"Weirdly enough," he chuckled, "when I'm at one of my premieres. Especially if I'm proud of what I worked on. What about you? What makes you feel unstoppable, Y/N?"
"When I see a really hard makeup look that I did on the big screen," I said instantly. Joe just smiled at me before looking back at his phone.
"If you could wake up tomorrow having gained any one quality or ability, what would it be?"
"No social anxiety," I blurted. "I just. . . I mean. . ."
"It's okay," Joe said gently. "Not everyone likes being in big groups. Hell, even I get a little bit of anxiety when I'm on the red carpet."
"That's different," I mumbled, looking down at my hands.
"You're right," he said quickly. Joe leaned over and delicately put his hand over mine. I looked up to see him smiling at me. "I'm sorry. It's not the same thing. I wish I could help you with your social anxiety."
The tension was thick between us again. It didn't seem to go away as I said, "What about you? What quality or ability would you want?"
"Don't tease me too much," he smiled as he slowly pulled his hand back into his lap, "but I wish I was better at something, anything."
"What do you mean?"
"The only thing I feel like I'm good at is acting," Joe continued. "I wish there was something else I could do. It would be nice to have something I could fall back on when acting eventually doesn't work out anymore."
"Why are you so sure it won't work out for long?"
See AlsoReign - ☼ Lion & Queen ☼ {Mary ♔ Sebastian} #54: "Sebastian is the one who really understands her and gets her isolation and loneliness." ~ Adelaide(forrest) X: I'll be dancing on the moon"Actors don't act forever. It'd be nice to have a safety net," he shrugged. Without another word, he read the next question. "What is something you consider too serious to joke about?"
"People's appearances," I said a little too quickly. He looked up at me, making my face burn.
"Did someone. . ."
"Your turn," I cut him off. "What is something that you think is too serious to joke about?"
"People's relationships," Joe said, his voice soft. "I always hate when guys talk about their girlfriends like they're objects. Some things should stay between the couple. A guy shouldn't share everything with his friends."
"That's. . . Sweet," I barely got out. I cleared my throat and looked at my phone. "How do you react to anger from others?"
"Doesn't really affect me, if I'm being honest. Especially if it had nothing to do with why they're angry," he shrugged. Joe's smile dropped when he saw the look on my face. He lowered his voice as he asked, "What about you?"
"I don't handle it well," I said softly. I looked at my hands and started picking at my nail polish.
"Y/N. . ." He whispered.
"My parents used to fight a lot," I continued, my voice shaky. "It was never my fault but. . . When they fought, I'd lock myself in my room and read or listen to music. They fought all the time. The only time they weren't fighting was when they were each at work. My mom was at her salon from opening to closing. My dad was at his dental office way past closing."
"I'm so sorry, Y/N," Joe said. He went to grab my hand but I grabbed my phone and read out the next question.
"Do you often listen to your intuition?"
"Not nearly enough as I should," Joe said with a small chuckle.
"Same," I said, still looking at my phone. "Last question. If you were to die this evening with no opportunity to communicate with anyone, what would you most regret not having told someone?"
"My feelings," he blurted out. I snapped my head up and looked at him.
"Your what?"
"I just. . . I have a tendency to keep my feelings to myself," he stuttered. "When I like a girl, I rarely tell her."
The tension was officially suffocating as we stared at each other. "What would you regret not saying?" Joe asked, his voice soft.
"I guess," I said slowly, "I'd regret not telling my parents how I really feel. I've never told them how much their fighting affected me. I should've been more honest with them."
"You still have the chance," he said gently. "Luckily, you're not going to die tonight so you can still talk to your parents."
"That's true," I said softly. "That also means that you can still tell a girl you have feelings for her."
The second I said it, my face burned. I wanted to say something, but I couldn't form the words.
"What's next?" Joe asked.
"Well, we finished the questions so now we stare into each other's eyes for four minutes," I said, clearing my throat. I grabbed my phone and set a timer. "Go."
I looked up, my heart instantly jumping into my throat as Joe and I made eye contact. The longer we stared at each other, the harder it was to not look away.
"Wow," Joe chuckled. "This is kinda. . ."
"Awkward," I whispered.
"But, to be honest, this has been working."
"You think so?"
"Yeah," he shrugged. "I mean, the questions got us to open up to each other. And staring into each other's eyes forms a. . ."
"Connection," I said under my breath.
"Connection," he agreed. I hadn't realized we were getting closer until our noses touched. By the time I realized it, Joe had made the first move.
My heart jumped into my throat when Joe gently pressed his lips to mine. Time froze as we slowly began moving our lips in sync. As slow as we initiated the kiss, we broke it.
"Well," I whispered, "I guess the experiment works."
"Something tells me this is exactly why the others had us do this experiment," Joe whispered.
"You're damn right!" Jon yelled from the other side of the door, making Joe and I laugh.
"Leave them alone!" Juno chastised. "If you want them to get together, you can't interrupt their moments."
"Oh boy," I sighed. Joe gently grabbed my chin, making me look at him. I blushed as he leaned in and kissed me again.
"Hey," Joe whispered, breaking the kiss. "Let's get out here."
