Instant Star 1. Weekend Sin

There are times I wake up in the morning and as I'm trying to remember the good rules of hygiene, it hits me; that sudden burst of creative energy. Sometimes, it's after a big emotional ordeal, sometimes it's after nothing. But, I always stop mid- toothpaste foam spit or whatever and just write. Just get it out, all of it. Even if at the time it makes no coherent sense. 98 of the thoughts in my head do that. Don't make sense, I mean. See what I'm talking about? Yeah, me neither. Anyway, this particular day I knew that despite the fact that I had awoken ridiculously early because of a bad dream, for whatever reason it was going to be a good one. Blame it on the fact that my tooth brushing extravaganza was interrupted for a huge burst of creativity, or that I had wonderfully brewed coffee a la me. Mid-writing like a madwoman the phone rang.

"Hello, Jude Harrison mail order bride international. How may I service you?" I said, in the most sing-song voice I've ever used.

"Very funny Jude. How soon can you get down here?" Tommy asked. Yes, that's right, Tommy Quincy (except not. Because he's French or whatever.) Former Boyz attacker turned producer who I'm in love with, yet hate all at the same time. The same one who makes my music rule, who's actually the inspiration for most of my songs, the one who makes me laugh, and makes me cry, and the one who makes me uncomfortable yet ridiculously comfortable all at the same time oh, and the one who kissed me on my 16th birthday, broke my heart, flirted with me while simultaneously dating my sister, and then basically confessed that he feels something for me on my 17th birthday, thereby making it the best birthday I've ever had. Yeah, that's the one.

I glanced down at my watch, seeing that it was pre-5 AM. But he sounded excited, and I did pretty much anything for Tommy. "Uh, Can you give me 30 minutes?" I said, silently hoping I could get dressed, shower, eat something, get more caffeine and drive down there in time.

"Would it be faster if I came to you?" Tommy asked. I could see it now: a pajama clad, half-asleep and boyishly excited Tommy on my doorstep before the sun came up. That sounded perfect. Now, if it was in the plan somewhere that he would magically have a bouquet of white roses, and then just happen to sweep me off my feet…I'd be okay with that too.

"Yeah. See you in 10-ish?" I said, heading towards the kitchen to pour myself another cup of wonderful caffeine.

"Yep." Tommy said, and then hung up. He's never been very good at that goodbye stuff. Especially when he's either working or in a hurry. Both currently the situation. I'm not quite sure why. Tommy's never really been this sort of a morning person, but apparently it's something huge, if he's calling me. I quickly ran a hand through my hair to make it slightly less bed-head and finished my mug of that morning's deliciousness when the doorbell rang. Tommy, the speed demon; never fails.

"Coming!" I yelled, setting my mug down. I smiled at Tommy through the door and let him in. "Good morning." I said.

"Wow Harrison, good look for you." Tommy said sarcastically as he took in my goofy cutoff pajama pants, concert tee and messy hair.

"Well Quincy, you've happened upon the rare species we like to call pre-5 AM Jude. It's your own fault." I chuckled as he glanced down at his watch, apparently not aware of just how early it was.

"It's not really that early is it?" Tommy said, looking down at his watch again. "Oh, I guess it is."

I laughed and said, "The darkness wasn't a big hint?" He just looked at me. "Okay. What did you want?"

"It can wait, I was just dying to show you because I spent all night working on it and I about burst with excitement. And I'm a little caffeine happy. 3 or 4 too many espressos." He said as he turned to leave.

"Not a chance Quincy." I grabbed his arm and spun him back around to face me. "You're here now. What do you have to show me?" I crossed my arms in my best imitation of irritation. He just laughed.

