Jude and Tommy woke early the next morning, quietly maneuvering around each other as they got ready for the long day ahead. While technically a day off from work, the day was reserved for securing the smaller, tedious details of their wedding, which Jude declared counted as a day of work regardless. She kept a wary eye on Tommy as the morning progressed, but did as he asked and gave him the space he needed. She didn't push any heavy topics and allowed there to be silence between them on the drives from place to place, letting him take the lead. By the time they arrived at the bakery for a cake tasting, Jude was feeling like he was back to normal, but by the time they were getting ready to leave, her frown returned along with his quiet demeanor.
"Oh, you don't have to clean up sweetheart." The owner of the bakery said, rushing over to take the stake of plates from Jude's hands, "You're our guest."
Jude smiled graciously, "I was heading over to the counter anyway" She said and leaned her hands against the wooden countertop, the bright displays lit up on either side of her full of pastries and any baked good she could think of. "Do you think I could have a full slice of the chocolate mocha to go?"
"Sorry, we only have sample sizes in that flavor." The woman grimaced apologetically and turned to slide open a display, filling a tray with fresh cookies "I can pack up a couple samples for you, if you'd like?"
"Sure, thanks."
Once Jude got her samples and lost an argument to pay for them, no matter how much she insisted, she returned to the small round table Tommy was sitting at. His elbows were propped up on the table, his eyes drawn to his cell phone, responding to messages, it looked like. Jude smiled a little and placed her hand under his chin, gently tilting it up "Ready to go?" He asked, returning her smile.
The owner wished them well as they stepped out, thanking them, again, for giving her little shop the opportunity to make a cake for such a high-profile wedding.
"I'm happy we found this place" Jude said, "The cakes were good, yeah?"
"Yup" Tommy nodded and reached for the bag in Jude's hand, placing it on the backseat of his truck. Rather than rounding the car to the driver's side, he continued down the sidewalk a few paces before Jude stopped him "Where are you going?" She asked, her fingers already curled around the door handle
"The next place is only a couple blocks." At the thought, Jude's feet ached in protest from inside her ankle-high boots. She knew heels would be a bad idea the moment she put them on but the countless images of herself swirling around practically every media outlet has been leaving her self-conscious and she finally surrendered to some of Sadie's style tips. Tommy reached out in the empty space between them with an open hand "C'mon. We haven't taken a walk in a while." Any protest Jude had ready lodged in her throat at his soft, hopeful expression; she really couldn't say no to that face sometimes. With a smile, she took his hand they continued down the block in content silence for a moment.
The feeling of Tommy's fingers intertwined with hers as they walked the downtown streets brought back a lot of warm memories from their early relationship, remembering how just holding his hand was such a new and wonderful sensation. Her little smile turned adoring as she brought her body closer to his, pressing her cheek against his bicep. Tommy responded by wounding his arm around her waist and kissing her temple. "This almost feels normal." He remarked
Reminded, Jude glanced over her shoulder, meeting eyes with one of the four security men surrounding their little spontaneous walk. She was certain the man looked stressed, though the two men walking ahead of them seemed to be holding their protective stance with ease. The cloud of paparazzi was held at bay for the moment; security kept them far enough away that they were easy to tune out, but not quite far enough to be completely forgotten. Tommy sighed a little, spotting a cameraman filming them from across the street "How could we possibly be this interesting?"
"Imagine the scandal" Jude muttered sarcastically "Canada's hottest couple caught…walking."
"I don't know if we're the hottest couple anymore." Tommy said quietly, almost sadly, as he reflected on the new round of tabloids that were released that morning. The title of "hot couple" was forever lost to darker titles like "most dysfunctional couple" or "poster couple for domestic violence". Jude's impulsive song release from the day before did get some people talking, but Darius taking down her website generated even more attention, hopefully enough to change some headlines soon.
"Well you must have gotten ugly," Jude broke Tommy from his thoughts with a tone light with humor, "Because I'm still hot as fuck." As she said the words, she pulled her sunglasses over her eyes, her stride turning confident.
