Protagonist. 8 lines + effort sounds.
Joey is the kind of person who has spent most of his life on the path of least resistance. He's driven by fear (of change, rejection, etc.) much more than any weak personal desire that might crop up in his mind, and it's that fear of stepping outside the lines that simultaneously makes him so anxious around Mack in the present day and keeps him from breaking off their relationship for good. He was raised to skirt around his own feelings and wants-- to avoid rudeness and bluntness-- and as such is horrible at holding any sort of personal boundaries. He likely suffers from an anxiety disorder of some sort, but is usually decent at masking it despite the near-constant panic that lurks under the surface-- if nothing else, a desperate fear of standing out is a good motivator.
During the course of the film, he experiences a major panic attack, culminating in him losing an unclear amount of time to dissociation; whether these symptoms stem from a history of trauma will be left ambiguous.
He's painfully middle class, the kind of kid who has never thought of himself as rich but has never had to seriously worry about money and doesn't really realize that the experiences of other kids his age might be different. He has an overbearing family that will not only pay for prep school and tutoring and college, but also expects these things of him as a matter of fact.
A long time ago, Mack's larger-than-life rambunctiousness and confidence were a hugely positive influence on him, encouraging him to do the stupid, silly things he was too uptight to do otherwise. Now, the prospect of trouble that Mack brings is more discomfiting than freeing.
His range is a bit on the higher side, but not nasally. A little soft-spoken-- his words come out quicker than he means, and a bit on the mumble-y side, like he's trying to say as much as possible while taking up as little space in the conversation as he can. In addition to dialogue, this role requires about ten seconds of efforts, from Joey's hyperventilation and fleeing from Mack.
