"Okay, Jude, I think we're good." Tommy says in her headphones. She sees him surreptitiously check his watch.
"You don't want to do one more take?"
"Uh… Well we can if you want, but I don't really think we need it."
"Okay." She takes off her headphones and comes around to his side of the glass. "So either I really nailed it, or you just really want to get out of here."
"What makes you say that?" he asks, defensively.
She smiles. "Because you always want another take. You're a perfectionist, Tommy." He shrugs and she teases him, "What, got a hot date?"
He glances sideways at her. "Not that it's any of your business, but… yeah."
"Oh." She feels a twinge of jealousy, and pushes it away. "With who?" He shrugs again, so she pushes. "Model, ex-groupie, girl from–"
"Producer." he snaps.
Jude raises her eyebrows. "The one from D's gala? Tall, dark hair, works for Cardinal Records? Laura something?"
He nods. "Lorena."
"Didn't you go out with her last week? And the week before?"
"Your point?" He frowns at her.
"Nothing, just… is this like, a serious thing?"
"None of your business." He crosses his arms.
"How would D feel about you sleeping with the enemy?" she asks jokingly.
"The enemy?"
Jude shrugs. "Well, I mean, she works for a competitor."
"She's not the enemy, she's a… colleague. And anyway, you're one to talk." He raises his eyebrows at her.
"What do you mean?"
He gives her a patronizing look. "Jude. I'm not oblivious. Believe it or not, I keep an eye on indie music forums, too. Word on the street is that a Toronto kid is working with Paegan Smith to start an anti-corporate indie label in his grandmother's basement. Sound familiar?"
She pales. "Does Darius know?"
Tommy shakes his head. "I doubt it. If he did, he'd have fired Andrews a long time ago, and he'd be doing whatever he could to take you guys down. You are working together on this, aren't you?"
"Yeah," she admits, "he asked me to produce for him once they're up and running. But my work on this album comes first, I promise. Please don't tell D."
"I wasn't planning on it." he reassures her. "Look, if G-Major can't handle Jamie Andrews as competition, it doesn't deserve to be a record company. As long as he's not stealing or anything, he can play double agent all he wants. God knows D isn't above playing dirty. After what he did to Georgia? Maybe he even deserves it. But you should let Andrews know that it won't be long until Darius finds out one of his A&R reps is secretly working against him. He should quit his job while Darius doesn't have grounds to sue him for everything he owns. He needs to be careful. D's a shark, and he's been in this game for a long time."
"But you're not going to tell him?"
"No." Tommy shakes his head. "I'm actually rooting for Andrews on this one. And do not tell him that."
"Wouldn't want him to think you have a heart." Jude teases.
Tommy smiles a little. "Not a heart, just a… grudging respect for the fact that he has the guts to do this. And for his business partner." he winks at Jude to let her know he's referring to her, not Paegan.
"Thank you." she says, throwing her arms around his neck. He hugs her back, and she kisses him on the cheek.
"Don't mention it." He pulls back and says, "I'm serious. Don't mention this. I may be rooting for your little basement label, but that doesn't mean I'm risking my job for it."
Jude nods. "Understood."
"So, do you want to do another take, or can we call it a day?"
She smiles. "We can call it a day. Go on your date."
Tommy and Jude walk out together after they reset the board and put everything away. Lorena, who is sitting waiting for Tommy, sees them come out. They're laughing about something, and Lorena realizes she can't remember ever seeing Tommy really laugh. He's a pretty serious guy in general, a semi-permanent crease in his brow, and he seems more the type to smile wryly at something he finds funny. But, even though he's rolling his eyes at Jude, there's genuine happiness in his expression. He looks younger when he smiles like this. He touches Jude's shoulder as they say goodbye, and for a brief moment Lorena wonders whether she should be jealous. But she only met Tommy a few weeks ago, and he's worked with Jude for years, so she decides it's sweet, that seeing him with his guard down makes her like him more, even if it's not because of her. But when he watches Jude as she leaves, Lorena gets up from her chair and gets his attention. He turns and smiles at her, the same real smile he gave Jude, though it fades pretty quickly back into his neutral expression. "Hey. Sorry." he says as she walks up. "The last couple takes took longer than I thought."
