs to you.' I get it. That was the only way you could resolve this little triangle we've been fighting for a decade. It was the only way to keep us both in your life. Besides, 50 years with you is probably as much as I can handle, anyway, I couldn't manage an eternity. He can have your soul."

He was being too glib. She was tempted to take his explanation at face value, but she had resolved to stop running.

"You don't mean that."

"That's what I love about, Jo, you can always see right through me. All right, truth?"

"Yes, please."

"I'm not okay with this, not even close."

Her whole face scrunched into a grimace before relaxing. She was crestfallen.

"You have to be. You're the only who would understand. If we can't be together, I'm just going to keep running and do the easy thing. That's not what I want, and I don't think it's what you want either."

"Why can't you ever just shut up for once?"

"Pacey…"

"Let me talk."

"Fine."

"For so long, I just wanted a tiny little piece of what you and Dawson had. Ever since we were kids, you and Dawson had this magical bond. It was bigger than life itself. The only reason I was so mean to you was because Dawson was my best friend, but I knew I could never mean to him anywhere close to as much as you meant to him."

"I think that's why I was so mean to you, too. I always saw your friendship as taking away from my relationship with him."

"Right, so he was the glue that held our trio together, but it was always about you and him. I just wanted to be part of your world."

Joey raised the corner of her lip in a half smirk.

"That's why I was so scared about him finding out when we started dating. It would destroy our trio, and I didn't think it could ever be rebuilt."

"Same. I figured if I went to him man to man, he might have understood."

"Don't do this."

"Well, it all worked out in the end."

"Did it?"

"That's what I'm trying to get it. It worked out because of how much Dawson has always loved you. No matter what, nothing has ever made him stop loving you. It was his love for you that kept you apart in our Junior year. It was his love for you that led to us becoming close. It was his love for you that made you sail away with me."

"So, you are okay with this then?"

"No, I'm not okay with it."

"I don't get it."

"Jo, everything good that's happened between us has been because of his love for you. Just think how many more good things will happen if your soul still belongs to him. To have captured your heart is more than enough for me. It's all I've ever wanted."

"So, then, why aren't you okay with this?"

"Because I'm great with it."

She flashed him that smile with her tongue slightly sticking out between her teeth, the smile that had stolen the hearts of half of Boston.

"You're not going to still have sleepovers with him, are you?"

"No, I'm quite sure that phase of our relationship is behind us."

Next thing he knew, she was on top of him, kissing him.

The next day

Pacey was making dinner in the kitchen when they got the call. It was the call she had been waiting all day to get, to the point of being entirely unable to focus on anything else.

"Pace, it's Dawson, should I put him on speaker?"

"No, I need to focus on dinner, otherwise it'll get ruined. Tell him I said hi."

"Will do!"

She went into the living room to take the call.

"So, how did it go? Tell me everything."

You won't believe it.

"Well, you've always had enough belief for both of us."

I don't even believe this one. I had to ask my assistant six times to make sure I wasn't dreaming. She must think I'm psychotic.

"It went that well?"

Better.

"Did you tell him I said hi?" Pacey called out from the other room.

"Pacey says hi."

How is the old rascal doing?

"Never been better. He's got an interview tomorrow at a restaurant in TriBeCa, he's really excited about it."

That's great! Give him all my love.

"He really does love you, you know that, right?"

I know.

"Wait, how did we let Pacey's narcissism get us off topic."

"I heard that!"

Okay, so, I can't say it. I'm afraid if I say it, someone's going to jump out and tell me it was all a big joke.

"Dawson!"

All right, here we go. He wants me to do the script for his next movie.

"SPIELBERG WANTS YOU TO WRITE HIS NEXT MOVIE?!"

Spielberg. Wants. Me. To. Write. His. NEXT MOVIE!

"Are you f-ing serious?"

Joey, in the 20 years we've known each other, I've never once heard you say that word.

"I think this would be a good first use of it."

I couldn't agree more.

"Did he tell you what it would be about?"

That's the best part. It's a reimagining of Peter Pan.

"I thought we agreed Spielberg outgrew his Peter Pan phase."

Apparently not. He wants it to be a fresh take on the story, groundbreaking. Beyond that, he's giving me full discretion. He said The Creek was 'eternally innocent' and called me this generation's John Hughes.

"That's amazing!"

God, I was so nervous. I was shaking the whole time. The last time I was that nervous was -

"- when we talked after the beauty pageant our Sophomore year?"

