Hi--I'm still alive, I swear! I hope everyone had a nice July 4th! Besides the food and social stuff, I think the best part about the holiday is that this is a short week! I love that. But I realized that I hadn't posted since before the holiday--shame on me! Thanks to everybody who kept reviewing despite my lack of updates.
To be totally honest, I really like Green Day, but they're not my all time favorite band--that would be the Beatles. But for some reason, I just didn't think Tommy getting the Beatles to perform for Jude would be at all realistic (or possible).I'm glad everybody liked her gift from the studio--how cool wouldthat be? Anyway, here's the next part. I promise to try to post the next chapter faster than I did this one as I think you'll all want to see what happens at the end of this post..ENJOY!
After playing 5 songs in a row, Green Day took a break. Jude stopped jumping, her hair all over her face and her voice hoarse from screaming. Jamie looked at her and shouted,
"Jude, this was the best birthday present ever!"
"I know!" she returned with a huge smile. "I can't believe they did this for me."
"I can—Tommy practically went crazy trying to think of the perfect gift. I knew he'd come up with something cool, but this is totally unbelievable," Jamie said breathlessly, as the lights came back on and the crowd began to disperse.
"I just can't believe…Green Day…came to my party!" she shouted in disbelief.
"I know! This officially tops any birthday party you're ever going to have, Jude," Jamie replied, before walking towards the bar to get something cold to drink.
A glowing and ecstatic Jude took off on a hunt to find the person responsible for her gift. She spotted him towards the back of the room standing around talking to Kwest, EJ, and Sadie. As she approached, the group all quieted down and looked at her smiling face enter their conversation.
"So let me guess…you liked your gift?" Kwest asked her with a laugh, as she nodded.
"Oh my god," Sadie said, watching her reaction, "she's speechless."
"That's a first," EJ added, as they all laughed.
"Hey!" Jude interrupted, feigning hurt. "It's my birthday so leave me alone."
"Sorry, Jude, the mockery comes 365 days a year," Sadie replied.
"Gee, thanks," Jude responded with a quick eye roll. "Well, as much as I hate to break up this stimulating conversation, I need to steal my producer for a minute."
"Steal him? For what?" EJ asked curiously.
Kwest grinned and turned towards Tommy, mumbling quietly, "It only takes you two a minute?"
Tommy turned towards Kwest. "Ha ha, very funny."
He excused himself from the circle and followed Jude down the hall and into Tommy's office, closing the door behind them. Once the door was shut, Jude immediately jumped into his arms, taking him by surprise.
"Whoa," he said willingly, as she wrapped her arms around him tightly. "So I take it this was a good gift idea?"
"Yes!" she cried, pulling him in closely. "I love it!"
"Good, that's what we were hoping," he replied, holding her tightly.
She pulled back and stared at him with a glazed expression. "How did you—when did you—how did you—"
"I know their manager," he answered with a grin. "We used to work together."
"And…you just…asked them to come here?" she questioned in disbelief.
"Pretty much. Georgia said they needed a good idea so I immediately thought of them. Luckily, they had the weekend off so it worked out."
"Wow," she said dreamily. "I can't believe you did that. I had no idea you were so…so…"
"Smart? Creative? Well-connected?" he offered.
She smiled and leaned in to gently kiss his lips. "All of the above," she answered softly. "Thank you so much."
"You're very welcome," he replied, kissing her lightly. "But don't think you're going to get the Rolling Stones next year."
Her eyes widened and she exclaimed, "You know the Rolling Stones?"
He laughed and pulled her into a hug, "Maybe, maybe not…I can't give away all of my secrets."
She hugged him tightly for another few moments before he quietly muttered, "We should probably get back out there, Birthday Girl. You don't want to miss their next set."
She pulled back and gave him another kiss before silently taking his hand and bringing him out the door of the office.
As they came back into the room, the party was in full swing and there were people dancing. They stood in the corner for a minute surveying the room until they met the eyes of their impending doom.
"Oh no," Jude quietly mumbled, automatically moving in closer to Tommy.
"Don't worry, it'll be okay," he said quietly, pulling her to his side.
They both timidly smiled as Georgia, Darius, and Liam walked towards them. As they approached, Jude felt her heart beat faster, losing sight of anything around them other than their advancing bosses.
"Happy birthday, Jude," Darius said, standing in front of her. He leaned in to quickly kiss her on the cheek. "Looks like we pulled out all the stops for this party."
"Thanks, it's a really great party," Jude replied nervously, knowing they weren't there to discuss the party.
"Jude, we know it's your birthday, but we need to talk. To both of you," Georgia said, her voice firm.
"Okay," Jude agreed quietly.
"Can it wait until tomorrow morning?" Tommy asked boldly.
"No, it can't," Liam declared.
"I've got a flight to Tokyo tomorrow morning," Darius said, "so it has to happen now."
Tommy sighed and reluctantly nodded. Darius walked towards the conference room, with the four following, Jude still clinging close to Tommy.
They all sat around the table in silence as Darius stood at the front of the room. Tommy held Jude's hand under the table, trying to keep her calm. He hated that the discussion had to be done on her birthday—if they were going to give them bad news about how they planned on dealing with their relationship, it would crush her. Forget Green Day—no band would make this better.
Once the door was closed, Darius began.
"Georgia has informed us of the situation with the two of you. I cannot say that I was shocked by the news—watching the two of you work together, you'd have to be oblivious to not suspect something. However, as you know, G-Major has a very strict policy against interoffice relationships. We feel that they decrease productivity and taint the quality of the work.
"Now I know you both have concerns about not working together. And the three of us have gone back and forth on this issue all week, so instead of telling you what we think, we want you to tell us why you think we should allow you to continue working together."
Tommy and Jude looked at each other nervously, then back to Darius.
"Well," Tommy started, "we feel that our priority has always been on the music and making it as good as possible. We rely a lot on each other to make that happen. If you separate us, the quality of the music will go down."
"We understand your concerns with a personal relationship having a negative impact on the work, but for us," Jude added, "it's the opposite. We push each other and do the best work when we're together."
"So you believe that you two are an exception to our rule?" Liam asked bluntly.
Tommy and Jude glanced at each other hesitantly.
Tommy answered quietly, "Yeah, I guess we do."
"And you believe that we should continue to leave you alone in that studio together for hours on end, not knowing what's actually going on?" Liam questioned.
"Yes, we do. If we're coming out with great music, then there should be no need to question what's going on in there," Tommy replied.
Jude looked at Liam's skeptical expression. She met his eyes across the table and asked, "Have we ever given you reason not to trust us?"
Liam sat in silence, mulling over her question as she continued. "We're honest and hard-working. We try to always be as professional as possible and it shouldn't matter what we do when we're on our own time."
"But, Miss Harrison, there is a very thin line here between your time and my time," Liam countered.
"True, but we don't use the time in the studio for anything other than music…that's what we love to do. It's the reason we're together in the first place. Everything that happens in that studio—good or bad—goes into the music. If we're separated, that inspiration is gone."
Everyone was silent upon her response, even Liam.
Very quietly, Jude added in a pleading voice, "We just want you to trust us and we feel like we deserve that."
Tommy reached for her hand, which was now on the table and laced his fingers in between hers. She looked at him and saw a small smile, one that held a mixture of warmth and pride. She smiled back, gripping his hand firmly as they awaited their decision.