A/N: Hey guys! Okay, so first things first. Thank you all so much for the amazing reviews! You guys make me want to write so much faster. Hint, Hint Yup, you guessed it! The more you review the faster I write. I'm not holding chapters for ransom or anything, but your reviews always inspire and motivate me to write faster. Oh and I'm looking for a beta. So if there is anyone out there who wants to do it, that would be amazing!! Just let me know!
So this chapter was a lot of fun to write. I have a lot of big plans for stuff coming up, and this chapter really lays the ground work, and that got me all excited. I named this chapter after the song 'I'm Gone, I'm Going' by Lesley Roy. After you read this chapter you should listen to it. I listened to it over and over again while writing the second half and after reading you'll understand why.
Okay, well Happy Reading!
Chapter 9: Watch Me, Watch Me
As Jude pulled fully out of Tommy's arms, she looked at the woman standing in the door way. Sasha wore red heels, skinny dark jeans with a red and black dress shirt that was topped off with a dark, angry look that started in her brown eyes and spread into her frown line and arched eye brows. The look on her face was enough to scare any woman, let alone the woman who, until a few seconds ago, was wrapped around her fiancé's torso, looking all too comfortable. Jude couldn't blame her for being upset, but at the same time she prayed this anger would dissipate.
The three stood in an awkward silence for what seemed like an eternity, but what was actually a few seconds. During those seconds, Tommy and Jude moved several feet apart and now stood out of touching distance.
Tommy stood there, shocked, trying to think of something he could say that would make the situation all better, but nothing came to mind. He opened his mouth several times to speak, but instantly thought better of it and the silence continued. Finally Tommy couldn't take it anymore and figured saying anything was better than saying nothing. "Hey Sasha." He thought that maybe he could play it off as nothing-which it was..right?-and then Sasha wouldn't get upset.
Sasha was anything but pleased, and his relaxed tone didn't help. He wasn't going to be able to fake his way out of this one. Maybe had it been another girl and another situation, like with Sadie or Portia, but not with this ex, not with this history, and definitely not with this girl. It just wasn't going to happen. Taking a few deep breaths in order to keep her voice straight, and failing, Sasha said, "Oh don't 'hey Sasha' me! What is going on here?"
She had started talking looking at Tommy but ended looking pointedly at Jude. Jude shrank back under the intensity of the glare and wanted nothing more than to hide. She glanced around carefully looking for escape routes or places to simply hide away. Her eyes passed from the wall next to her to across the room, she stopped on Tommy and longed to step behind him, to regain that feeling of safety that she had always felt in his arms, but as the situation rushed over her mind, she shook the thought away and continued to look about. Her eyes rested on the door behind Sasha and the room that it opened into. Looking at the faces of its occupants, she looked for someone to help.
Sasha had started talking again, but Jude was far too distracted to hear her. Luckily Sasha had redirected her attention to Tommy, asking him questions in a tight tone, so she didn't notice the pleading look on Jude's face.
Jude scanned the faces and finally found a friendly one. Taylor was standing in the lounge, looking rather out of place and nervous. Her eyes were darting around, taking it all in. Jude focused in on her and prayed that she would notice. Which she did. A moment later, Taylor's wandering gaze fell on Jude. She took in the panicked and pleading look on her face and instantly understood. Making her way across the lounge, she walked toward the door to studio B. Knocking lightly on the door, to get everyone's attention, she waited for all eyes to be on her.
"Sorry to interrupt guys, but," she hesitated, looking at Jude, who nodded for her to continue, "could I borrow Jude, I need her for some...um...Instant Star stuff?"
Jude nodded her approval and moved to the door, briefly passing Sasha and feeling a chill of cold as she went by before glancing back at Tommy, meeting his eyes and feeling an entirely different chill. This chill was familiar and warm and something she felt whenever she looked into his big blue eyes. A smile tugged on her lips out of habit as she quickly ducked out of the room.
--
Once they were out of ear shot of the studio, Jude turned to Taylor. "Thank you. Thank you. Thank you."
Taylor laughed quietly, "Your welcome. I recognized the look."
Jude sensed there was a story behind that statement and welcomed the distraction. "Hey, you busy?"
Taylor thought for a minute, "Well, I'm supposed to talk to Darius in a minute..." She trailed off, dread evident in her voice, she was clearly scared of Darius-he was quite the intimidating man after all.
