"You know that you get up way too early for a girl your age, right?"

My neighbor, Willie Ray, was sitting on his porch having his usual cup of coffee when I exited my home at 8 am.

It was unusually cold for April in New Orleans, Louisiana and I quickly pulled the hood of my grey hoody over my head while walking down my steps.

"You know you say that to me at least three times a week, right?" I responded to Willie as I made my way down to the sidewalk.

He laughed and shook his head as he raised a hand to wave at me.

"See ya at lunch," I called out to him as I began walking down the side walk.

The streets were relatively quiet around that time of morning seeing as though I lived in such close proximity to Bourbon Street. Of course, there was the occasional still drunk person wandering back to wherever they needed to be after leaving a bar and then there were a few older tourists but nothing like it would be in a few hours.

I put my hands in my front pocket as I made my way down the street towards the pub that I owned. I'd moved to New Orleans 4 years before when I was just 21. It had always been a place I loved. No matter what, it always seemed so alive, so active and happy. Apart from the period of time it took to recover from Hurricane Katrina, to me, it was the city that never slept.

Just a few minutes after leaving my house, I arrived at the pub and pulled my keys out of my pocket to unlock the front doors. I'd only left 4 hours before and I was running on about 2 hours of sleep but that was the norm for me.

My little pub was pretty successful and thriving and I was very proud of it. It was like my second home. Most people wondered why I didn't just live there. But, regardless of how little time I spent in my actual home, I believed there needed to be some kind of separation from work and home just to keep sanity.

"Morning, pretty girl!"

I turned around as I opened the door to see Ms. Janet, the woman who owned the store next door. She was walking towards me with two cups of coffee in her hands and I smiled brightly at her. She was in her mid-40's but acted more like she was my age. Actually, she acted more like my age than I did.

"Morning, Janet," I said to her as she walked up to me and offered me one of the cups of coffee. "What would I do without you?," I asked as I took the cup from her and smiled appreciatively.

"Fall asleep making drinks," she answered with a grin. "I'll see you in a bit. You havin' the usual special today?"

"Crawfish fetucinni alfredo. Just the way you like it," I told her as she began walking back to her store.

She stopped and took a deep breath and sighed happily. "Oh, I can taste it already. I swear, i'm gonna kidnap you one day and just make you cook for me."

I laughed and shook my head. "You'd probably send me back fairly soon," I winked at her before stepping into the pub and closing the door behind me.

I walked into the pub and looked around it as I walked towards the bar. It always looked so different after being in it during a loud, crazy night of partiers from the night before. By day, my pub was a busy restaurant full of regulars and tourists but by night, it was one of the busiest bars on the popular New Orleans street which was why I was usually there from 7 am until 3 am, sometimes even 5 am. Hell, sometimes I didn't get to leave at all.

"Hello, hello!"

I turned towards the voice coming from the door way as I placed my purse behind the bar. My cooks, Vincent and Timothy entered, both carrying coffee. Of course, Vincent was the chipper one and Timothy looked like he'd just poured himself out of bed. They were a couple and had been for over 8 years.

"Hello, boys," I greeted them happily as they walked in. They'd become two of my closest friends since they were the first people i'd hired. They'd been by my side during the best and worst times of trying to build up my business. They were both 10 years older than me but we'd always gotten along perfectly.

"Lovely hump day morning, eh?," Vincent asked as he walked up to me and kissed my cheek.

"Hump day. That sounds so wrong," Timothy commented as he walked up too and patted my head. "Mornin' darlin'."

"When did you leave here last night?," Vincent asked from the kitchen which was through a doorway behind the bar.

I sighed as I began turning on the lights behind the bar and getting things set up for the day. "About 3 o'clock."

Vincent placed his hand over his heart and pretended he was going to fall down, holding on to the door that lead to the kitchen. "Oh, sweet baby Jesus. She left before 5 am."

I rolled my eyes and laughed. "Oh hush."

"You're gonna kill yourself workin them crazy ass hours," he pointed a finger at me, giving me a stern look before he walked into the kitchen.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Go cook before I have to fire you," I said jokingly as I slipped off my hoody and pulled the pack of cigarettes I had in the pocket out.

"Ha!," I heard Vincent in the kitchen and I laughed. He knew better than to think i'd ever say something like that and be serious.

After lighting my cigarette, I searched through my purse until I found my ipod and I walked over to the side of the bar that held the sound system. After placing it in the dock and turning up the volume, music began filling the pub and I smiled, feeling like it would definitely be a good day.

"More coffee!," I heard Timothy yell from the kitchen and I laughed.

