Chris loved collecting things, and he loved supporting his friends. So, when his friend Ed Garcia opened a memorabilia store called Limited Edition, Chris became a frequent customer. One day, he would buy a jersey signed by his favorite player, and the next, he would buy a prop gun used in one of his favorite movies. Chris was in love with the store. Sometimes, he would come just to look around and see what new things the store had to offer. Sometimes, he would come in just to talk to Ed.

The only thing he didn’t like about the store was the other customers. They always talked loudly and asked stupid questions. They would always bump into him but never say ‘Excuse me.’ But there was one customer he especially couldn’t stand. Her attitude, her voice, her clothes: everything about her irritated him. He still remembered the day she cursed him with her presence: the city's annual trivia competition. Not only had she won by a technicality—Chris had answered first without pressing the buzzer, but she was rude about it, too. “Better luck next time,” she said with the smuggest look before erupting into laughter as she walked away. He didn’t need luck. He had won the contest 3 years in a row before she came and ruined everything. And that wasn’t the only time he had to deal with her. Since then, she also beat him in the sweet potato pie contest and the spades tournament.

But he couldn’t focus on that right now. He could only focus on The Sunflowers and their album Soular Eclipse. It was released 10 years ago and has aged like fine wine. Chris swore it got better every time he listened. The Sunflowers were objectively the greatest music group to ever exist, and Soular Eclipse was objectively the greatest album of all time. Limited Edition was going to sell exclusive Deluxe copies of the album tomorrow featuring the original 12 songs plus seven more that had never been heard before. There would only be 10 available in the store, and there were only 200 in existence worldwide. Chris showed up at the store even earlier than he had planned, but several people were already in line. Chris reluctantly walked to the back and took his spot in the line. He was shocked that so many people had arrived before him. Despite being objectively the greatest music group to ever exist, The Sunflowers weren’t very popular. They usually performed in small venues, and most people had never heard of them. Their visionary combination of funk and soul was never fully recognized. Only a small group of people had the capacity to appreciate their musical genius. Ed was the only other person he knew who listened to them. He stood in line for another 30 minutes before someone bumped into him. “Oops sorry,” she said. It was her: the girl with the annoying voice, the mean attitude, and the ugly clothes. Someone must have said something to her, though, because she wasn’t dressed as horribly as usual.

***

Alisha Carter had spent her whole life living in a small town in Lakewood, Nebraska. She spent most of her free time reading or baking things for her family. She was happy where she was. She applied for a position at the Library of Congress, but she did it the same way that she bought lottery tickets. She did it just to do it; she didn’t think anything would actually happen. It was terrifying for her to move all the way to Washington, D.C. She didn’t know anyone there besides her sister Madison. She loved her new job and apartment, but it had been almost a year since she moved in, and she still didn’t have any real friends in the area. She had tried talking to her neighbor Ed, but she would always get too nervous before the conversation got far. Sometimes, she would straight up get distracted. She would look into his eyes and start daydreaming, but then he would finish talking, and she would be forced to laugh and hope he didn’t ask her a question. Last Friday, they had started talking about The Sunflowers, and Ed had told her he would be selling exclusive deluxe editions of the new album in his store the next day. Alisha hadn’t been this excited in ages. Once in her apartment, she called Madison to tell her about it.

“Alisha, this is great!” Madison exclaimed. “He’s handsome, he lives close by, AND he listens to that weird band you like. You need to ask him out already!”

Alisha sighed. “Can you come with me for moral support?”

“No.”

“What! Why not? This is anti-black!”

“It’s not,” Madison groaned. “I’m just getting a retwist tomorrow.”

“Can you reschedule it?”

“No!”

Alisha walked up to the store 5 minutes early, but there was already a line. She took out her phone to text Madison about it and accidentally bumped into a dark-skinned, bearded man at the end of the line. He gave her a weird look.

She texted Madison, “This guy in the line is looking at me weird.”

“Forget about him,” Madison responded, “you need to stay focused.”

After another few minutes, Ed came and let everyone in the store. Everyone dashed, grabbing the CDs and bringing them to the registers. There was only one CD left. She grabbed the CD and quickly realized there was another hand holding onto it. Alisha decided to ask nicely rather than play tug of war with him.

“Sir, can I please have the CD? I’m a huge Sunflowers fan.” The man looked at her as if she had just asked for permission to beat him with a stick.