Jude thought for a moment, she knew what the meeting was about. It was the traditional 'tour and laying down the law' meeting, and she knew how much Darius loved doing it. It must have been something about being able to show off his very large and impressive studio and office filled with gold furniture and platinum albums and then intimidating the heck out of the poor new artist with his strict side and impressive height. It wouldn't be easy to make him give it up, it would take a good plan that was executed perfectly. Jude thought for a moment before grabbing Taylor's wrist and dragging her toward the big D's office. She knocked and then walked in when instructed.
"Hey D. So I know you have a meeting with Taylor, but I was hoping to be the one to give her the tour and show her the ropes." Darius didn't say anything, but from the look on his face, he clearly wasn't about to agree. Jude knew she had to sweeten the deal, "And then we would go out to lunch at that new restaurant two blocks down where all the paparazzi hang out." Darius's eyes gleamed, and Jude knew she had won. His weak spot had always been free publicity. He smiled and agreed and the two girls left.
As they walked out, Jude leaned into Taylor and whispered, "Why don't we start with lunch?"
Taylor smiled and nodded, clearly relieved to be out of the intimidating influence of Darius Mills. "So, why don't you tell me what that was all about."
Jude looked at her new friend confused.
"You know...the pained look..the rescue...the insanely ticked off brunette standing in the door way?"
The confusion on Jude's face faded as she understood the question, "Well, I take it you know about me and Tommy, right?"
Taylor shrugged a nod before adding, "I know you two dated at one point and rumors were going on from the beginning but after you left most of them ended."
Jude sighed, wishing it was that simple, "No. Well not quite. We did date 'officially' three times, but there was also years of close calls and almost kisses, along with a lot of real kisses and insane flirting. I swear it was the biggest drama and love story ordeal! But anyways, it ended when he proposed and I accepted but then later declined when I went to London for my music." She took a deep breath, shocked that she could fit over three years of drama into that small of a nutshell.
"But you came back..." Taylor pushed.
"Yeah." She took another big breath, "I came back."
Taylor's eye brows were furrowed in confusion, "Why?"
"Well, I guess I always missed him and deep down I knew my choice was the wrong one but it wasn't until I found out the news of his engagement that I finally came to terms with my choice. So here I am."
"So, you're trying to get him back?"
Jude considered this question, she hadn't come back to break up his relationship, had she? She just wanted him to be happy. But could he be happy without her? They were their best selves when they were with each other. She got lost in the memory of the years they had spent together and was stuck in it until Taylor finally nudged her. Jude blinked hard, bringing herself back into reality, as the two girls walked in the restaurant.
"Good afternoon. How many?" The young, cute blond hostess asked.
"Two." The girls said in unison, then smiled as the hostess led them to a table inside by a window.
They sat, ordered drinks then picked up their menus. When each girl had picked a meal and ordered it, they settled in for some good old girl talk.
"You never did answer my question back there." Taylor reminded. "So...are you trying to get him back?"
Jude took a deep breath, "I don't want to ruin his happiness, but is it wrong to think that he's happiest with me?" She looked down, embarrassed by how conceited that sounded. But Taylor understood.
"No. Not at all. From everything I've heard and the looks you to give each other it's perfectly understandable. Heck I've only seen you two together for a few seconds and I know it's meant to be."
Jude smiled. 'Meant to be.' I like the sound of that. Her mind wandered into the realm of fairy tale happy endings while Taylor watched, amused by the happy look that was plastered on Jude's face. They sat like that for a few moments, content in the silence, until Taylor's phone vibrated.
The vibration pulled Jude out of her dreams. She looked up to see Taylor, phone open, eyes wide and face pale. Her mouth was opened in shock and her eyes frozen in fear.
Jude went into friend recovery mode, grabbing Taylor's hand and looking into her eyes. "Tay?...Taylor?...Taylor!"
Taylor finally registered the sounds of her name being called and found Jude's eyes.
Jude looked into two very sad eyes and with a soft voice asked, "Taylor, what is it?"
Taylor sat frozen, still bringing herself back to reality and out of the shock that had fallen around her. A few moments later she finally found her voice. "My-my-phone. um...I-I got a text." She handed Jude the phone with the last word.
Jude took the phone and looked down at the text that had shaken her friend so badly, reading it slowly.
Did you really think you could hide?
Jude read it over and over again, trying to grasp at it's meaning, before finally turning her attention back to it's recipient. "Who sent it?"
Taylor took a deep breath, pulling deep for courage, before saying, "Jason. He-he was my ex. Um, my ex-boy friend. We broke up a few weeks before Instant Star started. He, um, well let's just say he wasn't the best boyfriend."
