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While it wasn’t Joel’s first red carpet since Chicken Shop Dates blew up, having to interview celebrities in non controlled settings always made him a little nervous. Having his little jokey interviews get big in the states wasn’t something Joel predicted, but the internet was a crazy place.
He stood there, making idle conversation with Jimmy, to calm himself after meeting THE Keralis, who was basically his childhood idol. Getting into this profession was forcing him to be constantly starstruck, which he has got to get over, he’s meant to be nonchalant, flirty, and awkward.
A second wave of people began to walk down the carpet, meaning it was back to flirty interview mode.
Joel stood waiting, trying to see which celebrity he could flag down, when actor Etho Slab approached him. As soon as the man got into range of the microphone, Etho said “I think you’re great”
“What?” Joel could only respond, shocked.
“Yeah, I think you’re great.” He smiled
“Do you know who I am?” Joel questioned “You’re kidding me. You’re kidding me” Etho Slab, the guy who was basically every girl in his secondary school’s celebrity crush, knew who he was. Suck it Nancy, guess who’s famous now.
“Of course, I’ve seen all of your Chicken Shop things.”
“No.” Joel was still a little shocked. “Well I’ve been trying to get a date with you for a while.”
“I have not got the memo.” Etho laughed
“Then I’m asking you out right now.” Joel proposed nonchalantly.
“You do date a lot of people though” He teased
“Yeah, and?” Joel pushed
“Oh, no, it's wonderful” Etho quickly defended. “It’s just like, I dunno, I just don’t feel, like, less special, I guess.” He scratched the back of his head.
“No way, you are the most special.”
“Right, you say that to every single person.” He chuckled.
“No, I don’t.” Joel denied “That’s the first person I’ve called special tonight. Especially your…..neck” He looked at Jimmy, and also the camera, to see if they got the reference.
“I’m sorry?” Etho looked taken aback. “Oh, that stupid neck thing?”
“Yeah.”
“I almost got that scene cut. I almost said ‘Please don't use that take’ because it looks like I’m really into my own…”
“Neck?” Joel finished
“Yeah” he agreed solemnly
“No, I think that’s my favorite shot.”
“Really?” Etho cringed
“It was the background of my phone,” Joel joked.
“I don’t know what that says about you.” He chuckled.
“What? You look hot!” Joel argued
“Do you have a neck thing or something? That’s very..sweet” Etho said nicely
“No, I don’t have a neck thing” Joel teased back
“Just my particular neck?”
“No, you just… No, I’m giving you a compliment, you looked really good, just take the blummin’ compliment.” Joel rolled his eyes
“I’ll take the compliment” Etho put up his hands defensively “You look very lovely as well. You look very handsome”
“I do, yeah, thank you.” Joel accepted the compliment, like how you’re supposed to.
Etho took a step back to look at Joel’s suit “Oh, wow” he said.
“Yes.”
“What is…” Etho said hesitantly
“It’s a suit.”
“But it’s, like, kind of got all this leathery fringe.”
“They're made of rubber” Joel said confidently
“Rubbery fringe”
“You could call them that”
Someone more official called Etho’s name, motioning him over. “And I guess that’s your cue to leave.” Joel said
“Yep.” Etho nodded “See ya, lovely to meet you” he stepped away, before stepping back, “Seriously, it was lovely to meet you.”
“Yeah, seriously lovely to meet you.” Joel agreed
“No, because it’s weird what you do.” Etho said, fully moving back to Joel’s mic.
“Is it?” Joel said, a little offended
“It’s, like, weird as in good. It’s very specific what you do.”
“Yeah, no no no” He brushed it off
“And, like, unique in that…way. And I appreciate what you do.” Etho said very sincerely
“I appreciate you” Joel returned
“And enjoy” Etho smiled as he stepped away again
“Bye. See ya”
Once the actor had fully left, Joel took a second to process what had just happened. He looked at Jimmy “That was weird, right?”
Jimmy just shrugged “I dunno, celebrities I guess.”
—
Joel stood on the carpet with his microphone. He had just finished an interview with Scar Goodtimes and was just kind of rambling at the camera when he spotted Etho Slab from across the carpet.
