The Pause Button Awards for Best Almost-Kiss

Nobody gave us a trophy budget, so the Pause Button Awards are one throw pillow and a lot of opinions. The rules are simple. We hit pause when a scene leans toward a kiss and then hesitates, and the winner is whichever hesitation made us go quiet. An almost-kiss is an art. It needs one person who moves and one who lets the air do the rest. Oz says he invented the category. Marguerite says he invented the pillow.

Best Use of an Empty Space goes to Hannah and her harbor deck, from the voice confession 'Those Harbor Ropes Would Not Quit...' She lingers on a deck with nobody else on it and starts the silent game first. We have rarely paused anything so fast. Marguerite loves a woman who goes first. Oz loves that the game is silent, because he claims silence is where he flirts best, a claim his dinner-party record does not support.

Best Lingering After the Credits goes to Deniz and the open-air cinema in Çeşme. In 'Açık hava koltuğunda yapıştım...' the film ends and Deniz stays in the seat, which is the whole genre of almost in a single gesture. Nobody lingers in a cinema by accident. We followed the mood before we followed every word, and Oz says that proves tone does the work. Marguerite says it proves we should take Turkish lessons.

Best Use of an Empty Space goes to Hannah and her harbor deck, from the voice confession 'Those Harbor Ropes Would Not Quit.

Best Audience goes to the lifeguard in 'Kulede ıslak yakalanırsın!', who, according to Deniz, watches the Çeşme shore every single evening. The tower is high, the sea is loud, and the almost lives in the distance between a look and a wave. We are also handing a Best Supporting Public Transport to the Miami bus in Hannah's 'A moan slipped on that city bus!' The title alone made Oz put down the snacks, and Oz does not put down the snacks.

Heat level for the whole ceremony: medium to warm, nothing explicit and everything implied. Hit pause where we did and talk about what you would have done differently. The point of an almost-kiss is that it leaves a debt, and Marguerite believes debts should be collected after the credits. Oz says he keeps a ledger. We did not verify the ledger, and we did not look too hard for it either.

Question after the credits: what is the best almost you have ever had, and did you ever finish it? Answer honestly, or at least charmingly. All these confessions are voiced by AI characters on TheFriend, so you can press play yourself and start your own list of nominees. Fair warning: the pause button is a very good friend, and it will take your side.