Her

She was staring into space. She didn't know what else to do. Because of THE PLAN, she had not made any other plans. She was supposed to go over to a studio. She was to wait in a corridor. She was to meet a team that would take her to him. And then. And then she was supposed to meet him. She didn't even think the whole thing was real. But it was. Her sister had given her a birthday gift that she would, either way, never forget. It would become a day she would go back to for years to come.

But then she got a phone call. THE PLAN was cancelled. Well, rescheduled. To an undisclosed date. She should have realized. It was too surreal to be true.

She was back to feeling tired again. Or rather the mask of adrenaline had worn off and the exhaustion had raised its head again. She sighed as her phone began to ring. She looked down and saw her sister's face light up on her screen. Swiping the screen, she hit the speaker button.

"I'm so sorry, bud! I got the email too! Do you want me to come over? I'll just make an excuse and..."

She shook her head and said, "Hey, no. Relax. I'm fine. I promise."

"Are you?"

"Well, I'll be fine. I'm just going to..."

Her sister stopped her and said, "I know what you were planning to do. Watch his movies with your favourite junk food. But something tells me you don't feel like doing that today."

She let out a hollow laugh at that. She shrugged and said, "I guess not. I think I'll take a nap. And then maybe head out for some coffee and cake! Ideal plans!"

"Oh, I can join you in the evening for that coffee! And cake. Text me where you're headed and I'll join you. Okay?"

She smiled and said, "Yes! That will be great. Okay, now I'm going to change and catch that nap. I'm kinda tired, okay?"

"Okay, bud. I'll talk to you soon. I love you!"

"Love you too."

After a few moments, she stood up and made her way to the room to change. She scrubbed off the make-up she had tried to carefully apply and tied her hair into a bun.

She walked over to the kitchen and began filling a bottle of water when her doorbell rang. She sighed. It must be her sister. It was just like her to try to make her feel better. She shook her head, smiled and walked over to open the door.

There are some experiences you may have imagined in the deep recesses of your mind. Day-dreaming. But you catch yourself from going too far because you know how unrealistic it sounds. This was one of those times. But it was really happening.

It wasn't her sister. It was him. There was no screen in between them this time. Just a metal door. He stood there and was actually looking at her. Then he did something that wiped out the last coherent thought she may have had. He smiled.

Oh God.

"Hey there!" He said. Smiling wider, he asked, "It's you, right? The one whose sister wrote the letter?"

She knew she had to say something. Acknowledge him in some form or else he would walk away and this would be like one of those dreams where you had achieved everything you wanted but then you opened your eyes and realized that it was just all in your head.

But all she could manage was "Uh..."

He blinked and looked down at his phone and then looked up at the door number. He said, "Wait, I got the right door, I hope? Oh yeah. 7."

He looked back down at her and asked in that voice that she had heard so often that she could play it in her head like music whenever she wanted.

"We could continue this conversation outside but...I...Is it okay if I come in?"

Her eyes went wide and she reached forward to open the bolt. It opened with a clang and he jumped slightly at the sound. She was scared that if she pushed open the door, it'll bang right into his beautiful face. So she just walked backwards and gestured towards the door. He reached out to pull it and walked into her house.

Oh God.

HE WAS IN HER HOUSE.

Suddenly, her tiny house felt tinier. She felt like she needed to sit. Without warning, she sat down on the floor.

His eyes widened as he saw her sink. He got down on his knees to her eye level and asked, "Are you okay? Is this stressing you out?"

She looked up and shook her head frantically. She didn't want him to think that he was unwelcome here. Oh God, what was happening? Why couldn't she just chill??

He clearly didn't believe her. He then sat down next to her, completely at home in her home, and asked, "What can I do to make you feel better?"

That made her laugh. The number of times people would ask her that and she would just flippantly ask them to bring him to her. And here he was, actually sitting here asking her the same question and being the solution for it while she panicked trying to figure out how to do this.

He quirked up an eyebrow and asked, "What is it?"

She took a deep breath and said, "Um...nothing. I'm just a big fan and this is...it's going to take some getting used to. I'm really sorry about this. I didn't expect to see you at all."

Watching her talk, he felt more at ease. He smiled again and said, "I know. It was supposed to be rescheduled. But then I read the letter. From your sister? So I pushed the other thing I was supposed to do and came here instead. I mean...I know we were supposed to meet at the studio and all but this is nice too, right?"

She looked at him as he took in her house. It was not as neat as it should be but still not a complete mess. And her house was just...there was so much he could tell about her just by looking at it. There were movie posters framed on the wall. One of them was his. A giant stack of books falling over.

She covered her face with her hands and said, "Sorry."

He looked at her and asked, "Why are you sorry?"

"Ugh. My quirk is on full display."

He laughed. Oh man. That laugh.

She hugged her knees and said, "That's what my sister says about my house."

"No, it's cute. I like it. That's a good movie. But the actor...meh." He pointed at his own face and made a bored face.

She knew he was joking to lighten her mood so she gasped and said, "You take that back, sir. There will be no bad words about that gentleman in this house. Even by the gentleman himself."

The minute she said it, she realized again who she was talking to and she again panicked. The colour of her face paled. And she looked down. She realized that it was hard to look at him directly when he was looking back at her. It was still too surreal to compute.

He looked at her and realized that she was stressing again. He looked around and spotted her phone. He pulled it from the couch and handed it to her, gesturing for her to open it. She typed the code absently and handed it back.

She asked, "What...um...why?"

"I'm just going to play some music. That might help you?"

He hit play on the latest song that was on pause on Spotify. The song played on speaker and it did help soothe her nerves. She closed her eyes and just listened. On this side, he was back to where he belonged. In her mind.

But then he spoke.

"You know...I really like this song too."

She blinked her eyes open. He had in fact introduced her to this song. He had spoken of this song in an interview. She looked at him with an odd look on her face. He read her face and somehow knew that the song was tying them together again. Sheepishly, he said, "Oh."

Pausing the music, he apologized and said, "Sorry. No music then. Okay. We clearly need to do something to take your mind off..." and gestured vaguely at himself.

He paused to think and then asked, "Is there somewhere we can go where no one will recognize me?"

She pointed upwards and said, "The terrace."

He chuckled and got up. "Okay. Terrace it is. Let's go. The fresh air will do you some good as well."

He made his way to the door. In a slightly high-pitched voice, she went, "Wait!"

He turned around and popped up an eyebrow in response.

She took a deep breath and asked, "Would you like some...tea?"

He brightened and nodded.

"That would be great."