Oreos for Breakfast: Chapter 28

Oreos For Breakfast: Chapter 28
By the Paperbag Princess and Pumpkin Coach

This was another example of how far we’d fallen, wasn’t it? I had to stand here on the red carpet at the American Music Awards and watch 'Nsync get interviewed while we waited. JC caught my eye, and I smiled automatically. Wouldn’t be good to let anyone know just how annoyed this whole thing was making me. They certainly knew about Sudden Silence opening for them. Even if the rest of the world didn’t yet.

"Just keep smiling, bro," Kevin whispered as Katy, our publicist, ushered us forward. I nearly tripped over Krystal, trying to move out of 'Nsync’s way. Please don’t stop… please don’t stop.

Shit. They were stopping. Justin extended a hand to me, and I had no choice but to shake it. What I really wanted to do was rip the fucker right off. If Justin only had one arm, they couldn’t tour, could they? My luck, they’d use that as a way to extend their audience as girls everywhere rallied to Justin’s new cause… one-armed celebrities and the sick fucks who rip their arms off.

"What’s so funny, man?" Justin smiled as I cracked myself up.

"Nothin’ dude… sorry, just thinking of something someone told me. It’s all good. Great with the nominations this year."

"I guess it’s our turn at bat. I’m sure you’ll be back to kick our asses next year."

That was a camera in my face, so I couldn’t make some smart-ass comment, could I? I saw JC coming around to my left. Were they jumping me? Rachel would kill me if I dissed Nsync to their faces. That might make visiting her on tour even more difficult. Besides, she promised me I could fuck with Justin’s stuff. We’d fallen asleep the other night laughing about what good pranks we could do… itching powder in his costume was my personal favorite. So simple, but a classic.

"We’ll see, dawg. We figured we could give you a year to win. It was boring kicking your asses all the time." I just had to get the dig in there and JC laughed at it, so it must have come off okay. But it was true. We’d won the group awards two years in a row and been nominated three times. Even if they won everything tonight, we’d still have more awards than they did.

"Should we stage an intervention, Rache?" James leaned down, pretending to fix my earring, whispering to me. Jeremy and Darien were flirting with the woman from Entertainment Tonight while I just tried to breathe in this dress. Maybe I’d had too many waffles this weekend, because this dress should not be this tight, should it? Was I going to make all the entertainment shows’ ‘worst dressed’ lists tomorrow? Oh God, I hated that I had to think about those things now.

"Do I look fat in this dress?" I whispered back, bringing my hand up to hide my mouth from the camera.

James’ eyes were as big as saucers. "You’re smoking the crack again, aren’t you?"

Jeremy turned to us, and we both cracked up. Guess that was louder than we thought. Shit, by morning I’d be a fat drug addict, wouldn’t I? That was worse than the worst dressed list!

"And with that, we should move on. Thanks, Alison." Saffron smiled and shook hands with the nice producer who’d called us over to the ET camera.

"No off-camera whispering, you two!" she hissed, and I felt like a schoolgirl caught cheating on a test. We both mumbled ‘sorry’ before cracking up again. "Jeremy, go stand in between them!"

"Why? Do they really have crack? I need a hit, dude."

"You all are incorrigible!" She rolled her eyes as we all started talking in our Sudden Silence way, completely ignoring the fact that every major news outlet was within 10 feet of us.

"It’s the money. It’s going to their heads. Rachel, we can afford the expensive drugs now. You can level with us. It’s not really the crack anymore, is it?" Darien draped an arm around my shoulder and looked down at me with the most serious expression he could manage.

"Does it show? I thought the alcohol was making me look too fat on camera, so James said I should switch… but the white powder gets all over the black clothes. I just can’t win!"

I batted my eyes at Saffron, and she threw up her hands. "I give up! I will never be able to stop the rumors now!"

"Oh, come on, Saffie," James teased. Ken had used this nickname when talking with Nick the other day, and it cracked me up, so I'd had to share it with James. Apparently it really pissed Saffron off. Of course, that meant that James was going to use it every chance he got. "We’re just having some fun. If you’d indulged in a little champagne in the limo, you’d be having fun with us…"

"Someone has to keep you in line."

"There she goes with the drug references again!" Jeremy said as Darien made a drum roll sound, cracking us all up.

"You look like you’re having entirely too much fun. I can’t wait to be sharing a dressing room with you." Justin freaking Timberlake was suddenly beside me, and I looked up, seeing our next interview team perk up as he joined us. Cameras were definitely rolling now, weren’t they?

"Is that in the contract? Saf, we need to re-think this offer. I hate sharing rooms with smelly boys!"

"That’s not what I hear," Justin said, lifting the corner of his mouth in a flirty smirk. Fucker. They definitely caught that on film. "All the boys are fighting over you in our camp."

