Author's note: Wow! I am highly enthused by the response I got from you guys. I am SO glad you like where I am going with Darius. It won't be long before I skip ahead some and enter the tense world of Sweden, but before then I wanted to take a breather and bring Jamie and Jude's BF friendship back into play. Never liked them as a couple but always loved their dynamic as friends. So what happens when Jamie finds himself in an uncomfortable situation (he's good at that isn't he?) Here goes, but before that, I also wanted to thank you guys for the tips. So shouts to you all. You know who you are. Really liked the idea of Tommy getting trapped with them so I may do a twist with that, and as for Jude's new phobias—we'll see how they affect Darius's plan. Smiles to you guys. Please Please Please keep R&Ring.
Jude later that evening...
The outdoor café next to the hotel was bustling in the waning sun as I sat strumming my guitar thoughtfully.
Needing in the dark
When love throws forth it spark
To rid me of my fear
I sang softly to myself, letting the breeze ruffle through my hair as I thought about the concert coming up at the end of the week. Tommy was leaving that day to go back to Toronto so while I was anticipating the adrenaline rush of performing, I was also dreading re-doing the opening night concert here in Rome. Oh, the turmoil of human emotion. If only it could be like a light switch—something we could just turn the freak off whenever it started hurting too much. I was on the second chord of the song I was writing when a hand landed suddenly on my shoulder, and I jumped as my heart skipped a beat.
"Damn! I'm sorry Jude. I forgot about your aversion to surprise." Jamie said guiltily from behind me as I glanced over my shoulder and smiled softly at him. Shrugging nonchalantly, I motioned for him to take a seat while I placed my guitar back in its case and turned toward him.
"No big deal." I said half-heartedly as Jamie surveyed my face almost as if he could see straight beneath the layers of fluff I presented to the world to the complicated maze of thoughts that really inhabited my head. And something told me, he probably could. Quirking a brow merrily, he held out a hand towards me before motioning to the street over his shoulder.
"Alright, Ju Ju Bean." He said affectionately, using the nickname he had called me only when we were kids. "Let's go do some shopping. I hear they have a really huge mall, or whatever they call it here in Rome, near the Plaza. Up for it, you think?" He asked whimsically as I quirked a brow before grinning widely. Jamie shop? Now that was new.
"Have you finally decided to get in touch with your feminine side, Andrews?" I asked humorously even though I knew he was only asking me to go because it was something he knew I liked to do, and he wanted to see me happy. Jamie shrugged.
"Hey, I'm confident enough in my manliness to be proud to be seen shopping with the magnificent Jude Harrison." He said on a chuckle before pulling persistently at my wrists until I finally gave in and let him pull me up.
"Awww! Pasty would be so proud." I said sweetly as Jamie threw me a despairing look while walking beside me haltingly almost as if he were being led toward his executioner. I grinned.
"Something tells me I'm going to regret this decision." Jamie mumbled in a low tone as I chuckled merrily, clapping insanely when I saw the big mall that came into view about fifteen minutes later.
"Oh, you have no idea!" I cried childishly as I ran up the steps of the plaza beckoning madly for Jamie to follow. He rolled his eyes and shouldered his way through the crowd good-naturedly grimacing as we approached a clothing shop across from the main thorough fair, and I virtually saw him shudder as I headed toward it. Picking up a lime green dress off a clothing rack near the door, I held it up to myself critically.
"So, what does this do for my complexion?" I asked while rubbing my chin thoughtfully as if I was actually considering the awful selection. Jamie shrugged.
"It makes you look like the poster girl for Alka Seltzer. You know, 'plop, plop, fizz, fizz, oh what a relief it is?'" Jamie stated jokingly as I quirked a brow at him sardonically. Throwing the dress back on the rack, I smiled at him knowingly before marching him out of the shop. He was just lucky I hated to shop for clothes as much as he did. That's what Portia was for. After browsing through the place lazily and playing a robust tournament racing cars at the arcade (which, by the way, I drive about as well as I do a real car), I grabbed Jamie's arm forcefully to pull him into the line of one of the vendors that lined the massive square. They were selling real Italian ices, and I was all about trying new experiences. Jamie mumbled something incomprehensible as I made him pay like a gentleman and the two of us carried our treats in companionable silence as we stepped onto an escalator moving to the upper floors.
