Love You Moore Read online

  “Hello” she said very annoyed.

  “What the Hell Abby? It’s about time you answered your flippin phone. Why didn’t you tell me you were going to UMO this weekend? Why haven’t you called me back I’ve left like 50 messages?!” He snapped at her.

  “I know you have left like 50 messages I would have thought you would have taken the hint after I didn’t call you back once you left message number 30.” She snapped back.

  “Why didn’t you tell me where you were going?” He pushed again.

  “I don’t need to tell you anything anymore, YOU decided we weren’t going out any longer, so the right to know all the details of my life is no longer yours.” She was about to tell him good bye when he said to her,

  “Just because we aren’t officially dating it doesn’t mean I don’t get to know what you’re up to.” He said matter-of-factly.

  “That is EXCATLY what that means Billy, you cannot have your cake and eat it too, either you want to be in my life or you don’t and if you chose to break up with me you give up all options.” She was getting angry.

  “Well if you want to get back together you have to convince me that I love you and want to be your boyfriend.” Billy said in a cocky tone.

  “Ok WHAT??!!” she screamed, thank goodness the music was so loud and no one could hear her. “Are you kidding me? No I do not want to convince you that you love me, either you do or you don’t and you know what, at this point in my life I do not love you and do not want to be with you, it’s over, I am done, lose my number and forget where I live, do not call me again!” She hung up the phone and was so frustrated she started to cry, not because she was heartbroken but because she had never been so mad in all her life and Billy wasn’t there so she could punch him. She was looking out the window at the darkness and didn’t realize the music had stopped when she noticed a person standing behind her. Abby gasped and turned around.

  “Oh I’m sorry I didn’t mean to startle you.” Jimmy Riley said, “Are you O.K.?”

  Abby just stared at him not really knowing what to say. Jimmy reached into his pocket and pulled out a handkerchief and handed it to her.

  “It’s clean I promise, I always keep one in my pocket, you know, just in case.” He continued to look at her not sure if she did understand him, maybe she was an exchange student that didn’t speak any English. He thought she was very pretty though. Even with a runny nose and bloodshot eyes, he could tell she had been crying.

  “I just came out to get some air during intermission, how did you get out here, it’s supposed to be closed to the public, you know, band privileges.” He said with a laugh.

  He smiled and Abby looked into his deep dark eyes and was breathless. He was absolutely gorgeous. Abby took the handkerchief and wiped her nose. It smelt good. She wondered if it was the scent of his cologne.

  “Ok then I’m just going to go.” He said and started backing up not sure what to make of her.

  “Why did you call your band Burnt Chocolate?” Abby just blurted out before he walked away wishing she could suck it back in and come up with something more intelligent to say like maybe, “Thank you for the handkerchief,” but he turned back around and walked back to her.

  “It’s kind of a long story can I tell it to you after the show? I can get you a back stage pass and you can come back to my dressing room.” He offered and knew instantly that sounded bad.

  He could tell by the look on her face she thought that too and said instantly,

  “That is not how I meant it to come out, I just mean I would like to talk to you some more.”

  He was now very nervous and Abby thought it was cute. She didn’t mind either that she no longer felt the need to punch Billy in the throat. Jimmy was shuffling his feet and rubbing the back of his neck trying to think of something to say that wouldn’t imply he wanted more than a conversation. Why was he so nervous around this person he didn’t even know, he didn’t generally get jittery around the girls that swooned after him. He wasn’t the type to have a girl in every town and he didn’t want her to think that he did and that she was just another girl in another town. He really had a need to want to know her. Was it because he saw her crying and felt bad for her? No, that wasn’t it, but what was it? He wanted to find out though.

  “Can you get me three passes?” she asked, “I am here with my friend Holly and her brother and it would be rude to ditch them.”

  He smiled that beautiful smile again,

  “Of course, give me a few minutes and I will be right back, don’t go anywhere.” He urged. “Oh what’s your name?”

  “Oh sorry, I’m Abby, Abby Moore.” She stuttered a bit. Settle down she thought to herself.

  “Well Abby Moore I will be right back.” He gave a wink and a smile before he walked away.

  “Ok” Abby replied and smiled back.

  “OMG OMG OMG” she said out loud to no one she just needed to release some of the excitement she had building up.

