Author: AddisonRae

Rating: K

Summary: Tommy can't run forever, soon enough, the ones you love will follow. Jude's POV. One-shot.

Disclaimer: I do not own Instant Star, or anything related to it.

Wordcount: 815

Light filtered softly through the dark blue curtains as they fluttered in the breeze let in by the half-open window. I sat fidgeting on the king size bed. My mind flashed to a scene in a movie I once saw. Well, I wasn't technically supposed to see it. When I was younger I would sneak out of bed and sit on the stairs, peaking through as my parents watched television or simply sat and talked. These childhood memories only depress me now. Anyway, in the movie a woman waited for her lover on his bed, laid out, bare naked to the hilt.

This was far from the sultry seduction she undoubtedly accomplished. I never knew what happened in that movie, Dad caught me on the stairs and made me go back to bed. I wasn't laying on the bed, waiting for my beloved with come-hither lashes and a welcoming smile. I doubt I even looked comfortable. I was perched as close to the edge of the bed as possible, playing with my fingers, with a slightly green expression on my face. I wouldn't have rested on the bed at all, but I had been standing there for over half an hour and my feet were starting to get that tingly feeling that you get when you fall asleep on your arm or sit cross-legged for too long.

No, this was definitely not a seduction. In fact, Tommy will probably be roaring mad when he finds me here. It's not my fault the man never moves his spare key. Even when he moves the key stays in the same place. Under that stupid rock his mother gave him. In reality it was supposedly a doorstop, but Tommy has always been paranoid and doesn't exactly leave his door open to welcome visitors. So, out of guilt, he keeps it in front of his door, bearing the message "Welcome Family, Welcome Friends". I suppose he feels as long as it serves some purpose his mother would have been happy. And so there lies his spare key.

Even in Montana.

Why Tommy was in Montana I had no clue, but I intended to find out. After passing out drunk in Mason's hotel room and awakening to him in cow-pajamas and Jamie beating a hole through the door, I spent a week locked up in my room. My family, or what was left, were of course concerned, but they attempted to give me privacy. They must have thought I was holed up crying and writing depressing song lyrics. They were half right, I wrote a few songs during my week of self-imposed confinement, but in reality, I was searching.

And on day number eight, I found what I'd been looking for.

Tommy left in quite the hurry, you see, and barely had time to properly clean his office before his jaunt across the continent. He left several framed pictures (though I noticed the one if him and I was gone), some stationary, and an old address book. With five-hundred and twenty-seven phone numbers.

I called them all, every last one.

And no one knew where my dear Tommy Q went.

Until number 543. Carson Gibbs: Acre Hills, Montana.

Hmm. Montana my foot.

Or so I thought.

So, I packed up a bag, and left in my newly restored ride, courtesy of Big D and G Major. Of course Darius would be furious when he found out, but what good is an atrist without her producer? Her right hand?

Her lifeline.

That's what he is to me. Tom Quincy is my lifeline. I can't make music without him…I can't live without him. I'm not me. Not without him.

So here I am.

I fidgeted for a few more minutes, until I heard the doorknob begin to turn. I shot up and away from the bed, choosing to stand awkwardly in the corner of the room. In walks Tommy Q, out walks my heart.

Cue corny pop music.

He looks at me, our eyes meet. He's startled, frustrated, angry, and scared all in the flash of a second, and then his face retains the hardened expression I've come to know so well. Here comes the lecture.

"Jude." a soft whisper, and I am wrapped in a warm, crushing embrace. "You shouldn't be here."

"Tommy, why are you here?" I whisper into his shoulder, fighting back the tears.

"It's hard to explain." He hesitated, pulling back while keeping his arms around my waist. "Do your parent's know you're here?"

"Mom is off with Don, and Dad and Sadie haven't seen me in a week. They've been leaving food outside the door."

His face took on a pained expression, and he hugged me closely once more.

"I love you, Jude Harrison."

"I Love You, Tom Quincy."

A hundred questions lay unanswered, a thousand thought play through my mind.

But for now, everything feels right.