There are times I wake up in the morning and as I'm trying to remember the good rules of hygiene, it hits me; that sudden burst of creative energy. Sometimes, it's after a big emotional ordeal, sometimes it's after nothing. But, I always stop mid- toothpaste foam spit or whatever and just write. Just get it out, all of it. Even if at the time it makes no coherent sense. 98 of the thoughts in my head do that. Don't make sense, I mean. See what I'm talking about? Yeah, me neither. Anyway, this particular day I knew that despite the fact that I had awoken ridiculously early because of a bad dream, for whatever reason it was going to be a good one. Blame it on the fact that my tooth brushing extravaganza was interrupted for a huge burst of creativity, or that I had wonderfully brewed coffee a la me. Mid-writing like a madwoman the phone rang.
"Hello, Jude Harrison mail order bride international. How may I service you?" I said, in the most sing-song voice I've ever used.
"Very funny Jude. How soon can you get down here?" Tommy asked. Yes, that's right, Tommy Quincy (except not. Because he's French or whatever.) Former Boyz attacker turned producer who I'm in love with, yet hate all at the same time. The same one who makes my music rule, who's actually the inspiration for most of my songs, the one who makes me laugh, and makes me cry, and the one who makes me uncomfortable yet ridiculously comfortable all at the same time oh, and the one who kissed me on my 16th birthday, broke my heart, flirted with me while simultaneously dating my sister, and then basically confessed that he feels something for me on my 17th birthday, thereby making it the best birthday I've ever had. Yeah, that's the one.
I glanced down at my watch, seeing that it was pre-5 AM. But he sounded excited, and I did pretty much anything for Tommy. "Uh, Can you give me 30 minutes?" I said, silently hoping I could get dressed, shower, eat something, get more caffeine and drive down there in time.
"Would it be faster if I came to you?" Tommy asked. I could see it now: a pajama clad, half-asleep and boyishly excited Tommy on my doorstep before the sun came up. That sounded perfect. Now, if it was in the plan somewhere that he would magically have a bouquet of white roses, and then just happen to sweep me off my feet…I'd be okay with that too.
"Yeah. See you in 10-ish?" I said, heading towards the kitchen to pour myself another cup of wonderful caffeine.
"Yep." Tommy said, and then hung up. He's never been very good at that goodbye stuff. Especially when he's either working or in a hurry. Both currently the situation. I'm not quite sure why. Tommy's never really been this sort of a morning person, but apparently it's something huge, if he's calling me. I quickly ran a hand through my hair to make it slightly less bed-head and finished my mug of that morning's deliciousness when the doorbell rang. Tommy, the speed demon; never fails.
"Coming!" I yelled, setting my mug down. I smiled at Tommy through the door and let him in. "Good morning." I said.
"Wow Harrison, good look for you." Tommy said sarcastically as he took in my goofy cutoff pajama pants, concert tee and messy hair.
"Well Quincy, you've happened upon the rare species we like to call pre-5 AM Jude. It's your own fault." I chuckled as he glanced down at his watch, apparently not aware of just how early it was.
"It's not really that early is it?" Tommy said, looking down at his watch again. "Oh, I guess it is."
I laughed and said, "The darkness wasn't a big hint?" He just looked at me. "Okay. What did you want?"
"It can wait, I was just dying to show you because I spent all night working on it and I about burst with excitement. And I'm a little caffeine happy. 3 or 4 too many espressos." He said as he turned to leave.
"Not a chance Quincy." I grabbed his arm and spun him back around to face me. "You're here now. What do you have to show me?" I crossed my arms in my best imitation of irritation. He just laughed.
"CD player?" He said as he pulled an unmarked CD out of his pants pocket. I pointed him in the right direction, appraising him as I followed behind. He wasn't kidding about being up all night. He was in the same clothes I'd left him in the night before, and his chin stubble was present. In normal circumstances, Tommy did not let anyone see with him facial hair; that or his glasses. I happened upon him in those once. It was recently, we'd had lots of late nights and I walked into the studio only to find my favorite producer clad in specs of the geeky variety.
i"Since when do you wear glasses Quincy?" I said, sitting in the chair next to him.
