Method Acting || Joe Keery

T W E N T Y

I'm standing outside the laser tag place with Natalia, Charlie, Maya and Robert, waiting for the others to arrive.

"Your hair looks great Charlee, maybe I should let Robert do mine after all," Maya says, touching my hair.

"Yeah, it can be a bit painful, but he's worth it," I laugh.

"He is," Maya agrees, smiling at Robert who smiles back at her.

"Dacre's here!" Natalia shouts excitedly, as his car pulls up.

Everyone watches as he gets out of the car, he then goes around and helps a girl with long auburn hair, out of the car. I haven't seen her before.

"Who's that?" Maya asks.

Natalia shrugs. She doesn't look happy.

"I don't know," She says.

"Hey guys!" Dacre says as he reaches us.

He turns to the girl with him.

"This is Chloe," Dacre says as he introduces her to everyone.

As Chloe starts talking to Maya and Robert, Natalia pulls Dacre to the side.

"Why didn't you tell me you were bringing her? We're supposed to be doing pairs. Now Charlee has no one to pair up with," Natalia complains quietly.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know. I promised Chloe I'd take her out this week, I thought it'd be a good time to introduce you guys," Dacre says to Natalia, before turning to me.

"I'm sorry Charlee, you can be on mine and Chloes team?" Dacre says to me.

"Thanks Dacre, that's okay. I can join Robert and Mayas team, I'm used to being their third wheel," I laugh.

Natalia doesn't look happy.

"It's going to be uneven and unfair," She says grumpily.

I put my arm around her shoulder and give her a squeeze, trying to cheer her up.

"Joe?" Charlie says.

Natalia and I turn our heads, following Charlie's voice, to see Joe walking over to us.

"Where's Gemma?" Natalia asks him, my stomach turning at the sound of her name.

"She didn't want to come," Joe answers simply.

Natalia sighs, then looks at me and her face lights up.

"Oh! We're back to even! Joe, you're on Charlee's team. Dacre brought someone without telling me," Natalia explains, before gesturing for everyone to follow her inside.

"Great," Joe mutters sarcastically, as we walk inside.

I swallow and bury the pain.

* * * *

Inside, we listen to the worker - Craig's instructions before picking our vests.

As I try to put my vest on, I watch the others laughing and cuddling together. It's suddenly painfully obvious to me that everyone else here is a couple.

I fumble with the straps as Joe watches. I'm trying to tighten the vest so that it fits me, but I can't seem to get it to work.

"Jesus Christ, we're never going to even get inside," Joe says, frustrated.

He walks over to me and grabs the straps of my vest and starts adjusting them.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to touch you," Joe whispers, annoyance still evident in his voice.