Tommy grinned, amused, with a light shake of his head "No argument there," He said and looped his arm around her neck, bringing his lips to her ear "But you can't out-hot Tommy Q." He pulled back with a wink and removed his hoodie, leaving his upper half clad only in a close-fitting t-shirt that clung to his pecks and biceps in a way that made Jude flush ever so slightly. "Show off" She muttered and tugged at the hem of her off-the-shoulder top, dipping it lower to reveal her cleavage, before bunching the clingy hem at the top of her tight jeans, just barely exposing the skin of her lower abdomen "This isn't a war you wanna start." She warned playfully
A small sound of want groaned forth from Tommy's throat, grateful his sunglasses were shielding the lustful look in his eyes as he took in the woman next to him. His fingers brushed along the exposed skin on her back before his hand came to a rest on the delicate curve of her hip "You win." He whispered against her ear. The husky tone of his voice immediately sent a chill down Jude's spine and brought a satisfied smirk to her lips "Thought so."
Tommy opened the hoodie that was draped over his arm and wrapped it around Jude's shoulders, his lustful eyes turning protective, aware of all the cameras around them. "Tom" She complained halfheartedly but slipped her arms into the sleeves anyway so it wouldn't appear that Tommy was acting out of jealousy. She forced a grateful smile and leaned up to kiss his cheek, whispering an annoyed "Really, Tom?"
In response, Tommy gestured to a poster of her Lyric jean ad plastered to the side of a bus stop enclosure, reminding Jude that along with everything else, she was also on a black list for supposedly posing mostly nude. Some gossipers reached into their archives and refreshed the world's memory of her and Karma's press conference over a year prior. She was named a slut all over again, but only long enough to be barely irritating before they shifted their attention back to Tommy. While a large part of her kind of liked the Lyric ad and all the attention it brought her, a small part still wished it never happened; or at least, that she had a say in whether it happened or not. "Guessing you won't be supporting my centerfold in Playboy, then?" She teased, then laughed when the soft set of Tommy's lips hardened with irritation, muttering an unamused "No."
Finally arriving to their destination, Tommy held the door open for Jude as they entered the jewelry store. The air around them seemed very expensive and snobbish, as Jude would put it. The man behind the counter gave a curt "May I help you?" as they approached the counter, obviously unimpressed with the couple in front of him, his eyes stuck on the baggy hoodie hanging on Jude's frame. He looked behind them to the crowd of cameras gathering at the storefront windows "What's the frenzy about?" He murmured to himself
Tommy looked over his shoulder with a shrug and removed his sunglasses "We are the frenzy, unfortunately." The man paused, seeming to vaguely recognize Tommy, but full realization hit when Jude also removed her shades and hung them on the back pocket of her jeans.
"Jude Harrison" The man beamed with a harsh shift of demeanor, suddenly welcoming "Wait until my wife hears this!" He laughed and adjusted the sleeves of his black turtleneck sweater "We danced to one of your songs at our wedding."
"Oh, well, that's sweet, thank you." Jude smiled a little, "Um, we're meeting someone here. Sadie, my sister."
"Of course," He gushed and gestured them to follow him to a back room "You wouldn't want anything out here." He scoffed and lead them to much more private jewelry showroom. The glass displays were propped up on shelving made completely of dark mahogany. There was a large round velvet couch positioned directly in the center of the room with a tray of cold water bottles resting on one of the cushions. "My wallet's starting to hurt." Tommy said, looking over at ring display that all had diamonds bigger than grapes.
"Tell me about it," Jude groaned "Do you feel like we're about to be inducted into the mob?"
"Or sucked into the twilight zone."
Sadie sat in an obnoxiously large chair in front of a desk, speaking to an older man in an expensive suit. They prattled on happily in a language Jude recognized to be Italian, solidifying her mob theory "What are they saying?"
"Something about…necklaces?" Tommy guessed, they were talking too quickly for him to really understand it "Oh." He realized "Fashion week. He designs jewelry."
