Slow Burning Fire -Instant Star One Shot

“Slow Burning Fire –IS One Shot”

It had been months of back and forth flirting, stolen glances, and vain attempts at making each other jealous. They had been playing this game for years but ever since the new secretary had made it all too obvious she wanted to be more than friends with Tom, Jude had stepped it up a little –or a lot. It was not a blatant attempt to “win” him, but more of a subconscious awareness that she might lose him forever if she didn’t make her move now. Now they sat in the studio in a most awkward silence as they listened to Jude’s latest composition. In the minds of both, the events of the night prior replayed on continuous loop.

They were recording late, per usual, and had gone well past midnight before Tommy was satisfied enough with the song to call it a night. It was their usual recording routine and Jude knew him well enough not to be bothered by the fact –especially now since they were co-producers. She had even begun developing some of his perfectionist ways throughout the years. They packed up their recording gear and put everything back where it belonged –another thing Tom was obsessive compulsive about. Jude grabbed her guitar and prepared to call Sadie for a ride home because the Mustang was in the shop. She had thought of simply asking Tommy for a ride but she was almost afraid of being alone with him in a car with no escape route in case she said or did something she might regret.

More than once had she slipped and accidentally admitted her feelings for him, causing her to blush and leave the room before he had the opportunity to even check if had heard her correctly. She knew he still had feelings for her, but she wanted and longed to know if ever thought of giving them a second –well actually more like third- chance. The secretary was her wake up call, but she feared that maybe it was too late. Maybe he had gotten over here entirely –but then what of the glances, she could not mistake the same fire burning in his eyes when he looked at her.

Just as she began to dial Sadie’s number, Tommy walked up behind her and placed his arm around her shoulder. She instinctively put her cell phone away and turned to face him, surprised at his actions. They hadn’t been that close in a very long time, excepting the occasional hug when an album wrapped or on birthdays and holidays.

“Need a ride Superstar?” he asked with a giddy expression on his face. She was not sure what had gotten into him just then, but she did not dare ask questions when he was in a good mood –which happened too rarely as of late.

“I was going to call Sadie; she said she’d be at the apartment tonight.”

“Are you serious Jude? You know I don’t mind taking you home; it’s like three blocks away from my place anyway. I insist.” And with those last words, he grabbed her phone out of her hands and led her to his car –a brand new Camaro. Jude sighed a little at the fact he had a new car every year.

The song came to an end and Jude snapped back to reality. Tommy was already waving his hands in her face trying to catch her attention.

My shoulder still burns


Where you touched me last night

“What? Huh?” Jude mumbled as she remembered where she was.

“I was asking if you wanted to break for lunch now. Maybe grab a sandwich across the street?” She was surprised at how calmly he was behaving given the events that transpired between them less than one day ago. She shrugged her shoulders and picked herself up out of her seat, nervously straightening her shirt and smoothing her hair with her fingers.

As Tommy excused himself to answer a phone call, Jude once again found herself thinking back to the night before. The car ride was rather quiet, other than a few cordial exchanges about how the other was lately and mutual congratulations on starting a new album together. They reached the parking garage of Jude’s building and she quickly thanked him and began getting out of the car. He got out to help her get her guitar from the trunk, gave her a small hug and she began to walk away.

You hugged me and walked out the door

He grabbed her arm, she stopped dead in her tracks, more surprised at the fact that he had kept her from leaving than having felt any real hope that it might lead to more. She turned to face him for the second time since they had finished their session. He stood mute as she started at him with her piercing blue eyes, waiting anxiously to hear whatever was so important to him that it could not possibly wait until they got to work the following morning.

“Jude, I, we, um . . . can we talk?” he stammered as he stood with his hands shoved down his jeans pockets. In truth, he had been feeling the same way about Jude. Sure the secretary, whose name seemed to escape him, was admittedly attractive. But her advances only served to remind him that every relationship, fling, and shameful one night stand he had since he and Jude ended their relationship for a second time could do nothing to change the fact that getting over her was impossible. He had flirted with the secretary openly for a couple months before he realized that he only did so to aggravate Jude, and now that he had noticed Jude looking at him and could he dare say flirting with him, he wanted nothing more than to feel the heat of her lips burn his skin.

