About an hour into what turned into a nearly four-hour marathon dinner, I start to count the thank-yous. Drew Barrymore, the most grateful person on Earth (or, at the very least, in Hollywood), says it more sincerely and more frequently than anyone you've ever met. If a busboy tops off her ice water: Thank you! If the waitress mechanically stops by to see if everything is OK: Thank you! If I pay her a compliment by telling her, for example, that she's very funny: Thank you so much. After a while, I stop keeping track, but I counted well over 20 separate and distinct expressions of gratitude. At one point, after the dinner plates are cleared, our waitress drops off a couple of small laminated cards. "Thank you," says Barrymore. "Is this the dessert menu?"

"No, that's cocktails," says the waitress.

"Oooh," says Barrymore, her eyes flickering with naughtiness.

"Desserts of another color."

"American Idol" has been edited for Style.com; the complete story appears in the February 2006 issue of Vogue.

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