Jude spent the night tossing and turning in bed trying to figure out why she let him back in her head. She did not want to be consumed with thoughts of him and she felt disappointed that it happened. She sat up and stared at the blank television screen that stood at the foot of her bed. Her thoughts raced to when his face first clouded her thoughts. Under pressure, on stage, when she should have started shouting names of her current producers, it was like he stepped right in front of her and she choked.
Jude got out of bed and went into the connecting bathroom. Turning on the faucet, she enjoyed the shock of the cold water against her skin. Leaving her hands beneath the stream, she felt her skin growing numb. She wondered what it would be like if she left them there until they turned blue. Maybe her frostbitten hands would freeze and the cold would travel throughout the rest of her body. She would become a cold shell figure of ice unable to feel the worst parts of herself emerging. A hot tear slid down her face and she immediately splashed herself with water to rid the annoyance of crying; Evidence.
Tears, swollen eyes, red nose, quivering lips. She hated this and the questions that came with them. The pitiful glances and stares of the people who would never understand what was going on in her life that granted this public display of humiliation. Jude wouldn't let herself cry. That tear was the last. She hadn't cried about Tommy for almost 2 years. She slapped her cheek. "Knock it off, Jude!" She exclaimed to herself.
Jude needed to take her mind off the thoughts pulling her back to the young teen she used to be. No more would she allow this to happen. She entered her bedroom again and turned on the television. Surprisingly, Adam was there singing his heart out in his new video. As hard as Jude tried, she couldn't like him. There was something missing about his demeanor that wouldn't let her think of him more than just a friend. Maybe he was too nice, he was genuinely a good guy and she didn't want to taint him with her garbage. Who knows…whatever it is, there was just no spark and Jude wasn't going to force it.
She changed the channel. Jude immediately felt a grin growing unto her face. A gorgeous model emerging from the ocean, bare chest, tan, curly hair and his eyes were simply heavenly. Now that is something she would like to try. She had met Benjamin Nilsson at an exposition where she performed when she first arrived in London. Benjamin said he just started acting and was taking work as a model to pay the bills. He was a model for a razor that was debuting at the expo and Benjamin admitted to her that he doesn't need to shave. He gave her his number but Jude never called. She remembered him being funny, a bit naïve but the kicker was of course his handsome features and those impeccable abs.
Jude was in the middle of a writing session when she was interrupted by the doorbell ringing. She rushed to get it so Sadie wouldn't have to. She had been sick every morning this week due to the coming baby. Jude tried not to be excited in front of her as Sadie was still unsure of how to feel or handle being pregnant. Jude couldn't wait to have a little niece or nephew to spoil.
"Hey Darius!" Jude wasn't surprised to see him show up randomly but then remembered that it was two in the afternoon. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be working?"
"Yea," Darius stepped into the foyer laden with grocery bags and headed straight to the kitchen, "he needs to sign the two contracts I sent over before he can spend any of the money in that account. I need to have those contracts signed by Thursday, no later. And if a dime is spent before then, he can consider himself fired from any further dealings". Darius hit his blue tooth in his ear to turn it off. "Sorry girl, where's Sades?"
"Still sleeping," Jude didn't want to add any more information. She was still unsure as to how much Darius knew of his child on the way and she wasn't going to spill the beans. Sadie would kill her.
"Good. Poor girl's been so sick. Sadie NEVER gets sick so I know it's serious. She still said she wanted to have dinner tonight so I went and picked everything up for her but if she's not up to it, just have her call me". Darius stared longingly at Sadie's closed bedroom door. "Anyway, I also came to talk to you".
"Ok, what's up?" Jude gestured towards the living room and they walked while he began.
"Well, I know you said you are going to dissolve your contract with GMajor so you can work with your old friend but I have a final offer for you."
Jude gave him a look of disinterest. "You know I am committed to leaving D…I can't back out on him. You guys will be fine without me; I have to think of my friend".
"That all sounds great but you have to hear me out. My team has been working like crazy in order to keep you for this last album. We are offering 18 months, full studio privileges, your choice of producers and mixers, a 4 month club tour while finalizing the album, and a live recording for cable networks at Olympic Stadium. That's in front of over 60,000 people. Recorded and shown for millions around the world. We're talking pay per view, HBO, Showtime whoever gives us the right amount of cash first". Darius waited for Jude's answer.
"Are you serious?" Jude couldn't believe her ears. This was the most amazing news she could ever hear. She would have free reign over everything and she didn't even want to hear the ridiculous amount of money they would pay her to do this.
"We want you to stay, Jude. We need you to stay. If not for the rest of your career, then at least for this last run. You will not have the reach we do when you move to Jaime's label. You need this so you can go to a smaller label and still make it big. Think of it, after this tour and concert everyone is going to want you, you'll be huge. But if you leave now and lose all the contacts you've made this far…sadly they aren't going to want to deal with you. I'm just being honest." Darius leaned back into his seat and crossed his arms.
Jude sat stunned and seriously considered this option. There was absolutely no way she could turn this offer down. If she did she would be throwing her entire career away to sit in a basement with Jaime. She needed this and the only thing she was scared of was her best friends crushed hope. She would have to break it extremely easy and she would definitely need to make it up to him in some way. "Ok," Jude said at almost a whisper.
Darius grinned, and then broke into loud laughter. He jumped up and pulled Jude into the tightest hug she's ever had. "I knew I had you! We are not going to let you down, this time is all yours!" He finally let go, "I have to go make some calls and run some final numbers but we will go over the details next week when everything is finished alright girl?"
Jude couldn't help but laugh and feel about giddy after Darius' outburst. "Sounds good, I can't wait!"
Darius shut the door behind him as he left and Jude immediately started to shimmy around excitedly.
