A/N: I don't own Instant Star. Reviews are always welcome.

Episode 9 – If It Makes You Happy

Part 1

Three months later…Jude was toying with the ring Tommy had given her, a habit she had picked up when she was bored out of her mind and found herself in a meeting. Tommy had somehow convinced her to wear it on a chain around her neck instead of on her finger of either hand, which he had insisted was for the best to avoid a frenzy amongst the paparazzi, her family, her friends, and everyone at G Major. To the outside world, nothing had changed the dimension of their relationship. They spent long hours working, hitting the clubs to get some airplay for their singles, and covertly had make-out sessions at Jude's apartment or at Tommy's house. Still she hated lying to everyone. They were close to completing their respective albums and were about to embark on their secret concert series. "Jude, are you listening, we've decided to cut your duet with Tommy. It's too gimmicky. We'll come off as trying to hard," said Georgia. "And we've nixed your duet with Shay," said Darius. "You got much better exposure when you two weren't chummy with each other and Eden was lashing out at you in the headlines," he continued. While Jude had enjoyed the fruits of her labor Eden had found herself with dismal record sales and was already named a has-been by most of the who's who in the music industry. One reviewer called her lyrics amateur and her sound irritating. Fortunately Eden found her niche playing a home wrecking diva on a major soap opera. "Your secret concert series is still a go, we've gotten in touch with several radio stations, and you'll also be doing several morning shows and late night appearances," Darius finished. "Alright people time is money, mine specifically," he said with a smile and a chuckle that only he happened to find funny. (cue music)

Part 2

(5:30 am)
DJ: "So Little Tommy Q what made you decide to record a solo album after being MIA for 5 years"
Tommy: "Actually I just go by Tom now and I wasn't MIA. I've been producing albums these past couple of years, in fact I produced Jude's first album, which if you recall went double platinum. And I produced Shay's 3rd album, which also went double platinum in its first few weeks of release."
DJ: (clears his throat) Er, sorry Tom. This is awkward. Anyway, Jude Harrison, sophomore effort – how do you propose to avoid the sophomore slump?
Jude: "Good songwriting and surrounding myself with people who know what they're doing, like Tom."
DJ: "Right, anyway, I hear you guys are going to be giving a secret concert sometime today? And luckily we've got the scoop of where it's gonna be held, caller 100 will get VIP tickets, right after our commercial break."

Our next two radio shows didn't fare much better. "God, is anyone gonna forget that I was once, once "Little Tommy Q." It's like no matter what I do I can't distance myself far enough," he said in frustration. "Tom Quincy, I didn't realize I was the guest of honor to your pity party. Now I'm going to say this once and I'm not going to repeat myself. Get over your past; that's over now and you can't do anything to change it. People will think what they want until you make them change their minds. Your album is gonna blow people's minds. You need to focus on right now. Let your music speak for itself" I say. "I'm sorry, Jude, I thought I'd gained an ounce of credibility as a producer. It's like people only see me in one dimension and that's it end of story," he says. "You're the real thing. Even better," I say. And he smiled remembering what he told me after I had kissed him much to my embarrassment, had an awesome performance, and then threatened to quit. "You guys are on in 30 seconds," someone yelled into our dressing room.

Part 3

For the next month and a half Tommy and I were hitting the radio and TV circuit doing non-stop promotion. We shot commercials, sang the national anthem at a Maple Leaf game, and even got to host a morning show together after impressing the producers of a show. And to top it all off I had been frantically putting in over time studying for my GEDs. Fortunately, Darius gave me a couple days off to prepare for the exam and take them. He knew how it was because Shay had done the same thing last year. I was so tired after I took the exams that I could barely keep my eyes open driving home. I just barely had enough energy to open my door and collapse on the couch; didn't even make it to the bed.

Part 4

When I woke up I found myself under the covers snug in my bed. "Jude you know you sleep like a dead person," Tommy says teasingly. "I found you sprawled on the couch, actually more like half on and half on the floor," he said. "I was tired," I say yawning. After brushing my teeth and changing into a pair of sweat pants and a t-shirt I went to the kitchen to find something to eat. I had just found the last package of pop-tarts when Tommy came behind me and covered my eyes. "You're a brave man Tommy coming between a girl and her poptarts," I say good-naturedly. When he uncovered my eyes I saw 2 unopened copies of my CD and his CD. "I didn't know they got released today?" I say. "Doesn't come out until tomorrow, but I know a guy," he says. We listened through both our albums four times each and before we knew it was really late by the time we finished our argument about a key change in one of the songs. Tommy was putting on his jacket to leave when I told him to stay.

Part 5

"Jude you know I can't stay," he says. "Why not?" I retort back. "You know why?" he says his eyes glancing at my bed. "I have a guest room you know," I say. "Jude you think it would be easy for me knowing that you were sleeping in the next room 10 feet away," he says with anguish. The argument is just over and he leaves. Jude is sitting in her apartment alone. She bites her lip and returns the copy of the key to her apartment that she had made for him knowing that right now he would never accept, at least not another few months when she would turn 18 and she could finally reveal to everyone that they were dating, officially.

Part 6

Needless to say my relationship with Tommy cooled off; it was more like the second coming of the ice age. Physical contact was at an absolute minimum and when we did accidentally make contact it was like my skin was on fire. I don't know about Tommy, but the situation was driving me up the walls. And everyone at G Major seemed to notice that both of us were on edge. Everyone presumed it was because we were nervous about our albums debuting and we both smiled and obediently shook our heads in agreement.

So it was bittersweet when Darius announced that I would be heading to Europe to tour while Tommy would be doing a small club tour in North America and then when Tommy was in Europe then I would be in North America. And this time I would be joining Shay on his tour as a co-headliner. Karma's a bitch. Tommy and I even tried to joke about our role reversal and impending separation period. "Abstinence makes the heart grow fonder, Tommy," I joked. "That's hilarious, Harrison," Tommy said. "You know while we're both jet setting on opposite ends of the Earth I'll be turning 18," I mention. "So are you gonna break up with me Quincy; the whole number one rule on the road thing, remember…different girl in every city," I say trying to keep my cool. "I don't wanna hear you make promises you can't keep and I know it hasn't been easy for you in our non-physical mentor/protégé/friends/something more relationship if you can even call it that since we weren't technically dating?" I said unable to hide my hurt and frustration. "Jude…" he says. How is he the one person that can say my name in so many different ways and make my heart feel every emotion at the same time? It was unnerving how he could affect me so much. "You know what, Tommy? Now I get to call the shots. We're going to take a break, starting right now and then we'll see," I say. "We'll see?" he repeated incredulously. "We're both going to be on our own, with a lot of time to think. I tend to lose clarity when you're within a hundred mile radius, if you didn't notice," I say. "I'll see you Tommy," I said and left. You know how in the movies when the guy and the girl have an argument and one of them storms off and you hope against hope that the other one will run after them or the one doing the leaving has a change of heart and turns around and heads back, well this isn't one of those situations; this is life. It's real and it's painful, and you can either embrace the pain and move forward, or let it consume you. And I've always been one of those people that face things head on.