Chapter 18

Sorry it took so long

Jude nodded her head agreeing. She placed one foot in the fence and slowly climbed up it, jumping down once she reached the top narrowly missing the garden the previous owners placed before they moved away. Jude looked around the yard realising this was the first time she'd ever actually been in the yard. The old neighbours we always cautious of their award winning garden and would never let anyone into their back yard. She must have lost at least 10 balls in that yard. Looking further into the backyard Jude saw Tommy had already sat down with his feet dipping in the pool. Slowly Jude walked over and sat beside him. She watched as Tommy stared into the water, not yet looking at her. Tommy leaned down and ran his fingers through the water before he finally looked over at Jude. " Want your weapon back?" He asked and when Jude furrowed her brow in confusion he picked up the piece of paper from beside him and threw it at her. Jude caught it and rolled her eyes " I swear it wasn't meant to hit you. I didn't even know you were out here." Tommy nodded his head with a small smirk.

"I know, if you had of known I was out it probably would have been bigger, and it would have hurt more." He said with a slight chuckle. Jude smiled and ran her hands up and down her arms ridding her of the few remaining rain drops on them. It had stopped raining and was now just lightly sprinkling every now and then. "Probably" Moments of silence passed before Jude spoke up again. " So, what did you want me to come over for? I kinda need to do an essay before Monday." Jude asked looking curiously at Tommy. Tommy shrugged and bit his bottom lip with a questionable expression. "I uh just wanted to talk" He offered. Jude went from curious to slightly annoyed. She came over and was sitting in the light rain just to talk. Sure she wanted to talk, but not about random pointless stuff. She came over to talk about important things. She came over to talk about them. At least once she knew he didn't feel the same way she could move on, but until then she was stuck crushing over the most unavailable guy there is.

Jude stood up ready to walk away when Tommy grabbed her arm and pulled her back down. He looked at her and rolled his eyes. "Always in a hurry, aren't you?" He asked with a hint of laughter. The rain started up again as Jude went to answer, but Tommy quickly stood up, pulling Jude with him and raced for undercover. Half way between the pool and the back patio Jude stopped running, while Tommy kept running until he noticed that Jude was no longer beside him. He stopped and looked back to see Jude standing in the rain, her arms wrapped around her body racing up and down the side of her body trying to create heat but the quivering bottom lip showed that it wasn't working. Within 5 long strides Tommy was beside Jude trying to pull her towards but the house but she stayed firm, not moving from the spot she was at. She stook there shaking her head every time Tommy looked at her, every time he tried to pull her until eventually she spoke. "No Tom I'm going with you." She said shaking. The rain was beginning to pour down and Tom was not ready to stand in the rain all night.

"Jude come on, don't be stupid. It's freezing out here. Just come inside and we can talk"

Jude shook her head repeatedly, otherwise not moving from her position. She's stand outside all night long if it meant she got to talk about the things she wanted to.

"Why Tommy? I mean what do you want to talk about? The weather? Because I really need to do that essay." She said looking at the ground.

Tommy wiped the water drops off his forehead before reaching out to Jude. Jude moved slightly so his touch did not connect. Tommy let out a frustrated sigh and threw his hands into the air before storming off towards the house. When he reached the back patio he turned around and looked Jude. She was still standing in the rain rubbing her hand up and down her body. Tommy shook his head thinking of how stubborn Jude was " There is a towel and some dry clothes in here when you want to come inside to talk about us" He yelled as he grabbed a shirt and a towel out of the dryer. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Jude's whole body shiver and turn towards the house. He smirked knowing that within seconds she would be inside the house begging him to turn the heater on. With out acknowledging what he saw Tommy walked through the back door, placed a towel on the laundry sink and waited for Jude to come through the back door. Moments later a dripping wet Jude came walking through the back door to see Tommy towel drying his hair while showing off a knowing smirk.

"Ugh, don't look at me like that. You said we could talk about us, so hand over those clothes you promised so we can start talking. Okay?" Jude said before snatching up the towel and racing up the three stairs that separated the laundry from the rest of the house. Tommy soon followed once he heard Jude call out for some heat.

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Jude was sitting on the lounge staring at her nail beds when Tommy walked into the room carrying a cup of hot chocolate in one hand and a hot coffee in the other. He handed Jude the hot chocolate before sitting on the coffee table directly in front on her.

"So Tommy, what exactly did you want to talk about?" Jude asked before blowing cool air onto her hot chocolate. Tommy placed his coffee beside him on the table before placing his hands on Jude's knee's.

