A/N: All I'm going to say is that you don't really need to worry about Karma in this story, and I'm sorry this chapter's kind of short. I'll put up a couple more today to help make up for it. Enjoy!
Chapter 7
"So, Jude, when were you going to tell us about this?" Darius inquired, and not in a very nice tone, as he tossed a tabloid at Jude. It landed with a smack on the end of his desk, but Jude didn't need to look at the cover to know what he was talking about.
"I didn't know I was supposed to report every detail of my personal life to you, Darius. I thought it was supposed to be just that--personal, as in, my business, not yours."
Darius narrowed his eyes. "Remember just who it is your speaking to here, Jude. With a snap of my fingers you can be gone from this company and the world will be like, 'Jude who?'"
She mentally rolled her eyes. Darius and his threats, like always. He wouldn't act on them, especially not when she was the artist bringing in the most dough. Sometimes, Jude just got really tired of the whole 'tough guy' act every single guy on the planet portrayed. Hint: it gets old, really fast.
"Sorry," Jude mumbled, although both of them knew she didn't mean it.
"So, who is this guy? How'd you meet?"
Jude sighed. "We met at the finale show of my tour, here in Toronto. We hit it off and kept in touch while I was away. Then I came back home, and we decided to start seeing each other. Sorry, D, nothing extreme or out of the ordinary about it."
"It's fine, just give the studio a heads up when you start seeing a new guy so we actually know what to say when we start getting calls about who your new boy toy is. It doesn't look good when the paparazzi know more about who you're seeing than our own PR people."
"Yeah, I know, Darius, and I'm sorry. It's just really new and I don't know how long it'll last so I didn't want to make a big deal about it." This time she was semi-sincere with her apology, but there was so much more to this story than anyone knew. And she planned to keep it that way.
Darius actually smiled at her response. "Jude, you have two multi-platinum albums, two successful tours, and one award under your belt and some more most likely on the way. You've had three number one songs in the past six months. Blondie, you've finally made the big time. You're officially a celebrity, and that means that everyone is watching you and wanting to know what you're doing. You won't be able to buy hair spray without someone catching it on camera, let alone traipse around the city holding hands with a guy."
Darius walked around his desk so he was standing in front of a somber looking Jude. He gently tugged on one of her blonde curls before shooing her towards the door. "Go home, Jude. Get some rest, write a song, or better yet, call up your boy toy and get some gossip going about you two." And with a playful wink, she was out the door, trying to figure out just what exactly she was going to do.
With a sigh, Jude ran her fingers through her hair before leaving G-Major. It was only a matter of time before she cracked. But for now, duct tape seemed to be doing its job and holding her together.