"So Damn Clever, huh?" Kwest said, throwing his jacket on his chair and placing his coffee near the soundboard.
"I'm glad you know the name, Kwest." Jude said trying to feign the sarcasm she felt.
Kwest only stared at her, which made Jude's face turn a couple shades towards her previous hair color.
"What? Do I have marinara sauce on my face? I had a meatball sandwich for lunch." Jude explained.
Finally Kwest spoke, "Nope, no sauce. But is there something else?"
Jude had a thought, but wanted to hear Kwest's madness from himself, "I must be in different conversation because I have no idea what you are insinuating."
Kwest muttered to himself, 'Must be going around.'
"What?" Jude really hadn't heard him.
"Nothing," He replied, thinking she'd just say what he was thinking, but couldn't wait any longer, "Does this have to do with He Who Shall Not Be Named?"
Jude laughed at the Harry Potter reference, but when she really thought about it, Harry was able to say Lord Voldemort without fear, so couldn't she just say Tommy without wanting to throw things? "Tommy? And if it does?"
"It's not surprising, is all. The moment he came back, I knew things were gonna go back to before." Kwest was ready for whatever Jude was gonna throw at him, literally and figuratively, considering he just said she wasn't immune to Tommy's smooth ways.
Jude was close to throwing Kwest's coffee at him, but decided against it. Keep 'the family' together, she thought to herself. "Do I look like I'm that girl, Kwest? Honestly, give me a little credit, here. Things are not okay with us. I don't know how long things will be like this, but I'm gonna use it to my advantage."
"Did D talk to you?" Kwest asked.
Jude stopped fuming for a second and replied, "You knew?"
Duh! Kwest thought. "I proposed it. I needed you to focus and I guess it worked." Kwest said smugly.
Jude smiled, "Well, I guess I'll just say it. You were right."
"Yes!" Kwest said, running around the studio like he was Kirk Gibson in the 1988 World Series, "Say it with me. 'I'm the man!'"
Simultaneously, Jude and Kwest shouted, "'I'm the man!'"
Both stopped with laughter on the brink of combustion, only holding it in for a few seconds because one look at each other made them fall to the floor laughing. Able to breathe again, Kwest said, "Well, you can say 'you the man' cause the other way around, I think the magnetic attraction you have over men, might be diminished just a bit."
Jude smiling replied, "Shut up, Kwest. You are the man, you know."
"Thanks, girl." Kwest said sincerely.
Jude knew they weren't done, so she started them off again as she pulled herself off the floor, "Say it with me, 'You the man!'"
Pulling Kwest off the floor, they started their rampage all over again, "You the man!"
"You the man!"
"You the man!"
"You the man!"
"You-" they both stopped as the eyed their unwelcome visitor, leaning against the door frame of their studio.
"Thanks, Jude. I never expected that kind of welcoming." Tommy said smugly.
Jude's lips tightened and she replied, "Don't expect it. It was never meant for you."
Watching Jude walk to the other side of the studio to retrieve her things to begin recording, Tommy said, "Well, I can't say I'm surprised."
"Then don't," Kwest pushed.
Knowing he had stepped beyond his boundaries for the moment, Tommy gave his reason for coming to their studio in the first place, "Um, yeah. I just came to get my tapes. I'll be out of here in a sec."
Jude had heard Tommy and was thankful his visit was short, "Kwest, you wanna start?"
"Yeah, Jude." Kwest turned to the soundboard and turned the lights on inside the booth for Jude as Tommy went to the bookcase to get his tapes.
After seeing Jude slip in the recording booth, Tommy asked, "What's the song like?"
"I don't know," Kwest answered honestly.
"You haven't seen it yet?!" Tommy said incredulously.
"Nope."
"Man-" Tommy started.
Kwest was not hearing this, from him. "What?"
"I'm just saying that she would always show me her songs before she'd sing them, for my approval." Tommy said, matter-of-factly.
Kwest was pissed, "Are you trying to say I'm not a good producer? Cause I don't need to control her creativity. I trust her enough to know that she'll make the call when she needs help or is stuck. That's what I'm around for. I won't go running when she needs me. She has enough people in her life that do that."
Seeing that Tommy was still in the studio and Kwest did not look happy, she called for him, "Kwest?
Not looking at her, Kwest responded, "Yeah, we're ready."
Tommy knew Jude had come in at the right moment, who knew what he would have said in response to Kwest calling him out, even if he was right, "Then I'll let 'the man' do his thing."
Knowing Tommy had gotten the message, Kwest smiled, and excused himself, "And 'the man' would thank you, but he thinks his head will hit the guillotine if he doesn't get his ass to work."
"My thoughts exactly," Tommy resounded as he left Kwest and Jude in the studio.