Instant Star- Rise Of The Next Generation
Chapter 13- Under My Skin
Author's Note: Wow! Thanks for that great response to the last chapter! Anyway, so it seems people didn't see this coming! What can I say... it's pure evil! That person just is... As for your theories about what's happening... interesting... but no one's gotten it completely right yet. Which is good, cause then there would be no point in going on with this, and no more fun! Besides, twisted little cruller that I am, I've got a few more surprises in store...
Anyway, just keep reading, enjoying and reviewing! You all make my day!
dorothy
Chapter 13- Under My Skin
The expensive black car careened recklessly as it traveled the empty roads. Fortunately, due to the late hour of the night, few other vehicles were out. The driver of that car sped heedlessly, knowing that he couldn't hurt anyone else and not caring about what damage he might inflict upon himself. Tommy Quincy felt his life was already destroyed. He had lost what mattered most- his wife and quite likely, his children.
"Jude..." he mourned infinitely, with the most agonizing pain he had ever felt.
Physically weakened, but mentally overstimulated, he stopped at a medium sized, respectable, but nondescript hotel. Tommy pulled his sunglasses down to conceal his bloodshot eyes, and prayed no one would recognize him.
Quickly, he entered the hotel and registered. The desk clerk handed him his room key without further comment. He started to walk towards the left, where the elevators were located. Abruptly, he stopped, unable to will his feet to move another step in that direction.
Veering to the right, he then turned and went forward, out the front exit and then across the road.
A second car, a more modest Volvo, traveled in the opposite direction that Tommy's had, driving through the city far more cautiously. It stopped in front of the Quincy's home. Jamie Andrews emerged from the driver's seat. He rushed over immediately after receiving Jude's distraught phone call; it really frightened him. In the lifetime that he knew her, he thought he'd seen her every possible mood. Tonight, he realized he had not. Jamie had never seen his friend so incredibly depressed, so scared- absolutely shattered.
Using his own keys, he quickly opened the door.
"Jude" he called.
She did not answer.
"Jude!" he tried again, speaking louder, his increasing worry apparent in the higher pitch of his words.
"In here..." a feeble voice finally answered.
Jamie walked into the grand, but still cozy living room. Jude was curled into a tight ball on the floor, motionless, her face void of all color.
"Jude..." he repeated tenderly, his heart cracking into pieces at the sight of her.
"Jamie..." she replied faintly.
"I'm here." he assured her. "Sit up. Tell me what happened."
Jude repeated the information she shared with him over the phone, providing him with the details of the CD she heard tonight and Tommy's unspeakable betrayal.
Insanely powerful rage seized Jamie. He recalled the vow he made to Tommy on the day he married his best friend.
" You'd better be real good to her. If you aren't, I will seriously have to hurt you..."
"If I ever do hurt her, you have my permission to do just that..."
For now, he pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind. Right now, the most important thing was taking care of Jude. He took her in his arms, holding her as she cried again.
"I love him, Jamie, so much... How could he... I really thought he loved me... You saw him tonight..."
Her tears fell faster as she recalled the song he wrote and played for her just hours ago.
"Love... she's slippy... sliding down..."
" I really don't know what to say, Jude." Jamie replied thoughtfully. "He's scum if he did this to you. I can't imagine what happened."
"Neither can I..." she replied.
"What did I do wrong?"
"Absolutely nothing!" Jamie said confidently, trying to soothe her.
"I've watched you with him for all these years. You have been the best wife he could have asked for. You worked so hard, caring for him and trying to make him happy." he continued, a bit enviously.
"I thought I did make him happy. He said so...I don't understand this..." Jude replied, wistfully.
"I know. Jude, I promise. Somehow, we're gonna find a way to figure this out. But not right now. It's late. You're exhausted. Too upset to think."
She nodded, agreeing.
"Why don't you just try to sleep a little?'
"I can't..."
"I know." Jamie replied with understanding. When he and his wife separated, he felt similar emotions, although not nearly as strongly as Jude's.
"Just get changed and lie down, then." he advised sensibly.
"Don't leave me!" she begged him.
"No. Never." he promised her.
"I'm so scared of being alone right now..."
"You won't be." Jamie added.
Jude took a deep breath and stood up. Jamie noted how she trembled uncontrollably.
"Come on. I'll help you get upstairs."
Now back inside his hotel, Tommy shifted the brown bag from his left arm to his right. He then used his free hand to unlock his room door.
Placing the bag on the table, he swiftly emptied it, putting the full bottles down on the nightstand next to his bed.
Reclining on that bed, his hand touched his cheek, feeling the small cut from when Jude hurled the CD box at his face. That wound was diminutive, minuscule. Invisible, when compared to the searing ache in his chest.
