From on-screen to irl? Are Joey King and Taylor Zakhar Perez dating after The Kissing Booth 2? Fans sure think so after the costars’ recent getaway for King’s 21st birthday. Perez, who played Marco V. Peña in Netflix’s The Kissing Booth 2, took to his Instagram on Sunday, August 2, to share several photos of him, Kimg and a few other friends as they the Act alum’s 21st birthday, which was on Thursday, July 30
“Recalculating route. * * *disclaimer* we all tested negative ❤️,” he captioned the post, which included photos of him and King making silly faces and swimming in a waterfall. The post came three days after Perez took to his Instagram to write a sweet tribute in honor of his costar. “Happy Friggen Birthday @joeyking Honestly I could write about this woman all day,” he captioned a photo of him and King making faces at each other at the beach. “She is the reason I joined the KB2 family, she welcomed me with open arms and love, she supported me, she pushed me, she made me laugh (like pee my pants laughter and had to check my underwear), she inspired me to be a bettter actor, she shared her family with me, THE LIST GOES ON. Grateful for you forever. #tbt”
In response, King commented, “Can’t imagine my life without you. I heart you T.”
King, for her part, also took to her Instagram this weekend to share posts from her birthday. In one photo, the Ramona & Beezus star, who plays Elle Evans in The Kissing Booth and its sequel, posted on the beach in a bikini and a tiara. Perez commented, “HOLY $h!t.”
Perez played one of King’s love interests in The Kissing Booth 2, which saw a love triangle between Marco, Elle and Elle’s other other love interest, Noah Flynn, who was played by King’s ex-boyfriend Jacob Elordi. Elordi and King dated from 2017 to 2018. After Perez’s posts, fans wondered if King was dating another of her costars.
“OHMYGOD! I think joey king and taylor perez a.k.a Elle and Marco are dating in real life😭💙 sheeet I ship them so hard!💘✨,” @mschubbycheekss tweeted. Twitter user @hcronstvirs wrote, “WAIT WTFSJDHS JOEY KING AND TAYLOR PEREZ ARE DATING IRL.” User @gwsmegan added, “wait are joey king and jacob elordi still dating.”
As of now, it’s unclear if King and Perez are dating IRL. After King and Elordi’s breakup in November 2018, it was rumored that the actress started dating producer Steven Piet (who worked with her on The Act) after the two were at an outdoor movie date. “They were very affectionate and were with her two sisters sitting watching the movie together. Joey and Steven cuddled the entire time and looked very happy together,” the source told E! News in September 2019. “They had snacks and drinks and were laughing with her sisters.”
In an interview with Entertainment Tonight in July, King opened up about the pressure of dating in the public eye. “In this world, everyone wants to know your business and what you’re doing,” she said at the time. “And I think it’s very interesting when you go through things and people kind of feel like they’re owed an explanation, but I understand.”