Oreos for Breakfast: Chapter 28

Oreos For Breakfast: Chapter 35
By the Paperbag Princess and Pumpkin Coach

"You can still back out."

"Rachel!" Ben laughed, taking my hand. "I want to go to this thing with you. I will not get in your way, I promise."

"It's not…" I said, looking down at our hands. He had beautiful hands, long, slender fingers with neat nails. He'd admitted to me that he got regular manicures.

I loved that. I was used to band guys who had calluses from playing guitar.

"What is it then?"

I sighed, looking up at him. "I try so hard to be normal for you."

"Why? I like dating a rock star."

"You haven't even seen the real rock star, Benjy. Believe me. You're about to meet my band. That would be bad enough, but this is an industry thing, and those people really suck."

He kissed me quickly. "I'm a lawyer, remember? I bet these music people are just like lawyers with more interesting outfits."

I laughed, leaning my forehead on his shoulder for a minute. "Promise you'll still like me after tonight."

"There's not much that could make me stop liking you, Rachel."

Except maybe meeting Jeremy. Jeremy took one look at him and then turned to me. "Who's the stiff?"

I glared at him. "This is Ben. Who I believe I've mentioned about a thousand times."

"Yeah. I'm just surprised that he looks like such a suit. Not your type, Rache."

"She hasn't had such good luck with her 'type,'" Ben said, holding out his hand for Jeremy to shake. "I think she's moving on. You must be Jeremy."

Jeremy shook his hand, shooting me a look. It was easy enough to impress Jeremy if you just stood up to him.

Ben turned to me. "He's the first band guy you dated, right?"

I could only laugh before Darien threw his arm around me, his other around Mari. "Alright, I've got the prettiest girls in the room."

"As usual," Mari said, looking over at me. "Darien goes right for the hot chicks."

"Does it count if he brought one and I'm in his band? And taken? Ben, this is Darien."

Darien released Mari and I to shake Ben's hand. "Glad to meet ya, man. Although I hear we already have. Still doing the Hanukah-tinis? Nice."

At least one third of my band was nice to my new boyfriend. And James would be nice. I glanced around the room while Ben and Darien chatted and saw James at the bar, talking to…

I was next to him without realizing how I got there. Who invited JC to this thing? Fucking holiday charity parties.

"Joey! Jace!" I said, kissing them both. "How are you?"

I didn't even look at JC. "Good," Joey said. "Great. Ready for the holidays?"

Yeah, this was stupid small talk so that James and JC didn't have to look at each other. I flashed Joey an apologetic smile and grabbed James' arm. "Sorry, guys, I just can't wait for James to meet my new boyfriend."

"Justin's not here yet," Joey said, and I smiled at him, leading James towards our table.

"You OK?" I whispered, and he took my hand.

"No," he whispered back, pasting a smile on his face as we got to our table.

"Ben, this is James."

James managed to sound happy to meet him, but I knew his attention was across the room with JC. Damn JC.

Justin was coming? Damn him, too.

Why had I come to this thing again?

Because Saffron made us. She and Lola were heading for our group, and I knew she was going to tell us that we had to mingle.

"Hey, Lola," Jeremy said, smiling at her, and I looked over at him. I knew that tone of voice.

Jeremy liked Lola! Since when?

I sighed into my drink, and Ben leaned down to me as the others talked to Lola and Saffron. "What's wrong?"

"Can we go now?"

"No," Saffron said. "You need to mingle. I'll take care of your hot boyfriend. Hi, I'm Saffron, their manager." She held out her hand and Ben shook it with a laugh.

"Ben Lawson, the hot boyfriend. I think I'll add that to my business cards."

"I hear you're in entertainment law. Do I know you?"

"Probably not. We do really boring stuff like copyright infringement for operas."

"I love opera."

"You do not," I accused, and she smiled at me.

"I have a subscription to the Met. So there."

They started discussing where their seats were, and the last show, and I gave up, grabbing James' arm.

"Let's mingle and get this over with."

"That's the best idea you've ever had."

I spotted Amber from the label across the room and started towards her. Definitely needed to get her out of the way. "So, when did Jeremy develop a crush on Lola?" I asked, grabbing a glass of champagne from a passing waiter.

