Her fingers tapped in sync with Speidermans guitar. The simple chords came through her headphones, her eyes locked on his fingers as they moved along the guitar neck. She smiled as he finished. She had taken Marcie's advice, because it was the only advice she had gotten. She needed to focus on nothing but the songs she was producing.
"That was good Speid, but do it again, and watch the finger noise, and the slip up, Karma does it in a C, not G." she nodded at him, as he began to play again.
"A C?" Karma asked from the door.
Jude turned around in the chair and smiled at her, letting the headphone fall down around her neck. "Karma." She smiled at the girl leaning on the frame.
"Wish I could say that I'm happy your back." Karma remarked coming into the room.
"It's good to see you too Karma." Jude said knowing that she was still the same girl as she was five years ago. With all the time that Speiderman had spent in London, Jude could only recall Karma being there twice, and once was for her own tour.
"Why the sudden return? Did that British boy finally dump you?" Karma asked, taking the chair next to Jude.
"No." Jude said laughing, it was easy to remember why she didn't like Karma. "My contract is up, and they won't sign me for a few more weeks, so I thought it would be the perfect time to come and visit Sadie."
"Right," it sounded more like a noise than actual words coming out of her mouth. "And you being nice, and letting me record one of your old songs, what's that about?"
"This is an Instant Star hits album, the song was a hit, and I'm not singing." Jude explained. Darius had offered to let her sing, but she kindly declined and said she's rather be behind the sound board at G Major than a microphone. But she did agree to let them use one of her songs, as long as she was able to produce it.
"Hey ladies!" Speid shouted from the recording booth, "I know you're not listening."
Jude reached up and turned off the recording, and hit the intercom. "Sorry Speid, I think your wife is here for lunch, let's call it a morning."
"Sure thing, producer lady." Speid nodded back at them.
"It's too bad that guy didn't dump you." Karma sighed, her face turned towards Speid.
"Excuse me?" Jude asked.
"He's British Jude, his teeth are all wrong, and lets be serious, all English men smell." Karma smiled back over at her.
"Karma, as your producer, I really won't try and piss me off, especially when you're singing this afternoon." Jude looked at her with a cold expression. She wasn't going to stand for any of Karma's drama, not this time.
"Oh, touchy subject, maybe he did dump you." Karma said pushing herself out of the chair and meeting her husband just outside the door.
"You coming to lunch Dude?" Speid asked.
"No, you guys go, I'm going to try and work with what we've got, make sure it's ready for Karma this afternoon." Jude said before turning back to her sound board. She had hardly been back for a week and she found herself working in G Major. It wasn't what she had wanted, what she had planned, but it was better in away. For the first month in London she had been bottling up all her frustrations, being unable to work or do much of anything. And now she was finally able to put all of that to rest, and do what she wanted. She moved a few keys, while she played back what Speid had recorded.
"Glad to see you still remember how to use a soundboard." Tommy laughed from the door way.
Jude looked up at him and smiled. Once she had agreed to work on the album, she was surprised at how little she saw of Tommy Quincy. She was sure that he was going to be everywhere all the time, but she had mostly only seen him in passing, or when she was making coffee. The conversations between the two had been light, playful.
"Something's are hard to forget." Jude smiled up at him. "Karma's song should be done in soon, and ready for mixing." It was easier to take Marcie's advice when she wasn't looking directly at him.
"That's good, cause I need your help." Tommy said taking the seat that Karma had just been in.
"Little Tommy Q needs my help?" Jude teased.
"Yeah, we're trying to fix the bridge in this song, and I'm coming up blank." Tommy said handing her the music sheets. "It's May final song, and it just isn't working."
"May?" Jude asked, raising an eyebrow. Whenever she had seen Tommy in G Major, the girl hadn't been far behind. She couldn't help but wonder about the relationship between the two. May was the last artist at G Major that Tommy worked with, and Jude knew that it was hard to resist the Boyz Attack charm that Tommy would always have.
"Yeah, you gonna look at the song, or stare at him like he kicked your puppy?" May asked from next to them. Jude hadn't even heard her come into the room.