"No worries." she says as they walk out. "I know how it is. You get caught up in the music and lose track of time."
"Better than the times when you're staring at the clock just waiting for them to stop singing." Tommy jokes.
Lorena smiles. "Is Jude any good?"
He looks surprised. "You've heard her stuff, haven't you? You tell me."
"Yeah, I mean, sure, her albums are great, but we both know that sometimes has more to do with a talented producer than the skill of the artist."
"I'm flattered, but no. Jude's the real deal. She was pretty inexperienced when I first started working with her, but she learns fast, and she's come a really long way. She's co-producer on this album, and she's definitely earned it." He looks proud.
As they get into his car, she says, "So I'm curious. You and Jude ever…"
He raises his eyebrows. "Ever what?"
"You know." Lorena laughs. "Have you ever slept with her?"
"She's my artist." he snaps, frowning.
"You and I both know that has never stopped anyone. I mean, hey, I've slept with artists. A lot of people have. You work that closely with someone, sometimes things happen."
"She was 15 when I met her."
"Oh." Lorena raises her eyebrows. "So she's what, 17 now?"
"18 last fall." he corrects reflexively.
She nods. "Okay, she's an adult, then. You're being evasive. So you have slept together?"
"No." he says adamantly.
"Really? Huh."
"You're surprised?"
"Frankly, yes." She shrugs again. "From a mile away I could see that you two have… I don't know. Chemistry, I guess. The kind that, in my experience, only comes from history."
"We're friends. We've been working together a long time. Why this sudden interest in Jude?" he's scowling at her now.
She shrugs again, remaining nonchalant even as he gets upset. "Curiosity? But it certainly seems to be a touchy subject considering you're telling me you two have no history."
He snaps at her again. "You didn't ask about history, you asked if I'd slept with her."
She raises her eyebrows again, intrigued. "Those questions have different answers?" If they have a history, but they didn't sleep together, that means it's about feelings, another surprise from a man that she's pegged as sort of a womanizer, rarely if ever venturing beyond the casual. If he'd slept with his young and talented artist, that would be one thing, but having real feelings for her is another thing entirely.
"It's complicated." he gives an exasperated sigh.
He clearly doesn't want to talk about this, but that just intrigues her more. "So where exactly does 'complicated' fall on a spectrum from unresolved sexual tension to declarations of undying love?"
"I don't know!" he cries, but she keeps staring at him with her eyebrows raised slightly, so he elaborates, quickly, just to get that penetrating gaze off of him "Fine! There was… tension. For a while. Feelings, whatever, I don't know, call it what you want. We were together really really briefly six months ago, it didn't work out, and she's with someone else now. The end. No big deal."
Lorena nods. "Interesting."
"You are infuriating." he says, sounding almost surprised.
"The fact that this infuriates you is interesting, too." she laughs. "You're sort of a fascinating guy, Quincy."
He looks taken aback. "I don't think anyone has ever said that to me before."
She smiles. "Then they've been looking at you the wrong way." He looks confused, and she shakes her head and gestures to the road. "Are we gonna go or what?"
… ... ... ... …
Jude lets herself into Jamie's house through the unlocked front door, saying hi to Nana before heading downstairs where Jamie and Zeppelin are setting up to record.
Being a part of NBR is still a surreal experience for Jude. Part of it's just that, like Jamie said, they have their own label. In all the years she'd dreamed of life as a musician, this had never been something she'd considered a real possibility. Even when Jamie first suggested it, it had seemed like a pipe dream, one of those big plans that would never actually come to fruition. And yet, here they are, doing this for real. They're still standing, even after the botched attempt to poach Blu from G-Major led to Paegan deserting them for fame and glory à la Darius Mills. At least Darius believed them when they told him Jude had no involvement in trying to steal the Instant Star hopefuls. It was true. Jamie didn't try to take advantage of her position as judge at any point during auditions, even though Paegan apparently pushed him to. Despite their relationship, and despite Jamie's historically poor track record keeping secrets from her, Jude didn't know the plan. She knew something was up when Zeppelin took the receptionist job, but she didn't ask, and Jamie didn't tell. Maybe it was because she was too preoccupied keeping her own secrets.
