A Jock and a Nerd (Private: TwiDashPie)

[HighSpeedChase]

There was barely any wind in Ponyville that afternoon, though the sun was constantly being blocked from the clouds. Every so often the sun would peek out to greet the ponies from below, but then it would hide back behind it's clouds. It was a little chilly outside, but not as bad as a winter night. No sign of rain, and no sign of a storm. A perfect time to exercise.

Gail had her first summer track meet next week, which made her a little excited and anxious. Once she saw that on her calendar, she busted her lion bottom up and flew right out of her hotel. She was originally just there to keep watch of the other athletic ponies, but now she actually had something to do.

Once she got outside, she immediately felt the warmish cool air hit her feathers. This type of weather was her favorite, so feeling this outside gave her more motivation to practice her flying, or more so agility. The griffon smirked at the weather outside, thinking in her head that it was perfect. She lingered in the air for a few seconds, brushing her talons through her large head feathers to make sure they said back. Then, she took off as fast as she could, looking like a lightening strike. As she flew past all the ponies, she could hear their shocked breaths, being that she was so close to knocking into them. That or her wings were pretty much cutting through the air, creating a jet like sound. You know, like when an airplane is close by and you can hear it.

Anyway, she was flying really fast. Suddenly, she shot up into the sky, creating what sounds like when a firework explodes into the air. Gail then turn to the right, heading towards the Ponyville park. Once she got to the park, she lingered in the air again, looking around to see some fillies playing, some ponies just talking with their friends, and a couple reading peacefully to themselves. Gail had a small grin on her face before she took off at top speed again. Once she was flying fast again, she used the trees as hurdles to get over. She would weave around them, then go over the top, trying to get more air. The tall griffon then did some flips into the air, some twists, and other agile like things.

Finally she stopped and took a small breather for a second, landing onto the ground to catch her breath. "That was a great warm up," she said to herself, hopefully getting some other's eyes on her. She looked around, only a couple looking at her. They were probably looking at her because she was a griffon, and the last time a griffon was there, it wasn't that good of a time. The thought got into her head, but she shrugged it off. She only heard of that story, of a griffon that was good friends with a certain popular blue Pegasus, but she didn't know if it was true.

Anyway, the thought left her head, causing her to launch up into the air again. She powered herself towards a bench, not noticing a lavender pony reading a book on it. She could only see the side of the bench where she was at. Gail's idea was to act like she was going to run into it, but then she'd twirl herself up and over the bench to freak other's out. What happened instead, was that she couldn't control her own speed because she was flying so fast. Her blue eyes widened as she clipped the bench with her arms, causing the bench to tip over from all the momentum, making Gail land right onto the unicorn. The bench landed on both the girls, causing the two to be trapped underneath it. "Oh.. oww.. Why does my head hurt so bad..?" she mumbled to herself, feeling the extra weight on her back. Her blue and black feathers were lightly floating in the air, finally landing onto the ground. She noticed she was on top of another pony, making her moan in annoyance. Why did this always happen?

[TwiDashPie]

It was a beautiful cloudy afternoon in Ponyville, which means many ponies were outside, most of them playing sports or walking around. It was so nice even a pony like Lavender Quill couldn't ignore the weather and stay inside. Lavender had decided it was way too nice to stay inside, even though she didn't like going outside at all. However, she figured that she was see something that may give her inspiration for her latest book. So she stepped outside and shut the door behind her. She started to walk around, mostly avoiding ponies, she didn't want to socialize. She looked around and adjusted her saddle bags, which had her cutie mark on them. She continued to walk, seeing nothing inspirational, new, or even different. She sighed and started to regret coming out, thinking she could find some ideas in this small town.  Nothing hardly ever happens, well, the only thing that's happened was the rise of six ponies who became heroes. 

Lavender snapped out of her thoughts at the sound of a firework. She looked around for any trace of the sound, but found none. She looked back and saw she was at the entrance to the park, too late to go back now. She walked in, finding a bench that was a good enough distance away from other ponies. She sat down, pulled a book out of her saddle bags, and started to read. She had read this one almost a million times, she groaned at the fact she didn't think of grabbing a book she had read less times. She had read every book in her library, so there was none she hadn't read. She once again snapped out of her thoughts at the feeling of the bench start to tip. It all happened to quick for her to have a chance to react, the bench and somepony else falling on top of her, her losing control of the levitation spell on her book, her saddle bags spilling and stuff going everywhere. She groaned when she opened her eyes again. She felt the bench and somepony, wait, she turned around and saw a griffon on top of her. Lavender yelped in surprise and teleported a few feet from the griffon. "Watch where you're going, you stupid griffon!" She yelled, being very annoyed. 

