She ran up to the door and knocked, as Tommy waited to make sure she'd get in. Swinging the door open, Kat replied, "Well, if it isn't Ms. Harrison. I'm so glad you could fit us in your busy schedule."
"I'm sorry." Jude entered Kat's house to see Jamie standing on a platform with half of a tight, lacey shirt on. "That's a nice look for you, Jamie."
Kat walked over to Jamie and helped him take the shirt off. "Actually, this is part of your outfit. I just wasn't sure if you'd show."
Jude grabbed Kat's busy hands and looked her straight in the eye. "I'm sorry, Kat. I can explain…" Jude started.
Suddenly, she froze and realized she couldn't explain. Her relationship with Tommy is a secret, and she promised she wouldn't break that. Jude didn't want to lose him, even if that meant hiding from her friends.
"Well?" Jamie stated, awaiting Jude's continuation.
Shaking her head, Jude escaped her thoughts of Tommy. She replied, "It's not important. I'm here now, so we can get to working."
"Hey!" Jamie exclaimed, a little bitterness in his voice. "The explanation is important. I'd like to hear that I wasn't just dressed in a very nice lace number so you could sneak around and take a joyride with the producer you have the hots for."
"He--He gave me a ride because I was running late." Jude ran her fingers through the roots of her hair. "There's no sneaking."
Both Kat and Jamie looked downwards at their feet. Noticing he was still without a shirt, Jamie crossed his arms over his chest with slight embarrassment and said, "It's kinda chilly in here, isn't it?" He quickly left the room and went to retrieve a shirt.
"Did I miss something?" Jude asked, feeling more than a little out of place. She couldn't help but think there was something the two of them knew. Maybe, they knew something about her and Tommy.
Kat's eyes followed Jamie into the other room. She nervously chuckled, "Actually, we have something we want to talk to you about."
Biting her lip and nodding her head, Jude replied, "Alright."
Following after Jamie, Kat led Jude into the other room. All three of them took a seat on the couch and stared at each other awkwardly. Jamie fiddled with the buttons on his shirt as he repeatedly misjudged the button alignment. "Stupid buttons…" he murmured to himself under his breath.
"Must be something big if it's caused Jamie to forget how to dress himself," Jude commented with a nervous giggle. She combed through her bangs with her fingers and asked, "What's the deal?"
Glancing over his shoulder at Kat, Jamie took a deep breath and then faced Jude sitting across from him. "I think we all understand that… Relationships develop when we least expect them…"
Jude's eyes widened, fearing her friends knew something they shouldn't. "And…" she said impatiently.
"What Jamie's trying to say is…" Kat reached across the coffee table for Jude's hand and held it softly. She continued, "We've been dating for a month."
Jamie furrowed his brow towards Jude and quickly added as if he were being interrogated, "And a half!"
Jude flashed looks between the two of them and repeated, "You guys have been dating for a month… And a half." A smile broke on her face with a sigh of relief. She joked, "Where have I been?"
Leaning forward, Jamie grabbed Jude's other hand and squeezed it caringly. "So you're not mad?"
"Mad?" Jude pulled both of her hands away from her friends. "Why would I be mad?" Jude asked with a smile still on her face.
Kat looked intensely into Jude's eyes, trying to rate her level of seriousness. "Well, we did wait a good amount of time before telling you."
"Whoa!" Jamie quickly blurted out. "Don't give her reasons, Kat. Maybe she didn't think of that!"
Both Kat and Jude rolled their eyes at Jamie. After a moment, they could only laugh at the overly concerned look on his face. "Calm down before you have a stroke," Kat stated, rubbing Jamie's shoulder.
Still uneasy, Jamie asked, "So we're cool?"
"Better than cool," Jude replied sincerely. "My two best friends are dating. And I haven't seen you guys this happy in a long time. It's all good."
Watching Jude, Kat got a weird feeling. "You're pretty happy yourself."