"Everybody in Los Angeles has gotten at least two or three diamond engagement rings, right?" Nick asked Sarah as they drove north.  He knew that Sarah, with her addiction to US Weekly and all the gossip websites, would know.

"Well, I can only speak of celebrities," Sarah responded, "but yes, if you are a female celebrity in Los Angeles, California, engagement rings probably make up the bulk of your jewelry collection."

Nick looked puzzled.  "Isn`t there some kind of etiquette about returning a ring if you break the engagement?"

Sarah smiled.  "I think that only applies if the guy can`t necessarily afford to buy a small island without breaking a sweat," she told him.

Nick and Sarah had a friend who was in grad school at UCLA, so they were staying near him in Westwood.  They decided that Los Angeles was so much to tackle in only a few days that they would use their time in LA as a mini-vacation within their giant road trip.  Since they were staying at the W Hotel, they had a shot at seeing some celebrities, but mostly they wanted to lounge on the beach and visit with their friend from college.

Since navigating LA was nearly impossible for anyone from away, they were glad to have Bob as their co-pilot.  Sarah had already plugged in 930 Hilgard Ave., Los Angeles, California 90024.  They pulled up to the hotel and let the bellhops take their bags, and the valet take the Jeep.  Sarah was a member of the Starwoods Hotel club, so they got a discount on their room.  It was still expensive, but really beautiful. 

"We have reservations at Bliss tomorrow morning." Sarah reminded Nick.  She was looking forward to a massage and facial.  "And the best thing about these hotels is the free Bliss products in the rooms.  Remember to raid the housekeeper`s cart."  Sarah had been a big fan of Bliss products for years, and ordered from their website all the time.

They called Alan from their room to let him know they arrived unscathed.  He told them that he had made reservations for lunch and would pick them up in an hour.  They changed their clothes and relaxed by the pool until he called from the front of the hotel.

"Where are we going?" Sarah asked.

"It`s a surprise." Alan told her.

"You suck." Sarah said.

"I know." Alan responded, laughing at her.

They didn`t have to drive far, but it took a while.  Alan pulled up in front of The Palm and they got out.  Sarah stood there, open-mouthed.

"I`ve only ever seen it is magazines." She cooed.  "This is awesome."

Alan got between Nick and Sarah and put an arm around each.  "Yes, my friends, you might see a celebrity here."

Nick snorted.  "I wonder if any of them actually eat.  I`d pay to see that."

They got a booth, and Sarah couldn`t stop rubber-necking the whole time.  As she sat there munching away on her calamari, she saw Lindsay Lohan walk in with her girlfriend, Samantha Ronson.  She looked up, and then looked back down.

Nick nudged her.  He knew that Sarah found Lindsay Lohan to be the second most irritating of celebrities, after Paris Hilton.

"Is this going to ruin your meal?" Nick asked.

Sarah looked at him.  "Are you kidding?  I can`t wait to see if she actually eats anything."

Then she turned the discussion to Alan.  "How`s school?"  She asked.

"It`s good.  Interesting.  Well, interesting to me, anyway."  Alan, a grad student in physics, knew that Sarah`s love of science had ended when it started involving math.  "I`ll be spending next summer working on a project in Nebraska.  It`s a very cool opportunity."

"We were in Nebraska." Nick told him.  "We didn`t stop to do any physics, though."  Nick and Sarah laughed.

"Laugh it up, kids," Alan told them.  "You`ve got just as much nerd in you as I do."

"I doubt that." Nick said.

Alan leaned forward.  "Nicholas, did you or did you not study the clarinet as a child?" 

Nick hung his head. "Yes," he said quietly.

"And for how many years again?" Alan held a hand up to his ear as if to hear better.

"Six," he whispered, and pretended to weep with shame.  Sarah laughed at him.

"Hold on there, Miss," Alan went on.  Sarah looked up innocently.  "What was your minor in college again?"

"Fine," Sarah gave up.  "Studying Sanskrit for four years automatically puts me into the Nerd Club."

