Here's the latest update, see I told you it wouldn't take as long. I'm getting better, right Jess? Well thank you for all the reviews and I hope you like this chapter just as much. R and R please!

Chapter 10

Jude's POV

I barely noticed as Callie followed me back into the kitchen, she was smiling rambling about the song I had sung. I wanted to scream, how'd they found me. I had been so careful. I hadn't called Jamie or Sadie, even though I had to physically leave a room whenever I saw an open phone. I hadn't watched the news, sure that they had plastered my picture everywhere. I had cut myself off from that life and started a new one. How had they found me? Why did they have to invade my new life now? Just when I felt like I was on solid ground again. It wasn't fair.

"Jude, you okay?" Callie asked sounding worried.

"Yeah…I'm just…reeling," I finally said closing my eyes.

"Yeah I know," Callie said after a moment.

"You have no idea," I said shaking my head. I took a deep breath before walking past her towards the door. Time to face the music and all the endless questions that were sure to follow, I couldn't wait. "Tell Lauren I need a break."

I didn't see the flash of guilt in Callie's eyes as I made my way over to the table that SME, Patsy and Kwest were sitting at. I pulled out an open chair that I know they had drug over for me. I was glad it was between Kwest and Patsy. From the glares Spied was shooting at me, he had already judged me and condemned me. I smiled on the inside, he was so like me. The male version of me to tell you the truth; we both jumped to conclusions without thinking things through.

"So…" I said when everybody just stared at me without saying anything. I hated silences, especially uneasy ones where you knew everybody was judging you.

"You look like you've landed on your feet," Kwest said smiling uneasily. I had no idea why he was uncomfortable. I know he had been my producer for a little while but it wasn't like we were really close.

"Looks can be deceiving," I said softly looking around at my surroundings. It was true that I was happy here but it was almost like I knew my time was limited here. Maybe Callie was right, I would go back eventually.

"So you ran away because of Tommy," Spied said coldly. He had been so relieved to see her but now all he felt was anger. How could this rock goddess run because of a boy? Especially Lil Tommy Q., an ex-boy bander. She was so much better than that; she was amazing. Why couldn't she see that?

"No I didn't," I said glaring back at him. I can't believe he thought that I would run away just because of Tommy. Okay, maybe he had been a deciding factor but not the total reason.

"Well it couldn't have been because of your career," Spied shot back. "I mean, even with you disappearing for two months, you are at the top of the charts."

"I wouldn't know, I haven't watched the news or read a paper in months," I said quietly.

"You've been nominated for a Grammy, best new artist," Spied said coldly.

"What!" I said genuinely surprised. "But the pictures?"

"What pictures?" Kwest and Spied asked together.

I shook my head, of course Darius wouldn't have told them about the photos. But wouldn't they have seen them in the newspapers along with the rest of the world? I was even more confused now.

"So how'd you end up here?" Patsy asked deciding a change in subject was in order.

"Buses, lots of them," I said clearing my throat. "I was walking, saw the sign for coffee and the rest is because of a very generous coffee shop owner and a new friend."

"So you're a waitress now," Spied said smirking at the uniform I was wearing. I remembered a conversation from not too long ago where we had been making fun of the waitresses at our favorite coffee shop back home. We'd been so happy we had real careers and didn't have to be, basically, a servant for undeserving people. Boy was I wrong.

"I'm actually pretty good…now," I said smiling at how horrible I used to be. "We were wrong, being a waitress is actually rewarding and it's taught me a lot."

"Serving people food and coffee is rewarding, yeah right," Spied said rolling his eyes.

"What would you know of real work Spied?" I asked really pissed off now. "You went from a garage band to signing a contract with G Major; you've never had to work a real job in your life. Maybe you wouldn't be such a snob and a prick if you had been a waiter. Maybe it would have taught you about thinking about other people besides yourself."

I stood up to walk away and had even made it to the counter until two words froze me in place. I couldn't have moved even if Lauren started yelling at me to serve customers.

"Tommy's back," Spied said coldly. I turned to face him and saw the calculating gleam in his eyes. He had to know what those words would do to me. He'd always known me almost as well as Jamie used to. But he didn't know this Jude. I just nodded and went back to work. I didn't notice them when they left, my mind to wrapped up in those two words and what they could mean for me. I didn't have any grand illusions of going back to Toronto and falling into Tommy's waiting arms. Maybe if my life was one of those romance novels Sadie was so fond of reading but sadly…my life was no romance novel. Besides, I was no where near ready to forgive him for the way he left in the first place. Leaving me screaming his name in the middle of a street, can we say jerk?

"Reunion didn't go as I'd hoped," Callie said softly from behind me. We had just closed the coffee shop and we were just finishing cleaning up. Callie had sent Lauren upstairs awhile ago, Callie and I had gotten used to closing together. It gave us time to talk about meaningless things and just be teenaged girls.

"How did you…" I asked confused but by the look in her eyes I realized how my friends had found me. "You told them I was here."