Jude could sense where this was going, but needed conformation, so she pushed her forward. "What happened?"
Taylor took a deep breath, painful memories flowing over her. "Well, I should start from the beginning. We met a year ago by chance at a carnival. He was really cute at first at it all seemed like fate. I loved him and I thought he loved me back, but one day he started getting really possessive and..and angry. At first he would only get upset if I was alone with one of my guy friends, and when I would call him on it he would say that he just didn't trust them, and that he worried. Normally I'm not stupid, and had it been one of my friends I would have told them to get out of the relationship right then and there. But I guess my love blinded me, because I some how found it sweet that he was worried, and just told myself he was being protective. It went on like that for about another month and then he started getting upset when I was with anyone, whether it was my friends or even my family too much. At that point I started getting a little worried or noticing that something wasn't right with all of this. We started fighting a lot, I loved him and wanted to work it out. I tried to make him see how he had nothing to worry about, but he wouldn't budge. He told me that I couldn't see my friends anymore because they would try to keep us apart. When I fought him on it, he got really angry and it scared me. I just wanted to end the fighting, so I told him I wouldn't see them anymore. But my friends are my life, so instead I just told him I was taking on really long hours at work and then would go to see my friends. I never told them what was going on, I just kept it myself and lived like that for the next three months. Secretly seeing my friends for two hours after work, then visiting him for an hour before finally going home. That was when things got really bad. One night I went to his house after being with my friends like always, and he was sitting in the living room, waiting for me. Apparently he had gone by my work to surprise me and my boss told him I was always off by 6, never later. He hit me that night." Taylor stopped as the emotional dam that had been building up finally broke. Tears flowed down her cheeks and she squeezed Jude's hand for comfort.
After a few deep breaths, she finally found the strength to continue. "After he hit me, he immediately apologized and swore he would change." She paused again, laughing under the tears, "I can't believe I was stupid enough to believe him." The laughter faded as she faced the memories, "A week later, I told him I was signing up for Instant Star. He told me I wouldn't make it and called me scum. We had a huge fight and he hit me again." She paused, looking up into Jude's eyes, with a glimmer of pride "I left that night." She let out a deep breath, feeling like a huge weight had been lifted off her chest.
The two girls sat in silence for a moment. Jude digesting everything she had just heard, and Taylor recovering from her trip down memory lane. Jude was the one to break the silence.
"Okay. So you left, won Instant Star, proving him wrong, but then what?" She needed the connection between the end of the story and the text message that sat in front of them.
Taylor knew what she was asking and thought back over the past month. "Well, when I made the top four, he started to call me. At first I just ignored him. He left voice mails and text messages, even sent roses right before the finale. Everything said he was sorry and that he wanted me to come back. But I knew better than to fall for his lies again, so I just ignored everything; I immediately deleted every message and threw away every present, keeping him as far out of my life as possible. After about a week and a half of ignored apologies, he started to get angry. His messages proved he hadn't changed. He started sending me texts about how I didn't deserve to win, and that I only won because I was a slut. With everyday, his messages got angrier and more vile. But I just kept ignoring him, taking comfort in the fact that he couldn't find me, that is until this." She motioned to her cell phone, and tears started to run down her cheeks again.
Jude's mind went into over drive, trying to think of ways to help her friend. Obviously they had to keep her safe. If Jason truly knew where Taylor was, Jude had to find some way to protect her from the anger that has been bottling up inside a very unstable man. Suddenly an idea popped into her mind.
Jude reached over, and once again to Taylor's hand. When Taylor looked up, Jude could see the panic her eyes held. "Tay listen to me. It's going to be okay. Alright? I have a plan."
Taylor nodded, and let out the last of her crying. "What. Did. You. Have. In. Mind?" She asked, stifling a cry between each word.
"Well, obviously you can't be alone. So we're gonna have to have someone with you at all times. We can recruit Tommy, Kwest, Sadie and even my old body guard Big Lou. Trust me, you'll like him." She laughed a little at the memory of Big Lou. "You can spend as much time at my house as you want, or we can find you a hotel. What ever makes you comfortable. We'll see how things go. If this all dies out, and we don't see him, you can go on living life normally, but if the messages get any worse at all. I mean it, like if he gets specific about where you are, if he gets angrier or makes any threats, you're moving in with me and Big Lou is never leaving your side. Okay?"