Joel made eye contact with the actor and stared him down till the man came over.
“Why are you looking at me like that” Etho laughed
“Looking at you like what!? Just stand here, be normal!” Joel huffed at him
“I walked by and you just…” Etho did his best attempt at concerned glace (which honestly he should be better at, he is an actor)
“No, I did not do that.”
“Yes you did, it was like a tanuki or something”
“No, I was totally smiling. Like happy to see you, or whatever” Joel defended
“Nuh uh, like this” Etho did the face again, and that totally wasn’t the face Joel had made.
“Shut up” He shoved the actor a little. “Just let me interview you.”
“Okay, okay” Etho reassured. “Hi.”
“Hi,” Joel said, back in his flirty persona. Etho just laughed. “We’ve got to stop meeting like this”
“I only ever want to see you” Etho said, smiling at him
“What?” Joel was a little taken aback
“At an, on like a- that wasn’t the end of the sentence!” He corrected, holding onto the mic, and consequently Joel’s hand.
Joel let out another “What?!” and turned to give the camera an eye roll
“I swear that’s not the end of the sentence!” Etho laughed. “I meant I only ever want to see you in these kind of situations”
“What about other situations?”
“Not interested. Not interested”
“Ugh” Joel acted mock offended “I was going to invited you to my birthday party”
“Wait, when’s your birthday party?”
“Interested, hmm?” Joel teased “It’s the 29th of June”
“What astrological sign are you?”
“I’m a Cancer, that’s your…. Moon?”
Etho nods. “If you have a sun sign that’s the same as the moon sign of someone else…”
“Then that’s bad?” Joel asked
“No! It’s good”
“Oh, it’s good?” Joel laughed “Then why is that an issue”
“Well, that’s because I don’t, um, I don’t think we should explore this” Etho said all smiley.
“Okay, well, I’m not even asking you to.” Joel rolled his eyes teasingly
“I know, I’m just like…” Etho gestured in front of himself.
“You’re the one who’s obsessed with me.” Joel laughed
“That’s what I’m saying! I’m scared of what this could turn into.”
“Okayy” Joel dragged out
“And I’m not ready for that kind of thing” Etho was starting to sound a little too serious for being a carpet interview.
“It would be to much” Joel jokingly agreed
“I’m not ready for it.”
“Oh, okay. Well I am.” Joel said back in his flirty persona
Etho stared at him, eyes wide. “Wait…”
“So you’re nominated tonight, congratulations.” Joel said, getting back to the interview
“Thank you” Etho smiled
“You have, I feel like, an affinity for playing such stoic characters?”
“Are you gonna ask a serious question?!” The actor teased
“I don’t want to!” Joel argued “It’s an interview”
“So are you gonna ask a serious question?” Etho giggled
“I knew you would do this!” Joel gave him a light smack with his cue cards.
“No, go on. Let’s see what we can do.”
“Okay so I feel like you have-” Joel started laughing again. “You have an affinity for playing-” Someone walked between them, blocking the shot of the camera. “Oh sorry, were having an interview”
“Go ahead, go ahead, you darn hooligans” Etho waved his fist at the passerbyers. He turned back to Joel “Please ask your question!” He laughed
Joel laughed his entire way through asking again, “You have an affinity for playing stoic characters.” Joel took a breath, so that he’d no longer be laughing “I feel like you’re always playing a stoic guy in some way.”
“That’s not a question.”
“Oh yeah, sorry” The two of them broke into laughter. After a minute they stopped, so Joel asked “Why?”, which sent Etho into more fits of laughter.
The man eventually straightened up again. “Favorite food?” Joel asked him
Etho giggled again, “I’ll tell you my least favorite food,” As he said that, Joel spotted Gemini Tay, who was waving at him. “You just looked over my shoulder. Someone more important? Someone like Ren Dog?” Etho said, a little more serious.
“Yeah, Gemini Tay.” Joel confirmed. “Can we, like, wrap this up?” He teased. “Cause I NEED to speak to Gemini Tay.”
Etho nodded. “GT is on the way.” He put his hand up to his ear, as if he had an earpiece, “GT is coming in. I better bounce.” Etho joked.
