Hello again!

Nearly there, nearly there! I'm up to the 13 chapters typed out now, so two more chapters, and you guys are all caught up!

Anyway, I have a feeling you all may like this chapter...

Please comment!

Disclaimer: I do not own Instant Star.

Chapter 11

Three months had passed since Johnny's departure and things were slowly starting to get back to normal. She went back to work with Tommy and they had, more or less, developed some kind of understanding between each other. They never mentioned her attack the night of Johnny's going-away dinner; it was like an unspoken agreement. As unsettled as she was about it, she hadn't heard anything else from that creep of a man, so she had decided to put it behind her and do her best to forget about it. She didn't like to think about it, talk about it… but she couldn't help it when it came into her dreams. She'd had many troubling dreams about it and then, to her dismay, one nightmare about it in front of Tommy, but he'd wisely said nothing about it. He had just gone into hospitality, made her some cocoa, and left it at that.

Things between her and Jamie had gotten better. The day after Johnny had left, he had explained why he had had to back out on the dinner, and why he hadn't been there during Johnny's departure—his Nana had been incredibly sick and he had had to stay home and look after her. Jude had felt awful after learning the real reason as to Jamie's absence during Johnny's goodbye dinner. There'd been a lot of groveling and a few fights, but they had managed to work it out. Their anniversary came and went and she had been completely dazzled by the evening Jamie had planned out. Of course, later he had confessed that he had had help from Johnny and even Sadie, but still. It had been perfect for Jude. He had been the perfect gentlemen and had gotten everything right, and yet, there was something off. Something just didn't feel right.

It didn't help matters much when Tommy finally learned the identity of her boyfriend. When Tommy had figured out that she was dating Jamie, she had wanted to smack the shit out of him. As soon as she had let it slip that it was Jamie, a hearty, animated laugh escaped his throat and he was soon doubled over with laughter, clutching his sides because he was laughing so hard.

She thought back to the conversation when he found out that she was in a relationship with Jamie…

"You're joking, right?" he said as he started wiping tears from his laughter.

"Do I look like I'm joking?" she stated with a frown on her face. "I don't see what's so funny about Jamie and me dating."

"Well, would you like for me to point out the obvious?"

"Not really."

He continued on as though she hadn't even spoken. "Reason one: he had his hair streaked blue, Jude. Blue!"

"Wow. Shallow, much, Quincy?" she scoffed angrily.

"Reason two," he went on, undeterred by her dismissive response. "The guy was the definition of clingy! He followed you around like a puppy dog!"

She sighed loudly and rolled her eyes. He clearly wasn't getting it. "These aren't legitimate reasons, Tommy."

"And reason three, the biggest reason I find it so funny that you're dating Andrews—he was holding you back and you couldn't even see it!"

Her eyes narrowed and she felt anger coursing through her body. How dare he?! "You don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't I? He did everything in his power to keep you from changing your song. He didn't want you to grow! He expected you to stay exactly the same."

"You know? I thought your memory was supposed to be shitty?"

"What can I say? The guy made an impression," he remarked dryly.

She huffed angrily, grabbed her purse, and headed for the door. "You know what? Stay out of it. It's not any of your business who I date. You don't know shit, Quincy," she remarked with an icy, clipped tone.

With that, she stormed out of the studio, leaving a stunned Tommy standing alone...

That seemed like a lifetime ago when she and Tommy had gotten into that argument. That was one of the bigger ones that they'd had, thankfully.

Despite that little setback, things had started to progress.

However, though everything else was starting to go back to normal, Jude wasn't. It wasn't easy for her to dive right back into things and pretend like her world hadn't been completely shifted.

Before Johnny had left, they had made a promise to each other to keep in touch every day, and for a while, that had happened. When his plane had landed, he'd called, despite the inconvenient time for her. She'd told him that it didn't matter what time he got in—he had to call her. And then, they'd developed a kind of routine where he would call in the morning, and then she would call in the evening. Then it lessened to one phone call a day, then to one phone call every couple of days, weeks, etc. Now they were passing e-mails to each other, and sometimes not even that. They hadn't spoken, or written, a word to each other for almost three weeks now; two days from now would be the three-week mark. It troubled her and she was feeling depressed about it.