We've been pretending


That we're only friends

It had been a long time, too long since he had been able to touch her the way he wanted to, tell her that he always had and always would love her. He stood there, dumbly looking at his shoes, avoiding the burn of her stare, waiting for the right words to spill from his mouth. Instead however he felt himself inch nearer and nearer to her, until they were nose to nose and he could feel her nervous breath on his face. She did not dare move, lest she lose the opportunity to know what he wanted to tell her. But no words followed, only the sensation of his hands on her face as he pressed his lips to hers and gave her gooseflesh all the way down to her toes. The spark they both thought had faded was instantly reignited and neither desired for it to end.

But tonight we can feel something more

The air was bitingly cold and steam rose from their mouth as they spoke, though the kiss they just shared had left them shaken enough to maintain silence for a full five minutes before anything was uttered. They had been standing in the freezing concrete parking garage for nearly half an hour, yet neither could feel the cold with the other, more important things, on their minds. Neither admitted that they still loved the other, but the look in their eyes had betrayed it all along.

Jude looked down at her watch and realized that Sadie would worry if she didn’t walk inside soon. She Looked up at Tommy and said she had to go. He wrapped her in his arms one last time before letting her leave. The warmth of his body filled every fiber of hers, leaving her ignorant of the cold night air.

Just being around you


Is making me warm

Tommy returned from his phone call and reclaimed his seat in front of Jude. She wanted so badly to speak to him of their kiss the night before and to be able to call him hers again, but he seemed like he had been struck with a sudden case of amnesia. He was smiling and looked almost giddy, but Jude could get nothing with more substance than small talk out of him the entire duration of their 45 minute lunch.

She walked back into the studio in a visibly worse mood than she was in before lunch. Tommy’s seeming unaffectedness did nothing but raise her ire. She wanted nothing other than to shove the microphone she was singing into down his throat –though the simple acknowledgement of what happened would suffice just as well. It was like she was 16 all over again; broken hearted and thinking about a kiss that “never happened” –but she was four years past that point. She had intention of going back. Tonight, tonight after their session she would confront him –she had to confront him.

They walked out of the studio casually, Tom offering a ride and Jude accepting it. She attempted to gain the nerve to speak but each time the words caught in her throat. As they closed in on her building a self-pleased, mischievous grin overtook his face, though Jude did not have the gall to ask why that was. She simply stared at her shoes, as she often did, trying to reason why after five years of knowing him, Tom Quincy still held such a power over her that she could barely speak when she was around him. They pulled up to her building and she got out, scarcely able to thank him for the ride. Jude had been so preoccupied with her own thoughts that she did not even notice that Tommy had followed her out of his car and was tailing her to her apartment. He stepped lightly and was careful not to be seen.

Jude turned the key and walked glumly through the door fully prepared to stuff herself with ice cream and bon bons while watching Pretty Woman. She scolded herself for not having the back bone to talk to Tommy. She put her guitar down next to the door and flipped the light switch to reveal a trail of rose petals leading to the kitchen. She followed them, thinking that she had unwittingly stumbled onto one of the many romantic surprises Kwest was accustom to leaving for Sadie. But instead of finding something for Sadie, Jude found only a note written on a plain sheet of white paper in a familiar hand.

She read the note with butterflies filling her stomach. It read simply, “Jude, go to the door.” She turned around and walked hesitantly to the door wondering to herself how on earth he managed to get this set up when he was with her all day. She opened the door to find him standing there with a single rose in his hand, quite obviously stolen from the rose bush just outside than bought from the shop. He smiled at her and softly asked to be let inside. He stepped inside and lightly held Jude’s hand, walking her back toward the kitchen.

One touch and I know

“Jude, there’s something I’ve been wanting to talk to you about. I tried last night, but, well you and I both know how that went.”

“Yeah, a kiss and then me walking awkwardly away and wondering all day what it meant.” She finally managed to spill her thoughts for the first time that day.

“About that, Jude I’m sorry I didn’t mention it at all today. I was busy planning this. I just wanted to do it right this time.” He paused, second guessing himself for the first time that day –not sure if Jude wanted this as much as last night had led him to believe. A quick shake of the head helped to push the doubt to the back of his mind as he went on. “Jude I can’t pretend that I don’t still love you. I need to know you feel the same.” He gingerly placed his hands on her face, pulling her lips toward his but stopping just before they touched.

