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i like your hat!

joe and haley were on a boat. an italian vaporetto, to be exact.

they were headed to the cinema where the story of a pretty woman would be screened for the venice film festival. joe wore a formal tuxedo, while haley was dressed in a gorgeous, floral white ballgown that had a slit. it's sleeves were off-shoulder, and the material that covered her arms was puffy and made her feel regal, in a way.

"oh god, i feel like i'm gonna trip." she complained, grabbing joe's arm to steady herself as she tried to navigate her way around the moving vehicle.

"you're supposed to be a model," he sighed. "aren't you used to this?"

"if you were a model, you'd try to forget what it feels like to wear heels for twenty-four hours straight." she shot back. there were more cameramen as opposed to cast members: haley learned that being the star entailed getting your own boat with at least another two costars, and those were joe and greta.

they made conversation as the ride went on, occasionally becoming more aware of the cameras around them that were intended for b-roll/video montage purposes.

"thank you," haley said in an overly posh british accent as joe offered her a hand in getting out of the boat and onto the dock. afterwards, they reconvened with the rest of the cast and made their way towards an array of stationed cars as photos of them were taken.

joe and haley were directed to one car, while the rest of the cast were split up in threes and headed to the other ones that were lined up.

two minutes later, the chauffeur parked their black car right next to the other three that the rest of the cast had travelled in.

"don't go out yet," instructed robert, who had tagged along as both haley's manager, agent, and Well-Meaning Friend.

"why not?" joe asked.

"'why not', he says." robert said under his breath. "you have to keep them wai-ting." he said, enunciating each syllable.

"i'm so fucking nervous." haley said, her leg bouncing up and down in anticipation.

joe, not wanting to touch her leg, hovered his hands over her knee as if he was willing her to stop. "stop that, you're making me anxious!"

"allllll right, go out now." robert shook his head and briskly shooed them out. "out, out, i say!"

joe exited first, then held the door open for haley, who was greeted by photographers coming from her right.

"HALEY! JOE! OVER HERE!" a load of cameramen ran up towards the two stars who still stood beside the car with it's door open, before they even got onto the red carpet.

"oh, it's stuck," commented haley, attempting to tug the sweep train of her dress out of the car. joe bent down and helped her, then the two posed for a couple of photos before robert told off the photographers.

"can we say hi?" haley asked joe, about the fans. she knew they had a schedule to follow, but it meant a lot to her that they were there.

"i don't see why not," he shrugged.

"robert's gonna kill us, hurry!" so she picked up her skirts and ran away from the two security dudes that were standing beside them.

they made their way towards the edge of the elevated area that they were on, except it was a bit harder since there was a barrier that prevented people from below from seeing them.

that didn't stop them from leaning over the edge and waving at all the people that were a floor below them. the noise they made wasn't even coherent shouting, it was just screaming and almost gave haley a headache, but she was so in the moment that she didn't care.

"hello!" haley waved at the people that stood before her, cellphones in hand and cheering excitedly. "THANKS FOR COMING!!" another rousing cheer. joe clapped with them and yelled his thanks, pointing at various people and waving as haley spotted something.

"no, wait," she told one of the guards as security tried to drag them away. "joe, look! I LIKE YOUR HAT!" she shouted down at a pair of fans wearing scoops ahoy hats.

"WE," joe pointed to himself and haley, "LIKE," he made a heart with his hands, "YOUR," he pointed at the fans, "HATS!" he gestured vaguely to the top of his head.

"they got the point, you've got to go!" one of the guards put a hand on joe's shoulder warningly, so he turned to leave before they could get ahold of haley.

the red carpet seemed to last forever, but unlike previous carpets where she felt like her cheeks would fall of, haley was smiling genuinely. the movie was something she was proud of, and she really wanted to savor the moment.

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"hello, my name is haley leneghan, and i play paris in the story of a pretty woman."

"what's up? my name is joe, and i play james."

"he thinks. he's not actually sure." haley interjected jokingly.

"and today we're here with buzzfeed to take the 'best friend forever costar test'." finished joe.

"i love buzz queed fizzes." haley said, imitating tom holland and using a british accent.

"your accent isn't actually that bad."

"thanks, my dad was british."