"I'm on it!," I yelled back, remembering I already had a cup of coffee that Janet brought to me. I grabbed it and took a sip of it, doing a little dance to the Kings of Leon song that was blaring throughout the pub now.

Eventhough we all already had coffee, we'd all been needing about 2 more cups to function like normal humans when things got busy so I went to work filling the pot with water and making the coffee as strong as possible as zoned out to the music that was playing.

The song changed and I stopped and looked towards the kitchen. I knew I was about to get a reaction.

"I love this song!," I heard Timothy yell from the kitchen and I walked over to the sound system and turned it up because I knew that he was about to yell for me to do so.

I had to admit, it was my current favorite song as well. I took a drag from my cigarette and exhaled, leaning against the counter as Cosmic Love by Florence and the Machine played. Music was my sanity along with my pub.

After standing there for a few seconds, I took another sip of my coffee and then made my way out into the main area of the pub where tables and chairs were placed. I began pulling the chairs down from their places on top of the table and as usual, I started singing along with the song quite loudly. Everyone who worked with me was used to my singing.

"Sing it girl!," I heard Vincent yell very loudly from the kitchen and I couldn't help but laugh.

I danced around as I made my way around the room taking the chairs down from the tables.

By the time the song was finishing, I was pulling down the last of the chairs from the tables. I'd zoned out completely so I never heard anyone walk into the room.

I looked up to see Janet standing at the bar watching me with someone and I screamed, jumped, and dropped my cigarette at the same time.

"Holy shit, Janet," I laughed, grabbing onto one of the chairs to for support as I tried to catch my breath. "You nearly gave me a...," I trailed off and tilted my head to the side as I looked closer at the girl standing next to her.

"What the hell is wrong with you, woman?"

I didn't even turn towards the doorway when I heard Vincent ask me what was wrong. I was too busy wondering if i'd completely lost my mind.

"Christy, I need a little favor," Janet told me, her eyes widening as if she was telling me to get my shit together and act like a normal person.

I stood there staring for about 3 more seconds, mouth hanging open, before clearing my throat and making my way towards them. The girl was watching me cautiously with wary eyes. My heart was racing like i'd just tried to run a marathon or something.

"Holy. Shit.," Vincent said as I made my way over to Janet and the girl.

I'd made my way over to him just as he began stepping towards them too and I quickly put my hands on his chest and pushed him back into the kitchen. "Oh my God! Do you know who that is?," he whispered in a hushed voice once we were in the kitchen and out of their sight. He was holding onto my shoulders and shaking me like a crazy man.

"Yes, I know who it is," I whispered back, looking at him like he was a lunatic as I tried to push his hands off of my shoulders.

"What's going on?," Timothy asked quite loudly as he walked over to us. Vincent quickly raised a hand and covered his mouth.

"Bella Swan is in the bar!," Vincent whispered excitedly, sounding more like a 16 year old girl than a 36 year old man.

I saw Timothy's eyebrow raise as he looked at Vincent like he was insane and he moved his hand off of his mouth. He put his hand over his forehead like he was checking him for a fever. "I think you've lost it."

"No! Kristen Stewart is standing right in there!," he whispered, pointing towards the kitchen.

Vincent and Timothy had very different personalities from each other. They were the best example of opposites attracting that I could think of. Vincent was very into pop culture while Timothy was more of a classic man. He enjoyed old books and black and white movies. Those weren't their only differences.

"Well, that's no reason to act like a crazed lunatic. Get it together, man," he said patting him on the head.

"Get your ass back in there!," Vincent said as he turned me around and pushed me back through the doors. I nearly stumbled into the room.

Janet and Kristen were looking at me like I was crazy. I felt my cheeks go red.

I cleared my throat and straightened my black v-neck t-shirt before stepping behind the bar so that i'd be standing across from them. "Sorry about that," I apologized, laughing nervously as I said it.

"It's alright," Janet responded, smiling. "Like I said, I need a favor," she told me, looking over at Kristen who was still watching me like she was afraid I was about to whip out a camera and take pictures of her or faint at her feet. The 2nd one was more likely than the first.

"Well, we need a favor," she added to that as she looked at me again.

"Sure, anything," I responded. I'd go out of my way any day for Janet. She was like a mother to me and had always been by my side ever since the day she met me.

"Alright, well, I know you know who this is. Kristen, this is Christy. Christy, this is Kristen," she said, pointing back and forth towards us.

Suprisingly, Kristen extended her hand towards me and smiled weakly. "Nice to meet you," she said to me as I placed my hand in hers and shook it.

"Nice to meet you too," I said, smiling at her. I felt more at ease then. The whole situation was seeming more and more unreal. My mind raced with thoughts of what the hell Kristen was doing in my pub and why she was with Janet.