That I'll melt in your arms

“I love you,” he whispered softly “I’ve waited so long to tell you that.” The spark, the heat from the night before rushed through her body. She kissed him until she was breathless. Unable to restrain herself any longer.

“I love you. I’ve always loved you,” she said breathlessly.

There's no way to stop


This burning desire

The rose she held in her hand fell limply to the table as she once again brought her lips to his. It felt right, she felt right for the first time in years. It had been two years, two long years since she had heard him say those words and two long years before she allowed herself to say them back. The friendship they had mutually agreed on maintaining no longer seemed enough. They needed to take a chance, even if it ended it heart break.

A few moments of the hot breath of their mouths mingling and they released one another, his hands still resting on her waist and keeping her from getting to far from him. He relished silently in the newfound comfort he felt with Jude. A feeling that had not been there since their relationship failed a second time.

She had gone to Asia with him. The two happiest months of his life to date. Everything was perfect until they came back. With G Major back in full force and pressuring Jude for the release of her album, their relationship became strained. She finished the album and went on a hiatus for a few months, something that was exceedingly unlike her. Tommy tried to mediate between her and Darius, but in the end the stress made it too much for either to deal with. They mutually decided to cool things off, leaving their situation open to getting back together. Yet two years passed since then and it had not happened. Each was loosely convinced that a friendship was best if they did not want to end up hating each other, but the last few months had made the task harder than they had believed it would be. Tommy had been determined to fight it at first, but there was too much there for him to deny.

He could not hide it any longer. He could not go one day having her so close to him and yet not having her at all. He hoped rather than knew it could work this time. He hoped the passion between them, the undeniable need to be together, would be enough for them.

Cause there's nothing as hot


As a slow burning fire

“Wait, Tommy,” she said as she placed her hands on top of his. Her blue eyes filled with doubt, losing a little of the flame they held just moments ago. He froze, taken aback by her sudden change in demeanor. “I, I’m not sure about this. How do I know for sure that it’s going to work this time?”

His heart dropped to the soles of his feet. His earlier fear about to be realized. She did not want to be with him more. She had had enough heartbreak and he had lost his chance. He had waited too long, too long and now he had lost her. He was sure he had lost her. “Jude,” he stammered. “I, I thought this meant that we, that we were back.”

“And I want us to be, but ‘I love you’ isn’t enough. I need to know that you’ll be with me forever, that you would do anything in your power to make this work –otherwise we’ll end up just like last time, fighting until we can’t stand each other anymore.”

“Jude,” he began, the intensity of his eyes burning into her pupils. It was the most serious she had ever seen him and it took her off guard.

And you look in my eye


Just a little too long


Before I can look away

“I would do anything to be with you again. I know I’ve made mistakes in the past. We both made a lot of mistakes. But I know that I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I know we’ll have to work on this every day, but I’m willing to do that because there is no one else I could imagine myself with.” His eyes continued to look into hers, but there was something different in them –something that she had never seen in them before.

But lately I've caught


You staring at me


With a new kind of look on your face

A solitary tear streamed down her face as she returned his look, the look she reserved only for him. A worried look of anticipation grew on his face and he was just about to walk away, certain that she was trying to say goodbye to him. Instead, she closed the distance between them with a soft kiss. “Tom Quincy, that’s the best offer I’ve ever been given,” she whispered softly into his ear. Her warm breath causing the soft hairs on the back of his neck to stand on end.

Just being around you


Is making me warm

She lowered her hand so that they were resting on his waist. He followed suit and placed his hands on hers. “Now you have to promise me you won’t push me away and that you will love me even when I’m old and have grey hair.”

“I won’t, and you know I will always love you –and not just for your hair.”

One touch and I know


That I'll melt in your arms

He laughed a little, releasing some of the energy that the anxiety of the last few minutes had produced. He knew that it was always going to be this way with Jude –that she would give him the world and take it away, only to give it back within moments. But he loved that about her, he loved everything about her. And as long as she still loved him, he knew that she would always come back to him in the end.

There's no way to stop


This burning desire

She loved him, he loved her. It was all he needed to know that any problems that might arise between them were worth fixing. His lips magnetically went to hers, hungering to feel their familiar heat forever. He pressed them feverishly to his.