Jess's Girl

Escapism

Lucy sat on her porch going through a box of all her music books. She shuffled through all of them; all of her passions she had locked away. She readjusted her left earbud in her ear before it could fall from it. She opened up one of her journals from four years ago. She smiled seeing the jumbles of music notes of nothingness. It was a passion she had, but it didn't mean she was any good at it. She chuckled to herself as she looked at the song playing on her phone. 

It was Jess' playlist. She shook her head as another zeppelin song played; but her smile never seemed to leave from her face. 

She looked back in the box and found her designs for a music store of her own. She didn't even remember making it. She looked it over; her fingers tracing the rough sketch before putting it back in the box. 

"Going through old photos?" 

Lucy looked up and smiled seeing Jess. "No," she replied, "Music stuff." 

"Ah," Jess nodded. How could he have mistaken it for anything different. He smirked to himself before walking up the steps of her porch to her; sitting himself beside her. "Music stuff." he repeated. 

Lucy set some more notebooks back in the box before closing it. "What are you doing today?" she asked him. 

Jess looked from the box to her, "I was coming to invite you to lunch." he said. She smiled, "I haven't eaten."

"What a coincidence." Jess couldn't help but slyly smile. 

"Where are we eating?" Lucy couldn't help but continue smiling. Jess pursed his lip in thought, "Only one place to eat." 

She pretended to think really hard about her guess, "Hm...Joe's Pancake World?"

Jess' smirk widened to a smile, "No." 

"Taylor's malt shop?"

"Don't embarrass me." 

She leaned her head on his shoulder, "Okay, but can we do something else before we go eat?" she asked. He looked down at her, "No, eating first." he said before getting up. She got up with him and walked down from the porch steps. "I have some comments about your music selection." she said taking his hand. 

Jess stopped almost feeling her hand in his. He tried not to make a big deal of it, "Oh?" he continued the conversation as they walked to Luke's. 

"Why all the rock?" she asked. 

"It's not all rock." he debated. 

She shoved an earbud in his ear almost instantly and skipped the Blue Oyster Cult song that had been playing. To prove a point she skipped through the playlist. Kansas, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, and so on. Lucy looked at him and smiled like a smart-aleck. 

Jess took the phone, not losing this battle. He scrolled through the playlist and tapped on a song.

 "Ooo baby I love your way, everyday, yeah~"

Jess returned the look she gave him prier as he walked with her; sharing the earbuds as they walked into the diner. It was 9 o'clock, so still a little early for any customers to be coming in on a Saturday. She looked at Luke as he sat at the table with a couple of papers. 

He seemed to be going over some paperwork. He probably didn't want to be bothered...

"Luke!" Lucy beamed. Luke didn't look up as he mouthed some of the numbers on the paper. Lucy took her earbud back from Jess and scurried to Luke. She pat his shoulders, "What are you doing?" she asked. He shrugged. "Just looking over the bills. You come to eat?" 

"What else? Definitely not strike conversation." she smiled sitting up at the counter again. Jess took the opportunity to go up the stairs in the back to the apartment. She set her music down and switched the song to something a bit more soothing. Luke took that as a cue to get up and open up the kitchen. "Coffee?" he asked.

She shook her head, "No." 

"No coffee?" he asked as he leaned on the counter. She shook her head again, matter of factually, "The only reason for coffee was to keep the pills from making me drowsy," she breathed out, "That kook of a doctor isn't getting my money so...no more pills." she shrugged. Luke bit his lip, "God, that's awful." he sighed. "You've went to a different counselor though, right?" 

She nodded.

"How's that?" he asked.

"More affordable." she said. Luke gave her a look. She smiled sheepishly, "She's nice. Actually listens to me, so. It's good. It's going good." she nodded. To change the subject she asked Luke if there was anything he recommended to eat. Luke shrugged, "The newest we got are the stuffed french toast. I don't know if you'd want that." he showed her the menu.

She read through the ingredients and gasped, "My mouth's watering." she told him.

"That's a yes." he said; going into the kitchen and making it. Lucy smiled and twiddled with her thumbs before changing the song again. It started playing a nice Hawaiian ditty. She took a double-take at the screen to make sure it was still Jess' playlist. It was. She'd have to remember to tease him about it later. 

"Beautiful Kauai... beautiful Kauai~"

The quiet strums of the ukulele played like a farewell song. She smiled softly as her fingertips strummed on the counter. Jess came back down and saw she was zoned out to her music. He smiled. He had missed seeing that; taking every opportunity to drink the moment in when he caught it. 

It had been a month since their moment at the lake, and he wasn't exactly sure where they were at. He knew how he felt about her. But he didn't know what she felt. She was everywhere trying to fix herself too. And he understood that that was something she had to do, and she deserved that much release. 

He met her at the counter and chuckled, "Escapism?" he asked. She smiled looking at him, "At it's finest." she shared the earbud. He put it in and listened. He smiled to himself before looking at her, "I can explain-"

"You're a softyyyy..." she teased and continued to listen. "It's nice." He pulled a manuscript from behind his back and slid it on the counter to her, "A book is better." 

She looked down at it and fiddled with the bindings. Lucy looked at him and bit her lip, "You're sure." she asked. He nodded; no hesitation. She nodded in agreement before speaking, "I hope you know I'm getting stuffed french toast all over this-" she joked. 

"Spare me, read it later." he sat next to her and took the manuscript back to the spot in front of him. She took it back and opened up the manuscript to read. 

"So I'll return to my home across the sea... beautiful Kauai.. beautiful Kauai.."

Both the young adults listened to the song as they looked down at the pages; reading together. Luke looked back through the window from the kitchen at the two. Both of them just reading, sharing Lucy's earbuds. He smiled briefly before finishing the plates and holding them in front of the two. 

"I'm going to get french toast all over that," he warned about to set the plates down. 

"Right on time." Lucy beamed and moved the manuscript aside. She took the plate down in-front of her and dug into it. Jess was offered a plate as well, before he ushered it away. Luke took it and started eating it himself. Lucy was reading the manuscript from a little ways away from her plate. Jess noticed and stole a strawberry from her plate. 

"Ay, you didn't want any-" Luke called him out.

Lucy looked back, "This is true, live with your mistakes." she joked and closed the manuscript to continue eating, ever so often almost stabbing Jess' finger tips with a fork to defend her food.