The next morning Jude woke up and went to her computer to check her e-mail. When she opened up the homepage, she saw the headline, "Canadian Instant Star Starts a California Romance". She groaned as she saw a picture of her and Riley walking along the beach. "Great, I'm not in the states for a week and already I made their tabloids."
Soon after she had seen the headline, her cellphone rang.
"Hello."
"Hey, it's Riley."
"Hey, Riley, I'm really sorry about the tabloids."
"Don't worry about it Jude. I know it comes with your territory."
"Yeah, but it shouldn't."
"Anyways, I called because I won't be at the beach today. I uh, have to go out of town for a few days. It's a dysfunctional family thing."
"Those are always the best," she said.
"Yeah, they're great. Look, I have to go, but I'll call you sometime tonight, okay?"
"Yeah, sounds great."
"Bye."
"Bye."
Back in Canada, Tommy threw a newspaper at Kwest and looked at him with a fierce glare. "You tell me what the hell this is and why moving to L.A. was so great for Jude." He had read almost the same identical article Jude had seen about her and Riley.
"Well Tommy, this is a newspaper and Jude moved to L.A. because you were destroying her," he said sarcastically with a sugar-coated smile.
"Don't be a
smartass," Tommy said as he showed Kwest the picture of Jude and
a guy. "She leaves me to go to L.A. with a washed up has-been
pro-surfer!"
"Maybe she'd rather have a has-been
surfer, than a has-been boybander." Kwest knew he was
overstepping his boundaries with his comments, but to be truthful he
was starting to get sick of Tommy. Every day he either moped around
the house, or yelled constantly about what a horrible person Jude was
for leaving him.
"You didn't say that."
"Actually Tommy, I did. So what if Jude went on a date? It's not like she's getting married to the guy. And you know how the tabloids love to make more of celebrity relationships than there really is."
Tommy shook his head and stormed out of the Harrison's kitchen and up to his make-shift bedroom. This wasn't supposed to be happening. Jude was supposed to come back in a couple days, telling him that she couldn't handle it in L.A. because she missed him too much. She sure as hell wasn't supposed to be making out with some guy on the beach! He picked up the book that contained the songs he'd written since Jude's prom and threw it across the room.
Jersey poked her head in the door. "Is it safe to come in?"
Tommy turned his back to her and paced around the room.
"Tommy, you didn't expect her not to date at all did you?"
He was quiet for a few moments. "Yeah, that's what I expected. I expected her to be too heartbroken to sing, to write, and especially to go on dates."
"She's been heartbroken for a long time already Tommy, you just weren't here for a lot of it. You left for six months after her 16th birthday, and then you left after her prom, what could you expect Tommy? You know I love you, you're my brother, but I don't always agree with the things you do."
"She's supposed to love me."
"And she does, you just didn't give her enough love back."
"Are you saying that I don't love her?"
"Of course not! I know you love that girl, but I also know that you're scared of love and commitment in general. I wasn't even surprised when I had heard all the horrible things you've done to Jude."
"I didn't mean to," he said in a mere whisper.
"That doesn't cut it Tommy. You shouldn't have done it in the first place. Jude moving, and her getting out and dating, you can't blame her for that. The only person you need to blame is yourself."
"Jude?" Mason called.
"In my room," she replied.
"Hey, how was your date last night?"
"By the look on your face, I'm guessing you already read about it."
"Well yeah, but you know how the tabs are, I want to hear it from you."
"It was great. I had a really good time."
"Will there be a repeat tonight?"
She shook her head. "Unfortunately no. He had to go out of town for awhile."
"Tough luck. Well I'm glad you had a good time, but I'm even more glad that you're not moping around the apartment pining for Tommy."
"Yeah, yeah. I think Riley is just what I need to rid Tommy from my life completely."
"Good. Well now that you've found your knight in shining armour, would ya maybe want to help me find mine?"
"If you're asking me to walk around Los Angeles to find you a gay guy, the answer is no."
"What? Why not?"
Jude laughed. "Because I can't just pull the first gay guy
I see off the street and ask him if he wants to date my gay cowboy
friend. You have to go search for him."
"You always have to be such a downer."
"Sorry. Oh, did the phone company come and hook up the land line?"
"Oh yeah, they did this morning while you were still sleeping."
"Good. Well while you go out and find a date, I'm going to stay home and work on some songs. We go back to the lovely world of recording tomorrow."
"I'm ecstatic," he said sarcastically.
Mason left the apartment to roam around L.A. while Jude stayed back and looked for something she could make herself for lunch. She had found a package of macaroni and some mushrooms when the phone rang.
"Hello."
"Jude, hey it's Kwest."
"Hey! How's it going?"
"It's good. You sound happy."
"I am Kwest. I know I've only been in L.A. for a few days, but I really like it here."
"Would liking it there have anything to do with a surfer guy named Riley?"
"Uh maybe. But even if he wasn't here, I'd still like it."
"Good. Jersey and I are planning to move down there in about two weeks."
"I can't wait until you guys get here. So what's everybody up to?"
"Jersey is looking on the internet for a job when we get to L.A., Sadie has been working a lot, and Tommy's been working on ripping that picture of you and Riley up into miniscule pieces."
"Well sounds like everything is pretty much normal. The second I move on with my life, Tommy decides to show that he gets jealous when I'm around other guys."
"Look, Jude don't worry about him. Worry about your music and adjusting to a new place."
"I know and I will."
"Good. Well I should be going. I'll see you in a couple weeks."
"Bye Kwest."