So, people are reading and not reviewing and it's only my first story and that makes me sad. Well, I'm working on a oneshot right now about what happens when Jude attends Tommy's wedding in California and it should be up hopefully within the next couple of days depending on AP English.
Disclaimer: Don't own Instant Star, or anything else you recognize for that matter. No suing me, I just quit my job.
The next morning, Jude woke up to find Jamie and Kyle in the guest room and Spiederman and Wally sprawled out in the living room, neither of them on the pull-out bed.
She kicked Spiederman in the side. "Hey, get up! We gotta be at G-Major in, like, 20 minutes."
"Alright," he mumbled, sitting up. "Hey, Wallace, come on," he added, punching his friend's arm. "Give us five minutes, dude."
Ten minutes later, the five of them were dressed and seated in her Mustang, on their way to the studio.
"Miss Harrison, are you finally going to record something worth the money we spend on you?" Liam asked coolly as soon as she walked inside. "It's about time. Mr. Quincy is waiting for you in studio A." He gave her a raised eyebrow and sauntered off to his office.
"Good morning, sunshine," Tommy joked, handing her a cup of coffee as she sat down next to him in front of the mixing board. "Late night with the boys?"
"Yeah," she said sleepily, pulling a notebook out of her bag. "You ready?"
"As I'll ever be," he admitted. "You wanna show me how it's done?"
Jude smirked and walked into the recording booth. "There are a lot of inappropriate answers to that question."
"I'm sure there are," he smirked, remembering the first time he'd said that to her. "Now, let's hear these songs."
She cleared her throat and opened the notebook to where she'd written down 'A Hundred Ways' while he got himself ready.
Tommy sat in the mixing booth, watching the emotion float over Jude's face as she sang. He'd always thought all of her songs were amazing, but this one took the cake. It was sad and thoughtful and it hurt him to hear how badly she'd needed him back. When he'd first met Sophie, he was so uncomfortable having left Jude for Montana, but after a year, he'd fallen in love with the child and he wouldn't have given her up for the world. But, watching Jude hold back tears while she sang showed him what he would probably give up when she found out the real truth about Sophia and he still wasn't ready for that.
"So, what do you think?" she asked sheepishly when she'd finished. "Good, bad, or ugly?"
"None of the above," he smiled softly. "Girl, that was hands down the best song I've ever heard in my life, and not just because it's about yours truly."
Jude smirked and joined him back in his booth. "Maybe we should just work on that one for a while before going into 'Not Again,'" she suggested, referring to the second song. "Plus, I'm hungry."
They walked into the lobby to find all of the staff seated around Darius, who looked at Jude and Tommy and smiled. "Good, we've been waiting for you."
"Uhh, what's going on?" Jude asked, sitting down across Spiederman, Wally, and Kyle, who had taken up an entire couch. "Family meeting?" she joked.
"Well, now that things are going to pick up around here again, I've decided a little project is needed," Darius announced, holding up a plastic cup. "Inside this cup, I've written down all of your names on a piece of paper and folded them up. The objective is to draw a name and make a CD of songs that remind you of that person or what they mean to you." He smiled. "You're not to tell them who you are unless they guess, but you can make it obvious if you choose. And, should you tell someone else who you drew, and the person you drew asks them about it, they can tell."
"So, what if we draw someone we barely know?" Kyle spoke out. "I mean, what happens if I get Portia?"
"Then I suggest 'Material Girl' and Ru Paul's classic, 'Covergirl,'" Tommy joked. "And her favorite, Right Said Fred's 'I'm Too Sexy.'"
"No, Tommy, that's your favorite song," Portia shot back coolly. "I prefer the AC/DC hit, 'Moneytalks,' seeing as I obviously married for the money once upon a time."
"Okay, before this fight escalates, let's just choose, shall we?" Darius suggested, holding the cup in front of his sister.
Portia drew and opened the paper. Patsy. "Oh, great," she muttered. "Guess I'll looking for anything by Marilyn Manson and Iron Maiden," she whispered, allowing only Jude to hear.
