Saved by the sundae (Open)

[Bailey May Williams]

DATE Wednesday, March 14th
TIME 19.30
WEATHER Cold despite the sunniness

---

Today had been an extended Tuesday. In other words: Today had been horrible. Bailey sighed as the line moved, letting her closer to the register and the one thing that would save her day a little. And to think she had been so relieved yesterday when she had gone to bed. Had she only known that the horridness of the Tuesday passed had latched itself onto a usually great Wednesday, then she could have at least been prepared. There hadn't even been any signs that something was up this morning. Things had been fine, she had been awoken by her alarm clock on time, there had been no rushing around the apartment, she had gotten to the book store with a couple of minutes to spare.

And then Chris had arrived to drop off some new books. Bailey made a face even at the mere thought of it. The guy had been looking her up and down, practically undressing her with his eyes, and when she had politely told him to stop, he had just chuckled and wiggled his eyebrows. Fortunately, her boss had arrived at that moment and told her to go and help a customer, or she would have... Bailey sighed. She wouldn't have done anything. And even if she had, she lacked the physical strength to make the kind of impression she wanted. Damn that man and his creepy eyes!

Of course, Chris wasn't the only bad thing that had happened today. Bailey had rushed off when she got off from work to meet with her brother. Austin had promised to take her to a sound practice one of his friends were having with his band, and Bailey had been so excited to go that it was all she could do not to jump around behind the wheel of her car. Unfortunately, she had been waiting for her brother to pick her up for half an hour, before she got a text from him, apologizing for not letting her know sooner, but the practice had been cancelled. That was about an hour she could have spent on something else. It had helped a little to call and yell at Austin for a good couple of minutes, but she was still disappointed.

Even dance practice had been off today. Her girls had all been unfocused and had been chattering on about everything else than dance throughout the session. Normally this wouldn't be such a bad thing, after all, everybody had their off days, and they were just teenagers. They had lots of other things going on in their lives. However, one of the girls had been so distracted that she hadn't gotten through her warm ups well enough, and she ended up spraining an ankle, forcing Bailey to take her to the hospital, leaving her partner Diane to take care of the other girls until their parents would come and get them.

Finally making it to the front of the line, Bailey gave the guy behind the counter a small smile as he greeted her and asked for her order. "A sundae with caramel sauce, please," she said. She should have been ordering something else, as she hadn't gotten around to having dinner yet, but after driving Susan to the hospital (and waiting for her parents to arrive of course) Bailey had craved the caramel covered ice cream that stared in every single one of her childhood memories of McDonald's. She smiled gratefully and thanked the man behind the counter as he gave her the ice cream, before she walked into the restaurant. She slid into a chair, wanting nothing more than to devour her frozen treat before the world decided to extend this Tuesday even longer.

[Erik Jones]

Cold, wet and sticky. Those were the first feelings that hit him. After having walked around for about a half hour practicing lines in his head, Erik had bumped into someone. Unfortunately that someone had been holding what looked like a large McDonald’s soda. Now the content of said soda was dripping from the white t-shirt that Erik was wearing inside his black jacket. A single look at the woman he had bumped into told Erik that she had not recognized him, and that despite her apologies, she was sorrier for the loss of the soda than for him getting wet.
Erik quickly managed to reassure the rather large previous owner of the soda, that it wasn’t a problem. He then looked around to find somewhere he could get dry. He spotted the MacDonald’s that no doubt were the origin of the soda that now covered his shirt. After a short debate with himself he decided that it was better to go in and get dried off before heading back to his car.

So far it had been a good day, at least as far as Wednesdays go. Erik had spent most of the day in the studio working. After he left the studio he had driven around for about twenty minutes before parking his car. After that he had spent about thirty minutes walking around the streets. He had been deep in thought the whole time going through his lines. He could have done this at home, when he was alone and had peace and quiet to concentrate. That was what most of his colleagues did. But Erik preferred the buzz of the city.