"CD player?" He said as he pulled an unmarked CD out of his pants pocket. I pointed him in the right direction, appraising him as I followed behind. He wasn't kidding about being up all night. He was in the same clothes I'd left him in the night before, and his chin stubble was present. In normal circumstances, Tommy did not let anyone see with him facial hair; that or his glasses. I happened upon him in those once. It was recently, we'd had lots of late nights and I walked into the studio only to find my favorite producer clad in specs of the geeky variety.

i_"Since when do you wear glasses Quincy?" I said, sitting in the chair next to him._

_"I don't. But, apparently dim lights, and long hours at a mixing board is bad for your eyes or something." He went back to mixing on the board at this point. I gave him a curious stare. "I normally wear contacts." He said, and stood up to go get some sustenance. "And, if you ever tell anybody, I'll be forced to tie you down and tickle you until you can't breathe." He walked out of the room, but not before tousling my hair_./i

"Jude?" Tommy said. I snapped back to reality, and saw him sitting on my couch CD remote in hand, poised to begin playing whatever it was he had to show me. It was at this point I realized I was still standing in the doorway.

"Oh, yeah. Uh, what were you saying? I kind of spaced out for a minute." I said, walking over to the couch and sitting next to Tommy. I sat there for a minute waiting for his exciting news to fill my ears. Suddenly, a gentle strumming filled my ears: "'cause he's frozen." I turned to stare at Tommy. The other night out of the sheer boredom of waiting for Tommy to do whatever it is he does when he makes me wait for him; I'd been fiddling around with "Frozen" again. It was the first thing my fingers started playing. So what if I'm mildly obsessed okay? "But, Tommy I don't understand." I said, turning to look at him.

"I came in while you were still playing. Hit record, let you go. Mixed it last night. Not hard Jude." He said, and gave me a smirk.

"You know what I mean. I was just messing around. It's your song." I said. I was trying to be nice as possible, and not show the anger I was feeling, considering the last time he'd caught me with his song he'd gone off the handle and now he was suddenly being nice about it?

"And you, for whatever reason love it Jude. I wanted you to have this." Tommy said as he smiled at me.

"Okay Quincy, we're going to take you to the rehab clinic where they can help you, because you're clearly on something." I laughed, and begin to get up to lead him to the door.

He pulled away. "I can't just do something nice?"

"Not generally, no. What do you want?" I asked.

"Nothing." He said, and began to toy with his thumbnail.

"Liar." I said, daring him to challenge me again. He knew I hated when he lied, and especially when I called him on it.

"Fine. There's this party and you have to play and well, I just thought I'd do something nice since well, you're not really going to like it." He said quickly.

"Oh come on Quincy. I thought you knew me better than that. A party? Not that big of a deal." I just stared at him impatiently. "When is it? What is it for? And what am I singing?" I asked him.

Tommy sighed and looked at me. "The party is tomorrow night. You have to sing a cover, and it's a party at G Major." Tommy said, finally. I looked at him and laughed.

"Don't look so scared Quincy; I'm not going to bite you." His face got red at this point. Bad move Jude. After that incident Darius' office the other night, you make sexual jokes? You'll just have to take a cold shower. He was still staring at me. Oh, right I should speak. I moved a few inches away from him on the couch. "That's not bad at all Quincy. The cover bit sucks, but I've learned to 'play ball' like you told me to." I punched him in the shoulder. "You really had me worried for a minute."

"It's for Eden. Darius signed her onto G Major. And Shay will be there performing as well." Tommy blurted out and grimaced, preparing for what he thought was going to be lots of me yelling. He waited a few seconds, and then looked at me to see if I'd exploded yet.

I blinked, took a deep breath and said, "Well then, I guess it's good you're here and brought presents huh?" I laughed watching him hold the breath he'd been holding for the last 45 seconds. "Am I seriously that bad Quincy? You looked like you thought I was going to murder you." I said chuckling.

"Well Jude. You're always…never mind." He just said, and laughed. I thought of a wonderful idea to reassure him that I was not in fact going to kick his butt into next Tuesday.

"Tommy, this will be my present to make you show I'm not going to beat you up. Want breakfast? I'll cook!" I said.

"I don't know Jude; I have to be back at the studio." He said, and started to get up to leave. I glanced down at my watch and just laughed.

"Oh no Quincy. Not for at least 4 more hours." I jumped on top of him and began tickling him like a madwoman. We laughed until we were breathless. "Hungry yet?" I asked him. He just nodded. "Good." I grabbed his hand and took him into the kitchen. "You will sit, you will eat, and you will love it." He looked around suspiciously.

"Where's your sister at this morning?" He said. Oh, that's what he was worried about. Duh. He doesn't hate me.

