Disclaimer: I, unwillingly, don't own Instant Star or anything else to do with Instant Star….including it's actors…sniff, sniff ..Tim..(
A/N: I know….long time no read right? And the sad part is I really don't have an excuse except writer's block. I'm SO sorry to keep you waiting though. But hey, Instant Star season 2 is like TOMORROW so we should ALL be very, VERY happy. )
Title: Conflicted
Rating: T
Chapter 4: Nice Guys Finish Last
Jude's heart stopped. Speed got up to lunge at Jamie but Jude shot out her good arm to stop him.
"No Speed. It's my battle. Let me handle it." Jude said regaining her voice.
"But Jude he…" he was silenced by Jude's lips on his. It was quick and soft.
"Please? I need to do this." Jude said softly, looking into his eyes. Speed nodded and sat back down, glaring at Jamie.
"Jamie…what are you doing here? You KNOW I don't wanna see you." Jude glared. Jamie stepped farther into the room and sat in Tommy's abandoned chair.
"I heard about what happened. Your mom told me. I was worried." He said softly. Jude's glare didn't falter.
"I know you probably hate me right now….."
"Probably….? How about a HELL YES I HATE YOU RIGHT NOW!" Jude yelled, cutting Jamie off.
"Ok, so you wish I would die, but Jude you have to understand. You messed up too." Jamie said quietly looking from Jude to Speed. Jude looked down.
"He's right. I DID make out with Speed before I caught him and Kat." Jude looked back up at Jamie and bit her lip.
"I know Jamie and I'm sorry. But you messed up first. I mean Speed would have never kissed me if you hadn't been cheating on me in the first place." Jude said calmly trying to not get upset.
"I know. Your so right and I blame myself for our breakup. Really Jude. I owe you THE biggest apology." Jamie said sincerely.
"Besides, do you really even regret that we split?" Jamie asked thoughtfully. Jude contemplated the question. She thought about how she had felt with Jamie and how she now felt with Speed. She turned to Speed and smiled. He smiled back, giving her hand a reassuring squeeze.
"To be honest, not really." Jude said, turning back to Jamie. "I mean, your happier with Kat then you were with me right?" Jude asked. Jamie nodded.
"And I'm happier with Speed. So it's ok. It was for the better." Jamie nodded his agreement.
"Yea, I guess it took us so long to get together because there was really nothing there to begin with." Jamie said. Jude nodded.
"Yea we were both on the rebound. Me from Shay and you from Kat. I guess we knew that we could find comfort in each other." Jude said, happy to be making up with her best friend.
"Yea. I think we just misjudged." Jamie held out his hand for Jude to shake. "Truce?" Jamie asked. Jude took his hand awkwardly because she couldn't shake with her right and he had held out his right. They both laughed and they hugged, happy to be cool with each other again. After releasing Jude, Jamie walked over to Speed and held out his hand.
"I'm sorry man. I should've never made you keep it a secret. Now I understand why Jude hates secrets so much. All they cause is trouble."
"Ain't that the truth." Jude chimed in, laughing. Speed surveyed Jamie then looked at Jude. She nodded. Speed turned to Jamie and shook his hand and patted him on the back.
"It's ok man. Besides, how far could SME get without it's manager? " Speed joked. Jamie smiled
"Probably to #1 in the country but you'd miss me too much." Jamie joked back. They all laughed.
"So, Jude," Jamie said returning to his seat . "Another broken bone to add to the list?" he joked. Jude smiled.
"Yep. What's this make…like number 300?" Jude laughed, patting her cast. Jamie laughed.
"Yea and that's sad considering that there's only like 128 bones total in the adult human body." Jamie laughed, still being the ultimate science whiz.
"Glad to have my encyclopedia back." Jude said patting him on the back. Jamie smiled.
"Glad to be referenced." He laughed.
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Tommy trudged confidently through G Major's doors, headstrong on getting Jude some extended time. He walked quickly to the conference room and opened the doors. There sat Georgia, EJ, Kwest, Darius, 3 record execs, and 2 empty seats that were obviously for himself and the absent Jude. Tommy walked to the front of the room instead of to his seat. Everyone giving him weird looks.
