Oreos for Breakfast: Chapter 28

Oreos For Breakfast: Chapter 33
By the Paperbag Princess and Pumpkin Coach

"Hey, can you pick Colleen up from soccer practice?" Jon asked.

"Where's soccer practice?" Isn't that one of those things that a good aunt should know? I used to go to the girls' games, but I hadn't been home for any of the games in months.

Actually, it might have been two springs ago that I'd been to a soccer game. I sucked.

"This is the school team, so at the elementary school. Where are you?"

"Town. I was going to the grocery store."

"Cool. Go get her now and you can have dinner with us."

"Now?"

"Yeah, soccer practice is over in like five minutes."

I checked the clock on my dashboard. 3:55. Shouldn't good dads be picking up their kids from soccer practice on time?

"What would you have done if I was at home and fifteen minutes from the school?"

"She's ten, Rache. She can wait for a couple of minutes."

"Why do I have to pick her up? Is this a plot to get her to talk to me?"

"Colleen's not talking to you?"

I rolled my eyes as I turned onto the road that led me to the school. Dads could be clueless sometimes.

"Ask your wife. Your youngest daughter is really angry with me for breaking up with the Backstreet Boy."

"She'll get over it. You're fun Aunt Rachel! Are you in the Porsche?"

"No. Nick stole it, remember?"

I wasn't sure what he'd done with it. It's not like he could have driven it down to Florida. But it wasn't in the parking lot at James' building where I'd last seen it.

Whatever. I hated that stupid car. I had enough memories of Nick in this car, his tall body folded up to fit in my little convertible.

"Whatever. You're still cool. Go get my kid, okay?"

"I'm nearly there. I won't tell her that you forgot about her."

"I didn't forget. I just got involved with some orders and I might have lost track of time."

"Whatever. I get to be the responsible one today. Bye, Jon."

I hung up and tossed my cell phone on the passenger seat. This would be good. Colleen and I needed a little alone time. I knew my breaking up with Nick probably screwed with her social status at school, but wasn't a rock star aunt good enough?

It was pretty good. She was standing with a group of girls when I pulled up, and they all started giggling and whispering when they realized it was me. "Hey, Col!" I said, waving. "Your dad asked me to pick you up today."

"Hey, Aunt Rachel," she responded, not meeting my eyes.

Damn. Still mad. This kid could hold a grudge.

She tossed her backpack in the car, saying goodbye to her friends, then got in the car. Guess I wasn't getting shown off to the friends. I smiled at them as we drove away, though.

"How was your day?" I asked her, catching her shrug out of the corner of my eye.

"Okay," she said.

"Sucks to be back at school after having the summer off, doesn't it?"

"It's fine."

"Your dad said this was the school soccer team. Is that new? I thought you were on the youth league team in the spring."

"I was on the school team last year."

Shit. I was a lousy aunt. I sucked.

"And youth league in the spring," she added, making me feel a little better.

We lapsed into silence for a block or two, and I looked over at her when we stopped at a light. "Want to ruin your dinner with an ice cream?"

She shrugged. "Whatever."

Was she so old that I couldn't buy her love with ice cream any more? Damn.

"Well, I want one," I said. "Your dad invited me to dinner, but he didn't tell me what we were having. It might suck, right? I should be prepared."

"It's Thursday. It's probably spaghetti. Grandma doesn't cook on Thursdays, so Mom makes spaghetti."

"Why doesn't Grandma cook on Thursdays?"

"She goes to yoga on Thursdays, so Dad usually works late, and Mom has to cook."

"Well, if we eat our ice cream fast, we can get home and I'll make spaghetti. How does that sound?"

I loved my sister-in-law, but Jon didn't marry her for her cooking skills. I was half-convinced that he'd talked Mom into living with them just so she would cook.

Colleen smiled at me for a second, and then looked away. "You don't have to."

"I don't mind. I haven't made spaghetti for you guys in a while." The girls always liked my spaghetti. At least they did when they were little.

"That would be nice," Colleen admitted, as we pulled up to the ice cream stand.

"Do you still like chocolate?" I asked, turning off the car. It was quiet, just a couple of other cars in the parking lot. In a couple of weeks, they'd close for the winter, but today it was warm and sunny.

