AN: First of all, thank you for all the wonderful reviews. Second, I am shocked that I have updated so quickly, though I will try and keep it up and Third, this story is based of the book with the same title, "Dedication" by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus. I mean I can't take all the credit. Haha.
Enjoy.
6th Grade
"Come on you have to like someone," Nikki my best friend since 3rd grade nudges me with her shoulder.
"I told you I don't like anyone," I glance around the cafeteria, watching everyone eat their brown bagged lunches.
"Jude, you have to pick someone," Cathy smiles across from me, "Jenny likes Charlie Lutz, Chloe likes Brian Sinclair, even Nikki likes Jesse O'Day, so you have to pick someone because you can't be the only person who doesn't like someone."
I don't respond back immediately, I simply just stare at her, questioning why I have to like anyone.
"Well…" she trails, leaning inches closer towards me.
"River Pheonix?" Even I am unsure with my answer.
Nikki sighs next to me, "It has to be someone real, not a dead actor who once graced the cover of every teen magazine known to girls like us."
"Yeah, it has to be someone here, at school," Jenny chimes in for the first time.
"Fine," I huff as I glance around. I see a boy sitting three tables down from me. He has a few friends sitting with him, but he has completely tuned them out, a small smirk appears on my face as I notice him, whistling and nodding to whatever beat is playing inside his head. "I like him," I nod my head in his direction and all four girls turn their head at once.
"Which once?" Cathy looks at me.
"Him," I point this time and they all turn at the same time again.
"Tommy Quincy?" Cathy squints her face at me.
Who? "Yeah, Um, okay, Tommy Quincy. I like him."
Nikki smiles at me approvingly.
"No one has ever liked him before," Chloe sneers.
"Well," I stand up to throw the remnants of my lunch away, "that's who I like."
Present Day
I step out of the cab after paying a significant fee and stare up at my house.
The first thing I notice is the for sale sign blocking my view of the front door. A huge red "SOLD" sign rests atop it all. I didn't even know my parents were selling.
After about five minutes the shock sets in and I lift my one duffle bag into my hand and make my way towards the familiar.
All the lights are off, I can tell no one is home, but thankfully not much has changed in ten years and the extra key is still hidden underneath the toad sculpture in the bushes.
I brace myself as I walk through the front door. There are boxes everywhere. Pictures that used to hang on the walls are now just faded memories as they rest in piles on the carpet. Much of the house is still the same though. The couch and television remain, the kitchen looks as if no one is even planning on moving and my old room, it looks like its been preserved for my first daughter.
I set my bag down inside the door as I flick on the light. It almost makes me sick to think I once loved the color pink so much. I sit down on my bed and am immediately sent back in time, so many memories come flooding back, so many memories I'd much rather forget.
The mattress is still in great shape though, I sink into as I rest back and lift the phone resting on my nightstand into my hands and dial Nikki's number by heart.
"Uhlo?"
"Jake?" I twist a strand of my hair in my fingers, "Jake is that you?"
"Uhlo?" he asks again in his three-year-old voice, "I'm Jake."
"Hi Jake, its Jude, your godmother."
"My fairy godmother!" I can hear the excitement rise in his voice and hope that Nikki won't kill me for exciting him this close to his bed time, "Is your mommy there?"
I hear him drop the phone and scuffle across the floor, moments later Nikki's voice drowns out the chaos in the background, "You're here?"
"I took the first flight out. Did you know they sold the house?"
"They sold the house?" she questions, "I guess I don't get to that side of town much, did you know?"
"Nope, they didn't say a word, I don't even know where they are moving to! Anyway there are boxes everywhere, it's a little creepy and…"
"So beside the point Jude—" Nikki goes silent.
I nod my head knowing she can't see or hear me.
"Turn to the E! Channel," she adds, "It's on every channel but I would start there."
I flip on my TV and you would think that the Queen has arrived, I watch as the camera pans all over town, hundreds if not thousands of screaming crying girls, their banners fill the crowd with bright bold colors WELCOME HOME TOMMY one poster reads.
"You have got to be kidding me."
"You didn't see it?"
"No, we came in the back way, I had no idea."
"The town as gone insane, they even declared May 29th as Tommy Quincy day."
I sit in silence, watching as the story unfolds before my eyes.
"Jude? You still there?" Nikki's voice is soft and full of concern, "Jude?"
I can't seem to find my vocal chords as I change the channel, his face fills the screen, I flip to the next and the next and everyone is just a constant reminder.
"Tommy Quincy—"
"Tommy Quincy—"
"Tommy Quincy—"
I pause on channel seven, hanging on every word they say.
"Multiplatinum recording superstar Tommy Quincy has just announced his engagement to international recording pop star Katie Sharpe! He is currently in his home town of Croton, Virginia with Katie to record a Christmas special for MTV—"
I quickly shut off the TV, not wanting to hear the rest, "Fuck" I sigh.
"Hello?" This time it's my mother's voice, coming from within the house, "No," she pauses when she sees me sitting on my bed, channel changer in hand and the phone to me ear, "I wasn't going to tell you, who told you? Nikki, it was Nikki wasn't it?"
"Mom it doesn't even make a difference, I could be in an igloo in Antarctica right now and I would still know Tommy Quincy was Croton, it's on every station."
"The world has gone mad," she huffs as she walks away from me.
"Nikki, I have to go," I say into the receiver, as if she hasn't just heard my conversation with my mother.
"Bye and good luck," I can hear the smile in her voice as she hangs up the phone.
I make my way down the stairs and follow the sounds of the pots and pans rattling in the kitchen. I smile when my dad sees me and engulfs me in a huge bear hug. I take in his scent, I've missed him.
I pull away and glance at my mother, "So when were guys going to tell me?"
She takes the car keys in her hand and tosses them to my dad, "Your father will tell you all about it as he drives you back to the airport to get you on the first flight out of here."
"I'm not going back, so tell me."
"You are going back Jude, you are. It's been ten years—you can't do this now."
"What, you want me to call him and tell him to come back at a better time?"
"You just—you have to let it go," she sighs.
"I can't just let it go—it's been ten years that I have been waiting for this chance, ten years for him to come home so I can make him regret his entire existence!"
"His entire existence?" she questions disapprovingly.
"Yes," I don't take my eyes off of her—I am holding my own, once and for all.
"And how long do you expect that to take?" she turns away from me and back to the boiling pasta on the stove.
"I'll be home in time for dinner, I promise," I turn away from her as I make my way to the stairs, "Let me just go change my clothes and I will be back before your plate even hits the table."
"You sure don't want to just go like that? Looking about as deranged as this entire idea?" I can hear her whispering to my father, begging him for support and I smile, knowing that my dad will never take sides and get between my mother and me.
"Thanks," I shout back down the stairs and I race into my room, slamming the door behind me.
Home sweet home right?
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