Hi all--I'm back again. Here's our next update, which moves our story along a little more than the last one. Couple quick things: Italics are part of a dream sequence. Quick but cute. And as always, you guys truly are the best readers ever. Some of your comments totally make me think more about the direction of the story, which is really helpful since I'm clearly biased. So keep 'em coming, you all are amazing! And with the new previews for Season 2 (major T/J cuteness!), I'm feeling more inspired than ever. So hope you enjoy :-)

Jamie left Jude alone in her room. She felt better about at least one of the secrets she was forced to deal with, but she didn't want to head downstairs yet and face the crowd. So she grabbed her portable CD player and lay back on her bed. She felt thankful for batteries as the sound of Green Day echoed in her ears. Without thinking, she slowly drifted off to sleep…

She was walking along a path in the park. On her left was Tommy, holding her hand. As they approached the lake, he turned towards her.

"Isn't this nice? Just you and me. No paparazzi or parents or studio execs to bother us."

She sighed and looked around. "It is nice, isn't it?" She looked at him and stood up on her toes, leaning in to give him a kiss. As she went to stand back down, he grabbed her and pulled her back up to him, kissing her with greater intensity.

Catching her breath, she lowered back to the ground and said, "What was that for?"

"Just making up for lost time," he said with a grin. She grinned back at him, looking into his eyes, as he leaned forward and gave her a gentle kiss on her forehead.

"I love you, Jude. I have for a long time," he said softly.

"I love you, too," she returned, making him smile. He swiftly pulled her back up and resumed kissing her...

Jude, half-asleep, heard knocking on the door. She suddenly shot up, Green Day still blasting in her ear, and saw Tommy standing before her.

"Whoa, girl, it's just me," he asked, taken aback by her abrupt reaction.

She tore off her headphones and stopped the music. She looked at him, questioning whether her dream was real or not and stared around her room in disappointment.

"Is everything okay?" he asked, watching her.

"Yeah, just a dream…" she replied, feeling his eyes on her. "Sorry, hi," she said, coming back to reality.

"Hi," he said. "You've been up here all afternoon. I wanted to make sure you're alive."

"Barely," she said with a smirk.

He walked over and sat on the edge of her bed.

"So I had an interesting talk with your mom," he started.

"Oh no, what did she say?"

"Something about how you explained everything and how she respects me for stopping the kiss that you apparently initiated."

Jude blushed, remembering her lie. "Yeah, well, I had to say something."

"So you said that you kissed me? And that I stopped it?"

"Yup. Pretty good, right?"

"I don't know…you accepted the blame for it."

"It was the only thing I could think of that would cover all of her concerns and not make her run to Georgia to request a new producer." She looked at Tommy and added, "I thought it was a really good cover. I figured you'd be impressed."

He gave her a small smile and said, "I am. It was really good thinking. But you could've let me handle it."

"But then you would've accepted the blame and we wouldn't be here right now," she quickly retorted.

He looked at her and understood her reasoning. "I guess you're right. It was quick thinking and I am impressed. But thanks, I appreciate it. Did she say anything to you?"

"Not really," she replied, recalling her conversation. "Just that she loves me, no matter how stupid I am."

He couldn't help but laugh at her response.

Just then, the door opened and Sadie peeked inside.

"Hey, guys. Got a minute?"

Jude leapt up off the bed to greet her sister. "Sadie! Come in."

Tommy stood to leave, assuming they wanted to talk alone. "I'll just be—"

"No, it's okay," Sadie cut in. "You can stay. Since you both were witnesses anyway."

"Are you okay?" Jude asked, staring at her sister's troubled expression and pulling a chair over for her.

"I will be."

Jude and Tommy glanced at each other anxiously.

"Sadie…we're really sorry…we wanted to tell you but we couldn't," Jude started.

"Ryan threatened to go public about us if we mentioned anything to you," Tommy concluded.

Sadie listened and nodded. "I don't blame you. I just can't believe who I've been dating all this time…I thought he was such a great guy, that he really cared about me…but it was all a lie. And Kristen, I don't think I can even look at her right now."

"So don't," Jude replied. "They're both idiots for losing your trust. They're the ones who should feel bad, not you."

"Sadie, Ryan's a jerk. He's two-faced and manipulative. Not somebody you should beat yourself up about," Tommy offered.

"I know, you're right," Sadie agreed, still in thought. The three of them sat in silence for a few moments.

"Guys suck," Sadie suddenly declared.

"Here, here," Jude agreed.

"Umm, hello? You do realize I'm sitting here too?" Tommy asked sarcastically.

"So? You're the worst of them," Jude replied, half grinning.

"Here, here," Sadie agreed with a smile.

"I'm not worse than Ryan. I never cheated on you," he said to Sadie, to which she tilted her head at him skeptically. "Okay, well, not physically at least," he admitted quietly, to which Jude blushed and looked away.

Sadie sighed. "Okay, this is getting too weird, even for me," she said, standing up to leave. "Oh, wait, I never asked--what happened with Mom? Did she totally flip about you two?"

Jude and Tommy both smiled. "Nope. She was actually fine with it," Jude replied.

"What? How did that happen?"

"Well, I sort of fudged the story…she doesn't think anything really happened, so she's fine with it."

"And she's not calling Georgia to get you a new producer?" Sadie asked doubtfully.

"Nope," Jude confirmed.

"Wow, I'm impressed. Whatever you said, it must've been good. Ahh, the things we do for love…," Sadie said with a small smile.

Jude's eyes grew wide and before she could yell anything at her sister, Sadie said, "And on that note, I'll see you two later." She promptly exited Jude's room and closed the door.

Tommy and Jude sat there uncomfortably, as Sadie's comment brought tension to the room. From nowhere, Jude recalled the details of her dream, making her feel more nervous, but pushed it aside, changing topics.

"I have good news," she announced.

"What?" he asked.

"I finished a song."

"Jude, that's great. Can I hear it?"

"Well, it's kind of rough, it needs more work, and not all of the chord changes—"

"Just play it," he instructed glancing towards her guitar.

Sighing, Jude got off her bed and walked over to her guitar, grabbing her notebook. She dragged them both back to the bed and sat down.

"Ready?" she asked hesitantly.

"Whenever you are."

She started strumming a few chords and began to sing softly,

"Sometimes I give in to sadness
Sometimes I don't--"

In the middle of singing the first verse, Jude ceased playing, as they were both suddenly startled. They looked around in awe at what they saw: the lights had come back on.