"Patsy, huh?" Jude whispered back. "It's not so bad. You could've gotten Spiederman."
"I guess," she sighed, getting up and walking to her office.
"Jude," Darius said, holding the cup for her to dig into. "Your turn."
Jude reached in and pulled out a small piece of paper, afraid of opening it to reveal the name Liam or Darius. She preferred one of her boys or Mason. Maybe even Sadie, but she didn't know if her sister and brother-in-law had been put into it at all since they were away. She slowly opened the folded parchment and half-gasped, half-smiled. Tommy.
Just as Jude was looking at his name, he was staring at the name he'd chosen. Jude. Talk about a twist of fate.
"So, who'd you get?" Spiederman asked Jude as they sat around with Wally and Kyle in an empty studio later that afternoon. "I got Liam," he smiled devilishly. "How songs do you think have been written about pompous jerks and stylish idiots?"
"Yeah, so I must be psychic, cause I did get Portia," Kyle sighed. "I told Darius and he said he'd help me."
Jude rolled her eyes. "You should look into that for the future." She sighed. "I got Tommy."
"Shocker," Wally scoffed. "I'm sure you have thousands of songs to put for him, yeah?"
She sighed. "I don't know. I've got ideas, yeah, but I don't know how I want to do it."
"If you want my expert advice, which is always good, I say you give him a little bit of every part of your relationship with him," Spiederman told her wisely. "When you first met, when you were waiting for him, when he left, now that he's back. You know, cover it all."
"Good idea," she nodded. "Did anyone hear when this has to be done by?"
"Tomorrow," Wally answered. "So, I'm gonna need a ride back to your apartment so I can steal my brother's car back to get home and work."
Jude led them out to her car, just as Tommy was loading stuff into an unfamiliar-looking black Range Rover.
"Someone call an ambulance," Spiederman gagged frantically. "I think I'm having a heart attack; Little Tommy Q drives a safe car."
"Little Tommy Q takes care of a kid," he reminded them. "A kid I'm late to pick up from ballet." He nodded and got in, speeding away, only as if to prove he was still the same guy who kept his beloved Viper and motorcycle in a garage across town.
After Jude got to her apartment and the boys had all left, she settled onto her sofa and turned on MTV to see an old episode of Cribs, showcasing Darius' Toronto estate.
"Oh, God," she laughed, watching Shay make a guest appearance. It was from right before she'd met him at G-Major and when Georgia was still running the show. She missed her, and even EJ, and talked to them sporadically, but she'd grown more under Darius and didn't regret that he'd taken over, even if she'd never admit that out loud.
Just as she logged onto iTunes, her cell phone rang. "Hello?" she answered, starting a new playlist.
"Is this Miss Jude Harrison?" a familiar voice asked. "This is her gorgeous sister looking for her."
"Hello, Mrs. Taylor," Jude laughed. "How's the honeymoon? Is Kwest still sick?"
"Healthy as a horse," Sadie replied. "We spent all day at the beach and he's taking me out for dinner tonight."
Jude smiled. "Sounds nice, Sade. So, you're missing out on some good stuff here."
"Like what?" Sadie asked. "Kwest is in the shower, so I've got time."
Jude proceeded to tell her everything that had happened the night before and that day, including the CD project and recording 'A Hundred Ways.'
"Sounds exciting," she whined. "I can't believe I have to miss it all."
"Sadie, you're on your honeymoon!" Jude cried. "I'd kill to be where you are right now."
"With Kwest or with Tommy?" Sadie teased. "No, seriously, Jude, what songs are you gonna put on the CD?"
"I've got ideas," Jude smiled, dragging songs to the playlist. "So, I'm still picking you up Saturday morning, yes?"
"Yeah," Sadie confirmed. "Okay, my husband is done, so we're gonna go. Oh, I love saying that!" she squealed, just as she hung up.
Jude looked at the screen in front of her, smiled, and loaded a CD to copy them all onto.
