As soon as the glass doors snapped shut, goosebumps began to prickle my bare legs. The dim lights flickered, and the glowing buttons gleamed, cutting through the darkness. I smoothed out my pale pastel skirt and glanced at my reflection in one of the mirrors surrounding me. My brown eyes were smothered in a concoction of eyeliners and eyeshadows and my dark hair was pinned back in a jumble of twisted pieces. Chic but still work appropriate. I took deep breaths as I stuck my freshly manicured finger out, tapping the number 5. I reassured myself, repeatedly telling myself I wouldn’t screw up and there would be no distractions. My presentation would go just the way I had planned it several times in my head. I would carefully scrawl perfectly shaped alphabets on the large, white board in the luxurious hotel board room. All the board members would proceed to pass me giant smiles, followed with an array of scattered applause. Everything would go according to plan.

I watched the numbers as they switched on the small metal board above me- L,1,2,3. I glared at the 3 as it stayed constant. I stared out into the floor ahead of me- a gold table with a few fresh roses greeted me. The intricate carpeting was filled with abstract patterns and designs. There was not a single soul in sight. The glass doors slowly parted, and the clicking noise of stilettos echoed through the building. As they became louder, a voice yelled “Hold it, please!”. Huh, this was strange. Whatever. I glimpsed at the figure as it drew closer to me. The familiar hourglass shaped body I had seen so very often, but knew so little about appeared in front me. I blinked, almost in denial, it couldn’t be. There was no way it was her. But, the evidence was right there. The tanned, caramel skin, the voluminous lashes, the nude colored body con dress- everything I had tried so hard to attain but never managed to obtain.

I stood there, dumbstruck, for a few seconds. My whole body went into shock- my legs turned to jelly, my arms stiff and my mouth hung wide open. I saw her smile at me and then she spoke, “Sorry about that. My stupid assistant called for the elevator too early I guess.” My motionless self remained that way. Her perfectly winged eyes squinted at me and her eyebrows slowly arched as she examined me.

“Um, are you ok? You look like you just got hit by something.”

Her sharp tone immediately drew me back into reality. I fumbled for something to say in my brain, going through all the possibilities one-by-one. Shoot, shoot. I needed a good excuse- something legit yet witty and funny.

I broke into a huge smile and responded, “Sorry about that. I have a work thing today and I guess I got caught up in it. You know how it is. I can never catch a break.”

“Oh, yeah. I’m always working. All those shoots and agencies never stop calling me up. Ugh, I wish I had time to think about other things. Kanye’s always saying I should stay home with him and North. If only I had more time.”

I laughed easily, “Same! My friends are always telling me to stop working! But, you probably have way more stuff to do than I do.”

She didn’t respond. She stood there still, here eyes darting around the tiny box-like space. What was that, was it like a “celebrity thing” to do? She whipped out her iPhone, frantically clicking keys.

Suddenly her voice broke the silence, “Hey, have you noticed that we haven’t been moving? Like, at all.”

I shook my head, stupidly before noticing what was going on. She was right. We had been in the same place for a while now. We were officially stuck.

“S***, there’s no service. Damn! This happened like once before here and it took FOREVER. Hey, I got a pillow right here, wanna share it?” she exclaimed pulling out a large fluffy white pillow from her Birkin that cost a whole lot more than my thrift shop find.

Holy s***! What about my presentation? It was so major- we were just going to sign a deal with Green Pharmaceuticals and my presentation was the deal breaker. Oh well, I really can’t even call in when there isn’t any service. They would just have to let me do it later. So, why not?

“Sure” I replied.

“So, favorite color?” she asked, offering me a stick of gum from her monstrosity of a bag. Man, you could really stash a lot into a Birkin.

For the next two hours, the elevator was filled with constant chatter. We told each other everything. We were strangers, and before this, we had known nothing about each others’ lives. We both never had the time to actually talk to other people. She told me all her secrets- how she got her flawless body, how she never managed to get a single pimple and what her family was really like. Turns out, the real her was nothing like the media portrayed her to be. In fact, she got paid to keep up with that image.

When the glass doors finally opened, I wasn’t the same person that had stepped in. The experience had completely changed me. It had given me a chance to talk to someone I had only seen on coveted magazine covers and the atypical Hollywood gossip websites. And, it wasn’t just life-changing for me. It was a turning point in her life. It was the first time she had gotten to be normal.