[HighSpeedChase]

Well that wasn't the reaction Gail expected. I mean, every time she run into somepony they get really annoyed and upset, but the unicorn seemed beyond that. It kind of made Gail feel bad in a sense. She suddenly felt the unicorn vanish from underneath her, causing the griffon to land face first into the dirt path. The bench fell onto her even harder, making her lose her breath for a second. The griffon laid on the ground for a second to catch her breath and grab enough strength to pull the bench off of her. Once she got enough power, she flipped herself onto her back and threw the bench off of her. The mainly blue griffon then stood up on her claws and paws, grabbing the bench again and putting it back on it's rightful spot.

Gail turned around to face the mad unicorn, her eyes looking apologetic. Normally she would blame the other pony for getting in her way, but she knew it was her fault for getting in this mess. "Look, dude, I didn't mean to bump into you," she started, realizing the word "bump" was an under exaggerated term to use. It was more like "crash". "I thought I would look cool flying over a bench, but I didn't see you there. Um," she paused, looking at her spilled bag. "Let me help you."

The tomboy started to pick up some papers and a couple quills that were on the ground with her talons. She placed them in her saddlebag slowly so she wouldn't make the unicorn even more mad. She stopped helping the unicorn and just stood there looking at her. Her lion tail was slowly waving back and forth from nervousness. She just felt bad. "Sorry I was ignorant in the fact that you were on the bench. I couldn't see you from where I was at. But you acting rude to me won't help any of us," she said with a grouchy tone. Her head was pounding out of her head, or so she thought. The ache on her head was so bad that she had to wince every time she felt it. Her placed one of her claws on her head, tightly closing her eyes. "Oh, and thanks for vanishing underneath me. The bench hitting my head totally didn't hurt at all," she said sarcastically. "I'm totally okay. Don't worry 'bout me. I'm just a little dizzy," she continued with her sarcasm, besides the last part. She was getting a little dizzy.

Gail fumbled backwards, falling onto her butt. Her head was starting to clear up a little more after sitting down. She could she her feathers scattered everywhere though, which made her know that the fall was hard. "Are you at least okay? You had me, and the bench on top of you," Gail asked the grumpy mare. She didn't want to make her anymore mad, though she was getting annoyed herself.

[TwiDashPie]

Lavender Quill fumed at the griffon, she was extremely angry at the fact the griffon was being reckless. Of course, she should've expected this once she learned this was a griffon. After all, griffons were always rude and reckless, or well that's what Lavender thought. She glared at the griffon as she tried to apologize and help her. She levitated her saddle bags away and put them on her back.

"Well, 'dude', first of all, 'bump' is a total under exaggeration. You tipped over the entire bench for Celestia's sake!" She groaned in annoyance before continuing. "Second, yes I'm fine and you should've expected it, what else would a pony do in that situation? Let you stay on top of them? Oh give me a break." She rolled her eyes before continuing once again. "Also you still should've been looking where you were flying! You could've hit a foal! Also, sarcasm won't help any of us." She adjusted her saddle bags and made sure everything was in them, before continuing again. "Though, I can't say I can blame you, after all, you are a griffon, it's in your nature to be totally reckless and boastful." She replied, still being mad. 
Lavender observed the griffon, truthfully she had never seen one before. She could probably make a story about a griffon crashing into a pony and being a jerk to the pony, which was happening right now, or, well, that's what Lavender thought was happening currently with her and this griffon. 

[HighSpeedChase]

Gail was getting extremely angry now. She didn't understand why the unicorn was so rude. And she was obviously ignorant to the fact that all griffons are NOT rude and reckless creatures. Most like to spend time by themselves, away from others. And sense Gail grew up around magical colored ponies, she didn't act like a normal griffon would. "Woah, woah, woah. Spitting venom out now, aren't 'ya?" she said lightly, keeping her prideful stance away from the mare. The griffon flicked her tail in annoyance, rolling her eyes whenever the bookworm would say something.

