Just a little note: I'd like to thank everyone for reading. I'm not going to do it everytime but I feel the need to assure everyone that I will not allow this story to stop the way many seem too. I've gotten about half of it written, and the ending is already done, so I'm filling in the blanks. Please understand that I won't always update daily, it does take sometime to fill in all the blanks and find the perfect songs. So stick with me.
But mostly, thank you. I can't explain how happy it makes me see a review or another hit on the story.
Jude stood in the living room of her childhood home, everything inside it was different, from the paint, to the light fixtures. She had always known that as soon as Sadie had the chance to change things she could, but she was surprised at how much had changed. After seeing how much G Major had stayed the same, part of her hoped that home would be the same as well. But if she wasn't sure of the numbers on the side of the house, she would think she was standing in someone else's living room. She remembered the carpet being a soft tan color, but now it was a deep, rich blue, and the neutral colored walls, where a fresh, crisp white. She did have to admit that Sadie's decorating skills did make their small living room look larger.
But as she slowly made her way through the house, more changes jumped out everywhere. The appliances in the kitchen all seemed to be new as well. She knew that they hadn't had a black refrigerator before she had left, and she was pretty sure there use to be stools around the island, but there were none of be found.
The one thing that Jude knew, the one thing she could count on to always be the same was her bedroom. Sadie had promised her, even after her wedding, that her bedroom would stay the same until she was ready, ready to move back or pack it up. The house did after all belong to the two of them, but Jude had explained to her sister than she didn't plan on living in the house, and that gave Sadie the freedom to do as she pleased.
Her room was unchanged. The photo next to her bed was still one of her and Tommy at one of the benefit concerts she had done. Sitting next to it was the makeshift ring, and Jude felt her heart give a tug. She hadn't thought about that ring, about that night in so long. She picked up the simple silver twist tie, the one he had taken from the bread basket, and held it in her hand. That twist tie could have changed her whole world, it could have changed her. She knew the longer she was back, the harder it would be not to think about those memories, the ones she had locked away. She had made her decision, she had chosen to be a rock star, not a wife, and she still stood by her decision one hundred percent, but she couldn't stop her heart from speeding up and she slipped the ring back on her finger.
But that was all it took, looking at it on her finger, for her to quickly remove it, setting it back on her nightstand and putting the picture down. She didn't want to think about that. She didn't want to think about the pain she had cause Tommy, the tears she cried, or the way she had longed for him. "You're not that girl Jude." She reminded herself, shaking the thoughts from her head. She turned to see what other memories her room held.
There was a picture of Jamie, Kat, and her from the day Jude had won Instant Star. She had been so nervous that day, so nervous that Kat and Jamie had to drag her from the bathroom just to get her to perform. She made a mental note to see what she could find out about Kat, where she was, how she was doing. She sat on her bed and looked around, all the memories her room held seemed to be from a different life time, from a different Jude.
She laid back on her bed and sighed. She would give anything to be home, in London, in the bed she had become so use too. This room didn't smell the same anymore, it smelled stuffy, as though the door to the room hadn't been opened in years. And her flat in London was everything that she was now. Her music was there, her guitar, and as she thought about it, so was her tooth brush. How could she have forgotten something so essential? Her thoughts were interrupted by a sigh coming from outside her room.
"My Jude Harrison alarms went off as soon as you stepped out of that G Major car." Jamie Andrews said.
Jude quickly got to her feet laughing. She had given Big Lou the okay to go back to G Major, knowing she wouldn't be leaving the house. And when she first heard the sigh, the memory of Megan quickly popped into her mind, a memory she often thought of when she was alone. She knew that Jamie could see the relief on her face as she looked at him, and she could feel her whole body relax, smiling at him.
"Tried to sneak home without even coming to see me, or Nana?" Jamie asked, wrapping his arms around her neck and hugging her. "Feelings are hurt."