To make matters worse, she and Tommy were developing a strong bond inside the studio—and out of it. Not to mention the fact that there was a clear physical attraction developing as well. That's what disturbed her the most, actually. Anytime they would get close to each other, sparks flew, and she could tell that it wasn't one-sided. So, she was trying to distance herself from him, but no matter what she did, it was like she kept getting pulled back in. It felt like he was a magnet: no matter how far she distanced herself from him, she always came right back to him. And it confused the hell out of her.

She felt like she was betraying Johnny in a way and she hated it.

The screen on her phone displayed Johnny's picture. She sighed and debated whether or not she should go through with the call. When she had realized that Johnny wasn't returning her e-mails or phone calls, she had resigned herself to not being the one to make the first move anymore. She could only make so many first moves before feeling like an idiot. But she missed him and wanted to hear his voice, so without a second thought, she promptly hit 'send'. She needed to talk to him.

After about five rings, she was ready to give up. As she was getting ready to end the call, she heard somebody pick up the phone.

Instead of getting Johnny, like she had expected, a sweet as honey voice filled the line. "Hello?"

Jude blinked. Why was a woman answering his cell phone?

"Hello?" she asked again.

"Uh, hi. Sorry. Is Johnny there?"

"Yeah, one sec. Babe! Somebody's on the line for you!"

She immediately hung up the phone, feeling incredibly awkward. Never in a million years did she think she'd ever feel awkward where Johnny was concerned. Tears sprung to her eyes and she didn't even know why. She was being completely ridiculous. But, at the same time, she knew she wasn't. They were drifting apart and there wasn't anything she could do to stop it.

Her phone rang again, and when she saw that it was Johnny, she hit ignore. The last thing she needed was for him to hear her crying on the phone, not to mention the fact that he would probably grill her as to why she'd hung up before he'd even gotten to the phone.

Two seconds later, the phone rang again.

She sighed in frustration and shut her phone off, not wanting to deal with it all right now.

Angrily wiping the tears away from her eyes, she left the bathroom and made her way back into the studio to find a grinning Tommy. However, as soon as he saw her entering the room again, his grin faltered.

"What's wrong? Is everything okay?"

No. Everything was far from okay. "Nothing's wrong. Everything's great." She quickly pulled herself together and walked over to sit in the chair next to him. "What had you all smiley when I walked in?"

Though he was still wary and he clearly wasn't buying her claim to be fine, his grin slowly returned to his lips and he hit the playback button.

You're gone from here
Soon you will disappear
Fading into beautiful light
'cos everybody's changing
And I don't feel right

So little time
Try to understand that I'm
Trying to make a move just to stay in the game
I try to stay awake and remember my name
But everybody's changing and I don't feel the same

Jude's eyes widened when she heard the song. "This… this is my song?!"

"What do you think?"

"Are you kidding?!" she exclaimed with a huge smile on her face. "This is awesome! Thank you!"

She jumped out of her chair and threw her arms around Tommy, hugging him tightly. Hearing the demo of her new song completely made her day and almost made her forget all about the awkward attempted phone call with Johnny.

Almost.

After she pulled back, he still had a grin on his face. He cleared his throat and rubbed his hands together somewhat nervously. "We should celebrate. This song is your next hit, girl."

"Absolutely! I would love to!"

She was on a high after hearing the demo and she couldn't think of any reason to say no.

As soon as she said 'yes' though, the nagging feeling that she was betraying her best friend came back to bite her in the ass.

But she quickly shook it off, not wanting to let it get to her. As she thought back to her earlier phone call, she felt a wave of stubbornness wash over her. To hell with Johnny. It was clear he was moving on from his life in Toronto… from her. So what was stopping her?