"She's a counselor at Camp whatever this summer. She had to go in a couple days early for staff bonding or something." I said, chuckling softly at the mental image of Sadie in nature.

"What happened to her doing secretarial work at G Major?" Tommy said, interrupting my thoughts.

"She took the time off. I don't know. She's been planning to go to this camp for months upon months." I just shrugged.

"Oh. And your Mom?" Tommy asked.

"Uh, convention in Montreal." I said, smiling. "Plus her and Don are celebrating their half anniversary of being together, or something." I laughed. "Basically they use any excuse to go on trips and have as much sex as they can." I saw Tommy cringe at the thought. I laughed out loud again, as I began preparing the breakfast of champions as my mother always called it. Bacon, eggs, toast, pancakes. Mm. My mouth was watering at the thought.

"So, how are things with them?" Tommy said.

Ah. That killed the food dream. "Well. Not perfect. My mom knows I don't like Don, but he makes her happy. She wrote me that letter you know, and it kind of just spurred conversation. I still love her, and she still loves me. We've just agreed to not really agree." I said, pouring the pancake batter in the pan. "Sadie. Well, she's Sadie, and I don't understand her. But again, we've both come to the conclusion that we love each other. And we may never understand each other." Tommy grimaced as I discussed his ex-girlfriend. You know the one he broke up with because he was in love with me, even though he was still too scared to admit it. "And that's Jude Harrison: A History in about five minutes. Just enough time for your breakfast to be ready." I arranged the food on the plate, and poured him a glass of orange juice. We ate for a few moments in silence, just enjoying the food.

"Jude. If your family isn't here and you don't have to be at work, or do anything until at least 10, why are you awake?" He said. Oh. I didn't want to inform that a scary dream in which I'd murdered everyone had scared me into oblivion, so I did what I always do in uncomfortable situations with Tommy. Flirt. Or get angry.

"Just couldn't sleep anymore. I was dying to see your shining face." I said sarcastically. Yes; killed two birds with one stone.

He waggled his eyebrows at me and said, "I have that effect on the ladies." I punched his shoulder.

"You haven't slept all night. I'm lacking sleep as well, and our bellies are full. Grab the couch. I'm going upstairs to sleep for a couple of hours." He just stared at me. His face told me he was going to make some smart remark, so I stopped him, "Or let yourself out. Either way I'm going to sleep." And then I turned to walk up the stairs. My head hit the pillow and I was out for a straight hour. Feeling slightly more refreshed, and definitely ready to start the day for real now that it was no longer on the obscene side of early, I went downstairs to re-brew some coffee and to clean up the breakfast mess. Only I found the kitchen sparkling. I looked around, and spluttered a bit. I walked into the living room only to find Tommy lying on the couch, sleeping peacefully. Hmm, to let him sleep or not? I figured I'd let him sleep. I went back to my room and grabbed the comforter off my bed and placed it around him. "Sleep tight oh blue eyed prince of my musical kingdom." I laughed softly at myself, and made an attempt to kiss his cheek. Only he turned his head just as I went down, and well, I ended up placing a pretty sound kiss on his lips. I pulled back quickly in surprise. Oh God. Why does this always happen to me? Maybe he won't wake up, maybe he will and laugh at me. Maybe he will and then we'll make out and then date, and Sadie will hate me forever, but it won't matter because I've got Tommy. Oh God. I sat back, silently waiting for the worst. Except it didn't come. He just smiled. Hmm. I wonder what that means. Oh! I could have my wicked way with a sleeping man. Is that wrong? Only if he doesn't agree, and he can't technically agree, but I know that if he was awake, and had lots and lots of coercion he might maybe agree. Bad Jude. Stop thinking these dirty thoughts. I couldn't help it, I was 17 after all. Through the entire conversation I'd been having with myself, I had slowly slid down to sit in front of the couch, my back leaning up against it. After what seemed like 15 more minutes of mentally speaking with myself, I felt a hand grab my shoulder and I let out a scream.

I turned around to see a sleepy head Tommy make a face of pain. "Relax girl, it's just me." He said, raising his hands in mock surrender.

