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By the time Finn and I were about nine years old, we were practically inseparable. We were a little more independent, and a little more mature, which meant we would do different things now. Playing on playgrounds was replaced with playing videogames in my basement. And running around in Finn's backyard was replaced by biking around the neighborhood.
Something else new was Finn's acting. He loved watching movies, we did it all the time, and one day he just decided that he wanted to be in them. So his dad got him his first acting job in a music video, and he was also in a couple of TV shows for single episodes.
I didn't think much of it, and I don't think he really did either. I was kind of bummed out when I wanted to hang out and he was filming, but I would just ask Nick to play video games with me instead. I had other friends, but none of them were into video games like the Wolfhards were.
"I want to be an actor when I'm grown up," said Finn one day while we were in my basement.
I paused the Wii, on which we were currently playing Mario kart.
"You think?" I asked.
He nodded his head yes.
"That's so cool."
"My dad thinks I should."
"Will you still be my best friend when you're famous."
Finn gave me a joking offended facial expression. He lightly kicked my shin under the blanket that we were sharing. "Of course I will," he snapped back.
"What movies do you want to be in?"
"I don't know. Maybe big movies, with spaceships and guns and aliens."
"Star Wars?"
"Or funny movies."
"You're funny. You should be in them."
"You think so?"
I nodded my head yes. I pictured him in my head on the cover of a movie poster, with his name plastered at the top. For some reason, it made sense to me. When you're a kid, you can become anything you want, but Finn was already becoming what we wanted to be at nine years old, and I think I understood that better than he did.
Meanwhile, I was at home clicking buttons and staring at a screen. I didn't have any desire to become a movie star, but Finn did. I had other passions, like sports and music and my nintendo DS and finger painting or whatever a regular nine-year-old's aspirations were. Nobody else our age was as dedicated as he was to something. I was super excited to see where it took him. Little did I know, in two years he would already be there.
We watched three movies that night. I don't remember what they were, but I remember watching them. I pictured Finn as the lead actor, and I could see it.
He was going to be a movie star one day, I just knew it.
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