Yeah. Ugh, what a disaster that was. I was so stupid back then.

"No, I was the one who was stupid. You had it right all along."

How's that?

"We do transcend the boy-girl thing. Every time we've tried it, it never lived up to expectations. I had this fantasy of what dating you was supposed to be like, and I was never going to settle for anything less than that perfect vision."

And I was always trying to capture that youthful bliss we had, but life just kept getting in the way.

"Exactly, in order to move forward together, we couldn't do it romantically. Not in this life anyway."

I just hope in that next life our souls will find that perfection we couldn't find here.

"They will."

Anyway, I'm sure you're wondering why it took so long for me to call. I was dying to call you the minute the meeting was over.

"Oh, it's okay, I figured you were just busy."

Well, yes, I was busy, but that's not why. I was trying to work something out, and I did.

"Work what out?"

Assuming you're willing, I want you to edit the script for me. Really edit it, not just proofread it, rewrite anything that needs rewriting. You'd get screen credit as a co-writer.

"Wait, what?"

I need you on this one, Jo. You keep me grounded. Every success I've had, it's all come back to you. It's either about you or because of you. I need you to help me sort out what matters from what doesn't.

"I can't."

Oh, I should have known you'd already have too many projects you're working. That's my Joey, always overextending herself.

"No, it's not that. It's just, editing copy is one thing, but rewriting a script for a Spielberg movie? Millions of people will watch this. Tens of millions. I'm not ready for this."

Yes, you are. I believe in you.

"And that's my Dawson, always believing in me even when I don't believe in myself."

So, you'll do it?

"Of course."

Ooh, I need to take this. Kathy's on the other line.

"Hot date?"

Noooo, Kathleen Kennedy.

"Oh, then why are you still talking to me?"

Love you, bye.

"Love you, too. Always."

Always.

She walked into the other room to tell Pacey the big news.

"Did he say hi back?"

Why did Pacey always have to make everything about himself?

"Yes, and he sends his love."

"Like to us?"

"No, he said, and I quote, 'Give him all my love.' I told him about Corton. He's really excited for you."

"Why did you have to tell him about? What if I don't get the job? He's just going to think I'm a screw up."

"But you will get it. I know it. I believe in you."

"That's the great thing about you Joey, you're always believing the best in people, even when they don't believe in themselves. You get that from Dawson, you know?"

"Is that a bad thing?"

"Definitely not."

"So, do you want to hear about his meeting with Spielberg or not?"

"Oh, right, tell me."

A week later

Pacey was sitting in the apartment, flipping through magazines while watching a daytime soap. The phone rang.

"Potter, Witter, and co., how may I serve you today?"

Is this how you always answer the phone?

Pacey put down the magazine and muted the TV.

"Dawson! How have you been, Jo told me all about the big news."

Yeah, the reality of it is finally starting to hit me. It's been nonstop talking to the execs at Amblin.

"What do they pay you for a thing like that?"

A lot. Plus, I get points. If this thing does well at the box office, I could make close to a million dollars. We, I mean. Joey and I are splitting the fee 50/50.

"Woah, that's really nice of you to include her like that. You've always been good like that." Pacey's voice was dripping with envy. More than envy, he felt completely emasculated all over again seeing his girlfriend being so much more successful than he was.

This isn't altruism, Pace. I need her on this project if it's going to be perfect.

"I get it. She's at the office, by the way. Should I tell her you called?"

You're in that much of a hurry to get rid of me? Which soap are you rushing to get back to?

"Soap operas? Me? No, it's Skinemax all day for me."

Pacey…

"Oh, all right, I was just flipping through the channels and came across The Bold and the Restless or something."

You crack me up. I don't care if you watch soaps. Sometimes I feel like our whole lives have been this giant soap opera.

"I know what you mean..."

Anyway, the real reason I'm calling you is I'm going to be Capeside for the summer. Amblin wants my script by September 1st, and I always get my best writing done in Capeside.

"Oh, well I'll have to find a time to come down, check in on Doug and Jack."

How about this Thursday?

"No, I can't. Corton wants me to do a trail that night."

What's a trail?

"It's when you work all the stations in the kitchen for a shift to show them your skill set."

Pacey, that's amazing!

"Well, they don't even pay you for it, what a scam."

But it'll lead to a job offer after they see what a pro you were.

"Anyway, what was this Thursday?"

Midnight release of the new Indiana Jones movie. The Realto is going to do a quadruple feature of the whole series, leading up to Crystal Skull at midnight.

