No idea who I am
“Excuse me!” you reached up on your toes to tap on the girls shoulder in front of you, looking back and forth between the bathroom and your watch. You knew you were going to be late to your morning class anyway, but whether that was 5 minutes or closer to 15 depended on if the girl in front of you let you slip past. She tossed her brunette spirals across her shoulderblades, shooting you a smile way too bright for 7 a.m.
“Oh, hi! Did you want to take a picture?” she sweetly sang, eyes flipping to your phone clutched tightly in your hand. You stepped back in surprise, pulling your belongings closer into your chest, a little weirded out by her strange response.
“No, um I don’t need a… picture? I just need to sneak past you cause you’re kinda— blocking the path to the bathroom,” you awkwardly explained, watching her face fall and her lips pursed together as she bobbed her head up and down.
“Cool, cool…” But, she still didn’t move and you shuffled back and forth on your feet, not patient enough to carry on a conversation with her. She seemed oddly familiar but you really didn’t have time to make small talk. You opened your mouth to speak again, but she cut you off.
“You have no idea who I am, do you?” she blurted out, her shy blush turned into a confident smirk, as if she somehow remembered her identity and was determined to make you aware of it as well. One eyebrow shot up and you stared back at her blankly, cocking your head to the side for her to explain her intentions.
“I’m Zendaya!” she finally broke the silence and awaited your face to turn up into a smile of recognition. But you still stared at her in confusion and decided against waiting in line and to just rush to class instead.
“I’m sorry, I’m sure you’re a very, um, nice person and all, I just don’t recognize you. I gotta go to class anyway, but it was nice meeting you…” you trailed off, already forgetting her name. Her jaw dropped, not believing this was really happening as she finished your sentence for you.
“Zendaya.”
“Right, right! Well, bye!” you stepped back and stumbled out of the coffee shop with an uncomfortable feeling in your stomach. The second you stepped outside you typed her name into Google, and thousands of pictures and descriptions of her countless movies, tv shows, photoshoots, and interviews filled your feed. Your heart sunk at the realization of how incredibly rude you must have come across, and you dived back in through the door.
Locking eyes with her, she smiled again, her fingers danced in a flirty wave as you rushed to speak to her again.
“I’m so so so sorry, I– I didn’t realize that…”
She reached out to grab onto your hand, and your jaw clamped shut in disbelief that her fingers were interlaced with yours. Zendaya opened up to you, extending her free arm out to her side, motioning for you to hug her and you immediately caved into her embrace. You sucked in a deep breath as her heavenly scent from the apple cider on her breath drifted into your senses. She finally broke apart from you but didn’t drop her fingers from yours.
“You had me embarrassed for a minute there, babe.”