"Someone say camp? I love camp!" James called out, moving in between us. Justin wasn’t seriously flirting with me, was he? His girlfriend was just over there… well, she had been a minute ago. He and Britney were pop royalty. Shouldn’t they be doing this stuff together?

And just like that the interview was derailed as the rest of Nsync joined us and Extra or Access Hollywood or whoever it was got the exclusive on our opening for them next month. Great. This wasn’t supposed to be announced for another week, at least. Saffron was already on the phone as we talked, none of us really sure what we should be saying.

The next hour was all a blur. Once we were inside, I got to sit with Nick, which was great. Because once the interviews were over, I started obsessing about the awards. What if we won? Would we have time to thank everyone we needed to thank? James had scribbled a list in the car, but I could never read his handwriting. I hated people who read from a prepared speech. It was like they expected to win. We totally didn't expect to win. But who would talk if we did?

Shit! Our first category was next, wasn’t it? Saffron was nearly jumping out of her skin over there. Did that mean we were going to win? Did she know? Are people supposed to know these things ahead of time? Nsync had already won one award, and they hadn't looked shocked. But they always won at shows like this, didn’t they? We were in the front, too. Oh God, I needed a handful of Advil and a shot of vodka.

I tugged on Nick’s sleeve. "Who talks?" I whispered as Tim McGraw accepted his award. He thanked God and his wife and his children… shit, was I allowed to thank Nick? Or was that corny? It’s not like we were married or anything.

"What?"

"If we win, who talks?"

"You didn’t talk about it in the limo? James has a list."

"Yeah, but… my legs are short, and they’ll beat me to the stage, and then I won’t get to thank anyone and…"

Suddenly Nick’s lips were on mine, and I stopped thinking for half a second. "I can feel your heartbeat from over here, Rache. Calm down. It’s gonna be fine. You’ll be great. Just remember to breathe. Now smile pretty. You're going to be on camera in a second."

Am I? Damnit, I missed that they were announcing one of our awards. I barely had time to smile when they said our name, flashing our video on the huge screen. Then someone opened an envelope, and I held my breath for what seemed like an eternity.

"And the award goes to… Sudden Silence."

What?

I stared at the presenter, some girl from some show I never watched. She looked pretty vacuous. She just read it wrong, didn't she?

Nick yanked me out of my seat, laughing. "Rache! You won!"

"No, we…"

James leaned down to me. "No, honey. We fucking won."

"Oh my God."

Suddenly the cheering was very loud, all around me. Our song was playing over the sound system. That was me singing. I could hear Jeremy and Darien saying something, and beyond Nick's shoulder I could see Kevin beaming.

But all I could focus on was Nick's blue eyes as he grinned at me. He was so proud he looked like he could burst, and I threw my arms around him. "I love you," I whispered, and he kissed me quickly, pulling me into the aisle.

Kevin and Nick stood aside so that we could file past them. We hadn't even sat on the end. I'd never dreamed we would have to get up.

"Congrats, Rache. You deserve this," Kevin said, smiling into my eyes, and I swooned, overwhelmed. How did Jana stand that much beauty every day?

James dragged me away, leading me down the aisle to the stage before I could contemplate more of it. I was standing there, on stage at the AMfuckingA's, holding the award in my hands. It was heavy. And pointy.

Where would I put it? Would we get four, or just one? We could trade it off. That’d be okay.

Darien pushed me over to the mic, and I blinked at him. I guess I was the one talking. But James had the list! "Go," he shrugged. "While Jeremy is still kissing girls."

I glanced over, and yes, Jeremy was kissing the presenter. Schmooze.

I leaned into the mic, and the applause stopped. "Thanks. Really, thank you, I think we are all in complete shock over this." James stood next to me, and I looked up at him, his familiar, happy face, and I felt tears in my eyes.

"This is a great life. Every day I get to make music with my three best friends. We are so blessed."

Nsync was in the front row, and I was blinded by JC's grin. I swear Lance and Chris were holding him in his seat. I think he would have stood up and kissed James if they weren't there.

"So, um, thanks to everyone who voted for us, and requested the song, and came to the shows. Our fans rock!" There was a cheer from up in the cheap seats, and I grinned up at them.

"I guess I need to thank my family, and my cool boyfriend…" I caught his eye, and he was still beaming, so excited and so proud.

Just like Dad. "And my dad. He always believed in me, and I wish he was here right now to see this. Thanks, Dad." I whispered, looking up as I stepped back from the mic. James caught me, and I turned, hugging him tightly. Jeremy was at the mic unfolding James’ list, and I heard him mention Lola, and every radio station that played us, and MTV.

Not the label. Slick, that.

And as quickly as it started, it was over. I heard music and a really tall, skinny girl was standing beside me, motioning me off in a verypolite way. Bet she didn’t feel fat in her dress.

What the fuck was I doing? I laughed at myself and took another peek out at the audience. They were still clapping, and Nick was standing up at the end of our aisle. I think that was even him whistling. The freak.

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