Chapter Seven: What are Friends For?

Jude was rethinking her decision to date Tristan. In the beginning everything was perfect. She had slowly begun to forget her feelings for Tommy. Tristan was sweet and everything else a boyfriend should be. When they hit the two week mark of their relationship, Tristan had changed. It was like someone had flipped a switch in his head. The once sweet, funny, and loving Tristan was replaced by someone that was jealous, possessive, and hurtful. He never hit her, just some shoves and tight grips, and not to mention the verbal blows he was dealing out to her. Last week's incident was proof enough that Jude needed to do something. So she did what any girl would do, she talked to her friends about it.

Jude walked to the back of the bus where SME was hanging out. She plopped down on the couch and watched the guys play cards.

"Guys, we need to talk." She said. Kyle, Wally, and Speed all looked up at her, put down their cards and put their attention on her.

"Ok." They all replied. Jude closed her eyes and sighed.

"It's about Tristan." At the mention of her boyfriend's name, all the guys curled up their lips in disgust.

"What about him?" Speed asked.

"He…I….I don't know how to say this so I guess I'm just going to blurt it out. He's gotten very violent." Jude said. All the guys' mouths dropped and their eyes squinted in anger.

"What do you mean, violent? Has he hit you? If he's touched you I'm gonna kill him." Speed said as he jumped up to pace the bus floor. Jude stood up and put her hand on Speed's shoulder. He instantly stopped pacing, turned, and looked at Jude.

"He hasn't hit me. It's come close though and I don't want to be a victim of his anymore." Jude said looking into Speed's eyes. Speed opened up his arms and Jude fell into them seeking the comfort just desperately needed. Wally and Kyle looked at each other in shock. How had they missed this? Once they met Tristan they realized that he wasn't what they thought he was. Sure he was a good prankster and everything but there was just something about him they didn't like. Now they knew what that thing was.

"Jude, you know what you have to do, right? You have to break up with him and fire him off the tour. He can't be trusted around you." Speed said as Jude backed out of the hug. She looked down at her shoes and nodded.

"I know that. I just don't want to do it alone, you know? That last bit of restraint he has could break and…" she wasn't able to finish because Speed put his pointer finger over her mouth to stop her.

"I know Red, I know. Look, why don't we go with you when you do it. He wouldn't dare do anything stupid with us around. How does that sound?" Jude smiled and looked towards Kyle and Wally. They all shook their heads indicating that they were in.

"Sounds like a plan to me. Thanks you guys. Oh, and Speed?" Jude said, walking up to him. They were now chest to chest. Speed looked down and raised his eyebrow at the closeness.

"Yeah?" he asked cautiously. Jude smiled and stood on her tiptoes to give him a kiss on the cheek.

"Don't call me Red again." She replied before walking back to the front of the bus. Kyle and Wally had started laughing when they saw Speed's face. He looked like a fish that had been out of water.

"Shut up." He said before jumping on the guys to start a wrestling match.

When Jude had reached the front of the bus, she sat down and pulled out her cell phone. Tommy had called three times and all three times she ignored him. Tommy just had to call whenever Tristan was in hearing distance. She looked around and before she knew it, she was calling Tommy. She hoped he would understand what she was about to tell him.

--

Tommy and Kwest were in the studio mixing some songs when Tom's cell phone started to buzz. Tommy looked at Kwest apologetically and looked at the caller i.d. He smiled when he saw who it was and answered the phone.

"Hey Girl." He said. At that moment Kwest knew who he was talking to. He left to get some sandwiches to give Tom some privacy.

"Hey Quincy. Um, I'm sorry that I haven't been able to answer the phone lately."

"It's fine. I know you're wrapping up your tour and you have better things to do than talk to lil ole me."

"It's not that Tommy. Do you have time to talk? I've got some things I need to tell you."

Tommy looked at his watch and mentally calculated how much time he had.

"Yeah, I've got time. What's up?"

"It's kind of a long story but to make it short, I have a boyfriend. His name is Tristan, you remember him right?"

Of course he remembered him, the snotty little brat that was in Jude's dressing room that time.

"Yeah, I remember him."

"Well, it's been about four weeks since I've started dating him and…" Jude's voice was cut off when he heard other voices in the background. He heard the words 'Tristan' and 'plan'. About a minute later Jude's voice came back on the phone.

"Tommy, I've got to go. We're almost at the venue. Can I call you back later?"

"Sure thing Girl. You can call me anytime."

"Thanks, Quincy. I'll talk to you later then." He didn't get the chance to respond because she hung up. Just then Kwest walked back in carrying two coffees and two sandwiches.

"How's Jude?" he asked after he put the food down and handed Tom his coffee.

"She's good, I think. She told me about Tristan and was about to tell me something else when she had to go. I've got a bad feeling man." Tommy said.

"Eh, don't worry about it. She was probably just going to tell you she's happy or something like that." Kwest replied. Tommy hung his head and sighed.

"That's what I'm afraid of."