Longer chapter! If things seem to be moving slow, please bare with me. I'm still setting up the new characters. I hope you like the members of Distrust. Diana and Lyndsey will be a big part of the story.

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Friends Don't Let Friends Dial Drunk

Jude silently shut the door to Jamie's office and leaned back against the cool wood. This was not the day she intended to have when she woke up. She'd give anything to go home, crawl back in bed and start the day over. But that was impossible, so she took a deep breath and decided to get back to work. She glanced towards the studio and saw Andy waiting for her. But she also saw Sadie, sitting exactly where Jude had left her. "Damn it", she said under her breath She didn't want to deal with her sister right now. Sadie'd take one look at her and know something was wrong, then she'd want to know all the details of the argument with Jamie. Jude pushed herself away from the door. No, she was definitely not ready for that conversation. Change of plans, she thought. She walked across the lobby and out the front door before she could be noticed. Once she was in her car and blocks away from EastPhy, she called Andy to let him know he had another half hour reprieve. Then she turned off her cell and threw it into the passengers seat.

She drove, just drove, taking random turns, not having any destination in mind, not wanting to think about the mess she left back at the studio. She fished through the music she had in the car until she spotted a Plain White T's CD. That's what she needed, the T's. Decent lyrics, driving guitar, solid beat. She punched up track five, pushed play, and cranked the stereo.

Those are all very beautiful words

But actions speak louder

In case you haven't heard, I'm all alone

While you're out on the town drinkin' with your friends

You can say all these beautiful things

But they don't mean nothing

No, they don't mean a thing

Gotta back it up

But you keep backing down

Tell me how this ends

If you think it's possible then anything is possible

But I think you're impossible

I hope you prove me wrong

You only call me after you've had a few

You only want to hang out when you've got nothing to do

Don't tell me you love me and act like you don't

Oh, if you really want me you just gotta let me know

Same old thing happens every night

You get me going, and then you say goodbye

I'm heated up

And you just leave me there to take care of myself

Don't get mad, don't get all wound up

Just get your act together, or baby give it up

Just let me know if I should hit the road or if you want my help

If you think it's possible then anything is possible

But I think you're impossible

I hope you prove me wrong

You only call me after you've had a few

You only want to hang out when you've got nothing to do

Don't tell me you love me and act like you don't

Oh, if you really want me you just gotta let me know

You only call me when there's no one around

You only wanna come up when you know I'm going down

Don't tell me you love me and act like you don't

Oh, if you really want me you just gotta let me know

You gotta show me you mean it, if you really mean it

You're talking to me like you mean it, and I don't believe it

You only call me after you've had a few

You only want to hang out when you've got nothing to do

Don't tell me you love me and act like you don't

Oh, if you really want me you just gotta let me know

You only call me when there's no one around

You only wanna come up when you know I'm going down

Don't tell me you love me and act like you don't

Oh, if you really want me you just gotta let me know

You only call me after you've had a few (oh oh oh)

You only want to hang out when you've got nothing to do (oh oh oh)

Don't tell me you love me and act like you don't

Oh, if you really want me you just gotta let me know

She put the song on repeat and sang along the second, third and fourth times until she was smiling again. Yep that's what she needed, a good you're-an-ass-what's-your-problem song. It had been on heavy rotation on her iPod after her seventeenth birthday debacle. She wasn't sure Jamie would approve of her clearing her head with a song that reminded her of Quincy, but that was too damn bad. The song made her feel good, and god knew needed it after the afternoon she'd had.

When she finally pulled into the EastPhy parking lot, she was more relaxed and focused then she'd been since Tom Quincy had walked back into her life. She practically skipped through the lobby, humming to herself, a wide smile on her face. She burst into the booth, and dropped down on the sofa next to Diana. "What's up?"

Di gave her a questioning look, along with furrowed eyebrows. "You're in an awfully good mood." Andy had told the rest of the band what he'd walked in on earlier. Jude/Jamie fights were legend in the office, and Diana had anticipated tense recording sessions for the rest of the day, so a smiling Jude surprised her.

"I'm in an exceptional mood," Jude informed her. "Hey, Rocko." She grabbed the side of the dog's head and grrrr'd as she shook him back and forth. Rocky was, well, her rock. The only guy she could depend upon to love her unconditionally, and she needed that desperately right now. "Did you have a good walk?"

Tommy was as surprised by Jude's attitude as Diana. He too had heard about the fight. Not the details, Sadie had clammed-up about those, but it wasn't a stretch to guess it had something to do with him. Andrews had yet to say 'boo' to him, and he'd been in the office for hours now. He'd love to know the specifics of their argument, but he wasn't sure if the new quasi-relationship he had with Jude was strong enough to stand prodding, so he resigned himself to being kept in the dark. "He uh, he's really strong," Tommy said. Truthfully, he still wasn't sure who had walked whom.