Still, even though he'd believed she wasn't involved, there was no love lost between Darius and Jude, and any plans she may have once had for another tour went up in smoke. She gladly chose not to renew her contract, though her third album was successful enough that she probably could have negotiated it, despite her ties to NBR. This is another surreal aspect of her new work: it's not about her own music anymore. When Spied showed up on their doorstep, they chose to focus all of their efforts on him, at least while the label is still so small. Jude and Jamie are co-producers, another thing she never dreamed would happen, but he's pretty good at it with what he already knows from watching Kwest work with Patsy, and she actually really enjoys teaching him things he doesn't know yet. When she sometimes borders on condescending, Jamie's eyes crinkle at the corners as he smiles and says, "you're channeling Quincy again." And he's right. Because they worked together for so long, she does channel Tommy in most aspects of music, which makes it even weirder that she's not working with him anymore. She tries not to think about that.
When Jude walks in, Zeppelin is laughing at something Jamie said. Jamie notices Jude first and says, "Hey! Good morning!"
"'Morning." she smiles in reply, then looks at Zeppelin. "You have to stop being so early, Zep. Seriously, you're making me look bad, especially since I literally live next door."
Zeppelin looks embarrassed. "I haven't been here for very long. You're not late, and Spied's not here yet either."
"Zeppelin is very committed to the cause." Jamie says, and Zeppelin flushes as he smiles at her.
"By the way," Jude says to Zeppelin, "Nana said she wants you to help her with her scrapbooking at some point. She knows I'm terrible at that kind of thing."
"Oh! Sure, yeah. I'll go now. We're set up here anyway, and Spied should be here soon."
Jamie smiles. "Thanks, Zep. Nana really likes having you here, just so you know. We do too. It means a lot that you stayed. You're the best unpaid intern a fledgling indie label could ask for."
Zeppelin blushes harder, grinning down at her shoes and saying "Thanks. I'm glad to be here." before walking upstairs.
Jude chuckles to herself as Zeppelin leaves, and Jamie looks at her quizzically. "What?"
"Nothing." she shakes her head.
He cocks his head to the side. "No, seriously, what?"
She shrugs. "Zep's giant crush on you. I just think it's funny."
Jamie looks taken aback. "Zeppelin doesn't have a crush on me."
Jude raises her eyebrows. "Are you serious? Girl's got it bad."
"You're sure?" He frowns. "But Zeppelin knows we're together."
"Of course she does. I'm not saying she's trying to steal you, babe. I'm saying she likes you. And yes, I'm sure. She turns bright red the second you smile at her. You really didn't know?"
He looks very concerned, and reaches out to put a hand on her arm. "Jude, I don't see her that way, I swear."
Jude laughs in surprise. "I know. I'm not upset about it. I like Zeppelin. I think it's awesome that she decided to stay when Paegan left. I like that she believes in NBR. She works hard, she's really smart… I told you, I think the fact that she has a crush on you is funny. It doesn't have to change anything. I just assumed you knew."
"I didn't." He glances worriedly up the stairs. "Should I say something to her?"
"Man, I forgot boys are oblivious." she mutters to herself, rolling her eyes. Then, to Jamie, she says, "Jame, the worst thing you could do would be to say something. Like you said, she knows you and I are together and nothing's going to happen, so letting her know that you know would just embarrass her. I shouldn't have said anything about it. I honestly just assumed you knew."
"How long have you… When did you notice?"
"I don't know. A long time ago." She shrugs. "It's no big deal."
"It doesn't… bother you?"
Jude's surprised by that. "No, of course not."
"Oh." Jamie looks a little hurt for a second, though he covers it up quickly.
She sighs. "Jamie, I trust you, and I like Zeppelin. So why should it bother me? It's not a big deal. What can I say? I'm not the jealous type. Besides," she winks at him. "how can I blame her?"
Jamie smiles at that, and leans over to kiss her. "I guess you can't."