"I don't. But, apparently dim lights, and long hours at a mixing board is bad for your eyes or something." He went back to mixing on the board at this point. I gave him a curious stare. "I normally wear contacts." He said, and stood up to go get some sustenance. "And, if you ever tell anybody, I'll be forced to tie you down and tickle you until you can't breathe." He walked out of the room, but not before tousling my hair./i
"Jude?" Tommy said. I snapped back to reality, and saw him sitting on my couch CD remote in hand, poised to begin playing whatever it was he had to show me. It was at this point I realized I was still standing in the doorway.
"Oh, yeah. Uh, what were you saying? I kind of spaced out for a minute." I said, walking over to the couch and sitting next to Tommy. I sat there for a minute waiting for his exciting news to fill my ears. Suddenly, a gentle strumming filled my ears: "'cause he's frozen." I turned to stare at Tommy. The other night out of the sheer boredom of waiting for Tommy to do whatever it is he does when he makes me wait for him; I'd been fiddling around with "Frozen" again. It was the first thing my fingers started playing. So what if I'm mildly obsessed okay? "But, Tommy I don't understand." I said, turning to look at him.
"I came in while you were still playing. Hit record, let you go. Mixed it last night. Not hard Jude." He said, and gave me a smirk.
"You know what I mean. I was just messing around. It's your song." I said. I was trying to be nice as possible, and not show the anger I was feeling, considering the last time he'd caught me with his song he'd gone off the handle and now he was suddenly being nice about it?
"And you, for whatever reason love it Jude. I wanted you to have this." Tommy said as he smiled at me.
"Okay Quincy, we're going to take you to the rehab clinic where they can help you, because you're clearly on something." I laughed, and begin to get up to lead him to the door.
He pulled away. "I can't just do something nice?"
"Not generally, no. What do you want?" I asked.
"Nothing." He said, and began to toy with his thumbnail.
"Liar." I said, daring him to challenge me again. He knew I hated when he lied, and especially when I called him on it.
"Fine. There's this party and you have to play and well, I just thought I'd do something nice since well, you're not really going to like it." He said quickly.
"Oh come on Quincy. I thought you knew me better than that. A party? Not that big of a deal." I just stared at him impatiently. "When is it? What is it for? And what am I singing?" I asked him.
Tommy sighed and looked at me. "The party is tomorrow night. You have to sing a cover, and it's a party at G Major." Tommy said, finally. I looked at him and laughed.
"Don't look so scared Quincy; I'm not going to bite you." His face got red at this point. Bad move Jude. After that incident Darius' office the other night, you make sexual jokes? You'll just have to take a cold shower. He was still staring at me. Oh, right I should speak. I moved a few inches away from him on the couch. "That's not bad at all Quincy. The cover bit sucks, but I've learned to 'play ball' like you told me to." I punched him in the shoulder. "You really had me worried for a minute."
"It's for Eden. Darius signed her onto G Major. And Shay will be there performing as well." Tommy blurted out and grimaced, preparing for what he thought was going to be lots of me yelling. He waited a few seconds, and then looked at me to see if I'd exploded yet.
I blinked, took a deep breath and said, "Well then, I guess it's good you're here and brought presents huh?" I laughed watching him hold the breath he'd been holding for the last 45 seconds. "Am I seriously that bad Quincy? You looked like you thought I was going to murder you." I said chuckling.
"Well Jude. You're always…never mind." He just said, and laughed. I thought of a wonderful idea to reassure him that I was not in fact going to kick his butt into next Tuesday.
"Tommy, this will be my present to make you show I'm not going to beat you up. Want breakfast? I'll cook!" I said.