"Oh. My. God. Tommy, you scared me! I was sitting there, talking to myself, and you just had to reach out and grab me. I think my heart stopped." I said, punching him on the arm.

"First of all, ouch. Second of all, if you heart had stopped you wouldn't be talking to me right now, third of all, talking to yourself isn't exactly something you should admit Harrison and fourth of all, does this make up for it?" He put his hands on my neck, and began to massage the tense muscles there.

I was about to stop him. Punch him repeatedly for scaring me so badly, but I couldn't really form too many coherent thoughts when his hands were working that magic. "Yes. Yep. Uh-huh." I said, and relaxed as he began to work out the many days of stress built up there. After about 10 minutes of thoroughly working out my muscles he tousled my hair. I wanted to be mad, really I did. But I couldn't. Not when the stressiest part of my body was suddenly de-stressed by the man of my dreams. Nope, couldn't do it. I laughed at myself.

"What?" Tommy said, as he reached his arms up and stretched, giving my hormones a nice view of his stomach, causing me to laugh again, only from nervousness this time. "What?" He said.

I looked at him sitting on my couch, wrapped in my blanket, with his adorable bed-head and just smiled. "Nothing Quincy. Your hair made me chuckle."

He laughed at me, and started running his fingers through mine. "Yours isn't so wonderful either Harrison."

I jumped up on the couch and began tickling him again. What can I say; I take it where I can get it. He'll usually let me get it this way. Ooh. That's dirty. Welcome to my life. "Not so tough now are ya Quincy?" As he laughed his shirt began inching its way back up. Suddenly he grabbed my hands and threaded his fingers through my own. Here I was sitting on his lap, holding hands with him. He stared at me. I could live in this spot, in this position for my life. But only if he keeps giving me that look. I contemplated leaning in to kiss him senseless, but he suddenly tore his hands away from mine and began tickling me mercilessly. "Oh, you're evil!" I laughed and tried to get away, but I was no match for him.

"Say it Jude. Say that I am the almighty master and I will let you go." Tommy laughed evilly. I tried to stop him, but I couldn't stop laughing. We were pretty good at these tickle fights. Bet you didn't know that did you?

"All right Tommy. You win. You are the mighty Jedi master of all things tickling, and I am a fool for trying to win against you. And you don't have dorkus hair." I muttered. Hey, had to take my stabs where I could get them. He finally relented. I just lay across his lap, trying to catch my breath from laughing so hard. He began smoothing down my hair. "I could get used to this you know." I said, before I realized what exactly had just escaped my mouth. His hand stopped and he made a face of surprise. Oh God. I did it again. Oh God. I coughed and recovered quickly. "I would pay anyone to play with my hair non-stop." Duh. Oh God. I'm such an idiot. I hung my head in shame, and just shook it. "I'm going to go shower Quincy, okay?" I began to get up off of his lap.

I was almost all the way up when he grabbed my hips and pulled me back down. I sat on his lap with an oomph and he said, "Yeah. I could get used to this too." I raised an eyebrow in question, and was about to say something when I felt his lips connect with mine. I closed my eyes, deepening the kiss. Oh yes. I could definitely get used to this.


	2. Sweet Dreams Are Made of This

"Jude." I felt a hand brush the hair out of my eyes. "Jude it's time to wake up." My eyes instantly snapped open. I'd been making out with Tommy and I fell asleep on him? Oh man. I'm never going to hear the end of this. I looked around and realized I was in my bed. Aww, Tommy's sweet. Speaking of sweet, his face is pretty close to mine. I could take advantage of that. "Jude. You've been sleeping for 3 hours. I thought I should check on you and wake you up, because you might have work to get done. Kitchen's clean by the way."

"Yeah, I know." I thought for a moment. Wait, hold on. Now I'm confused. Tommy looks confused. I looked at the clock. It was 8:30; I had come up here at 5:30. I smiled, and then realized something…the time is wrong. My eyes bulged in panic. Something's not right. If things were right, I should have made out with Tommy at 6:30, but he just said that I'd been asleep for 3 hours. Oh God. It couldn't have been a dream could it? If so, that was the most realistic dream I'd had in a long time. Maybe it wasn't a dream. "Tommy, uh am I signing at G Major for Eden?" He nodded. Okay, so that part happened. "Uh, you know why Sadie's not here this weekend right?" He furrowed his brow in confusion and nodded at me again. This is kind of a good sign. He's just confused because I'm asking him about stuff that already happened. Oh good, not a dream. "I make really great pancakes right?" He smiled and nodded again. Oh good. Wonderful. Final test: "We made out on my couch, right?" His eyes bulged. Damn. Not quite the reaction I was looking for.

