a/n: Let me just say, don't jump to conclusions after this one. :
I really want tothank the couple of you that have reveiwed, faved, or alerted this. It really gives me hope.
I've been updating quick on this one cause I'm trying to attract new readers at first and I already had all this typed up, so the updates will get a little slower probably after this chapter or the next.
But anyways, back to the story
The next week went by quicker than Jude had hoped for. She had decided that the upcoming occasion called for a shopping trip, and since she had saved up almost all the money her first two albums had racked up, a rather big one at that. She trashed most of her old clothes and bought an entirely new wardrobe. Something less 'I'm just a girl' and more 'Not just a girl, not yet a woman'. This mostly consisted of softer grunge, pointier shoes, and shorter hair. EJ, who had been re-hired by Darius as G Major's publicist, practically had a hernia. The other shopping trip Jude took was for new apartment furniture. The place she had lived in for the past two and half years was scrungy and dull, not to mention that Kyle, Wally, and Spied had all found their own places long ago. With paint, a few rugs, and all new furniture, the place was going to be almost a real home.
With all the furniture coming in on Saturday morning, Jude asked Kwest to come over and help her arrange things.
Grumbling slightly, Kwest arrived early that morning to see that the shipping truck had already dumped Jude's new furniture outside the complex and Jude was sitting on the plastic-wrapped green couch reading the tabloids.
"Guess who's got a story in the tabs?" Jude smiled and threw the magazine at Kwest playfully. He caught it and scanned the page it was opened to.
He laughed. "I guess I can't get away with clubbing with some friends." He shrugged and tossed the article on the couch again.
Jude shook her head with a smile. "Please, Kwest. You call practically banging in the middle of a dance floor with some celebrity knock-off 'clubbing'?"
They laughed and Kwest just shrugged once more.
Soon the two began lifting furniture into the apartment with casual conversation about all the additions to G Major and finished about two hours later.
"So now I get to come in and sit on all the new furniture, since I moved it in, right?" Kwest grinned and jumped onto the Jude's new couch and made the side pillows fall off.
"Watch it!" Jude strained. "I just bought that, I don't want your enormous amount of weight to crush it!" She laughed and jumped onto the couch too. If at all possible, Kwest was skinnier than she was.
Jude stuffed a pillow in Kwest's face and laughed at his mellow dramatic reaction. "So any word from Quincy lately?"
Kwest quirked his brow. "What happened to 'Oh, I just don't want Tommy any more, he can shove him and his Boyz Attack up his-"
She smacked him and laughed. "Just curious."
"Well he's just as excited to see you as you are to see him, even more so than before." Kwest made a kissy face and jumped up, afraid of Jude's reaction.
"WHAT!" Jude balled her fist around the edge of the pillow. "Kwest, you are so going to be regretting this!"
He ran up to Jude's bed and fell after a long winding chase throughout the apartment. "WHITE FLAG! WHITE FLAG!" He waved around Jude's new pillowcase and covered his head as Jude nearly toppled on top of him.
"I don't think so," Jude said, turned towards Kwest, calming from the constant laughing of the last twenty minutes. "I don't give up that easily."
Kwest smiled at her, noticing how dramatically her shorter blonde locks made her seem more adult. "No?" He felt his conscience fighting for a moment.
"No…" Jude noticed her decreasing distance from him, and soon there was none at all as Kwest brushed his lips against Jude's delicately. She felt no urge to push him away, but scooted slightly closer.
"Let me rise, let me fall
Let me breathe,
I wanna lose control
I'm not afraid to lose it all."
Jude's pocket began to vibrate and the loud sound of Let Me Fall erupted into the silence. She shot up, answering the phone without bothering to look at who it was.
"Right, ok. I'll be there." Jude ended the call and pocketed the phone as she stood up. "G Major. Emergency meeting." She didn't know what to say, as awkward silence was the only answer to this besides a slight nod from Kwest.
The two walked out to Kwest's truck and Jude got in without bothering to ask for a ride or not, she just assumed.
The entire ride to the studio was complete uncomfortable silence. Once Jude thought of saying something, but she didn't know what would be the right thing to say. Honestly she was surprised. She didn't exactly kiss Kwest, but she didn't exactly resist either. It felt natural, but she just didn't know if she wanted anything with him. More like you want to wait for Tommy STILL. She shook her head, attracting Kwest's attention for a moment. After what seemed like hours, but was only 15 minutes, the two arrived at G Major.
"Nice of you two to join us." Darius said coyly at Jude and Kwest as they entered the meeting room. Jude sat a distance away from Kwest, but not far enough to seem like she was trying to get away. Darius droned on, "Tomorrow my four new producers and seven new artists will be arriving. Some of you may know the producers: Joanne Kent, Tom Quincy (Jude squirmed at his name), Mark Eaton, and Blaine Howard. The new artists will be transferred from other studios, you should recognize them."
Jude zoned out, thinking about what happened earlier. She wondered if Kwest would tell Tommy or if Kwest would just follow in Tommy's footsteps and ignore it all together. She couldn't lie; she felt a connection with Kwest. Soon Jude's attention was snapped back to the meeting at the mention of her name. "Jude," Darius nodded towards her and she sunk further into her chair, "will be teamed up with Tommy to produce a small, five-track, EP album, and wait a while to make her true third. We'll be holding a reception party at seven pm tomorrow evening, please be there to welcome everybody." He grinned that icy grin he had and scanned the room. "That's all."
Jude stalked out of the room and felt a grasp on her shoulder. Thinking it was Kwest, she turned around sulkily. "Look, Kwest, I- " But she came face to face with Georgia, who had also been given a job at G Major as an advisor once Darius took over.
"Hey Jude, why don't we step into my office and talk, ok?" Jude felt a rush of relief. She didn't feel like confrontation just this moment, but that's exactly what she was heading towards.
Jude fell into Georgia's plush love seat in the corner of her office. Georgia took a seat in her office chair after closing the door and wheeled over closer to Jude.
"So," Jude noticed a childish glint in Georgia's eyes, like she used to see when talking to Kat about the new hot guy in their chemistry class, "Excited about Tom coming back?"
Jude groaned and grasped her forehead.
"That detached, huh?" Georgia looked at her with surprise all over.
Jude shook her head. "No, I'm not it all detached. It just seems like everyone thinks that I'm going to be so happy and all over Tommy because he's coming back. But he left me, Georgia. He left me for money and gave me to misery just like that." And she snapped her fingers.
"I know it seems harsh, but Tommy did what he had to do." Georgia looked very herself at that moment, and Jude missed it. She missed the old G Major in her first year where everything and everyone were so complacent. Everything seemed to slip downhill from then on.
"It was a good move for him. But everything else for me was just so bad and Tommy was my only stability." She shook her head. "I never should have depended on him like that and now I'm back up again. I don't want to do the same thing. I've gotten a routine, and I've even sort of gotten interested in a new guy." Jude blushed, but she knew she was bluffing. The only action she was getting was from Kwest and he hadn't said a word since.
"That's good, Jude, I'm happy for you." Georgia smiled sincerely. "But don't be afraid to let Tommy be your friend. He's changing too."
Jude simply nodded and took her leave to Studio A, where Kwest would be waiting and a whole new conversation would begin.