Jude continued to play with Rocky. "About pulled your arm off, did he?" Tommy sheepishly nodded. "I told you to keep a tight grip on the leash. He settles down quick enough, but he is a puller." She looked over at Andy, who was sitting in her chair. "Sorry I made you wait. There was something I had to take care of."

The bassist stretched his lean and lanky six-foot frame as he stood, the well-defined muscles of his arms rippled, and the bottom of his t-shirt rode up, exposing a mouth watering six pack. He answered in a deep baritone voice. "Not a problem. Quincy's been telling us stories about you to pass the time." Jude arched an eyebrow at Tommy, who shrugged in response. Andy smirked. "It was nothing bad, Harry, just stuff about when he was your producer. You never told us you played the Vinyl Palace. I love that place."

The last thing Jude wanted was more reminders of 'the good times' with Quincy. "It was a long time ago. I barely think about it anymore." She gave Rocky one more pat on the head and stood to change places with Andy. "But now that I know you're interested, we'll see if we can get you guys a gig there. You're due for your first show."

"Shut up!" Diana practically screamed from her place on the couch. "The Vinyl Palace? That's like... the musical venue. Like the CBGB's of Toronto. The Whiskey Go-Go. The Tipitina's. The -"

"I get the point, Di," Jude said, amused by the other girl's enthusiasm. Diana was normally the sarcastic pessimist of the band. It was nice to see her excited about something. "I'm not promising, but I'll talk to Jamie. Now," Jude said as she flipped back into producer mode, "go bug your sister so we can get some work done."

Diane sunk back into the couch, deflated once again. "If it's all the same to you, I'd like to stay. Lynds is in one of her moods." She air-quoted the word. "She's got her nose buried in her books and I don't think she'd appreciate my company." Diana saw Jude's indecision. "I won't interrupt, I swear. I'll be a quiet little mouse over here in the corner."

If Lyndsey was studying, it would be better for Diana to stay out of her way, so Jude reluctantly nodded. "But if you start tapping out the drum beat on the walls again -"

"My sticks stay in my pants, I promise." Diana smirked thoughtfully. "Wow, that came out a whole lot dirtier than I intended."

Andy lightly bopped her on the head. "Yeah, and it would be worse, and maybe even make sense, if you were a guy." He picked up his bass, then leaned down and kissed Diana. "Be good, Animal."

Di swatted his ass as he straightened. "I'm always good. Expect when I'm bad, and then you like even better." She titled up her head and gave him a cheesy smile.

Tommy watched the interaction with interest. He'd been in the booth with them for almost twenty minutes and he hadn't picked up on the couple vibe at all. He looked at Jude as she took her seat, and she read the unspoken question in his eyes. She lowered her voice. "They're very professional in the studio, but you should see them after work. It's like watching soft-core porn." Tommy started to choke, and Jude smirked. "What's the matter, Quincy? Too much information?"

"Just wasn't expecting you to say something like that." He straightened in his chair, took a sideways glance at the couple who were talking in murmurs, really studying Diane for the first time. Her heart-shaped face was an exact copy of her sisters, except where Lyndsey had dyed her hair electric blue and cut it short, Diane had left hers natural. A long, straight mahogany platelet that ended halfway down her back. And her eyes were different from her sisters. Diana's were almost the same color as her hair. Lindsey's eyes matched her hair too, but since it was such an unnatural color, Tommy decided the other twin must wear colored contacts. They were both about average height, five-five or so, and had a similar body shape to Jude's. Diana said something Tommy couldn't hear, and he watched as Andy's face turned beet red and a dimple appeared in Diane's right cheek. "How old is she anyway?" he asked Jude suspiciously. The girl talked a good game, but Tommy couldn't imagine her being any older than sixteen, if that, and he was sure Andy wasn't anywhere near as young.

Still overprotective, Jude thought. She looked at the couple, and could imagine what Quincy saw. Andy was towering over Diana, and the girl had to stretch her arm to ruffle her boyfriend's shagging blond hair. She always looked so small and innocent compared to Andy, but it was such a lie. "I know. It's the whole Emily the Strange thing she's got going on, but trust me, she's older than she looks. She's twenty and Andy's twenty-one. They've been dating since high school. If it were up to him, they'd be married by now, but Di keeps saying no. She has problems with the concept of marriage, so they live together instead." Jude cleared her throat to get their attention. "I'm waiting," she said impatiently.

Andy gave Diana another quick kiss, then passed through the booth to the studio. Diana tucked her legs beneath her on the couch, pulled out a book she'd hiding and began to read, while the other three worked.