“Wait, wait, can I get your autograph?” Joel asked, handing him a card from his stack.
“This feels like a trick” He hesitantly took the card. “I’m not gonna read what it says.” Etho said while signing.
“It says-”
“I dunno if I want to hear what it says.” He handed the card back to Joel.
“It says..” Joel looked at the card, “It says Best Friend Certificate”
“okay. Bye best friend” Etho started walking away
“Alright, bye”
Etho took a step back towards him “See ya”
Joel laughed “See you”
“Bye” Etho waved, continuing to back up.
“See you at the next carpet” Joel waved before turning away. “Bye”
The actor moved till he was on Joel’s other side before saying “See ya” again.
“You’re great.” Joel shouted to him as he left.
“You’re great!” Etho said back to Joel, as he was being ushered away.
Joel turned back to the camera, to reset before Gem got there for her interview. There stood Jimmy, mouth agape. “What? What’s wrong Jim?” Joel asked, confused.
“You two… That was… ughhhh” Jimmy dragged his face across his hands.
“I legitimately have no idea what you’re talking about.”
—
After two, long anticipated, years, Joel finally had gotten Etho to be on a Chicken Shop Date.
The fans had been begging for him to be on ever since some red carpet interview where they had ‘chemistry’ or whatever. Joel didn’t know if he saw it, but he’d certainly play it up for the fans. So here he sat across from Etho, two boxes of chicken between them, ready for a date.
Joel launched straight into his persona with full force. “Don't do anything weird… like bring out a ring or, like, get down on one knee, like…I’m not in the mood today.”
“Alright.” Etho chuckled
“Just so we’re clear.”
“Alrighty, I hear you.” Etho smiled. “But can we agree there's like a bit of a curse on this?”
“What do you mean, like a bad, a bad curse?”
“In the sense of, like, you know we've had a couple of lovely interactions.”
“Yeah. Okay.” Joel nodded dryly
“That wasn't a very enthusiastic, ‘Yeah.’” Etho said in mock offense.
“It was.” Joel defended with a smile
“It was an undermining, ‘Yeah.’”
“Sure.”
“Come on, we can say that we’ve been vibey.” Etho gestured between the two of them
“Yeah, yeah. It’s been vibey to the point where you’ve been avoiding me for two years because the vibes were too much for you to handle.”
“They were powerful vibes.”
“So I'm actually surprised you’re here.” Joel said with a snark
“I'm also surprised I'm here as well.” He agreed
-
“Do you believe in fate?” Joel asked, taking a sip of his drink.
“I do believe in fate and destiny. Do you know the difference?”
“I believe in fate.” Joel shrugged
“You do, go on.” Etho leaned back in his chair
“Yeah.”
“Give me an example.” He prodded
“Um…when was it that we met, originally?” Joel smirked. Etho only laughed in response.
-
“Are you a good dancer?” Joel asked
“Well, I've seen you dance.”
“Well, of course.” Joel shrugged
“There was a party, where I saw you dance at.”
“Yeah, what did you think?”
“I was like, ‘He's dancing.’” They sat there before Etho quickly added, “It was epic.”
“Epic?” Joel rolled his eyes
“It was epic.” Etho defended
“It was epic.” Joel repeated dryly
“Honestly, your moves were epic.”
“Epic.” Joel tsked
“And everyone was like, thrown off!”
“Yeah, yeah.”
“In a good way.” He reassured
“In a good way.”
“Yeah, no. In a like, an inspired, but also intimidated.”
“Well, I did remember, I just wanted you to relive it for me in this moment.”
Etho scoffed, fake clutching his pearls “I feel manipulated.”
“Good!” Joel pouted
“I don't like games. ‘Good!’ Bahh I don't like games, Joel”
“Well, it's just fun.” he defended
“Is it fun… for the person”
“For me it’s fun.”
“That's like, that’s like pulling the strings?” Etho questioned
“Yeah, yeah.”
“Yeah. I don't like-”
“You don’t like it?”
“Cut, I'm cutting them.” Etho faked cutting strings above his head
“I'm not gonna be who you want me to be at this moment.”
“I don't, Joel. I'm not asking you to be anything but what you are, I’m just holding a mirror up.”
