The Interview (English) *completed*

Chapter 7

I glanced at my watch, only a few more minutes to go. Before I could stop myself, I got up, walked to the balcony and pulled my cigarettes out of my purse.
I knew I shouldn't smoke right now; the smell would probably linger around me for a while, but it was the only thing that could calm me down.
Through the window I saw that the hotel room was still empty, only my notepad and phone on the little coffee table. I returned back into the room, grabbing a chewing gum from my purse and sat down on the sofa. I straightened my grey suit trousers and made sure that my blouse was tucked in neatly.
There was a knock at the door.
My pulse immediately went through the roof, my breath got stuck in my throat.
I quickly got up as HE walked in.
George Oscar came in and the room was immediately filled by his presence. My eyes were glued to him and I didn't really register his assistant.
"Ms. Schneider, I'm Sophie Carter. We talked on the phone, I'm Mr. Oscar's PR agent. I am very sorry to hear about the accident."
My head snapped to her and grabbed her hand to shake it quickly.
"Yes, it is awful, but Rose is already doing a little better now. Thank you again for letting me do this in her stead. I'm very glad, everything worked out in the end."
Sophie laughed a high-pitched laugh and I pressed my teeth together.
George gave me a wide smile and stepped forward. "Ms. Schneider, nice to meet you." His hand was warm and rough against mine and I gave it a firm shake.
I looked into his eyes and felt a calming assurance wash over me.
George let go of my hand and turned around to his PR agent. "Sophie, we had a deal."
She rolled her eyes at George but sighed. "Alright. But as I said, we will go over every answer very thoughtfully before it gets published."
My interview guest just nodded with a smile and then softly pushed his agent out of the room. "I know. We will. But you know how much I hate being watched."
I went to the coffee table, filled up two glasses with water and sat down in the chair, talking a deep breath.
"See, even after I established my career, there is still someone around acting like my mother."
Chuckling I watched him walk over, tugging at his dark trousers and sit down on the sofa across me.
"So, I think there is a reason why we are here."
George reached for his glass and I could see his biceps flex under the crisp white button up.
I realised that I hadn't said a single word to him yet.
"Yes... Yes, there is. I'm sorry."
My hand was still shaking when I pushed back a strand of my hair, but George's friendly look made me relax a little bit.
"Are you feeling unwell? Should I get you a cup of tea?"
He was leaning in a little more and I shook my head, finally realising that this is not how this was supposed to go.
"No, sorry, I was just caught up in some thoughts."
I straightened my back, crossed my legs and reached for my notepad.
"I will record this interview; if at any point you want me to take something off the record or turn of the tape recorder, please let me know. And if there is a question you don't want to answer, just let me know." Other than that I will write up the interview and send it to your publicist once it is done."
George cocked a brow at me and smiled.
"What kind of questions are you planning on asking me that I wouldn't want to have on record?"
Cocky bastard.
I started to chew on my lip but didn't comment any further. Instead I turned on my recorder and looked at my first question.
"First of all, I can only congratulate you for your amazing performance in the Rising series, I was extremely impressed by the chemistry between your character and Kaitlyn Jones'. Was it very difficult to get that across on camera?"