"Not exactly," Callie said feeling really guilty. "I read on G Major's website about Patsy's performance on TRL and made sure that they had gift certificates to the coffee shop. I figured you loved coffee, one of them was bound to love coffee too."

I closed my eyes feeling betrayed when I knew I wasn't being fair to her. I had yet to give her the whole real story of my leaving and she had only been trying to help me. "I can't believe you did that without telling me."

"I thought you'd be so excited to see them that you'd have hugs and kisses and see what you were missing out on," she said shrugging her shoulders then her face flushed when I gave her my famous 'are freaking nuts' look. "Okay so maybe I took my glass half full outlook on life a tad too far but I just thought…"

"Please don't think on my behalf anymore," I said trying to sound like I wasn't as angry as I felt but when Callie looked down at the counter I knew I hadn't done a very good job of hiding my feelings.

"I was trying to help," she said sadly.

"Well you didn't," I said turning when somebody knocked on the shops door.

Callie smiled when she saw one of the guys from earlier. "Maybe I did." She went and opened the door and let Kwest in with a smile. "Go easy on her," Callie whispered while she shut and locked the door again. "She's been in a zone since you left."

Kwest nodded and watched as Callie left him alone with Jude. He'd gone back to the hotel and made sure his artist and the band were settled, although he knew they wouldn't stay in one place. The only thing that kept him from babysitting all night was that they couldn't drink in the U.S., they were underage here.

"I'm sorry about Spied, he's just been worried," Kwest said.

I nodded. "I get that," I said softly walking over to the counter. I grabbed the rag from earlier and decided to wipe down the counter again. "I never meant to cause anybody that much trouble. Honestly, I didn't think anybody would worry."

"Oh c'mon Jude," Kwest said annoyed. "How 'bout your sister?"

"Sadie?" I said even more confused. Yeah we didn't fight as much since she'd broken up with Tommy and since she'd paid me back but we still weren't close. Half the time I still felt like she resented me.

"Yeah the only family you really had left," Kwest said beginning to pace back and forth. "I have never seen somebody cry like she did, the day after the police told her you were officially a runaway. I think she was hoping that you hadn't left on your own, like it would make it easier if you had been forced to leave. I think knowing you left on your own free will made it even harder on her."

"I don't understand," I said sitting down.

"You hurt her," Kwest said slowly. "She's still hurting."

"I didn't know I could hurt her," I admitted sadly.

"Why'd you run Jude?" Kwest asked after a long drawn out silence.

"The jury's still out on the reason," I said laughing even though I really felt like crying.

"You hurt a lot of people Jude," Kwest said shaking his head.

I looked away and stared at nothing in particular. I took a deep breath before continuing. "I didn't mean to, honestly, I just needed to get away. To breathe and just heal," I said closing my eyes.

"Are you coming back?" he asked the one question I didn't have the answer to.

"I don't know," I said quietly.

"Even though you know Tommy's back, you'd still stay away. You must really be angry," Kwest said shaking his head.

"Surprisingly, this has nothing really to do with him," I said seriously. I could see I had Kwest's full attention and decided to admit something out loud for once. "I was angry at Tommy but I ran away for entirely different reasons." I got up and walked towards him. "I lost a part of myself this past year. With changing who I am for G Major and then all the drama with Spied, my family and then…Tommy. I just couldn't breath anymore. It started with the night of my release party, for the first time that night, I felt like I had found the old Jude Harrison. I didn't want to lose that girl again; and the farther I got away from Toronto, the better I felt."

"Tommy misses you," Kwest said and for some strange reason, I believed him.

"Maybe he does," I said nodding. "But I think it's his turn to wonder if I'm coming back. I have been a doormat for him for so long that I can't make decisions because of my feelings for him. If I come back, it'll be for me. I'm happy here Kwest. I may be a waitress but I'm a happy one. When's the last time I wrote something as good as the song you heard tonight?"

"Since your last tour," Kwest admitted.

"I'm doing well here," I said smiling. "I know you're going to run home and tell everybody where I am but it doesn't matter." I looked around at the coffee shop and smiled. "I'm good here, just let them know that."

I walked away with every intention of going upstairs and going to sleep but Kwest's last sentence stopped me.

"You're wrong," Kwest said shaking his head. "You aren't happy here, maybe content but the Jude Harrison. The real Jude Harrison, she was the happiest when she was in the recording studio recording. She was happy writing a song with her producer. She may have pined after him knowing he would never return her feelings but that didn't mean she wasn't happy just sitting beside him." I turned to face him as he finished. "You'll never be as happy here as you were with him, in Toronto, making music together. You know that Jude. So when you stop running or hiding…come home and face the music. Tommy did."

I watched as he walked out of the shop and on auto pilot I locked the door and made my way upstairs. He was wrong, I was happy here. That life he described was my old life. I had a new one that worked for me. I just wish that, as I was laying in my bed later that night, I truly believed that.