The door bell sounded as Erik walked through the doors of the MacDonald’s. He looked at all the people packed together in the room. The place reminded him of one that he and his mother used to eat at when he was a kid. Smiling he made his way to the restroom. There he tried to get the soda of his t-shirt, and then to dry it off. But when he exited the restroom his shirt was still wet and sticking to his torso. He was just about to get out and head for his car. But then he noticed how hungry he felt, and remembered how he hadn’t eaten since lunch. Besides that it had been ages since the last time he had eaten at a place like this. So instead of leaving Erik got in line and waited until it was his turn. When he got to the counter he ordered his food. After a while he got his Big Mac and fries, and then he looked around for a place to sit. The only thing was that the place was packed, and the only available seat was at a table already taken by a brown haired woman eating a sundae. He walked over to her and with his best poster smile asked her “Excuse me, do you mind if I sit here?”

[Bailey May Williams]

Humming with content as the first spoon full of caramel and ice cream passed her lips, Bailey leaned back in her seat, her eyes closed and ears trained on the sounds of the place. Somebody standing in line was shuffling some coins in his or her hand, making the coins jingle to an unknown beat. The woman sitting at the table behind Bailey began to softly whistle a tune. Bailey cracked one of her eyes open and smiled. The guy by the table across from her had taken out two straws and was using them as drumsticks, drumming along on the table and its contents.

The brunette opened both her eyes and took another bit of her sundae. Ah, the music of a crowded place. Maybe the extended Tuesday was finally coming to an end. She was pulled out of her thoughts by a blond guy asking if he could sit by her table. Looking up with her mouth still full of ice cream, Bailey gave the guy a quick once-over, scanning him from head to toe. Oh yeas, she concluded as she smiled politely and gestured for him to have a seat, attempting to swallow her ice cream without looking too weird. The extended Tuesday was definitely coming to an end.

Managing to get the ice cream down, Bailey gave another look to the cute stranger's shirt. It had a large stain in the front that looked like spilled soda. "I see you've been a victim of the extended Tuesday as well," she said with a soft smile, pointing a spoon full of caramel and ice cream towards his shirt so that he would have an idea what she was talking about. "Unless of course you like to wear your beverages," she added as an after thought, before she turned her spoon around and ate its contents, refraining from humming again. She didn't want to look too weird.

[Erik Jones]

Erik caught the brunette’s gesture for him to sit down. He was glad that she had did not chase him away. Sitting down he noticed her looking him over, and he responded with one of his best poster smiles, and then he couldn’t help looking her over as well, and he liked what he saw. It didn’t seem like the brunette in front of him had recognized him from any of the movies he had done, and in some way it was very nice. It felt in some way more relaxing then when he met some of his fans. Not that he disliked his fans or anything, but it was nice to be able to site in a normal MacDonald’s like a normal person.

For a moment Erik got a puzzled look when she asked him about something she called an extended Tuesday or something. Then he saw her pointing at the stain on his shirt, and he understood what she meant. Before he could answer her question though, she added another comment about wearing beverages. “Well I am considering starting a new trend, but somehow I don’t think it will catch on.” He suddenly remembered how hungry he was, and took a bite out of his burger. To him the burger really tasted well, and he wondered why it had been so long since the last time he had eaten something as simple as a MacDonald’s burger. He moved his attention back to the girl in front of him.

“But I would say that despite from the obvious discomfort of wearing my soda on my shirt, I find that I lack the taste experience that I usually get from a soda. So what about you? Are you having an extended Tuesday? I see that you are not wearing your soda on your shirt” He wasn’t sure if she would answer him, as it could be seen as a very personal question, and after all he was a total stranger. But it was always fun to meet new people, which suddenly reminded him that he hadn’t introduced himself. “By the way my name is Erik nice to meet you” he said and stretched out his hand towards her

[Bailey May Williams]

There was something familiar about that overly bright smile the blond man was giving her that had the gears in Bailey's head turning, but she simply couldn't place it. She was pretty sure she hadn't met him before. She usually remembered the cute ones. One of Austin's friends maybe? She tilted her head slightly, having another spoon full of ice cream. Could be, but probably not, or he would have just made a very poor impression. A TV-person? This was L.A. after all, that could happen, right? Dismissing the idea with a soft chuckle, Bailey swallowed and let her foot tap a random rhythm under the table.

Her smile broadened a bit at the confusion that spread on the guy's face, and she snickered a little at his explanation. "Well, I thought it might be something like that," she answered in a matter-of-fact tone, but a smile in her eyes, playing along. "This is the fashion district after all, if any trend is going to catch, it's gonna be here." She tried to imagine it, people walking around with soda on their shirts, and it only made her snicker again. Shaking her head at herself, she followed the blond guy's lead and ate some more ice cream.

