my roomates: did you kiss him yet??!!

In rehearsals today we worked on a scene in which Tony and Maria must be intimate with each other...it is where they playfully, yet seriously, recite wedding vows to each other...and needless to say, me and my Tony just aren't there yet with each other. Today was a good step though. It is just such a strange thing because we are making ourselves fall in love with each other (or at least a part of ourselves that is this character) and yet we know from the outset that we are quasi rejecting each other. How can I explain this? In real life, when falling in love there is this natural give and take vulnerability that builds over time as the level of commitment grows deeper. In acting though, we must be completely vulnerable with each other in a real way for the audience to believe our relationship, yet there is none of that strength of a real relationship to back it up. Needless to say...we still have quite a ways to go in rehearsals before we can believably and yet not too awkwardly kiss.