Is Joey King Dating Her 'Kissing Booth 2' Co-Star Taylor Zakhar Perez?

OK, uh, is it just me or is Taylor Zakhar Perez's Response to the Joey King dating rumors, like, majorly flirty? While the actor made it clear he's not, in fact, dating King during an Aug. 10 appearance on the Chicks In The Office podcast, he did give fans a small sliver of hope. “It’s been interesting how everyone has been trying to make something out of it but it’s fine,” he said, per Page Six, before adding. “I mean, hey, I would love to be dating Joey King, she’s dope.”

Excuse me? He'd love to be dating her? If that's not the best reaction to a dating rumor you've ever seen, I don't know what is.

Before basically professing his love for her (OK, I know that's not at all what happened, but c'mon let me have this), Perez broke down his relationship with King for Ria Ciuffo and Fran Mariano, the hosts of Chicks in the Office. “We were quarantine buddies so I would see [King] all the time because we lived five minutes away from each other,” he revealed, per Page Six. “We know what our relationship is, we love each other dearly.”

OK, so def sounds platonic. But hey. Maybe there's potential for more later on?

While they're clearly not dating based on his response, it's not exactly difficult to see why fans might have thought that they were. In an interview for Cosmopolitan published Aug. 11, King revealed Perez was the most recent person she texted. (In case you were wondering, the text in question was, "Do you like pretzel bread?" Do with that what you will.)

In the same interview, after discussing what it was like to shoot The Kissing Booth 2 alongside her ex-boyfriend Jacob Elordi, the reporter noted that King "um, seems to be seeing someone else now." And, on top of all of those clues, Perez and King are also casually going on vacations together and posting pictures like these:

So, uh. Yeah. I see why some fans might have thought they were dating. But other fans believe that the new man playing the romantic lead in King's IRL life is reportedly none other than her ex Steven Piet. (Elite Daily previously reached out to Piet and King for comment, but did not hear back in time for publication).

Here's to hoping that whoever she's with is treating her well and making her as happy as possible.