"Oh, I wish I could go. Take Joey instead. I know she's been dying to get out of the city, work has been driving her nuts these days."

Okay, I'll ask her. Remember how we'd always play Indy when we were kids?

"How could I forget? You'd never let me play Indy, not even once. I had to play every other character, but you were always Indy."

Remember when we got my dad to play Henry, Sr. He was so overly dramatic, like he was trying to win an Oscar.

"Oh, how about when Joey insisted on playing Marion. Wasn't that the first time she kissed you?"

It wasn't even in the script. She just said she "got absorbed in the character."

"That's Joey for you, always too clever for her own good, and us lugheads too blind to see it."

It all worked out in the end, though, for all of us.

"That it did…. I've missed this."

You know you can always call me.

"No, I mean, that childhood innocence."

That's why this script is so important. I need to recapture that spirit, and I can only do it in Capeside.

"I really wish I could go with you Thursday. Rain check?"

Definitely. Have you seen the slate of movies coming out this summer? It's like every great movie worth making all got lined up to come out in the same summer.

"I know, right? Did you see Iron Man yet?"

Yes! I think they're on to something there. This isn't going to be like the other superhero movies.

"Ugh, I just know Joey is going to drag me to see Sex and the City and Twilight. Hasn't that love triangle already been done to death?"

Well, this time it's being done with the undead.

Pacey couldn't stop laughing at Dawson's lame pun.

"You've got me there. What about Tropic Thunder, you think that's going to be any good? I can't stand Tom Cruise, man gives me the creeps, not sure why."

Is it because his wife looks like Joey?

"No, that can't be it. Joey is so much prettier."

That's definitely true, but you have to see the resemblance.

"I guess. Why did they have to replace her in The Dark Knight? She was good in Batman Begins."

Probably money. It's always money. Sucks about Heath Ledger. Jen had such a crush on him.

"Do you know how many times she and Jack saw Brokeback Mountain?"

How many?

"I don't know, I lost count. They saw it twice on opening night. Just sat in the theater after it was over and waited for it roll again. It seemed like they saw it every weekend until it was out of theaters. They were heartbroken when it lost the Oscar."

C'mon, Crash was a cinematic masterpiece. It was hyperlink cinema at its finest.

"It was boring!"

Paul Haggis is doing the new Bond movie, too. What did you think of Casino Royale?

"I think Daniel Craig might be the best Bond of all time."

No one can compete with Sean Connery.

"Craig is pretty close. Well, I won't keep you any longer, I'm sure you've got tons of work to do."

Don't be a stranger, Pace. Keep in touch. Love you, man."

"Love you, brother."

After he hung up, he didn't put the volume back up on his soap. Instead, he just stared off into space, wistful for that childhood joy that got lost somewhere along the way. More than anything, he was happy to have his old friend back, that the girl who had so often divided them had now brought them back together, as close as ever.

Thursday afternoon
Capeside, Massachusetts

Joey got off the train and saw Dawson waiting on the platform for her. She put down her bags and leapt into his arms. As he picked up her bags, she went straight to teasing him.

"How did I let you talk me into this? 8 hours of Indiana Jones. I didn't even like the original ones."

"You liked it when we were kids."

"I liked playing Marion." Her tongue was visible between her teeth as she smiled.

"What was it that I said that time?"

"You said, 'Improvisation, good, I like that.'"

They both laughed hysterically as they walked to his car.

"How are Alexander and Lillian, anyway? Still climbing up the ladder?"

"Yeah, they call it 'playing Dawson and Joey.'"

"Aww, that's adorable."

"My mom was quite firm. No more sleepovers once they reach puberty."

"That's probably smart…"

"What is it?"

"I was just thinking about my mom. I guess that's right when she died, when we hit puberty."

"Do you want me to take you to her grave while we're here?"

"I'd like that. Then we can see your dad."

"That would be nice."

"Let's talk about happier things."

"So, Pacey told me they asked him to try out at Corton. They'd be fools not to take him."

"Yeah, I know he's going to get it. I just wish he'd believe in himself more. He's such a good chef."

"That he is. God, can you believe all the movies that are coming out this summer? We're going to be talking about this year for decades to come. I think it could be the best year for movies since 1993."

"What won the Oscar in 1993 again?"

"Four Weddings and a Funeral."

"Oh, right, Hugh Grant. That was really good."

"I'm kidding! That was the one nominee no one understood."

"Dawson! I loved that movie. So, what did win?"