She wanted to scream but thought it would be very rude considering anything sets Sadie running to the bathroom to vomit. She instead grabbed her jacket and decided to go for a jog.
Later that night, Darius arrived at Sadie's residence for dinner. All the lights were off and after constant ringing, no one came to the door. He went to the rear of the house and got the spare key she had told him about. Darius entered as quietly as possible. He didn't want to interrupt anything and especially didn't want to scare anyone that might be there. Harrison women were known to become quite violent when frightened.
Darius arrived at Sadie's door without making a sound and rapped gently. No answer. He turned the knob and entered a pitch black room. Through the darkness he barely made out her shape underneath the covers. "Sadie?" he whispered gently.
"Sadie? Wake up, babe…" he sat at the edge of the bed and waited for an answer to indicate she was alive.
Sadie let out a low grunt and turned over. "Hi," her voice was hoarse and very low. "What time is it?"
"It's seven." Darius tried to contain his laughter at her new pitch and instead let his concern for her health prevail. "How are you feeling?"
"Seven. PM?" Sadie started to sit up. "I have to make you dinner…give me 45 minutes, I'm sorry, I overslept." She tried getting out of bed and Darius made her stay.
"No, no, no. Don't worry about it. I knew you probably wouldn't be well enough to cook so I made plans already. Just take your time, get in the shower, get dressed and I'll be in the kitchen whenever you're ready". Darius smiled and kissed her forehead.
"You're cooking?" Sadie looked genuinely frightened.
Darius' laugh shook the house. "No, I'm not trying to kill you. But we are eating in." He closed the door behind him, chuckling.
Sadie was feeling much better than she had that morning. She completely lost count of how many saltine crackers had come back up. She honestly didn't want to think about it again. She still had a bit of a headache but nothing a Tylenol couldn't fix. She grabbed two and got out of bed. She heard a lot of commotion going on in the house but didn't think much of it. With Jude probably inviting guests over and Darius doing whatever he considered dinner in the kitchen she was expecting some noise.
Sadie thoroughly enjoyed her shower and took her time making sure no trace of her sick morning lingered. She used her favorite lavender shampoo, which would have caused her to be sick earlier that day, but now she could inhale it deeply. She sighed. She had the best sister who was willing to take care of her, a job that could function to certain extent without her being there and a boyfriend who didn't mind that she was taking her precious time getting dressed for a dinner she was supposed to prepare. Sadie wondered if life could be any better than this.
In the mirror, Sadie stared bitterly at her stomach. "You're going to ruin everything, aren't you?" She didn't know what was going to happen. Sadie knew she could handle almost anything that came her way planned and unplanned when it came to anything. However, this was her. This was personal. This baby, was not in sync with her timeline. Darius would probably leave her, because she was going to get fat. She wouldn't have a job because no one wants a cranky sick pregnant lady in charge of selling records. Then where would she be?
Sadie pushed these distracting thoughts out of her mind. She would tell Darius tonight and get rid of him before he got rid of her.
"Good evening." A strange man dressed as a waiter was outside her door and offered his arm to her so she could follow.
"Oh! What is going on?" Sadie was shocked.
"This way, madam."
She took his arm and they headed towards the backyard. Once outside, Sadie was blown away. The entire backyard was covered in twinkling lights that mimicked the stars. A single table sat in the center covered in white linen on top of a platform. A backdrop of white curtain surrounded the table. Candles and red roses were everywhere. The smell of the roses wafted through the air and heightened her senses. She could see another server through the kitchen window busily working on last minute items. She turned her attention to Darius. "How did you do this?"
Darius could only smile. He loved surprising her. Her face was always genuine and she never felt she deserved it when she really deserved more. "Doesn't matter. Sit." He grabbed her hand and brought her up to the table set for two. "I had your favorite meal prepared by your favorite chef. I'm glad you're feeling better. I was truly worried."
Sadie grabbed both his hands and held them from across the table. "I know. I'm sorry but you didn't have to do all this! What are you going to do for Valentine's now?" They both laughed. Then Sadie immediately regretted speaking of a future when she knew what she had to do tonight.
The chef brought out their entrees and Sadie ate greedily. She felt like she hadn't eaten in days but couldn't enjoy it properly because her mind was busy trying to figure out the right moment to tell him, it's over. "Well it looks like it's good." Darius laughed at Sadie stuffing her face.
Sadie covered her mouth with a napkin. "I'm sorry," she answered, barely audibly over the food, "I didn't realize I was so hungry."
"No worries. Just eat, you need the nourishment." Darius focused his attention back on his plate as well.
Sadie, however, stared blankly at him. Was he referring to her being pregnant? He couldn't….
After dinner they enjoyed sharing a raspberry cheesecake while Darius spoke of what had been going on at G Major since she had been out. "And your sis accepted the proposal you made for her. She is gonna stay for her final album! I knew I could count on you, you're a genius. I don't know what I would do without you."
Soft music began to play over the outside speakers and Darius stood offering his hand to her. Sadie accepted and he pulled her close as they swayed gently to the music. She closed her eyes and basked in this moment with him. He was so perfect. Everything about him was like her but still different, like they balanced each other. He was her rock. All this she wanted to say to him but couldn't. She had to stop it now.
"Darius…" Sadie opened her eyes to find the table had been cleared away and revealed an open dance floor.
"Sades, I don't ever want to spend a minute without you again. I want to be your rock that's strong for you when you're sick because you're that for me. You are everything I am, and everything I'm not. You set me straight when necessary and sometimes when it isn't…" Darius laughed nervously. He kneeled down onto one knee and removed a small box from his pocket. "Spend the rest of your life with me, Sadie." The curtains opened up to reveal, 'MARRY ME', in twinkling lights. "I love you."