"What Jude? Where would you get an idea like that?" He said in a strangled voice.

"Never mind." I said. Double Damn. I knew it was too good to be true. I pulled the blankets off my legs and made my way towards the bathroom. "Okay, Quincy," I said, my face red with embarrassment. "I'm just going to take a five minute…" I was cut off by Tommy who sounded as if he was choking to death. I turned around quickly to face him. "What? Are you okay?" He kept his eyes on the ground and just kept coughing, when I realized what was causing him to have a coronary. I groaned inwardly to myself. I knew there was something I'd forgotten. I looked down and my face turned bright red with embarrassment. It was really hot this morning when I came back up here, and I'd taken off my pajama bottoms and fallen asleep with just my boy short underwear on. My too-small blue and orange striped boy short underwear. The ones that showed my butt cheeks. He'd seen my butt cheeks, and I told him we made out. That's just wonderful. Perfect even. I didn't do anything to deserve this. Okay, so maybe it's because I broke up with Speid, or I wouldn't talk to Sadie for a while, or because I broke up with Jamie, or made Kat hate me, or told my parents I hated them, or…okay So maybe I do deserve it. My cheeks, impressively, turned even more bright red than they already were, and I ran towards my bathroom. I fiddled with my black feather earring, as I always did when I was especially on edge. I'd bought this wonderful pair of earrings when I was on tour. They were perfection. Cheap, well-made, beautiful, they gave me an edge of toughness, and just happened by some random occurrence to be the earrings I was wearing when I kissed Tommy in Darius' office, not that that makes them important or anything. Unfortunately for me, I'm really, really good at losing earrings. Like the time I lost one of the earrings Portia lent me, and thought I was going to have to sell my kidneys in order to buy them because they were worth more than Bolivia. Except this earring, had kind of just disappeared. It wasn't attached to a bra, or anywhere for that matter. It went into the black hole of lost stuff; the place where socks go when they're pissed off at you. I have no idea where it went. So I just wore the one in my right ear sometimes. I felt tough that way, plus it was kind of maybe sort of sentimental and I couldn't not wear it. I kept fiddling with my earring until I could finally remember how to breathe. I still had to face Tommy, because unfortunately for all involved, we work together. I was convincing myself that I just had to shower and by then it would all be forgotten when I heard a knock on the door.

"Uh, Jude, I'm going to wait downstairs okay?" Tommy said through the door. I managed to squeak out some sort of affirmation and I heard him go down the stairs. Okay, good. He totally sounds okay about it. I'm sure he doesn't even remember seeing me in my underwear. Who am I kidding? He totally remembers and he's laughing at me right now downstairs. I groaned to myself as I resigned to my fate as loser extraordinaire, showered and got dressed in record time. I was just fastening my watch, thinking about how I should maybe consider moving to Spain because there I couldn't embarrass myself in front of Tommy when the man of the hour himself coughed from my doorway.

"No more coughing Quincy. I'm fully clothed this time, okay?" I snapped. I was embarrassed and wanted to hide under my bed forever, but that didn't mean I was going to lose my nerve when it came to him. I wasn't going to give him any more satisfaction of knowing he got to me; running from the room beet red was enough.

He just gave me a "Lord Squinty Frown" look and said "You were just taking forever. I wanted to come tell you we need to leave now without startling you. I'm sorry for being a gentleman." He said sarcastically.

"Ha, right. You're a gentleman, or something. I'll have you know, by the way, that I'm so getting you back." I declared, and started to walk out the door.

"For what?" He said, as he followed me.

I made my way down the stairs, and as soon as we both made it out the front door said, "For making me feel like an idiot." He stopped in his tracks and looked at me questioningly. "Oh, don't worry Quincy, it'll be good." I gave him a wink and jumped into the car.


