Paper Airplanes {Corey Haim}

Seventeen~Torn

The address led me to a house in the middle of nowhere. Like, really nowhere.

It was a huge house, beautiful, too. With a porch that went all the way around and a real white picket fence. A dog laid lazily outside.

On the porch were 2 older people, man and woman, who could be the people I'm looking for.

The woman had long dark hair which went half way down her back. She had one of those long dresses from the 1940s or 30s. The man looked like the KFC guy....like, a lot.

I got out of my car and put on my brave face. When I walked up the front steps, the lady nearly had a heart attack. She looked like she'd seen a ghost.

"Hi. I'm Sarah Jane Swayze. This might sound crazy...but you could more than likely be my grandparents."

...
Corey's POV
This was the second day here and we were supposed to spend it in the house of the Curtis bothers.

I felt out of place. I wasn't in the movie, I only saw it a few times. I knew little of the cast members. So, I stuck with Ellie most of the day.

I wondered how things were going over with SJ. I had faith she could handle the possible mess she could be getting into.

Ellie and I stood in the kitchen, watching the cast, they looked like family.

"Hi. I'm just checking on something.", Tommy (Ponyboy) said fiddling with the oven.

Tommy and I were in 'Secret Admirer' together, so we weren't strangers.

A hissing sound was faint in the background and Ellie and I didn't really listen to it.

Tommy strikes up a conversation with us, but Ellies scream of sheer terror woke us all up from the moment.

Behind Tommy, the oven was in flames. I didn't know what to do, but I guess I found it in me. I orderedsomebody to get water.

I took of my jean jacket and beat the living crap outta that fire. Okay, so that's a overstatement.

But I did beat it, or until somebody with water put it out.
I was sorta disappointed because I liked my jacket. And now...well...it wasn't really useable other than for being a rag of sorts.

"Good job, Corey. Nice thinking", Matt said.

I nodded. "I try my best."

...
Darkness fell over the small Oklahoma town. I walked back to the inn silently. Patrick had been, I don't know, avoiding me.

I missed Sarah Jane terribly, like how a child misses their blanket.

I had really really been thinking while I was here. And really, maybe know is a little early to be married. But, I love that girl.

SJ was the one. I wanted her to be the mother of my children.
I wanted to live in a house off of the city and grow old there, but still have that love like we had just fallen in love. If that makes sense.

But I couldn't call Sarah Jane and tell her to wait. She had her whole heart set on this. But, I also wanted to win over Patrick. I felt more torn by the second.

I reached my room, and if on cue, the phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Cor! Baby, guess what!"

SJ' s voice eased my mind. And her being happy made me happy.

"What?"

She inhaled. "Okay. So I tracked down my mom's parents. Like, my real mom. I met them today. They told me all these stories about my mom and who my dad--real dad--is. And it really....it really...gave me a sense of...history. Like, now I feel less clueless to my past."

I was glad SJ had this freedom of know who she really was.

"I might go back and visit tomorrow. You know, my grandmother, Rikki VanderVice, she says I'm the spitting image of my mom, Jesse. When she first saw me she said she thought she saw the ghost of my mom.", she added.

"Your mom...is she dead?"

She sighed. "She and my dad got married when she was 17. My dad was a complete jerk. He hit her and didn't want kids. So, when she got pregnant with me, she had to run off. She didn't go to her family because she was scared of what they would say. So, she put me in the orphanage because it was also a halfway house before. And she was trying to get everything steady. But she died in a car crash when I was one. And my grandparents tried to find out what happened to me, but they didn't find me. As for my dad, he moved on to a new wife and repeated that pattern 7 more times. It's....it...isnt it a bit crazy Corey?", she said. She sounded sad now.

"Wild. Don't worry about what could've been. You say yourself that everything happens for a reason. And you know that if you did end up with Jesse, you might not have met me.", I teased. I could feel her smile.

"How are things?", she asked.

I told her about the fire and her dad. I wondered what she was thinking. And I worried about how this digging into her past would effect us.

I talked to SJ for a hour and then I went to bed. I was worn out by the events of the past days.

But SJ was what I missed most. She always was. She's all I need.

...
Sarah Jane's POV
12:11 am
I had stayed up all night. Thinking about Corey, and digging into my past.

I had gotten to thinking. Maybe this wasn't the right time to get hitched. I did the math in my head.

If we get married next year, I'll be 23. If I have a kid the following year, I'll be 24 and have plenty of time to have more kids and move on with my career.

I didn't know if this was the time to tell Corey I didn't wanna get married right now.

I felt so wishy-washy. So torn. I missed the freedom of when I was 16 and without the worries of being an adult. But I think that's a growing pain of sorts. A mental one.

I reached for the phone, to call somebody. Call my dad. I haven't been all that fair to him. I haven't been all that fair to anybody lately.

I don't know why, but this feeling of stress, strain and sadness came over me. I felt watered down.

Lost.