"Forrest Gump. It beat Pulp Fiction and Shawshank. Lion King, Speed, and Clear and Present Danger were that year, too. The Winona Ryder version of Little Women also.

"Oh, that was a great year. You really think this year will be that same kind of year?"

"I think it has the potential. It's not even June yet, and we've already had the greatest superhero movie ever made."

"Really, Dawson? That's your argument? Superhero movies? Isn't that a little beneath you?"

"No, not at all. That's like saying Jaws is just a monster movie or E.T. is just a sci-fi movie. These are a new kind of superhero movies. They have heart."

"Yeah, 'I am Iron Man,' how original. So, they won't have secret identities anymore, big whoop."

"No, it's more than that. Superheroes are always portrayed as these larger-than-life, one-dimensional characters, always saving the world. These new Marvel movies, they're going to portray the heroes as real human beings, warts and all. What could better speak to the human condition than superhumans with human flaws?"

"I don't know Dawson. How many of these are they going to make, anyway?"

"At least six. They've got this whole five-year arc planned out. If they do well they're going to expand it and go on for a while."

They arrived at the cemetery and got out of the car.

"Well, I'm sure they'll at least be better than Sex and the City, I can't believe Pacey is making me see that. The show was ridiculous enough, why did they need to make a movie out of it?"

Dawson started laughing hysterically.

"What?"

"Pacey said you were the one dragging him to see it."

"That little twerp. I'm going to kill him."

"Promise me you two will never change."

"I promise," she said, putting her head on his shoulder, looking up into his eyes. If she looked deep enough, she could see her own soul reflected back. She grabbed his hand, and they walked towards her mom's grave in complete silence, a comfortable silence. The silence continued until they reached the grave.

"I'll let you have some time alone with her."

He started to walk away, but Joey didn't let go of his hand.

"No, not yet. Stay here."

She let go of his hand, and they sat down in front of the grave.

"Mom, you remember Dawson. Twelve years later, and we're still friends. Soulmates. I'm back with Pacey, now, though. We're living together, can you believe it? I guess it's true what they say, when a boy pulls a girl's hair, it's because he likes her. It's been quite a transition into adulthood, but we've all made it."

She paused before looking at Dawson.

"Can I have some time alone now?"

"Yeah, of course. I'll go to my dad's grave, actually. Can you meet me there?"

"Sure."

She waited until he was out of earshot.

"The truth is, I'm really confused. We've all never been happier. It was such a simple solution it seems almost ridiculous it took us ten years to figure it out, but is it really a solution? It feels so right, so I don't know why I think I'm still running? But, then I look at you and dad. You tried so hard to be everything to each other, and it's a noble goal, but it didn't work out. It seems such a foolish concept that the same person has to fit every purpose in your life. Dawson and Pacey are such different people, and they fill such different needs."

Dawson was sitting in front of his father's grave, engaging in much the same monologue.

"I think the problem was for so long, Joey and I just assumed that we needed to be everything to each other, and if any little piece of it was out of place, we just ran away. Of course I was attracted to her as she grew out of her shell, but I just wanted to recapture what we had growing up, that feeling of two people being so perfect for each other that nothing could get in the way. Except, everything kept getting in the way. We tried too hard. This whole dynamic, it works so well, and we don't even have to try. Pacey and I both love Joey so much, and this is the first time since they started dating that we've been as close as brothers again. We both got the part of her we wanted the most, so there's no jealousy. I just keep having this nagging feeling that it's somehow immoral."

He saw Joey starting to walk over. When she arrived, she sat down next to him and put her head back on his shoulder.

"There she is, the woman of the hour. My soulmate."

There was a silence, this one uncomfortable. Eventually, Joey broke the silence.

"What else did Pacey tell you I was going to make him see?"

"Twilight."

"Oh, god. Because I'm just dying to live through our love triangle again, this time played out by vampires. Did he also tell you I was going to make him see Mamma Mia!"

"That one didn't come up."

"What else is coming out this year?"

"Too many to list. Some exciting horror movies. The Strangers should be good. That's a classic slasher. There's a new Mummy movie. Woody Allen has a new comedy, Vicky Christina Barcelona."

"What's it about?"

"Two women, Vicky and Christina, go to Barcelona and date the same guy."

"Another love triangle, how original."

"Yeah, but this is Woody Allen."

"Eh, I guess I'll see it."

"Should we get going?"

"Yeah, I want to see Bessie and Bodie before we go to the movie."

"Movies."

"Right, four of them. You don't have to remind me."