Jude woke up on the morning after her 18th birthday feeling more alone and vulnerable than she had ever done in her life.
She was in the rehearsal space, as she stared around it's wildly decorated walls an odd thought occurred to Jude 'I forgot to say Welcome Home Mom'.
At that precise moment Spied, Wally and Kyle came bursting in the door, tripping over each other in their frenzy and landing in a pile at her feet "DUDE!" they yelled at her in unison making her jump "God guys chill would ya? I do not need any more drama!".
"That is expressly the reason we just shrieked at you!" grunted Kyle as he attempted to disentangle himself from Wally and Spied "We want details!".
Jude rolled her eyes and threw her self down on the old moth eaten Joey-Ramone-supposedly-passed-out-on-this couch "I sometimes have serious doubts about the three of you!".
Spied and Kyle sat on either side of her while Wally sat at her feet "You know insulting us won't make us care any less" Wally poked her "So you might as well fess up Harrison cuz we ain't going anywhere no time soon".
Spied slung an arm around her shoulder "So what did you do last night? We saw you for about five seconds then next thing we heard you had gone home?".
Jude buried her face in her hands "Oh GOD!!! What did I not do guys??? I go upstairs looking for Tommy and find him smashed with Sadie attached to his lips!, I chucked a jug of water over her, threw a mental fit at Darius and Portia, revealed to Sadie that Tommy probably never loved her then I punched her!".
The guy's eyes were as wide as saucers "And that's not all" Jude took a deep breath "I turned to walk out to find my Mom standing in the doorway". There was a sharp intake of breath from all three of them.
They knew how much Jude's Mom had burned her when she eloped with Don the Divorce Lawyer guy and left her and Sadie for a shiny new life in Europe.
Spied's arm tightened around Jude's shoulder, Kyle put his arm around her other shoulder while Wally hugged her knees. Jude had promised herself that she wouldn't shed one more tear for all the worthless people in her life, but this blatant show of concern and affection from her SME boys opened the waterworks.
"You guys ….. are so sweet!" she bawled tears flowing fast and thick "And I don't deserve it!".
Spied, Wally and Kyle smiled at each other "Yeah ya do Harrison, cuz your our dude and we love you!". "I'm glad someone does" she sniffed smiling through her tears.
Jude rested her head on Kyle's shoulder "Cuz I think the only person apart from you guys that loves me right now is my dad!".
"Dude what did you say to your mom?" asked Wally gently.
Jude closed her eyes "I punched her". Wally, Spied and Kyle gaped at her thunderstruck .
Jude stood up "Yeah I know" she walked over to the full length mirror and grimaced at her reflection "Hey Spied, you keep spare clothes here right?". "Yeah we all do in case we spend all night jamming and it's too late to go home why?" asked Spied.
Jude ran her fingers through her hair pulling it out of it's ringlety updo "Cuz there's a hung-over jerk who's ass I have to kick and I'm not doing it in this heinous dress".
Spied chucked a purple gym bag at her "Jeans, Converse, 'Bom Chicka Wah Wah' t-shirt, black sweatshirt, okay for you?".
Jude smiled gratefully "You rock Spied". Spied smiled "I know".
Ten minutes later she was fully dressed and ready to go kick some pretty boy ass!