"Jude. My Jude. I love you. I need you. I'd never do this. How could you not believe me?" his heart wailed.
Desperately, he chose a bottle, opened it, and brought it to his lips. The fiery drink burned his throat, but failed even to begin to scorch the bitter anguish he felt.
Quickly, he took a second swallow, and then a third. The mental torture and physical pain lingered still, even after emptying this bottle.
He reached for another.
Sunday morning arrived, and uncharacteristically Patrick and Ruby were already awake. Eagerly saying their goodbyes, they happily left their grandmother's house.
"I mean, really! What is it with Aunt Sadie's kids? I've never seen such brats!" Ruby griped.
"Hey, you had it easy. Cousin Daphne only talks non-stop. I had to sleep with "little Eddie". The runt put worms in my bed!" Patrick topped her.
"How he found them, I'll never know..." he puzzled.
"Come on! He's a nine year old boy. They manage. You sure did!" Ruby threw back knowingly, recalling her brother at that age.
"Yeah, I guess so." Patrick smiled, recalling his old tricks, especially the pranks he pulled on his sister, always the favorite target.
They arrived in front of their house.
"Funny. Dad's car's gone. I figured those two love birds would be sleeping in after yesterday..." he observed
"Yeah. They never get up this early, if they don't have to..." his sister agreed.
"Maybe they ran off together somewhere. With those two, you never know!" Ruby grinned.
They entered the strangely silent home.
"Hello? Anyone here?" Ruby called.
The two kids walked towards the stairs, but stopped, startled when they saw the figure heading down towards them.
"Uncle Jamie?" Ruby asked, shock causing her to revert to her childhood name for him.
"What are you doing here?" Patrick questioned directly.
"Is everything all right?"
Jamie sighed deeply. He hated having to be the one to tell them this news; it should come from their parents. Clearly, that was not an option now. Jude was in no condition to do this; she had cried all night long. Finally, he gave her a sedative, so she could sleep. He had no idea where Tommy even was.
Surveying Ruby's clear, perceptive gaze and Patrick's open concern, Jamie knew they could not wait to hear the truth.
"Sit down kids... I need to tell you something..."
The second he finished, Ruby screamed automatically.
"No! It can't be!"
"I'm so sorry, honey..." Jamie began.
"Dad loves Mom more than anything! It's a mistake! A horrible mistake! It never happened! I know it!" she shrieked hysterically.
Tears soaking her face, she ran up the stairs.
Jamie turned to Patrick, who just sat rigidly and stared blankly at the wall.
"I don't blame Ruby. It's really impossible to believe. I've known Jude all her life. She's loved him since she was a kid. He hurt her a lot back then, always pulling away every time they got too close. When they started dating, I was suspicious. Didn't trust him at all! I was afraid he'd break her heart even worse. Then I saw how he treated her. She obviously meant everything to him. Much as I didn't want to admit it, he clearly really was completely in love with her! She was what made him happy. Even last night... that song... I think that's why Jude's taking it so hard. It really doesn't make sense..."
"No, it doesn't. Not at all." Patrick's logical, scientific mind agreed.
"Your mother had such an awful time last night. I'm gonna stick around for a little longer, just in case. Ok?"
"Yeah. I think that's a good idea." Patrick agreed, knowing his mother needed her oldest friend right now.
"Anyway... I think I'll go make some coffee. You want?" Jamie offered.
"Not right now. I'm gonna check on Ruby. She's really messed up."
"Yeah, she is. But what about you? You haven't said anything."
"I'm upset. And confused. I gotta think this through. I just can't process right now." Patrick answered, heading for the stairs.
After a few feet he stopped.
"Jamie?" he called.
"Yep?"
"Thanks for being here..."
"Hey, no problem. Remember, you guys are family to me. I'm only sorry it happened."
"Me too."
Patrick resumed walking, then again turned around.
"Jamie?" he repeated.
"Uh-huh"
"Where's that CD now?"
"In the stereo. We should take it out. Jude doesn't need to see or hear that again. I'll do it..."
"No. I'll get it." Patrick softly insisted, backtracking to retrieve it.
Upstairs, he knocked on his sister's door. When she didn't answer, he just walked in.
Ruby lay flat on her bed, her head buried under a pillow.
"You wanna talk?" Patrick asked her.
"Not really. What else can I say? He couldn't have done it. I know he didn't..."
"I know you're really upset about this. So am I. But mom thinks he did it. You know how much she believes in him. She thinks it's true. She wouldn't feel that way without good reason."
"I still say it's a misunderstanding. There's another explanation. I know it. I feel it."