She watched as Tommy grabbed the demo and labeled the CD, putting it in its case. He turned to her with that smile still etched on his face. "You ready?"

Ignoring the nagging guilt, she nodded her head and plastered a smile back on her face. "Absolutely. Let's go celebrate, Mr. Producer Man."

Johnny angrily threw his phone down on the chair. "Stubborn woman," he muttered. That was the tenth time he had called her since she had hung up on him and still, no answer. He knew that hearing Jane answer the phone probably weirded her out and for a moment, he cursed himself for asking Jane to answer the phone in the first place.

He had been busy setting things up for his next session with her and she was doing some odd, meditation thing. Jane certainly was a strange character, but despite her… quirks, he'd grown rather fond of her. In fact, she was the only artist he'd grown fond of.

He rubbed his face dejectedly, threw himself face forward onto the long, leather couch residing in the studio and screamed into the cushion..

Things were not going well. Not at all.

Of course, he tried to make her believe that everything was just peachy and she seemed to be buying his bullshit. But that was beside the point. The point was, was that he was, in fact, drowning in L.A. The hours were excruciatingly long, his artists were whiny and temperamental as hell, and most importantly… they weren't Jude. He thanked God every second of everyday for Jane, because he had somehow managed to catch a break with her.

He thought he could do it—live in another country, work with other artists. But the more contact he had with Jude, the harder it was. Just hearing his best friend's voice on the phone was enough to drive him insane.

That's why he had made a decision, probably the biggest one of his life: he, Johnny Summers, was going to fade Jude Harrison out of his life.

It was cowardly and just plain cruel, but it was the only way he could stay here and get on with his life, or at least try to anyway. He realized that this plan of his was hurting Jude in the process, but it was for the best. If he succeeded, he would drive her away and she would get on with her life just fine. Not that that was what he wanted, but it was in her best interests to do so, right? No sense in hanging onto the past.

But, despite his assertations that it was for the best for both of them, it didn't stop the guilt from weighing down after every ignored e-mail or voice-mail. So many times he wanted to write her back, call her back, but it just made things worse.

In the beginning, when they had still kept in touch, or rather he had still kept in touch, it had been hard for him. He could hear her side conversations with everybody, mainly Tom, and felt as though she had adjusted just fine without him.

Besides, she was in good hands with Quincy. At least he hoped to God that his instincts were right about the guy.

He and Tom had had many conversations without Jude's knowledge. At first, the pair loathed each other instantly, but Johnny had decided to give him a fair shot and things between them had started to improve. However, Tom did not seem to appreciate the excessive amount of grilling he had done.

The thing was, he knew exactly how to read Quincy, because he essentially was Quincy. There were a lot of things that Jude didn't know about him and he intended to keep it that way. He was a different person now, changed for the better. He had committed himself to keeping a better lifestyle and things had only gotten better for him after he'd gotten the job at G-Major and proceeded to meet Jude.

He couldn't risk her knowing about his past, not when he had tried so desperately to keep it hidden from her. Although, she had gotten a good glimpse of what he had been like long ago when he flew off the handle.

It had been clear to him that she knew something was off, that he was keeping something from her, but he had managed to convince her that it was just a small temper problem, which was somewhat true.

Anyway, as much as he despised and loathed his past, it did come in quite handy when dealing with Tom. He knew exactly what questions to ask and how to ask them, and it appeared as though Tom saw underneath the surface and realized that there was more to Johnny Summers that met the eye. And Johnny was quite grateful that he had kept that little bit of information private.

"So who was the woman on the phone?" Jane asked as she re-entered the studio.

He turned his head to look at her and made sure that his face was firmly set so she would possibly take the hint and not press the matter. "It was no-one."

"Obviously it was someone," she said with such kind eyes that it made it practically impossible for him to be angry with her for not letting it drop. "I'd wager to say it was someone pretty important by the looks of how frazzled you are."

She plopped down on the floor space in front of the couch and coaxed him with such a warm, attentive smile that he couldn't help but crack. She had a way of getting to him and it was slightly irritating.