"They had dinner the other night," James answered, stealing my drink. Hell, he probably needed it more than I did. At least when I left, I got to leave with Ben.

If I could get him away from Saffron, that was.

"They did not! Was it a date?"

James shrugged. "Sounded like it. You know Jeremy. He just mentioned it when he said he needed to leave the studio by six the other night."

I'd missed that. Probably because I wanted to get home to get ready to go out with Ben.

I glanced back at the table we'd staked out. Saffron had disappeared, and Ben and Mari were talking. That was good. They could hang out while Darien and I worked.

Darien must be with Saffron, but Lola and Jeremy were still standing there, laughing about something.

I hadn't seen him laugh with a woman like that since… me.

I didn't have time to think about it, as Amber had spotted us and I had to start schmoozing. I hated schmoozing.

For an hour, Amber dragged us around the party. I kept throwing longing glances at Ben, and he'd laugh at me, talking to some other pretty girl. There was always someone with him. This was a freaking music industry party. Shouldn't all the trampy girls be flirting with the pop stars, not the boring lawyers?

"Hola, senorita," a too familiar voice said behind me, and a flashbulb popped as I turned around. I guess a picture of Justin and I at a party wasn't such a big deal.

He kissed my cheek, and I sighed to myself. The tabloids would have us engaged by Christmas.

"Did you just get here?" I asked him.

"Yeah, and I plan to get out of here in about half an hour. JC's having a few of us back to his place, you coming?"

James was right behind me, talking to someone from some radio station or something.

"I doubt it."

"Babe, you live across the hall."

I smiled at him. "I can stay at my boyfriend's tonight."

"I'm staying with JC," Justin said, "but…"

I cut him off. "My real boyfriend." I looked around the room, catching Ben's eye and waving him over. I needed his arm around me for a minute, to remind me of my life outside of this room. I was tired of keeping James away from JC and making small talk with boring industry guys.

Justin watched Ben make his way over to us. "Really?"

"You and Jeremy both had that reaction, but keep an eye on him. Every woman at this party has flirted with him already. Women like the nice stable guys. Benjy!" I said, holding out my hand to him and pulling him close.

"Ben, this is Justin Timberlake. You need to tell Jessa you met him."

Ben shook his hand. "My niece has you all over her walls."

"I get that a lot. How old is she?"

"Fourteen. I used to think she was a sweet, smart little girl until I started dating Rachel and I discovered she was actually a completely normal teenager."

Even Justin laughed at that. "Do you have your phone, Ben?" I asked him, and he pulled it off his belt clip.

"You can't need to call anyone. Everyone you know is here."

"No, I'm taking a picture of you and Justin for Jessa."

I snapped a picture of them, and then emailed it to her. I could only imagine the screaming that would cause. Justin got pulled away, and Saffron found me, and I gave Ben a quick kiss before being dragged off to talk to some other industry loser.

Half an hour later, I made my way to the bar. I'd only had one so far, and I needed more alcohol to get me through the night.

"Can I buy you a drink?"

"They're free, Jace. You holding up the bar tonight?"

He shrugged, not looking at me. "Easier to… avoid people if I don't move."

"Enjoy yourself tonight back at the apartment. I'll stay with Ben."

"You could come. Bring the boyfriend. He looks nice."

"He is." I picked up my drink, but JC placed a hand on my arm, and I looked at him.

He looked like hell. Skinny and tired, like he didn't even care about dealing with his hair.

About how James looked.

"Rachel…" he started, but he couldn't say anything else. Especially not in the middle of a crowd of people.

I leaned closer to him, whispering. "He deserves more than you. He's the best person I know, and he deserves someone who's strong enough to give him the world."

He let me go, and I headed for James. James didn't need to know that JC was as heart-broken as he was. He'd cave. James was like that.

Jeremy and Lola found me before I could get to James. Were they joined at the hip tonight or was that just me?

I wasn't jealous. That would be completely ridiculous.

"Ben is bidding on the Puerto Rico trip," Lola said, and I just looked at her.

"What?"

"The trip, with the private beach and the amazing villa."

"Really, I have no idea what you're talking about, Lola."

"Silent auction?" Jeremy tried. "All the stuff around the sides of the room that you can bid on? The way they're raising money tonight?"

"There's shopping?" I asked, making both of them laugh at me. "Hey, I have been schmoozing all freaking night." I looked at Lola. "Can I stop now?"