It was another hour before Jude was satisfied with how the bass line sounded. She waved Andy back into the booth and turned to Diana. "You're up, Di." Jude said, then caught sight of the clock on the wall. Hell, it was after seven. "Unless you want to record your stuff tomorrow. I sorta screwed the schedule today, and we only have the studio until nine. At this rate, I won't get to Lyndsey tonight anyway, so I'm good with you guys cutting out early."

Diane jumped into Andy's arms. The bassist caught her, but barely, having just set down his guitar. He stumbled back as hundred and eight pounds of girl hit him solidly in the chest. "Let's go home," she chirped as she wrapped her legs around his waist. Andy nodded eagerly, an evil glint in his eyes. Diana looked over her shoulder at Jude. "You're the bestest producer ever," she said with unbridled appreciation.

Jude couldn't help but laugh. It was so damn wonderful to see two people in love and not afraid to show it. Kwest and Sadie had never been big on PDA, they were more reserved, but Andy and Diana... It amazed her they were able to keep things under control when they were working, because the minute the work stopped, they were all over each other. And it wasn't as bad as she made it sound to Quincy. They were never offensive; she didn't want to groan and tell them to get a room. They were just... happy. And cute. And perfect. And, yes, sometimes a little sickening in a jealous, I-wish-I-had-the-same-thing type of way. "You two get out of here. I'll tell Lyndsey."

"You know she's going to bitch, right?" Diana asked as she slid out of Andy's arms, her feet touching the floor again. "You kept her here all afternoon and she never recorded. She's going to say something about it."

"It was my fault. She can be mad at me if she wants." Jude grabbed the clipboard that held the studio schedule and flipped to next day. "Can you come in around..." she ran her finger down the sheet, "two tomorrow?"

"Can we make it three? I have Sociology until two." Diana grabbed her book and her purse, while Andy put his guitar in it's case.

Jude marked the schedule. "Three o'clock it is." She smiled up at the couple. "Now get out of here! Go have some fun." Andy dropped a kiss on the top of Jude's head, murmured a thanks, and they left.

Tommy watched them walk out together, little Diana plastered to Andy's side. "Are you sure she's twenty?"

Jude rolled her eyes as she started shutting down the board. "I haven't checked her driver's license or anything, but she's in her third year at university, so I'm assuming she hasn't lied to me." She packed away the master tapes and handed them to Tommy. "You're coming with me to see Lyndsey."

Tommy took the tapes, placed them on the shelf in the back of the booth. "Me? I don't even know the girl. Why do I need to come along?"

"You're my diversion." Jude turned off the lights in the studio. "She's going to be upset, and I'm hoping you being there will throw her off her game, embarrass her a little. If she's thinking about what happened earlier, she might forget to be pissed at me."

Tommy sat on the edge of the board while Jude did a finally check of the booth. "Are you using me to manipulate your artist, Miss Harrison?"

"You're damn right I am." When Jude was satisfied the booth and studio were clear, they walked out, Rocky trotting behind them. She locked the door, then turned to look at Tom. She felt bad and needed to explain a few things to him before they confronted Lyndsey. "You have a bad impression of Lynds, and it's mostly my fault. Earlier didn't help, obviously, but she isn't normally like that. She has a lot on her plate right now, between school and recording. She's a physics major and she's working on a project that's worth half her grade for the semester. She's been trying to get as much lab time on campus as she can, and when I tell her she's been here all day for no reason... Well, she not going to be happy."

Tommy let out a low whistle. "Physics and rock-n-roll? Not a combination you hear very often."

Jude started walking again. "I know. She's smart as hell. They both are. Diana's studying -"

"Jude!" Sadie came rushing over to her sister. "I saw Andy and Di leave. They said you were done for the day?" she asked hopefully.

Jude nodded. "Yep. I'm going to tell Lyndsey now."

"Perfect," Sadie beamed and clasped her hands. "Kwest will be finished in an hour. We can have an actual family dinner tonight." Sadie was thrilled. Tommy was in the office one day, and already the production schedule was changing.

Jude winced at her sister's enthusiasm. Family dinner? She was hoping to go home and put in some time on her own project. Being able to work on her music before midnight would be a nice change of pace. Besides, she didn't want to spend any more time with Quincy. She'd done her duty. "Sades... I don't know..."

Sadie's face fell. "Don't start with me," she said in an authoritative tone, still pissed that Jude had ditched her earlier. "We haven't had dinner together, the three of us, in months. Plus it's Tom's first day back, and I think we should celebrate. I'm not asking for a lot here, Jude. A couple of hours out of your day to eat dinner with your family and a friend."

Jude saw her peaceful evening at home slipping away from her. Sadie would bug her until she gave in, and she was too tired to have another fight. "Fine. But I want veggie lasagna from Franco's. I want stuffed mushrooms. I want tiramisu for dessert. And I want you to pay for it."

