17 year old Erin Kelsy Taylor drove her red Honda down her street in her wonderful hometown of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. She was on her way to the mall, one of her favorite places to be. She flipped on the radio. From her favorite station came, "...we are actually having a contest here at the mall today... but it's not any ordinary contest. This is our Britney Spears impersonation contest. Good or bad, we have people here ready to impersonate Britney. Even an extra special guest who will impersonate her... hurry, the contest begins in fifteen minutes." "Crap!" Erin exclaimed. She wasn't sure if she could make it. Making sure no cops were around, Erin hit the gas and sped as fast as she could. Finally she pulled into the parking lot of the mall and ran inside. The contest was taking place in the center of the mall. She spotted her best friend Maddissen Alannah Smith in the crowd and went over to join her. "So who's this extra special guest I hear about it?" "I think you better sit down," Maddissen told her. "You're never going to believe it. It's... um... well..." "God, get to the point already!" Erin practically screamed. "It's Elijah Wood!!!" Erin almost fell off her chair. Her heart stopped beating, her eyes grew wide and she was suddenly experiencing a dizziness in her head. As best she could, she tried to regain her composure and asked in a calm voice, "You're shitting me, right?" Maddissen laughed. "No, I'm not "shitting" you." Oh my god, Erin thought. Elijah was her absolute favorite actor on the planet. She knew that Elijah had been born in Cedar Rapids but she never actually thought he'd stop by. She laughed at her own stupidity. Of course he'd stop by. Sooner or later he'd have to, right? Oh well, the point was that he was there now and he was going to impersonate Britney. "Come on," she told Maddissen. "I want to get closer to the front." Somehow they amazingly got up really close. "This is such a great view!" Erin squealed in Maddissen's ear. The contest began but Erin couldn't focus on the first couple of acts. She only wanted to see Elijah in the flesh impersonating Britney Spears. Finally it was time. The announcer began, "Now, the moment you've all been waiting for. I am happy to present to you our extra special guest who will be impersonating Britney... Elijah Wood!" "AAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!" Erin screamed. "Ok, yeah, I'm gonna need that ear later," Maddissen told her. "Sorry," Erin whispered. Elijah stepped on stage and Erin began to wonder if maybe she had died and gone to heaven. He looked even better in person. Even dressed up as Britney Spears. He was wearing a blonde girl's wig and a skimpy shirt all tied up like britney usually wore. Then he had jeans on and a pink thong on over them. Even before his performance, Erin was about to burst out laughing. The music began. Elijah's voice came through the speakers as he started singing "I'm A Slave 4 U." He started off, "I know I may be young, but I've got feelings too..." He said it with such conviction and he looked so serious. That was probably the funniest thing about it. Then he got to the chorus and said "I'm a slave for you, I cannot hold it, I cannot control it...", and like started humping this pole on the stage. Someone walked out and sprayed water on him (just like they had in her music video), so now on top of humping a pole he was also dripping with water and flipping his hair at the same time. He couldn't have done a more accurate impersonation of Britney, in Erin's opinion. It was so damn funny she and Maddissen were on the floor convulsing with laughter. "I swear to God I'm gonna pee my pants," Erin said. "I think I already did," Maddissen replied, which made Erin snort and caused them both to laugh harder. When he was done Erin grabbed Maddissen's arm and said, "Come on, we HAVE to go find him and talk to him. That was just to awesome." They shoved their way through the throng of people and ended up running right into him. "Hey! I'm Maddissen and this is Erin," Maddissen said. "Britney should take lessons from you." "Yeah," Erin agreed. And then because she couldn't resist she said, "Nice thong." This time Elijah cracked up. "Thanks. It's my sister's. Or maybe Orlando's," he joked. "Listen, believe it or not, I'm pretty much free the rest of the day. Since you girls enjoyed my performance so much, and you both seem to be pretty cool, how about we go do something?" Elijah asked. "Sure, that'd be great," Maddissen said. Even though Erin couldn't believe this was happening to her, she didn't wait a second. "Of course. As