He sighed loudly and turned over on his side so he was fully facing her now. "It was Jude." He realized that he didn't divulge a last name and that Jane didn't know anything about his relationship with Jude, but Jane was smart and he didn't doubt that she'd already known who he was talking about anyway.

"Harrison?" she asked with a slightly raised eyebrow. He couldn't help but smile at that. He was slowly, but surely, getting to know this very kind, very odd artist. "How do you know her?"

Johnny rolled his eyes and finally sat up on the couch.. "I produced her for three years, Jane."

Her eyes widened and she momentarily looked away from him. "Well my, my. Aren't we just full of se… surprises?" He sighed, knowing very well she was going to say 'secrets'.

"So, who gets the pleasure of producing her now?"

She stood up from the floor and began to dust herself off as he answered. "Tom Quincy."

She froze and if he didn't know any better, he'd have sworn that she turned two shades whiter. She quickly recovered, though. In fact, if he hadn't been paying attention, he probably would have missed the reaction. Looks like he wasn't the only one full of se… surprises.

"Lucky girl. He used to be a first rate producer from what I've heard. Anyway, I find it highly odd that she would just hang up on you after being so closely involved with you for three long years. Are you sure you were just her producer?" she joked, teasingly.

Clearly she wasn't going to let on to the fact that she obviously knew Tommy personally and who was he to pry? He hated when people got up in his personal business, so he wasn't about to do the same to somebody as nice as Jane. Knowing Tommy's track record, she probably had a fling with the guy and got her heart obliterated. Poor girl.

So, taking the hint, he pretended as though he had noticed no change in her at all at the mention of Tom Quincy.

Groaning in frustration, he leaned back against the couch. "Like I haven't heard that one before? No. Jude and I have never been romantically involved. We just have this… look, I can't really explain my relationship with Jude. But it's special and she's very important to me. But, things between us have been strained lately, thanks to me, mostly," he admitted.

"Ah, pulling the old fade-out trick, are you?" she asked knowingly.

He stared in surprise. "How did you—?"

She laughed lightly, clearly amused by his shock. "It doesn't take a genius to figure out that that's what you're doing. If she's as important to you as you say she is, then you might find it in your best interest to put a stop to this whole 'fade-out' plan of yours. Otherwise, it might cause irreversible damage."

With that, she turned and walked into the recording booth, leaving him with his thoughts.

Suddenly, panic filled him. Did he know what he was doing? Was this what he wanted?

He thought of a life without Jude permanently and felt his blood go completely cold. He had never thought of it like that before, never realized that he might be permanently pushing her away.

Trying to shake the sick feeling off as he walked over to the soundboard, he began preparing things, once again, for their session.

He started fiddling with chords and knobs, setting things up and while he was doing so, he realized that he needed to figure out what the hell he wanted and fast. If he took this whole 'fade-out' plan too far, the consequences might be more than he could handle.

Tommy cocked his head sideways as he studied Jude intently. Something was bugging her and it was bugging him that she still insisted on keeping this annoying distance between them. She was trying to pretend like everything was just great, but he knew better.

Honestly, it scared him a little bit at how close he was getting to her. He never let himself get that close to anybody, not for a little over two years. And yet, here he was, feeling himself getting sucked into her world against his will.

They were at a small café near the studio, sitting by the window, which she was currently staring out. For the first half of their celebratory outing, she'd been animated and clearly having fun. They had been talking about everything and nothing, and it felt damn good to have finally made some progress with her these past couple months. But now, as she stared out the window, completely oblivious to her surroundings, her expression look puzzled, troubled, and pained, all at the same time. He'd noticed this pattern of behavior in her for the last couple of weeks and every time he questioned her on it, she just got even more distant and irritated with him, which, in turn, caused him to get angry.

He'd been tiptoeing around it long enough and decided to just get to the point.

"What's with you, Harrison?"

"Nothing," she said stubbornly.