"Tom, where's Jude? She's late for her exec meeting." Georgia prodded, knowing that he knew the situation.
"There was an accident last night. Jude broke her forearm and the hospital won't release her until tomorrow. I'm very sorry that she couldn't make it."
An Asian looking, mid-40s, male, record exec was the first to speak. "This is unacceptable. She has a deadline. If she doesn't do her job, WE lose ours."
Tommy nodded, knowing the problem. "I know Sir, but Jude HAS written some songs and is able to sing them. I PROMISE, first thing tomorrow she'll be on it." Tommy looked hopeful.
The 3 men glanced at each other, giving looks. Finally the Asian man turned to him. "Fine, but she MUST have 3 songs by the end of this week….."
"But…" Tommy interjected.
"NO exceptions." the man said strictly.
Tommy sighed in defeat and nodded..
"It's already Thursday. She'll have to write a song today and tomorrow, put music to them, AND get them all three recorded." Tommy thought desperately about Jude's upcoming days.
"Yes Sir. She'll have them done by Saturday." Tommy said, defeated.
"Ok. Thank you. We'll be back in 2 days. Don't let us down, or else it'll be the end of Ms. Harrison's music career." The Asian man said as they all three walked stiffly out of the room.
Tommy froze, "The end of her music career? Oh there's NO WAY I'm gunna let that happen. It would crush her. Music is the most important thing to her besides her life. Hell, music IS her life. I promise my self right now…I won't let her down."
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"Sooo…you guys hungry? I could go get some food for you guys?" Jamie asked, sensing they're want to be alone, plus Jude's stomach was growling.
Jude smiled brightly, "Oh my God…YES! I'm about to die from starvation." Jude's stomach growled again.
Jamie laughed. "I can tell. So what do you want? MacDonald's? Chinese? Pizza?…."
"ANYTHING…as long as it isn't that nasty ass hospital food." Jude scrunched her nose up at the thought of the tray of "food" they had given her earlier. Jamie nodded and turned to Speed.
"And what would Vinny like?" Jamie laughed at the look on Speed's face.
"DUDE! That's like not cool. NOONE knows that but you and my parents." Speed ranted. Jude looked confused.
"Vinny? Huh?" Jamie laughed harder.
"Oh, didn't he tell you his real name?"
"Well, no…I never really asked." Jude said.
"Well Vincent, how does pizza sound to you guys?" Jamie said, laughing.
"Vincent?" Jude started laughing uncontrollably. Speed glared at her.
"I'm sorry, but it was funny." she smirked. Speed rolled his eyes.
Speed glared at Jamie for telling her in the first place. Jamie spoke before Speed could yell at him.
"OKAY, about that food. How about pizza?" Jamie asked. Speed still glared at him and replied, "Fine, just like Jude said, as long as it isn't that nasty ass hospital food." Jamie nodded and left, laughing.
"Yea that stuff was majorly disgusting. Total barf worthy." Jude said.
"Yea that stuff they gave you earlier, was it even edible?" Speed questioned.
"I dunno. Probably not. How do you think they keep in business? They gotta make people sick with that crap." Jude said. Speed laughed.
"Yea you know how you never see stray dogs or cats in hospital parking lots?" Speed asked. Jude nodded.
"Well just think abut it. No dogs or cats…nasty food…." Speed said trying to drop hints. Jude thought a moment then made a face of utter disgustedness.
"Eeeeeew….." Jude smacked Speed's head lightly. "Quit grossing me out."
Speed laughed, "I'm telling you, they kill the dogs and serve them to you." Speed laughed some more.
"Eeew God Speed shut up. That's totally sick." Jude stuck her tongue out him.
"Sorry, but seriously, that can't be a coincidence." he pondered. Jude glared at him. Speed dropped the subject and stared into her eyes.
"I'm sorry. Forgive me?" He asked hopefully. Jude decided to mess with him.
"Hmmmm….I dunno….should I?" Jude faked pondering, rubbing her chin in thought. Speed caught on to her act and smiled. He swiftly put his hands to her cheeks and pulled her head to him, gently.
