YM:Let's start with your real life-when was your first kiss?A: Charisma Carpenter: Third grade, behind a chair in class during a movie, when the lights were off. I was boy crazy.I loved the idea of a kiss and being in love. We were talking, and then we looked at each other and we just kissed. I didn't run away. I liked it. Nicholas Brendon: I was 14, with a girl named Joanna. We'd just decided to go steady. I went in for a little kiss, and she opened her mouth. It freaked me out. I kept mine closed, and she closed hers real quick. I couldn't believe it. It was like "My life's changing. She opened her mouth. I felt her tongue." We were together for four months. I broke up with her because she wasn't popular. And then she became hugely popular, I was like, " I was just kidding about the brakeup. Can we...?" She was like, "No." By then she was dating a really popular guy.
YM: Have you ever dated someone way cooler than you were? CC: I've dated the cool type. It was always short-lived, and I always wound up with a broken heart. You can't put people on pedastals. Nobody likes to have to live up to (huge) expectations. With that kind of pressure, the relationship doesn't work.
YM: Have friends ever tried to keep you from dating someone? CC: I wasn't popular in high school, but I was a cheerleader and people knew who I was. My high school sweetheart was not popular; he kept to himself, and he had that brooding smart thing going on. My friends didn't give me a hard time, but I think they were surprised by my choice. NB: It's funny, because I would always look for my twin brother Kelly's approval- at first. I wouldn't let my friends have that much influence over who I am.
YM: What's the stupidest thing you've ever done for love? CC: I think I've been too generous. Making a picnic or something like that for someone is so much more thoughtful than overwhelming him with gifts. NB: (Are we talking about) love or lust? I went on a couple of dates with a girl in L.A. After that, she happened to visit her family in New Jersey at the same time I was visiting New York. Well, at 3 a.m. on the day I was supposed to go back to Los Angeles, I was sitting with a friend a café in New York. I wrote a letter to this girl and decided to deliver it to her in person before mu flight left at 7 a.m. So I got in a cab, and the driver took me to Jersey. I had no idea where she lived. By 4:30, I still hadn't found the house. So I called her. She was like " Why are you calling me?" I dropped the nore off and made it to the airport at quarter of seven. The can ride cost me in excess of 300$. And we never talked after she got back to L.A. I think that I lost a large part of my integrity that night. But (there was no stopping me) I felt like I was watching a film that I was in, cheering myself on: " Do it! Do it!"
YM: What's the smartest thing you've ever done for love?: NB: Do you really do smart things for love? I don't really equate "smart" with "love". I met Wendy (Thompson, his gf). That was pretty smart. As many times as I've tried to blow this relationship, I haven't (succeeded)., with a lot of help coming from her. I think being with her could be pretty smart. CC: The smartest thing I've ever done for love was to let go when I wasn't really in it.
YM: What's the nuttiest pick-up line you've ever used on someone?: NB: I've never used a pick-up line. I think they're cheesy. CC: On a dare, I kissed somebody I totally didn't know. And I had to have been at least 21 because it happened in a bar. That sounds awful. A bunch of girlfriends and I saw somebody really cute, and I was like, " Omigosh, that guy is Adonis over there." My girlfriends agreed, and they said, " I dare you to kiss him." So I walked over, and I just laid one on him. He was pretty impressed. He wanted my phone number, but I didn't want it to go that far, you know?
YM: Who first broke your heart? CC: I've had a broken heart many times. My first love was a boy named Danny. I was 11 years old. He loved me, but he was 13 and his hormones were racing. (He dumped me for) a girl named Brandy who had a hot body. He dated her for eight months, and that broke my heart. NB: My first serious girlfriend (broke my heart). I was 20, and she was 18. She was an actress who was working a lot, and at the time I was not. It was a horrible relationship (because she and her family were putting pressure on me about my career). That was the first time I'd ever been bitten by that bug, where it went from being puppy love to the real thing, and I didn't know how to deal with it. I think the first one's the toughest.
YM: What's the best thing you can do to make yourself feel better after a breakup?: NB: Every time I've been through a breakup, I've talked to my brother. There's nothing specific that I do. I know that I lose my sense of humor. I lose my appetite for a while. Also, I get a little asocial. The best way to get through it is just to remember that every day gets better. CC: I like to date somebody else immediately. That's the only way. Denial is my style. That's the coward's way to do it, but it works for me.
YM: Why were your characters attracted to each other? NB: Just chemistry. It's purely a sexual relationship. You figure they've probably been thinking about it for ten years now. CC: We're proof that opposites attract.
YM: What was the first kiss like? NB: We were noth kind of nervous. It was my first on-screen kiss, and it was lips and passion, unlike the Angel-Buffy kiss, which was very tender and sweet. CC: It's hard kissing somebody your not in love with. I love Nicky. He's my buddy. But kissing's intimate.
YM: Okay, it's Saturday night. There's a dance. Where's Xander? Where's Cordelia?: NB: They're stuck on the highway with a flat tire, and then they get to yelling, and then they just start making out on the side of the road. I don't think that they ever make it to the dance. CC: Actually, he's probably on the dance floor with Buffy while Cordelia talks to Willow at some table in the corner. That's usually what happens.
YM: And what do you think about that?: CC: I know this sounds crazy, but I get jealous for Cordelia. Like, " Why are they dancing together? Aren't we a couple?" It's funny.
YM: Do you think it's possible to love two people at the same time?: CC: Xander does, (actually,) I think he lusts for Cordelia, and he loves Buffy. I personally don't think it's possible to really love two people at the same time.
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