His jaw clenched and he could feel that he was starting to lose control of his temper. "I don't believe you."

"Well that's your problem then, not mine, isn't it? Nothing's wrong! I'm fine!"

He slammed his glass down on the table and she abruptly turned to him, startled by his sudden outburst. "Stop lying to me, damn it. If you were fine, you wouldn't be having these crazy mood swings these past few weeks and you wouldn't be staring out the window right now, looking like you're completely lost! What the hell is going on with you?"

"I told you—nothing! Quit badgering me!"

"No! Not until you finally come out with what's been eating at you!"

She shook her head and let out a rather cynical sounding laugh. "You've been back in my life for what, two, three months? Stop trying to play shrink with me! You think you know me, but you don't!"

He angrily stood up from the table and threw some money down on the table. "I'm trying to! Can't you see that?"

He quickly stormed out of the café, barely acknowledging the fact that Jude was screaming at him, telling him to slow down and wait. He wasn't even aware when she had caught up with him, but she placed her hand on his shoulder and forced him to face her. It was surprising to him that she had as much strength as she did, so it definitely caught him off guard.

"What?" he snapped.

"I'm sorry!"

He groaned, feeling very irritated. "You know? I'm kind of getting tired of this. It seems like all we ever do is apologize to each other. Why do you keep doing this? Why can't you just tell me what's wrong instead of fighting me on every little thing?"

She sighed and bit her lip, looking down at the ground. "I don't mean to. I promise."

She looked so remorseful at that particular moment that he couldn't really stay mad at her. Sure, he was a little annoyed, but he knew she was having trouble adjusting to Johnny's leave. He was trying his best to cut her some slack, so he wasn't going to argue with her anymore on the subject, at least for now.

He had no idea why, but out of nowhere, a light bulb suddenly went off. He recalled some of his conversations with Johnny that he'd had recently and realized that Johnny had seemed very interested in Jude. At the time, he hadn't thought anything of it, but the more he thought about it, the more curious he grew.

Johnny should have known how Jude was doing—according to Jude, they talked all the time. So, somebody was lying. And he had a feeling the fibber was standing right in front of him.

He knew if he asked her directly, she would lie. He was getting to know Jude Harrison quite well. But he was having trouble thinking up ways to get her backed into a corner and force her to admit that she and Johnny weren't speaking to each other.

So, he did what he could and decided to let it drop for now. He wasn't going to push it until he had a solid plan.

He motioned for them to start walking and they headed back to the Viper. She had admitted long ago to him that she loved his car, so it became customary for them to take his car wherever they went. He had even started picking her up in the mornings, much to Stuart Harrison's displeasure. But, Tommy had managed to convince him that it was senseless to take two cars to work when her house was a stop on the way to G-Major. Stuart had grumbled profusely under his breath and slammed the door, after which, he and Jude had started laughing. She had glanced at him and said with a hint of amusement in her voice, "I don't think he likes you very much. Although, can't say I blame him." After her smart-ass comment, she had started laughing again, tipping him off that she was just pushing his buttons.

Which, she had gotten annoyingly good at.

Interrupting his thoughts, Jude suddenly asked, "Can we go to the rehearsal space?"

"If I ask why, are you going to bite my head off?" he remarked, un-amused.

"Ha, ha. No. I'm just not in the mood to go back to the studio right now, so I was thinking we could work for a little bit at the rehearsal space."

He wasn't entirely buying her story, but thought it best not to push it. "Sure. Sounds like a plan."

They drove in silence with him thinking it wouldn't be wise to say anything that might start another fight. Both of them knew by now when not to speak to each other.

As he drove through the streets of Toronto, he couldn't help but wonder how the hell he had managed to get so close to her without even realizing it. They had both been so against any type of connection, and yet, here they sat, knowing each other better than either thought possible.

Which was why he should have been able to figure out a way to get her to admit to the fact that she and Johnny were not on the best of terms right now, but he was still drawing a blank. It didn't matter that it was clear to him that that's what the issue was—she would never admit it to him. Not in a million years.