Nodding as a way of partly answering the guy's question, Bailey held up her spoon. "That," she began, waving her spoon a bit for emphasis. "Is one of the only things that hasn't happened on this extended Tuesday. Lots of other bad things though." She began listing the horrors she had gone through, waving her spoon at every one of them. "Alarm clocks that don't work, creepy delivery guy, no-show brother and one of my students sprained her ankle, poor kid." Scooping up some more ice cream and caramel, she gave him a knowing look. "Tuesdays, I tell you."

She had just put her new spoon full of ice cream in he mouth when the guy introduced himself. Erik. Bailey frowned a bit, tilting her head again. It was't that it didn't suit him that had her frowning. It actually suited him very well. A little too well. Almost like she had known. Swallowing, the brunette erased the frown from her face and put on a polite smile, reaching up to grab his out stretched hand. "Bailey," she said, shaking his hand. "Nice to meet you too."

[Erik Jones]

For a moment Erik saw in his mind the trend of wearing soda stained shirts, and the notion made a grin appear on his face. “Well it wouldn’t be the strangest trend to ever hit this city would it?” When he thought back, Erik could remember a lot of trends that seemed strange or downright ridiculers. But still the idea of people walking about in stained cloths on purpose, was a bit far out. “Perhaps if I got more people involved in spreading it. What do you say? Would you be willing to help me spread the word?” It was all he could do to keep a face that looked at least a bit serious, and not just start laughing.

The spoon proved to be quit distracting the way she waved it around in front of him while talking. But Erik managed to snap out of it and listen to what she was saying about her bad day. He could definitely relate to some of it, well at least the part with the alarm clock, well his had actually worked but it had still annoyed him. “That dose sound like a pretty lousy Thursday to be honest. After all nobody likes a creep delivery guy.” Erik took another bite of his burger before he continued “I think that if my alarm clock would stop working a bit more often, then it would make my days a lot better. But then again, I would properly just get woken by somebody calling me telling me I was late, and that would suck. Too bad about your student, sprained ankles are no fun at all.”

Erik saw the frown on her face as he told her his name. Actually it made him smile a bit. It seemed that perhaps she had heard his name somewhere before. He considered if he should tell her what he did, and where she might have heard his name before. But he decided that it would be more fun to see how long it would take for her to work it out on her own, or if she even would. “Bailey. That is a nice name” He gave her another poster smile as she shook his hand. “So you said one of your students sprained her ankle? I guess that means you teach something?”

[Bailey May Williams]

Giggling a bit at the guy's suggestion to help spread the trend, Bailey shook her head with a smile. "I think I'll have to pass that otherwise tempting offer," she said, picking up her sundae. "I actually like my clothes clean," she informed him with a grin, before she let a thoughtful expression cross her face. "That might be a bit old fashioned though." Shaking her head again, she pulled her shoulders, an easy smile taking over her features again. "Ah, well, we can't all be trend setters."

Seeing that the guy's attention was centered on her spoon, Bailey couldn't resist the urge to wave it a little more than necessary, just for the fun of it. She giggled around her mouthful of ice cream, but frowned in confusion at the guy's comment. "It's not Thursday," she said, tilting her head. "It's an extended Tuesday. Thursdays are nice." She had another bite of sundae before she nodded to his next words. "That's the problem with alarm clocks when they don't work. You'll wake up eventually anyway, and then you'll be late."

Smiling at the compliment, Bailey raised one of her eyebrows at Erik. That overly bright smile was back again. "Thanks," she said, hesitantly, not quite sure if he was honest. The weird smile was throwing her off a bit. "Uh, yeah," she continued, nodding at his question. "I teach dance in a small studio not too far from ere actually. It's just a bobby though." She diverted her gaze to her sundae, suddenly feeling uncomfortable looking at him. There was something about that smile that just made him all the more familiar, but she simply couldn't figure out what it was. "What about you? What do you do?" She looked up again with a curious smile, hoping that he hadn't noticed her discomfort.

[Erik Jones]

“Well I don’t think it is an old fashioned thought at all. To tell you the truth” Erik leaned a little over the table and lowered his voice, as if he was telling a secret “I like my cloths clean as well, don’t tell anyone” He had a grin on his face, as he leaned back in his chair and pretended to look around to see if anyone had overheard him. “I am not really a trend starter myself. I had this lovely stain giving to me out there” he pointed out the window. “Otherwise I think I would have remained blissfully unaware of this new high fashion” He continued to grin to himself as he thought about the bump in he had with the woman on the street.