long as I get to keep the thong." Erin was only half serious, but Elijah didn't seem to mind. "All right," Elijah laughed, "it's a deal. Just let me change first." He ran into the nearest bathroom. Luckily Maddissen and Erin didn't have to wait long. Elijah quickly emerged from the bathroom. "Think fast!" he yelled to Erin, and threw her the thong. She caught it and tossed it into her purse. When he caught up to them Erin asked, "So what did you have in mind for us to do?" All of a sudden Maddissen gasped. "I just thought of something. Paintball!" she exclaimed. Erin wasn't sure where Maddissen had gotten the idea but it sounded cool to her. "Oh man, that'd be great," Elijah agreed. "Oh shit!" "What is it Maddissen?" Erin asked. "God, I can't believe I forgot! Today is my cousin's birthday. She's turning 11. I'm sorry, I'm gonna have to go and leave you guys to play paintball alone." "Damn, that's too bad," Elijah said sincerely. "Yeah. Well I guess... bye," Erin said. Maddissen hugged Erin and Elijah and then she left. Erin turned to Elijah. "So are we still up for paintball?" "Sure, but how about we get some pizza first. I am so hungry." "No prob. I'm kinda hungry myself." They took Elijah's red Ferrari and headed for the closest Pizza Hut. When they got there they ordered a large pepperoni pizza and split it. "Hey do you have any quarters?" Erin asked. "I wanna go play a song from the juke box." "Here ya go." Elijah handed her some money. She walked over to the juke box and flipped around to see which cd she wanted to play. One of The Beatles cd's caught her eye. She looked at it and noticed that it had her favorite Beatles song on there, Love Me Do. She knew that Elijah loved The Beatles too. She inserted her money and the song began to play. She went back to her seat. Elijah smiled. "So you like The Beatles?" "Yeah, this is my favorite song by them. But I have to admit that I played it also because I know you like them too." "That's ok," Elijah said. Erin looked into his blue eyes. They were so intense and so beautiful. They seemed to have so much to say. Erin had always believed that everyone had a story, you just had to give them a chance to tell it. Now that she was here with her favorite actor ever, she definitely wanted to know his story. "So why exactly did you want to impersonate Britney?" she asked. Elijah laughed. "Well, it kind of all started on the set of Try Seventeen. See, Mandy doesn't exactly like Britney either. So whenever we had some free time she would get one of her shirts, tie it up, and parade around the set acting like Britney. Franka even joined her once. They wanted me to be Justin Timberlake. I wouldn't do it at first but then I decided I would do it once just for kicks, so I like went out and bought this humongous 'fro. When I got back to the set I put it on and Mandy, Franka and I all went driving around in my Ferrari with Britney playing in the stereo. It was crazy. I think a few people actually believed us, especially when we stopped at a red light and Mandy liked jumped on top of me and we pretended to make out. Anyway, so that's why when I passed through here and heard about the contest I decided it would be to great of an opportunity to pass up." Erin was in shock. "You never cease to amaze me," she laughed. "What are your feelings on Britney?" he asked. "Well, I did like her a lot pretty much up until this year. I don't know... now Avril Lavigne is my favorite singer. I think she is really awesome." "Yeah, she's ok," Elijah said. They had finished most of their pizza so Elijah paid for it and than they headed to his car. On their way to the paintball field she asked Elijah if he had ever played before. "Yeah a couple of times." "I haven't ever played before," Erin admitted. "I've always wanted to though, so I'm really glad that Maddissen suggested it." She felt so cool riding with Elijah in his Ferrari. She knew there was absolutlely no where else she'd rather be. "I can turn on the radio right?" she asked Elijah. "Sure. You don't have to ask. You know I don't care." She flipped on the radio and her favorite song came on right at that moment. It was "Don't Mess With My Man" by Nivea featuring two guys from Jagged Edge. "Oh my god, I love this song!" Erin exclaimed. She instantly started singing along, actually forgetting for a few seconds that Elijah was next to her. "You have a great voice," Elijah said after a minute. Erin blushed. "Thanks. I never really thought I did but I guess maybe I do." Erin looked around. "I think we are." Elijah pulled into the parking lot. "Ready to get your ass whooped?" Erin asked. "We'll see