  “What is going on? Where have you been?” Holly said coming through the door that clearly stated, now that she was looking, “No Public Access.”

  “Holly, you are not going to believe this…” Abby started to fill her in on the last 15 minutes.

  “Here you go three passes as promised.” Jimmy handed the passes to Abby.

  Holly was looking at Abby and then back at Jimmy mouth open in surprise and wonder.

  “Hi you must be Holly.” Jimmy stretch out his hand to shake hers.

  Holly, mouth still gaping open and still staring, Abby nudged her,

  “Hi, yes, sorry I’m Holly and you’re super cute.” She stated matter-of-factly.

  Abby blushed and Jimmy’s smile got wider,

  “Thank you,” he said through a laugh, “I was just inviting Abby and her friends of course, back stage after the show. I got you passes so there should be no issues getting back there. Let me give you my personal cell number just in case.

  “Seriously?” Abby and Holly asked at the same time.

  “Of course” he replied as if it were no big deal that he, a famous song writer and now singer, was going to give out his personal cell phone number to pretty much a random stranger.

  Abby wondered how many times he has had to have his number changed because of this gesture.

  He told her his number and she programmed it into her phone.

  “Can I have yours? You know just in case.” He smiled at her again.

  “Ok, if you want.” She gave him her number as well.

  He programmed it into his phone, closed it and put it back into his pocket.

  “Great ok so I will see you back stage right after the show and….” He was interrupted

  “Riley…get your butt back here we have a show to finish, Ladies I am sure you will excuse Jimmy as he finishes the concert.” A guy with a Bluetooth ear piece and walkie talkie said impatiently, “yeah I found him, he was out in the hall talking up some babes.” He said into the walkie.

  “Dave!” Jimmy said sharply, no need to be rude.” He stated while glaring at this Dave guy.

  Dave looked at Jimmy as if he knew he had crossed a line.

  “My apologies Ladies I just got a little freaked when my guy here didn’t return to set after 20 minutes.” Dave said with half sincerity and half annoyance.

  “No worries,” said Holly, “We were just going back to our seats, right Abby?”

  “Right” replied Abby and they started back through the no public access door.

  “But I will see you right after…..right?” Jimmy asked more as a plea than a question.

  “I’ll see you right after.” Abby promised.

  “Take a good look at that pretty girl Dave, you are going to be seeing a lot of her.” Jimmy shot Abby one last gleaming smile and a wink and was pushed through the door back on stage.

  “Ok seriously, what just happened?” Abby asked Holly.

  “I think Billy just got replaced is what I think just happened.” Holly said with a smile, “and it�
��s about time too, the Jerk face.”

  They walked back out into the auditorium where Cliff was waiting, he shot Holly and quizzical look, she yelled over the music,

  “I’ll tell you later but we now have plans after the concert.”

  “Sweet” was his reply and they went back to dancing in the aisle.

  Abby was now sitting in her seat not really hearing anything just replaying the last 30 minutes over in her head, “Did that just really happen?” she thought to herself and as she looked over the back stage passes in her hand she knew, it did really happen.

  “Well what do I have to lose” she thought still to herself, “nothing really” so she sat, listened to his awesome voice and waited excitedly for the concert to be over.

  * * * * *

  Chapter 4

  Most of the auditorium had cleared out before Abby got up from her seat. By that time, Holly had filled Cliff in on the events that happened in the hall.

  “So do you really want to go?” Abby asked second guessing her decision to meet Jimmy Riley backstage.

  “Well Yeah” shouted Cliff let’s go.

  “What’s up Buttercup, why the hesitation?” Holly asked putting her arm around Abby.

  “I don’t know.” Abby shrugged, “why would he be interested in me?

  “Why wouldn’t he?” Cliff interrupted “You really are pretty cute in a sister sort of way”

  “Thanks Cliff, I guess.” smiled Abby

  “No he is right and not just in a sister sort of way, you are very pretty and any guy would be lucky just to linger in your life” Holly stated. “Now stop this silliness and let's go back there and make Jimmy Riley’s night.”

  “Righto” Cliff said a little too loud in the auditorium that was now just about empty.

  As they started down the row Abby heard

  “Miss Moore, excuse me Miss Moore?” Dave was coming up to them with a harried expression on his face, “Oh thank goodness you are still here, Jimmy sent me out to look for you, he was afraid you had left. Please follow me and I will take you backstage.”

