Jude and Tommy haven't been alone together—really alone, not just in-the-studio alone—for weeks now. The song is almost done, and today will probably be their last day of work before mastering. Jude's been essentially working double, since as soon as she finishes up at G Major, she heads back to NBR and puts in a session with Spied and Jamie. Nearly every day, Tommy has tried to convince her to go somewhere with him, just for an hour, to just tell Jamie their session went long. She comes dangerously closer to agreeing every time, despite the possibility that Sadie or Kwest or someone could see them leave together and Jamie could easily find out she lied. Jamie's already noticing her distraction, her daydreaming. She blames stress, blames Darius, blames lack of sleep... Anything, really, except for the truth. She thinks he believes her, or at least that he's trying very hard to.
Jude knows without a doubt now that Tommy is torturing her intentionally, and he's getting less and less subtle. It's driving her crazy, but what's worse is that she knows if she were to call him out on it and ask him to stop, he'd back off immediately. It would be a lie if she didn't admit she's as complicit as he is. Tom may be the more blatant and the more physical of the two of them, but she encourages it as much as he does. She's choosing this, loving every minute of the torture. They're getting reckless, but she doesn't care. The thrill of it has her giddy.
The other day she came absurdly close to following him into the bathroom, of all places, too consumed with the thought of his body pressing hers against the tile wall to realize it would be semi-private at best. The only thing that stopped her was seeing Milo walk in. If he had showed up two minutes later, who knows what he'd have seen. Lust is making her stupid on top of her natural impulsiveness, and she's pretty sure it's affecting Tommy in the same way. Yesterday afternoon before she left, despite the fact that anyone could have walked in, he pulled her into a corner of the studio not visible through the glass, and gave her a kiss that left her flushed and gasping.
Outside the studio, too, they're pushing limits, taking risks they shouldn't. Before, they've always been careful about text messaging. It's not like Jamie goes through her phone, but if it's near him and it goes off, he'll glance at it or pick it up to let her know who's texting. When Jude and Tommy do text plans to meet up or something else that could get them caught, Jude's in the habit of deleting the texts right after she reads them. But very late last night he texted her "cant stop thinking about you" and she received it as Jamie lay sleeping next to her. She texted back "hes here" and Tommy responded "L too. still lying here wanting you." It was a horrible thing to say, really, but what about this isn't horrible? She texted "want u too. always do" and then "its late T go to sleep." Tommy, always needing to have the last word, replied "ok but know im dreaming of you."
Jude deleted her replies as she sent them, but couldn't bring herself to delete his messages. She read and re-read them and it sent a thrill through her every time. As she's about to leave for the studio, she pulls out her phone and looks at the last text again. Jamie's gone back to his house already and Sadie and Kwest are already at G Major. Jude hesitates at the top of the stairs, phone in her hand. She thinks of Tommy, of his infuriating nonchalance as he slides his hand over her thigh under the sound board, and she makes yet another reckless decision.
When she gets to G Major, Sadie, who's behind the front desk rifling through papers, is the first to see her. Sadie's eyes go wide and she drops what she's doing, walking up behind Jude and roughly pulling her aside by her elbow.
"Ow!" Jude protests, though it's more startling than painful. "Sadie, what the hell?"
"What are you wearing?"
Jude tugs self-consciously on the hem of the short skirt she retrieved from Sadie's closet. "What?" she protests. "A few days ago you said I could borrow it!"
Sadie crosses her arms. "Yeah, when I thought you were wearing it out with Jamie, not to G Major!"
"Chill!" Jude tugs on the hem again and lies. "I spilled coffee on my jeans when I was on the way out today, I was running late, and I had this sitting on my chair so it was the most convenient thing to change into in a hurry."
"Uh-huh, sure. And I'm sure it had nothing to do with your co-producer at all." Sadie frowns. "I'm not stupid, Jude, I have eyes."
A spike of fear goes through Jude, ice cold, and her throat goes dry. "Wh-what are you talking about?"
"You and Tommy?" Sadie raises her eyebrows. "Your whole unresolved sexual tension thing? I see the way he's been looking at you. It's practically predatory, and you're loving every minute of it. Don't pretend you didn't wear this for him. You have a boyfriend, Jude. A little flirting is one thing, but I'm worried this is getting out of control."
Jude opens her mouth to try to say something, but nothing comes out. She looks at the ground, her face growing hot. Sadie has no idea how out of control it already is, that it hasn't been under control for months now.
"It's okay." Sadie reassures her with a sigh. "I know you and Quincy have always had crazy chemistry. And you're getting close to finishing up the song, so this will all resolve on its own anyway. Just be careful, okay? There's nothing wrong with a few sparks, as long as you remember you're still playing with fire."
"Sadie!" Darius's voice booms from his office door.
Sadie sighs and turns around to look at Darius. "Coming, D!" she calls back, then turns back to Jude. "Don't worry about it, kay? We can talk about it later if you want to, but it's okay." She gives Jude a quick hug. When she pulls back, she smiles. "You do look really good, though. You can borrow that skirt any time you want. Just… maybe not at work, yeah?" She squeezes Jude's shoulder before turning away and walking to Darius's office.