"april 24, 1992."

"november 30, 1997. haley is currently twenty-four years of age, but you're turning twenty-five later this year. right?" asked joe.

"you are correct, sir." haley responded. then, to the camera, she said, "my friend over here has turned thirty years of age."

"don't remind me."

"double that and you'll be sixty. that's insane. did you have the 'oh-no-i'm-turning-thirty crisis too?"

"yes, but you say it like you've experienced it!" he laughed.

"his middle name is david. joseph david, that sounds weird, i can't imagine you as a joseph, ever." haley told him.

"her middle name is grace. i call her gracie."

"and i punch him whenever he does."

"definitely her phone. you use your phone a lot," joe told her. "like, you're getting you hair done and it only takes like an hour, but you're blasting music that i can hear through the walls."

"the hair and makeup people like my music!" haley protested. "he doesn't get it," she told robert, who was sitting out of the camera's view. "your dressing room must-have is your face mask." she told him mischievously.

"he has these pouches full of face masks and every time we're in hair and makeup he insists on putting one on as they're doing his hair."

"don't say that!" said joe, burying his face in his hands.

"i can answer for the both of us." joe told haley, who nodded. "singing. we love to sing."

"are we good at it? debatable." haley said. "but we sure as hell enjoy it."

"you like those, those soggy french fry things." haley told joe. "the one with gravy, and cheese..." he nodded, prompting her to say more.

"you can guess it, i know it."

"it starts with a 'p'. i'm sure of it." after a moment of thinking, her eyes lit up. "poulter?"

"no!" joe was laughing hard. "are you talking about the maze runner guy? with eyebrows? that's will poulter." joe informed her.

"oh my god," she groaned.

"no, you were close," he assured her. "it's poutine."

"THAT'S IT!" haley skirted to the edge of her seat. "that's it."

"your favorite snack changes a lot, though. but i think chocolate bread is a constant? she actually made it on set."

"ooh, yes that was a lot of fun."

"you have a girlfriend, so i suppose she has to be your crush, right?" asked haley.

"yeah, maika. she's just amazing. as for you, though," joe looked at haley as she tried to act as casual as she could about it. deep inside, though, she was praying that he wouldn't name anybody.

"i actually have no idea." he lied, as he turned back to face the camera. "you're a very independent person, i think."

haley was so happy, all she could do was nod.

"at a chemistry read, right?"

"chemistry read in 2018 for stranger things." confirmed joe.

"stranger things." they said simultaneously.

"CHECK OUT SEASON 4!" haley exclaimed.

"covid was pretty prevalent when we filmed, i think, so none of your family came." haley told joe, who nodded. "my brother didn't come either since he was promoting ghostbusters: afterlife, but james mclean did. he's practically my second dad, and happens to be the executive producer of the movie."

"there's a fight scene that i just loved to film. i think we both had so much fun with that because it was all improv at eleven pm." haley said.

"the other one is the wedding scene, because we shot that on your birthday." joe added.

"i have no idea. we have a lot of great memories." joe told her.

"anytime is a great memory. like right now!"

"but my personal favorite from this film?" joe asked. "it was shoveling snow at the front of the chase-jackson residence at three in the morning."

"joe likes arctic monkeys."

"and the neighborhood." he added. "her favorite artist is taylor swift."

"obviously." haley said, rolling her eyes in an exaggerated manner.

"listen, we were filming when 'red' was re-released, and all i'd hear was 'all too well, all to well, all too well'. we watched the short film's premiere all together on set because our good friend sadie was there."

"the makeup artists were great, we'd all scream the bridge at the top of our lungs while my hair was being done."

"joe can do a handstand. it's impressive, actually."

"your hidden talent is hula hooping." he told her. "she can do like three hoops at the same time."

"thank you so much for having us, buzzfeed!" haley gave a small wave.

"make sure to check out our movie, the story of a pretty woman, once it hits theaters on november eleventh!" reminded joe.

"eleven eleven."

"eggos eggos." he said, pouting to imitate millie.

"editors, just... sorry." haley added.

you guys cannot imagine the amount of research i put into this fic just to get the location and process right... i'm pretty sure it's still somewhat off, though.

I MISS YOU, I'M SORRY