Scene: The following day in girls’ dorm room. Jen is sitting on the floor studying when there’s a knock at the door.
Jen: (shouts) Do you need help?
Pacey: I’ve been told I could use some professional help.
Jen: Pacey? Hold on. (gets up and opens the door) I was expecting Jack. He went to pick up the pizza we ordered.
Pacey: That answers part of my question. I know that you two are studying for your Calculus test. I just wanted to ask either of the guys if they wanted tickets to the Patriots game next week. Not a big deal.
Jen: In other words, looking for a lame excuse to come here.
Pacey: I actually couldn’t make it during the week. It’s a busy week for me too.
Jen: I see. Jack should be right back but I insist that you leave right after asking him that question. I am so far behind in this class and you are nothing but a distraction. Better yet, you could go over to Drue’s dorm room and ask Ryan yourself.
Pacey: That trip just doesn’t interest me very much. Why is he there anyway?
Pacey sits down in Jen's chair while Jen returns to her position on the floor with the books.
Jen: English assignment. (giggles) Though I can't wait until Ryan finds out that Drue and Cheryl kissed.
Pacey: Why would the girl do a thing like that?
Jen: I thought you were friends with Drue.
Pacey: I know that I was one of the people pushing her toward Dawson. That doesn't mean that I didn't think she made a poor decision at the time.
Jen: Well, you didn't know her that well. You meant well.
Pacey: Actually, I still don't understand her half the time.
Jen: The one thing I've realized is that it's best not to think too hard about her motives. (pointing to a plant on Cheryl's desk) Such as why she'd think that plant is ever going to grow again. I'm convinced it died about a month ago...
Pacey: Lindley? (looking around the room intently) Do I smell coffee?
Jen heads over to her closet, pulls back the curtain to reveal that, yes, there's a coffeemaker with a half-empty pot.
Pacey: Not that I know much about the rules in the dorms but aren't those illegal? I remember hearing that when Joey was reading the handbook.
Before Jen can reply, Jack enters the room, struggling to open the door while carrying the pizza box and a bag. He drops the box on the floor next to Jen.
Jack: They ran out of marinara sauce so you'll have to eat your breadsticks plain. (hands Jen the bag and sits down next to her)
Pacey: So you've now got a job as a delivery boy?
Jack: (grins) I suppose so. Too bad the tips are so awful at this job. (glares pointedly at Jen)
Jen: (stands up and grabs two mugs off her desk) Here’s your tip. (sits back down and lays one down next to Jack) I should be charging you for using my coffee.
Jack: Doesn't my silence speak loud enough? How come you haven't been busted for smuggling that in?
Jen: Because my RA, Lindie, is as much of a coffee-lover as I am. I'd be willing to be her morning wake-up call.
Pacey: (scoffs) I don't believe you.
Jen: I mean it! She is probably the least law-abiding RA you'll ever find. She's in a sorority and has these loud mini-parties in her room at three in the morning.
Jack: Tell Lindie to head over to my floor. Ed is an uptight prick who spends all his time in his room studying. When I mentioned to him about a party on the other end of campus, he actually thought I was lying because he couldn't imagine anyone having a party around here. That's what happens when you are raised in a military family and transfer from an Ivy League school.
Pacey: Mind if I have a breadstick? (Jen reluctantly hands him one and pulls another out for herself) That's downright depressing. Forget about Lindie. I'll volunteer to kidnap him and let him experience real college life. It's not as if I could get in trouble.
Jack: I will pretend I know nothing about the plan. What happened to Cheryl? I thought she was helping us.
Jen: She claims that I get easily distracted. (bites into the breadstick) So she headed over to the library. Can you imagine? We're a distraction? (beat) She's right.
Jack: Completely. (opens the pizza box) Coffee and pizza? Yep, we're definitely college students.
Jen: That and we’re masters at procrastination.