“Give it to you? HELL NO!” The man snatched the CD from her hand.

Okay, Alisha thought, fuck being nice. “Give it back you ASSHOLE!”

The man was already halfway to the register. Alisha chased after him.

***

This girl was the worst. She really had the audacity to ask him for the CD.

Chris walked up to the counter, “Hey, Ed! I don’t need anything else today, just the CD.”

Ed smiled at him. “No problem, you’re really lucky you got the last one.”

“WAIT!”

Chris turned around. And he saw her. Chris tried to convince himself that when he turned his body he would see somebody else, maybe one of Ed’s employees or his future self coming to warn him. But no, it was her.

“Ed,” the girl shouted indignantly, “this guy took the CD out of my hand!”

Chris could not believe the lengths this girl would go to just to mess with him. “I had it first. I just took it back from you!”

The girl groaned, “I just want the CD man!”

“I just want you to leave me alone!” Chris argued back.

“SHUT UP!” Ed yelled. He had clearly reached his limit, and now the whole store knew it.

“You two need to relax. Why don’t you just share the CD?”

Ed was Chris’ best friend, but he said some really stupid stuff sometimes.

“Ed come on, man,” wheedled Chris. “I picked you up from the airport like last week”

The girl chimed in, “Ed, I was gonna invite you over to listen to it with me.”.

Does this girl know Ed? Why would Ed be friends with her? She’s the worst!

***

Ed looked at Alisha.“That sounds fun, but I already listened to it with Diego”

Alisha gave him a puzzled look. “Who’s Diego?”

“He’s my boyfriend,” Ed responded.

Alisha’s heart dropped. It plummeted to the ground and shattered into a million pieces.

“Oh ok, I - I didn’t know that.”

Ed didn’t seem to notice the disappointment in Alisha’s eyes.

“Look, I’m not about to have y’all yelling and arguing in my store, so you either share the CD or I’ll give it to another customer.”

Alisha and the rude man both looked at each other and silently agreed.

“Ok, we’ll share it,” Alisha agreed.

The two walked outside to discuss the details of their arrangement.

“Ok,” the man turned to Alisha, “here’s my business card with my phone number,” he said

He sighed before continuing. “Look, I’m not a jerk like you, so I’ll be nice and let you keep the CD for the first week. But next Saturday I’m gonna call you when I’m on the way to pick it up.”

Alisha had enough. She was so sick of the way he was treating her. “Why are you such a jerk?”

“wHy aRe YOu suCh a JeRK?” mocked the man. “Shut up, Madison. I don’t know why you keep trying to play dumb, but it's getting annoying.”

“Madison?” Now, Alisha was just confused. “I’m not Madison!”

“Oh, so you’re just some girl who looks exactly like her.”

“YES, SHE’S MY TWIN!”

Chris had fallen silent for a moment. It looked like all the rage and hate in his body had dissipated.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I’m Chris by the way,” he said sheepishly.

Chris didn’t seem like an idiotic brute anymore now that he was apologetic.

“It’s ok. So, how do you know Madison anyway? Did you used to date or something?”

“What?” Chris looked appalled. “No, I just know her from something else it's a long-”

“Wait, you're the guy who keeps losing to her at contests, aren’t you?” Alisha was finally piecing things together. “But you’re not ugly?”

“Ugly?” Chris said under his breath. “Uhh yeah, that's how I know her. What was your name again?”

“Alisha.”

“Ok, Alisha. I guess I’ll see you on Saturday.” Chris awkwardly waved and started to walk away.

***

Chris had suddenly forgotten how to walk away normally. Not only was he taking abnormally long strides, but he was also walking in the wrong direction. He decided to keep walking that way until she was gone. He had already yelled at her and embarrassed himself in front of this cute girl for no reason. He wasn’t about to make it worse.

***

This week was supposed to be easy for Alisha. Supposed to be. Some idiot had shut down the server that the library used, so she had to do everything manually. She had to stay late several times, and by the end of the week, she was exhausted. She had forgotten about the deal she made last weekend until Chris texted her.

“Hi, This is Chris. Sorry again about last week. I just wanted to know when and where to pick up the CD.”

Alisha had never actually gotten to listen to the CD. There was no way she was going to wait a whole ‘nother week to listen to it.

“Actually,” Alisha texted back, “is it ok if I keep it for another week?”