"I don't know Jude; I have to be back at the studio." He said, and started to get up to leave. I glanced down at my watch and just laughed.
"Oh no Quincy. Not for at least 4 more hours." I jumped on top of him and began tickling him like a madwoman. We laughed until we were breathless. "Hungry yet?" I asked him. He just nodded. "Good." I grabbed his hand and took him into the kitchen. "You will sit, you will eat, and you will love it." He looked around suspiciously.
"Where's your sister at this morning?" He said. Oh, that's what he was worried about. Duh. He doesn't hate me.
"She's a counselor at Camp whatever this summer. She had to go in a couple days early for staff bonding or something." I said, chuckling softly at the mental image of Sadie in nature.
"What happened to her doing secretarial work at G Major?" Tommy said, interrupting my thoughts.
"She took the time off. I don't know. She's been planning to go to this camp for months upon months." I just shrugged.
"Oh. And your Mom?" Tommy asked.
"Uh, convention in Montreal." I said, smiling. "Plus her and Don are celebrating their half anniversary of being together, or something." I laughed. "Basically they use any excuse to go on trips and have as much sex as they can." I saw Tommy cringe at the thought. I laughed out loud again, as I began preparing the breakfast of champions as my mother always called it. Bacon, eggs, toast, pancakes. Mm. My mouth was watering at the thought.
"So, how are things with them?" Tommy said.
Ah. That killed the food dream. "Well. Not perfect. My mom knows I don't like Don, but he makes her happy. She wrote me that letter you know, and it kind of just spurred conversation. I still love her, and she still loves me. We've just agreed to not really agree." I said, pouring the pancake batter in the pan. "Sadie. Well, she's Sadie, and I don't understand her. But again, we've both come to the conclusion that we love each other. And we may never understand each other." Tommy grimaced as I discussed his ex-girlfriend. You know the one he broke up with because he was in love with me, even though he was still too scared to admit it. "And that's Jude Harrison: A History in about five minutes. Just enough time for your breakfast to be ready." I arranged the food on the plate, and poured him a glass of orange juice. We ate for a few moments in silence, just enjoying the food.
"Jude. If your family isn't here and you don't have to be at work, or do anything until at least 10, why are you awake?" He said. Oh. I didn't want to inform that a scary dream in which I'd murdered everyone had scared me into oblivion, so I did what I always do in uncomfortable situations with Tommy. Flirt. Or get angry.
"Just couldn't sleep anymore. I was dying to see your shining face." I said sarcastically. Yes; killed two birds with one stone.
He waggled his eyebrows at me and said, "I have that effect on the ladies." I punched his shoulder.
"You haven't slept all night. I'm lacking sleep as well, and our bellies are full. Grab the couch. I'm going upstairs to sleep for a couple of hours." He just stared at me. His face told me he was going to make some smart remark, so I stopped him, "Or let yourself out. Either way I'm going to sleep." And then I turned to walk up the stairs. My head hit the pillow and I was out for a straight hour. Feeling slightly more refreshed, and definitely ready to start the day for real now that it was no longer on the obscene side of early, I went downstairs to re-brew some coffee and to clean up the breakfast mess. Only I found the kitchen sparkling. I looked around, and spluttered a bit. I walked into the living room only to find Tommy lying on the couch, sleeping peacefully. Hmm, to let him sleep or not? I figured I'd let him sleep. I went back to my room and grabbed the comforter off my bed and placed it around him. "Sleep tight oh blue eyed prince of my musical kingdom." I laughed softly at myself, and made an attempt to kiss his cheek. Only he turned his head just as I went down, and well, I ended up placing a pretty sound kiss on his lips. I pulled back quickly in surprise. Oh God. Why does this always happen to me? Maybe he won't wake up, maybe he will and laugh at me. Maybe he will and then we'll make out and then date, and Sadie will hate me forever, but it won't matter because I've got Tommy. Oh God. I sat back, silently waiting for the worst. Except it didn't come. He just smiled. Hmm. I wonder what that means. Oh! I could have my wicked way with a sleeping man. Is that wrong? Only if he doesn't agree, and he can't technically agree, but I know that if he was awake, and had lots and lots of coercion he might maybe agree. Bad Jude. Stop thinking these dirty thoughts. I couldn't help it, I was 17 after all. Through the entire conversation I'd been having with myself, I had slowly slid down to sit in front of the couch, my back leaning up against it. After what seemed like 15 more minutes of mentally speaking with myself, I felt a hand grab my shoulder and I let out a scream.
