Two Cute
Soap Opera Digest: From the beginning with you two, there was a strong connection as friends. But what about an attraction?
Justin Bruening: No, none. She was short and ugly and her personality sucked. This is all more of a charity thing.
Alexa Havins: Uh-huh, he’s dating me for charity.
Bruening: No, when I first saw her I was really nervous. Judy [Blye Wilson, AMC casting director] was trying to get me to go out with her from her [audition] tape!
Havins: It was kind of like a blind date and we didn’t know it.
Bruening: It was like a dating service.
Havins: It really was. Judy was fully our matchmaker. She sat me down and was like, “There’s this guy, you’re going to work with him on your first day, you’re going to love him, you’re perfect for each other.” And I kinda looked at her and said, “Are you trying to set me up?” She was like, “No, no, not at all….” And didn’t she do the same thing to you, Jus?
Bruening: She sat me down and made me watch Alexa’s screen-test — nobody else’s, just hers. At the end of the tape, they asked Alexa questions as herself, not as Babe, and she was a huge nerd. That was the coolest thing. It was very attractive, trust me. I was like, “Hey, wait a minute.” Judy started talking and I was like, “Shhh! This is the best part!”
Havins: We both kind of knew she was trying to set us up, so when we met we were like, “So…. Um, hey….”
Bruening: I don’t think I’ve ever told Alexa this, but Judy had kind of put that image in my mind, that she could be my girlfriend. I was like, “Whatever. You’re supposed to be discouraging us from getting together — that’s what a boss is supposed to do!”
Havins: When we did start dating, we went and told Judy. We were like, “We owe her.” We told her and she was, like, giggling and clapping. She was like, “Oh, my gosh!”
Digest: Tell me about some of the crossed wires you guys had before finally becoming a couple. I’ve heard a few of the stories and they’re so cute!
Bruening [to Havins]: The best was the time when I was so into you, and I was really thinking we were heading to that next level, and then you were mean to me!
Havins: Oh, God. Okay, let me tell it. Right before we went to this party, I could feel myself really falling for him and I just made up my mind: “I’m not dating a co-star. I’m not going down that path.” Then, we went to this party and I wanted to be near him so badly so, of course, I avoided him completely! I didn’t even talk to him the whole night, which is weird because we were best friends and spent every second together. And he had friends with him from out of town, which was even worse! So, he got grumpy at me and left the party and the next day I was grocery shopping with my roommate and I was like, “Hmmm, how about I make Justin some oatmeal raisin cookies?” And then in another aisle I stopped and I was like, “Hey, look, pickled okra. Justin likes that.” My roommate looked at me like, “You so love this guy, you idiot.” So, I made him the cookies and the okra and I put it in his dressing room and that was my way of saying, “I’m sorry.” I wasn’t trying to be mean; I was just a girl who liked a guy and was trying to fight it. But I think he thought I was schizophrenic and belonged in a mental ward.
Bruening: So, here’s my side. My friends come into town at a point where I was like, “Hey, I think she likes me!” So, I’m calm and I’m relaxed and it’s starting to go somewhere and I’m feeling good. And I’m telling my friends who are in town, “I really, really like this girl, she’s awesome. I want you to meet her!” I brought my friends to this party and when we show up, she doesn’t even look at me. I’m like, “This is kinda weird.” At the party she walked away from me, she wasn’t talking to me at all and my friends are looking at me like, “Uh, I thought you said she was wonderful.” 
Havins: He’s making it sound worse than it was.
Bruening: It was bad, sweetie. You were horrible. I was like, “Who are you?” And at that point, I just snapped. I said, “I’m going home.” And the next thing I know, she jumps up: “What do you mean, you’re going home?” I was like, “I’m not having fun and I’m going home.” Now, I totally get what she was up to; I figured it all out two days later and I think it’s very cute. But at the time, I was bitter and pissed off! And it was like, I was just gonna go home. And then she jumps up and I’m looking at her like, “Why are you doing this to me? Is it fun for you?” I was like, “I’m done. I’m done with this.” And she was like, “Well, call me tomorrow.” And I was like, “You know what? No. I’m not gonna. You can call me.” And I just went home.
Havins: I was supposed to go to his house the next day for a barbecue. I woke up thinking, “I take it I probably lost my invite to his house?”
Bruening: I called her and said, “You know what? The barbecue’s not gonna work out, just scrap it.” I was trying to be civil because I still had to work with her. I told my friends, “I don’t even want to be around her at this point. I’m not going to make any more effort.” I was completely done with her.
Havins: I don’t know why! I was such a nice girl that night!
Bruening: So, then the next day my friend [Julie] wakes me up really early in the morning; her husband [Matt] is really sick, had food poisoning and every half an hour he was throwing up. She’s like, “We need to take him to the hospital!” And I’m like, “Julie, why would Alexa act like that?” Matt’s like, “I’m dying!” And I’m like, “Could you just focus here? Why was Alexa such a bitch?” And I wouldn’t even talk to Alexa the whole weekend. And then Monday I go into my dressing room and there’s cookies and okra sitting on my counter. I just stared at it. I was mad! I was so pissed off.
Havins: Whatever! You came and gave me a big ‘ol grin! You loooved me!
Bruening: That was a grin like, “I’m gonna kill you!”
Havins: No, it was, “I love you even though you were mean to me!”
Bruening: No, trust me, it was “I’m going to kill you. I love you, but I’m going to kill you! You’re screwing with my mind!” But I was staring at my counter in awe because [the cookies] are something I told her once that my mom made for me when I was little and my mom passed away when I was 18. I was like, “This is a blatant attempt to get on my good side!” And the okra, I had mentioned in passing once that I liked it. So, my friends were with me and they looked at it and go, “Oh, she’s nuts. You’ve got to get away from her.” So then, all of a sudden, she’s pursuing me! She wants me to hang out with her, she wants me to go with movies. And I was like, “All right, this is kinda cool.” But because of that, I had just given up on the whole situation and I started being myself again.
Havins: And that’s when I fell in love with him.
Bruening: I think you were in love with me before that, sweetheart.
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