MidReal Story
Starry Night: A Date with Destiny
Scenario: A date with Nicole Kidman at her 20s
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I heard the phone ring as I walked into my apartment.
We’d been out of work for a few days, and my roommate Jack and I were both sitting around in our pajamas using the time to be as unproductive as possible.
I’d even skipped going to my acting class today.
That’s how bad it was.
“Who is that?”
Jack called from the living room where he was slumped on the couch watching a movie.
I picked up the phone.
It was a call from a local number, but I didn’t recognize it.
“Hello?”
“Hi, is this Emily Thompson?”
A woman’s voice asked.
“Yes, this is she.”
“This is Sarah from Filmworks International.
I’m calling to let you know that you’ve won our contest.”
I’d entered a contest that said I could have dinner with Nicole Kidman, and all I had to do was enter to win.
There was no way I actually did!
My head spun.
Oh my God, yes!Yes, yes, YES!”
I yelled into the phone.
I couldn’t believe it!
Nicole Kidman was the actress of our generation.
Everyone wanted to be like her, and she was the reason I’d started acting in the first place.
I still remember when she won her Oscar for The Hours and said in her speech that it was all for her mother, Janelle.
She was perfect!
“I’ve emailed you all of the information you’ll need for your dinner with Nicole,” Sarah continued, “Please let us know if you have any questions.
And congratulations again!”
“Thank you so much!”
I could hardly control myself when I hung up the phone.
You won?”
Jack asked from the couch.
He paused the movie he was watching and walked into the kitchen where I stood with my mouth hanging open.
“I can’t believe it!”
I held up the email on my phone so he could read it too.
“What do you mean you can’t believe it?This is amazing!”
I shook my head.
“I never thought I’d win.”
“Well, I’m happy for you,” he said, pulling me into a hug and spinning me around the kitchen before setting me down on my feet again.
“Now you get to have dinner with your idol.”
I nodded, still dazed at what had just happened.
This was unbelievable!
I couldn’t wait to tell my friends about this.
I had been a huge fan of Nicole Kidman’s growing up and still considered her one of my idols today.
She was an amazing actress, and if I could even be half as good as her, then I would be happy.
She had such a versatile range of roles that she played, and it made me want to be a better actress myself.
I thought of some of her best performances like To Die For or Moulin Rouge or Eyes Wide Shut.
Hell, even when she was playing a witch in a kids’ movie like The Golden Compass or a princess in The Others, she was amazing!
And then there was her personal life.
She was married to Tom Cruise for years, and even though they were both Scientologists, they seemed to actually be in love.
But then they got divorced, and she went on to marry Keith Urban and have two beautiful little girls with him.
She was living the dream of many women out there, and I was so excited to meet her!
I hadn’t even checked the email yet, but I knew that we would have so much to talk about.
What would we talk about?
She was an ex-pat but had been living in California for years.
That was nothing like Australia.
Would we talk about movies?
Or acting?
Or our husbands?
Or our children?
Or what it was like to live in America?
Or what it was like to be famous?
I could hardly wait!
The email said that I needed to be ready at 5:00 p.
for a car that would pick me up from my apartment and take me to a secret location for dinner with Nicole.
This just kept getting better and better!
I looked at the clock.
It was 2:30 right now.
I didn’t have much time at all!
The next two hours flew by as I got ready.
I took a shower, styled my hair, put on makeup, and picked out an outfit that was appropriate for dinner with Nicole.
I was nervous, but I was so excited that I could hardly contain myself.
Jack was sitting on the couch watching TV when I walked into the living room in my heels.
“So, what are you going to wear?”
he asked.
“You should call all of your friends and tell them that you won!
They’re going to be so jealous!”
“I don’t know if I have time to call anyone,” I replied.
“The car is coming in half an hour.”
“Wow, that’s fast,” he said.
“What are you going to say to her?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted.
“We’ll see how it goes.
Hopefully I won’t make a fool of myself.”
“You’ll be fine,” he replied, although he didn’t sound like he believed it.
“Just relax and have fun.”
I grabbed my purse and phone and checked to make sure that I hadn’t forgotten anything.
“Wish me luck!”
I called over my shoulder as I opened the door to leave.
“Good luck!”
He replied, giving me a thumbs up.
I couldn’t believe that this was happening!
When I got downstairs, there was a black town car waiting outside for me.
The driver got out of the car and opened the door for me before we drove off.
This was so fancy!
I had never been in a limo before in my life.
It was so exciting!
“So what’s this all about?”
The driver asked once we were on our way.
“I won a contest to have dinner with Nicole Kidman tonight,” I explained happily.
From the 1990s.”
“Yeah, around then,” I said pensively, “The peak of her beauty.”
The driver snorted, “When she was still hot, you mean.”
The driver drove for another half an hour or so before he parked outside of an expensive-looking restaurant downtown.
I hurried inside and told the hostess that I was there to have dinner with Nicole Kidman.
The hostess showed me to a private dining room that was set up for two people.
I took a seat and waited nervously.
I couldn’t believe that this was happening!
It felt like a dream!
A few minutes later, Nicole Kidman walked into the room.
She was even more beautiful in person than she looked on screen.
She had long red hair, a tall and willowy figure, and glowing porcelain skin.
She looked like a princess!
“Hello,” she said.
“Hi,” I replied, trying to keep my voice from shaking.
She took a seat across from me and smiled.
“How are you tonight?”
While we were eating, we chatted about all sorts of things: movies, books, fashion, and politics, among other things.
Nicole was smart and charming and easy to talk to.
She loved to laugh and have a good time.
I felt like we had so much in common that we were going to become good friends right away.
Nicole Kidman was my idol; she was everything that I dreamed of becoming one day when I was a little girl.
I wanted to be just like her!
I wanted to look like her and talk like her and act like her.
I wanted to be Australian and live in Hollywood and date Tom Cruise.
I wanted to have her red hair and her blue eyes and her long legs.
I wanted to have her talent and her charisma and her elegance.
I wanted to have everything that she had!
After we finished eating, we took a walk around downtown together before it got too dark.
The streets were starting to fill up with people going out for drinks and dinner after work.
There were all sorts of cool bars and cafes to explore.
There were even some street musicians!
Nicole wanted to stop and listen to them play for a while.
We drank coffee at a café before we went back to the restaurant for dessert.
We drank tea and ate cake and chatted some more.
I couldn’t believe it!
I was having dessert with Nicole Kidman!
It was like something out of my wildest dreams!
“Is everything okay?”
She asked me.
“You seem really nervous.”
“I’m just so excited to be here,” I confessed.
“I can hardly believe this is happening!
You’re my favorite actress in the world!”
She laughed and shook her head.
“I’m not sure that I believe you,” she said.
“Well, it’s true!”
I replied emphatically.
“I’ve seen all of your movies a million times!”
She looked at me skeptically.
“Name one movie that I’ve been in,” she challenged.
“Moulin Rouge!”
I said without hesitation.
That’s one of my favorites!”
“Are you sure about that?”
She asked.
“You know that it’s not actually me in the movie, right?”
“What do you mean?”
I asked in confusion.
“It’s a body double,” Nicole explained.