Sadie turned in response to the voices behind her and smiled, "Guys! Look how beautiful everything is." She stood and hugged Jude, only giving Tommy a single nod of acknowledgment, which he returned civilly. Jude hesitated but managed a smile "It is beautiful" She admitted "But, um, I think I saw more stuff I liked out there." She pointed her thumb over her shoulder
"Shhhh!" Sadie hissed "Trust me. I know it looks overboard but you'll like the rings." She smiled reassuringly as the older man approached the couple, reaching out to shake Tommy's hand and delicately cupped Jude's hand between both of his. "Bella ragazza." He smiled.
"Si" Tommy agreed, wrapping his arm around her waist, "Molto."
The chairs at the man's desk were wide enough for Jude and Tommy to share one, while Sadie sat at the other. Jude listened impatiently while they all conversed in Italian around her, trying to discect some meaning from any of it, cursing herself for not paying more attention to her highschool language classes. "Babe, he needs to take your ring size." Tommy said softly, lifting her left hand from her lap. Jude removed her engagement ring and allowed the man, Nick, to gage her ring size with a little paper measure tape. Once he had hers and Tommy's sizes written down, he stood and began to gather ring options from locked drawers hidden behind the glass displays.
"Okay." Sadie rustled through her purse for a moment and smoothed out a piece of paper against the desk. The paper was creased and worn and had several things written in black pen, most of which were crossed out in blue, "You guys picked up the marriage license this morning, right?"
"Uh, no, Tommy can't find his divorce papers to show the court." Jude answered
Tommy gave her an unhappy look as a thanks-a-lot and jumped to his own defense "I know where they are, they're just not in the apartment."
"Spent enough time looking, though." Jude mumbled under her breath
Sadie exhaled an annoyed breath though her nose, but moved on to the next thing on her list without comment "Cake flavor?"
"We picked a couple, actually," Jude said, "Chocolate mocha for the bottom tiers, and cherry vanilla bean for the upper tiers."
"Full approval on bridesmaids' dresses and groomsmen suits?"
"Yes."
Sadie glanced up at Tommy and began scribbling a note at the bottom of the paper, "Three groomsmen, right, Tom?" He nodded "So we need to schedule a fitting for all of you – oh, and for Speid. I found him a suit the same color as the bridesmaid dresses."
Jude chucked "He's gonna love that."
"You still need to find a dress, Jude. I don't care where you get it anymore, you just need one."
"I know, I know." Jude murmured, stressed, her foot beginning to tap nervously
"Jude," Sadie pressed "Your wedding is nine days away."
"I know Sadie." Jude met eyes with Tommy who knitted his brow in question "I'm just…I haven't found the right one."
Sadie let the subject drop with a sigh "Flowers for your bouquet?"
"Lilies and roses."
Sadie's pen paused mid stroke and she looked over at Jude questionably, "Lilies? You hate lilies."
"Jude loves lilies." Tommy said, the same confusion is his voice
"I don't hate them anymore." Jude told Sadie "And I want the white lilies with the red roses – I think that'll match our wedding colors, right?"
With confusion still animating his features, Tommy nudged Jude's knee to get her attention, "Not anymore? When did you hate lilies?"
"Um, since birth?"
"What?" Tommy asked incredulously "Jude, I always get you lilies." He added, thinking maybe Jude wasn't sure which flower she was talking about
Jude laughed a little at his exasperation, resting a reassuring hand on his knee "I know, that's why I like them."
"But they're your favorite." Tommy objected
"Now they are."
"They always were!"
Sadie shook her head with a little smirk, oddly finding herself humored by their bickering "Tom" She interjected "Jude hates lilies so much that she would actually throw them away by the vase-full if they dared show up at our house."
Jude nodded in agreement, only furthering Tommy's dismay; his mouth hung open, speechless. "You threw away the flowers I gave you?" He finally managed
"No," Jude denied, almost offended "Of course not, they were from you." At that Sadie rolled her eyes
Tommy breathed out through his teeth, baffled "All these years I thought lilies were your favorite."
Jude shrugged "I don't know where you got that from; I know I never said it."
Tommy shook his head, his face relaxing "I feel like an idiot."
Jude wrapped her hand around his, leaning over to press a kiss to his cheek, "I'm so happy you never stopped getting me flowers."
"I might stop now." Tommy said, but his smile was joking.
Jude hit him once on the arm "Don't you dare."