We got into the question and answer rhythm, he was comfortably chatting along and once I actually focused on the interview, it was easy for me, to react to his answers.
I placed my notepad on the coffee table and leaned further to reach for my glass of water. After a sip of water, I looked up and saw a smile appear in the corner of George's mouth. Had I done something funny?
"So, Mr Oscar, I know these questions are asked in every interview, so what if we change it up a bit?"
"Alright. You change it up how you want, and I get to ask you questions as well."
For a moment I was a bit confused.
"I know that I do not really have a lot of experience, but I know that interviews usually don't work like this." George laughed at me but didn't say anything and sat up straighter.
Maybe I just had to play along with it. "Okay, let's do it. But I go first."
He gestured for me to begin and I smiled at him.
"You are a very big number in Hollywood and yet, you have been staring in several stage plays in London over the last few months. How did you come to that?"
His face dropped for a second, then he laughed.
"I'm surprised that you know about that. You really did your homework. But okay, that is actually an easy one to answer. I am an actor. I like acting. But when you work on a film you sometimes lose the essence of acting. You can retake a scene so many times, it doesn't really matter, if you screw up. If you have a kiss or sex scene, you usually struggle to keep the chemistry up. Even if you have a great co-star, any romance can feel forced because you need to kiss in such specific ways to get the angles right, that it seems more like a science project than a romantic scene. I wanted to have a break from that. I wanted to get back to my roots in the classic acting and reacting. I had never really worked in bigger stage productions before because my goal had always been the screen, but I wanted to get the chance to improvise and to really be challenged. I am not stage trained like others, if you compare my experience with the one of Tom Hiddleston or Benedict Cumberbatch who went to drama school and had such incredible talent on stage, then I really seem like a sixth form student in comparison, but I like it. On stage, you are more vulnerable. If your partner says a sentence differently you have to react. You have to have the skill to step away from your perfect script and give your character a soul."
I was quite surprised by his sincere answer and for a moment I stared at him.
He smiled at me, his eyes glowing in the afternoon sun and I swallowed hard.
"It sounds like you are very dedicated to your profession and not to the fame that comes with it."
He laughed. "Well, I do enjoy the red-carpet events and the perks that the life brings, especially for my family. But at the same time, I try to stay true to myself. I don't want to get lost in all of that."
I crossed my legs and smiled; his humble answer amused me. "Do you ever think that you would prefer to stay in London permanently instead of having to travel around so much and live in other countries for so many months at a time?"
"I don't know, to be honest. At the moment I am rolling with it. I love the TV productions and cinema projects that I am given and I am insanely grateful for the opportunity of providing entertainment for so many people. I don't think I would like to give that up, but I would like to shoot a film in London for a change, so I could stay here for a couple of months."
"Okay, I think, I broke the rules to our game already. It is your turn. Ask me something."
I got more and more comfortable and confident with the situation. His charisma and kindness made me forget who really sat across me.
"Where are you from?"
I raised my eyebrow at him. What did he mean, country? City?
He noticed my baffled face and laughed. "You've got a slight accent, but I can't put my finger on it."
"I'm from Germany. Berlin actually."
George looked surprised. "Really? Your accent did not give that away. Why are you here?"
I laughed at his questions. "Only one question at a time. Don't get too hasty."
What was wrong with me? Why did I make such jokes? And why did my heart flatter when his amused stare wandered over my face?
"Alright, I suppose I can wait for a second."
He reached for his glass again, laughing at our quick exchange.
"You said earlier that you wanted to stay true to yourself, does that have any connection to your upbringing with no money?"
When George's face got serious for a moment I worried that my question was too forward and weird, but he answered with a strange calmness and seriousness to his voice.
"It's been a while since I thought about that." he paused and looked out of the window. "I think I was definitely influenced by my family's situation, as everyone is. My parents left Greece when my younger brother was just born, because they wanted to give us a better chance in life. They wanted to make sure that we had every opportunity we needed to fulfil our dreams. My parents were legal immigrants, my father had a job at a factory which did not pay well, but good enough to pay for a flat and food. We were never an extremely poor family; my parents were never miserable or sad about how things turned out. And I guess that is the important part. All my life I got told that if I worked hard enough, I could do whatever I wanted. And I still live like that. Nothing in life comes for free. I still value every pay check, every new job opportunity and the life I have today. I wasn't born into this world of fame like others did. I know where I come from, I know how hard it can be when your parents don't speak English and you get laughed at in school for having an accent. We did not go to a very posh school, but I still had enough classmates who would tease me for a non-British accent. And yet I know that I was lucky. The area we lived in was highly incriminated, drugs and violence were an everyday thing. But we went to a school that was a bit further away so that we at least had a good education. All my parents could offer me was love and support. And now it is my time to pay back the favour, to support my family and country. I could never be the man who ignores his past and takes everything for granted."
I was speechless. He really shocked me with this little monologue. Slowly I tried to find my concentration. "Is that the reason for all your volunteering work?"
"Yes and no. I think at the core of all of this is the urge to help people and to make a difference with my work. Yes, I know that I can bring joy to people with my work in front of the camera, but I always wanted to use my platform to really help people in need. People who don't have access to television or the internet. People who don't care that I am an actor but care about the work that I do in the refugee camps in Syria, Turkey and Greece. I have the attention of the media on me and if I can get at least some attention on the issues in this world, then I can be proud of my life and what I've done with it."
George showed me his straight, white teeth in a breath-taking smile. Maybe it was just me, but I saw an intensity in his eyes that wasn't there before. Nervously I crossed over my legs and cleared my throat and his look shot from my body up to my face. He swallowed nearly unnoticeable and then went on as if nothing happened.
"I thought we were playing a game. It's my turn, don't get too hasty."
I chuckled at my own words being thrown back at me. "You are right. To answer your earlier question, I came to London because of my job. Now I just feel at home here and I want to pursue my career here. Nothing fancy. You can ask something else, since this was not really an interesting one."
We did this for a while, and I was glad that this interview went so well. When I was out of questions, I looked down at my notes and realised that I had forgotten about one.
"I've got another more private question for you, before we can wrap this up."
George just nodded and casually ran his hand through his hair.
"After months of speculation, you and your fiancé, Adriana Ramiréz, finally announced your engagement last summer, but since then, it has been quiet about your relationship, what is that about? A secret wedding, a lot of planning or just simply the need for privacy?"
Good Alex, yes, think of his fiancé.
"In my opinion there is no need to rush things, and Adriana agrees on that, so no, no secret wedding. We just like to keep some things as private as possible."
I slowly nodded at his words.
We quickly wrapped up the interview and as we got closer to the end, I got nervous again.
"Thank you so much again. I hope I wasn't too unprofessional, I have to admit, I haven't done a lot of these."
"Not at all, I hope you got what you needed for your article."
His smile seemed genuine and my heart skipped a beat when he reached out to take my hand in his to say Goodbye.
George Oscar went out of the room quite quickly and I was left behind, entirely speechless and overwhelmed. Now that the tension fell off me, I noticed how my fingers started shaking and my knees felt wobbly. I had to sit down again.