They chatted away over two bottles of white wine and, despite Sarah`s insistence that Sanskrit was a valid choice for someone who taught yoga all through college, agreed that they were all nerds.  They left laughing a few hours later. 

Then they returned to the hotel, where the three of them went to lounge by the pool.  They hung out and talked and laughed until the sun went down. 

"What are your plans for tonight?" Alan asked them.

"Duh," Sarah said.  "Griffith Park Observatory."

"Ah, yes," Alan nodded.  "I temporarily forgot your James Dean obsession." 

Sarah knew every line from `Rebel Without A Cause`, and had to see the place where that famous knife fight was filmed.

"Call me after," Alan suggested.  "We can have a few drinks."

Nick and Sarah went to their room.  Sarah put on her most 1950s outfit—capri pants, a bra that made her defy gravity, and a skin-tight, short-sleeved sweater.  They hopped in the Jeep and again Sarah reached for the trusty GPS. 

"2800 East Observatory Road, Los Angeles, CA 90027," she giggled as she entered the address.  "We get to `hop on the 405`," she said.  "That sounds so `L.A.`, doesn`t it?  `Hop on the 405`."  She said it a few more times, quietly, and then went silent as Nick steered their way past Studio City, past Universal City, and through a bit of Hollywood. 

"It`s surreal, isn`t it?" Nick said to Sarah.  "Like one giant movie set."

"I guess it kinda is," she told him.

When they got to the top of the hill where the Griffith Park Observatory sat, they sat in the Jeep for a few minutes and looked around.  Then they parked and got out.  After looking at the memorial bust of James Dean, Sarah retraced the steps from the movie`s knife fight as best she could.  Nick followed along in silence.  He knew she was having a moment.  He waited for her to speak.  After several minutes, they went to look through a few of the coin-operated telescopes that let them look into the LA Basin and the mountains around them.  Then they went inside to check out the stars through the Zeiss Telescope.  It was another perfectly clear night in Los Angeles, and they had an amazing view of the moon and stars.

From there, they steered to Mulholland Drive to check out the famous view of the Hollywood sign. 

"This city is enormous," Sarah commented.  It spread out in front of them and didn`t seem to end.  "How long would it take us to really see everything there is to see, do you think?"

Nick thought for a minute.  "Weeks.  Months.  Who knows?"  He put his arm around Sarah and they shared a kiss.  Then they laughed.  They both knew what a clich? it was to smooch in this very spot.  For a while, they stood there, leaning on each other without speaking. 

On the way back to the hotel, they called Alan again, who agreed to meet them in the hotel`s bar, Whiskey Blue.  When he showed up, there was a smattering of famous people around, but Sarah played it cool as the three of them sampled from the enormous martini menu.  They each tried several as they moved between the patio and the inside of the bar, and they all ended up drunk enough that Alan spent the night on the couch in their room.

When they woke up, hungover and a little miserable, Alan drove home and Nick and Sarah reveled in the idea that they were having a spa morning.  As Sarah got out of the shower and was gently, gently towel-drying her hair, she spoke softly to Nick as he poured the coffee that room service had just delivered.

"Thank God we have massages this morning.  My head is killing me."

Nick nodded slowly but didn`t speak.  They quietly dressed and went to the Bliss Spa in the hotel.  They were each having a deep-tissue massage with the deep-sea detox treatment and the triple-oxygen facial that Sarah had read was what all the celebrities did to look refreshed on the red carpet.

"Red carpet or not," Sarah said, "I need refreshing, bad."

Nick smiled and nodded again. 

The spa was about the coolest place they had been.  It was serene and beautiful and they were spoiled rotten for three hours.  The only painful part was the waxing.  Sarah was used to it, but Nick screamed like a child after he submitted to Sarah`s request to separate his eyebrows.

"I love you either way, Nicky," she had told him. "But really, humans are supposed to have TWO eyebrows."  Nick looked in the mirror as Sarah and the aesthetician looked on.  There were only a few hairs connecting them, really, so he didn`t see what the big deal was.  But he relented, if only to make his girlfriend happy.