She must have misunderstood him, of course he was aware that it wasn’t actually Thursday. Though to be frank, sometimes the days did blend a little for him. “So am I getting this right, normal Tuesdays are fine, it is the extended once that are bad?” Erik had not heard about this concept before, but it seemed very fitting. “Yes it would be fine for alarm clocks to break if it wouldn’t mean that you were late. And after all it is no fun being late, I especially hate it, because then I get told of for making everyone wait for me, and then I get a big speech about the fact that I am not as important as I apparently think I am. It is really annoying.”

It seemed that she did not take his compliment very well, and she started looking a little uncomfortable. This wasn’t fun, he hadn’t meant to upset her or anything, he had just thought it was a nice name and said it. Well it was something he knew he had to work on, not just saying everything that came to mind. “That sounds like a nice hobby, personally I must admit to not being the greatest dancer in the world, but I get by.” He thought perhaps he should tell her what he did, and then just see what would happen. It was okay, sometimes the reactions he got from people when they either figured out, or where told what he did was quite funny. “Well I am an actor, you might have seen me in the show A Viking saga? Or in one of the movies I have done, I think the latest one was Rift, not a very interesting one of course, just your standard ‘aliens open a gate to earth and start invading, small group of people go through and try to close it’ sort of movie. I played this Lieutenant call Rick, I don’t know if you have seen it?” ‘now let’s see how she reacts ‘

[Bailey May Williams]

Grinning widely at Erik's continuation of her own joke, Bailey shook her head and gave an over exaggerated sigh. "Ah, true fashion is never appreciated in its own time," she said dramatically, swirling her spoon around her half empty cup of ice cream. The guy was funny, she had to give him that. And cute too, but then again, lots of guys were cute. She shook the thought off. Never mind that. This was just a chance meeting in L.A. There was a big possibility she would never see the guy again.

Erik wasn't getting her Tuesday rant, not that she could blame him. Bailey shook her head with an easy smile. "All Tuesdays are bad," she explained, leaning forward a bit to get closer to him. "It's the part where it's Tuesday that makes it bad." She pointed her finger on the table. "It started yesterday morning with my dysfunctional alarm clock," She said, and dragged her finger a bit to the side. "Then the creepy delivery guy." She dragged her finger again. "Then I burnt my dinner and had to get take out, which wasn't all that great either." She sent Erik a wry smile before she continued, dragging her finger a bit more. "Then today, the creepy delivery guy was back." Dragging finger. "I got stood up by my brother." Finger dragging. "And my student sprained her ankle," she concluded, looking up at him. "The badness of the Tuesday was dragged on to the Wednesday, so that the Wednesday became an extended Tuesday." A small smile appeared on her face as she looked down, and in an attempt to hide the slight hint of pink that arose on her cheeks grabbed her cup of ice cream. "And I do realize how weird that sounds, but it makes sense to me."

Bailey just nodded as Erik admitted to not being a very good dance. To be honest, she didn't think she was as good as others made her out to be either, but she had given up on telling them so years ago. She perked up, however, as he revealed what he did for a living. "I know that show," she blurted immediately. "It has that really great theme song..." She trailed off as she started to hum the tune, softly tapping the beat on the table. Tilting her head half-way through the melody, she stopped to study his face. "Is that why you smile like that?" she asked curiously.

[Erik Jones]

“you are so right, it is very unfortunate. But I am willing to bet that in ten or so years we will all e running around in stained shirts, don’t you think so?” He was barely containing a grin that would make him look a bit like a manic which would be somewhat suboptimal. Yes, it would definitely be bad to look like a maniac. Despite that he got a bit distant for a moment, and he got a glimmer of mischief and humor in his eyes, not evil just like someone planning a prank, when he thought about people walking around like that.

