"Uhh... uhmm, Tommy?" Jude collapsed onto her bed, not bothering to watch the journal that just sprawled loose pages all over the floor.
"Yeah?" He sounded exactly the same as when she last heard him, like he was just calling her to tell her to come in a little early to the studio. Just like he would have two years ago.
"After all this time, why are you calling?" She didn't have the breath to let her temper fly. In a few moments she new if she caught it she would go off on him about many things. About how he left her at the worst time and placed her hope for love in a sepulcher he could carry with him, about how she couldn't stop writing songs about him even though he was gone, and about how he promised to keep in contact with her even though their emails every week turned to months and soon disappeared. "Almost two years, Quincy, since you last called. What do you want?"
Silence engulfed her receiver and she wondered if he had hung up. Just before following suit, Jude heard Tom Quincy speak once more.
"I'm sorry I haven't talked to you in a while, but I will talk to you almost every day soon." He sounded a little shaky, like the thought of this made him nervous.
Jude thought for a minute, but she wouldn't waste her time coming up with her own reasons when she could just ask. "What do you mean?"
"Well G Major is expanding, you know they're making a whole new building with five more studios."
This was redundant. He was feeding her things she already knew long ago. "Yeah, your point?"
"That means they're hiring new staff; New supervisors, new technicians. You know." He paused and waited to see if Jude would catch on. "New producers?"
She sat silently for a few moments, contemplating everything. Tommy is telling me… he's coming back? "But you're working for Cape Cove. So what?"
A sigh echoed into her ears, so familiar and missed. "Jude, Darius called me a while ago, he's a conniving ass, but he knows how to make a deal."
Jude furrowed her brows. Shouldn't I be happy about what he's saying?
"Darius knows how well I'm doing here, I'm making big hits, big money. He wants me at G Major to get all the publicity he can, and I'm being offered more than I could even ask from him." Tommy paused again. "I could work with you again, Jude, if you wanted me to."
She licked her lips and sighed. Jude craved Tommy; she had since the day on the pier when he helped her fix 24 hours. But all this all of the sudden, she remembered just before this call how she was shattered, merely posing as a put-together artist procuring album after album. "I don't know Tommy, when are you getting here?"
"As soon as I finalize buying the house I want. I've already moved out of my LA loft and traded my contract over to G Major. Darius expects me in at least two weeks." Jude felt a rush to her head. Tommy is coming back in two weeks. She could work with him, while Kwest sits and makes fun of the two for their obvious attraction just like before. Just like when she still believed she could have him.
"Jude, you there?" Jude snapped back to reality.
"Yeah, uhm. Cool Tommy. Yeah. So, really now that you're gonna be around me more. How was America?" She needed a distraction question so she could think before he hung up.
"Trashy." He chuckled and continued. "The girls each have a couple husbands and then some. I learned that quickly." Jude decided she would need to think later; she couldn't help but want to listen to what Tommy had to say. "Lost Cause, you know my last band, has been getting bigger. And just about every other person is a celebrity or drunk." She could tell he was just summing everything up for now, but she would get the details later. Tommy, in fact, was summing it up and leaving out one particularly frozen detail. He decided that discussion, if it would exist at all, would not be over the phone.
"Anyways, how's Toronto holding up without me?"
"It's doing better." Jude joked, but she didn't know quite what to say. Miserably. I think I never want to sing Oh, Canada ever again.
"Well, I'll call you before I leave, ok girl?" Tommy seemed to forget Jude was turning 19 soon enough, which meant she was legally an adult now.
"Ok, bye." Jude hung up and sunk into her pillow as a mass of thoughts exploded inside her head all at once.
"What just happened?" She asked allowed to the empty apartment, seizing the notepad on her bedside table. After jotting down a few inspiration lyrics, Jude turned off her light and slumped into bed.