Laughter was not what Jude expected to hear after her tear-filled confession. She lifted her head and wiped at her eyes before focusing in confusion on Tommy. She could not believe what she was seeing - Tommy was laughing at her and he wasn't even trying to hide it.
"You have got to be kidding me," spat Jude as she hastily wiped away the rest of her tears and stood up. "Here I am, crying, and you think this is funny? My label dropped me. How is that funny?"
"Jude, Jude, I'm not laughing at you, I thought something serious had happened," laughed Tommy who was desperately trying to regain some control before Jude was really set off. "God, I thought something had happened to Sadie or your dad but it's just your label."
"Just my label?" screeched Jude. "You are such an ass! They dropped me, Tom. No more albums, no more music - nothing. I thought you'd get it but I was so obviously wrong."
"Jude, I'm sorry, I was just relieved, I guess."
"Just stop it Tommy, just stop pretending like you even care at all. I'll see you at the wedding." With that, Jude stormed out of the studio, slamming the door behind her. Grabbing her stuff, she rushed out of the office and toward the stairs. He laughed? What a complete jerk. Even if he no longer cared about her or her music, he could at least have held back his laughter until after she had left. He was probably back there right now, feeling so smug and superior because his ex-fiancee was now the one being rejected. What the hell was she going to do now?
"Jude? What's going on?" asked Jamie as Jude nearly ran him over in her rush to get out of the building. "Jude?"
"I've got to get out of here, Jamie. I'll talk to you later."
"Shit, you saw Quincy didn't you? I'm sorry, Jude, I should have told you."
"God! Not everything in my life is about little Tommy Q! Yes, I saw him. Yes, you should have told me. But, no, not all my problems revolved around his stupid gelled head. But you know what, if you want to know what's going on, just ask Tom. He's probably dying to tell someone the news so he can be all smug and obnoxious. I've got to go." Jamie waved helplessly as Jude flew down the stairs. He needed to know what was going on, stat, and for that he obviously needed to talk to Quincy. He trudged up the rest of the stairs, unwilling to hurry into whatever drama had sprung up between the reunited former lovers.
"Quincy, what the hell man?" Jamie stopped short at the sight before him. This was not a Tom Quincy that he knew. He'd seen happy Quincy, like when he was finally dating Jude, and smug Quincy, also when he was finally dating Jude, and, more often than not, pissed off Quincy but this was an entirely new Quincy. He was slumped over on a piano bench, hands fiddling aimlessly with his hair. This was defeated Tom Quincy and, if Jamie was being honest, it freaked him out. "Quincy? What the hell is going on?"
"Jude got dropped from her label -"
"Jude got dropped? I know she had been nervous about that but, okay, keep going. What did you do?"
"Jude's freaking out pretty badly so you might want to go find her before she does something crazy. You should also call Sadie and warn her. I'm just going to finish up here." Tommy completely ignored Jamie's question and remained seat, eyes trained on the floor. Jamie let out a soft sigh. How did he get involve in Tommy-Jude drama? He had told himself he wouldn't get involved, he'd told Zeppelin that he wasn't getting involved, he'd told Jude that he wasn't getting involved, but here he was about to get involved.
"Jude seemed pretty pissed at you when I ran into her. What did you do?" He watched Tommy stiffen slightly before he finally turned to look at him. If Jamie had thought Tommy's defeated posture had been bad, the pathetic look on his face was even worse. "I can't believe I'm about to ask this, but have you been crying?"
"I don't cry," said Tommy in a voice strangled with laughter and another, deeper, emotion. "I'd rather not have some weird emo moment with you, Andrews."
"I completely agree. I just want to know what you did to my best friend so I can try and fix things. And don't play innocent, we both know Jude's fits are more often than not a result of something you did."
"This wasn't how I imagined any of this going, you know." Jamie was surprised at Tommy's comment. Tom Quincy, Jamie Andrews' enemy number one, was suddenly confiding in him? What the hell had happened to the man? "It has been six years since I've seen her. For ages after she left I thought about going to London, about doing anything she asked of me as long as she let me be near her. But I didn't. I had my pride and I told myself that, when she was ready, she'd come back to me. And she did, she came back. And I messed it up, as usual. Not that I should even be thinking about any of it, I've got a girlfriend, I've started a new life and maybe Jude just wasn't meant to fit into it anymore."
"Maybe it wasn't that bad," said Jamie, uncomfortable with being put in the new and awkward position of Tommy's confessor. "What did you do?"
"I laughed. I saw her crying, she told me she was dropped and I laughed."
"Why? I mean, I know you're an ass but you laughed?"
"I was relieved! I thought someone had died!"
"Tommy, you know music is the most important thing to Jude, or at least you used to know that."
"I'm not sure what the big deal is. Artists get dropped all the time and none of them are even half as talented or popular as Jude. She'll get another label in no time. She's a star and with her songs? Any label would be lucky to have her."
"She hasn't written a song in months, Tommy. That's why her label dropped her, that's why she was here to see me and why she let herself come home early and that's why she got so upset. Tommy, Jude things all her dreams are dead."
Elsewhere in Toronto
It felt achingly familiar and comfortable, the water and bench, the place where she and Tommy had first connected. She wasn't sure why she came out here although it was probably for some sentimental reason like going to mourn the loss of her life in the place where it all began. It was all gone now - the music, the career, the boy. It was time to find something new, she supposed, time to start over. "I guess I'm all second chances now." The wind carried her words away until all that was left was the sound of the water. It took her by surprise then, the sudden urge to write, the spark of inspiration that she had thought was lost forever. It came out in a jumble, bits and pieces about love and anger and second chances.
By the time she was done, it was dark and a slight chill had filled the air. Looking over what she had written in the dim glow of a streetlamp, she laughed at what she saw scribbled across the page.
"They were right. It's always Tommy, isn't it? Maybe it's time I took my second chance."