Sadie stuck out her hand. "Deal." The sisters shook on it. "I'll need a ride home too. Like I said, Kwest won't be ready to go for another hour and we drove in together today. We can pick up dinner, that way it'll be there when Kwest gets home."

Jude nodded. "Sure, fine, whatever you want. But you better give Quincy your house keys so he doesn't have to follow us to Franco's. He can go to the house and start unloading his stuff."

"That's a good idea." Sadie turned to go to her office. "Wait here, Tommy, and I'll get you the keys."

Jude grabbed her arm before Sadie could dash off. "No rush. He's going with me to talk to Lyndsey. Take Rocky, will ya? We'll be back in a minute." Sadie called Rocky to her, and Jude and Tommy went to find Lyndsey.

Tommy followed as Jude led him past the offices, through a set of double doors, and back into what he concluded was a warehouse. There were shelves against two walls, stacked with boxes, electronic equipment and instruments. A van with Eastern Philosophy Records painted on the side was parked in front of a heavy metal garage door. "Where the hell are we going?" His voice echoed through the cavernous space.

Jude kept walking across the concrete floor to the opposite side of the room. "I told you, Lyndsey's a physics major. She works on some seriously complicated equations. She asked for a small space where she could study in private without the distractions of the office. We set-up a room back here for her." She stopped at a door tucked into a corner of the warehouse and knocked. When there was no answer, she quietly opened the door and peaked around the side. "Lynds? Lyndsey?"

Lyndsey looked up from her computer, her expression telegraphing her displeasure at being interrupted. Then she registered who was talking to her and smiled. "Hey, Harry. You ready for me?" She began organizing the pile of papers scattered on the floor around her.

Jude pushed the door open wide, so Lyndsey could see Tom standing behind her. "Actually, uhm, you can go home. We're done for the day," Jude finished brightly.

Lyndsey looked at her watch, then up at Jude, the displeasure back in her face. "It's seven-thirty. I thought we were working until nine. What about my vocals?"

"We need to do them tomorrow?" Jude said hesitantly. She saw Lyndsey take a deep breath, getting ready to explode, and she rushed on. "It's been a bad day, okay? I got called away a couple of times, and we ran behind schedule. Completely my fault. Di's coming in at three so I can get the drums done, and then I can work with you."

"I have classes tomorrow!" Lyndsey slammed her books into her messenger bag. "And study group, and lab! I have to meet with my faculty adviser. I rearranged my schedule so I could be here all day, which was obviously a complete waste of time." She stood toe to toe with Jude, pissed as hell. "You promised me recording wouldn't interfere with my studies!"

"And it's not going to," Jude said softly, doing her best to diffuse the situation. "I'll work around your schedule. Come in tomorrow, anytime you want, and we'll record. All I need is an hour, maybe two. If tomorrow's not good, we can do it first thing Saturday morning." Jude laid her hand on the other girl's shoulder. "I am sorry, Lynds."

Lyndsey's eyes darted to Tommy leaning against the frame of the open door. She sighed and nodded in agreement. "Saturday would be better. If I have tomorrow all to myself, I can get more accomplished." Then, in a surprising move, she walked directly towards Tommy. "Mr. Quincy, I want to apologize for what happened earlier today. It's not usually my style to be that... obtuse or insulting. Di was right; I really stepped in it. I am a fan. A big fan. I hope you won't let that incident influence any further dealings we have together."

Tommy was taken aback. The girl's language was so different from what he'd heard in the studio. It was almost like the speech came from a different person. "First, call me Tom or Quincy. No need for mister. And second, everyone has a bad day. I'm sure I'll have one sooner or later. No need to apologize. We're good." Lyndsey smiled at him, and once again Tommy was caught off guard. The dimple was there, just like on Diana, but he could swear... Somehow Lyndsey was prettier than her twin, even with the dyed hair and unnaturally blue eyes. He heard Jude clear her throat, and he pulled his attention away from the girl in front of him.

Jude stood right where Lyndsey had left her, her arms crossed over her chest. She arched one eyebrow and gave him a look that said, 'I'm not sure what you're thinking, but stop it.' Tommy quickly glanced away and stepped back out into the warehouse.

By the time Lyndsey turned around to finish gathering her things, Jude's look was gone. Lyndsey shut her laptop and grabbed her messenger bag off the couch. "How early do you need me on Saturday?"

"Eight? Or nine. Whatever works best for you," Jude said as she ushered her out of the room. Tommy stood over by the van, doing a fairly decent job of acting like he was interested in it. You better back off, Jude thought. You are not going to do to this girl what you did to me.

Lyndsey pulled out her iPhone and checked her calendar. "Let's split the difference and say eight-thirty. I'll bring the coffee." Jude agreed and the three walked back inside the main building, Tommy keeping a respectful distance.

--- TBC

Friends Don't Let Friends Dial Drunk - Plain White T's