Chapter 5
Two Days Later
Evening
Tommy and Jude were both back from the studio and lounging on the sofas. Jude was flipping through the channels, refusing to give Tommy the remote to his 60 inch High Definition Plasma TV.
"So, what's for dinner?" Jude asked him as she flipped through yet another channel.
"Why do I have to cook?" Tommy asked
"You don't have to. You could always pay for us to go out." She added, shrugging. Tommy rolled his eyes. "Plus, I've been known to burn water." Tommy raised an eyebrow.
"How the hell do you burn water?" Tommy asked incredulously. Jude shrugged.
"I don't know. I put water in the pan, turned on the stove, walked away for two minutes and it was burnt." Jude said matter-of-factly. Tommy sighed heavily and got up from the sofa and went into the kitchen. He rummaged through the cupboards and freezer and sighed as he realized he needed to go do some shopping.
"How's takeout sound?" Tommy called out to Jude.
"What we getting?" Jude called back. Tommy sighed.
"Doesn't matter." He said and added "as long as I don't have to go get it." Jude sighed and got up from the couch and joined him in the kitchen.
"Pizza?" She said, shrugging. Tommy and Jude discussed what to get on it and Tommy made Jude call it in. They sat down on the sofa again and Jude turned it on the Discovery Channel where Mythbusters was on. 25 minutes later their pizza arrived and Tommy paid the delivery man and he was off on his way. They ate the pizza in companionable silence. After they were finished eating, Jude pulled out her journal and began writing in it.
Tommy watched her a moment, briefly wondering what she was writing about.
"I'm trying to get over this writers block." Jude said with a sigh and frowned at what she had written and crossed it out with her pencil.
"It'll come to ya." Tommy said, his voice soft and sympathetic. Jude glanced at him, a frustrated look in her eyes. Tommy sighed and went into work mode. He wasn't in the mood to work on more songs, but apparently, Jude thought he could help her. "Why not start with what you're feeling." Tommy advised.
"That's loaded." She muttered.
"What about that song we started earlier this week?" Tommy suggested. Jude glanced at him, confusion evident on her face.
"The one in the alley?" Jude asked. Tommy nodded and shrugged.
"Why not?" He said. Jude frowned.
"I kinda finished it already." She muttered. "I sang it at an open mic night with Speed."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"You've been busy mixing!" Jude argued. Tommy gave her an
annoyed look but said nothing. She sighed and flipped back a couple
pages in her notebook and tossed it at him. Tommy caught it and read
over the lyrics. Tommy nodded at the finished lyrics.
"Looks good." He said, glancing over them once again, mentally playing over a few different beats.
"Thanks." Jude said, knowing he was in producer mode. "So, what are you thinking about back tracks?"
"I'm thinking something heavier, edgy." He said, closing his eyes. "We'll have to record this soon."
"You still have two other songs to mix." Jude pointed out. Tommy rolled his eyes.
"Minor details." He said dismissively.
"You still don't have those done!" Jude asked exasperated.
"I've been busy!"
"You're there all damn day and you don't have those mixed yet?"
"It's not my fault I lost my very capable engineer. This new guy sucks." Tommy said in exasperation.
"Oh, sure, blame it on the rookie." Jude teased. "Cuz we all know you're perfection." Jude drawled.
"Well, I wasn't going to say it..." Tommy said, grinning at her.
"Do you have no shame?" She asked. Tommy looked contemplative a moment.
"Some." He said seriously, looking at her with loving eyes. Jude didn't know how to respond and stared back at him, her heart pounding as she became increasingly aware of his closeness to her. Words were lost as both of them stared into each others eyes. Neither was conscious of it, but they leaned closer to each other. Jude felt her eyes flutter shut as she felt his warm breath on her face.
This is it. She thought to herself.
The shrill ringing of the phone startled the couple out of their moments. Tommy cleared his throat as he got up from his seat which was inches away from Jude and answered it in English before switching to rapid French. Jude sighed in frustration and leaned back on the couch.
We were thisclose! She thought, pursing her lips in annoyance. Damn that phone! She added and paused in her thoughts. She watched Tommy as he paced the room down the hall, obviously not liking the current conversation he was having. Jude sighed and wondered again why she didn't learn French like her sister. It would make life a bit easier and she'd be able to understand more than 10 words.
Jude sighed to herself once more, her mind playing over their moment. She felt a slight panic course through her. What if they kissed and he told me to forget about it again? I can't do that again. She thought. She glanced at Tommy once more, but she wasn't able to gauge his reaction to the almost kiss they shared. It was final. I can't let that happen again. She thought to herself, but for some reason, she felt something deep down inside of her laughing.