“Yeah, and I look good.” Joel sassed
-
“Do you think it's possible?” Etho asked “Do you really think it's possible that like there’s someone that could be sitting in this seat that might be like, ‘Wait a minute I just realized this is it.’”
“Yeah. Do you not?”
“I love that you're hopeful about it I think I just, I just think it's, you know, the set up is, uh…”
“But isn’t it just like meeting someone at work? Except I’ve just made it into a date.”
“Yeah-ish. But, like, But, what other workplaces…?”
“Your work.” Joel deadpanned
“Uh…” Etho stalled
“Your workplace.” he repeated
“But, uh, yeah, exactly. How many of those relationships work out?”
“I don't know, you, you tell me, none?”
“I mean, no but, it’s, it's like flash in the pan stuff usually.”
-
“Is your redstone brain turning right now?” Joel teased
“Don't do that. You get one of those.”
“Wait no! but I’ve got one more.”
“I hope you enjoyed it.” Etho pouted
“No, please” he begged
“I hope you enjoyed it, because that's that. It's over.”
“Okay, but, snog, marry, avoid…” Joel began
“Go on then.”
“Gemini Tay, Bdubs, Joel Beans.”
“Ah that’s unfair!” Etho protested “This is really unfair, you’re turning the screws on me, okay. Oh no, because God that’s hard actually. I don't want to avoid any of you, really.”
“Okay but, you have to.”
“I’m gonna have to avoid you then. ‘Cause I can't.”
“What!?”
“Cause I can't. I can't do that to the others, I can do it to you because…”
“Are you kidding me?!”
“No, I'm not kidding you. I’m gonna do it to you. This is called flirting, Joel! This is exactly what I- This is called flirting.” Etho defended
-
“We've had two meet cutes.” Etho started, tapping a sauce bottle against the table.
“Can you?”
“I can, I'm gonna be myself and I need you to know me fully.” Etho expressed
“It's just going to mess up with the sound. So can you just not.”
Etho put down the bottle “That's true and I wanna be considerate.”
“Exactly.”
“This is actually a first date.”
“Okay. First date.”
“I feel like I just arrived.” Etho chuckled
“Do you kiss on the first date?” Joel teased
-
“I've asked people out a lot, and have got a lot of no’s back.” Joel pouted
“Like in this way” Etho gestured to the cameras “Or in like a real way?
“No, in… well this is real” Joel scoffed “But in… in, on, on, on the outside.”
“So you're a bold, you're a bold, courageous, like you go for it?”
“Exactly.”
“I really appreciate that so much, I think it’s so, I think that’s sexy. I think that’s really hot.”
“That's what I think, but then it also, but then I was saying, I was rationalizing my, not sadness, but my frustration with, like, rejection. But then I was like, I just put myself out there more than other people-”
“Man…” Etho reached across to high-five him.
“So then I get rejected more. So then I always feel rejected.”
“I don't wanna… give you a high five on feeling rejected. That was weird timing! It was more just like a high five”
“You have now. And now I’m rejected, more than ever.”
“No!” Etho protested
“Thank you.”
“It’s about like… accepting. I just realized that that’s part of what it was. Courage. It's amazing.”
“It is amazing.” Joel agreed
“How do you do it? Like, what's your usual, like, line? Like, what do you do?”
“You just… try and get with them.” He shrugged
“What?” Etho laughed
“That is what I've, I’ve done before. Just like, physically, just like.”
“Just sort of like…” Etho attempted to, like, snake his upper body.
“Exact, exactly. Yeah. Like that. Exactly.” Joel cackled;
“Is that the move?” he questioned
“Well, now that I’m looking at you doing it, I'm realizing maybe this is where I’m going wrong.”
-
“Have you ever been on a date with someone to watch your own movie?”
“Most of my first dates are…”
“What?” Joel recoiled. “Like, yeah. Seriously?”
“No! What are you on? Of course not.”
“Oh okay.” Joel scrunched his nose. “You like ginger beer?”
“Yeah.” Etho said taking a sip
“I hate ginger beer.”
“It's so funny ‘cause it's like, I go to a place and then you're like… now we’re not going there.”
