You Are My Sunshine

PART 3

Abigail's phone buzzed as she received a message. She picked it up from the small coffee table in her living room.

Jake: It's supposed to thunderstorm today.
Abigail: Really?
Jake: Yeah. My brother was asking me what I was planning to do and he told me it wasn't a good idea. Rain check?
Abigail: Quite literally.
Jake: What are you doing otherwise?
Abigail: Just reading a book. One I picked up from the cafe.
Jake: Would you still like to hang out?
Abigail: I thought a rain check meant that the whole event would have to be pushed back?
Jake: Maybe? I just know that I want to hang out.
Abigail: My apartment is dry. You could come hang out with me.
Jake: That sounds cool. I'll bring my guitar.

Abigail sent him the address. He responded to her that he was on his way. She jumped up with a start, realizing that she was still in her pajamas. She ran to her closet and picked out a pair of worn jeans and an olive green tee shirt. That was one of her most used outfits because it was the most comfortable. She walked around her apartment, picking up stray items and cleaning small messes.

She heard a knock on the door and her heart jumped. She walked slowly to the door, trying not to trip over her own bare feet. She opened it up to see Jake's smiling face, holding his guitar case. She smiled. "Hey stranger." She said.

"Hey." He said. "How are you?"

"Not getting soaked by the rain." She said, pulling him into the small apartment. "Make yourself at home."

She watched as Jake took a look around her home. He looked at her records, her CDs, and her books. "You have good taste." He said.

"Thanks." She said, walking over to the spot she'd sat in for a few hours prior. She sat down on the small, well-loved couch. "Take a seat if you'd like."

Jake spotted her grandfather's guitar in the corner. "Is that his?" He asked.

Abigail smiled as she looked at the guitar case she kept propped up in the corner. She had taped a picture of herself and her grandfather on the case when she was a little girl, and it was still on the case. "Yeah."

Jake sat down next to Abigail. "You don't have a lot of friends?" He asked.

"No." She laughed. "I don't. How can you tell."

"You're like me. Nose buried in a book and ears drowning out the world with music." Jake said. "But I've got my brothers and Danny."

"You seem close to them." She said, shifting her weight to face him.

"Yeah. We're in a band together. We're on vacation right now. Not touring too much." Jake laughed.

"A band? Touring?" Abigail froze. "You're famous?"

"I wouldn't say famous." Jake chuckled. "Just known."

"Does it ever get lonely?" She asked.

"It does. We play drinking games, we play shows, but deep down inside I feel like there's something missing." He said.

"What's missing?" She asked.

"Love." He said flatly.

"How do you know?" Abigail pressed.

"Think of it this way." He said, getting out his guitar.

Jake played a soft melody. He hummed a sweet tune. "I'm not going to sing, but the song is about love. It's a little hard to play about love when you don't know what love is."

"I'm sorry." Abigail said, facing the window. "If it helps, I don't know what it is either."

"The day I met you in that store. When you bought that album. You looked phenomenal. Your eyes were bright, your hair dark and curly, your smile lit up the room." Jake said. "I knew I had to ask you on a date, but who am I to do that? Who am I to ask a perfect stranger to let me into her life and take her to dinner and a movie?"

"You're Jake. Jake with the perfect teeth. The long wavy hair. Jake with the cute downturned nose. Jake with the smile so soft that a rabbit would be envious." Abigail said.

"How am I supposed to react to that?" Jake asked.

"To what?" She replied.

"I don't know if that was a compliment or what." He said, fidgeting with the pegs on his guitar.

"Well, yes. Of course it was." She laughed."Have you looked in a mirror?"

"What if I said I had a twin?" He laughed.

"Identical?" She asked.

"Yes." He said.

"I bet you that I have studied your face enough in our three meetings that I could tell you what is different." Abigail said.

"We do look different." He laughed. "I have long hair. His is short and curly."

"So I'm not wrong." Abigail chuckled. "Play some more for me?"

Jake played a tune, unfamiliar, but calming. She rested her head on the arm of the chair.

"What are you thinking about?" Jake asked.

"A lot of things." She said flatly.

"Like?" He questioned.

"How exactly a known guitarist from a known band wound up in my apartment." She laughed.

"You're pretty." Jake said, still strumming chords on the guitar.

"But for what reason?" She asked.

"Well, I think you're attractive. I would like to be your friend." He said.

"I don't understand." Abigail pressed.

Jake chuckled. "You want me to spell it out?"

"Yes. That's what I'm wanting." She laughed.

"I'm attracted to you. I'd like to get to know you on multiple levels. Maybe later we can pursue..." he let his voice trail off.

Jake played a familiar tune to Abigail. The one her grandfather played. She smiled as she sang along. "You are my sunshine, my only sunshine, you make me happy, when skies are grey, you'll never know dear, how much I love you."

Jake joined her in singing the last words of the old song. "Please don't take my sunshine away."

"How did you know?" Abigail asked, a single tear escaping her eye.

"I didn't." Jake said. "I just love the song."

"That's the song my Pappy Joe played for me as I was growing up." She smiled. "It means the world to me."

"How about I teach you to play it?" Jake suggested.

"I'd love that." Abigail said.