The Reception Part One

By:Blondenhot and Angel422

Jude's POV:

Thirty minutes later, after we had shuffled out of the crowded pews, we got into a cab that was waiting for us while I quickly touched up my mascara, lipstick, and powder. We were off--headed towards the local club Redd Hott for Tommy and Portia's All night wedding reception. They really knew how to plan an event.

I had forced myself to stop crying as we shoved our way out of the door and into some greatly needed fresh air. He was a married man now. Whatever we had had together was gone now and what little hope I still had for a future with that arrogant, beautiful producer of mine had left with it. I just had to find a way to accept that and move on with my life. Turn another page in the infamous Jude Harrison biography. In my heart I know he's gone, but in my head...well, lets just say my head isn't ready to admit it yet.

It's just like the song I wrote about him. I can go to the restuarant we were supposed to go to on our first date and only feel a tinge of sadness and hatred towards him. I can walk into the alley and feel only the softness of his lips on mine for the first time. But as soon as someone says his name around me, whether it be Kwest, Darius, Sadie, or a stranger on the streets, all the feelings that I felt toward him and still feel for him collapse on me, drowning me with salty and sweet memories. I remember the way he used to look at me those last couple of days we were together. They were heated, special looks that reflected the emotions I was sure my eyes were flashing at him: love, lust...need. A kiss that shared the same immense intensity. A simple touch on the arm as we were writing a song together...that kind of remembrance kills me. It makes a slightly healed wound and creates a new scar.

But now all that's left of us are bittersweet memories and the fact that what ever we had had before all this was semi-real. And it was mutual. And he still produces me. At best. He might not even be doing that for me. These last couple of months had been hard without him there to guide me and reassure me that I was going to be ok--that my broken heart would heal with time. Yeah, I've written a few songs.

That was after the night he had called me. And all of my songs I had written lately had been about his sorry ass. He's married now...with a daughter.

Amber had been their flower girl. She was beautiful...she had Tommy's eyes. As she was walking by, tossing flowers around, and grinning from ear to ear, I had gotten a good look at her. She had brown curly hair the color of her father's and the same eyes. God, she had the exact same eyes. As she was walking down the aisle, she had paused and looked down our row, curiously. Her little face was still frozen with a smile. When she looked at us, I was struck silly. The same amazing eyes of the man I loved stared back at me, kindly yet knowingly.Tears stung my eyes but I had pushed them away as I watched the child float towards the alter. I refused to cry...yet.

Now sitting in the back of the cab, I felt my heart break once again. The look on Tommy's handsome face after he had said, " Yeah." The petrified look scared the hell out of me. He hadn't planned on going through with it. When he had looked at me, looked in my eyes and realized the finality of his words, I saw as much sorrow pouring from his eyes as there were tears pouring from mine. And there was an embarrising amount of tears flowing freely down my cheeks at that moment. I couldn't help but wonder how he had felt knowing how much he had hurt me again. And when he had leaned down to kiss Portia and didn't even bother to close his eyes, did he realize that if he hadn't been a friggin idiot when he was younger, that could have been us in a few years? Did he realize that in one hour long ceremony, he had managed to break my heart into a million more pieces?

"You were good in there, Jude. Yeah, you cried a little. So what? If it would've been me in there watching the man I love get married, I would have had people turning down their hearing aids and the younger people wondering where the siren was coming from." Sadie said with a laugh. The sad thing was...she was right. I mustered up a small smile for her sake (to save what little sanity she had left.)

"Thanks...I tried staying quiet so that all those hot guys who were checking me out wouldn't think I was an emotional basket case. Well to postpone them of finding out until after they had gotten to know me." I said playing along in a whispering tone. " So Sades, what's going on with you and Kwest?" I asked her, watching as her face lit up at the sound of his name.

"Aw, nothing. He's just a good guy who makes it easy to lighten up toeven in tough situations." she said, looking up towards the front seat where Kwest was seated chatting with the cab driver.As if he could tell she was looking at him, he turned around and made eye contact with her. Then, he smiled. It was strange...I had never seen him look like that at anyone before. They could have a future together. There wasn't a law that stated they couldn't.

Unlike a certain married man and a broken girl. But we all know that story...

Tommy…

The club was full of people as the wedding planner walked around frantically making sure everything was in order before whispering something to the DJ we had hired for the event. He nodded before playing around with the music and that old classic love song Hopelessly Devoted to You by Olivia Newton John began spouting through the speakers suddenly as I watched silently while the wedding planner motioned for everyone to get off the dance floor. In the long run, I knew that this was the part of the reception where the two newly weds were supposed to get up and shine in all their ethereal glory like trophies sitting on top of a bookcase. Let's just say that this particular trophy could use some glossing up especially after realizing that Portia was still in love with me. I should have seen that—really I should have by the way she had always followed Sadie around warning her about me and sabotaging any chance I had at a normal relationship when Sades and I had dated—not that Sadie and I had been normal. Normal wasn't kissing your hot girlfriend while pretending she was her sister. No, that was just demented. But then again, Portia and I had had an interesting relationship in the past—meeting through her brother when we were both still young and I was, let's just say too lustful, to look past that to notice it wasn't love. So we had married and well, maybe I ruined it the first time—didn't give her the chance to get over it either. I just broke her heart and we didn't see each other again until I was twenty-one, right before the Instant Star contest when I had returned to Toronto to produce for Georgia. In a moment of weakness, I let Portia get too close again and that was it. A couple of weeks later she appeared once again at a pool party I took Jude to and then she disappeared for a while. Obviously, it was because of Amber.