about that." "Please," Erin grinned playfully, "just because you are Elijah Wood doesn't mean that you can do everything." "And just because you are Erin Taylor doesn't mean you can do everything," he shot back. "Come on, let's go." They decided to throw the paintballs by hand instead of using a gun. "It'll spare you the pain," Elijah remarked. "Oh, god." Erin rolled her eyes. Erin was ready to show Elijah what she was made of. And it wasn't all sugar and spice and everything nice. Whenever they had all their equipment and paintballs Erin asked Elijah casually, "So, what's your favorite color?" "Blue," he replied. Erin grinned big and threw a blue paintball at him. "Yeah," she snorted, "it matches your eyes." She hurled a green one at him. "But then again, green works for you too." Elijah started charging after her. "Oh shit!" Elijah hit her with a red and orange one. They kept hitting each other and they seemed to be tied. She would hit Elijah with one and then he'd hit her back. Finally they both became so exhausted they collapsed on the ground. "Too bad Maddissen isn't here. She would have creamed your ass too." "You keep telling yourself that. Maybe one day it will be true. I won, and you know it. Besides, if Maddissen were here it wouldn't be fair competition." Erin smiled. "Yeah, it would. You could have called up Mandy to be on your team," she laughed. "Good point," Elijah said. "Naw, on second thought I should have called up somebody from Lord of the Rings. They really could have helped me beat your ass." "Nope," Erin said. "They would have been to blinded by my beauty to do anything." Elijah grabbed her hand and helped her up. "We better get going." When they got in the car Erin was surprised to see that it was almost 7:30. "Where are we going?" Erin asked. Elijah smiled slyly. "You'll see." It was silent while they rode to wherever Elijah was taking them. Erin didn't mind though, because it gave her a change to reflect on everything that had happened that day. She knew that she was probably the luckiest girl on earth at that moment. It was hard to believe how his one performance at the mall could have led to this. She glanced at him. He seemed deep in thought, too. She sighed lightly. God, he was so hot no matter what he did. And she couldn't believe how nice he was! It took her a minute to realize that the car had stopped. "We're here," Elijah announced. They were pulled over on the side of the road, with nothing but the stars of the night surrounding them. They got out and layed on the hood of the car. "Wow," Erin said. "Today was great. This has seriously been the best day of my life. Do you do this all the time?" she asked. Elijah laughed. "Well, not ALL the time. Just when the mood strikes." This time Erin was the one to laugh. "Why did you decide to spend time with me and Maddissen instead of somebody else?" "I don't know, I just noticed you guys up front and afterwards I was thinking of talking to both of you, and obviously you guys had the same idea too. You just stood out and I needed to have some fun today. You guys seemed like the perfect people to have fun with, even though Maddissen isn't here. I'm glad I chose you and not anybody else." "Thanks," Erin said. "That really means a lot to me. And you have no idea how glad I am that I had the opportunity to spend time with my favorite actor and get to know you. Not many people get to do this." She looked over at Elijah. He turned to face her. "Not many people get to do this either..." and he leaned over and kissed her. It wasn't Erin's first kiss but it was without a doubt the best one she had ever received. And not just because it was coming from Elijah. He really was a good kisser. It was soft and gentle and just all around perfect. They stayed and talked a little while longer and then he took her home. She got out of the car and walked up the steps to her house. Before she entered she turned around and said, "Goodbye, Elijah!" She saw his brilliant smile and then he turned and waved back and replied, "Bye, Erin!" The next day Erin called Maddissen and told her to meet her at the mall so she could tell her everything that happened. She got there and began telling her her story. By the time she was done Maddissen was in shock. "Wow. You are so lucky girl." Erin just smiled. Then Maddissen laughed. "I still can't believe he gave you that thong. Since he made out with you, can I have it?" Erin cracked up. "Well, I wouldn't mind giving it to you, but there's just one problem." "What's that?" "Well..." Erin paused. "I'm wearing it right now." And once again the girls burst into a fit of laughter.