"Kristen here was attempting to get into her hotel this morning. She just flew into town. But the paparazzi are all staked out there and she didn't want to go in just yet," Janet explained, sympathy for Kristen evident in her voice. "She wandered into my shop since hardly anything else is open yet and I didn't have any coffee made so I told her you probably did."

I glanced over at the coffee pot which was now full and I looked back at them and smiled. "You know me too well," I grinned and gestured towards the coffee. "I have plenty."

"Great," she smiled and looked over at Kristen. "But, that's not all. I told her you probably wouldn't mind if she hung out around here until lunch so she can wait for the photographers to leave. Is that okay?"

She wanted to leave Kristen Stewart, my favorite actress ever, in my pub until lunch. I hoped that the shock didn't show on my face.

"Of course it's okay," I told her with a smile and I looked over at Kristen. "Nobody really comes in until lunch time. You can stay as long as you want."

Kristen's facial expression suddenly went from worry to relief and it was like a wave of relaxation moved over her. "Really? That would be so awesome. Are you sure it's not any trouble?"

I smiled and shook my head. "Oh, none at all. Sit down. I'll get you some coffee."

Janet looked between the both of us and smiled brightly, looking as though she felt like she'd accomplished something great. Little did she know, she did. "Great, well. I'll leave you two to it then," she said as she began walking towards the door. "Kristen, I hope you can get some peace and quiet, sweetie."

"Thanks so much," Kristen told her as Janet opened the door. "Really."

"It's no problem, hun," she said, waving as she walked out.

Kristen turned to look at me again once Janet was gone and she smiled as she pulled the hood of her jacket off of her head and then slipped it off. We were nearly dressed exactly a like. She had a black t-shirt on as well with light blue skinny jeans. A black hoody had been covering her hair which was pulled up in a pony tail and there were black shades sitting on top of her head. She wasn't wearing make up but still managed to be one of the most beautiful girls i'd ever seen. Photos didn't do her justice.

I wondered as I watched her for a few seconds if I was dreaming all of this. I'd been a fan of hers since watching her in Panic Room so many years before. I owned every movie she'd been in. She was my self proclaimed girl-crush even though I was completely straight. Her personality off screen had always reminded me so much of myself. I adored her.

She sat down on one of the stools at the bar and pulled her shades off of her head. "Thanks again for doing this. I really hope you're not going to be going to any trouble," he told me, running her hand over her pony tail. She looked like she'd probably gotten about as much sleep as I had the night before.

"It's really no trouble whatsoever. I don't really do much before the lunch crowd gets here other than making sure my cooks back there don't kill each other," I laughed, pointing behind me at the door that lead to the bar. "Oh! Coffee," I said, pointing at her before turning around towards the coffee pot.

During all of the commotion, my ipod had been playing music from the Harry Potter movies and it wasn't very loud but then a song by The Used stared blaring through the pub and made me jump. Thankfully I didn't have the coffee in my hand yet. I laughed at myself and turned the music down before turning to look at Kristen. "Sorry about that."

She laughed too and shook her head. "Nah, it's okay. I love The Used. You must have nice taste in music."

"I have a very a.d.d taste in music," I told her, laughing at myself as I reached above my head to pull a coffee mug from one of the hangers where clean glasses and mugs were.

"You have a beautiful voice," she said as I poured the coffee and I was glad my back was to her because my eyes nearly bugged out of my head. I had completely forgotten that she and Janet walked in while I was singing.

"Wow, thank you," I told her as I turned towards her with the cup of coffee and walked to the bar. I sat the cup down in front of her and bent down to grab the sugar and basket of assorted creamers from the shelf before sitting them in front of her. "That was kind of embarrassing," I said, laughing as I reached over to grab my own coffee.

She laughed as she began rummaging through the little creamer containers in the basket. "Don't be embarassed. If you sucked, that'd be embarassing. But you didn't."

Kristen Stewart was complimenting my singing while sitting at my bar. My life had officially gotten bizarre.

I watched her as she picked up the hazelnut creamer. "Yesss," she said quietly as she opened it and poured it into her coffee.

"That's my favorite. Can't live without it," I told her as I leaned against the counter and took a sip fo my own coffee. "That's why there's not many in there," I laughed.

"Well, there's something we have in common," she smiled up at me before pouring some sugar in the cup and picking up the spoon i'd given her along with the coffee mug to stir it with. As she stirred the drink, she turned around in the stool and looked around at the pub.

