SUCKER PUNCH 🛶 PACEY WITTER [book one]

CHAPTER THREE

FROM HERE TO ETERNITY

...🛶...

ROMANCE was a genre Dawson had been delving deep into since the arrival of Jen Lindley in Capeside, something that was slowly but surely getting on Joey's nerves. Heather could understand her brother's obsession as she watched the couple on screen kiss on the beach, the waves crashing over them. She wondered what it would be like to kiss someone. To kiss Grant, but that thought was knocked away as Dawson paused the movie "This is the Jen moment. This is my future we're watching. Me and Jen. Jen and I."

"Mm." Joey hummed as she sat up in the boy's bed "Black and white future. How retro."

"Does Jen know about this future?" Heather teased, turning on her knees to lean atop the end of the bed.

Dawson rolled his eyes but smiled "I'm talking about the romantic apotheosis. My first kiss with Jen is going to be just like that."

Heather smirked "Wet?"

"Whoa, wait a minute." Joey scoffed "We're back to that? You mean you haven't even kissed that girl?"

"It's not about the kiss, Joey. It's about the journey." Dawson sighed at the Potter girl "It's about creating and sustaining magic."

Joey raised an eyebrow "Does Jen fall for this warped movie logic?"

"It's not warped, it's romance."

"It's scripted." Heather pointed out.

Joey gestured to her best friend thankfully "It's old, Dawson. Just kiss her, will you? Take the elevator to the next floor and get off. It's time."

"It's not that simple." Dawson sighed "It's about creating the perfect moment. It has to be planned with the right... music and lighting and dialogue."

"You can't storyboard a kiss." Joey was frustrated.

The blond smiled undeterred "Sure you can."

"It's not reality, Dawson." Joey stressed to him "These movies that you're watching, they're false images that don't exist outside the city limits of Hollywood."

"Not true." Dawson shook his head adamantly "They're images grounded in the reality of imagination."

Joey folded her arms across her chest as she looked to the boy "Did you just pull that one out of your butt or what?"

Heather took the opportunity to sniff the air before nodding "Oh yeah, I can definitely smell the poop."

Dawson swatted his sister's head with his pillow before flopping back onto his bed with a sigh "Everybody thinks that movies are fantasy, but they don't have to be. From Here to Eternity. You can have that. You just have to create it. That moment on the beach can be yours." He looked over at Joey "You could be Deborah Kerr."