***

Chris had been spending his entire week patiently waiting, and now she wanted him to wait for another one. Did she not have a ride or something? Wait! Was this her way of trying to get back at him? Was she working with her evil sister? What if she never gives him the CD? What if she had been lying? What if she had tricked him into thinking she was her twin? What if it had been Madison the whole time? What if– No, now he was getting ridiculous. Alisha looked a lot like Madison, but now that he knew they were twins, he noticed there were definitely some differences. She was about half an inch taller, with different mannerisms, and a rounder chin.  So, unless she wore padded shoes, took acting classes, and got plastic surgery since the last time he had seen her, it wasn’t Madison. Whatever her reasoning was, Chris was still dying to listen to the CD and had no plans of waiting another week.

“We agreed that you would give me the CD today. I can come to pick it up if you don’t have transportation.”

***

Fuck. Couldn’t he just wait a little longer? It’s the least he could do after how he treated her.

She could have left him on read if she really wanted to. He was lucky that she was going to even honor the agreement in the first place.

“It’s not that. It’s just that I didn’t get to listen to it this week because I was so busy.”

***

Ok, she was definitely trying to get back at him. There’s no way she was that busy. For a day? Maybe. But for a whole week? No way. He couldn’t lash out at her, though. That wasn’t going to get him anywhere. He was powerless in this situation; all he could really do was ask nicely.

“I understand but Soular Eclipse is my favorite album, and I’ve been waiting to hear the deluxe edition ever since the rumors about it started back in 2014.” Chris thought about it for a second then added, “I wanted it so bad that a few years ago I got tricked into buying a fake version”

***

Alisha was stunned. “Wait! You bought a fake version of the deluxe too? Where did you get it from?” Madison had made fun of her when she bought the fake version. This was the first time she had talked about it since then.

***

“Leaksandexclusives.com.” Just typing the name of the website made Chris upset. Even though that was the only time he had been scammed, and it had happened so long ago, he still wanted his money back.

***

“OH, MY GOD! ME TOO!” Ok, maybe she did need to rethink this. It was clear that Chris loved The Sunflowers just as much as she did. And, she had been dying to meet new people ever since she moved in. Maybe this was her opportunity.

“Look, it's obvious that neither one of us wants to wait any longer to listen to this album. Why don’t you just come over and listen to it with me?”

***

Chris was shocked. He had hoped that she would let him just pick up the album and bring it back the next day, especially since it was starting to get late. But he had waited long enough he was going to take whatever he could get.

“Yeah sure. That sounds great!”

Immediately after he sent the message he was worried that he sounded a little too excited. Maybe the exclamation point was a bit much.

***

The exclamation point was a bit much, but she didn’t care. She sent him her address and went to grab the CD.

***

It took Chris a good 35 minutes to get there. He was nervous for the whole drive. He didn’t know why he was so nervous. He didn’t even know the girl. His heart started to race even faster when he approached the door, not just because he was worried he was at the wrong apartment. He knocked on the door. It felt like hours before she answered, even though it was less than a minute. She seemed more radiant now, even though she was wearing normal home clothes. It shocked him so much that it took him a second to process it.

“Wow.”

***

Alisha checked the peephole before opening the door. She was surprised that he showed up at all since he had been taking so long. When she opened the door, he stared blankly almost like a child seeing fireworks for the first time. He claimed he was impressed with her apartment, but she found this odd since it was a little cluttered and messy.

***

Chris sat down on the couch and looked at the floor. It was the only way he could avoid staring at her. Why did she look so good all of a sudden? What was different? He realized that he was unusually quiet.

“So, are you ready to listen to it yet?”  he asked nervously.

“Am I ready? I’ve been waiting all week!” Alisha said while frantically looking for something.

Alisha’s uneasiness was starting to become contagious.

“Is something wrong?” Chris asked. It hadn’t been that long since he had entered, but Alisha seemed as if she had been searching for longer.

Alisha stopped searching for a brief moment and sighed. “Ok, so basically… I can’t find the CD.”

Chris immediately switched from being anxious to upset. “That’s not funny.”

“I’m not trying to be funny! I left it on the table and now it's not there!” Alisha exclaimed defeatedly.

Chris reclined back in the chair to calm himself but felt something under his right foot.

He looked down to see what it was.

“Hey, is this it under the table?” he said.