He rubbed his hand over his face, as though that would suddenly give him any ideas on how to get the truth out of her.

"What's wrong with you?" Jude asked casually.

"Nothing."

She sighed loudly and turned to stare out the window, clearly irritated with him. Maybe he was being childish, but at least she had some idea of how he felt now.

Finally, after sitting through what felt to be about a hundred red lights, they arrived at the rehearsal space and made their way up.

She immediately started working in her journal and when he tried to help her, she quickly brought the small book to her chest and covered the material. "Absolutely not. Back off, Quincy," she warned.

He put his hands up in a surrendering motion and made his way over towards the window, feeling slightly bored. While this was all well and good for her, he had nothing to do at the moment.

A small grin formed on his lips as he finally thought of a way to get her to admit to the truth. What better way to back a person into a corner than to catch them off guard? She was in her 'writing zone' right now and would be susceptible to not thinking clearly about anything else. Maybe it wasn't exactly a 'solid' plan, but he had a feeling it would definitely work. It was dirty, but he really didn't see any other choice.

He cleared his throat and remarked offhandedly, "So, it must suck that you and Johnny aren't talking to each other right now."

"It's as bad as—" she shut her eyes and sighed. "Damn it."

"I knew it! I knew this had something to do with him!"

"Well bravo! Give yourself a prize! Do you want a cookie?"

"Chocolate chip with Macadamia nuts please," he responded sweetly.

"Can we let this go, please?" she asked as he walked over to the condemnable couch.

"Sorry. No such luck. What's going on?"

She sighed and shut her journal as she placed it on the ground. "I wish I knew. He's not talking to me anymore. Almost not at all," she added quietly. "I mean I know he's busy, but that can't be it, can it? Have you talked to him?"

His eyes shifted and he glanced away, not wanting to tell her the truth. He had been in contact with Summers more times than he could count. In fact, he had just talked to him the other day. They had actually gotten to be pretty good friends.

"Are you shitting me?! He's talking to you but he doesn't even have the decency to drop me a freaking e-mail?! It's like he wants nothing to do with me anymore!"

"Jude, I'm sure you're probably just jumping to conclusions," he lied.

He had a feeling he knew exactly what Summers was doing and as much as he wanted to be pissed off at the guy, he really couldn't be. Not when he had hurt Jude in almost the same way. All the same, Tommy decided he needed to call him, sooner rather than later, and have a little chat.

He knew Johnny wasn't coping very well in L.A. and he also knew that one of the reasons was because Jude wasn't around all the time anymore. He had a feeling that Johnny would have adjusted just fine had Jude gone with him. But this situation he had put both him and Jude in clearly wasn't helping either of them and the sooner Johnny realized that, the better. The guy needed to have some sense knocked into him.

"I'm not jumping to conclusions! Don't try to defend him!"

"I'm not—" the glare on her face was enough to make him think twice before he finished his sentence.

"He's such an asshole! I hate him!" she screamed angrily.

"Oh come on. You don't hate the guy."

He sighed. Again with the glaring. Apparently this was one of those times he was just supposed to sit there and shut up while she vented. Anything he said seemed to get him in trouble.

He had resigned himself to doing just that, but he wasn't prepared when he saw tears streaming down her face.

Crap.

He hated it when girls cried. He had no idea what to do.

She leaned forward with her elbows on her knees, buried her face in her hands, and by that point, she had started heaving with uncontrollable sobs.

Oh this was so awkward.

Was he supposed to just sit there and watch her cry, or was he supposed to actually do something?

Damn you, Summers, he thought to himself. If Summers would have had a half a brain, they wouldn't be in this mess right now. He wouldn't be wondering what the hell that guy was thinking, nor would he be wondering if he tried to comfort Jude if she would give him a good kick in the balls. He wouldn't put it past her.

But he couldn't just sit there and watch her cry like that.

