Love You Moore (5 page)

“
Very,” Abby said first smiling at
Jimmy then glaring at Holly.

Holly gave Abby a quick kiss on the cheek and
said,

“
I’ll see you later,” then leaned in to
whisper in her ear, “relax he seems nice….and plus he’s super
cute.”

Holly and Cliff rushed out of the door
leaving Abby alone with Jimmy, “ok great” she thought to herself “I
could be in here alone with a serial killer…that’s great.” she
looked again at Jimmy a bit nervously.

“
Would you like to sit down?” Jimmy
offered her a seat on the couch, “don’t worry, I’m not a serial
killer that preys on pretty young girls.”

Abby laughed, “and a mind reader too” again
thinking to herself.

Abby took a seat on the couch, Jimmy sat
respectfully on the other end.

“
So tell me about Burnt Chocolate.”
Abby said and grabbed one of the couch throw pillows and hugged it
to her like a security blanket.

“
Well it’s kind of an inside joke
between me and my mom” he started

“
That’s sweet” Abby thought to
herself.

“
I had gone home from LA to Mississippi
where my parents still live, ”

“
A southern boy…nice” thought
Abby.

“
I walked into the kitchen and my mom
was baking. She was melting chocolate for her cake that she was
baking because you know , no self respecting Southern Woman makes a
cake from a box, well I guess she lost track of what she was doing
and she scalded the chocolate on the stove top and I said…Wow smell
the burnt chocolate, she laughed and said, “that sounds like the
name of a rock band.” We both laughed and I told her if I ever
started up a band that’s what we would call ourselves. “Ladies and
Gentlemen…give it up for Burnt Chocolate!” Who doesn’t want to hear
that when being called on stage?” Jimmy laughed again.

He has a great laugh Abby concluded and he
cares for his parent that’s obvious too she thought. I bet my
parents would like him, “whoa getting a little ahead of ourselves
there Abby, slow down you don’t know this is going any further than
this conversation” her voice echoed in her head.

“
So tell me about you Abby Moore” Jimmy
expressed with interest.

“
Well, ” Abby started not knowing where
to begin, “I live in Thomaston with my mom and dad. I am an only
child, I’m 17 a Senior in high school and I just broke up with my
Jerk face boyfriend for the last time” she said emphasizing the
word “last.” She thought she saw a grin go across Jimmy’s face when
she mentioned that last part. “I don’t know what else you really
want to know” she said.

“
Well what do you like to do in your
spare time, what hobbies do you have, what are your likes and
dislikes?” Jimmy prodded.

“
Wow writing a book” she thought
sarcastically.

She thought for a minute, “I like
scrapbooking, I take a ton of pictures, I have a small area in my
room at home where I have some things set up. I try to give
personalized gifts sometimes for like Christmas or birthdays, I
once made a book for Billy chronicling his baseball career. I went
to the local paper and found old photos and write ups that they had
archived from his Little League days all the way through Grammar
and High School. I even asked his mother and his grandmother for
any photos or newspaper articles they may have had. I scanned them
and printed out copies and put them all in an album for him for
Christmas last year….” Abby trailed off remembering how she and
Billy had gone for a ride Christmas Eve. They had parked in one of
their usually make out spots, off the main road hidden deep in the
woods. Billy opened the wrapped gift with the handmade card and
looked at the first page and read what she had written inside the
cover,

“
Billy, I hope this brings back fond
memories and we can add new ones together, I Love you,
Abby.”

Billy had said “Oh thanks,” closed the cover
and tossed the book aside. “Now time for my real present” and he
pushed Abby down into the seat and got on top of her. This brought
a tear to Abby’s eye but she wiped it away hopefully before Jimmy
noticed.

“
That sounds like a great gift.” Jimmy
said and reached out to put his hand on hers noticing that she had
suddenly become a bit sad, “something like that would be special
for years.”

“
Yeah well I am not sure where it is
now” she said softly, “doesn’t matter anymore.”

“
What else interests you?” he asked
quickly trying to move away from the sore subject of her
ex-boyfriend.

“
I like just hanging out with my
friends mostly, Holly, she is my best friend, we are together just
about every day, I like going to the craft stores, buying supplies
for scrapbooking, I really am a paper hoarder.” She said
confidently and then giggled.

He liked her laugh, he thought her eyes
turned so bright when she laughed. He really did think she was very
pretty. Her friend Holly was a looker, but Abby was a different
kind of pretty, the kind of pretty that he preferred.

“
So what brought you here, are you
applying here for next year?” he inquired.

“
I don’t know” she said honestly, “I am
not sure what I am doing after graduation, I suppose I ought to
really start thinking about it though.

“
Well, what are your dreams, where do
you see yourself in 5, 10, 15 years?” he asked very
parental.

Abby giggled again,

“
I don’t know,” she did have a dream
that she went to any time things were bad between her and Billy or
if the memories of the accident came to haunt her. Did she want to
share them with him? She didn’t even tell Billy of these thoughts.
Why not she thought, she may never see Jimmy again so what did it
really matter.

“
Someday,” she said very quietly, “I
would like to live in a log cabin on a large piece of land, very
private. I want to have a lake and be surrounded by mountains. I
have to have fields of wildflowers. I want to watch my kids play as
I am sitting on my back porch. I want to have someone that loves me
as much as I love them beside me on that back porch.” She was
barely audible at that point.

They both sat quietly for a moment, Abby
afraid to look up and see his face. Would he looking at her as if
she was this pathetic girl and regretting talking to her in the
first place? He still had his hand on hers so maybe that was a good
thing. She looked up at him and he was looking at her with the
tenderest expression she had ever seen. She didn’t want to break
the silence and ruin the moment but didn’t want it to turn awkward
either.