It had a sort of old feeling to it. Everything was wooden and it sort of looked like a log cabin on the inside. The walls were decorated with old tin beer signs i'd found at antique shops around the city as well as black and white photographs of the city that i'd taken myself.

Across the room there was a stage with an open space that served as a dance floor in front of it. On Thursday nights I had open mic night so that people could perform and there was nightly karaoke. I'd actually had a few pretty famous people come and perform there including Hank Williams III who had quickly become a friend and regular in the bar. A picture of us together hung behind me along the wall. There were lots of pictures there from different occasions at the bar along with pictures of me and my staff and the regulars that came in nearly everyday and night.

"You own this place?," Kristen asked as she turned to look at me again.

I nodded and smiled, looking around like she had. "Yep. It's my baby," I replied.

"This is amazing," she said, smiling widely as she looked around again. "I love places like this. I wish I was able to come to them more often."

She looked at me and tilted her head as she studied me. "You look so young though," she said, referring to the fact that I did look a bit young to be someone who owned a bar.

I was 25 but looked more like 18 or 19. I was only 5 foot 3 inches and weighed about 130 pounds. I had long dark brown hair that was naturally quite wavy but I kept it flat ironed just about all the time. It hung down to my mid-back and the bottom layers had streaks of blue and purple in it thanks to my good friend who owned a hair salon in the city.

I was blessed with curves, thanks to my Mom. Vincent and Timothy always said that I was too vuluptious for my own good thanks to the many drunk patrons who'd hit on me and grabbed me many, many times. For such a small girl, I had big boobs and wide hips. I was a great example of the hourglass figure.

My face was what really made me look young. I didn't have a chubby face but I did have a baby face. I had a pretty fair complexion and very light freckles along my nose and prominent cheek bones. I had large, almond shaped eyes which were a nearly freakish shade of blue green. My lips were full and naturally a deep red. Vincent had referred to them as D.S.L's on more than one occasion. A term that I simply had to laugh at seeing as though there was a major lack of any sort of association with men in that way in my life. I didn't have time for it.

"I get that a lot," I smiled and ran my fingers through my hair. A habit of mine. I did it way too often. "I'm 25."

"Wow, you look younger than me," Kristen said with a light chuckle before taking a sip of her coffee. "And you make damn good coffee, by the way. Starbuck's doesn't have shit on you."

I laughed. "Damn, I might have to keep you around just for the compliments. You're an ego booster."

Kristen laughed too and shrugged her shoulders. "Just being honest," she smiled. "Um, do you happen to have another cigarette? I saw that you had one earlier and I didn't bring any with me on the plane."

"Oh yeah, definitely," I smiled and walked over to where I'd left my hoody behind the bar. I had two packs there that i'd just bought the night before, one that i'd just opened that morning.

I brought the unopened pack to her and placed it in front of her with my lighter. "Here, you can have these."

"Oh, you don't have to do that," Kristen said, shaking her head as she looked up at me.

"Hey, it's easier for me to go somewhere and buy a pack than it is for you. Seriously, don't worry about it."

She smiled at me, looking as though she was completely blown away by someone being so nice to her. "Christy, you are my new best friend," she said as she picked up the pack of Marlboro lights and started opening them. "These are even the kind I smoke."

I knew that she smoked those kind but I decided against blurting out that I knew that about her.

"Well, I know that you probably rarely get any kind of normalcy so any little thing I can do to make your day a bit smoother, I don't mind at all," I told her as I pulled a cigarette from my pack.

"Yeah, you have no idea of how much just sitting here with someone and not having bodyguards and my publicist right next to me is helping make my day better," she said as she placed the cigarette between her lips and raised the lighter to light it. She passed the lighter to me when she was done and I lit mine as well.

"I don't know how you do it," I told her after taking a drag from my cigarette and I looked at her sympathetically. "I mean, the constant photographers and fans. It's just crazy looking."

"You have no idea," she said, sighing as she rubbed the side of her face. "But, acting is what I love. Ya know? And the fans are cool. The calm ones anyway," she laughed. "Don't get me wrong, I appreciate each and every one of them but the psycho ones scare the hell out of me sometimes."

I laughed and shook my head. "Oh, I can imagine. I bet you were scared when you came in here and saw me looking at you light Jesus had just walked into my bar."

She started laughing and took another drag from her cigarette. "Honestly, yeah I was. But you're definitely cool."

"Thanks," I smiled as I picked my coffee up. I laughed after taking a sip. "I won't lie though, I am a fan."

"Well, thank you. I appreciate that you are," Kristen said, not looking freaked out at all, thankfully. At first I had decided against mentioning that I was a fan but in those few minutes with her I felt more like I was chatting with an old friend than a world-wide famous actress.

