I have to say this is my favorite chapter so far!! I hope you enjoy this as much as I did...PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE leave comments!!!


Chapter 7: Resist

Jude woke up violently by pounding on her front door. She peeled her face from the keyboard she had fallen asleep on. Rushing downstairs she realized the pounding had stopped and in its place was a heated argument. Jude threw her front door open to see Tommy and a delivery man still holding a bag of hot food.

"What's going on?!" She asked over the confusion.

"Mr. delivery boy here thinks he has the right to go pounding on people's doors when they don't answer in 5 seconds. There's a doorbell ass hole!" Tommy was back to addressing the young boy and pointing at the brightly lit doorbell.

"Well no one answered so what am I supposed to do?! Do you even live here?! Get out of my face you old Backstreet Boy!"

Little did he know that this man was not a fan of the Backstreet Boys and he just delivered the harshest statement possible. Tommy threw himself at the boy ready to kill. When the boy fell backwards Jude immediately got in between trying her hardest to shield him from any harm. "Tommy! What is your deal?! Are you really going to beat up a kid?"

Tommy glared then straightened his clothes to help the boy off the ground.

"I'm so sorry about this… now whose food are you delivering?" Jude asked trying to mend the situation.

"It's for this house." The boy said nonchalantly as if he wasn't just about to get beaten up by a 30 year old man.

Tommy spoke up saying, "Its for you Jude…remember…dinner tonight?" Tommy paid the young man and then followed Jude into the house. "I figured you didn't want to go anywhere public and would probably blow me off if at all possible so I went ahead and ordered in… straight to your doorstep. And as a bonus, you won't be able to resist the meal because it is your favorite Chinese delivery place and you eat that even when you aren't hungry!"

Jude stared at him. She couldn't believe that after all these years he still knew her so well. She was totally going to try and give him the hardest night ever if possible and refusing to eat was her last option, however, the smell of the spicy Kung Pao chicken was intoxicating and she silently made her way to the kitchen to get plates.

"So, how was your day?" Tommy asked as he helped her remove the contents of the bags onto the kitchen table. "I heard you made a visit to Mr. Darius Mills…what was that about?"

"If you must know," Jude answered rolling her eyes, "I just wanted to get some studio time. I have some material I want to record and play around with. If that's ok with you of course"

Tommy just laughed. "That's you Harrison, always working, no breaks."

"Is there something wrong with that?"

"Of course not." Tommy's smile faded slightly and he gave her an intense gaze, "I just get worried that you will burn out if you don't rest up. At least every once in a while." Tommy noticed she was about to put up her defensive argument and rushed his words to get them out before she could say anything. "Just a short vacation. Not a complete separation from you and your music but a short break to put your mind on something else for a change. I don't know, maybe for new inspiration."

"Are you seriously going to avoid me forever?" Adam asked at the end of his 8th voicemail to her phone.

"Maybe." Jude answered aloud. Still furious she was not in the mood to talk to anyone. She wanted to be excited that she was up for a Light award under best female vocalist. She was planning to go all out for this event. It was a month away and she wanted to make sure everyone knew about it. Jude wasn't worried about winning, she just wanted to bask in the fact that this was her first nomination and above all in a country that wasn't her own. She felt her skin get goosebumps and immediately called her sister.

"You need to call me as soon as you finish listening to this, Light award nominations for best female vocalist: Jessica Tiggs, Amy Louise, Nastashia, Ava McKinnon, and who else you ask? Jude Harrison!" Jude let out a loud scream that echoed in her apartment. She hung up the phone and jumped at the sound of someone knocking. "Who is it?"

"Adam."Too late, the door was open and his foot was across the threshold.

"What are you doing here? I'm really busy right now." Jude said trying to sound distracted and thinking of the next lie to give him.

"I think I should explain myself about what happened. And you avoiding me isn't helping…will you just hear me out?" Adam was getting frustrated. Jude had been rushing about the apartment as if preparing for a coming storm. He caught her arm as she rushed past.

"You don't need to explain. I don't want to be in a relationship right now. I just should have told you that instead of walking out on you." Jude took her arm back and stepped back. "Maybe its best we just stay friends…nothing more…"

"Ok. I just really thought we would be a good match and if you could give me a chance…I know we could make it work.. What I said about you and Tommy-"

"Let's not get into that. I'll see you later at the studio, ok?" She ushered him to the door.


"I'm really sorry, Jude."

"Yeah, me too." Jude closed the door behind her. Jude blew the hair out of her face and went to take a long hot bath.

After watching the news and doing their usual small talk, all the food was gone and Tommy got up to take all the trash out. When he came back…he was holding a small pink cake box.

"I know you hardly have any room left in the tiny stomach of yours," Tommy said sarcastically, "but I got you this." He handed her the box. Jude cautiously took it and was about to shake it when Tommy lurched forward, "Don't do that! Just open it, Jude."

Jude opened the box to find her favorite chocolates from London. She ate them at every chance possible and had to special order them to her flat while she was there. "How did you know?!"

"I know a lot more than you think…" Tommy gave her his winning smile and moved to sit on the couch with her. "You think I can try one? I'd like to know what you had to have after every show while you were a million miles away. Cause if I remember what you used to have after a show-" she punched him in the arm and gave him a look that said, 'don't even think about going there'.

"Here." She gently picked a piece of chocolate and cooed. She moved towards him so they would be face to face. "So prepare for the most intoxicatingly splendiferous moment of your life." She placed the chocolate to his mouth.

Tommy never broke eye contact with her. He honestly could careless about chocolate and has never been a real fan but he wanted to experience this small piece of her that made her happy when she wasn't with him. He was grinning from ear to ear as she was on her second piece by the time he finished his first. "Magnificent, right?"

"Absolutely!" He faked. He watched her pack up the rest of the candies and stared dreamily with her eyes closed.

"Thank you." She finally broke the silence and looked at him. "This wasn't so bad."

Tommy wanted to talk to her seriously but he didn't want to push her away at this point. He was fighting an inner battle and was sure it was played all over his face as well.

"What's wrong?" Jude asked concerned.

"Nothing. I'm having one of the best times of my life right now". After a moment of listening to the TV ramble about political headlines, Tommy started to speak again. "Jude, I have always wanted to give you what you want. I always want what is best for you and you have your own life and decisions to make that are yours and yours alone."

"What are you talking about?" Jude placed her feet on the floor.

"When you left to go to London, that was your decision and I supported it. No matter how much it hurt me. I know music will always come first in your life and I never want to interfere…I only want to help make it better. I watched from afar as you won awards and toured and made absolutely incredible music…without me. I was there Jude. I went to as many shows possible, every TV appearance, read every magazine, clipped every photo…"

"What are you saying Tommy…"

"London was your life. You chose to have a life without me and wanted to oblige. So how selfish of me would it have been to interfere? So you could get mad at me and runaway even further?" Tommy paused to take a breath. "I left without saying anything because you weren't supposed to know I was there. When we caught eyes…"

Tears welled up in Jude's eyes. "Tommy…I…I thought you were coming to rescue me."

"No, Jude. You know that isn't how it would have gone down. If I came up to you begging for you to come back, you would have been so angry with me and done some off the wall crap to get me mad and push me away. You think you want to be rescued but you don't. You don't ever need to be rescued. You have music and that's all you need. You only want a strong supporter…a backbone for your endeavors. That's what I found that I can be for you. I can't be your everything because you have that. You pick music every time. Music…rescues you."

Jude was speechless.

"I love you, Jude. I will be here for you always and I WILL marry you." Tommy stood up, got his coat and walked out the front door.