"I'm sorry, Aunt Rachel."

She was looking up at me, tears in her big brown eyes.

"For what, sweetie? You don't have to like chocolate ice cream forever."

She shook her head. "I like chocolate still. I'm sorry for being mad at you for the last few days."

"It's okay. I understand."

"No. It was mean and selfish. I was just worried about me, and how I wouldn't get to see Nick any more, and that's stupid. Because you're really sad."

"I'm…" I started to say, but she was on a roll now.

"Some stupid kids were teasing me today at school, and said I wasn't cool now that Nick isn't around and they said you were a big star and you weren't going to be around, either and…"

"That is not true!" I interrupted. "I'm not going anywhere."

"I know!" she said, slamming her fist into the dashboard to make her point. "It doesn't matter how much money you have, you're still Aunt Rachel. And it doesn't matter that Nick is famous, he was just… Nick. Those kids were acting like the two of you aren't real people."

"Some people treat me differently now that I'm famous," I told her. "I hate that they're treating you differently, too."

She waved me away. "They're stupid. I know that. But that made me realize I was being stupid, too, and I'm really sorry."

I hugged her. "When did you get so grown-up?"

She hugged me back, hard. "I'm sorry you and Nick broke up. I know you really loved him."

"Yeah," I whispered. "I really did."

We sat like that for a second, cramped in my little car, and then I kissed her forehead. "Ice cream makes me feel better, though."

She laughed, moving away from me. "Good."

My phone rang, and we both looked at it. "It's probably your dad, wondering where we are," I said, and she opened it.

Shit. It was playing Nsync's 'Girlfriend.' That wasn't her dad. That was Justin freaking Timberlake.

"Rachel's phone," she said. "It's Colleen. Who's this?"

She looked over at me, quizzical at first, then her eyes widened. "Um… yeah. I'm the younger sister."

Good for Justin for remembering. The girls had come to a couple of shows on the Nsync tour, but they probably hadn't spoken to Justin for more than ten minutes. JC had hung out with them, and they liked playing with Joey's daughter. But Justin was always off doing fabulous Justin things.

She smiled at something he said. "She's your girlfriend?"

"I'll explain later," I said, taking the phone from her. "Justin, I've got a date with my niece, can I call you back?"

"You're just dating everyone, aren't you?" He laughed.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, lover boy. I'll call you later tonight, okay?"

"Dunno. I might have found another girlfriend by then."

"Whatever. Bye."

I turned off my phone and Colleen was staring at me. "Justin Timberlake is your new boyfriend?"

"No," I told her, suddenly feeling really guilty about my impending fake date. "Look, I…" I sighed. "Let's get our ice cream and I'll tell you a secret."

She practically danced out of the car, hopping next to me as I got our ice cream and we sat at a picnic table away from the other customers.

"What's the secret?" she asked, her face already covered in chocolate ice cream.

"It won't be a secret for long. I'm going on a date with Justin Timberlake."

"He is your boyfriend!"

"No. It's just… it's a date so it doesn't look like I'm so sad about Nick."

"But you are sad about Nick!" Now I'd managed to confuse her.

"I am. But when you get older, you'll understand this. I don't want him to think that. And because I'm famous, the whole world thinks I'm really upset. So Justin and I are going to go out, and have our picture taken, and maybe then everyone will stop writing things about me and Nick."

She considered me for a moment. "If you're upset about Nick, why don't you tell him that? I bet he's upset about not being with you, too."

"It's not that easy, baby. I wish it was. But I'm going to go out with Justin and it doesn't mean anything. We're just friends."

She pouted at me. "He's not your boyfriend?"

"No. I doubt I'll have another boyfriend for a while. Boyfriends are a lot of trouble."

She nodded. "That's what Mom says."

"Your mother is a wise woman."

"She says that a lot when Aaron calls Katie."

I almost dropped my ice cream. "Aaron calls Katie?"

Colleen shrugged, attempting to look like it wasn't a big deal. "Sometimes. They email, too. But I'm not supposed to know that."

"You little snitch."

She looked up at me, blushing, and I laughed. "Do your parents know that they email?"

"Dunno."

Katie had just turned thirteen. Was that old enough to be emailing a boy without her parent's knowledge?