After a few minutes I got my things and finished my glass of water before also leaving the hotel room behind me. When I stepped outside, I took in the fresh, rainy air and light a cigarette under the little cover of the hotel entrance. I was still quite shaky and not sure how to process what just happened, but the wind going through my hair and the smoke making its way into my lungs calmed me down. To avoid being in the way of people hurrying by I went to lean against the wall away from the main door but still under the roof.
Two steps from me there was a man in a dark wool coat, his collar folded up, clearly struggling with his lighter. I hesitated for a minute, but I took the two steps to him anyway because I knew how it felt if all you want is to smoke and your lighter is just not cooperating.
Holding out the lighter to him I didn't really look up, I was more distracted by a man in a black suit walking to me with fast strides.
"Thank you."
When I heard George's voice I immediately looked up, forgetting about the other man, it was probably his security man. Due to the wind I still hadn't managed to light up George's cigarette, but it was even more difficult to hold the flame still now that I noticed how close we were.
"Let me try."
He took the lighter from my hand, his fingers brushing mine and lit his cigarette without an issue. George handed me the lighter again, an intense look in his eyes and as if I was in trance, I took it back and stored it in my purse.
"Thank you again, you are my knight in shining armour."
I shrugged; it wasn't that big of a deal.
"That's alright. I know the struggle."
He chuckled and turned around to fully talk to me.
"I still can't believe you are from Germany. If it wasn't for my obsession with accents, I would have never been able to tell. How long have you lived in England then?"
I got another cigarette from my bag and lit it up.
"Five years, I came here after university."
George was about to answer, when the man in the black suit came over to him and whispered something in his ear. I immediately felt intimidated by that guy's presence and was once again reminded that I was talking to a film star.
"I should go, but it was nice coming to your rescue. Your management will hear about the article."
Without another word that could possibly embarrass me, I turned around and walked away in the slight rain, going faster than I normally would.

AN: I hope you enjoyed this chapter. If you did, please leave a comment or a vote :) 

Xo Lena