Then the unicorn said something that completely made her blood boil. Gail's face turned red, her eyes darting out daggers. "You are literally the most ignorant pony I have ever met in my entire life! First, I was watching where I was flying! I just didn't see you on that bench. Obviously you're were too invested in that stupid book of yours to look up and see for yourself. Secondly, I'm only using sarcasm to make light of the situation, which obviously isn't working out. I'm trying to make you laugh, but you're too stuck up to do so I guess. Third, you also seem to have never met a griffon before! I'm not like the others, you idiot. I grew up with ponies since I was born. I'm not like them.. I mean, I'm sometimes reckless and sometimes a little too boastful.. but I just like seeing other's reactions, okay? I was just trying to get warmed up to exercise today because I have my first track meet this summer soon, but your grumpy 'tude is stopping me in my tracks!" she ranted, her head starting to throb again.

The griffon took a long look at the unicorn, seeing her facial expression not change from being mad. Gail's tail was whipping left and right faster than before, showing her upset nature. Her blue eyes settled out a little more, her heart going back to it's original speed. She was just done with ponies judging her on what species she was. She was technically half unicorn after all, but got all her dad's griffon looks. She didn't know how that actually worked out, but she didn't mind. Anyway, she took her eyes off the purple pony, sighing at the situation. "I already apologized and stuff. I don't know what else you want from me," she said in her raspy tomboy voice.

Gail slowly wrapped her tail about her paws, looking back up at the unicorn again. Her head was still pounding, causing her to continue to wince in pain. She was thinking she had a concussion, but she wasn't throwing up or passing out or anything, which was a good sign. She wouldn't be able to race if that was the case. Still, it freaked her out because she didn't want to be ground bounded until it got cured. Though she loves to run, she doesn't want to walk all the time. She loves the wind in her face when she flies.

[TwiDashPie]

Lavender Quill was outraged at the griffon now. She couldn't believe the way this griffon was acting. The griffon obviously didn't realize that she was making a fool of herself, getting angry and everything. Lavender listened to her rant, thinking the whole time this griffon is being foolish, thinking she could just insult Lavender and get away with it. She opened her mouth to yell back, however, the words the griffon said started to sink in. She felt her heart soften and her angered expression turn to a look of realization and regret.  She had definitely overreacted, no doubt about it. Truthfully, Lavender had never met a griffon before and sadly went by the stereotypical things she was taught as a filly.

She sighed and remembered her time in school. She was homeschooled for reasons her parents wouldn't tell her. They had hired a tutor for her, and the tutor taught her for almost her entire fillyhood. There was a time, though, when she went to school with the other fillies and colts. She didn't realize that she had started to smile faintly and was starting to have tears in her eyes. That time had only lasted for a couple of years though. She was different back then, she was kind, thoughtful, and helpful. She was an entirely different pony back then, what had changed that? She had friends who loved and cared for her and she felt the same towards them. She felt her smile drop and was tearing up for a different reason. The tutor, they had changed her somehow. They made her into the pony she was today. Lavender snapped out of her thoughts and looked at the griffon. She sighed and let her saddle bags drop to the ground. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have reacted like that, it was clearly an accident. It's fine if you hate me now, you probably do." She said before walking away. 

[HighSpeedChase]

Gail watched as the unicorn's facial expression changed from mad, annoyed, a little upset, then to sad, and apologetic. The griffon didn't know half the things going on in the mare's head, but maybe it was a good thing. It made Gail start to think. She was thinking about what was going on in the purple unicorn's head. She was also thinking about why she was so mean in the first place when Gail's crash was an obvious accident. It's not like she wanted to run into a stranger that would get mad at her. She hated getting yelled at for her own mistakes. It made her feel kind of worthless. And when she felt worthless, she becomes depressed. But now since she was overthinking everything, she violently shook her head to get her thoughts out. It caused her headache to get even worse, but she ignored her pain.

The fluffy griffon took in a sharp breath once she saw the unicorn open her mouth. She thought the stranger was going to give her more insults, making Gail feel even worse. Gail cringed inside, over thinking what the unicorn was going to say. But then an unexpected thing happened. The nerd apologized. For what? For overreacting. Gail was shocked. "No.. You had the right to be angry with me. I was being an idiot, not thinking of my actions beforehoof. I don't know why I did that.. Just for attention I guess," Gail said in a soft tone. She wanted to be nice to the unicorn so she wouldn't blow up on her again. Besides, Gail felt like this pony could be important.