When that boy was Aaron freaking Carter, probably.

Shit.

Vanessa was very happy that I showed up and offered to cook, and she promptly went back down to the winery while the girls helped me with dinner. I hoped she was just helping Jon with the books. Did they have sex in the back office?

I didn't want to know.

I had Colleen grating cheese and Katie was making a salad while I made garlic bread. We moved around the kitchen and each other, talking about nothing, but I knew I couldn't ignore the Aaron thing for long. The three of us were alone in the house, and if Katie didn't want her parents to know, that might be okay. I didn't want to spill it without knowing the facts anyway.

"Katie, can I ask you something?"

"Sure. What?"

"Do you talk to Aaron much?"

She didn't look up from cutting a carrot. "Sometimes he calls. I'm not allowed to call him."

Should she be allowed to call him? It was the 21st century. Girls were allowed to call boys.

Maybe not when they were thirteen.

Damn, I should just tell Jon and Vanessa what Colleen had told me and let them figure it out. I was not the parent here.

"Do you talk to him in other ways? Email, maybe?"

Katie shot her sister a death glare across the kitchen island, and I had all my answers. Guess that was a secret.

"Don't glare at your sister."

"Snitch," Katie muttered, and I stepped next to Colleen, putting my hand on her shoulder.

"Stop it, Katie. I'm glad she told me. You're only thirteen, and…"

"Aaron's only fourteen. It's not a big deal."

"It is when he acts like he's much older. I'm not telling you to stop talking to him, baby. Do you email a lot?"

Katie forced herself to stop glaring at her sister and turned her gaze to me. "No. Maybe once a week or something. Depends on what he's doing, if he's on tour or anything."

That sounded familiar. The Carter boys were not very good at keeping in touch when they were working. Did Aaron pick up all of his brother's bad habits?

"What do you talk about?"

"Nothing! We're just friends. School and stuff. He likes to know what we're doing 'cause he has a tutor and doesn't go to regular school." She stopped abruptly and went back to chopping her carrot. "I'm never going to see him again anyway."

"Okay. I believe you. I won't tell your parents. Why do you keep it a secret if it's not a big deal, though?"

"Because… because I know they'll make it a big deal. They'll want to see all the emails, and then Dad will just tease me about it."

I smiled. "Yeah. He would. That's your dad. You can keep it a secret."

She looked up at me, not quite believing me, and I laughed. "Sweetie, I was thirteen once. I didn't tell Grandpa who I had crushes on, because when he did find out, he'd tease me about it and send your dad and Uncle Patrick out to kill the guy. Emailing with Aaron is okay. Promise me one thing."

"What?"

"If he ever wants to meet up with you somewhere, tell me." Not that she could get far without her parents knowing. It's not like they lived in the middle of New York City and she could sneak out at night.

She rolled her eyes. "Like that's ever gonna happen. I'm sure he's going to stop emailing now that you and Nick broke up."

Great. I break up with Nick and Colleen was getting teased at school and Katie was losing her crush.

Stupid Nick.

"Baby, if he does, that is so not your fault. Okay?"

Katie looked down at the cutting board, her hair covering her face. "It wouldn't matter if he really…"

I went over, hugging her and not letting her finish her sentence. "Aaron is really loyal to his brother, and I'm sure that he thinks right now that I did something awful to Nick. If he stops emailing you and calling, well, that is probably my fault. Aaron might act older sometimes, but he's still just a kid who loves his older brother more than anything else in the world."

"I wrote to him the other day when I first found out about you and Nick and he hasn't written back."

"Maybe he's just busy." What was Aaron doing lately? I had no idea. I didn't pay attention to Aaron's schedule. "Or maybe he's just stupid."

"Boys are stupid. Mom says so all the time," Colleen offered.

"Shut up," Katie said, her voice muffled as she hugged me. I looked at Colleen over Katie's head and mouthed the word 'apologize'.

"I'm sorry I told Aunt Rachel about the emails," Colleen said. "It just slipped out. And I didn't mean to snoop, but we share the computer."

Katie pulled away from me. "It's okay," she said. "Don't tell Mom or Dad, though. They're not as cool as Aunt Rachel."

Yes! I was still the cool one!

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