Finally! After waiting with bated breath for Janine and Gregory to act on their very real -- but consistently denied -- feelings for each other, the two officially confirmed it. Well, sorta.
In the latest episode of "Abbott Elementary" , which premiered Feb. 22, the school staff traveled to PECSA, an educators conference. Although not originally scheduled to attend, Gregory (Tyler James Williams) decided to go after his girlfriend Amber dumps him. So Janine (Quinta Brunson) is set on cheering Gregory up ... with a kiss! And fans have *thoughts.*
A few fans pointed out some of the obvious signs that Gregory and Janine are meant for each other, including an exchange between them in which they discussed Gregory's breakup.
"Why am I always the one getting dumped," Gregory asks Janine at the conference's after hours party. "Based on the evidence, it’s got to be me."
"You only have to be right once," Janine comforted.
"Me and Amber were super different anyway," he later admitted. "Like too different. I always felt like a weirdo around her.
Janine responded by saying she's a weirdo, too, and everyone deserves to find someone.
The two later ditched the party and sneaked into an exhibit at PECSA, a classroom made entirely of flowers. There, Janine opened up to Gregory about her feelings.
"I don’t want to sound cheesy, but it shows exactly how I feel about teaching," Janine said not realizing Gregory is staring at her with longing eyes.
Gregory agreed: "Plants and teaching. It’s like how I grew up and who I am now."
Janine then breaks the silence, asking Gregory to smell a nearby flower with her. While crouched down, Janine presents the flower to Gregory for him to smell and he leans in — and kisses her softly on the lips. When he pulled away, Janine pulls him back for another kiss.
Fans did not miss the significance of this long-awaited moment.
"The fact that Janine and Gregory kissed in a flower exhibit too is so important to me," one person said on Twitter. "Gregory learned to love gardening again because of Abbott and his students and Janine loves what flowers represent, such as growth.
"When Janine pulled Gregory’s lanyard," another person said with a meme.
"NOT GREGORY GOING IN FOR THE KISS THEN JANINE PULLS HIM BACK IN," someone else said with a gif of people dancing.
Sheryl Lee Ralph's daughter, CoCo, posted a video of her mom, who plays Barbara Howard, reacting to the kiss. In the video, Ralph reenacts it.
After the kiss, Janine and Gregory seemed to instantly regret it with Janine saying "oh no." They both then agree that the kiss didn't mean anything and they should act like it didn't happen. Janine added that she's happy dating Maurice, a close friend of Gregory's.
Fans, of course, are not buying it.
"How am I supposed to act knowing that Gregory Eddie loves Janine so much that he couldn't contain it anymore and he now has to deal with the fact that he found someone that loves who he truly is but she's taken," someone said on Twitter.
