The ride back to G Major had been awkward, more than that it had been uncomfortable. She took the first chance she had to make a phone call, to talk about another guy, and all he could do was make himself look busy. He had no one to call, nothing of importance to tend to, nothing he could remember at least. When he had gotten the phone call that morning, everything else seemed less important, but now he wished he had something important to do, something to busy himself and his mind. Sitting this close to her wasn't easy. Knowing that his presences made her uncomfortable, made him feel worse about showing up. Being around her used to be as easy as breathing, but things had changed, they have changed.
He seemed to get his wish as they pushed through the crowd outside of the building. The new receptionist handed him a folder, and he needed to look over the lyrics of the song, and list of equipment he needed, and the contract he had been waiting for, the contract from Seattle. Seattle was definitely the something important he needed to distract his thoughts.
Tommy hung back a few steps as Darius greeted Jude. It had taken the whole ride to the airport to come up with a reason for being there, for picking her up, but he knew that if Darius was to say anything, his whole cover would be blown. He could only hope that business would be more important. He focused on the papers in front of him, looking busy was always better than staring at her.
"Tom, they need you in the studio." Leah said approaching him. He had hardly talked to Leah, she had just started working at G Major when he left, but he knew that she worked under Sadie, covering parts of her first job.
"Sure thing." Tommy answered. He didn't want to look up, he wasn't sure if he could do it without his eyes falling on her. But he knew that he had to, and it wasn't until he could see his reflection in the glass door that he realized the sad smile that was pulling at his mouth. He wasn't sad, he was anything but sad. But there it was, just like the day she had left.
"Play it back." Tommy said shaking his head and taking his seat. He had listened to it twice already, but he was having a hard time focusing on what he was hearing. He wanted to shake the thoughts of her out of his head, he wanted to make music, to produce music. As he listened to the song, he could feel himself coming back to his senses. Jude was back, just to visit. She had left him, she had done to him what he deserved a hundred times over, but that still didn't make it hurt any less. Now all he needed to do was the same thing when she had first left. He needed to throw himself into the music, he needed to do the only thing he knew he was good at.
"What do you think?" Ian, the assistant producer he was working with, asked.
"Something about it still isn't fitting together, trying speeding it up again, and make sure the drums sound smoother, not so rough." Tommy said after listening to it again. Once he could focus it was easy to lose himself in work, to forget about her, to forget about his pain.
Both Ian and Tommy looked towards the door as it opened quickly and then slammed shut.
"You went to the airport!" Sadie screamed, her hands on her hips. This was the reaction he had expected from Jude, not Sadie.
"Yeah." Tommy said shrugging his shoulder. He wasn't going to make a big deal out of it. Down play it, that was his plan. He knew that Jude had a life, a new life in London, and he had a life without her as well. They could both be mature adults about her return.
"Why?" Sadie questioned, her eyes getting smaller.
Tommy threw his arms out at her, giving her a head nod he was famous for. "I thought it would be nice to welcome her back."
"I didn't even tell her, I wanted to warn her." Sadie pointed back out the glass door.
Tommy knew what Sadie meant, he wasn't stupid. "Maybe you should have done that before she came back." He rolled his eyes. Sadie wasn't mad at him, she was mad at herself and he knew it. "Sadie, we're both adults here, I welcomed her back, now I'm going to finish what I came here for."
"Tommy." Sadie looked at him with sad eyes. He knew how much she missed her sister, how much she needed her, he would be dumb not to think that Sadie was hoping Jude would decide to stay in Toronto this time, to move back. "How am I going to tell her?"
"Tell her what?" Tommy asked.
"Tell her that you're staying in her favorite spot in the whole city, the one place she is going to run to the first chance she gets." Sadie explained.
The rehearsal space. Tommy hadn't even thought about that. When Darius had offered him the job producing the Instant Star album, he had gotten a hold of Stuart to see if he could rent Jude's loft. He didn't want to stay in a hotel for the weeks he would be there, and he knew that he would always have a special tie to that place.
"Want me to tell her?" he asked.
"No, no." Sadie shook her head. "You've done enough damage as it is Tommy."
"I haven't done anything." Tommy reminded her.
"I'll tell her." Sadie sighed before turning to leave the studio, her heels clicking on the tile floor as she went.
"This is going to be an interesting few weeks," Ian chuckled, turning back to the sound board.
"What's that mean?" Tommy asked, looking annoyed.
"You and Jude man. I am have been a kid back then, but you can't change history." Ian smiled before putting his head phones back on.
Tommy massaged the bridge of his nose, closing his eyes tight. When he had agreed to do the album, he had thought it was going to be painless, easy to come back to Toronto, to all their friends. But there was nothing easy when it came to Jude Harrison.