She watched as the unicorn started to walk away, making Gail panic a little. "Wait!" the griffon shouted, reaching her arm out towards the mare. She then ran over to her, trying to catch up. Once she was caught up, her head started pounding. She winced, then opened her mouth. "I don't hate you, dude. You had the right, like I said before. I'm not going to hate you over a dumb mistake I made," she said honestly. "And I can make it up to you too. I'll take you out to eat and pay or something," she offered, feeling guilty.

Gail started to walk a little slower, her head keeping her from walking any faster. She was still a little dizzy from the collision, which surprised her because she thought it would be gone by now. Maybe she did have a concussion. The tall griffon shook her head from the thought, then caught up with the mare again. Something was wrong with her, but she didn't know what.

[TwiDashPie]

Lavender Quill sighed as she walked away, barely listening to the griffon who was trying to be nice to her. She hated herself for being so rude to the griffon. She hated that she had to be so rude to any pony she met. She hated that she couldn't change herself, no matter how hard she tried. She had tried so hard in the past, but her attempts were worthless. After all, who would want to be friends with her? No pony, that's who, and she had learned that the hard way. The first time she had tried to make a friend after she changed ended horribly, it was so bad, she'd prefer not to talk about it. She never wanted that to happen again. She snapped out of her thoughts upon hearing the griffon shout and run up to her. 

Lavender looked over at the griffon confused. Why was she stopping her? She couldn't help but think to herself. She listened to the griffon as she told her that she didn't hate her and that she could make it up to her. She thought about yelling at the griffon again to leave her alone. She almost immediately blocked that thought out. She wanted to try again, she wanted to make a friend. She would do anything to make a friend, though, she didn't know how. It had been too long since she last made and had one. "Well, we could go out to eat somewhere, it's not too early for dinner. However, I'm paying, have any suggestions?" She asked hopefully. 

[HighSpeedChase]

Gail really needed to stop assuming things with this mare, because every time Gail thought the unicorn was going to be rude, she turned out to be somewhat nice. It would surprise her every time, but that was a good thing. The griffon smiled at the unicorn accepting her offer. Gail just felt so bad for crashing into her, so taking her out seem like a logical thing to do.

Now it was time to decide where they would go to eat. She knew there was a fast food restaurant not far from the park, which was even a good enough place for a princess to eat at. The griffon thought that was a good enough place to go, even though she didn't like greasy food. But it was cheap there, and since the unicorn said she would pay (which Gail wasn't too fond of), she didn't want to go to some large fancy restaurant that would cost a fortune. "How does that fast food place down the street sound to you? It's pretty cheap there, so you won't be paying one hundred thousand bits there," she said. "'Course there is also a café on the other side of town, if you're a healthy eater. I don't really care," she said. "But I can see you don't exercise too much, so we can walk to the fast food place."

Gail didn't know entirely sure where the place was, because she didn't go to Ponyville too often. She just heard from a close by conversation that there was a place near the park. She was lucky there was a small map of town next to the welcome sign of the park, so she just quickly walked over to the map and took a quick glance. Of course she could've just asked the unicorn where it was at, but the griffon was too independent. She wanted to figure it out on her own, because she thought it was her duty to make up for her mistakes. So asking for help wouldn't really be making up for anything.

Once she figured out where the restaurant was, she looked around her surrounding to find the right path. "Ah, there it is," she said to herself, looking forward. "Okay, just follow me. I know exactly where it's at, 'cause it's not like I totally didn't know where it was at," the griffon said sarcastically with a grin on her face. "Don't worry, though. I know where I'm goin'. What's your name by the way?"

[TwiDashPie]

Lavender Quill couldn't believe what she was hearing. The griffon actually went along with it, it went so much better than expected. She smiled while listening to the griffon talk about places to eat, though slightly frowned upon hearing the griffon mentioning that she can see that she doesn't exercise much. It was nice to finally get along with some pony or um griffon after so long of being alone. Even if the first impressions and their meeting wasn't that great. However, that was in the past, with the old Lavender. Right now all Lavender wanted to focus on is making a friend and being the pony she used to be. Though she could already tell it was going to be hard. She could feel old habits rising in her, like yelling at the griffon for calling her out on not exercising much. Or make up some stupid excuse on why she couldn't go, even though she could. She quickly ignored those thoughts and focused on the griffon who was still talking.