Pacey: Sticking to that topic, do anything exciting this weekend? Or have you just been studying like a good schoolgirl?
Jen: Does it look like I’ve been studying all weekend?
Pacey: (smiles) Any new ways of avoiding that?
Jen: Well, my mother decided to visit and be quite bitchy about everything in my life. So I wallowed in that with Ryan. I actually volunteered to talk to Dawson this morning.
Pacey: You know that Andie would’ve been more effective for that method.
Jack: She couldn’t because I’d already thought of that. Dawson had called two days ago so it only seemed fair that it was now Jen’s turn.
Pacey: You mean both of you actually communicate with him semi regularly?
Jen: I don’t. That’s the first time it’s been more than a two-sentence reply or a chain letter.
Jack: (looks down guiltily) I can honestly say that wasn’t my first offense.
Pacey: (snickers) Maybe I’ll do that one of these days. How is he?
Jen: He went on a date last night with this wannabe actress named Emerald.
Pacey: Emerald? You made up that name. That’s not a name, that’s a jewel.
Jack: She’s serious. I made a lame joke about it and Dawson wasn’t very amused. I did notice after that he’d try to call her Em instead.
Pacey: So this is an actual girlfriend?
Jen: They’ve been gone on two dates so far and it’s working out. Dawson’s mom is a little concerned that he didn’t visit Capeside when he came to Boston. The hippie chick, as she refers to Em, isn’t exactly easing those concerns. I think she’s been the one pushing him to try with Joey again but so far Dawson’s ignored that.
Pacey: Good for him.
Jen: Would you believe that he even chatted with Ryan?
Jack and Pacey: (in unison) You’re kidding!
Jen: Just after he talked to you, he’d gone on the computer. See, Dawson had made a bet with his roommate regarding the World Series. Both were online at the same time and Ryan is the only person Dawson knows that’s a baseball fan. Ryan was happy to report that Dawson lost twenty bucks.
Jack: That makes so much more sense. I would truly be scared if those two suddenly got along.
Jen: You never know. The evolution of this group is so strange that anything is possible. Would you ever think that I’d be close friends with Joey, given the way we began?
Pacey: (shielding himself with his arms) I’m scared. (dropping his arms back to his side) I still remember the snide looks she gave you when that cab pulled up. That’s a strange first encounter for a friendship
Jack: No, a strange first encounter would be when you’re fixed up on a blind date with the person who would become your best friend.
Pacey: (struggles to figure that out) I’m not remembering that.
Jen: The same night that Dawson slugged him for kissing Joey.
Pacey: Ohhhh. That night!
Jen: What can I say? It was a lost cause.
Jack: I’ve always been sort of a sucker for lost causes. I’m just sometimes not sure which causes are worth fighting for.
Jen spots the textbook on the floor.
Jen: Damn you, Pacey! I told you to ask the question then get out of here.
Pacey: Oh yeah. (pulls an envelope out of his coat pocket) Football tickets. (drops it on the floor) Do whatever you want with it. It’s much easier to sell them on a campus but if you’re actually interested... (Jen throws him a death stare) Fine, fine, I’m outta here. Call me when this test is over and Jen isn’t as tyrannical. Even though we both realize that she will begin procrastinating again shortly.
Jen: I will not!
Pacey: (rolls his eyes) I’m sure. Good luck.
Pacey leans down to kiss Jack on the forehead, waves to Jen and walks to the door. Jack watches Pacey leave the room. As he turns around, he sees Jen giggling.
Jack: Don’t start.
Jen: I love watching you swooning over someone.
Jack: (snidely) Thank you, Jenner.
Jen: Shut up and study. (picks up the textbook, muttering) A bit of advice, don’t ever call me that again.
Jack: (picks up a breadstick and points it at her) I should tell Ryan you said that. (takes a bite out of it)
Jen: When he calls me that, it sounds sweet and almost child-like. When you utter it, that’s because you’re mocking one of us, usually me. (takes a sip of coffee, then puts it back on the floor) Too hot.