When she began to explain Erik listened carefully. It started to make sense to him and a smile started to spread on his face, this time not a poster smile but a more natural smile. “I see your point, and I don’t think it sounds weird. Well it dose a bit, but funny weird and you would be surprised how you can get used to some rather strange things, especially in this town.” He didn’t miss hint of pink that arose on her cheeks, he thought it made her look quite cute. “You know I think I had one of these last week. I was doing this scene that just would not become right, finally I got home and someone had tried to break into my apartment. Next morning everything also pretty much went wrong, right from my car running out of gas to reporters getting to nosy till the fact that I slipped in my bathroom.”

He was glad when she told him that she knew the show, it was nice that someone enjoyed it. “I think so to, although I can hardly hear it anymore without thinking about work, which is fine, I love my job after all, but it makes it a bit hard to just relax and enjoy the show. Besides it is not the same when you were there making it.” He thought about one time where he had tried to just watch some of the episodes for fun. Back then he had found that most of the time he was spotting himself making mistakes, or seeing things that he could do better.
He was pulled a little out of it when he heard her question. He got a it of a frown on his brow as he thought about it. “Well I don’t really know, how do I look when I smile” he made a couple of weird faces. “no seriously it is a bit of a bad habit to be honest.

[Bailey May Williams]

Chuckling at the mental images of people in dirty clothes that Erik's comment conjured in her mind, Bailey twirled her spoon around what was left of her sundae, mixing the remnants of the now very melted soft ice with the reminder of the caramel sauce. She had a spoonful of this heavenly combo while Erik relayed his own past Tuesday, nodding along once in a while to show that she was still listening. "Tuesdays I tell you," she said in a soft voice, shaking her head with a sigh. "Always beware of the Tuesdays."

She made an "Awe," sound when Erik revealed that the theme song of his show made him think of work. It was understandable, as the show was his work, but still. It was a really nice song. "Actually," Bailey said carefully, turning her attention back to her now empty plastic cup. "I don't really watch the show," she admitted with a sheepish smile. She peaked up at Erik to see if she offended him, trying to convey an apology without actually saying anything. "I just let it play while I do something else because I like the music." Now that she thought about it, that would also explain why she hadn't recognized him off the show.

Giggling, thoroughly entertained by Erik's strange faces, Bailey waved a hand at him to stop. "It's not that bad," she told him with a grin. "Really, it's just a little..." She pondered her words for a moment, a thoughtful expression taking over her features. "It's a bit too bright, I guess," she said slowly, studying his face. "It's like you don't really mean what you're saying, but you're trying to hide it by smiling a bit more so that no one will notice. Like this." She smiled, grossly exaggerating what she meant and brightening her smile so that she would look at east half-mad, just to get her point across.

[Erik Jones]

Erik made a sad face in respond to her “Awe” sound “well it is what you can expect, you can’t have it all. But it is a good song, however the one they are doing for the next season is going to be even better, they have let me listen to some of it.” Erik didn’t really pay much attention to the music of the series as often it wasn’t on when he watched it. But he knew that he thought it was some good music despite the fact that he wouldn’t listen to it for fun.
He finished up his burger and started on the French fries, while he ate he listened to her talk. When he spotted the sheepish smile and heard that she didn’t really watch the show he just smiled. It wasn’t that he was happy that she didn’t watch the show, but it wasn’t like it bothered him. Many people thought that when they first meet him that he would be offended if they said they didn’t watch the show. Truth be told he couldn’t see why it should, unless of course they said that he was a terrible actor and that was why they didn’t see it. “that’s okay.” Then he added with a smile “unless of course you say that you hate it and that I am a terrible actor in which case I might get a little offended”

He ended his funny faces with a smile when she waved at him. “Well I am glad that it is not that bad, that wouldn’t serve me well when trying to talk to people. “ He pondered for a while what she had told him, that he looked like he didn’t mean what he said. He hadn’t thought about it like that. When she showed him what she meant. He studied her face a little with a serious face. Then he cracked a smile , “I hope I don’t look that crazy, and if I do it is a miracle that you haven’t run away yet. But I can see what you mean.” He finished the rest of his fries

[Bailey May Williams]

Eyes sparking in interest at Erik's mention of a new theme song, Bailey perked up. "Really?" she inquired, excitement evident in her expression. She had straightened up unconsciously and was eve leaning forward a little, her love for music making her curiosity spike. "If it's better it'll have to be epic. You have no idea how ridiculously much I love that song." A grin spread on her face at the thought. Her love for the theme song, despite her obvious lack of interest in the show, was a standing joke at the book store. Frequently commented and often laughed at.