	3. Booyah achieved?

**Author's Note:** Hi guys! I'm really sorry that this took me so long. I've just been doing that life thing for a bit, and it's kind of getting in the way. Then for a bit I didn't really know what I wanted to do. As of now, I'm still not completely sure. So if you've got ideas, let me know, I could use some of the uber creativity you all have. :)

Chapter 3_: Booyah Achieved...sort of_

As soon as Tommy gets in the car with me, I begin to fiddle with the buttons on his radio. Tommy likes to put up a big tough guy front in which 'nobody messes with his radio' but he's really a big softie. At least when it comes to me, which is weird because you'd think I'd have the opposite effect. Ooh, bad thoughts Jude. I hate doing that; thinking dirty thoughts about Tommy when he's right next to me, or you know, when he's within an 800 kilometer radius. I search through a few stations before I finally settle on a classic oldies station. Then, I begin contemplating my revenge.

"So, what's bothering you Jude?" Tommy asks me, while I'm considering whether Tommy would think being smothered in Honey or Chocolate syrup would be worse for him, and which one might be more exciting for me.

"What?" I said, mildly confused. I haven't given any indication that anything's wrong. I'm processing how he might know, and finally just give up. "Nothing's wrong."

"You only listen to classic rock when something's bothering you, Jude." Tommy said as he gave me a look of 'duh.' Wow. I didn't know he knew that, I don't think Jamie knew that until about a year ago. My mother and Sadie still aren't aware of that fact.

"Nothing is wrong Quincy. I just needed some chill music okay?" I say, lying through my teeth. Truth is I'm still semi-reeling from the dreams I've had lately. First murdering everyone, and then making out with Tommy. Plus, my family has ditched me for about a week and half straight. Sometimes, even in a crowded room, I feel so alone; my family makes me feel tiny. It's weird to say, but we've grown apart. We've all of the sudden got "creative differences" about everything. Sure, it all started after the contest but maybe it was just boiling under the surface before then. I think about stuff like this all the time. But I'm very good about not showing it on the surface. I don't like to be that girl, the one who always dwells on what's wrong. That's why I ignore it and listen to classic rock. And look at Tommy. He's just too pretty. And hot. And oh my God, I think I'm drooling.

"Liar." Tommy said, interrupting my mental tirade. Sometimes, if I was myself, I'd get sick of listening to myself.

I glanced at Tommy and I'm thinking I don't lie. That's your department remember? But I don't say it. He's already irritated with me. And I'm irritated with him and just things in general so I figure I'm just going to keep it to myself today. No use in starting a pointless fight, over something extremely pointless. Plus, I'm going to find better ways to screw with him. But not like that. I wish. Naughty Jude. "Yeah I'm a liar, in your bleach blonde dreams." Which doesn't make sense, but I'm not really paying attention.

"Okay Harrison, that doesn't make sense. But you're down, so I'll give it to you. Are you going to spill or what?" He said. Suddenly, I pictured Tommy dressed as a teenage girl with his short hair in pigtails, talking to his best friend forever named Mindy, dishing about how fabulous his latest date was. Then I pictured him painting his toenails bubblegum pink and couldn't help myself any longer. I burst out laughing. Not just chuckles either; this was earth shaking, side splitting, laugh so hard you can't breathe guffawing. By time I finally settled down, tears were pouring down my face and we'd reached our destination.

"What is so funny?" Tommy said, as he looked at me quizzically.

"Oh, nothing Tommy. I just had this mental image of you as a teenaged girl." I laugh again. Tommy just shakes his head at me and ruffles my hair before getting out of the car. I soon follow suit and race to join his long strides towards G-major's front doors.

