Dashboard Confessional
Cut to the hallway. Joey leans against one of the poles.
She listens to the sounds coming from inside the theatre. Familiar words from a lifetime ago.
AMY: You’re missing a great film.
JOEY: (muttering) Seen it.
Amy walks over to her.
AMY: I get the feeling you don’t like me.
JOEY: How’d you guess.
She smirks.
AMY: I’ve never actually had someone be jealous of me before.
JOEY: I’m not jealous. I’m just…
AMY: Hating my guts for no particular reason?
Joey gives her a cold look.
AMY: I’m giving the movie three and a half stars.
Joey raises an eyebrow.
AMY: And no, it’s not just because I know him, it’s because it’s good. It’s sweet, but it’s sweet in a realistic way. Probably the most realistic teen drama I’ve ever seen. It makes American Pie look like a joke by comparison. Although I’ll admit…I’m a bit biased.
JOEY: Why? Because you know Dawson?
Amy laughs.
AMY: No, something else. I was…it’s kind of embarrassing, but Sam reminds me a lot of myself when I was a little girl.
Joey looks at her, surprised.
JOEY: She does?
AMY: Yeah. I wasn’t exactly what you’d call popular in high school. I think most of the kids talked about me behind my back. The right guys always ignored me, and the wrong ones wouldn’t leave me alone. I was smart, but that’s not exactly something that helps you socially.
Amy laughs.
AMY: This one guy hit on me, and I broke his nose with a dodge ball during gym class.
Joey half-smiles.
JOEY: You get sent to detention for that, too?
AMY: Heck no. I didn’t get caught.
The both of them start to laugh.
AMY: I underestimated him, you know? Dawson. I thought he was a total sap when it came to romance in his movies, but he surprised me.
JOEY: How so?
AMY: Well, it would be so easy to have Wade and Sam hook up at the start of the movie, right? That way you’d get to see them together for the entire thing. But…I kind of like that they’re not. It gives him a chance to change. Look at the character arc he goes through. He’s a blind, naive kid who falls over himself for the new girl in town. But she ends up breaking his heart, and he learns from it. By being someone else, he changes into the type of person Sam deserves. Someone who can see her for who she is.
Joey half-smiles.
JOEY: You think so?
Amy nods.
AMY: I think it’s true, in a sense. The people you’re with, even if they’re the wrong person for you…they change you. If the relationship is good, you learn things from being with them. If it’s bad, you learn what not to do in the future. In a sense, Wade needed to be with Kim to realize just how important Sam was to him.
JOEY: It’s a nice thought.
AMY: Glad you think so, because it’ll be in the paper tomorrow morning. You’ll read it, right?
JOEY: Just as long as you read my book.
Amy raises her eyebrows.
AMY: You’re a writer?
JOEY: First novel comes out next week.
AMY: Well, I guess that’s another thing we have in common. Besides your boyfriend, that is. Make sure you hold onto him. He’s one of the good ones…and the other side is crowded enough.
Amy laughs.
AMY: Listen to me…I’m quoting the movie already.
Joey laughs.
JOEY: Well, it has some good lines.
AMY: I know I’m using the ‘what number is that’ one next time I meet someone I don’t like. That has to be the most cleaver comeback I’ve ever heard.
Joey half-smiles, as Amy walks back into the theatre.
JOEY: Enjoy the end of the movie, Amy.
Amy smirks.
AMY: You too…Sam.
Joey’s mouth hangs open, as she disappears into the door.
*****
Cut to later, out in the hallway.
Pacey walks up to Andie, wiping the sweat off his forehead.
PACEY: We’ve got like ten minutes left. Wanna come in for the grand finale?
Andie puts the ‘closed’ sign in front of the till, and walks up to him. They kiss.
ANDIE: How are you?
PACEY: Actually feeling pretty good about myself.
ANDIE: Oh?
PACEY: Yeah. I saw a side of Doug I’ve never seen before tonight. He’s scared, Andie…and I mean really scared. He doesn’t want his life to change, and for the first time I realize he really is my brother.
Andie smiles.
PACEY: He was so insecure, and I realized that it’s probably what I used to look like to people. It’s really amazing how far I’ve come, when you really get down to it. And best of all…the gruesome twosome didn’t decide to get into a spat today.
Andie bites her lip.
PACEY: What?
ANDIE: Nothing. Let’s go watch the ending.
Pacey’s still not convinced, but follows her anyway.
*****
Cut to backstage. Dawson’s sitting in a chair, reading the copy of Joey’s book that she had given him.
Hope
Dangles on a string
In front of him is the movie screen, the flip-side of the action visible. It’s the climax of the movie, when Wade finds Sammy in his closet.
Like slow spinning redemption
Winding in
And winding out
ELLIOT: (on screen) Oh, thank god. Listen, Sam…what you saw this morning, it wasn’t what you think.
HARLEY: (on screen) You don’t have to make excuses…
ELLIOT: It’s not an excuse…it’s the truth. Kim and I…we’re over! We’ve been over for awhile.
