John was four when he first met Emily - and his world would never be the same again.

She was the prettiest girl he’d ever seen, and they had so much in common: she loved dinosaurs and robots and horses; she wished her parents would let her run around more; she was his age almost to the day.

There was just one little difference. John was just a regular kid. Emily was something else entirely - already a rising Hollywood child starlet, a legend of the screen whose smile was known from coast to coast.

But from the moment he saw it - gracing his screen with a talking dinosaur John was almost certain was just a man in a suit - he knew that this was the girl for him.

His parents had always told him to know what he wants in life, and to work towards it - and to dedicate himself to something bigger than himself.

So that’s what he did.

“I’m going to marry Emily someday,” he said to them.

His mother laughed and said it was cute that he liked her, but it was too early to make decisions like that. And his father said that he had to remember that it wasn’t just his decision to make - just because he thought she was the one for him, that didn’t mean she felt the same.

John thought that over for a while, and finally nodded. He understood.

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Now John is six.

He’s seen all of Emily’s movies (she’s only been in three, really, but he’s seen them literally more times than he can count). She’s been best friends with all kinds of naughty little rugrats, at least in the pictures.

And John, having absorbed his father’s advice, has become a mischievous sprite who delights in causing chaos and making the world a funner place.

He’s taken to riding the family’s Saint Bernard (since he doesn’t have a horse). He’s taught himself fencing (with a stick - there are no swords in his town, as far as he can tell). He’s led friends on a few dangerous adventures that were (to be honest) rather less fun and rather more terrifying than they seemed in the movies.

His parents aren’t wild about that...but he’s sure Emily would be proud.

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Six years later - half a lifetime.

Emily is a tween popstar. She has hit movies and a TV series and glamorous photo shoots and makes million, and spends it on cute outfits and dazzling jewellery, and according to the magazines, she’s just looking for a big, strong boyfriend who can sweep her off her feet and make her feel safe, an all-American sports hero.

John knows what to do. He starts to exercise every day, running and swimming and hitting the gym. He plays different sports, giving his all to football and baseball and tennis and everything he can think of, mastering one sport after another, working harder than anybody else on the team, or the court.

The girls at school begin to notice John more, and they bat their eyelashes at him when he passes. But he only has eyes for one girl, and he would never be unfaithful to her.

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Emily is sixteen. She’s into musicians.

“They’re just so real, you know?” she says. “They feel so deeply. And guitars are just so sexy.”

John is a celebrated sportsman...but he’s never handled a musical instrument.

He sells his sports jerseys on eBay - his autograph is really worth something - and he buys a guitar, and some drums, and some learn-to-play books.

It’s time to start a band.

--

John is twenty-one.

He’s the best musician in town. His band has played gigs all over - even in the neighbouring towns - and people dance and sing along and scream his name.

Emily is a woman now - a famous woman, known and loved all around the world. She’s still pretty - but she’s not quite as sweet and innocent as she used to be. She’s had a string of Hollywood boyfriends, high-profile messy tabloid relationships with rockers and rollers that broke John’s heart.

So he’s had his share of relationships as well, delighting in one girl after another - but each one ended when Emily became available again.

He’s dating a girl called Sky now - bubbly, fun, friendly...but not Emily.

They’re lying together, watching some entertainment show. Emily’s face is on the TV screen.

“So how’s the single life treating you Emily?” the reporter (blonde, thin-waisted, with a bosom-hugging dress) asks.

“I’m so tired of all those actors and rockstars and other phonies,” Emily says. She looks vulnerable and hurt, but hopeful - and very, very beautiful. “They’re so dramatic and egotistical - and boooring. I just need a nice, regular guy; someone who actually knows about the world, who has something interesting and important to talk about. Like a scientist.”

John turns to Sky. It’s time to give up childish things, he decides - and the guitar is just one of them. He’s going to college. It’s time to learn some science.

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Emily is older now. She doesn’t like it when people ask how old - they can find all that out online anyway. Just like they can find out about her messy divorce, and her family squabbles, and her many, many career highs and lows. She’s tired of the high life - she just wants to keep a low profile now. And she’s older and wiser, and she’s looking for someone real. Someone quiet. A writer, maybe.

John is...well, he’s not quite sure what he is anymore. He’s been a construction worker (“I need a real man, a man of the people, who works with his hands,” Emily had said) and a business magnate/philanthropist (“a man who works to help people too poor to help themselves”) and a programmer (“they’re so smart, and they change the world”) and a doctor (“what could be better than someone who makes sick people live better lives?”) and…

Mainly, he’s a writer. He writes what he likes, and people like that, and it pays the bills, and it gives him time to figure out who he really is.

He doesn’t really know what Emily is up to anymore. Life’s too short, you know?

He’s sitting in his favourite park. drinking coffee, watching life go by, writing in his head. It’s nice.

Emily walks by. She’s carrying a book - his book.

She looks at him. She looks at the cover. She looks at him.

“Sorry to bother you,” she says, “but is this you?”

John nods.

“Do you mind if I sit here?” she says.

John shakes his head, smiling hesitantly. It all seems a bit unreal, really.

“Actually, can I buy you another coffee? I really want to pick your brain about what happens on page 342.”

“I never say no to coffee,” John laughs.

They walk off, arm in arm, chatting.

It’s a beautiful day.
 
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