Forever

Chapter 4: The Next Morning

Hey guys! I'm SO sorry I haven't uploaded in forever! Life has been crazy with getting ready for school  to start and trying to clean up my room so we can redo it! But anyway, here's Chapter 4. Hopefully 5 will be up by Saturday night or Sunday night! (crossing my fingers!) Hope you guys like it!

                                                                                ~~~

I woke up to the sound of birds chirping and the smell of pancakes cooking. I picked my phone up off the nightstand and checked the time. It was 8:03am. I decided to get up and go down stairs to see what Idina was up to. I walked through the family room and into the kitchen.

"Hey Chris. What's up? How did you sleep the rest of the night?"

"Good," I replied.

A few seconds later, I heard footsteps coming from the stairs. It was Taye.

Uh...I'm headed off to the airport to go to LA," Taye said

"Alright. Bye," Idina replied. The short exchange was sort of awkward and tense. They annouced a few weeks ago that they would be splitting up, so I guess things were sort of weird between them.

"Taye's just finishing up getting his stuff out here and moving to LA. He said he's going to check out the house he bought there and then come to get the rest of his stuff. He should be out by next week," Idina told me after he shut the door.

"Oh," I replied. "Has the whole split thing been hard for you?" I asked

"Yeah, but I have lots of support from friends and family to help me get through it," Idina said as she put breakfast on the table.

"Thats good to hear," I replied as we sat down at the table. 

We quickly ate breakfast, then I went upstairs to get dressed. I put on the shirt I bought at the theatre yesterday along with a pair of capri length yoga pants that Idina lent me until I got my clothes at Katie's apartment. As I was lacing up my converse Idina yelled up stairs,

"Ready to go?" 

"Yup!" I replied. 

I grabbed the small bag I had brought with me to the show the night before and jogged down the stairs while Idina grabbed her keys. We jumped in the car and drove about 15 minutes to Katie's apartment. On the way there I plugged in my phone and we listed to Shoshana and Eden's albums and talked about what we were going to do that day. 

When we were about five minutes away, I called Katie to tell her we were almost at her apartment. 

"Hello?" Katie answered with a groggy sounding voice.

"Hey! Did I wake you up?" I replied

"Nope I got up a couple minutes ago. Are you guys coming over this morning?" she asked

"Yeah we're a couple minutes away," I said.

"Okay. See you in a couple," Katie replied

"See ya then. Bye," I told her and hung up the phone.

We drove for a few more minutes until we found Katie's apartment complex. We parked the car and walked up to her apartment. I pulled my key out of my bag, unlocked the door and pushed it open. 

"Hey it's me and Idina!" I yelled and then heard footsteps on the stairs. 

"Whats up?" Katie asked me and gave me a hug.

"Nothin' much," I replied. "You still have to go back into work tonight?"

"Yup. I have a twelve-hour shift from 5pm to 5am for the next couple days, so I'm gonna be pretty tired."

"Aww that sucks. I'll go get my stuff and let you go back to bed," I replied.

I jogged up the stairs to the Katie's room where I put my stuff. I checked around upstairs to make sure I didn't leave anything, and then madde my was back downstairs with my bags.

"You got everything?" Idina asked.

"I'm pretty sure I do," I said.

"Thanks so much again for taking care of her, Idina," Katie said.

"Oh, it's no problem at all! She's been great!" Idina smiled at me. I smiled back.

"Oh, before I forget to tell you, I made funeral arrangements for next week. It's going to be back home in Pennsylvania. The viewing is on Sunday the 10th and the funeral is on Monday the 11th. While we're there, we can get your stuff from your room and bring up it back up with us. Is that okay with you?" Katie asked.

"Yeah. Thats fine," I replied.

"Idina, I know you have off on Monday so if you want to come, you're more than welcome," Katie said.

"I'll definitely be there," Idina replied.

"Alright, I guess see you guys in a couple days. And Chris, call me later if you have time," Katie said and gave me a hug. "Take care of yourself," she whispered to me.

She gave Dee a hug as well, and we left the apartment. I put my stuff in the back of Idina's car and got in the passenger seat. It was around 11am. We dropped my stuff off at Idina's and I quickly got changed and put on a little makeup. I wore some high-waisted jean shorts, a grey crop top, a maroon cardigan and my navy converse. I dug through my suitcase until I found the case with my jewlery in it. I picked out a long gold necklace with tassels at the end that I got from Cotton On. When I came down the stairs, Idina said,

"You look very Liz today," we giggled. 

"I guess I do!" My outfit did look pretty similar to Idina's during Always Starting Over, minus the converse, necklace and shorts, of course.

We decided to walk to the theatre. It was a really nice peaceful walk, and we chatted and got to know each other a little better. We got to the Richard Roger's at 12:08. As Idina grabbed the handle of the stage door and said,

"Ready to meet everyone? I promise they don't bite," she chuckled.

"Yup!" I replied excitedly.

"Okay, let's go in."

I took a breath and stepped inside. Wow. As soon as I stepped in that theatre, a huge smile spread across my face. II was about to meet some of my biggest idols. Anthony. LaChanze. Jenn. James. I had met them all the night before, but this was different. I could have actual conversations and hang out with huge broadway stars.

Chill out, they're regular people just like you, I told myself. Except I was still starstruck that I was staying in Idina Menzel's house. I just couldn't believe that this was about to happen and I was beyond excited.