Love, Loathing, and Limelight

Chapter Five

I practiced first thing when I woke up. I should have been planning the day, possibly the week. But I had no idea what would happen when I picked him up. As I got ready to go out, I kept thinking about the craziness of everything. Was I actually going to do this? This is the kind of stuff that ordinary people get exploited for. If somebody saw us, how am I supposed to respond to that? But no, I suppose. I'll just go casually and hang out with the biggest star on the planet- just a regular Monday.

When I pulled up behind his building, he struggled to climb down the fire escape.

"You look stupid!" I said, laughing. I caught him off guard.

"Damn, I was hoping I'd get down before you got here." I couldn't help but stare as he stumbled all the way down. When he finally made it down, he turned around to look at me. "Easy," he said, shrugging.

"You're hungry, right?" I asked.

"If you're hungry," he said. I rolled my eyes.

"You gotta stop doing that," I said, laughing. His request was simple: one week of normal. He wants to do what I do in a week. So for day one, nothing special, I decided we'd get food from my favorite 50's diner and take a walk in the park.

After walking a few steps around the track at the park in awkward silence while eating, we couldn't help but break the silence by laughing.

"Yeah, I can't do this," I said, joking. "Why don't you google how to start a conversation or something."

"I have an idea," he said as he pulled his phone out.

"Whatcha doing?" I asked. After pulling up what he was looking at, he handed me his phone to look at.

"Ever heard of Dr. Jeffery Morris?"

"No," I said instantly as I handed his phone back.

"Me either," he said. "I don't know who he is, but he has these seven questions that are supposed to be the key questions for getting to know somebody." He looked at me like I had to approve.

"Let's do it," I said.

"Number one," he said. "What is your full name, and why did your parents choose it?"

"Well," I said. "My full name is Sara Jane Connor. Sara was my mom's middle name, and Jane is the female version of my father's name."

"What's your father's name?"

"James," I said. He smiled.

"That's my middle name," he said. What are the odds? We basically have the same middle name." Noah James Lancaster. Named after the Bible, I think."

"Oh, so are you religious?" I asked as I took a few bites of my food.

"Not necessarily," he said. He looked down at his phone. "But

coincidentally the next question is about God," he said.

"God?" I repeated. "What about God?"

"Do you believe in God? If so, what does that look like to you?" I thought for a moment.

"Okay," I said. "Well, I believe in God, and I go to church, you know that. I don't think there's any more to say than that." He took a bite of his food.

"So, God. Is that like a deal-breaker for you?" he asked.

"A deal breaker?" I asked back. "Like for what?" I didn't know what he was talking about.

"Would you ever date a guy who didn't believe in God?" he asked.

"Well, I don't date. So that doesn't apply to me," I said.