California Dreaming

                                    

                                          
 We touched down at LAX on November 24th, right on 6am. It was so early, but coming from another time zone meant we were awake anyway. We were off the plane quickly, straight through immigration and exiting arrivals with our bags thirty minutes after landing, so it was pretty seamless and stress-free. Luiz was waiting, trying to get us out of there un-noticed so Oli walked ahead with his hood up, going straight past the couple of photographers loitering about while I trailed behind. I thought we'd pulled off the impossible as I passed them, but then they noticed me and starting firing questions. Ugh. At least Oli got past without being bothered. I ignored the flashes and didn't reply to anything as Luiz whisked us out to a waiting car and we jumped in the back, then we headed off into the city.
 Oli and I had five days together in Los Angeles before he had to fly back to London for rehearsals and we had some fun plans for our time. We were going to spend a day at Universal Studios with Behati and her partner, Pete Wentz was throwing a Thanksgiving party that we were attending and we were going to make our first public appearance together at the American Music Awards. That show was always really fun and crazy, and walking the red carpet with Oli was going to be amazing. I unfortunately had a photoshoot that I couldn't get out of too, but Oli was going to come and watch, so five days was going to go by so quickly.
 Oli and I stayed at my apartment, the one I shared with Behati. She kindly offered to stay with her boyfriend for the five days Oli was in town so that we could have the place to ourselves, so of course I accepted. We didn't have anything planned on the day we arrived, so we literally laid on the couch once we'd settled in and I'd thrown on some washing. "You know, I've been thinking about how we make this work..." I blurted out as we laid there. "I was thinking maybe I should buy an apartment in New York. I mean, it's where I started and it's much closer to England, but it's still easy for me to get to LA from there too..." I added, almost as though I were simply thinking out loud. I had never even really spoken to Oli about our future, about how we'd be together, but I was pretty sure he was as serious about me as I was about him. We could just take things as they came, but honestly, I didn't want to leave things up in the air with him like we had always done. I wanted something more secure. "You wouldn't ever move over here, would you?" I questioned a little shyly as I looked up at him. My question was a lot to spring on him and a hell of a lot to ask, but I just wanted to check if we were on the same page. To be honest, I wasn't even sure why I'd suddenly started thinking about our future so intensely... maybe just because being back in LA felt the most like 'the real world' to me, and Oli was now in it with me.
 "Are you asking me if we can move in together?" he replied playfully.
 "Sorry, that was a massive question when we're jetlagged and trying to relax." I stated.
 "It's OK, of course I want to live with you. I want to be with you all the time." he replied.
 "Me too. I guess LA isn't the best place though, too much paparazzi" I chuckled awkwardly.
 "Joy, wherever you are is where I want to be. I'll always keep my house in Sheffield, but if you want me to be here in LA when I'm not touring, I will be." he replied before kissing my head. I was kind of surprised to be honest... I really didn't think he'd ever consider moving to America.
 "I would never expect you to leave Sheffield!" I stated.
 "I would for you. I'd follow you anywhere you wanted to go." he replied sweetly. "Besides, it's not like I'd be leaving, I'd still have my house there. We're both always on the move anyway, it just means we'd have multiple places to call home." he added with a shrug. We talked about it a bit more and floated the idea of Los Angeles... I mean, I had outgrown my apartment with Behati and I wanted to put roots down somewhere, I just wasn't sure where now that Oli was in the picture. "To be honest, I've always wanted to live somewhere warm and sunny anyway. Sheffield is fucking shit in Winter." he said with a little smile. I loved the way he was open to everything. I guess that confirmed to me that we were as serious as I felt we were. I wasn't going to rush into looking at places, but I would keep it in the back of my mind. Having my very own place in LA, knowing that Oli would be happy to spend time there, felt like a wonderful idea and an exciting step in life and for progressing our relationship.