Taking a closer look at Kieran and Mary-Beth's interactions pt 2
1. As soon as Kieran sees Mary-Beth, he prepares to talk to her again. He is still a little nervous after their last conversation, but he wants to try talking to her again anyway. (I also want to mention the detail that in both interactions, Kieran threw away his cigarette before talking to her. I guess he didn't want to bother her with the smoke, because he didn't know her well yet.)
2. He asks her very gently, “Are you still reading?”, trying not to interrupt her, and waits. He seems more cautious when speaking from the beginning, probably because he didn't want her to mistreat him again.
3. When Mary-Beth speaks, he occasionally looks away. They both do this, shifting nervously and even appearing uncomfortable. They still feel a little embarrassed about their first formal conversation, so it was probably difficult for them to look each other in the eye.
4. As soon as Kieran asks her if reading is fun, Mary-Beth gets excited instantly, starting to tell him everything she loves about reading and all the pros of doing so. Just seconds after her momentary euphoria, she returns to her nervous attitude, now even more embarrassed after having rambled on.
5. Kieran doesn't criticize her, and Mary-Beth seems surprised that he doesn't when she looks at him as he makes a joke. Both of their laughs are genuine, Kieran's a little more nervous, but Mary-Beth seems delighted with Kieran's joke.
6. As soon as Mary-Beth asks him if he can read, Kieran responds very quickly to excuse his illiteracy. He is undoubtedly embarrassed and does not want her to know directly, so he smiles at her as if it were all a joke, probably to divert the subject somehow. Even so, she laughs with him.
7. From that point on, neither of them stops smiling. While Mary-Beth indirectly offers to teach him to read, she smiles, a softer smile, as if excited that he will accept the offer.
8. As Kieran leaves, he turns around a couple of times to look at her, still smiling with an amused expression (he probably wanted to take the offer as a joke), but he doesn't say anything, he just leaves. Maybe deep down he knew she wasn't making fun of him, that she really wanted to help him learn, and that moved him. I know this because if you have Arthur greet Kieran after that interaction, Kieran's tone of voice is super cheerful and smiley.
Neither of them could stop laughing or smiling. They were so nervous around each other, but that nervousness turned into something more with this interaction. This is true love, dude, I swear it is.
@x-thimblekisses-x Thank you so much for sharing the links to the videos I used for this analysis. I wouldn't have noticed any of this if it weren't for you.
Here is the video of the interaction. You can find it at 8:24.
