Hey guys, here's the latest update, I hope you like it. It was surprisingly easy to write this chapter. I am going out of town for a few days, I won't be home 'til Tuesday. Yeah I know, booo! But I am going to see the ocean for the first time in my 21 years so I'm pretty excited about that. I promise when I get back that I will have either finished the story or have a lot of chapters to post. So and R and R and let me know what you think.
Chapter 15
I was sitting on the couch in the dark when the door opened. James had already come home hours ago and before I could ask where he went, he had retreated to his room. It might have something to do with the look of determination on my face.
"Oh Jude, you scared me," Victoria said hanging her jacket up. She hurried toward the hallway, so she could escape to her room.
"Mom, can I talk to you for a minute?" I asked casually. I wanted to watch her. My mom could tell a lie but keeping a lie was hard for her. So if she was lying to me and the way she kept looking towards her room like she wished she was already there, led me to believe she had lied. I would be able to tell.
"Why are you sitting here in the dark?" Victoria asked finally standing in the entrance to the living room.
"Waiting for you, it's been forever since we talked," I said smiling sadly.
"I've been working," she said smiling back at me.
"And dating," I added for her. "So, who is the guy? Somebody really special I bet."
"He is very nice," Victoria said slowly. "Why do you ask?"
"Can't a daughter just be curious?" I asked. When she looked doubtful I stood up. "Okay, playing this nice isn't working for me anymore. Why'd you lie?"
"Lie? What are talking about?" Victoria looked over my shoulder instead of into my eyes. Oh man was she lying.
"Okay mom, you normally suck at telling a lie so my believing you in the first place must be because I was so distracted coming off of a tour and entering into my version of hell," I said glaring at her. "You lied to me mom, you didn't get fired. You quit and then preceded to spend my money on bills and use yours on clothes. Isn't that the truth?"
"Jude, you don't understand," Victoria said walking towards me.
"No mom, you really don't understand," I said shaking my head at her. "All I needed was somebody to be here for me. Dad left us. He didn't just leave you or Sadie. He left me too; and you both go on about forgiving him for that. How can I forgive him for walking away from me? He doesn't call, no letters, no email. He's just gone."
"Jude," she said frozen in place.
"I hate him for that," I said tears beginning to fall down my face. "He was weak, I know that. But I had my mom. I came home and saw the house for sale and I thought you had run too. But you didn't, you had stayed, even when things had gotten tough, real tough. You kept me, you told me that we were going to make it together. You lied mom. You're no better than he is."
"Don't you ever say that," Victoria cried out.
"Why, it's the truth," I spat having gone beyond angry. "How could you lie to me? Do you even realize how much shit I have gone through so I could keep my damn job? I was even thinking about trying to get another one, something part-time."
"You never said anything."
"Of course not, when would I have told you. I never see you!" I yelled. "You leave before I wake up and you come home when I'm sleeping, or pretending to sleep usually." I walked over to the window and stared out at the moon. "I had to dye my hair mom. I had to change my wardrobe, sing somebody else's songs and basically become somebody else to keep my job. I was killing myself because you said we needed the money and you are going out and buying a new wardrobe."
"Jude I never would have-"
"Don't you dare say that," I warned. "You never should have in the first place. You are my mother, although why I think that should mean anything I don't know. Being a dad didn't mean anything."
"I love you Jude," Victoria said staring at her reflection in the mirror.
"Yeah, I'm sure you do," I said turning to face her. "It's too bad it's not as much as you love yourself."
"Jude," Victoria said shocked.
I walked towards the front door grabbing the duffle bag I had packed from beside the couch as I went. "If you would have told me a month ago that the only Harrison I could count on would be Sadie, I would have laughed my ass off. So here's me, laughing my ass off."
I slammed the door as I walked out. For the first time in a long time, I was feeling like myself again. I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket and dialed Kyle's number. We had a band emergency on our hands.
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"I told her Tommy," Sadie said pacing in front of him. He was sitting on his living room couch watching Sadie slowly work herself into a panic. "I don't know what I'll do if she doesn't believe me. She's my sister and she looked at me like she hated me today."
"She doesn't hate you Sadie," Tommy said shaking his head.
"Well, she doesn't love me either," Sadie retorted making Tommy laugh.
"You're her sister, of course she loves you," he replied back. "She may not like you very much but she has to love you."
"Very funny," Sadie said sitting down beside him. "Do you think she'll believe me?"
"I think she believed you even when she through you out," Tommy said putting his arm around her shoulders. "Have a little faith in her Sadie. She's going to surprise us."
"Maybe," Sadie said laying her head down on his arm. "This is nice."
"Sadie," Tommy said sitting up to pull away.
"No don't," Sadie said grabbing his hand with her own. "I know we're just friends. I just meant that it's nice to have a friend to lean on."
"You have friends," Tommy said confused.
"Not really," Sadie said frowning. "I had friends but having to work a part-time job and go to school. Plus I spend all my spare time that I'm not studying worrying about my family. It's really tiring caring about them as much as I do."
"That sounds really bad," Tommy said laughing again.
"I love her, she's my best friend," Sadie said after he'd calmed down.
"Mine too," Tommy said sharing a smile with her.
"When did you know you were in love with her?" Sadie asked turning her head so she was looking at him.
"At her sixteenth birthday party, when she walked down the stairs in that emerald green dress that complimented her eyes perfectly," Tommy said smiling at the memory. "She leaned down and whispered to me 'have you seen Shay?'"
Sadie laughed. "Real romantic Tommy."
"You asked when I fell in love with her, it was that night," he said pushing her. "I wanted her way before that. I think from the moment I heard her open her mouth."
"When she sang, she always gets people when she sings," Sadie said thoughtfully.
"No actually she said 'Little Tommy Q' and then we preceded to argue loudly," Tommy said chuckling.
"That's Jude for you," she said.
"You know what it is," Tommy said not even hearing her. "It's her smile or maybe her laugh. It's the way she can turn every situation around so it benefits her. The songs she's writes or the way she can put somebody in their place with a look. Her smirk when she gets a chord progression right. The way she looks when she's sleeping, all innocent and sweet. The way she tastes."
"You've kissed my sister!" Sadie exclaimed sitting up.
"Um…yeah…on her sixteenth birthday," Tommy mumbled under his breath.
"I can't believe you kissed her and she never said anything," Sadie said shocked.
"I kinda made her promise never to say a word," Tommy added. When Sadie sat there with her mouth open he rolled his eyes. "She'd just turned sixteen. I didn't want to go to jail."
"You do realize she's still 16 right?" Sadie asked smiling.
"Yeah, but now I don't care," Tommy said smiling back.
"Well, I wish you luck Tommy. If I can't have you, I damn well want to keep you in the family," Sadie said standing up and making her way towards the door. She turned around and gave him a hug. "See you tomorrow."
"Bye Sadie," Tommy said shutting the door behind her. He leaned back against the door and smiled softly to himself. Him and Sadie friends, he never saw that coming.
I don't know why I added that scene between Tommy and Sadie but I really like it. Because I want Sadie and Jude to get close and if they are going to be close, Tommy and Sadie are going to have to be able to talk to each other without hating one another. So let me know if you liked it. Oh yeah and writing that scene between Vic and Jude, that was so easy for me. I don't like Vic much anymore and I loved writing Jude chewing her out. It was fun. R and R Please!