So, he put an arm around her shoulders, very tentatively, and risked moving a little closer to her. He gave her an awkward pat on the back and much to his surprise, he heard what he thought sounded like a bark of laughter escaping her throat. She looked up and through her tears, he saw some amusement mixed in there as well.

"You suck at this, Quincy," she said with a small smile on her face.

Embarrassment colored his cheeks. "Yeah, I know. Sorry. I grew up around guys. Don't have much experience in this area I'm afraid," he answered honestly.

"It's okay. It's the thought that counts. Thanks."

Shock filtered through him as she proceeded to lean against his shoulder. He reluctantly put his arm around her and drew her closer to him, but immediately regretted it.

The scent of her invaded his nostrils and he felt himself tense slightly. She was intoxicating; her hair smelled like some kind of fruity shit that he couldn't remember and it was enough to drive him nuts.

Leave it to him to have inappropriate thoughts fill his mind when he was trying to do something nice. Typical.

For the past couple of months, he'd been trying desperately not to notice these things about her, not to get this physically close to her, and here he was. He was mentally cursing at himself for putting himself in this position. Much to his alarm, he had realized long ago that any time he allowed himself to get this close to her, he found himself wanting to kiss her.

And the fact that she had just been crying was not helping his self-control much.

Her eyes were all puffy from crying and her nose was a little red, but she appeared dry-eyed. At least the tears seemed to have stopped.

She stared at the wall opposite them and she finally spoke again. "You were right."

"I know," he said smugly. "About what?"

She barely glanced at him, but he could tell her look was reprimanding—she hated it when he got arrogant like that, so she claimed. "I don't hate him. Far from it. I'm just… this is all new to me. I've never gone this long without talking to him and it just feels wrong. He's not been answering my voice mails, my e-mails, so finally I just gave up. I'm not exactly up for humiliating myself anymore than I already have."

Tommy tried to keep his anger at bay, but he wasn't very successful. Johnny was damn lucky that he was in a different country right now. He knew he had no right to be angry with the guy, but hearing Jude talk like that sent his blood pressure through the roof.

"Today was the first time I've tried contacting him again since the last time I called him."

"Did he answer?"

She laughed bitterly. "Oh I got an answer, but it wasn't exactly what I had expected. A woman answered the phone."

"And that bothers you?" he asked skeptically. He knew Jude wasn't petty enough to care that Summers had a girl answer his phone for him. Their relationship had never been like that.

She shook her head slowly. "No. That's not what bothered me about it." She sighed before continuing and tucked her hair behind her ears. "She called him 'babe'." At the blank expression on his face, she explained quickly. "That's what we used to call each other all the time. And now, another girl is calling him that. I should be the one calling him 'babe'. Why is he doing this?"

"He'll come around, Jude," he said softly.

Her next words shocked him. He definitely wasn't expecting this sudden shift in the conversation. "Is there something wrong with me? I mean, did I do something wrong?"

"Jude—"

"You've talked to him recently. Did he mention anything about me? If you told me what I was doing wrong, maybe I could fix it."

Her voice had cracked by then and she had started crying again.

He didn't know what came over him. It was the last the last thing he should have done and it was the last thing he should have been thinking about doing, but seeing her hurt and crying like that just completely did him in.

He turned her around so that she was completely facing him, grabbing her by the shoulders and pulled her to him. Before he could stop himself, his lips were covering hers.

What shocked him even more was the response that he got.

She was kissing him back.

But, just as soon as the kiss had started, it was over. She immediately pushed him away as soon as she realized what was happening, and he received a hearty slap in the face.

Her hand flew to her mouth, her eyes widening in shock.

"What was that?" she demanded.

"Jude, I'm—"

"What the hell was that?!"

"Jude, would you let me—"

She angrily stood up from the couch, grabbed her journal, and started for the door. "Where are you going?" Hadn't she just asked him to explain why he had kissed her just now?

"Away from you," was the only response he got besides the slamming door.

Song is "Everybody's Changing" by Keane.