Chapter 14: Date Crasher

Tommy arrived at Lyrical and instanly noticed Jude's black hair as he walked in the door. She was sitting at a corner table and facing away from him. She was with that brat from G-Major, the one that hadn't stopped glaring at him for a second, earlier that day. He gritted his teeth. Was he the boyfriend Sadie had mentioned?

He put a hand to his forehead and debated what to do. He could leave before Jude noticed him, he could proceed with his meal as if he hadn't noticed her or he could go over and say hi: see if maybe he could get a chance to talk to her about Cassie and last but not least - check out this Guy dude...

There was only a moments second thought before he proceeded to Guy and Jude's table with a confident swing to his step.

Guy saw him coming and grimaced, noticing his reaction Jude turned just as Tommy arrived at their table. Her expression was one of surprise and it wasn't lost on Tommy that she didn't look happy to see him.

"Tommy, hi" Jude said with a forced smile."Um," she turned to Guy, "Guy this is my old producer Tommy, Tommy this is Guy, my-" There was an uncomfortable pause before she said "friend and new labelmate"

Guy was looking increasingly unhappy as he shook hands with Tommy, "I've heard a lot about you"

Jude's expression was one of surprise, "You have?"

Tommy frowned, had she forgotten his existance while he was gone or something? No, that wouldn't add up with what Sadie had said. No, it must just be that Jude simply felt uneasy discussing him with this particular person. Yes, he definitely preferred that theory.

Guy smiled mysteriously at Jude and didn't answer.

"Mind if I join you?" Tommy asked.

"Actually-" Guy was cut off midsentence by the waitress who had returned with their orders. "Would you like anything else to drink?" She asked as she placed their meals in front of them.

Jude was looking inceasingly frazzled, "Um, yes, I'd like a red wine please"

"She'll have a Red Bull" Tommy corrected.

Jude glared at Tommy.

The waitress looked uncomfortable, "I'll, uh, come back soon and give you time to discuss this"

---

I glared at Tommy, unable to believe his nerve. How dare he tell me what to do in front of Guy and an absolute stranger? What right did he have?

I hurled my napkin down on the table, "Excuse me, I'm going to the ladies room" My chair squeaked loudly as I pushed it back and stood up.

"I'll join you" Tommy countered.

"I think you'd need to wear a skirt to get in there... at least" Guy pointed out with a smirk.

Tommy ignored him and taking hold of my arm led me from the restaurant.

Dispite my anger I found myself laughing a little, "Tommy, you're not really coming to the ladies bathroom are you?"

The headline: 'Little Tommy Q invading Ladies Bathroom' was floating through my mind but alas it was not to be. Tommy led me through a back door and out into the back alley behind the restaurant.

He let go of my arm and turned to face me, "Can we talk?"

"Can you not tell me what to do?"

"You shouldn't be drinking"

"You shouldn't be telling me what I shouldn't be doing"

"Jude!" He cried in frustration.

I wrapped my arms around me. My blue dress might be hot but it was really cold too. The air outside was chilly and there was a slight breeze running through the alley. Tommy noticed and took of his jacket which he handed to me, "Peace offering?" He said meekly.

I took it grudgingly and wrapped it around my shoulders. It smelt like Tommy, I liked that. Wait... Stop it Jude!

"What did you want to talk about?" I asked.

"Have you been avoiding me?"

I shrugged, "I've needed some alone time. I've had a lot of thinking to do"

"I want to help, Jude. I know it's your decision but I really don't think you should let Cassie go again. She's so much like you it's scary. Jude, she's amazing"

I felt tears start to well up in my eyes and I looked down at the ground. The ground was covered in puddles from the rain earlier that day. I could see my reflection, framed by moonlight like a halo. I was no angel...

I brought my gaze back up to Tommy's face, "Do you think... could you tell me about her?"

He smiled then motioned for me to sit down on the back step, he sat down next to me, "Did you ever see that movie Family Man? You know the little girl? She's kinda like that..."

---

Guy glanced at his watch and tapped his foot impatiently. It had been 15 minutes and Tommy and Jude still hadn't returned. He didn't like this situation at all...

The waitress had returned and he'd ordered Jude a red wine. He'd figured he could get in Jude's good books and piss off Tommy, all in the one move. Now if he could get his creds and this date back on track.

A woman with disturbingly pale blonde hair had just walked out of the bathroom and Guy walked over to her, "Excuse me, my girlfriend went to bathroom awhile ago, did you see her in there? She's got black hair"

The woman shook her head, "There's no one in there"

"You're sure?"

She nodded then returned to her table. Guy gritted his teeth.

This was really not.. cool. He was the cute rapper/R&B singer starting to make it huge on the music scene. Girls were throwing themselves at him at an increasing regularity. Heck, he was the next Chris Brown! The next Bow Wow! He didn't need this!

But Jude... he didn't know what it was but there was something about her that just drew him in. He knew she was kinda messed up, she had some things going on in her life that she didn't like to talk about, she was distant and he had his suspicions about her relationship with this Tommy dude... Normally he'd just walk away from this situation. He just couldn't seem to bring himself to walk away from Jude...

He'd been loitering by the door to the Woman's room hoping the scary blonde lady had been wrong and that Jude was holed up in one of the stalls when one of the waiters passed him and exited through a door just past the toilets. There was some random cursing and Guy could have sworn he heard Jude's voice.

He quickly made his way to the door and discovered the Waiter cursing at Tommy and Jude whom he'd almost tripped over when stepping outside.

"Look, we're sorry man. We're moving"

They still hadn't noticed Guy and Jude was smiling at Tommy, "She really did that?" She asked, "That's so adoreable!"

They turned to walk inside and noticed Guy standing there, a look of utter dejection and rejection on his handsome face.

"Guy-" Jude began.

"Just forget it" He said before storming from the restaurant.