“I don’t know. Move your foot, so I can grab it,” Alisha said exhaustedly.

Chris quickly got up as Alisha went under the table to grab the CD case. She stood back up with the CD case in hand and a big smile on her face.

“I finally found it! After you texted, I looked for the CD, but I couldn’t find it anywhere. I thought I lost it. Thank you!”

Alisha hugged him almost instinctively as if they had known each other for years. Her hug was soft, warm, and comforting. Chris wanted to hug her tighter but felt unsure. She pulled back from him. Almost as if she had come out of a trance. She seemed embarrassed, and this made him wonder if he had made the right decision.

“So…uh do you want to listen to it now?” he inquired.

“Yeah, yeah let's do it. I mean let's listen to the album,” she said nervously before putting the CD in the CD player.

Alisha sat down on the couch as the intro began to play.

Chris started to zone out while listening. Sunflower albums always had that effect on him. Today was different though, he didn’t want to zone out this time. Besides Ed, nobody ever wanted to talk about The Sunflowers with him. He needed to capitalize on this opportunity. Especially since this girl seemed to be a decent person, unlike her evil sister.

“So, what’s your favorite song on the album?” he asked.

***

Alisha was brought back to reality. She was so embarrassed from hugging him that she began to shun herself in her head. She convinced herself that she had weirded him out and had been awkwardly avoiding eye contact for the first half of the song. If he hadn’t said something, this might have continued for a lot longer. But what did he actually say, though? She wasn’t exactly paying much attention, and he wasn’t speaking as clearly as he did when they first met. It was almost as if he was scared to talk to her.

“I’m sorry, what did you say?” she asked.

“What’s your favorite song on the album?” Chris repeated.

Alisha’s face lit up.

“Definitely,  ‘One More Dance.’ The combination of the saxophone and the vocals from Jade Deja and Jerome Morgan are amazing!” Alisha said with enthusiasm.

Chris had seemed just as excited as she was.

“I know right! The whole song is just so warm and smooth. It’s like a… like a…”

“Like a hug for your ears?” Alisha questioned.

“Exactly!” Chris shouted before falling into laughter. Alisha laughed with him. She didn’t think it was that funny, but his laugh was very contagious. This back-and-forth would continue for the next 10 songs. They traded opinions and told stories. At one point, they even began to debate about whether or not Ed should grow a beard. Alisha was surprised. She never expected to be spending time with Chris, and she definitely didn’t expect to enjoy spending time with him.

Alisha's stomach began to rumble loudly.

“Are you ok?” Chris asked with concern.

“Yeah, I’m just hungry. Do you want to come with me to Donnie’s Deli really quick?”

Chris seemed puzzled.

“Wait, they're still open this late? I mean I’m hungry, but I still want to finish listening to the album. We haven’t even listened to the Deluxe songs yet.”

He had a point. Listening to the Deluxe songs was the whole reason for him coming over.

Alisha debated in her head for a moment before replying.

“Well, if we leave right now, we can get there before they close. And we can just listen to the rest when we get back.”

Chris considered for a moment.

“Ok, let’s do it.”

The two walked out of the apartment and across the street before entering the deli.

Donnie smiled as they approached the counter.

“Hey, what can I get you two?” Donnie asked.

Chris started to look at the menu trying to decide.

Alisha waited for him before quickly becoming impatient.

“Can we just get two smokey jack paninis please?”

Donnie smirked, “Sure thing.”

Chris seemed surprised as he turned to face her.

“Why didn’t let me choose?” he complained

“You were taking too long. Just trust me you’ll like it,” she said as she reached into her bag for her wallet. She kept on digging around but couldn’t find it. She looked up to tell Chris, but he had already given Donnie his card. As Donnie had walked away to make their food, Alisha restarted her conversation with Chris.

“Thanks for paying,” she said sincerely.

He responded very casually. “Eh don’t worry about it. But that smokey jack better be good. I wanted the turkey club.”

Alisha frowned.

“You wouldn’t like the turkey club!” She argued before quickly lowering her voice. “Nobody likes the turkey club.”

“I like turkey clubs though,” he practically whispered back.

“Yeah, but this turkey club is bad. I’m telling you. The smokey jack is amazing.”

Chris rolled his eyes. “It better be,” he muttered under his breath.

Just seconds later, Donnie brought back their sandwiches.

“Enjoy!”