Jude breathed him in, even after five years apart, she knew things with them would still be okay. "I'm sorry Jamie, I figured I'd be over later, after Kwest got home."
"Already here, girl." Kwest said from the door of her room.
Jude laughed and let go of Jamie. "My favorite brother-in-law."
"Only brother-in-law." Kwest laughed pulling her in for a quick hug. "How was the flight?"
"Fine, pretty short," Jude smiled at the two men. She wasn't going to mention Tommy's name, or let herself wonder about why he had been there.
"I haven't brought your suit cases up here yet." Kwest told her.
"My stuff!" She was suddenly excited. She turned back to Jamie and smiled at him. "I got you something you're going to love." She reached for his hand and pulled him out of the room, back down to her living room, where they waited for Kwest to bring her things in.
"How have you been?" Jamie asked, laughing. Jude knew that he would be able to read her like a book, he would see how happy she was to see him, to see everyone, but she knew he would want to know why she had come back after swearing to him she wouldn't.
"Amazing." Jude smiled at him, as she started to unzip the larger of her two bags. "The world, Jamie, I can't even explain it. There is so much out there, so much more than we imagined." She flipped open the lid to reveal a whole suit case full of knick knack souvenirs. She held up a magazine, the cover showed it was clearly a music magazine, both neither Jamie nor Kwest could read it.
"Thanks Jude, I-uh-love it." Jamie said taking it from her. "I can't actually read Chinese, but I'm sure it's great."
"Inside Jamie!" Jude laughed, taking it back from him. "And its Japanese, I got it when I was on tour." She was flipping through the pages, looking for the right page, the right picture.
"You could have just gotten me a sake set, or some chopsticks." Jamie looked over at Kwest.
"This is better." Jude smiled up at them. She turned the magazine around, showing them a picture of NBR. "I was doing an interview, right after the wedding, they asked me if I knew about any up and coming artist to be looking for, and I told them about NBR, even gave them the shirt to get the label picture from."
"You took us to Japan?" Jamie asked, dumbfounded, as he took the magazine, looking closer at the picture.
"Not only to Japan." Jude said smiling, she pulled out a stack of six other magazines. "I took you international." She handed them to Kwest, and smiled as she watched the two look through them.
"This is amazing Jude." Kwest said looking over the covers, Germany, Spain, Australia, South Korea, and France.
"I figured, since you won't let me record with you, then I can at least promote you." Jude said giving them a shoulder shrug.
"But your label, they didn't mind?" Jamie asked.
"The first time they did." Jude rolled her eyes as she thought back to the lecture she got in Dylan's office, the PR department wasn't happy with her. "But when Dylan saw that you two were doing, he loved it."
"Dylan Cooper?" Jamie looked even more surprised. "Dylan Cooper knows who we are?"
"I'll take it you like my gift." Jude laughed at him. She knew that he would love it, and she knew he would love knowing that Dylan Cooper knew his label name.
"Like? Jude, I, we love this." Jamie said standing up and pulling her into another hug. "You're the best friend a guy could ask for."
"Yeah, this really means a lot to us Jude, thanks." Kwest said smiling at her.
"Well that's not all." Jude said crouching back down and pulling more things out. She handed Jamie a stack of T-shirts. "All band shirts, you get first dibs, the rest will go to Speed, Wally and Kyle."
"Maybe you should leave more often." Jamie laughed looking through the shirts, Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Traffic, Led Zeppelin , The Who, Pink Floyd. They were all bands that Jamie and Jude loved, but the shirts were all ones he had never seen before.
"Do you think Zeppelin would be hurt if I gave her the Led Zeppelin one?"
"No, I think she'd love it." Jamie said pulling it out of the stack.
"There are some Pegan Smith ones in there too, we meet up on tour." Jude smiled watching him. Jamie looked like a boy on Christmas morning, looking through the band shirts, surrounded by music magazines. She knew that he was going to be the first of many smiling faces.