“
What about you?” she finally asked.
“Tell me about you.”

“
Ah where to begin?” and he shifted his
hand so now he was more holding it than just covering
it.

“
I moved from a small town in
Mississippi, to LA when I graduated High School in. I had written a
few musical scores for the school plays and musicals and they seem
to be well received. My teachers said I had a rare talent and I
needed to nurture it. So, I thought I would try my hand at writing
for the big boys in Hollywood. I had sent a few demos out to the
movie studios and record execs while I was still in school. I
didn’t hear anything but I kept sending out songs. That April right
before Graduation, six months after I had started sending out the
demos, I got a call from an exec at Paramount, they were producing
a movie and their current composer and director were having
creative differences and decided to part ways, leaving them without
someone to develop a score for the movie. He said he had just been
listening to my CD and figured he had nothing to lose and decided
to give me a call. So I borrowed the airfare from my parents and
headed out to LA and I have been there ever since.” He ended with a
smile.

“
That’s pretty cool” Abby said to him,
“what other movies have you worked on?” really interested, she
liked listening to him talk, he had a soothing voice.

“
I have worked on a few, I don’t have a
mutually exclusive contract to any one studio so when I heard a new
movie was in production and I thought I could make some good music
for it, I would send out my demos and resume. After awhile I got a
pretty good reputation and word of mouth helped me get a few gigs.
One of the directors I had worked with, was talking to a friend of
his who just happen to be recording an new album and was told by
his label that he needed one last song and was just running on
empty. He couldn’t get anything down on paper that he thought would
be a hit. So, this director gave him my name. I got call, met with
the artist, listened to a couple of his songs he already had, to
get a feel of how the album flowed. I grabbed a pen and paper and
just started writing. Within two days he has his last song. It soon
became number one on the charts and after that I was getting calls
just about every day from Pop Princesses to Country Crooners. And
thus a career was born.” He ended.

“
Well, why did you decide to start
singing yourself, not that I am complaining” she teased “but I was
just what made you come out from behind the scenes right out in to
the spotlight?”

“
I didn’t need too, I was very happy
behind the scenes as a writer but when you put your heart and soul
into a song and the person recording the song, thinks she can take
a ballad, which she asked for by the way and turn it into a fast
beat that took all the feeling out of the melody, I just decided I
was going to write them and have them sung the way I wanted. I
still write for my friends if they need a song in a pinch, but I
don’t just write for anyone anymore. I write for myself.” Jimmy
exclaimed.

“
Good for you.” Abby professed and
repeating what Cliff had said earlier, “Why not get a taste of the
glory yourself, being the one out there having everyone screaming
to hear a song that you wrote and putting your face to the
music”

“
I wouldn’t go that far,” he laughed,
“and it’s not even for the money as performer. There is pretty good
money in writing and I made my fair share of it, invested a bunch
in high interest mutual funds, some stocks that did fairly well. I
also invested in some real estate, I’m a silent partner in a few
clubs and restaurants, which always gets you the best tables by the
way,” he winked at Abby and she blushed a bit. He was still holding
her hand, it felt very natural.

“
I’m not doing the college circuit for
the money or self exposure really, I just like getting out there
and getting my songs heard. I take what profits we make from doing
these concerts, give the crew, Mikey and Ben their share and I
donate my portion back to the college for help in funding the Arts.
I want the kids that have that desire to be performers, writers or
whatever the ability and the place to grow their
talents.”

Abby thought that was the most selfless thing
she had ever heard of. Did she find that one in a million guy? This
had to be too good to be true she feared.

Abby yawned, it had to be way past midnight
by now. She looked at the clock, 3:00am. Whoa.

“
Are you tired? Do you want me to take
you back to the dorm now?” he asked, disappointed.

“
No I’m fine” she stated “I don’t want
to go.” This put a wide smile on his face.

“
Do you at least want to call Holly to
tell her you are still alive and that I haven’t kidnapped you and
sold you into slavery?” He kidded.

“
Yeah I will call to see if she made it
back with Cliff ok.”

He noticed she tended to be more concerned
with others than herself, which made him feel a bit bad that she
always put herself last. If she were to let him, he would make her
feel like she was top priority all the time.

She hung up her cell phone.

“
She’s good, she was just getting ready
to call me in fact, to see if I were ready to be picked up.” She
paused for a minute, “I told her not to wait up, that she should go
to bed and I would be fine here.” Then she looked at him with a
harried expression “unless you are tired and want me to go, I’m
sorry I didn’t even think, you must be exhausted, I can call her
back” and opened her phone to call Holly back.

He grabbed her phone,

“
No, I don’t want you to leave either,
I like talking to you, it’s…nice”

He pulled her to him so she was leaning her
back to his chest and slinked down back onto the couch. Her head
rested on his shoulder and he now had both of her hands in his.

“
He smells good” She smells good” they
both thought to themselves simultaneously.

“
So what are you doing tomorrow?” he
asked

“
I think heading home.” Abby said a
little bummed she would only have a few more hours with him. Should
she have these strong feelings for him …this soon after meeting
him? She has always heard of love at first sight but never in a
million years, thought she would experience it.

“
Do you have to get back for school?”
He asked disappointment in his tone.

“
No, Monday’s Columbus Day, schools
closed.” Abby replied

“
Oh,” he said with a little more
excitement in his voice, “So are you obligated other
places?”

“
Not really, No” Abby said now curious
where this was going.

“
Well…I was thinking,” he started, “We
don’t have to be at our next gig until next Friday night at the
University of New Hampshire, it’s not that far away so they boys
and I were just going to hang out in Bangor for a day or two before
we headed out, you could stay with us too if you wanted.” He said
sheepishly and they catching the unintended implied implication
said,