Sometimes, the stars align, and magic happens.
On Friday, the stars happened to be Cayden Hubbard, Maxey Elementary School fifth-grader-turned-celebrity, and James Valentine, Nebraska-boy-turned-rock-star.
Oh yeah, and fellow Maroon 5 singer Adam Levine.
The aligning occurred before those stars met, though, a sort of kismet that started after Cayden walked into Maxey on Wednesday morning and found he'd become a celebrity, thanks to Make-A-Wish.
That's exciting enough, what with a screaming mob of elementary-aged fans and paparazzi lining the walk to the limo. And the security guards who took time from their work as Husker football players to protect him. And TV and radio spots in Lincoln and Omaha. The flight to Los Angeles and time in a recording studio there. And, a makeover and meeting "Extra" star Mario Lopez.
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But here's the thing: All that was planned by the Make-A-Wish people who wanted to grant Cayden, who has had a tumor at the base of his brain since kindergarten, his wish to be a celebrity for a day.
What wasn't planned was Maroon 5.
But, as fate would have it, Valentine, the band's lead guitarist who graduated from Southeast High School, happened to check his Facebook page that day. A friend from high school had sent him a link to an article in the Journal Star about Cayden's instant stardom.
In it, Cayden mentioned that one of his favorite bands is Maroon 5.
"He's coming to LA tomorrow," his friend wrote. "Any chance you guys are there?"
The band members tend to move in and out of LA on a fairly regular basis, but they happened to be there last week to promote their new record, "Overexposed," which comes out in June.
Valentine shot an email to the newspaper, the reporter shot an email to the Make-A-Wish folks, the Make-A-Wish folks talked to the band's agents, and on Friday, Cayden found himself in the penthouse suite of the Roosevelt Hotel shaking hands with two of the members of Maroon 5.
"He is such a cool kid," Valentine said. "He really brought a great spirit to the room."
Unfazed by the latest turn of events, Cayden was "cool as a cucumber," and when asked a question, he answered by launching into the bridge of "Stereo Hearts," which Levine recorded with Gym Class Heroes.
That started an impromptu jam session.
"He launched into it without any reference pitch. He was exactly on key," Valentine said. "He's got some pipes. He can really sing."
So the 11-year-old star did, with two members of one of his favorite bands.
When they were done, Levine and Valentine sent him off with an autographed guitar and a jacket Levine had worn on one of the press shoots.
But Valentine was the one who was impressed. With the young man's voice and with the charisma he brought into their hotel room.
"It was just very nice for him to grace us with his rock-star presence."