  Holly gave Abby the “I told you so” look and they followed Dave to the backstage area.

  Abby wasn’t sure what she expected, she had read stories about wild backstage parties and dressing room hook-ups but this was a college campus and that sort of thing she was sure wasn’t going to be allowed. She was pleasantly please when she realized, in this case at least, that she was right. There wasn’t a party going on, there wasn’t loud music playing and alcohol spilling everywhere. There were the members of the band and Jimmy just hanging out in a large blue carpeted room that had two couches, three chairs and a dressing table that ran across one whole wall with a brightly lit mirror on the wall behind it. This, Abby thought must be the dressing room for the student actors when the school is putting on a production. Jimmy immediately got to his feet and smiled when he saw Abby walk through the door.

  “I am glad you came back” he said and took Abby by the hand, which by the way, sent shock waves through her whole body.

  “Boys, this is Abby and her friends, Holly and…” he trailed, “I’m sorry I didn’t get your name other than Holly’s brother.” He smiled and reached out to shake Cliff’s hand. Good memory Abby thought.

  “Cliff” he replied

  “Good to meet you Cliff, would any of you care for a soda or a Subway Sandwich compliments of the University” Jimmy offered.

  “No thank you.” Both Abby and Holly answered.

  Cliff was about to dive in to the remains of the six foot party sub when Holly slapped him in the arm and shot him a “don’t even think about it” look.

  “No I’m good, thanks anyways.” Cliff said as he was rubbing his arm where Holly slapped him.

  Jimmy laughed and said

  “Let me introduce my band, this is Mikey on drums” Mikey waived as he gulped down a bottle of water. Mikey looked exactly how Abby thought a drummer would look, tattoos all up and down his arms very Travis Barkerish, the three of them said “Hi” and waived back.

  “This is Ben on bass” Jimmy said next pointing to a guy with red hair and a nose ring.

  “Nice to meet you.” He shook Abby’s hand then Holly’s and Cliff’s

  “And you have already met our manger Dave.” He leaned in pretending to whisper but saying it loud enough for everyone to hear, “He’s not as arrogant as he appears to be” and smiled in Dave’s direction.

  “I already apologized for the way I acted in the hall Jimmy, but again Ladies, I apologize for my very rude behavior but it takes more than a pretty face to keep a show running smoothly.” He chided and pretended to punch Jimmy in the arm.

  “Good to meet all of you” Abby said.

  Jimmy looked at his friends and they all started to leave the room throwing out excuses why they had to go.

  “I need to check on the booking for our next gig.” said Dave.

  “Yeah Ben and I need to…um…work on his timing…he is a little off.” Mikey said

  “What? Really, my timing, that’s what we need to work on?” Ben said to Mikey.

  “Yeah it’s way off, we can work on it on the bus.” He pushed Ben out of the room with Ben stating,

  “My timing…that’s what we’re going with?” They went their way to the bus.

  The rest of them stood there for a moment in kind of an awkward silence when Holly asked,

  “Cliff weren’t we supposed to pick up that thing for Mom in the bookstore, you know that thing she wanted?” as she looked to Cliff to catch on to her hint that they needed to go.

  “Oh yeah sure that thing that Mom wanted, yeah ok let’s go look for it.” Cliff stuttered.

  Abby looked quizzically at them,

  “You need to go to the bookstore now? It is 11:30 at night, they are not going to be open.” Abby informed her two scheming friends.

  “Didn’t you call earlier and tell them it would be a late pickup?” Holly prodded her brother again and started towards the door.

  “Well let’s go then” said Abby

  “No we got it” exclaimed Holly, “you stay here and I’ll call you later and come back to take you to the dorm.”

  Abby looked at her friends, first at Holly who looked like the cat that ate the canary and then at Cliff who looked totally confused, but at the moment just caught on to what Holly was doing. For a book smart guy he was a bit slow on the uptake.

  “I can get Abby back to your dorm…that is if you don’t mind Abby.” Jimmy stated.

  Abby was about to protest that he needn’t go out of his way for her when Holly jumped in,

  “That would be great Jimmy, thank you….isn’t that thoughtful Abby?” She said smiling her Cheshire cat grin.

  “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,