They sat down, and Alisha watched as Chris took his first bite. His eyes widened in disbelief when the sandwich’s taste reached his tongue.

“Ok. This is fucking good.” He took another bite of the sandwich and was shocked the second bite tasted as good as the first.

“Damn!” he exclaimed.

Alisha giggled before returning to eating her food.

They continued to eat their food and chat about the album.

They talked and talked until they were approached by Donnie.

“Alright, we’re closing up. See you two later.”

Chris stood up and shook Donnie’s hand.

“Thanks for the sandwich it was amazing”

Donnie smiled. “I’m glad you liked it.”

They stood up to leave, but on their way out, Chris tripped over nothing and fell, knocking over two chairs on his way down.

Donnie threw his hands up in the air. “Jesus Christ! Are you drunk or something?”

Alisha began to laugh uncontrollably.

A woman walked out from the kitchen to the front of the restaurant.

“Is everything ok?” she said with concern.

“Yes, Ms. Carmen.” Alisha couldn’t stop her laughter. “Everything’s fine.”

***

Chris exited the restaurant with Alisha with his knee still in pain. He had embarrassed himself. He needed to impress her somehow.

“Hey, did I ever tell you how I was almost an All-American for Track & Field?” he boasted.

“That’s surprising. I didn’t think that you would be good at running, since you were so bad at walking,” she said before laughing in his face.

Normally someone laughing at their own joke would make Chris upset, especially if the joke was at his expense, but for some reason he found himself laughing with her as they reached the crosswalk.

“Yeah, yeah whatever,” he said as he turned his head toward her. Suddenly, he was snatched by his jacket back onto the sidewalk as a car whizzed by with the driver honking the horn.

In the back seat, there was a passenger with their head out of the window yelling about how much they love pumpkins.

He looked at Alisha and then the car and now back at Alisha who was shocked and breathing deeply.

“And Donnie said I was drunk,” Chris said, smirking.

Alisha looked at him blankly. Oh no! Why did he say that? Why did he – Alisha erupted in laughter. After she had finally calmed down, they continued walking back to the apartment. “Thank you. That was really close,” Chris said earnestly.

“Of course, I wasn’t just going to let you get hit,” Alisha said, patting him on the shoulder.

Chris smiled. Alisha really cared about him and he cared about her too.

“Why was he yelling about pumpkins though?” she asked.

Chris chuckled. “I have no idea.”

They laughed and joked about it all the way to Alisha’s apartment.

Alisha yawned before putting the CD back on.

The song “Bigger Heart” began to play. Chris rubbed his eyes. He stretched and sank deeper into the couch next to Alisha. The keyboard, the bass guitar, and the vocals from Jade Deja and Jerome Morgan soothed him. The air felt colder, and his body felt heavier.

***

Alisha woke up with the lights still on. She checked her phone and read the time: 6:21 AM. She felt well-rested and happy. She was usually unable to get good sleep since her neighborhood was so noisy in comparison to her old home in Nebraska. She pressed her hand down to help herself stand up and felt it dig into someone’s leg. It was Chris’s leg; they had fallen asleep on the couch.

“Oh God,” she said to herself.

She lightly tapped him on the shoulder, but he didn’t wake up. She tried to nudge him a little harder, but this didn’t work either. She nudged a few more times before quickly becoming frustrated.

“CHRIS!”

“AHHH!” he yelled.  “Why did you do that?” he asked, filled with confusion.

Alisha tried to contain her laughter.

“You wouldn’t wake up,” she complained.

“Oh. So you just listened to the rest of the album, while I was knocked out on the couch?”

“No, I fell asleep too. I don’t think I made it past the first song,” she said as he stood up from the couch.

“Yeah me neither … alright, I uh, I think I’m gonna head back home.” Chris walked to the door and opened it before turning back around.

“Hey, yesterday was a lot of fun. Would you want to go out sometime? Maybe listen to the album again?”

Alisha felt warm. She felt herself blush.

“Yeah, that sounds fun,” she said grinning ear to ear.

“Great.” Before he could leave, and before she could second guess herself, Alisha grabbed him by his shirt.

She pulled him in close and kissed him.

***

Alisha was a really good kisser. Like surprisingly good. He felt amazing. He knew that Alisha was special; this could be the start of something great. All he had to do was say something smooth before he left.

“Friday, see you.”

Alisha burst out laughing. And he laughed with her.