"Well…maybe this will help you decide." he said coyly, leaning in for the meeting of their lips. They pulled away and Jude sighed.
"Yea, I think that'll work." Jude laughed.
"Are you sure? Cause I think I can do better." Speed smirked. Jude smirked back.
"Oh really? Well, I don't think you can. Unless you wanna come over here and prove it." Jude said smirking. Speed gave a lopsided smile.
"Well Red, you asked for it." Speed said , gently climbing into her hospital bed so that he was beside her. She laughed at him and he pulled her closer. Their lips met with electricity. Jude pulled her good hand up to support his head and he did the same while leaning back with her so they were laying back onto the bed face to face on their sides. Jude deepened the kiss, putting more passion into it. Speed moved one of his arms to her hip. Their lips automatically parted, letting each others tongues explore the others mouth. Jude laughed when Speed decided to suck on her tongue . She pulled away still laughing. Speed was laughing now too.
"Heh heh...I got your tongue." Speed said triumphantly. Jude lightly and smacked him on the arm.
"Hmmm…well…I'm just gunna have to take yours now aren't I." Jude said smiling devilishly.
"Hmmm….I guess you are. Unless your chicken." Speed smiled back. Fire flew in Jude's eyes.
"Oh Vinny, I KNOW you did not just call me a chicken." Jude smiled at him.
"Well, what if I did huh? What do you think you can do about it?" he joked to her.
"I take that as a challenge." She said as she sat up and threw her legs around his sides and straddled him. She leaned down and captured his mouth once again with force. Speed was enjoying it. They parted their lips to reunite their tongues and Jude immediately got revenge. She sucked on Speed's tongue while massaging it with hers.
"Whoa…"
They immediately broke apart and looked towards the door.
"What the hell was that?" Tommy seethed angrily. He was obviously jealous. He tried to suppress his jealousy and anger about the couple since he first found out that Speed liked her, but he just couldn't hold it back when he saw Jude on top of him like that. Jude quickly got off of Speed and sat in her original spot.
"Uuuhhhh…we were uhhh…" Jude trailed off but was interrupted by Tommy.
"It looked like you were sucking face……a lot." Tommy's face was red, not only from anger, but from the embarrassment of walking in on them.
"Actually we were sucking tongue but …." Speed said until Jude smacked him on the arm, giving him a look.
"Shut up! Not funny." Speed rubbed his arm in fake pain. Jude turned to Tommy.
"It's not our fault if you wanna just walk into a room without knocking. Besides, why do you care? Your with Sadie and Speed IS my boyfriend. I think I have the right to suck anything I want." Jude said. Tommy looked crestfallen. Speed laughed at the last of the comment. Jude realized what she had said and a blush formed across her face.
"Uhh…I uhhh…geeez…you know what I mean you pervs." She looked away from them both trying to hide her blush.
"Hey, me the perv? You were the one who pinned me down." Speed smirked, Jude rolled her eyes but smiled. She kissed him lightly on the lips.
"Well you called me chicken. Proved you wrong didn't I? Plus, don't act like you didn't like it." Jude smirked. Speed softly kissed her back.
"True. We should do it again sometime." Speed smirked. Jude laughed.
"I'm your dreams, Vincent." Jude laughed. Speed smiled.
"You are the only person that can get away with calling me that." Speed said. Jude smiled.
"Yay! I feel special now." She smiled brightly. Speed looked into her eyes.
"Yea, you are." he said as he pulled her face close for a softly passionate kiss.
"OKAY. I have news." Tommy interrupted, feeling sick of all the Jude/Speed-ness. His stomach churned.
Jude and Speed broke away and Jude turned her head quickly towards Tommy.
"You got my deadline extended!" Jude asked hopefully, curiosity shining in her eyes.
Tommy smiled at her, forgetting that she had just been all over Speed moments ago. "Yep girl. I did it all for you." He said, flashing his trademark smile.
"Oh my God, Thank you Tommy! You just made my life a little easier for once." Jude smiled. Tommy smiled but his face darkened as he thought about how much he had hurt her in the past.
"So, how long do I have now?" Jude asked, changing the subject. Tommy shook out of his reverie.
