Sit Close to the Front

Hi, my name is Jeremy.

ADAM: I can't believe you made me come to this.
ME: As soon as we're done, we can catch the next train back to New York.
ADAM: The train? What do you think I am--a butcher's son?

We were at Bart's funeral.

As you can imagine, the crowd was...small.

Nobody wanted to go, but I decided that even though Bart had tried to kill all of us, we should at least pay respects to a person that we were all friends with before he went crazy and blew up Prisms.

JACKSON: Couldn't they have just cremated him and thrown his ashes in the river? At least that way we could have done this while having brunch at Waterplace.
PAIGE: I don't understand what made him snap like that.
ADAM: Your brother's book. That's what made him snap.
ME: That's not true.
JACKSON: Actually it is, he left a note.

The note wasn't exactly what I would call coherent, but it did squarely lay the blame on me for making Bart look bad to the entire country.

HANK: It was probably because you had Rory Culkin play him on the tv show.
ME: Hey! I didn't cast the show! I just sold the rights.
DAVIS: I'm happy with the show.
BEN: Of course you are, Paul Walker plays you. What do you have to complain about?
DAVIS: He could hit the gym a little bit more, but other than that...

Billy was skipping the funeral. He was out of the hospital, but his obligation to the CBQ's was officially over now that everybody was safe and sound.

Nathan also decided to stay home, but that's probably because he'd been getting all the attention as the guy who shot Bart, and I don't think he was handling it all that well.

RITCHIE: I still can't believe you didn't let me bring a camera crew to film this. We would have had exclusive rights. And this is February! We're dealing with sweeps here.
JOEY: I can't believe somebody I dated is dead.
LIAM: Maybe you're what planted the seed of insanity.
JOEY: No, we had a very normal sex life.
LIAM: I was--
HANK: Don't bother. It's pointless.

Davis tapped me on the shoulder, and motioned for me to go to the back of the church with him.

DAVIS: I have a proposition for you.
ME: Davis, I know sex in a church is on your bucket list, but I really don't think this is the time.
DAVIS: First off, I'm insulted--
ME: Really?
DAVIS: --That you think I still had that on my bucket list after five years. Now I just need to have sex in an Islamic temple.
ME: Moving on.
DAVIS: I think you should stay.
ME: Stay where?
DAVIS: Here. Rhode Island. Providence.
ME: You're not serious.
DAVIS: Fine, I'll settle for Warwick, but I can't say I'll visit you as much.

I had a feeling someone was going to ask me to stay. Rhode Island is like the Bermuda Triangle. Nobody knows how you wind up there, but once you're there, decades pass and sharks have wings and I really don't know where this was going...

ME: Davis, I have a life back in New York.
DAVIS: You live upstate! That's not living in New York. That's living in Vermont without the yaks.
ME: There aren't any yaks in--never mind. And I do have a life there. I have friends. I have a career.
DAVIS: You're a writer. You can write anywhere. Plus, don't you need more material?
ME: I'm actually working on a piece of fiction.
DAVIS: How does your editor feel about that?

Not great. She'd probably be thrilled if I moved back to Providence. The publicity alone would get me Barnes and Noble bookings for a year.

ME: She loves it. Everyone's excited to see me moving away from what I usually do. No more writing about the CBQ's.
DAVIS: But that's what you do best.
ME: Believe it or not, I'm a lot more talented than most of you gave me credit for.
DAVIS: Man, you really hate us, don't you?
ME: Of course I don't hate you! Is that what you've been thinking all these years?
DAVIS: What else would we think? You disappeared for five years!
ME: You know why I took off, Davis. Don't play dumb.

And don't think you all get the story just because I'm narrating right now. Some things stay private even from you.

DAVIS: You could have at least called or something.
ME: So we could chat about how you suddenly developed an interest in politics?
DAVIS: Well, I had to shake that manwhore image you put on me.
ME: I put that on you? I just told the truth.
DAVIS: And what about your truth, Jeremy? Did you tell your truth?

Davis and I have had our fights over the years. There were times when we were at each other's throats.

But I have never heard him sound so cold.

ME: I'm leaving tonight. Nothing's going to change that.
DAVIS: You know what? Maybe that's for the best after all. The longer you stay here, the more damage you can do.

He walked away from me not even having touched me, but...

It felt like he slapped me.

Like he slapped me right across the face.