“I knew you would do this.” Joel sighed
“What, do what?”
“I knew you would do this.” Joel accused
“Just be aware of all of your moves?” Etho gave him a questioning look
“Yes, yes. I knew you would do this.”
“Do you hate it?”
Joel thought for a second “No, I don't. I think it's fun.”
“Does it frustrate you?”
“No it doesn’t.”
“People must’ve done this with you.”
“You do it, when I've seen you before.”
“Yeah, because I'm really a fan of what you do.”
“I actually like it. I’m into it.” Joel reflected
“What you do?”
“Yeah, because it's funny. Like, it's funny someone…”
“Seeing you?” Etho asked
“Seeing what I’m doing” he agreed
“And naming it.”
“And naming it.”
“And calling you on it.”
“Yeah.”
“And you go slightly red.” Etho smiled
“Uh what?” Joel sputtered
-
“If we were to start a relationship, I'm not saying that you would want to, or, or that I would necessarily want to.”
“Ookay.” Joel said dismissively
Etho just laughed
“But yeah, go on.”
“You are funny. You’re a funny person.”
“You're funny too.”
“Uh… you're funnier. I enjoy that. I enjoy that very much. It’s a quality that I really appreciate in you. And in a, and in a date. And in like a-”
“I think that we…” Joel mashed his fingers together in an attempt to express something. “There's something going on.”
“Do you actually think that or is this for the?” Etho gestured to the cameras again.
“No, no, I do think it's interesting that we-”
“If this wasn’t here do you think we'd actually have a, go on a date?”
“Um.”
“Do you think this has screwed up the fact that we could have actually gone on a date at some point, maybe?”
“Well, I don't know.” Joel shrugged
“Okay, but like take out, take out all the practicalities and the logic, I actually believe, maybe, we could have without all of this.”
“Yeah.”
“But it’s this…”
“Cause you're afraid of it.”
Etho just sputtered. “I-I'm a very private person in my private life.”
“Mmm. Carry on. I’m a, I’m actually more. I’m more private than you.” Joel accused
“Go on then. Tell me. Go on, I’ll wait.”
“Have you ever seen me with anyone?” Joel crossed his arms “No.”
“That doesn't mean that you’re private.” Etho laughed, “It just means you're not with anyone.”
Joel let out an offended snort
-
“Do you wanna be married, do you wanna have children? Like, do you wanna like, like what are your ultimate longings?” Etho leaned in to ask. Joel rolled his eyes. “What’s with that! That was a sweet question.” Etho defended
“Uh, um.” Joel gave a wishy-washy motion with his hands
“Would you rather not? Are you gonna cut all this out anyway? Because it’s about you?”
“Yeah probably.”
“But this is some bullshit. Come on like let, let's let this interview be what it is. This is like a different vibe. It’s a different style.”
“This is not an interview. Stop calling it an interview. It’s a date.”
“Right. So this is a different type of date. We’re, we’re, we’re, it’s a, there’s more mutuality.”
“Okay fine. I don't mind about being married, and I don't really mind about having kids.”
“You don't mind?”
“Not really, no.”
“But you do want like a long term partnership, like a monogamous, long term partnership?” Etho pressed
“I do, yeah. But I also like my independence-”
“That doesn’t change anything.” Etho interjected
“Sure, but I also like the fact that I can, like, do whatever I want and go out.”
“And separate bedrooms?”
“No, but yes.”
“Maybe at some point, as an option.
“Maybe, yeah.” Joel thought for a moment. “I actually, I actually think it’s kind of crazy that you feel obligated to share a bed with them for the rest of your lives! Forever!”
Etho laughed and nodded in agreement.
-
“So you've been nominated for an Oscar?”
“Yeah.”
“Well you’ve, you’ve not won.” Joel frowned
“Yeah.”
“So when, when are you gonna win an Oscar? How long do you think it’s gonna be?”
“To be honest… Can I be honest with you? Can I be real with you?”
“Oh, always.”
“That… whole thing has meant something to me in the past, and I think I needed that and then when I didn't win a couple of times, I was like, I guess maybe I should give up on that dream. No, I don't know. I, It's not you know, it doesn't really.”
