inspired by Corey Haim himself

Andy was pulling some real strings for me to be here- by strings I mean poles. 

Ever since I understood what media was and what people were, I wanted to be involved with both. I'd sit there for hours and watch interviews shouting the questions they should've asked with confidence and yet not even being able to recite the 2 times table in class. 

It was the only thing I ever cared about and now I got to watch the real thing behind the scenes. 

"Before today, I've done preparation so I really know the main basis of the character and what kind of things to pick at."

Andrew had been a really good friend of Dad's since the popularization of television. They grew up TV nerdy and stayed that way and had kids just like it. Andrew was so close to me that I called him Andy and I was so close to him that his son is my ultimate best friend ever since we could watch TV too. 

But, he wanted to be a director. 

"So you'll be shadowing me with Corey Haim, I'm sure you've heard of him and I made sure that I knew off by heart the movies he's been-..."

Although Andy was a hella interesting guy, my mind fuzzed once that name settled into my head. Corey Haim? The guy was a huge celebrity, especially with girls my age, with a mischievously charming personality. This was gonna be my first impression of a real-life interview? Oh my!

Andy stands in front of me, grabbing my shoulders comfortingly. The kindness in his blue eyes spoke before he did as always, just like Anthony. 

"Y/N, I know how nervous you are. No one said this was easy but all you gotta do is watch. Corey's a funny guy I've had him before but he hates bullshit. So we gotta be careful, okay? He rarely gives good answers and hardly any of your time so if you start to sweat just deal with it. Okay?"

I smiled, nodding.

"Okay."

---

We knocked on a dressing room before entering. As soon as the door was opened, I could've died due to an attack of hairspray. The smell of translucent powder reminded me of the locker rooms after gym class, something that I definitely wouldn't miss.

Through the mist were baby blue eyes that stared into themselves in the mirror. Girls fumbled around him with red cheeks, short skirts and necklines that almost hit the floor doing just about anything they could find just to say they had spent one minute with Corey Haim. They spiked his now black hair towards the ceiling, somehow contributing even more to the bad boy look that he already wore in his daily life. 

I swallowed. 

"Mr Haim, are you ready for your interview?" Andy asked professionally, sounding completely different than how he did talking to me or to my dad. 

It was strange seeing people in action. 

Haim turns dramatically in his spinny chair, making my eyes automatically roll to the back of my head. I continued to clutch my worn notebook filled with everything I needed to my chest, trying to cover me up from him as I was beginning to get a little pissed. His eyes were roaming all over me, eating my skirt up with no shame at all. 

"I'd rather if she did it."

Unsettled I look to Andy who seemed to wear a lightbulb with pride. He faced me and I gave him a worried look but I knew his faith in me was stronger than any shake of the head that I could throw at him. 

"How 'bout it Y/N? You're more than ready, I'll be right there if you want. This is the perfect opportunity plus he's your age. It'll be just like talking to a pal."

He was always too convincing for my liking. 

"Yeah Y/N, I'll go easy on you," Corey's taunting voice piped up, making me turn his way just to see him smirk out of Andy's sight. 

I sighed in my mind, growing two inches taller, seeming incredibly optimistic on the outside while dying on the inside.

"Anything to make the guest happy. Right, this way Mr Haim."

---

"People like you don't really care what I think, just what you can put in the headline."

In the cream chair opposite my crossed legs was an arrogant young man who hadn't even grown up enough to achieve that title yet. So far I had nothing but scribbles in my pad and statements that I was writing down just to joke around with my dad later.

"Why do you even want this job? It ruins you but at least you'll be the hottest one."

Even though I knew I was younger, I felt like an old lady trying to talk some sense into her grandson and trying to have a rational conversation with him. 

It wasn't working. For a while now I tried asking him serious questions, sensitive questions, funny questions but somehow each time it came back to girls or how nice my legs looked in my skirt and tights today.

"So Mr Haim, what was it like filming Dream a Little Dream with Feldman? Was it any different from a normal acting gig since you know each other?" 

Then suddenly, it got a little interesting. That wall we hit? He jumped over it, dragging me with him by my curls. 

"You want the truth?"

I loosed my grip on my pen. 

"Always."

