A chance encounter was all it took, really. I stood behind the counter with my palms pressed against the tiled surface. I was – and still am – a barista at Manic Mondays, a local coffee shop in a Wisconsin college town. The population of the town itself was around 65,000, and roughly a sixth of that was the student body. I was a student myself, and we comprised the bulk of Manic Mondays' clientele. There were also the non-student regulars, who were middle-aged and older community members that had been coming in for many years. The last demographic, and by far the smallest, were people passing through town or staying here on business. While it was doubtful I'd see their faces again, they were my favorites. Ever the introvert, I relished in the fact that I didn't need to concern myself with becoming acquainted with them on the level expected of Manic Mondays baristas.
This particular day was rather slow. It was around 1pm on a mid-July Wednesday. Classes weren't in session, save the handful of summer courses the university offered. Consequently, students had no exams to cram for, and no last-minute projects to complete. This meant that alcohol replaced caffeine as most students' chemical compound of choice—more so than during the semester, anyway. The regulars were still at work; they wouldn't begin to congregate here until 4:30 at the earliest. As it happened, I was the only person inside Manic Mondays. The chairs, couches, loveseats, and stools were empty. I stared the screen of my iPod as I skipped through track after track.
Why,
I thought to myself,
did I put them on here if I didn't want to listen to them?
The door opened and the bell rang, alerting me to the presence of a customer.
"Hello," I said, my eyes still staring at the screen.
"Hello!" spoke a soft, feminine voice. The voice stood out due to its erudite-sounding English accent. My initial thoughts were about what could possibly bring an Englishwoman to a Wisconsin town of little importance. This confusion was multiplied a hundredfold when I looked up and saw Emma Watson standing at the counter.
"Hello, Miss Watson," I stammered out. Though the nerves were evident in my shaky voice, though it still came across much better than saying nothing at all.
"At least you realize who I am," she joked. "It's even stranger when people haven't a clue who I am. I mean, where have you been the past decade and a half?" The sarcastic tone of her voice made her more endearing and relatable, and it also made it clear she wasn't concerned whether people were aware of her high-profile celebrity status. Her eyes glanced up and she examined the menu hanging above the counter. She tilted her head from side to side as she pondered her options. "Just a cup of your darkest coffee," she decided after about thirty seconds.
"Room for cream, Miss Watson?" I asked, pouring the coffee into the small ceramic glass. She shook her head.
"Emma," she said as I handed her the cup. "Call me Emma. Tell me, how old are you?"
"Twenty-three."
"Well then, that makes two of us! As we're the same age, there's
no
reason you can't call me Emma." She smiled and sat down on one of the stools at the counter; she set her small handbag onto the stool to her left. She sipped her coffee and then nodded her head in approval. "Pretty good! Now, what's your name? You already know mine."
"Chris," I told her. My eyes followed her slender fingers as they unclasped the cup and placed it onto one of the tiles on the counter. "So, I have to ask, Emma," I said, noticing the smile on her face at having been called something other than 'Miss Watson,' "What brings you here? I mean, we aren't exactly a fancy town, and we're in Wisconsin no less." There wasn't a lot to keep
me
in this town, to be honest. It made even less sense for Emma Watson, of all people, to be here.
"Well, I'm
technically
in Minneapolis. I'm in a movie that's set in Minnesota, and it begins filming in a few months. The director wanted us to become immersed in the culture and, more importantly, the accent," she said, her voice switching to a comical caricature of a Minnesotan accent. "Anyway," she said, returning to her native English accent, "It's an 'off week' for us, meaning we're free to travel around, provided it's within driving distance, of course. A few assistants happen to be from this area, and they suggested I come here. They were students here a few years back, I think. They also happened to suggest Manic Mondays when I asked about places to visit. I heard there was a good atmosphere in this town: Nice people, neat things to do, and," she pointed up, indicating the music playing over the speakers, "a good music scene."
The current track was Bon Iver's "Skinny Love." I wasn't the biggest fan of Bon Iver, I must confess. However, enough of our clientele listened to his music that I felt compelled to include at least a handful of Bon Iver songs on my iPod. "He went to school here, you know? Justin Vernon, that is, the main guy in Bon Iver. Every once in a while he stops in here."
"Oh, really? I'd heard he was from the area, but I didn't know that."
"Yeah. He's about as 'celebrity' as we're accustomed to," I laughed. She laughed back, which relaxed me. I was glad I hadn't offended her.
"What do you do when you're not hobnobbing with the upper crust here?" she asked, winking.
"I'm a student, actually. I'm studying political science. Ultimately I'd like to travel, or maybe teach, but until then I've got this to look forward to," I said, pointing to the coffee bean grinder behind me.
"That's great! I recently graduated myself. English literature."
"Congratulations, Emma! I'm inclined to say, 'I'll drink to that,' but we're in a coffee shop, and I'm at work. What did you think of the American university system?" I asked, knowing she'd attended most of her college years at Brown.
"It was pretty nice, I'd say. Programs here in the States take longer than ones back in the U.K., which always confused my parents. They constantly inquired why I still wasn't finished with my schooling. I rather enjoyed the university and the people. After the first week of class, the other students got over the fact that they were in class with Hermione. It took a few stern glances to stop them from saying, 'Ten points to Gryffindor!' whenever I answered a question," she laughed.
Emma and I spent the next few hours in conversation. Every so often another customer would walk in and fawn over Emma's presence. They then would order their coffee, wish Emma good luck on her future endeavors, and then leave. I looked at the clock above the door. It was about 3:50, and in ten minutes my shift was over. "Say, Emma," I began. It felt like there was a lump in my throat. "I'm done with work in ten minutes. Since I'll probably never have the chance to ask this again, I'll do it now: Would you like to hang out after this? Have a drink together or something?"
Emma finished what was her fourth or fifth cup of coffee. "Sure," she said. There was no hint of sarcasm in her voice. "For the sake of actually being able to talk together, would you mind if we did this at your place? It would be a lot easier than trying to just 'hang out' at a bar. Unless you're just
dying