“Probably when you stop caring, that's when it’ll happen.”
“Probably.”
“Apparently that’s what happens with love as well.”
“I think that's right. I think that’s absolutely right.”
“Which is why I was very relaxed today ‘cause I've given up. I actually have. I’ve actually given up. So…” Joel lead
“I don't think you can give up with intention. I don't think you can give up to try an end game.
“I’m purposefully... giving up because then something will happen that is very unexpected out of nowhere.”
“I think that might be the trick.” Etho sat for a moment. “Would you be more attracted to me if I had an Academy Award?”
“Maybe, yeah.”
“Thank you, thank you, yeah, yeah. Thank you for your honesty.”
“Maybe, yeah.”
“Yeah, no I get it.”
“Maybe yeah.”
“I get it. Just like my father.” Etho sighed
Yeah, ‘cause it, but then I’d like to come round to your house and it’s just there.”
“It’s just there casually, like a doorstop for a bathroom. Yeah.”
“Do you know what I mean?”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah.”
“It would be kinda hot to be fair. Academy Award winner.” Joel emphasized each word with his hands
“Fuck. Fuck! Now my longing is back for it.” Etho ran his hand through his hair
“Mmm? It is?”
“Yeah, but then I'm like, trying to please you and that’s messed up.”
“Why?”
“That’s not… the kind of relationship I want.”
“Well, I actually don't care if you are an Oscar winner or not.” Joel shrugged
“But it would, I would be hotter?”
“Hmm…” Joel took a moment “No, you’re already, like, kinda hot.”
-
“I think we’d have a really nice time without the camera.” Etho pushed “I think we’d just enjoy each other's company. Maybe not.”
“I think we should be friends.” Joel nodded
“Okay.” Etho said, looking a little dejected. Great. Done.”
“Great. We could hang out.” he offered
“Okay.”
“Wait, did I just friendzone this situation?”
“Yeah, I guess.”
“Ah, I shouldn't have done that.” Joel laughed
“Unless that's what you want?”
“No, I don't know what I want.”
“Okay. You haven’t, you haven’t gotta know what you want.” Etho reassured
“You have my number.”
“Do I?”
“Yes. You asked for my number at a party.” Joel said obviously
“I did. I feel like this is just like, should be a practice round. I think we should do it again, actually, and better.”
“Okay.”
“This should just be like a rehearsal. I know we’ve paid for everything.”
“I've paid for everything.”
“Yeah, when I say we, I mean you.”
“Yeah.”
-
“This felt less awkward than usual for you.”
“Well that’s because you kept asking me loads of questions and making me be, like, serious.” Joel argued
“Oh, I’m sorry. Did I make you less funny?”
“I don't know. We'll find out.”
“Sorry.”
“Okay, thank you. This has been… we need, we need to stop now.”
“But how?”
—
After about an hour and a half of filming (about forty minutes more than his usual episodes) they finally wrapped. Luckily, they still had extra B-roll from other shoots, so they didn’t have to stay longer and film those. Everyone wanted to leave as soon as they could, and that meant packing up the camera’s quickly.
Etho got dragged away by some sound people to move equipment as Joel was helping Jimmy with putting away the cameras.
“Sooo, another date for the books” Jimmy started. “Is this one the end of the series?”
“What? Don’t be ridiculous, there’s nothing there.” Joel brushed off “And besides even if I did go out with somebody, I’d still keep the show up, this is both of our livelihoods afterall.”
“Oh we’d find something new. But you must be blind if you don’t see what's going on between the two of you.”
“Then I guess one of us needs to get our eyes checked. Look Jim, I have a flirty persona and he’s an actor playing into it, it's not real.”
“You and I both know that you’ve never broken before like you did today. Do you really not like him at all?”
“I dunno, it’s just that…it’s fake, right?”
“Joel, he spent the last hour basically just asking you out. I think Etho likes you man. You might not see it, but just be to it, okay?”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever” Joel brushed off.
Jimmy just sighed “I’m gonna put the cameras on the cart, can you wrap up those cables?”
Joel nodded, picking up the cords and winding them in the very careful, specific way you have to wrap sound cables. As he did, his mind started to wander.
