It scared her at first, but when she realized it was Tommy, she turned to face him. "Can I help you?"
"I'm sorry…" Tommy stated with complete sincerity. "About everything."
Jude bit her lip and nodded her head. She could tell he really was sorry and didn't mean any harm. At the same time, she felt like Tommy was a broken record, always apologizing. "Doesn't that sound familiar…" Jude sarcastically commented.
Taking the verbal hit, Tommy remembered his conversation with Kwest. He cleared his throat and continued, "It's what I have to do to make things right."
"Or you could try keeping things right instead of-of--"
"Messing up?" Tommy questioned. "I'm human, Jude."
"We just…" Jude stood up in frustration, pacing around and avoiding Tommy's eyes. "We always get in these stupid arguments, then drop them and get into the next one."
Tommy took a seat on the couch against the wall. He slouched forward with his hands linked together. "Another stupid cycle, right?"
Jude stopped and glance over her shoulder at Tommy. She sighed and expressed, "Exactly."
As Jude started to pace again, she made her way in front of Tommy. He quickly looked up and grabbed her arm as she passed. Jude spun around as Tommy stood. She fell into his arms and he kissed her hard.
Even as Jude slowly pulled back, Tommy gently cradled the back of her neck as he could a baby's. He still held her body close to his, and he wasn't going to let go as he stated, "It makes this a whole lot better."
Simply staring into his eyes, Jude stated, "It's just so hard."
Mimicking Kwest, Tommy questioned, "Is it supposed to be easy?" After Jude's sigh of a response, Tommy continued, "We're gonna go through some bad stuff, Jude. We're gonna argue and have fights because we always challenge each other. We make each other better."
"Great," Jude commented sarcastically. "I don't want to fight all the time."
"We won't!" Tommy exclaimed. "We'll make up. And we'll fight and we'll make up again. As stupid as it is, we'll keep on doing it because we care about each other." Tommy took a short break from his rambling to catch his breath and thoughts. "I love you, Jude. No petty, little argument is going to change that."
Loosening her body, Jude let Tommy hold her close again. "I love you, too."
"Then we'll make it work," he replied simply and softly. They shared a kiss with a better understanding of their relationship.
It was like magic until a voice called out, "Jude!" The door swung open to expose Jude an Tommy breaking away from their kiss. Jamie could only stare and sigh, "Jude…"
Backing away from Tommy and moving closer to Jamie, Jude pleaded, "This isn't what it looks like."
Jamie kept his eyes on Tom Quincy, almost in a blind rage. "Looks like I just caught the two of you making out."
"We…" Jude started. She flashed glances between Tommy and Jamie in a panic. "We were--"
"So it is what it looks like," Tommy interjected.
Breathing deeply, Jamie clenched his jaw and gave Tommy a deadly look. Without taking his eyes off of him, Jamie spoke to Jude. "Did he force himself on you?"
"No!" Jude exclaimed, and then scoffed with disgust.
Jamie made his hands into fists, trying to keep in his anger. "Then what happened?"
Inching closer to Jamie, Jude stood directly between the two. She tried to calm Jamie, but she couldn't. She couldn't even get him to look at her. Completely flustered, she replied, "Nothing--"
"We happened," Tommy answered coolly. "We're a we now."
Anger suddenly turning into sadness, Jamie's heart sunk into his chest. His bold stance and glare dropped, now looking pitifully into Jude's eyes. "We…" he said as he nodded. Jamie brought his head back up to look at Tommy and quickly made his way over to him.
Jamie grabbed Tommy by his shirt, ready to punch him, but kept both hands gripped on the shirt. He held Tommy close to him and breathed deeply, panting in frustration. He said quietly, "Do you have any idea how wrong that is?" He shook Tommy by the shirt and questioned, "Do you know how old you are? And then to seduce a sixteen-year-old?"
As Jamie shook Tommy again, Jude stepped in and pulled on one of Jamie's arms. "Stop it! Stop it, Jamie!"
Gripping his shirt tighter, Jamie wouldn't let go of Tommy. "You knew she had a crush on you, so you took advantage of it," Jamie stated toward Tommy with disgust in his voice.
"That's not true," Tommy calmly replied.
Jamie pulled his shirt together again, and shook him hard. "Then what's the truth!" Jamie yelled.
"Jamie!" Jude shouted, trying to get him to stop, still handing off of his arm.
"You wanna know the truth?" Tommy asked back in a loud manner. He hated being pushed around in this way, especially by someone like Jamie. Even so, he could see Jude was extremely distressed, and he calmed himself. "The truth is I love Jude."
Jamie's courageous front dropped. He slowly released Tommy, but still violently shook his arm free from Jude. He looked at her with enough pain in his eyes to end the world. Jamie had never been so hurt by one statement in his entire life.
Tears streamed from Jude's eyes as she could feel the ruin of their friendship. "Jamie--" she started with a gentle hand on his arm.
He quickly pulled back before she could touch him, making her forget her words. He started walking backwards, still peering into Jude's wet eyes. As soon as he reached the doorframe, he quietly muttered, "Good luck, you two," and turned to leave.