Taylor took a deep breath, taking in the plan. Despite the sudden restrictions, she felt inexplicably safe and relieved. "Thank you Jude."
Jude just nodded, and then took out her cell phone. She needed to call in reinforcements.
--
An hour later, Jude, Kwest, Tommy, Sadie and Taylor all moved into the Harrison's living room. Jude stood in the center, while the others found seats around the room.
"Alright, so I know you're all wondering why I called you here, especially in the middle of a work day, but we have a problem."
Four bodies stiffened at the word problem. Jude paused for a moment, allowing everyone to mentally brace themselves. "More specifically, Taylor has a problem. But as friends, we are now making it our problem too."
Tommy, Kwest and Sadie all looked puzzled. They barely knew Taylor. Sure they had met, and Tommy and Kwest had been assigned as her producers but no real bonding had happened yet. Jude understood their expressions but chose to ignore them, hoping Taylor couldn't read her friends as well as she could.
"So I'm gonna give you all the cliff notes version of this. Taylor had a really bad relationship before Instant Star with a pretty angry and violent guy. They broke up right before the competition started but now he's trying to push his way back in. He started off nice, but now has gotten angry. Today he sent her this." Jude picked up Taylor's cell phone, revealing the text message. She read it aloud and waited for everyone to digest it. She looked over at Taylor, who was near tears once again, before continuing. "So as you can see, Taylor is in danger. We don't know for sure that Jason is actually in town or even knows where she lives, but I don't want to risk it. So I have devised a plan for her to never be alone. We'll all take shifts. We'll be bringing in Big Lou for at night and she can stay here some nights too." She paused, looking at Sadie for approval. Sadie nodded, and Jude continued. "But we're gonna need help during the day. Kwest, you and Tommy will need to keep an eye out for her at G-Major and in the parking lots surrounding. I'll cover lunch breaks and other outside stuff. Sadie, I'll need you to help the boys cover the parties and we'll split her interviews. I'll be able to do a lot, but I do have to do some promotional stuff while I'm here, and so I'll need a little help." All three friends nodded their approval, clearly more than happy to help. Despite the fact that they had only known Taylor for a few days, she was instantly a part of the group.
Jude thought for a minute, then walked into the kitchen. When she came back she had a notebook and a pen. "Okay, so I'll need you to write down any times you can or can not be with her so I can make a schedule. Sadie and I will cover after she leaves G-Major for the most part, with the help of Big Lou.-who I've already called and is totally down for helping. It's a good thing I got into so much trouble way back when, or else we wouldn't have the best in the business at our beckon call." She had meant it as a joke, but her three closest friends just shuddered at the memories.
After an awkward moment of silence, Sadie finally posed a question. "So, what's the long term plan? Are we talking restraining orders? Harassment charges? What?"
Jude thought for a moment, going over the plan in her head. "Well, we're gonna monitor the messages for a week, try to get a feel for if he's bluffing or if he'll give up. By this time next week, regardless of the past weeks results, she is getting a new phone number. And if at anytime before that he either threatens her or specifically can prove he's watching, we're going straight to the cops and filing charges. I'll look into the process of a restraining order today and we'll go from there on that. Obviously we want one in place as soon as possible."
Every person in the room was in agreement with what she had just said, and were open to anything needed to help. Jude looked to Taylor, who was now trying very hard to hold the tears in. Jude went over to her, put a hand on her shoulder, and crouched down in front of her chair, and asked softly, "You okay will all of this?"
Taylor nodded slightly, before breaking down. She wrapped her arms around Jude's neck and buried her face in her shoulder as the tears escaped uncontrollably and she began to sob. Jude held onto her with one hand, while motioning the others to come over with the other. Sadie stood first, she quickly walked over and wrapped her arms around Taylor. A few moments later, Kwest and Tommy made their way over, and soon they all sat in a group hug, with Taylor crying in the middle.
It wasn't long after, that Taylor finally was able to contain her emotions. She excused herself to the bathroom, so she could wash her face. No one had anywhere they needed to be and each person just wanted to be there for Taylor, so the group of friends settled in for a night of pizza and movies, with the newest addition sitting in the middle. Her sources of strength and beacons of hope surrounding her.
Now do you get why that song inspired me in this chapter? If not, go listen and you will. So, I think you should review and tell me what you think. In fact, theres a nice little blue button right there ready for you to click. You should, you wouldn't want to waste a perfectly good button, would you? Also, all reviewers get a virtual bouncy ball! So review!