"Well, maybe..." Patrick replied without much hope, thinking Ruby was just denying the truth..
"We gotta find it." Ruby exclaimed.
"What?"
"We can figure this out! I just know we can!"
"Ruby, I don't know..."
"Come on! You're supposed to be the smart one! We can do this!"
"Well, I guess we can try. Let me think..." Patrick answered, wanting to make her feel better.
Returning to his own room, he tried to block out his emotions and focus rationally on the task at hand, applying all his research skills. Before long, his mind detected the logical place to start; it was really obvious.
Grabbing a book off his overstuffed shelf, he began making phone calls. Forty minutes later, he possessed the information he needed. Without notifying anyone, he left the house.
A short drive brought him to the hotel his father was staying at. Minutes later, he knocked on the correct room door. Patrick got no response.
"Funny. His car's outside..."
He knocked again, this time louder.
'Dad!" he called.
Frustrated, he reached for the doorknob and shook it. Surprisingly, it turned and opened.
Inside, he spotted his father immediately. Tommy lay sprawled out, still fully dressed, on the queen sized bed. Tom's face was chalk-white and bloodless, beyond hope and seemingly beyond life.
"Dad!" Patrick yelled, alarmed by his father's deathly appearance. Firmly, he grabbed his hands and bent over the perfectly still form. He was relieved to hear his breathing and feel his pulse.
"Dad!" he tried again, lightly shaking Tommy.
The limp figure in bed began to groan.
"Oooh! Ugh!" Tommy muttered, surveying his unfamiliar surroundings.
"Patrick?" he asked, completely confused.
"Yeah. It's me."
"Where am I?"
"A hotel. Do you remember anything about last night?" his son asked him.
Tommy sat up, his head throbbing. The pain increased as he recalled the horrible events of the night before.
"Yes, everything. The party. Jude and I came home. We were so happy! Then we found a package. With a CD inside. We played it..." he drifted off, recoiling, as the horrible memory began to set in.
"That CD... somehow it was of me and some woman... Jude got so upset! She doesn't believe me..."
"Doesn't believe what, Dad?"
"That it's not true. She thinks there's someone else..."
"But there isn't?" Patrick asked.
"No... There couldn't be... I love her... I need her... I always have. I don't know what to do without her." Tommy confessed.
Patrick stared at a father he never saw before. The father he knew was smooth, strong and always confident, completely in control. This man was broken, terrified and desperate. With shock, he noted the empty bottles littering the nightstand, one fallen on it's side on the floor.
"Were you... drinking." Pat asked.
"Yeah... "
"You never do anything like this." Patrick remarked, disturbed. He knew his grandfather had been a violent drunk; his father always swore he would never follow in those footsteps. Last night, it seemed Tommy broke that rule.
"Yeah... I just didn't know what else to do... Everything hurt... It was the only way... not to feel..." his father stammered awkwardly.
"I see..." Patrick nodded, with precocious understanding.
"Your mother, you and Ruby are the most important things in my life. I can't lose any of you... I told your mother the truth. She doesn't believe me... "
"You really didn't do anything, did you?"
"No."
"I believe you." Patrick said with certainty, noting his father's reaction. Tommy clearly was unhinged; he couldn't lie now even if he wanted to. He was too emotionally fragile to be anything but completely honest.
"Ruby... what's she gonna think..." Tommy worried.
"She already believes you. Said that nothing could have happened. That it must be a "horrible mistake".
"My girl..." Tommy said proudly, then his face darkened.
"But Jude still doesn't believe me. She doesn't trust me now."
"Mom's just upset..." Patrick began.
"Yeah. I'll need to prove to her that I never... But I don't know how the hell to do it..." his father grimaced, wincing in pain.
"Your head hurts?"
"Yeah. I don't feel so good."
"Ok. I'm gonna get you some asprin and some breakfast. Then you're gonna rest. Get yourself together. I'm going home to talk to my sister. See if we can't think of something..."
"I don't know..." Tommy replied, already defeated.
"We've gotta try!" Patrick insisted.
"Whatever..."
"Don't you want to come home?"
"Yeah... I do. It's just not that easy..." Tommy began
"Well, then?"
"Ok" his father relented, unable to protest further.
Patrick delivered the promised items and headed home. Once he got there, he headed straight to Ruby's room and again barged in.
"You were right..." he started to say, then stopped when he saw someone else there.
"Stacie? Why are you here?"
"Ruby called me. She was upset. I came over. I'm so sorry." she replied.
"I didn't want to be alone..." Ruby said.
"It's okay."
"Anyone notice I was gone."
