I stepped out in to the street. The noise was now like a thick wall. Cars were rushing by, angry drivers honking at each other. This was more like the New York I was expecting. Kristin stepped out of the door beside me and put on a pair of sunglasses. “Smashing” I complimented her. “Thank you” she said as she turned around to face me. “So, you are probably wondering why I’m here, right?” That was an understatement, “actually” I started carefully “what bugs me the most right now is, how you got in to my room” She lowered her sunglasses a little and gave me a mysterious look. “It can be very…very useful to be me”. And that was all she said, leaving me with probably more questions after than I had before.

She pushed her sunglasses back up and stuck out her hand. Again I was staring at it as if it had appeared out of nowhere. “Come on, give me your hand. Don’t be afraid, I won’t bite”. I placed my hand in hers and felt those nervous butterflies in my stomach again. This whole situation felt so weird, I felt like I would wake up from a dream anytime soon. “Okay, so I think I owe you a cup of coffee. Starbucks okay?” There, that one word just made my day. Starbucks. “Oh yes, please!” she squeezed my hand “You like Starbucks?” I nodded my head “yes ma’am! If there is anything in this world that I love the most, besides you and Oli of course, it would be Starbucks!”

She had taken me through some short cut, according to her, that let us to a quieter part of town. As we entered the door, a bell jingled above our heads. I looked around the place and noticed there were hardly any people. For a Starbucks it was really quiet, I would have expected a lot more people. We walked up to the counter “Double Latte or Chai Tea Latte?” I asked her, taking out my wallet. “No, no! It’s on me!” she put her hand on my wallet and pushed it away “Double Latte or Chai Tea Latte?” I hadn’t even thought about what I wanted myself “I’ll go for the Chai Tea Latte, I think” Kristin turned around to face a guy behind the counter and placed the order. I couldn’t help but glance at the guy’s nametag. I had to know if he was Taylor or not.

“So, was it Taylor?” Kristin asked as we sat down at a corner table, hidden away from prying eyes by a simple screen. “Huh?” I have such a great vocabulary, I thought. “I saw you looking at his name tag. So, was it Taylor?” she winked at me “ah well, you can’t blame me, can you? After Taylor; the Latte Boy, I think all of us are looking for Taylor. No, his name was Bob” I rolled my eyes at her and we laughed.

“So tell me, what’s the plan for today?” I asked after we sat in silence for a few minutes. “Hm” She swallowed the coffee she just sipped and cleared her throat “well, it’s all up to you, really. I’m to be your friend for a day” I looked at her and pouted my lip “only one day?” I said in a tiny voice. “Well, I… I…” she started, sounding a bit guilty. Suddenly stuck out my tongue to her and laughed “Oh don’t worry, I’m only kidding! I know you are a very busy woman and you don’t even know me” Kristin gave me one of her famous “o my god” looks and all I could do was grin at her “you tricked me!” she started “I thought you were gonna cry or something! I was feeling really guilty” she punched me on the shoulder as both started laughing again “well; we’re equal now, right? No more jokes?” She got a look in her eyes that let me know I wasn’t of the hook yet “you do remind me of myself a lot. But we’ll see who gets the last laugh” I was in big trouble.

After the coffee I was a little bit wiser. I was going to spend a day with Kristin Chenoweth and I got to decide what we were gonna do. It sounded like heaven.
My first choice had been to go to Broadway, not to see a show, but just to see what was playing. Just walking over Broadway, made me feel like I was special. I felt all tingly inside, like a kid on Christmas “you seem really happy” my tiny companion pointed out. “Oh, I am. Indeed I am! I have always wanted to walk on Broadway, it seems so wonderful.” I looked at her and noticed she was staring ahead. Following her direction, I spotted a huge Wicked billboard. I stopped and gaped “o my god, it is ginormous!” I blurted out. See, I have a great vocabulary. Kristin nodded “I know” I smacked my hand against my forehead “of course you know. I mean you were only the original Glinda. Ugh, I think just having you here has scrambled my brains or something. My English is terrible; I point out the most obvious things”

I didn’t get to say much more, because at that moment, a group of screaming kids ran up to Kristin and surrounded her like a pack of wolves. They pushed me out of the way, so I decided to take a few steps back and just watch. They were shoving pens and paper in her hands, begging for an autograph or a picture. Kristin just smiled at them and answered any questions. She took a picture with every one of them and made sure they all got autographs. I liked that about Kristin. “Are you famous?” one of the girls asked me “uhm… no not really” I answered a bit embarrassed. “If you’re not famous, then why do you hang out with Kristin Chenoweth” I got as a snide remark back. I looked over at Kristin, helplessly. The kid was right, why was I hanging out with Kristin. Dumb luck I guess.

Whether Kristin had seen my helpless look or heard the remark from the girl, but the next moment she was coming towards me again. The fans were still asking her questions, but she just smiled and kept walking “I’m really sorry girls, but I have to go” she said to them several times “why do you hang around with her? She’s a nobody” the same girl pointed out again. Kristin pretended to be shocked “A nobody? I can name about a hundred people from all over the world that would disagree with you. Just because you don’t know her, doesn’t mean she can’t hang out with me and it also doesn’t mean she’s any less of a person” The girl looked at Kristin, than at me and then at Kristin again. I raised my eyebrows to Kristin in wonder, but she just shrugged and dragged me away.

She had dragged me in to the theatre and rushed in to the bathroom “I’m sorry about that” She splashed some water on her face. I handed her a towel and sat back against the sink “what are you apologizing for? I know you’re famous, you have fans coming from all over the place” she shook her head “I meant the girl, she wasn’t really nice.” Oh that. “Yeah well she was right I guess. Sort of anyway, I’m a nobody… but what did you mean, you know hundreds of people that would disagree?” She just gave me a look “you are part of my fan club, are you not? You did say you have made many friends there? To them you are somebody, sweetie” Duh. Gosh I really felt like my IQ had dropped about 100 points since Kristin was with me.

“It’s amazing how you can stay so calm when fans are bouncing on you and such a petite thing you are too” I told her. We had stepped out of the bathroom and looked at the different shows. “You learn” she answered “But sometimes I’m still overwhelmed. When I am, I cry or I just take a step back emotionally” She reminded me of a wise woman. I could picture her in a clan as an elder. Someone people would look up to.

“Mo… Mo, are you still with me?” I shook my head to clear myself of the daydream “Sorry, I must have zoned out”. “Where did you go? I asked you a question and you didn’t respond. You were totally out of it”. Feeling my cheeks glow, I fumbled with my sweater “I… I was daydreaming, sorry” I shot her a quick glance, but she seemed to like the idea “what did you fantasise about?” uh oh “well… uhm… about you really?” she shot me a surprised look “what… what did you do?” I could feel so much heat radiating from my face; I must have looked like a tomato “nothing scary, I swear! I was just picturing you as a wise woman, a clan elder.” Swallowing past that lump in my throat, I pretended to be really busy looking at some playbills. Kristin put her hand on my arm “you know I like that idea actually. I am quarter Cherokee Indian after all; I could pull it off right?” I nodded and said a silent prayer of thank you up to the heavens. So far I hadn’t really embarrassed myself too much.

I found a few playbills I wanted and went to the check out. “Do you miss Wicked?” Kristin was staring out the window to the billboard “Sometimes” she said softly “but it was a good thing in my life. It opened a new world to me.” I sighed “I wish I could have seen you as Glinda, you would have rocked my socks off” Grabbing my bag, I walked over to Kristin and offered her my arm “Come on momma Cheno, let’s go shopping” She happily accepted my arm and we walked out of the theatre.

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