A.N - Sorry for the delay. I have my reasons. :)

But this chapter should clear up any confusions you had in the last chapter. And hopefully, you guys like it. Thanks to everyone who's been reviewing! I appreciate it mucho.

Ten

Throw it away
Forget yesterday
We'll make the great escape
We won't hear a word they say
They don't know us anyway
Watch it burn
Let it die
-- Boys Like Girls

Jude had stayed in that room for another night, her tears having finally dried up a few hours before. Now, she was lying down, looking up at the ceiling as she felt the tears dry on her cheeks whilst the eyeliner that she had applied so carefully had been ruined by her tears.

She wished she could forget the events of yesterday.

After that boy had so selfishly said what he had, and Jude had hastened to explain the mishap with Jamie and the photographers, Tommy had been almost impossible to deal with.

"You know, Jude," Tommy stressed, eyes frighteningly empty as they focused on the road in front of him. "You know how much I find that boy irritating."

"There's nothing going on, Tommy," Jude's wide eyes turned to take in his steely appearance. "He's my best friend and you know that. I can't help your insecurities."

"My insecurities?"

"Yes!" She shouted. "Your insecurities. Whatever happened to you when you were younger has totally wrecked your confidence in relationships." The silence that followed was deafening. "Look, Tommy," Jude continued, quieter. "This can work. We will work. You just have to trust me."

"I don't think I can."

Tears stung at her eyes. "Oh, great. I can trust you, even whilst there's photographic evidence of you on a date with my sister, and of you and Portia Mills. And you can't trust me alone with my best friend?"

"That thing with me and your sister was for work." His fingers tightened around the steering wheel as they turned the corner onto the block where their hotel was. "And I have never even looked at Portia that way. But, Jude, you and Jamie have a history together. You were together once. Now tell me how you think I can trust you."

"Because it's me, Tommy," Jude pushed, her hand tentatively moving forward to rest over his on the wheel. "You can trust me."

He pulled his hand out from underneath Jude's and glanced out the window, his reflection staring back at him against the dark night. "I can't, Jude. I'm sorry, but I can't." He paused for a second. "Maybe it has something to do with my insecurities."

His final words were like acid as he spat them at her and Jude exited the car angrily, watching as Tommy sped away into the distance.

Jude's fingers traced the names on the manuscript, lingering on 'Tommy Quincy'. She wished she could leave with him all over again, and do it properly this time. They could make 'The Great Escape'.

The sound of her phone harshly vibrating against the wooden hotel drawer had her jumping up and snatching it to her ear hopefully. "Tommy?" The word escaped her in a breath of anxiety.

"Uh, no," came the voice of her best friend from down the line. "Jamie. Aren't you with Tommy?"

"Long story," Jude collapsed against the bed again. "He's gone, Jamie. Can you come and pick me up?"

It was only as they pulled up to her house that Jude asked to be taken to G Major to fill in some studio time she had left over from making the album. With a beanie hat pulled low on her head, to cover her new hair, not wanting any attention, Jude ducked her head and walked into the building, going straight to an empty studio.

She sat at the piano and pulled on a pair of headphones, drowning out the rest of the world as she played her and Tommy's song.

Jude wasn't as experienced a piano player as Tommy was. The one beat too long pause between note changes was evident enough of that. Whilst Tommy's fingers had ran up and down the piano effortlessly, Jude had to focus on every key and check every note before she pushed it down and hummed the tune softly to herself.

She knew that someone would figure out what had happened sooner or later. That she and Tommy had ran away, only to have an argument so huge it potentially ruined their relationship. But she also knew that they wouldn't know the truth behind what had happened.

The more she played, the more confident she became. Jude could almost imagine Tommy sitting behind her, his fingers ghosting over hers against the cool slabs of ivory that made up the piano. She could play the chorus almost from memory.

"Have you got love to burn," Jude murmured. "Kisses for days."

She picked up a pencil and poised it above the paper, ready to change the words around. Just looking, however, at Tommy's penmanship had tears misting in her eyes and Jude found she couldn't change a single note. Not when it was hers and Tommy's. It was theirs. Written together.

She couldn't change it.

Blinking, she glanced up at the ceiling, forcing the tears back before she caught the eye of the man standing in front of her. Jumping up, Jude pulled the headphones off her ears and wringed her hands nervously.

"Nice to see you again, Jude," Darius Mills smirked at her. "Next time you go on a little vacation, be sure to let me know."

She said nothing, only glared at the man in front of her angrily.

"You wouldn't," he continued, ignoring Jude's feeble attempt at a protest, "happen to know where your partner in crime is, would you?"

"Who?" She asked, a confused expression scrunching up her nose. "Jamie? I'm pretty sure he went back to his house."

"Not Jamie," Darius sighed. "Tommy."

"Oh," her eyes widened. "Tommy." She paused, pretending to think over her answer. "Nope, haven't seen him in days. But, if I do, I'll be sure to –"

Her phone beeped and Jude fought hard not to let Darius know that her heart was pounding furiously against her chest, just hoping to hear from him.

And when she saw the message, her heart fell at the two words it contained.

Tommy sat against the bonnet of his car, staring out over the city he was leaving. The city where he'd left the girl he was in love with. He'd been so stupid the other night.

Shutting his eyes against the images that rose in his mind, Tommy sighed and pulled out his phone. He knew that he shouldn't have jumped to conclusions as he had done - he had experienced himself how the most innocent of gestures could be portrayed and exaggerated by the media.

Jude was an amazing girl. Her music was breathtaking and her talent extraordinary.

She didn't need the likes of Tommy Quincy tagging along beside her for the ride.

The two words that he'd typed on his screen could be taken two ways, but Tommy knew that Jude would understand the meaning he'd intended.

"I'm sorry."

His thumb hesitated over the send button until he shut his eyes and pushed down the key furiously. Quickly shutting his phone off, he shoved it deep into his pocket and climbed behind the wheel once more before gunning the engine and speeding off, out of Toronto, Ontario.

And away from her.