"You Can't Stay a Saint in This City"

“Congrats Theissen and Kiara, you two are my newest employee.” I say as squeals of delight erupt from the two of them. I lead the two of them down to the Ambrosia Li basement where we’ve got some cupcakes and juice set up.

Ruby pops her head into the basement “Amber, you have a call.”

“Thanks Ruby,” I say taking the cordless phone from her hands. “Hi, Ambrosia Li here.”

“Hi Ambrosia” It’s Mike “Do you want to get dinner?”

“Did you just ask me out?”

“Don’t psyche yourself out, Ambrosia. I was just planning to scope out some good date spots. I’ll see you in two hours.”

I sigh, there’s not exactly a lot for me waiting at home “Fine”
_____

I pulled on a French Connection floral romper and a pair of strappy gold Jimmy Choos. I wasn’t sure where Mike was taking me but I hoped it would be something I couldn’t get in Boston like Madeo or STK, I never thought I’d miss LA’s pretentious overpriced restaurants.

“So where are we going?” I ask as I walk down the stone driveway and get into Mike’s car. Someone must’ve tipped off the paparazzi because they were parked in front of my gates once again. Seems like I haven’t been forgotten at all.

“Where do you want to go?” I ask Mike as the paparazzi snap away. Maybe I should be more concerned. I mean isn’t Milan going to see this?

“You’re a girl who knows her way around the Los Angeles food scene I was hoping you would know.” Mike says as the paparazzi get into their cars to follow us. I really should look into moving to a gated neighbourhood.

“I guess it depends who you’re taking out.” I say as I check for any of MAC’s bright pink lipstick on my slightly crooked teeth. Maybe I should see someone about getting Invisiline. “Let me guess the best you could land was a cast off from The Real World?” I ask turning in time to see Mike’s smirk.

“I’ll have you know she’s a model/actress”

I roll my eyes “Isn’t every female in this town?”

Mike doesn’t miss a beat “You mean including you?”

I ignore him and brush my bangs off my face “On a scale of 1-10 how badly is she chasing fame.”

“Why does it matter Ambrosia? All I want to do is take a nice girl out from a nice dinner.”

And people call me naïve… “Every public outing in Hollywood is a calculated stunt.”

“Like when you went to Walmart and seemed to forget your pants.”

“That’s different” It wasn’t like I was expecting people to take pictures of me and be featured in ‘People’s Celebrities They’re Just Like Us…Not’. “Besides it was just a very short dress and I went there because I wanted to bake a cake for you and do something nice.”

“She’s in the newest American Pie.”

I place my head into my hands and let out a groan. “You couldn’t have done better than a girl who can’t act but is acting in a straight to DVD movie where she will most likely take her clothes off.”

Mike smiles “Us hockey players can’t be picky. Not every one of us can land a girl like you.”

“Yeah I guess it’s too bad Joffrey Lupul didn’t take the chance when it was handed to him.” I respond with my own sarcastic remarks. Like I’d ever want to date Joffrey Lupul.

“Anyway where should I take her?” Mike asks as we reach Robertson where all the best restaurants in LA are. It seems like all it’d take for her to drop the panties would be an In-N-Out Burger.

“If you take her to a paparazzi magnet like BOA you’re golden. But that’s saying that you can afford to buy her a $50 steak that she will most likely throw up an hour later.”

“I like that about you, Ambrosia, you’re feisty.” Wait what?

“Especially when you’re jealous.” He adds with a smile.

I look down at my feet in an attempt to hide the blush on my cheeks “The prices at Katsuya aren’t bad and it’s a total hot bed for paparazzi.” I say trying to get us back on track. “Even though the waitlist is ridiculously long I’m sure I can get us in.” I tap a couple of buttons on Mike’s GPS “6300 Hollywood Boulevard.” I say into the mic.

Mike hands the keys of his BMV to the valet and he and I make our way through the thick crowd of paparazzi probably waiting for someone on this season of Dancing With the Stars or a Jersey Shore cast member. As soon as the hostess, Nicole sees me she ushers Mike and I to a newly available table. Like all of them it’s a polished white with a matching set of chairs.

“I’m guess you come here often?” Mike asks as menus are thrust into our hands.

“Takeout, their number is on my speed dial.” I already know what I’m getting after several years of dining here and practically trying everything on the menu. Vitamin A juice refresher, scallop roll, and a nice bowl of udon.

“You call a $7 California roll ‘not that bad’?” Mike asks checking the prices.

“At Nobu it’s like double.” I reply as I gaze around the packed restaurant. It’s never felt better to be back in LA. I used to always see it as just the place where I worked. But these beautiful show biz people, they’re my people. Hollywood is my home. It’s funny that I had to go all the way to New York and Boston to see it.

“Ambrosia?” Mike asks me after we order our dinner.

“Yeah?” I ask turning my gaze away from Blake Lively and fellow-Vancouverite Ryan Reynolds. I jokingly told Greg that I kissed Ryan underneath the jungle gym when we were seven. Greg being Greg believed me despite the fact that Ryan is twelve years older than me. Of course Ivy and I told Greg the truth before he went and shouted my lie from the roof tops. But it was still pretty funny.

“I’m buying you dinner. In exchange I think you should now tell me how you got a Boston Bruins Stanley Cup ring.” Mike says as I sip my tea.

I almost forgot I had it on, it feels like I’m wearing a napkin ring more than anything. “Haven’t you heard, I’m the backup goalie” I sigh as I swirl the green liquid in my ceramic cup “My boyfriend works for the Bruins.”

“Can I see?”

“Sure.” I reply handing it to him. It must suck to see the reward for something within your reach. Suddenly I imagine Mike tossing the ring out the giant glass window in front of Katsuya. Maybe I’m not as responsible as Milan thought.

Fortunately Mike does the sane thing and gives me back the ring all in one piece without any struggle. “Really? Lucic?” he asks.

I forgot that they have their names engraved on the sides “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You know what I mean. I just figured you’d go for someone like Seguin or Bergeron.”

“Well Seguin’s like twelve and Bergeron says ‘aboot’ instead of about. So neither is really up to my standard.” I mean from the ten minutes I’ve spent with them they seem like nice people but… let’s just say Milan doesn’t have to worry about me leaving for any of his teammates.

“You run a tight ship Ambrosia?”

“Not really…” I admit hoping my newly arrived juice refresher would perk me up. It’s times like this I wish I drank alcohol so I could jus It’s times like this I wish I could just drink away my sorrows.

“Is that why you’re sad about your trip to Boston? Because your boyfriend cheated on you and gave you his Stanley Cup to stay with him?”

“No… I think it might be worse.” I look up from my drink expecting Mike’s eyes to be on a pretty brunette who just walked by but his eyes are on mine. Could it be that he’s actually…listening to me? “I came to surprise him and found out that… he was still living with his ex, Brittany.” It feels good to get that off my chest.

“How is that worse?” Mike asks as his blue crab roll arrives.

“It just is. She’s been with him longer than I have. And she seems more…likable than I am. I’m not sure how I follow an act like that.” I mix a tiny piece of wasabi into the soy sauce in my tiny dish.

“You can’t use chopsticks properly.” I say looking at the stainless steel sticks in Mike’s hand.

He rolls his eyes at me “Care to show me how?”

“Sure,” I reply as I reconfigure the placement of his fingers.