Sarah raised one eyebrow as she looked at him afterwards.  "Just be glad you don`t have much chest hair."

"Believe me," Nick said, "I am."

Afterwards, feeling totally relaxed, Nick and Sarah changed into their bathing suits and headed for Malibu Beach.  Sarah had programmed Bob the GPS very specifically.  21150 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu, CA 90265.  They wanted to lie on the beach near Duke`s Malibu, home of the Barefoot Bar and famous Hula Pie.  They stretched out on lounge chairs and napped in the sun for an hour or so, had a quick swim, then napped again.  After yawning and stretching themselves back to life, they walked into the Barefoot Bar to have some crispy coconut shrimp and a few Coronas with lime.  Their eyes were half-open and they both leaned back in their chairs, still completely relaxed. They weren`t in a hurry to go anywhere. 

Tanned and happy, they again returned to the hotel to shower and put on their nice clothes again before heading to Beverly Hills to go to the world famous Tiffany & Co.  Nick put on black pants and a button-down shirt Sarah had given him for his birthday last year.  Sarah put on her favorite dress, a knee-length, red strapless Susana Monaco that never wrinkled.  She paired it with red fake-crocodile heels.  Then they set out on their mission.

"I almost feel unworthy," Sarah told Nick as they walked down Rodeo Drive to the store.

"You are SO worthy," Nick said as he stopped her and kissed her.  "You are beautiful and amazing and deserve a ring that everyone in the world envies.  Just go back to the relaxed, happy place in your head.  You`ve been there all day.  Don`t stop now."

Sarah smiled and took his hand.  They walked in and began to look at some of the most beautiful—and expensive—jewelry they`d ever seen.  To save time, Sarah immediately zeroed in on engagement rings with emerald-cut diamonds—her favorite.

A woman approached them.  "What can I do for you?" She asked.

Sarah looked at her and smiled.  "I`m interested in platinum or white gold with an emerald-cut stone.  A solitaire.  Nothing too fancy."

The woman began to reach into the case for several different rings and put them in a display, chatting all the way, finding out Nick and Sarah`s names and price ranges.  Nick looked around and saw that the store was the most beautiful fortress he`d ever seen.  Cameras and security were everywhere, but hidden enough so they weren`t intrusive.  Sarah began trying on rings.

"I`m a little parched," Sarah said.  "Do you have water?"

"Certainly," the woman said.  "Sparkling?"

"That would be lovely," Sarah told her.  The woman looked at Nick, who just shook his head, and then she spoke to another of the associates there, asking her to get sparkling water for Sarah.

Sarah was wearing her favorite of the rings.  She smiled.  "Dare I ask?" She said.

The woman smiled.  "This one, platinum with a solitaire setting and a 1.5 carat emerald-cut diamond, is $21,500."  She reached for a jeweler`s loupe.  "But look at the clarity of this diamond, Sarah."

Sarah looked.  It was nearly flawless.  The she looked up at Nick through the loupe.  He took it out of her hand and pulled her towards him.  Then he picked up her left hand and looked at the ring.

"It is truly amazing," he said.  "No one is more worth it than you are, babe."

Sarah slid the ring off of her finger after one last, lingering glance.  "I`ll send him back later so he can surprise me," she said.  Although the woman had a variety of slick closings to try and seal the deal right there, Nick and Sarah managed to leave without spending anything or offending anyone.

"They`re so good," Nick said.  "I almost feel guilty for not buying today."

They walked to the Jeep and drove to the hotel.  They thought about calling it a night.

"Let`s go to SkyBar," Sarah suggested.  "We`re all dressed up and look so hot, after all."

"Dying to see more famous people, aren`t you?" Nick smiled at her.

She kissed him on the nose. "And if you weren`t here, I`d be getting famous people to buy me drinks," she told him.

"I have no doubt you would, baby.  No doubt at all."

Nick hit the "Whatever/Whenever" button on the hotel phone to arrange a car to take them to SkyBar.  They were, after all, partying like the rich and famous tonight.  It was their chance to be "So L.A." before they got back on the road, and they wanted to make the most of it.