After Tommy gives me a pointed look he says, "We'll continue this conversation later." Ooh. I'm scared. Tommy and conversations with me, in private? They always end badly. Either I'm about ready to kiss him and someone catches us, or I'm about ready to punch him in the ears and someone catches me before I can make connection. For clarification, I did say ears. I have good sources that say, a really good punch right on the ear can hurt for days. Don't ask why, but apparently it sucks. Almost as much as having someone bite your bottom lip and drag you places. Oh God. That makes me think of Jamie and Patsy. I'm pretty sure I just threw up in my mouth. Not that I'm not happy for them; because I am but ew. Have you ever witnessed them in action? Yuck. But I dunno, they're cute. Good for each other I think. That whole yin and yang thing. Maybe that's Tommy and me's problem. We're a lot alike. But, in same cases we're very different. It all just depends on what you consider when you compare us. I mean we're both musicians, both have piercing blue eyes…okay that might be where the similarities stop. But that's only because I don't know that much about Tommy. He's an enigma wrapped in a mystery, and I still think that I am in love with him. I think it's just something about him, about us. You can't stop it. We're two powerful forces fighting one another. Pretty soon somebody is going to get burned. Sorry. I'm rambling again. I know. I told you, if I had to listen to myself all the time, I'd get sick of myself.

"Jude." I'm suddenly forced out of my reverie by a voice. I look up and see Kwest. Ah, my good buddy Kwest. If he wasn't really in love with my sister, if I didn't love Tommy and if I could look at Kwest like that, we could potentially hook up. But that's all hypothetical. "I've been standing here, practically shouting your name for the past 5 minutes. I was about to get all 'Happy Birthday' song on your ass." He said, and then winked at me.

I opened my mouth, appalled that he would pull such a dirty trick. "First of all Kwest, I'm not sure I've ever heard you swear. That's impressive. Second of all, that's evil. Even if it's not my birthday, bad things happen to me when I'm in the vicinity of that song." I made the toughest scared face I could muster, before bursting out laughing. I stood up to wrap my arm around his shoulders. "What did you need good buddy?" I smiled.

Hey Jude. It's me, Kwest. We're at G-major; Your recording studio. You know the one you're employed at?" Kwest said sarcastically. I just blushed sheepishly. I knew that. I was just, a little thrown off by my mental rambling.

"Yeah, I know that. I was just testing you." I said, trying to make a joke out of my stupidity. "Um, Kwest." I was suddenly struck with the inspiration I'd been searching for. "I've got a proposition for ya." I said as I crossed my arms over my chest.

"Okay. And what would that be superstar?" He said, leaning against the wall.

"Well. Tommy sort of, made me look stupid this morning." I said, blushing furiously. "I need you to help me get him back." I grinned, trying to forget the fact that Tommy had seen my butt.

"Is it going to take long?" Kwest asked. I just looked at him, appalled. I couldn't believe he wasn't ready to get the prank king back. I mean, here I was giving him the perfect excuse to use all of his best stuff. He laughed. "I'm just kidding. You can count me in. Let me know what we gon do mon." He said before laughing again and walking away.

I yelled after him, "Kwest. You're not Jamaican!" I turned the corner and started walking towards hospitality to get some tea, all the while humming Pick up the Pieces, as I usually do when I'm alone. Okay, so as much as I claim to hate it, this song holds a special place in my heart. Tommy has got the right moves or something else that would be just as embarrassing for me to admit. Right when I'm about to break into full on singing, at the huge crescendo I feel a hand tap my shoulder.

"I thought we agreed you were never again going to sing that song." Tommy said as he spun me around grinning.

"Well, I would stop singing it; if it wasn't so damn catchy." I said before I stuck my tongue out at him. "Besides, my voice is completely irresistible. And if nothing else, it gives you something to complain about you big baby." I said before I smiled cheekily.

"I am not a baby." Tommy huffed indignantly.

"Are too." I said and then continued walking down the hallway. As soon as I'm at hospitality, putting hot water into a mug, he taps me on the shoulder again. I turn around a say "You are SO a baby…" I stop, suddenly realizing it's not Tommy I'm talking to. "Darius. Hey." I feel my cheeks blush again. I think after today, my cheeks are going to be permanently red. "What's going on oh great leader of this amazing record company that I love, who is also definitely NOT a baby." I manage to breathe out all in one very long, quick sentence." Darius just smiles.

Darius looks around quickly to make sure no one can hear us. He leans in closely and says, "I want in on the stunt you and Kwest are going to pull on Tommy." Then he winks and straightens back up to full height. "And while you're at in, maybe a new song. I mean, I am trying to run a record company here." He walks away quickly, making the meeting appear strictly business.