"I am definitely not a psycho one though. Obviously," I grinned.

"I figured that out when you didn't scream in my face or attack me," she smirked, blowing smoke out of her mouth as she looked at me. "I wondered about that guy that had come out of kitchen more than I wondered about you," she laughed.

I laughed too, remembering the little event she was referring to. "OH, that's just Vincent," I laughed. "He's a bit much sometimes but he's cool. He won't attack you."

"Good," she smiled but I saw the relief in her eyes.

"Are you talkin about me in there?" I heard Vincent yell and I started laughing.

"Stop being so nosey!," I yelled back and Kristen laughed.

"Are you going to keep her all to yourself or can we come meet her?," Vincent asked, his head peeking around towards us from the doorway that lead to the kitchen.

I turned towards Kristen who was watching Vincent with an amused expression. She waved at him and I figured it was okay to bring him out.

"Come on in here," I said, waving him towards us. He quickly wiped his hands off on the towel he was holding and walked over to Kristen.

"You. Are. Amazing.," he told her, picking her hand up and holding it in his hands. Thankfully, Kristen didn't look terrified, just completely amused. "I'm serious. I mean, my God. I can't believe you're in here!"

Kristen laughed and I could see her cheeks going pink. It shocked me that someone so famous who heard compliments repeatedly every single day would still be bashful over someone ooo'ing and aah'ing over her. "Thank you, you're very sweet," she told him, looking and sounding completely sincere when she did.

"Let go of the poor girl, Vin," I said I watched them. Vincent let go of her hand and laughed.

"Sorry, I'm a really big fan."

"He has Twilight posters all over the tv room. It's ridiculous," Timothy said as he walked into the room and over to Kristen. He held up his hand to shake hers and she took his immediately and shook it. "I'm Timothy. It's very nice to meet you."

"It's nice to meet both of you," she said, smiling sweetly at them.

"Not saying that your movies are ridiculous of course," Timothy added. "It's just slightly ridiculous for a 36 year old man to have posters from the movies hanging in his home."

"Timothy claims to be Vincent's better half," I informed Kristen.

Timothy looked over at me and smiled. "I claim to be? Do you not believe it?"

I laughed and shook my head. "I love both of you equally so I refuse to say."

"So, you two are together?," Kristen asked as she waved her hand in front of her face so that the smoke she'd just blown out wouldn't go in their faces. Vincent had taken his place at my side and he plucked my cigarette from my hand to take a drag from it.

"Yes," Timothy nodded, smiling at her. "8 1/2 years and going strong."

"And crazy as hell," I added, grinning at him.

"Ha. Ha.," Vincent responded and handed my cigarette to me before pinching my ass. I smacked his hand away and pushed him away from me playfully.

"Again, it was nice to meet you," Timothy told Kristen before turning to walk to the kitchen again. "Come on, Vincent. We have to finish cooking."

Vincent, rolled his eyes and huffed. "Dammit, I want to hang out with the girls."

Timothy laughed and grabbed his arm to pull him to the kitchen. "Maybe later. Come on," he said as they walked back into the kitchen.

"But it's Bella Swaaaan," he whined as they walked and I smacked my forehead, laughing.

"Bella Swan doesn't exist, doofus," I told him as they disappeared into the kitchen.

"Don't do anything awesome without me!," we heard Vincent yell as they walked into the kitchen and Kristen and I both laughed.

"They must be fun to work with," she said as she put her cigarette out in an ash tray on the bar in front of her.

I nodded as I took one last drag from mine. "Oh yeah, they definitely are," I said as I put the cigarette out and picked up my coffee again. My stomach growled and I realized that I hadn't eaten my usual morning muffin. "Are you hungry?," I asked, realizing I hadn't offered her anything.

"I've got some muffins I picked up from the bakery yesterday. I could pop them in the microwave really quick. They're blueberry."

"That would be amazing," Kristen said, holding her stomach as she did. "I haven't eaten since last night."

"Well, let's fix that for you," I said as I walked towards the door to the kitchen.

Kristen hopped off of the barstool and picked up her coffee mug. "Do you mind if I get some more coffee?"

"Sure, go ahead. Help yourself," I told her before walking into the kitchen and towards the refrigerator.

"She is so nice!," Vincent said excitedly, waving a knife in the air as he said it when I walked in. "I didn't expect that."

"I know right?" I said as I opened the refirgerator door and picked up the plate that had the muffins on it. "She's very cool."

"Such an interesting hump day," Timothy said as he walked past me with a huge pot of noodles for the alfredo we'd be serving later.

I laughed as I shut the door with my hip. "Definitely an interesting hump day."