Lavender snapped out of her thoughts upon hearing the griffon ask for her name. "Lavender Quill, yours?" She asked, still trying to get used to being friendly. It was challenging, even without her old habits, she would have to catch herself if she was about to say something rude, which happened very often now. She could do it, though, she was determined to make this right with the griffon, even if it meant giving up the life she used to have before she met this griffon. 

[HighSpeedChase]

"I like your name," she said, nodding her head. "The name's Gail," the griffon responded in her raspy boyish voice. "Of course my name would be no surprise to you, 'cause it starts with a G, but that makes sense for a griffon. Though I wonder why ponies don't have names that start with a P. Maybe to make sense with their cutie marks or whatever. I don't even know," she said, rambling on for no reason. She caught herself before she was going to say more, not wanting to annoy the unicorn with her random nervous talking. Yes, she was nervous. She didn't want to mess up a chance to make a new friend. She had tons of friends already, but she liked meeting new ponies to chill out with.

Gail noticed Lavender frown when the griffon said something about how she doesn't seem to exercise much, and she knew the unicorn wanted to yell at her, but she ended up not doing so. "Sorry, I didn't mean that negatively," Gail said, softness in her voice. "Sometimes I say stuff that aren't meant to be takin' a certain way. I don't mean to, it just happens." Gail flicked her tail, giving out a little sigh. "I meant that you're not an outdoor pony. You seem like you like indoors and books.. and.. more books," she observed. "And looking at your cutie mark, it seems you like to write as well." The griffon smiled.

The blue, black, and yellow griffon started to walk towards the restaurant, hopefully the unicorn following close behind. "Y'know, I think we can bond from that, writing stories and stuff. But not the reading books part, I can't find motivation to continue reading one. And I'm really picky with fiction," she said. "But I used to write stories 24/7, 'cause I would constantly get nervous before a race or a game. I would put my anxiety in a little short story and read it to myself, just to see how silly I was being. I don't know if that's normal or not, but I still kind of do it after a few years of my career."

She turned the corner, searching for the restaurant. She knew it was a larger building, painted red with tan-ish outlines to bring the place out more. She's seen this particular restaurant before, in Cantorlot and even CloudsDale, but she was just having a hard time finding the location. Gail started to hum impatiently, continuing to follow the path she was on.

[TwiDashPie]

Lavender Quill smiled and listened to the griffon talk. She listened as she started to ramble on for no reason, but she didn't care. She would just make occasional comments, like, when the griffon said her name was Gail, she said "Oh, that's a nice name." and like when she started to talk about writing stories, she would say stuff like "Oh, I also write when I'm nervous." or "I'm not sure if it's normal, but I don't care.". She was really enjoying spending time with this griffon. She seemed nice and stuff, even if she did accidentally call her out for not exercising. She continued to follow the griffon, when, after a while, something seemed very clear. This griffon had no idea where she was going, she thought about ways to help the griffon and not seem rude at the same time. However, any option that came to mind, either one or the other wasn't in there. So she continued to walk in silence, following Gail close behind. 

After a while, Lavender finally spoke up "Um, I can't help but notice you don't seem to know where you're going, could I be of assistance?" She asked before internally face hoofing at the stupidity of that question. Great, just great, better hope I didn't blow it, Lavender thought to herself. She regretted saying it in that way. "Um, I mean, sorry....I don't mean it that way..I just want to know if you need any help getting to the fast food place." Lavender said, hoping the griffon didn't take her first statement the wrong way. 

[HighSpeedChase]

The griffon looked everywhere from where they were at, trying to find the bright building. It seemed like the park was vanishing behind them as they continued to walk. Gail's anxiety was getting the best of her, making her heart beat a lot after then it was originally. Her tail was weaving back and forth, her nervousness causing her to bite the bottom of her beak. Her kept her glance at the ground, her heart stopping when the unicorn asked for help. The griffon wanted to figure this out on her own. "Um, no. I don't need any help. I know exactly where I'm going," she said, trying to hold her nervous voice back. Suddenly the unicorn started to apologize for asking. Gail looked back, locking eyes with the mare. "Why are you apologizing? All I got from that question is that you want to help me, which is certainly a good sign, dude," she said, starting to walk again.