"This isn't bad." I said around a mouthful of the cold strawberry concoction as Jamie looked at me in stunned amusement.
"It's basically a snow cone, Jude." He said on a snicker as I threw him a look that said 'bite me' before stepping off the escalator and leaning wearily over a store balcony situated nearby.
"No need to be a smart ass, Andrews." I said with a grin as he rolled his eyes and leaned casually against the railing next to me. I was really enjoying our time together. It felt like it had been forever since we had been able to just sit back, let loose, and fool around like two total carefree, uninhibited idiots. Glancing mischievously at Jamie, he noticed my naughty stare and ducked as I threw a piece of ice at his head before lifting his own cup in retaliation, and we acted like two big disobedient children as we tried stuffing the stuff down each other's shirts. Holding up the white flag of truce minutes later, I controlled my laughter prudently as I looked around me languidly, noticing as I did, a toy shop filled with children behind us, and I smiled visibly as memories assaulted me.
"Do you remember when we were kids, and I used to drag you to the Barbie aisle of the toy store so that I could make you do the voice of the Ken doll?" I asked suddenly as Jamie chuckled, letting himself be swept away back into a time when things were so much simpler.
"How could I forget. It was how you and Kat used to practice boy/girl relationship dynamic. I was in hell. That is until you two got old enough to realize you could practice kissing a mirror." Jamie said wryly. "Which was just about the same time one of you realized that you two had a real boy to practice on, and then I was in heaven for a full twenty-four hours." He said on a laugh as I giggled at the memory. I punched him playfully on the arm as I gazed thoughtfully at the shoppers walking around below us like mechanical zombies.
"I'm guessing the day we made you go shopping for our first bras isn't considered high on your favorite list, huh?" I asked jokingly as he looked at me as if I had lost my mind.
"Are you kidding? Going with you girls was almost better than Playboy. There's not a male on this planet that wouldn't admit that they don't want to discover Victoria's dirty little secret." Jamie said with an impish grin as he leaned over the railing with a sigh. I laughed at his rhetorical view of the situation as I felt the Italian ice, I had forgotten I was holding, slip precariously out of my hands.
"Oh shit!" I cried as Jamie noticed the problem and we both grabbed for the cup as it sailed over the balcony. Jamie and I looked at each other uneasily before leaning simultaneously over the railing to watch the ice fall as if in slow motion right into the face of one bad ass motorcycle dude with barbed wire tattoos and nail size studs stuck sporadically through his eyebrows and lips.
"Oh shit!" We both said together this time as we ducked behind the railing when the man suddenly looked up to seek out the culprits.
"Now would definitely be a good time to leave." Jamie said abruptly and I giggled as we crawled hurriedly away from the balcony before standing up to run. We were still holding our sides to keep the cramps that had developed from our mad run at bay when we finally made it to the third floor elevators, and Jamie motioned for me to go ahead of him as he gulped in precious air. Walking into the small space neither one of us paid much attention to the others in the lift until the doors closed and the lights flickered ominously. I screamed as I pushed myself into the wall behind me almost as if I could make myself disappear, feeling really silly as the lights blinked once more and then glared back on. But although the lights were back on, the elevator didn't move.
"What the hell!" Jamie said derisively as I sighed in horror. Uh Uh, no way in creation was this happening! Grasping Jamie's arms tightly, I left welts in his arms as I leaned over toward him anxiously.
"Things couldn't possibly get any worse." I whispered frantically as Jamie threw me a piercing look before pointing at the space surrounding us.
"Wanna bet?" He asked sardonically as I let myself gaze around the room in trepidation. 'Oh shit!' I thought to myself as Jamie leaned back into the wall with a pained expression covering his 'woe is me' face.
"Oh I so should not be here!" Jamie grumbled miserably. "Why, for God's sake, couldn't I find myself locked up with a bunch of my ex-girlfriends?" Jamie asked the sky sullenly as if he were having a one-on-one conversation with God.
"What girlfriends?" I asked cheekily as he threw me a glare that said 'back off, Harrison.'
"I've had girlfriends." Jamie replied defensively as I grinned before patting him on the back sympathetically.
"Keep telling yourself that, Andrews." I said slowly as I glanced warily around the cramped space once again.