" Well first of all Jude, what do you think of me?" He asked while playing with the material of her sweat pants between his thumb and index finger. Jude looked down to see what he was doing before answering.

" You're practically my teacher, what can I think of you?" Jude took a sip of her hot chocolate before looking back up. Tommy shook his head at Jude.

"That's not what I asked ." He replied with a sigh.

Resting her head in her hands Jude thought of what would happen if she told him what she really thought of him. Would he feel the same. Or would he feel the total opposite, only seeing her as a student with a stupid teenage crush.

"Well why don't you tell me what u think of me Tommy? I don't really feel comfortable sharing this with you unless I know what you think of me." Jude finally said pulling her head out of her hands after rubbing her eyes.

Tommy raised his left arm to Jude's face and pushed Jude's bangs out of her face.

"I think you are an amazing girl who has the brains to go far in this messed up world, the beauty to make any girl jealous and the body to make any guy slip in a puddle of his own drool." He said while looking Jude straight in the eyes. But the reaction her received was not the one he wish for. Jude adverted her eyes from Tommy's, before turning away from him as she bit her bottom lip. "You don't think that" She said still not looking at Tommy. Tommy reached out and turned her head back to face him.

" What makes you think that?"

Jude whined the same way a little child would when someone didn't understand them.

"Because that's not what your supposed to think Tom. Your supposed to say You're a smart kid, stay in school or something like that. Not tell me that I'm pretty much flawless because I am. I make mistakes just like any other girl." She finished with another childish whine

Tommy furrowed his brow. "I never said you don't make mistakes, and I don't think you are flawless. It's the little quirks I have grown to know that have made think this way." Tommy said getting quieter with each word until it was hard for Jude to hear him, and part of her jumped for joy. She now knew that her feeling weren't just one-sided, but another part of her sank. She knew that they could never be together. Without saying a word Jude got off the lounge and walked over to the TV, while Tommy silently watched her from his spot. While looking at the TV's reflection Jude spoke softly

" Stop. Tom, just stop please."

Tommy got up off the coffee table and walked over to her. He placed his hands on her shoulders and began to slowly rub them before lightly gripping them and spinning her around to face him. He slightly bent his knee's so that he would be face to face with her and then let his arms fall.

" Why Jude? It's obvious that you wanted to talk and here I am talking, but you seem to be pushing me away, not really accepting what I say. I thought you would be happy to hear all this. I thought you were sending signals to me." He said with desperation evident in his voice. One of the first times he had actually been able to say what somebody meant to him and she didn't even want to hear what he had to say.

" I did .. Ugh do want to hear it and I am happy to hear this, but you're my teacher Tommy. Ugh! Why couldn't you have said that I'm just a kid or something like that. Then I could have walked out of here thinking you didn't want me and been able to move on with my hopeless life." Jude said with a confused shrug.

" Do you really want me to say that?" Tommy asked Jude who had looked back down

A quiet "No" soon escaped Jude's lips. Tommy began playing with Jude's hair.

"Jude, what do you really want me to say?" He picked up a single strand and just looked at it. It was fiery red, and suited her personality quite well, he thought. He was brought out of his thoughts when Jude spoke again.

" That you care about me as much as I do for you" It was so soft and quiet but still loud as hell to Tommy's ears. His wishes came true that moment. The one girl he had eyes wanted him just as much as he wanted her.

"Then you got your wish." Tommy said pulling Jude in for a hug. As the pulled apart Jude looked up at Tommy and bit her bottom lip nervously. She wasn't sure on how to react to this new development. So she did the first thing that came to mind she leaned up on her tip toes and placed a nervous kiss on his lips. Tommy snaked an arm around her neck and pulled her close. He started moving his lips in sync with hers and for that short time forgot about all the reasons why they shouldn't be together.

They separated, but Tommy still held her close.

" So what does this mean? I mean your still my coach and my kinda my teacher" Jude asked worried.

" It means you need to keep your cute lips closed about us." He paused to trace the outline of Jude's lips before continuing "I want to be with you Jude and nothing is going to stop me."

" But you could go to jail." Jude pulled out of Tommy's hold, but was quickly pulled back in.

" We will cross that line when we get to it ok. For now I want you to go home and get that essay. We can work on it together." Tommy placed a quick kiss on her forehead and then let go off her. He watched her run through his house with his clothes on and wondered how he would ever be able to let go of her. But he didn't think to much about that, he figured he would never even want to.

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