Jude heads to the bathroom instead of to the studio. Her face and neck are flushed, and she feels like she's overheating and can't breathe. She wets a paper towel with cool water and uses it to dab at her cheeks and neck, and it helps, a little. She pulls out her phone and texts Jamie "hey i love u :)" to try and assuage some of the guilt, and as she's putting her phone away it vibrates again.
[ From: Tommy ]
[ 10:39 ]
where r u
[ From: Tommy ]
[ 10:39 ]
was hoping to get off early today ;)
Jude finds herself smiling, thoughts of Jamie fading as she rolls her eyes and texts back.
[ From: Jude ]
[ 10:40 ]
'get off' really ur shameless
[ From: Jude ]
[ 10:40 ]
and im coming
His reply reaches her when she's within sight of the studio.
[ From: Tommy ]
[ 10:40 ]
haha now whos shameless?
Jude rolls her eyes. As she reaches the studio, she sees that Tommy is sitting at the sound board, turned away from the door. "That's just gross, Tom."
He laughs, still facing away. "You walked into that one, Harrison." he reaches down by his feet to grab his coffee and takes a drink of it as he turns around to look at her. When he sees her, he chokes a little on the coffee, coughing. The look on his face is worth all the risk and all the guilt.
She smirks and leans against the door frame. "Breathe, Quincy."
He clears his throat, staring at her with his eyebrows raised. "Uh… wow. Good morning." His eyes roam over her body and her skin tingles under his gaze.
Her smirk broadens into a grin. "Good morning." She walks up to the board, sitting down in the chair next to him and crossing her legs.
"You look…" He shakes his head and laughs. "Very distracting."
She feigns surprise. "What do you mean?"
Tommy just shakes his head again and starts the playback of the song.
.
Despite the distractions, intentional and unintentional, the song is finished by early afternoon. Tommy calls Darius to let him know they're finished, and D calls them into his office right away. He regards them with his typical unreadable expression as the song plays, and Jude finds herself surprisingly nervous, though she'd thought she was far past caring about the approval of her former boss. Tommy gives her a reassuring smile when he sees her fidgeting nervously with her star ring, and it's strange in that moment how much it feels like old times.
Darius waits an unnecessarily long time after the song ends, but eventually he breaks into a smile. "It's phenomenal. Exactly what I was looking for. You two make a good team, as always."
Tommy smiles at Jude and winks, and she returns his smile before regarding Darius coolly. "So that's it, then? No more ambushing me with contract loopholes? I'm free to go?"
A flicker of irritation goes across Darius's face, but he shrugs. "If that's what you want."
"It is." she confirms.
He leans forward in his chair. "Your third album has been just as successful as we'd hoped, and you could ride that wave if you stuck with me. Even after the stunt you and Andrews pulled, I'm willing to negotiate. No more Instant Star, no more loopholes. How does a world tour sound?"
Jude rolls her eyes. "Pass."
He leans back again and regards her with a carefully neutral expression, his steepled fingers in front of his mouth. "G Major made you, Jude. Don't forget that. There won't be another offer."
G Major tried to sell all my music off to the highest bidder she thinks, but doesn't say. "Look, D, I didn't say I wasn't grateful, okay? I had a three album contract here, and it was a great three albums. So seriously, thank you for everything you did for me. It means a lot, but now I've moved on."
"If you say so." Darius sighs, standing up and holding out his hand to Jude. She stands up and shakes it. He gives her a smirk. "At least I got one last single out of you."
Jude smiles, and says, too sweetly, "Darius, if you ever pull another stunt like this with my contract, you will be hearing from my lawyer."
Darius laughs as he lets go of her hand and walks around his desk. "Looks like someone's learning to speak G Major." he claps a hand on her shoulder as he walks past her. "Good luck, little tadpole." he says, chuckling to himself as he walks out.
Tommy smiles at her when Darius is out of the room. "Hearing from your lawyer, eh?"
Jude shrugs, leaning against the edge of Darius's desk. "Hey, if you want to swim with the sharks or whatever…"
He laughs and shakes his head. "Well he was right about one thing, we still make a good team." He gets up from his chair and stands in front of her, and the closeness and the sudden heat of his gaze make goosebumps stand up on her arms. His voice is low. "And you standing up to Darius?" his eyes follow his fingers down her arm. "Very hot."
"Tommy, we're in D's office." she warns.
"Are you going to keep pretending you didn't wear this to torture me?" he whispers, sliding a hand up the back of her thigh, pushing her skirt up a few inches.
"Are you going to keep pretending you haven't been torturing me all week?" she whispers back.
He gives her a wicked grin and threads his fingers through her hair, giving her a kiss that makes all of her nerve endings catch fire, his hips pressing hers into the desk. He breaks the kiss and murmurs "My office. Five minutes." She knows she should object, that they shouldn't be doing this here, that it's beyond dangerous. But his hand pushes her skirt up farther, and he groans "I need you" in her ear. Her legs have turned to goo and in this moment she'd follow him to the ends of the earth if he asked.
"Five minutes." she agrees, breathlessly.