"Darius how'd you..."I call after him, trying to figure out how he found out. He just looks at me, and puts a finger to his lips, shushing my question. I'm sure I'll never know. Darius is God's gift to finding things out. I'm pretty sure he could tell you the outfit I was wearing when I came home from the hospital. I don't think my parents even know. Darius is just good like that. Finally, I make myself some tea and take a big sip. It pretty much tastes like heaven. Sadie used to call me old lady because my favorite beverages were coffee and tea. I mean it wasn't always that way. I guess I liked tea, probably since I was about 8 or 9 and then I drank coffee from about the age of 12 on. Now, those two plus water are pretty much the only things I drink anymore. It's weird. I can be so habitual with some things, but most things in my life are completely spontaneous. I'm not the best example of thinking things through all the time. Most of the time I go with my gut. But other times I go with what I know. What I'm used to. As I'm thinking about how unpredictable I am, Tommy interrupts me yet again.

"Harrison. You and Darius are nuts. You guys look like you're being all nice and civil and then you claw each others eyes out. What sort of tongue lashing did you give him in order for him to yell at you like that?" He leaned up against the counter and chuckled. I stared at him blankly. I had absolutely nothing to say to him. Darius, the king of all revenge everywhere wanted in on what Kwest and I were planning, and Tommy had no idea what was going to hit him.

"Uh, I said something about he should stay away from bowling alleys?" I said, mentally berating myself for coming up with the lamest thing ever. Everyone knows that Darius is bald and it's stupid to make fun of somebody for something so obvious. Anyone who can come up with a good insult knows that it's stupid.

"Nice." Tommy said appreciatively. He gave me a giant smile and a wink before walking towards the cabinet. Apparently it's not stupid if you're Tommy Q. Wow. And I think I'm in love? Must be his charm. Tommy interrupted my thoughts with a burp. Okay, so it definitely isn't his charm. He grinned hugely at me again before walking towards Studio A. I looked at his butt appreciatively. Ah, that's it. I stared longingly for a few moments before heading off to find Spiederman. As much as I didn't want everyone involved in this little plan, it was going to take some work, and SME were just the guys to set it into motion.

"Spied, I've got a proposition for you." I said after I finally found him. He quirked an eyebrow and leaned forward in his chair waiting for me to continue. "I want you to help me pull a prank on Tommy." I leaned on the counter, waiting for his response. He chewed on his lip for a moment before grinning brightly.

"Of course dude. Pranking Lord Squinty Frown is the best." He chuckled; probably reliving the memory of the first time he tried to overtake Tommy.

"Okay Spied, it's going to be so much better than last time. But I can't tell you much more than that. I have to tell you as little as possible. There are a lot of people involved, but only I know exactly what's going on. And boy oh boy is it going to be good." I grinned evilly before I kissed Spied on the cheek. "Thanks dude, I'll let you know exactly what I need you to do when I get to it, okay?" He nodded and gave a fist pump. You know those cheesy ones they always do in the movies when they've finally accomplished what they've been after for years? Yeah. It was hilarious. I had to bite my lip to keep from busting out laughing. I mock saluted spied and walked back down the hall. This was going to be sweet vengeance. Tommy was probably going to never live this down. The only problem was that I wasn't quite sure what I was going to do yet. I just knew that it was going to be good for everyone involved. Maybe it'd even take care of my teenage hormones for a while. Now that was something I could definitely work off of. But what could I do that wouldn't make Tommy look even better than he already did. What could I do to make him turn tomato red, and blush more than he had probably since he was born? I thought hard before I finally came up with the perfect plan. I was glad that I had everyone on my side, because this was definitely going to take some huge amounts of work. I took my phone out of my pocket and began searching for a number I thought I would never have to use again. I took a deep breath as it rang, hoping that I could pull this off. This was going to be tough.

"Jude" His voice answered, quizzically.

"Hey Shay." I responded nervously. "So, you're going to be in town for Eden's thing tomorrow right?"

"Yeah." He replied, still confused.

"That's good. That's very good. I've got something I need you to help me with."


End file.

Instant Star, Humor, Romance