Disclaimer: Really, do you think that I'd be writing this if I owned Instant Star? I think not…

Chapter 9: Friend of the boy variety.

Jude braced herself for a huge explosion from Tommy.

He gave Chaz a huge smile. "Hey man! How's it going?"

"It's going good. The tour just ended and we're back here now," Chaz replied.

"That's so cool. Oh, you remember Jude, right?"

"Yeah, of course. No one could forget such a beautiful young girl like her." He smiled at her.

She blushed and smiled back. Is he hitting on me?

"Um, yeah, she's hard to forget," Tommy agreed uncomfortably. Is he hitting on her?

"How'd your tour go, Jude?" He asked her.

"It went okay, it's a little weird being back," she replied.

"Yeah, it was a little weird being back from my first tour too. Especially since this guy," he slapped Tommy's shoulder, "got married."

Tommy gave an awkward smile and nodded.

"I've heard the story once, my old friend, Jamie, gave him hell for it."

"Well, Jamie can burn in hell," Tommy mumbled.

"Stop," she demanded.

"Is there a reason why Tommy hates this Jamie?" Chaz inquired.

"Um, Jamie was my best friend. We started dating right before I left for my tour. Then when I came back, I found out that he and his ex-girlfriend had hooked up. So it's been a little rough since I got back," she explained.

"Oh, that's got to be tough." He hugged Jude tightly.

"It is…"

He pulled away from her, keeping a grip on her arms, and looked down at her. "Are you doing okay?"

"Yeah."

Tommy could see Jude was uncomfortable and trying to pull her arms away from Chaz. "So, Chaz, you just stopped by to see how I'm doing?"

He looked up to Tommy but still kept his grip on Jude. "Pretty much, just checking on an old friend."

"That's cool."

Jude was still obviously uncomfortable. She had so many thoughts buzzing through her head. One in particular.

"Hands!" Tommy yelled at Shay, whose hands had gone a little far below the waist.

"The hands are fine," Darius insisted.

Jude looked over to Darius. "No," she demanded. "It's my body and I decide where his hands go." She moved his hands to her waist. "Thanks. I'm ready…"

She was uneasy then and she was uneasy now.

"Jude? You with us?" Chaz asked.

"Yeah, sorry," she replied, trying to squirm her arms out of his grasp.

"Dude, Chaz, I think you should let go of Jude's arms."

"Oh, wow, sorry." He let go.

She gave Tommy a look that screamed, "Thank you!"

"So this thing with your ex-friend has left you single?" Chaz asked.

She looked over to Tom for an answer and he nodded. "Yeah, I'm single, but why does it matter?"

"Just kind of wondering if…" He started.

Georgia and EJ came into the studio. "Oh, hi, Chaz. I didn't know you were back," Georgia said.

"Just got back," he replied.

"So what's going on in here?" EJ asked.

"Um, Chaz was just about to ask me something…" Jude answered.

"Yeah," Tommy added through clenched teeth, "what were you going to ask her?"

"I was going to ask her if she wanted to maybe go out to dinner tomorrow?" He glanced over with a hopeful look.

"I-I, um…" She looked over to Tommy, hoping to get an answer.

Tommy looked just as panicked as Jude felt. He shook his head and shrugged.

"Oh that'd be great!" EJ squealed nearly jumping up and down. "That's great publicity!"

"Yeah, Jude, you should," Georgia agreed.

"Um…" She looked back over to Tommy, who shrugged before nodding dejectedly. "Yeah, that'd be great."

AN: Dun Dun Dun! Lol! Anyways, R&R!