HARLEY: We’re just friends…
ELLIOT: That’s not true, and you know it.
Dawson looks up from the book and looks up at the screen. From out of the corner of his eye, he sees Joey standing a few feet away.
The shine ahead
Has caught my eye
He gets up, as she approaches him.
JOEY: You didn’t think I’d actually abandon you at your moment of triumph, did you?
*****
Cut to out on the street. Doug exits the theatre, and climbs in his car.
He picks up his car phone and dials a number.
DOUG: Hey, it’s Doug. Doug Witter, from Capeside.
And roped me in
So mesmerizing
He pauses, smiling.
DOUG: Yeah, it’s good to hear you too, Tamara. Well, I just thought about you today. No special reason, just…I just got promoted. Yep, there’s a new sheriff in town.
He laughs.
DOUG: I’m going to fly down to New York next week to celebrate. Since I’m going to be in the neighborhood…well…I was wondering if maybe you’d like to grab a cup of coffee. You know…catch up and everything.
It's so hypnotizing
I am captivated
Doug smiles.
DOUG: Absolutely. See you then.
He hangs up, a dopey grin on his face.
*****
Cut back to behind the screen.
Dawson and Joey approach one another, at the exact same time Elliot and Harley do on the screen.
I am
Vindicated
I am selfish
I am wrong
DAWSON: I’m so sorry, Jo. I should have told you…
JOEY: I’m the one who should be apologizing. I…I over-reacted. But Dawson…knowing that you were ‘with’ somebody else…that hurts. It hurts me more than I thought it would.
Dawson hangs his head.
DAWSON: I know.
I am right
I swear I'm right
Swear I knew it all along
HARLEY: (on screen) I just want us to be honest from now on, ok?
ELLIOT: (on screen) So do I. Sam, more than anything I want us to be honest.
Joey looks Dawson in the eyes.
And I am flawed
But I am cleaning up so well
I am seeing in me now
The things you swore you saw yourself
JOEY: I know I sound completely hypocritical saying this, because lord knows I haven’t exactly been celibate while we were apart. But knowing something in your mind and feeling it in your heart are two completely different things. Thinking about you being with someone else…it kills me, Dawson. It just kills me.
So clear
Like the diamond in your ring
Cut to mirror your intention
Oversized
And overwhelmed
The shine of which has caught my eye
And rendered me so
Isolated
So motivated I am
Certain now that I am
DAWSON: If I knew then that we’d be where we are right now, I would have done so many things differently. I thought I’d lost you. It kills me, too.
HARLEY: (on screen) Are you sure you’re ready to accept everything that comes alone with telling the truth?
JOEY: I guess what I’m saying is that I always thought you were somehow better than me. That you didn’t fall prey to the same weaknesses that I did, or succumb to the same faults. That you didn’t make the same mistakes as I did. But now, I’m learning more and more every day that…we’re the same, aren’t we? We’re the same, and that’s why being with you makes me feel so much stronger. Because when I’m with you is the only time I don’t feel I’m alone anymore. And I never want anybody to take away that feeling.
Vindicated
I am selfish
I am wrong
I am right
I swear I'm right
Swear I knew it all along
He smiles at her.
DAWSON: Then no one ever will.
And I am flawed
But I am cleaning up so well
I am seeing in me now
The things you swore you saw yourself
HARLEY: (on screen) See you around, Wade.
On the screen, Harley starts to go towards the window. Elliot runs up to her, spinning her around.
ELLIOT: (on screen) Sam! Sammy, wait!
So tired
Of the corners of your lips
Part them and feel my finger tips
Trace the moment for forever
They kiss, just as Dawson and Joey kiss in real life down below. It happens almost in unison, breaking through the wall between fiction and reality.
*****
And in the audience…
PACEY: And they lived happily ever after.
Defense is paper thin
Just one touch and I'd be in
Too deep now to ever swim
Against the current
Pacey grins with pride, as the audience does a standing ovation. As the end credits start to roll, he presses the button on his remote to raise the screen.
Much to Pacey’s(not to mention everyone’s) surprise, they see Dawson and Joey kissing where the screen was only a moment ago.
So let me slip away
So let me slip away
So let me slip away
So let me slip against the current
Gale covers her face in embarrassment with one hand, while covering Lily’s eyes with the other. Audrey and Harley start to giggle.
The rest of the audience starts to laugh, applauding even louder.
So let me slip away
So let me slip away
So let me slip away
So let me slip away
Dawson and Joey break off the kiss, completely embarrassed.
Not knowing what else to do, the two of them wave to the crowd.
Vindicated
I am selfish
I am wrong
I am right
I swear I'm right
Swear I knew it all along
Pacey shakes his head in amazement.
PACEY: Typical Dawson. He’s gotta upstage himself.
And I am flawed
But I am cleaning up so well
I am seeing in me now
The things you swore you saw yourself
The camera switches back to Dawson and Joey, and then goes in for a close up of Dawson’s embarrassed face.
My hope
Dangles on a string
Like slow spinning redemption
Fade to black
End credits
Dashboard Confessional