“Okay, go.”

You muttered, holding the camera steady, framing Brian in the passenger seat beside you. Patiently waiting for him to start..to say something. But as the invisible clock in your head ticked passed presious seconds, you started to loose hope

Yet again.

You'd been practicing for—what? Fifteen minutes now? But yet again, he was looking at you with that familiar, clueless smile. The one you knew exactly where this was all going.

“Wait… what was my line again?” He asked, feigning innocence with a grin that was way too practiced.

You sighed, more for show than anything, shifting your grip on the camera. “Brian,” You said, in your best attempt at a warning tone, “you know what it is.”

That was the fourth time. Fourth. But with that ridiculous look in his eyes—like a golden retriever begging for attention and you couldn’t bring yourself to be mad it. Not really.

He just knew what to do, what to say. Just tilting his head, clearly fighting a smile.

“Fine,” You huffed, grabbing the script from your lap, reading off the paper word for word. “‘This town just doesn’t feel the same to me anymore. I missed it so much when I was in college, but now that I’m back… I just feel like a depressed teenager all over again, stuck in a loop of unhappiness.’..Got it now?”

“Yeah, yeah, okay,” He said, holding up his hands in mock surrender, his grin never quite leaving.

“And no smiling,” You added, narrowing your eyes through the lens.

That earned you a quiet laugh. He looked away, pressing his lips together, but you still caught the corner of his mouth twitch.

“Okay,” You said again, voice softening without meaning to. “Go.”

He took a breath, finally slipping into character—finally saying that line of his.

“This town just doesn’t feel the same to me anymore. I missed it so much when I was in college, but now that I’m back… I just feel like a depressed teenager all over again, stuck in a loop of unhappiness.”

Then, as practiced, a short pause of silence. Some extra seconds of footage to work with during editing. Which only really forced him to stay him to stay in his character longer—stay that brooding, lost in thought until...

He broke it.

“How was that?” He asked suddenly, eyes flicking to yours, his serious mask replaced with a bright grin. “Good, right?”