"No. Just me. Mom's still out of it. Where did you go, anyway?"
"To talk to dad."
"You... found him?"
"Yep. He's really broken up. Swears he didn't do anything. He's just crushed. I believe him..." Patrick answered, not telling his sister that he had found their father passed out drunk in bed. He didn't want to upset her any more.
"I always did." Ruby said softly.
"But Mom doesn't. Unless we can figure this thing out?"
"Want me to go?" Stacie asked.
"No." Ruby answered. "Maybe you can help us?"
"Hey, I will. If I can. Unfortunately, I've been through this a few times."
"Well, let's start with what we know." Patrick logically began.
"Mom thinks dad had an affair because of what she heard on the CD. So I guess we should start with that. Listen to it."
"You perv! How can you stand to hear that! It's disgusting!"
"Yeah, I know. It's gonna be gross! But right now, it's all we got! If we're gonna try to figure out what it is, we need to hear it. I need you to do this with me. You've got a better ear than I do. You may hear something I don't."
"I don't think if I can..." Ruby replied, honestly. The thought of listening to the recording sickened her.
"I know" her brother replied, understandingly. He didn't like the idea any more than she did. But he would do it, for one reason.
"For mom and dad. We have to try to help them. If we possibly can. You think there's another explanation. Well, if there is, this is how we're gonna find it."
Ruby reluctantly nodded her head.
"Okay."
Patrick inserted it into her stereo and pressed the "play" button. Ruby began sobbing again as they listened. Stacie held her hand in support, as she leaned against her brother. Patrick welcomed the latter, needing her comfort too. He struggled to contain his own emotions; he wanted to cry too. But he remained in control, as Tommy usually did.
Finally, the recording came to an end.
"Wait! What's that?" Ruby burst out, suddenly springing to her feet.
"Huh?" both Patrick and Stacie asked.
"I gotta hear that last part again!" she replied, and replayed it, turning up the volume. Tommy's voice filled the room.
"I love you, sweetheart. It's always about you. That's never going to change."
"Yes!" Ruby shrieked happily. "That's it!"
"What? I don't get it." Patrick asked, as confused as his sister was confident.
"That! What dad said! He called the woman "sweetheart"! He sounded just like he does when he talks to mom."
"Yeah. No wonder she lost it..." her brother said, wryly.
"No! You don't understand! Maybe... he didn't say it to anyone else. Maybe he was actually talking to mom..."
"That doesn't make any sense." Patrick replied, always logical. "It clearly isn't mom on the tape..."
"No, of course not. But that's exactly the way dad always talks to her." Ruby explained. Her trained ears detected the subtleties of Tommy's speech; she clarified them for Patrick now.
"It's not just his voice and his words. It's his way of speaking, his tone of voice, the way he pronounces the words. Exactly the way he talks to mom. It would be hard for him to duplicate all that with someone else, exactly the same. Unless he felt that identical way towards that other person.
"Yeah. And that doesn't fit. Dad clearly loves her. Only her. He really was a mess when I saw him."
"He always called her sweetheart. He said he never used that name for anyone else..." Ruby added, thoughtfully.
"It doesn't make sense that he would start doing that now." Patrick concurred.
"So the CD?"
"Maybe... It's faked, somehow. But how?'
"Hey, I saw something in a movie once..." Stacie began tentatively.
"You mean..."
"It was a spy movie. The criminal produced a phony CD by putting parts of others together..."
"A mash-up! Somehow, someone got a tape of dad and mixed it with something else. But how? Who would do that? And why? It's sick!" Ruby exclaimed
"And how the hell are we gonna prove or even check that? It's crazy!" Patrick asked.
Seconds later, he snapped his fingers.
"Brian!" he exclaimed.
"Huh?" Now it was Ruby's turn to be confused.
"Remember, I talked to him at dad's promotion party? He's a total techno-head! Maybe he can help us figure out where that CD came from..."
"And if it is a mash-up." Ruby finished her brother's thought.
"Exactly"
Again, Patrick picked up his phone and dialed some numbers. After a brief conversation, he turned to the two females beside him.
"Ok. We're meeting him at the studio. Now."
"It's Sunday, genius. How are we gonna get in?" Ruby questioned
"We'll have to take mom's keys..." he answered
His sister raised an eyebrow.
"Hey, it's not like we have any choice. Besides, she doesn't exactly need them right now."
Ruby grinned.
"I'll go get them."
"Let me come too. Please." Stacie asked.
Ruby turned questioningly to her brother.
"Of course. The mash-up thing was your idea. Come on, Bond girl. Let's see what else you can do." Patrick replied.
Within minutes, they were on their way to Q-Records.