Jude looked at up the girl, trying to keep from glaring at her before looking back down at the papers Tommy had given her. "I'll look it over, but I've got to work on the music for Karma's song, she's recording this afternoon."
"That's all we're asking for." Tommy smiled at Jude. "And you know, I'd be glad to give the music a listen, help put it all together."
Jude didn't like the idea of him working with her song again, at least not this song. She already knew that he knew which song they were doing, but the idea of working with him, seeing his face while someone else sang the lyrics, the words she had written so long along about him, she wasn't sure if she was ready for that.
"It's okay, I've got it covered. I'll look this over when I go to lunch." Jude nodded putting the papers down on the sound board.
"I'm really excited about this, having Jude Harrison look at one of my songs; it's like a dream or something." May beamed at her. Jude could tell he was being genuine, and that made her want to dislike the girl even more. She knew that she had no reason not to like her, Jude had no claim on Tommy anymore, and no claim in G Major. She had chosen to leave this life, and had started a new one. But she couldn't help the way she would feel whenever she saw the girl.
"Yeah, it'll be great." Jude said trying o sound excited as well. "Now, I've really got to get this put together, I don't want a Karma fit."
"No one wants one of those." Tommy laughed standing up. "And remember, I'm here if you need anything." He said before placing his hand on the small of May's back and guiding her out of the sound booth.
Jude could almost feel the blood drain from her face as she watched them, as Tommy whispered something into the girls ear, and she just smiled. It had only taken him days to bring her right back to where she didn't want to be, thinking about him. She reached for her phone and dialed Marcie, praying she would pick up.
"My love," Marcie's voice sounded pleased.
"Hey, I'm dying over here." Jude said closing the door, and dropping the blind. She didn't want anymore interruptions, or anyone to hear her phone call.
"Oh, please share." The girl asked.
"He's asked me to help him with a song, a song, for another girl." Jude sighed, sitting back down, the papers in front of her. "You don't ask an ex to help you with things like that."
Marcie was silent for a moment, and Jude knew that she was trying to form the right words, to say something that would make it all better. "Well since I'm sitting here, with your band, I think its best we all work together on this song." Jude could hear the warning in her voice, he was there with her. "I'll put you on speaker, sing what you've got, the guys can help."
"No!" Jude said quickly. She didn't want to sing, not this song, not any song. "I need your advice, which you clearly can't give me at the moment."
"That's a good way of putting it." Marcie laughed. "But the boys would really love to hear your voice. I think Freddy is starting to miss your blonde head."
Jude laughed at the idea of Freddy missing her. Freddy was her London drummer. He was amazing on the drums, but outside of the band Jude and him had no common ground to form a friendship on. They were at constant odds with each other while on tour.
"They all think you've shacked up with your old group." Marcie explained, and Jude could hear them in the background, shouting her name, and insults about SME.
"You can assure them I've only goofed around with SME, they are the only boys that get my studio time." Jude laughed. When she had first played with All Time High, it felt like she was cheating on SME, but when she had played with SME the other day, it felt right, she didn't feel guilty, she felt at home. But hearing them, her friend, the people that helped make London her new home, made her even more upset. She wanted to be there, she wanted to be with them, going to café's, clubbing, playing some random show, running from the cameras. She wanted to be back to her life, the one she had left Toronto for, the one she left Tommy for.
"Would you like me to call you later?" Marcie asked, her tone a little more serious. "I'll ditch the boys, and call you back, if needed."
"No," Jude said brushing a tear off her check. She knew that if she didn't get off the phone soon Marcie would be able to hear the tears in her voice. And that would only make things worse. She was already mad at Ozzie for not understanding why she didn't want to come back, she was made at Tommy for being Tommy, and she was mostly mad at herself for both leaving, and coming back.
"Why don't we skype later, I miss those eyes." Marcie laughed, and Jude knew that she could already hear the break down.
"Yeah, if I ever get out of G Major." Jude tried to laugh. "Tell everyone hi for me," she hung up quickly and hung her head. What was she doing?