He had plenty of flirty interviews with people before and the internet seemed to get that it was part of the persona, but what about Etho made them think it was real.
Like yes, if Joel got the chance he would absolutely go out with Etho. That man was hot, and there was no denying that. But did he like Joel? Unlikely. He was probably just a fan, who leaned into the bit. That’s all, definitely no heart fluttering from Joel.
“...Joel?”
“Hmm?” Joel voiced, suddenly pulled out of his thoughts.
“I was, uh, told to put this over here.” Etho said.
Joel looked up at the man, he was holding up a bunch of poorly wrapped cords. “You wrapped the cords wrong.”
“What?”
“If you wrap sound cords like that it’ll hurt them. Here.” Joel grabbed them from Etho’s hands and started rewrapping them.
“Oh, thanks.” Etho scratched the back of his head. “So, that was really fun.”
“Was it? I’m glad. That’s kinda the whole point of this series, you played into it very well. I’m gonna have to cut a lot.” Joel laughed.
“Well it was pretty easy. Wasn’t a whole lot of acting.” Etho kind of mumbled.
Joel just stared at him, eyes wide, before turning his attention back to the cords.
They stood there for a moment, before Etho cleared his throat. “I, um, meant what I said. About the ‘wanting to try without the camera’… If you want to, of course”
“Oh! um…” Joel didn’t expect Etho to be actually serious. His eyes darted around the rest of the room, avoiding the actor’s eyes. He made eye contact with Jimmy, who was standing across the room giving Joel a thumbs up and mouthing ‘Go for it’. Joel turned his attention back to Etho. “um, yeah, sure. You have my number.”
Etho’s eyes lit up. “Do you, do you want to do something now?”
Joel chuckled “What would even do?”
“Uhh, we could go get dinner?” he offered
“Etho, we just ate” Joel motioned to the shop they were still in.
“Oh. yeah. Sorry, I didn’t eat at all”
Joel faked offense “After I paid for everything, wow”
“I’m sorry, we can do something else, or cancel, or-”
“I’m just joking, I'm good to get food.”
Etho smiled “Alright. Yeah”
“But we should finish, helping them…put stuff away”
“Y-Yeah right, and then after we’ll…”
“Go get food.” Joel nodded along.
“Awesome, cool. Well, see you” And then he turned and walked off.
Jimmy quickly came up to Joel. “Sooo…was that a…?” He wiggled his eyebrows
“We’re getting dinner after this.”
“So it’s a date?”
“I mean, I guess he didn’t specify. It might just in a friends vibe” Joel offered
Jimmy looked at him like he was stupid. “Again, I just watched you two flirt for an hour”
“Well I guess we’ll never know.” Joel said as he put the sound cords into the box.
“No, no Joel. You’re going to ask him if it's a date and you're going to get your man.”
Joel rolled his eyes.
“I’m serious, don’t ruin this by not being on the same page.”
“Fine, I’ll ask.”
“Good, and I think we're good with the two of you's help here, so you should go.” Jimmy smiled. Joel gave him a little shove before walking over to where Etho was talking to a camera person.
“Hey” Joel gave Etho a little nudge. “Jimmy said we’re good to head out, if you wanna go.”
“Okay, yeah let’s go”
They started to head out, saying goodbye to a few more people on the crew before they finally made it out the door. They walked about a block before Joel asked where they were going.
“Oh yeah, do you have any places you like? I’m not really from around here.”
“I guess I have somewhere we can go.” Joel typed it into his directions app. “Only like 10 minutes that way”
“Awesome” Etho started walking towards the restaurant. Joel grabbed the edge of his coat
“Actually Etho, before we go can I ask you something?”
Etho turned back to him “You can ask me anything”
Joel stared at the floor, still holding onto Etho’s coat “Is this meant to be a date?”
They both sat there before Etho spoke up “If you want it to be, then I really want it to be.”
Joel finally looked up at Etho’s face. His eyes were full of sincerity.
“I think I want this to be a date too.”
Etho grabbed Joel’s hand “Then I’d love to go on that date right now.”
Joel smiled, “Let’s go on that date.”
Jimmy got a message the next morning that read: It was a date