"Uh...until Saturday, but you have to have 3 songs by then."
Jude's face fell.
"WHAT? 3 songs?…in 2 days? Tommy, that's impossible." Jude looked stunned.
"I know it seems like a long shot, but when you and me work together, there's nothing that we can't do girl." Tommy said as he moved to his old seat beside her bed. Jude scoffed.
"I can think of one thing." she mumbled, rolling her eyes, thinking about her 16th birthday disaster.
"What was that?" Tommy asked, not sure of what she said.
"Uh…nothing important. Don't worry about it." Jude said quickly. She turned to Tommy.
"But thanks for everything Tommy. I owe you one. Even though this is gunna be hard, but I'm determined to let you handle the hard parts." Jude laughed, smirking at Tommy. Tommy smiled back.
"Yea well, my paybacks are hell so just watch out." Tommy joked. Jude laughed and raised an eyebrow.
"Oh really, what will Little Tommy Q do?" She asked playfully. Tommy smirked.
"Well, I was gunna make you do 100 takes of EACH of your songs, but for that Little Tommy Q comment I think I'll up that to 200." He laughed. Jude visibly paled.
She laughed nervously. "Heh heh…now Tommy you wouldn't do that to me would you? I mean I know you're a perfect perfectionist, but that's overkill. Do you LIKE to torture me?" Tommy smirked.
"Yep." He answered simply with a smile. Jude rolled her eyes and looked at Speed.
"See how big of a jerk he is? Good thing you're the exact opposite of Tommy. Funny, SWEET, smart, and a great kisser." Speed smiled.
"Yea well, ya know, I try." Speed smirked. Tommy glared at him.
"Wait," Speed said. "A great kisser? How do you know if I'm better than him?" Jude's eyes grew wide, Tommy looked like he was about to have a heart attack.
"Uhh I uhhh… I was just guessing. I bet anyone could kiss better than Quincy." Jude smirked, satisfied at her cover up. Tommy calmed down and glared at her.
"You wish Harrison." Tommy smirked at her. Jude laughed.
"He's right though. I could only wish that anyone could kiss as great as him. That kiss in the rain, was amazing. Nothing can top that, ever." Jude thought. "But it never happened so what am I thinking." Jude could feel Tommy's eyes on her looking at her quizzically. She had looked depressed and in deep thought. Jude decided to perk up.
"Well I could always just go ask Sadie. You know, get all the juicy details about you two. She never could keep her mouth shut. And yea, I mean that in a couple of ways." Jude smirked at him. Tommy glared at her. Speed laughed at the "blow job" reference.
"Hey that's, my girlfriend your talking about. Watch it." Tommy warned. Jude just laughed.
"Chill out Tommy, geeez. She's MY sister. I think I have more priority and besides, I was only kidding." Jude looked at him amused. Tommy just sighed, not feeling like defending Sadie at all. Jude was probably right anyways.
"Whatever." he said in defeat.
"Knock, knock." Jamie said as he entered the room with a large box of pizza.
"FINALLY!" Jude yelled as she leapt out of the bed and attempted to attack Jamie. Jamie laughed at her.
"Calm down Harrison, it's not like I'm gunna steal it." Jamie said, an amused look on his face.
"I don't care. Give it…now!" Jude demanded. Jamie laughed and handed her a slice.
"More than that." she whined. Jamie laughed and gave her another slice. Jude shook her head.
"No not this one," she handed it back to him. "THIS one." she smiled as she lifted the biggest slice out of the box. She walked back to her bed, satisfied.
"Geez, save some for us." Tommy said amused. Jude glared at him.
"Hey, I need this. You guys can leave whenever you want and get any food that you want. I however am stuck with the crappy hospital sludge. I think I'm more privileged. Sorry." She smiled triumphantly, stuffing a slice into her mouth.
"Well what if I wanted the big slice?" Tommy pouted at her. Jude laughed.
"Well what if I don't care?" she said, taking a huge bite out of said slice. Speed laughed.
"Dude, you aren't gonna win. Just give up. Besides, she's already scarfed it down. " Speed said as Jude smacked him lightly on the arm and went for another slice.
Tommy sighed and nodded.
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