"They're wanting us to go out there on the dance floor." Portia said suddenly from beside me as I just nodded absently. I couldn't be what she wanted me to be—that trophy husband that only envisions life with her. That wasn't in me. My goal now became being the trophy father instead while trying to figure out what to do about Portia. Darius glared at me from across the room as my gaze fell once again on Jude who was staring at one of the guys from the wedding in slight amusement as he kept begging her to let him get her a drink. My body was flooded with numbness as a red haze almost fell over my vision. Yes, it was anger. I knew it was—anger at myself and at the louse getting to offer Jude things I was no longer allowed to even fantasize about. Or was I? I didn't have a lock on my fantasies just on actually acting them out. I mean what guy really, even married ones, didn't have some fantasy about some woman out there—such as Halle Berry or Julia Roberts for example. I've seen Pretty Woman and let me tell you, I would have paid more money than Richard Gere had I been given the opportunity, but hey at least Julia Roberts was legal and not staring at me now from across the room in a way that made my pants too tight.

"Tom." Portia said again insistently as I glanced down at her with a look that said 'Let's go have our moment.' She just smiled before taking my hand in hers and leading me out onto the dance floor as everybody clapped and cheered, and I smiled for the cameras too because that's what I had been trained to do—smile and cover my ass when it came to publicity. The studio was waiting for us when Portia and I returned to Toronto and we—or should I say Darius—needed the publicity like a fish needed water. Could I really still be Jude's producer—joking the same way we always had before with the same sexual innuendos and playful attitude? Yeah, I could just see that happening. God, what had I done?
Portia laughed suddenly as she waved at some friends and I still stood there smiling— giving her her moment as I drew her in close for the dance while smelling that familiar scent—the perfume that had taken me forever to forget after the first time we were ever married. Jude's own scent suddenly came to mind only because she wore such a light scent—not heavy and suffocating. I think it was one of those perfumes you find at Victoria's Secret. They should really call it 'Forbidden.'

"You're stepping on my toes, Tom." Portia said suddenly and I looked down quickly as I realized that I had quit listening to the music. What was wrong with me?
Jude…

I looked over at the dancing couple quietly while smiling pleasantly at the guy next to me. I hadn't really caught his name, but at this point, I guess it didn't matter.

"Are you sure I can't get you a drink?" He asked me again as I rolled my eyes. For heaven's sake, the guy must think we live in the friggin' desert. I finally just nodded. Maybe he just needed something to do. He smiled even brighter as he sighed before hurrying to fulfill my demand. I turned back towards the dance floor—haunted suddenly by Portia's bright smile. Why did it aggravate me so much? And what was with the song Hopelessly Devoted To You? Wasn't that the song in that movie The Wedding Planner in which Jennifer Lopez told Matthew McConaughay that if chosen by the couple meant the marriage would last only about three months? I suddenly felt like looking around for Jennifer Lopez. The flower girl, Amber, sauntered over to me, and I smiled down at her. She looked depressed, and I couldn't help but note that she looked liked him when he was depressed.

"What's wrong?" I asked her quietly as she just looked up at me uncertainly as if she wasn't sure she was supposed to be talking to me. Her white dress had a slight punch stain on it, and the curls on top of her head weren't far from falling out of the clip they were held up in. She finally edged over a little closer as if she had decided I was okay.

"My cousin gave me a piece of gum." She stated quietly as I just shrugged at her uncertainly. Okay, so she had been chewing gum.

"Is there something wrong with it?" I asked her gently as she just frowned at the floor.

"No….I…dropped it, I think. My mouth is empty now. See." She said as she opened her jaws up wide and pointed inside. I almost laughed at the innocent gesture.

"I see." I finally answered her as I heard a sudden exclamation from the dance floor.

"What the hell?" I heard a female voice mutter as I looked up to see Portia almost stumbling as Tom reached over to catch her. She straightened up only to look down in horrified surprise at the little pink piece of gum that now kept her very expensive shoes glued to the wooden floor. I tried not to snicker…really I did, but eventually I had to bite down on my lip to keep myself from roaring with laughter.

"I think we've found your gum." I said to Amber as Portia looked up at the place where I was sitting—narrowing her eyes as if she thought I was the reason behind the sticky situation. Yep, it's so obvious that I felt the need to chew gum and throw it at her heels. Tommy just glanced between us slowly before his gaze landed at the girl at my feet, and the softening of his eyes made me realize that this was Amber—his and Portia's daughter. I had assumed it was during the wedding just from earlier descriptions...and her eyes.

"Amber, what are you doing?" Portia asked as she advanced on us from the floor. Amber cowered at she looked at the shoe Portia now held in her hand.

"I don't think she meant to cause any trouble." Tommy said quietly as he came to stand behind Portia—staring first at me and then at his daughter. Portia just took a deep breath and then nodded before stepping back and looking at Tom.

"I'll be right back. I'm going to go and see if I can get this off. Find another dance partner if you must...this may take awhile. " She murmured as Tommy nodded before looking again at me. It made me nervous, and I fidgeted as Tommy's gaze followed Portia as she disappeared around the corner before looking once again at me.

"Finish the dance with me?" He asked as I just cringed. What?

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Hey ya'll! ItsBlondenhot and Angel422! Thanks for the reviews for our previous chapter! We are having a lot of fun with these chapters and we sincerely hope that you are enjoying it! We love ya'll...It's all for you guys! Thanks again for everything you've done for me Angel422...you have been so good! I've really enjoyed these chapters with you! Thanks for everything! So can we try 40 reviews? Let me know what you think...whether it's good or bad...please review!

Lots of love to all those who reviewed the previous chapters and glad that you are tuning in. Keep checking in. What happens when the wedding's over and it's time to return to the studio? Hugs to all. Blondenhot and Angel422