Hi-I'm back! First, thank you all so much for your patience and your reviews on the last chapter. I know it wasn't an easy place tostop and I didn't have time to edit this part until today, so thanks for sticking with me! Second, I just got to see Friday's episode today...OMG! That's all I have to say. There was more Tommy/Jude cuteness than I seriously thought I could handle! I started shrieking when he told her that she knew why he and Sadie weren't right together--I think I freaked out my neighbors! I'm so happy with where the show is going, even though I'll be crushed if he leaves, like the spoilers say. :-(

Anyway, back to my own Jommy saga...I wrote this chapter after I had a bad day,which might come through,so I apologize in advance. But I had a good day afterwards, so hang in there and please don't be mad at me! I've only written one or two chapters past this one so I'll try to write more this week so I can continue to post these chapters quicker. Thanks for your posts and hope you enjoy!

The next day, Jude was dreading going to the studio in case Tommy's mood swing hadn't disappeared. She actually stayed late at school to get help on her math homework, which was virtually unheard of. Jamie questioned her presence at school, to which she muttered, "I needed help on my homework. End of story." He just shrugged and waited for her to finish to take her to the studio.

As she entered the studio, her unease at seeing Tommy grew stronger, not knowing how he was going to treat her. She figured her best approach was to act like nothing was wrong, like she had had a good day at school and was ready to work. Besides, she couldn't let whatever was bothering him affect her music.

She put on her bravest smile before entering Studio B. Both Kwest and Tommy turned to look at her as she came in, saying a quiet "hi."

"Where were you?" Tommy asked abruptly as she entered and put her stuff down. She looked at him, in disbelief at his iciness.

"At school. I needed to get help on my math homework," she explained.

"We were waiting for you," he replied, standing up with his coffee mug.

"I'm sorry," she said sincerely, looking into his eyes. "I lost track of time. I didn't mean to make you wait."

"Yeah, well, next time, use your cell phone. It would've saved us a lot of trouble," he mumbled before opening the door and leaving to refill the mug.

She stood speechless, mouth agape at his harshness. Kwest sat there silently, also looking stunned, as she shuffled up next to him and sat down in the chair.

"What's up his butt?" Kwest asked, seeing her wounded expression.

She shook her head, looking down at her feet. "I don't know. He's been like this since our little run-in yesterday."

"Ahhh…" Kwest said knowingly, nodding his head.

Jude said quietly, still looking down, "I just wish I knew what I did to deserve this."

"It wasn't you," Kwest assured her. "You two were in the papers the same day that I caught you together. He's probably just freaked out."

Jude timidly looked up at him, tears in her eyes. "What do I do? I mean, I've made him angry before, but I've never seen him like this."

He sighed and looked at her sympathetically. "Just give him some time. He'll come around."

At that moment, the door opened and Tommy re-entered, sipping his coffee. He took a seat next to Jude, not looking at her. They all sat there in an awkward silence until Jude stood up.

"Well, I'm going to start. Do you want to keep working on the guitar section or can we move on?"
"We're not moving on until it's right," Tommy answered, not looking up.

Jude nodded and muttered, "Not moving on…that seems to be the theme for the day…"

With that, she grabbed her guitar and walked into the recording booth. She sat down on the stool, put on her headphones, and started strumming the guitar. She put all of her anger and frustration into each chord, each note as they stringently filled the room.

Kwest and Tommy silently sat inside the studio, listening to her heated strumming for an hour. Finally, Kwest turned towards Tommy.

"Whatever you're putting her through, you're making her fingers bleed," he muttered, as Tommy fumbled with one of the switches on the sound board, ignoring his comment. "So now I get the silent treatment?" Kwest questioned.

Tommy sighed and turned towards him. "No, I just don't want to talk about this."

"About what? Is it what I saw last night?"

"It's more than that. I don't know, I can't deal with it all right now."

"You mean, don't want to deal with it?" Kwest replied. "Listen, I don't know what's gotten into you but whatever it is, you need to find a better way to handle it. You're practically killing this girl you supposedly care so much about."

"I'm not killing anyone, stop exaggerating," Tommy responded.

"Oh really? Did you see the look on her face when you scolded her for not tuning the guitar? Or when you yelled to redo the second verse for the twentieth time? She's fighting back tears in there and it's coming out in those chords she's playing."

"So what? This isn't personal, it's work," Tommy said, immediately recognizing the dishonesty in his statement.

"Do you hear yourself?" Kwest said, standing up in annoyance. "You're the one letting your personal issues affect your work!"

"Whoa, calm down!" Tommy said, turning to look at him. Jude stopped playing, seeing Kwest stand up and yell, though not being able to hear what they were saying. Tommy heard her stop playing and looked over at her, pushing the button so his voice came into the recording booth. "Jude, can you do that part again? Your beat was a little off."

She nodded tentatively, looking at Kwest who was leaned over a chair gaining composure. Tommy released the button so his voice ended and turned back towards his friend. He heard her resume her playing, redoing the part as instructed.

"Kwest, just chill, okay? Whatever's going on, it's got nothing to do with you."

"That's where you're wrong, man," Kwest replied, sitting back down. "I work here too. Whatever happens between the two of you impacts me and now that I know what's actually happening, it involves me even more."

Tommy sighed in admission that Kwest was right—his attitude towards Jude impacted all three of them.

"What I don't understand is what that girl did to make you hate her so much," Kwest muttered. Tommy glared at him with anger in his eyes. "I don't hate her. How could you even think that?"

"I don't," Kwest said. "She does. She asked me what she did to deserve this treatment from you. And I gotta ask—what did she do?"

"Nothing," Tommy said, leaning back against his chair and rubbing the back of his head. "She hasn't done anything. I'm not mad at her, I'm mad at myself."

"For what?"

"For everything. I'm supposed to be the one who knows what I'm doing here, but it was my idea to sneak off at that party two nights ago. How could I think to do that? Now she's the one stuck dealing with my stupid suggestion."

"It was a stupid suggestion, I'll give you that," Kwest agreed. "But if she can deal with it, then why can't you?"

"Because she shouldn't have to," Tommy said irritably, standing up and walking towards the back of the room. Jude's chords still echoed throughout the room but her eyes were focused on the scene before her through the glass.

"I'm supposed to protect her, but instead, I'm the one feeding her to the sharks," Tommy muttered.

"You can't protect her from everything," Kwest advised, calming down from seeing the truth behind Tommy's actions. "She's a big girl. And she agreed to this just as much as you did."

"I know, but I don't want to put her through this. Why couldn't I just wait?" he asked, pleading in his voice.

"Because if you had waited, you would've lost her altogether," Kwest reminded him, standing up and walking towards the door. "Look, I get that you're frustrated, but don't take it out on her. And if you don't apologize to her, I know someone who would love to hear what you two were really doing last night…"

Tommy looked anxiously at Kwest, who broke out into laughter. "I'm kidding. But man, this is really good leverage I now have on you."

"Great," Tommy said sarcastically, as Kwest opened the door and left to get more coffee.

He watched Jude play for a few more minutes, thinking to himself. As she started to redo the chorus for about the hundredth time, he leaned forward and pressed the button to talk to her,

"Jude, I think we got it. Do you want to come in and take a break?"

She nodded tentatively and removed her headphones. She put her guitar down and slowly walked into the studio, heading for the couch. She collapsed onto it, sighing deeply and rubbing her fingertips from the pain that was emitting.

Sorry for leaving it off there! But the next scene was too long to put in this post, so stay tuned!