"When you see us together on TV people always think, 'wow you know these guys are good actors at such a young age' but then they see us on the streets and realise 'geez, they weren't acting at all. This is what they're really like'. Guess you could say it ruins the fantasy a little, we just have good chemistry." 

His arm dangled behind the back of the chair. I didn't need to fake how interested I was as I did some effective note-taking. It was hard trying to balance all of my thoughts but luckily I had prepared, doing some of my own research beforehand. 

I was totally prepared for this. 

Nothing could bring me down. 

"You think that makes you a bad actor?"

He smiles, adjusting a little bit. Something I noticed was how restless he was, angling himself in ways I could never dream, looking more and more attractive every time. He rolls his eyes when he's thinking not because he's rude but because he's trying real hard to answer right. He scratches his smooth skin with his ring clad fingers when he thinks. The way he moved was captivating, you couldn't find any of these in my old high school. 

"I guess you could say that. You could also say that scripts aren't just things you learn, you know? When you act it, um its gotta come from somewhere, a memory. I think that's kinda why we agreed to stop working with each other now for a um- a long time. When you get type casted, especially with someone else as the 'Two Coreys', you have to use the same memories over and over so the acting gets old, you know?"

"That's a very interesting idea. You think you've connected with some scripts more than others, with or without Feldman?" I ask with genuine interest, as if finally taking the pen off the paper and writing in between the lines. 

I tilt my head and he copies. 

"Definitely. The Lost Boys was fun and that was a real hit for us, really set us off in our careers. I guess I connected with it because it wasn't about me and a girl like most of my other plots. This time it was about family, friends and vampires!" we laugh together. "It's about vampires sure but really I think it's about being a teenager and how easy it is to be manipulated. As living proof to that, I guess that's why I connected most with it."

"Are you perhaps saying that you don't like acting romance and prefer darker messages?" I dig into that theme, noticing how much he squirms with it and I want to see where this can go beyond what the camera shows. 

"Maybe."

"Maybe?"

He shifts again. 

"Maybe I prefer real-life romance. Doesn't happen a lot but it so can go beyond um what the camera shows," I jump at our similarities, luckily I am not really being filmed likely apart from my crossed legs as he keeps staring at them endlessly. 

"I want to know Corey, what's your response to the media's claims reportedly calling you a "sleaze", "the living proof of sex, drugs and rock and roll in movies" and "yet another child star who has let all the fame go to his head"? I test with a mischevious grin, getting ready to scribble down an argument or a cuss that I can throw to the newspapers gladly. 

I just wanted to make him sweat and a million guys in my college that were just like him who gave me a tough time and not about my legs. 

"Is that a quotation or your own words Miss Y/N?" his fingers tickled his lips that wouldn't stop grinning no matter the subject. 

He was a little nervous, disappointed too.

"It's just what the media claims Mr Haim, no biased judgement here. One could argue that drug use is influential in this, something you have claimed to have struggled with also the disrespect towards women by being exposed in multiple relations," my arms cross in my lap.

He thinks, smile widening then shortening over and over as if trying to decide one of the biggest decisions in his entire life. 

"Is one saying one does not find me attractive?" 

I freeze, glad that my dad was not present and instead Andy who knew how capable I was in handling difficult situations and even more difficult subjects. Sweat. Heart beating. Pen shaking.

"I'm sure the thousands of female fans of yours out there would gladly answer for me Mr Haim, now back to my question-"

"Are you trying to seduce me Mrs Robinson?" his eyes were now slithering up my legs and I could actually feel it, making shivers travel through my body like someone was dancing on my grave. 

"Me, seduce you? Are you kidding Mr Robinson?"

"Are we married Y/N?" he teased, restless in that stupid chair. 

"In your dreams Corey Haim."

The interview continued and got a little more playful and professional. We talked about subjects that got the crew behind me chuckling silently and also got the tears flowing. He really laid all of his cards out on the imaginary table, unafraid to share anything I asked him and that's what I think really took balls. 

"That was fun. I hope you interview me again in the near future."

He shook my hands afterwards, searching in my eyes to answers to his own questions with intrigue. I was as intrigued with him also, propelling me towards my interest in the job even more if possible.

I got a good review with a particular statement sticking ni my mind since that day. 

"You should be proud. That is the most Corey Haim has never opened up to anyone on camera like that before."