She shrugged slightly, smiling softly and leaning back in her seat. "I wouldn't know how good of an actor you are," she told him honestly, her eyes training onto the spoon in her hand, which was softly tapping a beat on the side of her empty sundae cup. "You know, since I don't actually watch the show." She looked up, tilting her head to the side and studied him for a moment. "Though, if you're secretly a creepy stalker guy with murderous tendencies, you're doing a pretty good job at covering it up," she said nonchalantly, a glint of mischievousness in her eyes.

Bailey giggled again, setting her spoon and empty cup aside. "If it had been that bad, I might have figured it was your weird way of breaking the ice," she told him with a grin, vaguely noticing that the guy with the drumstick straws had picked up the beat she had been tapping and was now playing it on his table. Focusing entirely on Erik, the brunette beamed at him when he spoke again. "No worries," she said casually. "I've seen weirder." She added a wink just for the fun of it.

[Erik Jones]

Erik saw how the interest that appeared in her eyes as he talked about the music. It was clear that she really did love the song. “Yes it is made by the same guy who did the one for the last season” A slight grin formed on his face as he saw how interested she was she was. “Well I am not really an expert but I heard it played yesterday and it was really good.” Erik found it a little funny how much Bailey seemed to like the song and it gave him an idea. He got a thoughtful expression as he thought and said “You know Gary Whitmore the guy who makes the music for the show is stopping by the studio next Monday, if you want you can stop by and I will introduce you?”

“well I would let you now that I am in fact a very good actor” Erik made a serious looking face, but the effect was a bit ruined by the fact that he had an obvious grin. He knew that some of his collogues had a massive ego, he on the other hand, had no such issues. He noticed that she began to tap a beat, and before he knew it, and without really noticing it, he began to follow the beat fist by tapping with his right foot, and then by tapping his fingers on the table. “Well I can reassure you that I am not a creepy stalker, well not must of the time at least. But I am sure that I have no murderous tendencies, that I know of.”

He smiled as she said it could have been a way to break the ice. “Well in a way it was a way to break the ice, in a way you could say that any smile is a way to break the ice. And if breaking the ice was the goal, then it seems to have succeeded.” He paused for a moment, leaning back in his chair, he continued to tap the beat on the table without noticing it. “I will take that as a compliment. And I suspect you have, there are some strange people in this town, but that is part of what makes it so fun” He spotted her wink, and responded with a smile that made him look a little mischievous.

[Bailey May Williams]

Bailey giggled excitedly while Erik explained about the new theme song. "Seriously, that guy is a genius," she said brightly, refraining from clapping her hands. She was more than excited enough to do so, but someone in the restaurant might have found it a tad weird. She froze in her seat at Erik's offer to introduce her to Gary Whitmore, her eyes growing wide and her jaw slackening. It was all she could do to keep it from falling down. "You can do that?" she whispered, still looking at him with that awestruck expression.

It took Bailey a few moments to coax her face out of the shocked expression, only for the corner of her mouth to twitch up at Erik's assumptions on his own ability to act. "Oh, but you have to say that. Otherwise you wouldn't be much of an actor, now would you?" She smiled a bit broader as she realized that he had picked up the beat she had been tapping out as well. It seemed like he was doing it unconsciously, and Bailey's mood only brightened further when a woman walked past them, quietly humming something that sounded a lot like the same melody. Things like that often happened, she would tap a beat or hum a bit of a tune, and then people around her would continue it. She loved it! Grinning broadly, the brunette giggled softly at Erik's further reply. "Of course you'd say that," she said with a shake of her head. She was still grinning though. "But if you're as good an actor as you claim, however will I be able to trust you?" She cocked her head to the side, giving him a pouty look, though it was ruined a bit by the fact that she was still smiling.

She giggled again, more softly though, at Erik's philosophical musings. "Those sound like some big thoughts on a smile," she commented, curiosity in her tone and in her eyes as she studied him a bit. She couldn't help it. The guy simply quirked her interest and made her want to know more. About him or about what he was talking about, she had no idea, but she wanted it. She smiled, shuffling the empty sundae cup between her hands. "I meant it as a compliment," she told him brightly. There was a dreamy quality in her blue eyes as she gazed off into the empty space between them. "Despite the occasional creepy person, I love L.A., and I wouldn't have it any other way."