Jack: It’s apparently a fine line. Just like it’s a fine line between coffee drinker and coffee addict.
Jen: You’re the wrong person to talk. How many times have you stopped by my room in the morning claiming you want to walk with Cheryl and me to class when you really are here for the free coffee?
Jack: I blame Cheryl’s dad for turning this whole group into caffeine freaks. (picks up his mug, about to drink it)
Jen: Not true. Ryan still can’t stand to drink coffee.
Jack places the mug back down.
Jack: (startled) He worked in that café for six months.
Jen: Yes.
Jack: He currently works in that lousy donut shop three days a week. Yet you’re telling me that he doesn’t drink coffee? (Jen nods) That’s blasphemous.
Jen: Not to mention hilarious. Kent didn’t realize that for four months. Ryan actually mistook the Coffee Cup brew for the deli’s.
Jack: (jaw drops) You’re kidding!
Jen: (through giggles) If I weren’t there when it happened, I’d be declaring the same thing.
Jack: Jen?
Jen: Yes?
Jack: The books?
Jen: Oh yeah. So I got up to chapter 11 in the textbook. Which would be impressive except I couldn’t understand chapters seven and nine so it doesn’t make any sense. You?
Jack: You’d be more impressed with the notes I got from Patrick. He took the class last year.
Jack drags over his backpack and pulls out a large folder.
Jen: (wide-eyed) He’s letting you borrow them?
Jack: No, there were negotiations involved. Ten bucks a day.
Jen: Excellent. See, Cheryl will wish that she stayed here with us.
They glance over the notes for five minutes.
Jen: Did you ever think this could have been different?
Jack: Another delay?
Jen: Why not? We still have to stop to finish the food. (picks up her mug, takes a large sip and places it back down)
Jack: Fine. I’ll play along. Why, Jen, what ever could have been different?
Jen: For starters, Dawson could have swept Joey off her feet.
Jack: Come again? Those two are fated to go around in circles for all of eternity. That’s their destiny.
Jen: (chuckles) Somehow, I don’t think that’s what Dawson means when he uses the word destiny.
Jack: I predict that forty years from now they will run into each other and ponder what could have been.
Jen: They wouldn’t have it any other way. Joey will be mourning her husband’s early and tragic death. Dawson will be wondering how he’s become a thrice-divorced one-time great director who’s now stuck making action projects starring an over-the-hill Ben Affleck.
Jack: Meanwhile, you’ll be lounging at your million-dollar estate, deciding which juicy details to write in your memoir.
Jen: While I blackmail you into disclosing the truth regarding the rumor about that charity you run that’s currently being sued.
Jack: How glamorous. Or what about if Cheryl hadn’t appeared at that Leery Christmas party at that exact moment? We could be dealing with Dawson and Gretchen dating.
Jen: In which case, I’d feel sorry for Pacey. Even more so than I do right now. (Jack drags the cup away) That would also create more Dawson and Joey issues since you know the two couples would run into each other and compare notes. We’d definitely get pulled in, because the forces of the triangle are just too strong for any of us to be free. Not that either one of us would have anything better to do. (pulls her cup back toward her)
Jack: Meanwhile, Cheryl would still be plotting to get Dawson but since he’d already have two girls fighting over him, she’d get suffocated.
Jen: Which, given the current predicament, wouldn’t be a bad possibility. It may be ego shattering to be third on Dawson’s depth chart but it’d overall work out better not to be involved with him.
Jack: Yet miraculously, we could still end up where we are now. See, Drue would find out that Cheryl was interested in Dawson and they’d join forces to break up the couples. Of course, that would bring them closer together. Since you’d still be a frequent patron of Coffee Cup, you’d start flirting with that rather cute waiter…
Jen: The game of “What If?” sucks.
Jack: You’re right. I kind of like the current version better.
the end
Index