They continued to walk some more, the trees becoming less and less visible. Gail really had no idea where they were now, and she was kicking herself (not literally) because her stubborn nature had kicked in. She should've just taken Lavender's help. She felt stupid for not doing so. But she also didn't want to ruin her cool reputation of always knowing where she's at. So after taking a few steps, and after thinking about the situation a little more, she opened her mouth. "Yeah, I literally have no clue where we are. I just wanted to be cool and act like I knew where I was going. In actuality, I haven't been in Ponyville in a few months, so everything seems new to me again. Usually I know where I'm going, but this time I don't. Shocking, I know. I could tell you were cringing in your hooves every time I took the wrong turn. Sorry 'bout that," she ranted.

A large wave of guilt threw the griffon in a loop. She now felt a little dumb for one, not taking her help, and two, for admitting her stupidity. She just wanted to get to the restaurant and get some food, because she was starving from the crash. Of course though, she had to mess up the plans. Gail was practically beating herself up in the head. "Anyway, yeah, I need your help. You should know where we are going.. right?"

[TwiDashPie]

Lavender Quill was deep in thought while walking. She couldn't stop thinking about how she was probably gonna do something bad and Gail would reject her. She was so lost in her thoughts she barely heard the griffon's response to her question. She wanted a friend so bad, however, she didn't want to seem desperate and didn't want to rush things. After all, she had only met this griffon less than an hour ago, it's not like they were instantly friends, even if they were going to have lunch together. She remembered when she made her first friend, it was such a long time ago, though, she could remember that they were inseparable. Until....the incident..., which she'd prefer not to talk about. Lavender kept thinking about her fillyhood and how after she changed, she went back to school for a few days, mostly because her parents were starting to get low on money. She remembered getting bullied on her first day back, being called a nerd and so many other things. She hated it all, maybe that also caused her to change. 

Lavender snapped out of her thoughts upon hearing the griffon asking if she knew where they were going. "Oh um yes, follow me." She replied before starting to trot ahead of the griffon towards the restaurant. She sighed, no matter what, she still regretted the way she acted towards Gail. Clearly it was an accident, however, at the time, Lavender didn't realize that and overreacted. She once again snapped out of her thoughts upon realizing they were there "Oh, we're here." She said to Gail, before turning around to look at her. 

[HighSpeedChase]

"Wow, you really do know where you're goin', huh? You found this place in a jiffy. Magical worker is what you seem to be," Gail said as they approached the fast food place. It actually looked cleaner than what Cantorlot's looked like, which was incredibly surprising. Maybe Ponyville took things seriously around here. "Thanks for helpin' me out, homie. You're the best," she said, not realizing what came out of her mouth. The griffon then opened the door, making Lavender go in first. She followed afterwards, taking a good look at the place. "Wow, it's literally spotless in here! You'd think a trashy place like this would have garbage anywhere, but the only place that has garage is the trashcan," the griffon said, a large smile on her face. "Oh my Celestia, the smell in here is heavenly. I literally forgot what it was like to be in here."

Gail stretched her smaller than average wings out in excitement, looking around at all the ponies eating. "The food here doesn't look that greasy either. Maybe it was a step up from the last time I was here." She pranced over to the ordering counter, looking at the menu. Gail then looked over at the purple unicorn, giving her a large smile. "What do you normally get here? I think I got a hayburger last time with some horseshoe fries. I might get that again with some water," she said. "I've seriously haven't been to a fast food joint in a while. I'm always too cautious to eat in places like these because I think it's unhealthy. Lookin' at the nutrition facts though, it doesn't look all that bad. Maybe not good to eat everyday, but y'know what I mean," she ranted once again. She didn't know why she was talking so much. She just felt comfortable talking to the unicorn.

After thinking for a second, something popped in her head. Was Lavender actually going to pay? Gail huffed, feeling guilty for letting her pay. After forgiving her stupidness and helping her find this restaurant, she felt bad for letting her do that. "Lav," she started, a new nickname she randomly thought of for her acquaintance. "I think I should pay. I mean, you forgave me for my ignorance and helped me find this place out. I think it's my turn to do something. After all, I wanted to take you out to make up for my mistakes. I would love to pay, if you don't mind."