Josh asked, "Are you two crazy kids ever gonna get married?"
Meredith smiled a devious smile. Obviously, she was hiding something. Something she was not willing to reveal at the time. "You never know," was her only reply.
Sam asked, "So where is everyone else?"
Meredith replied, "Ah, Kerr's talking to Kevin about something; Katie's in make-up; Michelle's in her trailer, I think; Jason is... I don't know where Jason is; I don't think Monica has to be here today; and Rachael is waiting on the set for the first scene to be shot today. Is that everybody?"
"I think so," Sam replied. "Are you sure Rachael is already on the set? I didn't even see her go into make-up yet."
"That's where she told me she was going," Meredith told Sam. "Well, me and Josh gotta go rehearse. Come on, 'Pacey'."
"Yeah all right," Josh said, following behind Meredith. "I'll talk to you later, man."
"Absolutely," Sam said. "Bye, you two."
The night before, Sam had written down from James' planner what scenes he was in and in what order the director wanted to film them. Under his breath, Sam said, "Only if I could figure out where I'm supposed to go now."
"Ask and thou shalt receive," Al said, surprising Sam.
Still under his breath, Sam said, "Would you stop that? I have stage fright and I don't know what set I'm supposed to be on right now."
"Stage fright? You? After you did that play in the nude? NOW, you have stage fright," Al stated.
"I don't remember that," Sam said, trying to recall the past leap Al was talking about. "Just tell me where I'm supposed to be and just point, okay?"
"Took a happiness pill today, did we?" Al held up his hand-link and punched a couple of keys. "Gooshie, have Ziggy give me directions to where Dr. Beckett needs to be next." After a few seconds as Al listened to what Gooshie was saying, Al said, "Yeah, I know you can center me on the spot, but Dr. Beckett wants me to point it out for him instead." After another short pause, Al said, "Gooshie, I don't think you want me to tell Dr. Beckett you said that."
Sam asked, "What did Gooshie say, Al?"
"Um, you know. Just Gooshie being Gooshie." Al read the hand-link and pointed out to Sam where he had to go. "Hey, did you memorize all your lines?"
"I think so," Sam replied as they walked to the set.
"You know, I could have Ziggy feed your lines through the hand-link and I could hold it in front of you so you could read your lines off the hand-link. Since only you can see and hear me, it would be like your own personal cue cards."
"You just want to see Rachael again," Sam concluded, seeing through Al's little scheme.
"Uh huh. You got that right," Al said, not denying Sam's assumption. "You know me all too well."
Sam smiled as he opened the stage door. A stagehand pointed the way that Sam was supposed to go and he got there quickly. When Sam reached the soundstage, he noticed Al had relocated himself, which became obvious to Sam once he reached the set.
Standing next to Rachael, Al asked Sam, "What took you so long?"
Looking at Al, Sam only smiled. Turning to Rachael, Sam said, "Hey there."
"Good morning," Rachael said, smiling back at Sam. She motioned for him to sit next to her. Sam complied.
"Sorry about the practical joke thing," Sam said. "Just Josh being Josh. He's sort of our class clown."
"Hey, don't worry about it," Rachael said, still with a smile on her face. "No harm done."
The stage was set for the library scene in which Dawson and Devon first talk and Dawson gives Devon the script to read. Sam felt more at ease now that things had finally started rolling and he was almost positive he had memorized all the lines he needed to remember.
The director approached and stood in the middle of the room. Addressing the entire crew, David Semel said, "Good morning. I hope everyone got at least a little sleep this morning. Today should be shorter, and we are expecting rain in the afternoon during the outdoors scenes, so hopefully, it won't last long. Let's all put in a good day's work, and let's try to keep it light today. Thank you."
Rachael stood up and looked at Sam. The smile on her face slowly faded as it seemed she was standing there waiting for something.
"Oh," Sam said, forgetting he was supposed to be the star of the show and it was time to start filming. "Sorry. Sometimes I forget who I am."
"Starting off on the wrong foot, James," David Semel said. Taking Sam aside, David said, "Okay. Let's refresh your memory: Devon sees you in the library as Dawson looks through the bookshelves. As you walk and talk, you continue to stop and go as each of you finish your lines until you reach the end of the bookshelves."
library scene >>
After completing the scene, Al said, "Did you notice that Rachael kept sneaking looks at you, Sam? I think you now have the first sign that she likes you."
Sam smiled. He nodded at Al, trying not to play up that he bought what Al was saying.
The next scene to be filmed was outside at the same location Sam leaped in last night. It was the scene in which Devon and Chris are rehearsing outside Dawson's house. Also in the scene, Dawson tells Joey that he gave the role of Sammy to Rachael Leigh Cook's character Devon. Sam noticed the cameras were still in the same position they were the night before as he and Rachael walked to the set. On the way, Rachael kept bumping into him. Ahhh, Sam thought, the second sign of amore. The set was arranged with covered lawn furniture that was supposed to represent Dawson's room for rehearsal. Jason Behr and Michelle Williams were sitting on Dawson's "bed". Katie Holmes was off to the right of the set, looking through her script and rehearsing by herself.