I turned around to see a sleepy head Tommy make a face of pain. "Relax girl, it's just me." He said, raising his hands in mock surrender.
"Oh. My. God. Tommy, you scared me! I was sitting there, talking to myself, and you just had to reach out and grab me. I think my heart stopped." I said, punching him on the arm.
"First of all, ouch. Second of all, if you heart had stopped you wouldn't be talking to me right now, third of all, talking to yourself isn't exactly something you should admit Harrison and fourth of all, does this make up for it?" He put his hands on my neck, and began to massage the tense muscles there.
I was about to stop him. Punch him repeatedly for scaring me so badly, but I couldn't really form too many coherent thoughts when his hands were working that magic. "Yes. Yep. Uh-huh." I said, and relaxed as he began to work out the many days of stress built up there. After about 10 minutes of thoroughly working out my muscles he tousled my hair. I wanted to be mad, really I did. But I couldn't. Not when the stressiest part of my body was suddenly de-stressed by the man of my dreams. Nope, couldn't do it. I laughed at myself.
"What?" Tommy said, as he reached his arms up and stretched, giving my hormones a nice view of his stomach, causing me to laugh again, only from nervousness this time. "What?" He said.
I looked at him sitting on my couch, wrapped in my blanket, with his adorable bed-head and just smiled. "Nothing Quincy. Your hair made me chuckle."
He laughed at me, and started running his fingers through mine. "Yours isn't so wonderful either Harrison."
I jumped up on the couch and began tickling him again. What can I say; I take it where I can get it. He'll usually let me get it this way. Ooh. That's dirty. Welcome to my life. "Not so tough now are ya Quincy?" As he laughed his shirt began inching its way back up. Suddenly he grabbed my hands and threaded his fingers through my own. Here I was sitting on his lap, holding hands with him. He stared at me. I could live in this spot, in this position for my life. But only if he keeps giving me that look. I contemplated leaning in to kiss him senseless, but he suddenly tore his hands away from mine and began tickling me mercilessly. "Oh, you're evil!" I laughed and tried to get away, but I was no match for him.
"Say it Jude. Say that I am the almighty master and I will let you go." Tommy laughed evilly. I tried to stop him, but I couldn't stop laughing. We were pretty good at these tickle fights. Bet you didn't know that did you?
"All right Tommy. You win. You are the mighty Jedi master of all things tickling, and I am a fool for trying to win against you. And you don't have dorkus hair." I muttered. Hey, had to take my stabs where I could get them. He finally relented. I just lay across his lap, trying to catch my breath from laughing so hard. He began smoothing down my hair. "I could get used to this you know." I said, before I realized what exactly had just escaped my mouth. His hand stopped and he made a face of surprise. Oh God. I did it again. Oh God. I coughed and recovered quickly. "I would pay anyone to play with my hair non-stop." Duh. Oh God. I'm such an idiot. I hung my head in shame, and just shook it. "I'm going to go shower Quincy, okay?" I began to get up off of his lap.
I was almost all the way up when he grabbed my hips and pulled me back down. I sat on his lap with an oomph and he said, "Yeah. I could get used to this too." I raised an eyebrow in question, and was about to say something when I felt his lips connect with mine. I closed my eyes, deepening the kiss. Oh yes. I could definitely get used to this.