In the late ’90s, teen drama Dawson’s Creek took the world by storm as it told the stories of a close-knit group of friends in high school and presented us with one of the most compelling love triangles of its time between its three main characters: Dawson Leery (James Van Der Beek), Joey Potter (Katie Holmes), and Pacey Witter (Joshua Jackson). While there was plenty of romantic tension within the friend group, though, one couple was so beloved it still stands the test of time: Joey and Pacey.

While Joey is the intelligent girl next door and Dawson’s childhood “soulmate,” she feels a pull toward Dawson’s wise-cracking and underachieving best friend, Pacey, who began yearning after her as early as season 1. And throughout all six seasons, their story became a solid reminder that love isn’t about history, it’s about the future—and who helps us continue to become the best version of ourselves.

Here are the 10 most romantic Joey and Pacey quotes that will have you kicking your feet and giggling—and probably make you wish, once again, that you lived in a ’90s teen love story.

1.

Joey: How could I ever feel about him the way that I–

Pacey: Feel about Dawson.

Joey: No, I was actually going to say felt.

Pacey: Want to know something, Miss Josephine Potter? I think the world might just surprise you yet. I mean, you fall in love and it doesn’t work out, and you think it’ll never happen again, but it does. Believe me, it does. In the strangest of places.

2.

Joey: How would you know what I mean?

Pacey: Yeah, you know, you’re probably right. How would I know how hard it is to let somebody go, right? The pain of knowing that even though the two of you are right for each other, that doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re right for each other right now. What would I know about that, right? How could I possibly know that sometimes it just makes you want to scream, hit somebody, sit down at the end of a dock and cry.

3.

Joey: It reminded me once again of what I don’t have.

Pacey: If you keep looking, you’ll find it.

Joey: No I won’t. Isn’t it obvious by now? I’m not meant to.

Pacey: Why, because you’re sixteen and alone? Come on.

Joey: No, because I’m sixteen and in my whole entire life there have only been two people who’ve known me, Pacey: Dawson and—“

Pacey: This AJ guy didn’t know you, Joey. I don’t care how you felt about him, but he didn’t know you, because if he did, he never would’ve walked away.

Joey: I was going to say you, Pacey.

4.

Pacey: I’m not mad that you called me, I just want to know why you called me.

Joey: You were the first one that I thought of, Pacey.

Pacey: And what does that mean, Jo?

Joey: It means that I can talk to you and that you’re there for me.

Pacey: Don’t you ever get tired of talking?

4.

Joey: What’s wrong?

Pacey: It’s the history. It’s killing me. How’s a guy supposed to compete when the two of you have your own karaoke routine?

Joey: Pacey, you’re not supposed to compete. We’re supposed to have our own hist—I didn’t mean that.

Pacey: Then what did you mean?

Joey: I don’t know!

5.

Joey: Look, I felt it.

Pacey: What?

Joey: This morning. Your arm brushed up against me in bed, and I felt it.

Pacey: How did it feel?

Joey: It made me feel alive.

Pacey: Okay. Joey, I’m going to kiss you now.

Joey: You can’t—

Pacey: Look, Jo, you can’t say something like that to me and expect me not to kiss you, so that’s exactly what I’m going to do. I’m going to kiss you in about ten seconds, and if you don’t want me to kiss you… Well, if you don’t want me to, then I guess you’ll just have to stop me.

6.

Pacey: You see this? This is you. It’s not showy or gaudy. It’s simple, elegant, beautiful.

Joey: It’s my mom’s bracelet.

Pacey: I know.

Joey: How do you know?

Pacey: Well, because you told me. Six months ago. You were wearing that blue sweater with the snowflakes that you have and walking down the hallway at school. I was annoying you as per usual, and you said, ‘Look, Pacey, I just found my mother’s bracelet this morning, so why don’t you cut me some slack.’

Joey: You remember that?

Pacey: I remember everything. 

7.

Pacey: It’s tearing me up on the inside to have these feelings for you, but I can’t get rid of them. I can’t keep on kissing you, Jo.

Joey: What do you mean?

Pacey: I mean just that. I can’t keep on kissing you. Alright? I’ve done it twice now. I can’t be the one who’s always initiating this. I can’t be the one who’s always giving you answers. Look at me, Joey.

Joey: I can’t.

Pacey: Please. If you felt even one shred of what I feel for you, then we wouldn’t be standing here having this conversation.

8.

Joey: I think I’m in love with you.

Pacey: You think or you know?

Joey: I know. I’ve known it since the moment you kissed me and maybe even before, and scary as it is, I don’t want to deny it anymore, Pacey. I don’t want to run from it and I don’t want it to run from me.

9.

Joey: Hello, chin! You’re back.

Pacey: Well, I was never really gone.

10.

Pacey: You’re off the hook. I’ve never really put much faith in that ‘if you love someone, set them free’ crap, as evidenced by everything I’ve done in my life up until this moment, but I’m determined to be happy, Joey. Happy in this life. And I love you. I mean, I always… I have always, always loved you. But our timing has just never been right. And the way I figure it, time is no man’s friend. So I have to get right with that, and be happy now. Because this is it. This is all that we get. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from losing Jen, that’s what I’ve learned.

Joey: Pace—

Pacey: Actually, uh, hold on, I’m not done yet. Because I also want for you to be happy. It’s really important to me that you’re happy. I want you to be with someone, whether that’s Dawson or New York guy or some man that you haven’t even met yet, but I want you to be with someone who can be part of the life that you want for yourself. I want you to be with someone who makes you feel the way I feel when I’m with you. So I guess the point of this whole run-on sentence that’s been the last ten years of our lives is just that the simple act of being in love with you is enough for me. So you’re off the hook.

Joey: You know, for the record, I don’t want to be let off the hook. Because everything in my life that I’ve done has led me here, right now, and the last thing I want, need, or deserve is to be let off somebody’s hook.

Pacey: Please don’t miss my point here—

Joey: And don’t miss mine. Pacey, I love you. You know that. And it’s very real. It’s so real that it’s kept me moving, mostly running, from it, never ready for it. And I love Dawson, he’s my soulmate. He’s tied to my childhood, and it’s a love that is pure and eternally innocent. I can’t be let off the hook because I might just get the notion that it’s okay to keep running.