"Yeah, go shop."

"Not the ski trip, though. We want that one."

I was too tired to respond. We?

Since when were Jeremy and Lola a 'we'? A 'we' that went on ski trips, at that?

I wasn't jealous. I wasn't sure what I was, but it wasn't jealous.

There were some great prizes here. Ben had bid on a few: a baseball thing where you got to hang out with the Yankees, some opera thing, and a trip to Puerto Rico. He'd better be planning on taking me, because it looked great. And just what we'd need in the middle of winter was a week on a sunny island.

"Enjoy the sun," Mari said, and I smiled at her.

"He hasn't asked me to go with him yet," I said, and she laughed.

"He will."

"What's Darien bidding on?"

She motioned over to where he was scribbling his name on a bid sheet. "It's a week at the lake in the summer. I doubt I'll be around then to go with him."

I pulled her away from the table. "What are you talking about? Are you fighting or something?"

I loved Darien and Mari! They couldn't break up.

"No," she said, looking over at him. "But I'm not stupid, Rachel. Darien is not a one-woman man."

"You have been together for over a year now. That is by far the longest he's ever been with anyone."

She shook her head. "I know. But I doubt he does. It's worked this long, but eventually he's going to figure out how long it's been and he'll be gone. I'm just looking at getting through Christmas. Maybe New Year's."

"Mari," I started to say, and she laughed.

"I'm okay, Rachel. I'm crazy about him, but I know it's not forever."

"He's crazy about you, too."

"I know. But he's allergic to commitment and it's not going to last."

"Whatcha talking about?" Lola asked, and we both jumped.

"We're wondering what the hell is up with you and Jeremy." Mari said, seeing an opportunity to change the subject.

Lola blushed. I'd never seen her blush before.

"Nothing," she said, and Mari and I both laughed at her.

"I hear there was a date," I said.

"Dinner," she corrected, and I nodded.

"Tell me you didn't sleep with him. Then again, I held out for about three weeks and I ended up with him for four years. I don't think you want that, either."

"Maybe he's changed since then, Rachel," Lola said, and I just blinked at her.

"I… okay."

I wasn't jealous.

"It was just dinner," Lola said, and I shrugged.

"It's whatever you want it to be, I guess." Walking away from them, I grabbed Darien. "You haven't told her!"

"What? Who? When?"

"Mari. You haven't told her that you like her!"

He glanced over at her. "Why mess up a good thing?"

"Because she thinks you're going to wake up one day and leave her. She deserves more than that, doesn't she?"

"I'm not going to leave her!" he said. "Why would I? She's amazing!"

"I know that. You know that. But she doesn't. Get some balls and tell the girl that you love her."

He started to say something, and then sighed. "You're right."

"I usually am."

"I often think so," Ben said, putting his arm around me. "So, how do you feel about Puerto Rico in February?"

"Can we go now?" I whined. I didn't want to think about my band and their stupid love lives any more. I just wanted to focus on mine.

"To Puerto Rico or from this party?" Ben joked, leaning down and kissing my forehead. "James left. Does that mean you're free, or do you two have to keep up the Sudden Silence presence?"

"James left?" Darien asked.

"Yeah, like twenty minutes ago. And Justin Timberlake apparently wants us to come to a party at JC's place. Whoever and wherever that is."

Ben doesn't know JC? Of course not. Why would he? He knew some man had broken James' heart, but I'd tried to keep the 'who' out of our conversation.

"My neighbor. JC lives across the hall from my apartment. Can I stay at your place tonight?"

Ben smiled, kissing me quickly. "Of course."

"I'm going to get Mari and go," Darien said, and we exchanged goodbyes.

"Everything okay?" Ben asked, and I leaned my head against his chest.

"I feel like I'm at a high school dance, and there's drama everywhere. Can we get out of here?"

"What about out Puerto Rico trip?" he asked. "It's another fifteen minutes until bidding closes."

"I'll get Jeremy to keep an eye on it. He's bidding on something for him and Lola."

"Are they together?"

I sighed. "Can we get out of here?"

Disclaimer | Sudden Silence Website
Feedback to Authors | Tragical Fiction (home)

Subscribe to receive an email when this site is updated!

Powered by groups.yahoo.com