Oreos for Breakfast: Chapter 28

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

"Are you sure you can't come to Chicago with me?" Ben asked, and I shook my head, straightening his tie.

"I have a million Christmas things to do." I was not prepared for the holidays, not at all.

"It's a day," he said, pulling on his suit jacket. It was an expensive grey pinstripe and every time I saw him in it, I wanted to yank it back off of him. And mess up his hair, too. A lot. He had that devilish look in his eye when I looked up at him. "You can shop in Chicago while I'm in meetings. And then you can help me mess up this suit at the end of the day."

Yeah, I might have told him about that once or twice.

My phone rang and we both looked at it. I glanced at the clock across the room - barely 8 in the morning. Too early for anyone in my band to be up. But that was Darien's ring.

"Song," he said, before I even said 'hello'. "It's a single."

"Where are you? If you tell me the studio, I know I'm being punk'd."

"Home. I just wrote it. Half of it. I need help."

"I can be at the studio in an hour." So much for my fantasy of ripping that suit off Ben and making him take a later flight.

"Better hurry, or Jeremy's going to get to sing lead, and I think it's yours," Darien warned.

Darien wrote songs, but he couldn't sing. For some reason, he usually wrote songs for me to sing, which probably said something about his psyche that I didn't want to delve into.

"I'll be there soon." I closed my phone and smiled at Ben. "Gotta go to work."

"I thought you were done."

"We've got two days, and Darien says this is a single." I could see the blank look on Ben's face as I looked around for my bag. He hadn't been around my world enough to understand the importance of that statement. Especially from Darien. Jeremy and I thought we wrote singles all the time, but not Darien.

Ben sighed, kissing me again. "Fine. But we're having dinner tomorrow."

"Give me a call when you get back and I'll be all yours."

"Can I drop you at the studio?"

"No, I have to go home and get my guitar. And see if the party spilled into my place last night."

Ben held open the door, letting me pass. "They'd take over your place?"

"JC has a key. Anything is possible."

It was silent when I got off the elevator and looked down the hallway. No signs of a party that I could see. I opened my door and was met with more silence. No debauchery in my place either. JC's could be a mess, but they hadn't taken over my apartment.

I looked out the back window on my way to the bedroom and laughed to myself. Evidently the party had moved to the hot tub at some point. There were a lot of wet clothes and glasses strewn around the deck, messing up the light snow we'd gotten. Someone was going to be very annoyed this morning when they woke up and realized that their clothes were wet and possibly frozen.

I changed quickly, and then grabbed my guitar case. I was just about to leave when I saw someone out on the deck. Chris, in JC's robe, which meant it didn't really fit his stocky frame.

Darien and his song could wait five minutes. I needed to hear about the party.

"Morning, sunshine," I said, stepping out onto the deck. Chris jumped, dropping the wet clothes he was holding.

"Damn! You scared the hell outta me. Rachel!" he finished, opening his arms, and I hugged him.

He didn't let go. "You're warm."

"I'm wearing a coat, Chris."

"It's soft," he said, rubbing his cheek on my shoulder, and I laughed, moving away from him.

"Cashmere. Are you stuck in JC's robe until you get your clothes dry?"

"Yeah," he admitted. "There was a lot of debauchery last night. Where were you? Why didn't you come over?"

"Justin warned me, so I stayed with my boyfriend."

"Justin didn't warn you. He invited you. And the boyfriend," he added hastily.

I raised an eyebrow at him. "So that he could torture Ben all night? No thanks. I stayed at Ben's and we had a lovely evening after we got out of that party."

"Yeah, how did I miss you all night?"

"I was trying to keep James away from JC."

Chris nodded. "Speaking of JC, do you know where he is?"

"Should I?"

"Yeah… we sorta lost him at some point."

"You lost JC?" I laughed, as I pictured JC seeking refuge from his own friends. Yeah, that was like JC.

"The details are a little fuzzy," Chris said, talking with his hands. "Lance and I were just talking about how JC isn't there, and we thought he went out to get bagels or something, but… neither of us remembers when we saw him after the second or third round of drinks."

"He probably checked into a hotel to avoid you guys."

"Lance had a theory that he went over to your place."

"No one in my place." Had I looked in the guest room? Yeah, my guitar was in there.

"Huh," Chris said.

"Maybe he was off talking to Joey or Justin. Did you have girls there? Maybe he was having sex."

Chris snickered. "Um, JC is gay. Did you forget?"

"Gay didn't really work out for him, did it?"

Chris raised an eyebrow at me. "Harboring a little resentment, Rache?'

"I love you guys, but James is my best friend and JC broke his heart. So, yeah. I'm a little pissed at him."

"Come on, you know…" Chris started, but I waved him off. I was perfectly content not knowing or caring about JC's side of the breakup. All I needed to know was how much he had hurt James, and that was enough for me.

"I need to get to the studio. I'll leave the back door open if you want to use my washer for all those clothes."

"Thanks. I'll take you up on that."

I hugged him. "Happy holidays, Chris. I'm glad I ran into you."

"Soft," he said, snuggling into my coat. I loved this coat. I'd bought it last week when Ben and I were holiday shopping.

"That's what I don't get about JC and the gay thing. Girls are warm and soft. Guys… hard and generally smelly," Chris went on, and I laughed, stepping away from him.

"Yeah, you should take a shower, babe. I've got one of those, too. Feel free."

"Do you have lots of smelly girly soaps?"

"Tons."

He grinned. "I'm totally taking a shower at your place."

"You're a freak, Chris."

He kissed me before I could wiggle away, making me giggle. "Happy holidays, Rachel. Tell the guys I say hi."

"I will."

I didn't get a chance to pass on Chris' holiday greetings because I walked into a song.

I groaned, putting down my guitar before I dropped it. "Not you, too?"

He just shrugged, still looking at his guitar. "Darien only had the chorus."

I fell onto the shabby studio couch, battered by years of bands fighting over songs in this room. "You can't be with Lola, Jeremy."

"Why?" he looked up at me, that familiar challenging look in his eyes. "Because you're jealous?"

"No! Because she's our manager! And we can't lose her. We like her! You'll fuck it up, because you always do, and that will ruin it for the rest of us."

"I am not going to fuck it up!" Jeremy said defensively. "Our relationship was not all my fault, Rachel."

"Just mostly," I countered.

"Fuck off. You've had two fucking relationships since we broke up, and I can't have one?"

"This isn't about me, Jeremy."

"Bullshit it's not."

"Hey!" Darien said. "Happy song here. Happy smiley I'm in love for the first time ever song. No fighting with my happy song in the room!"

"It's a happy song?" James asked, joining us. "I'm in the mood for a happy song today."

He sat across from me and we all stared at him for a minute. Oh, hell.

"What?" he said, that smile still on his face.

"JC was with you last night," I said. I'd been afraid of that ever since Chris had told me he was missing.

James' grin got bigger, and I dropped my head into my hands. "James," I said, disappointed. "You didn't."

"I did," James answered, and his voice was angry enough to make me look up. "It's my fucking life, and if I want to be with him, that's my choice to make."

"But…" I started, and he glared at me.

James glared at me? James didn't glare at me!

"Fuck you and your boring fucking lawyer boyfriend. Not all of us get the easy boyfriend."

"James!"

"And Jeremy is allowed to be with Lola," he added before I could go on.

"Thank you," Jeremy said, smirking at me, but James was on a roll.

"Unlike some people, she won't take all of his shit! Besides, you think he's going to find a nice boring lawyer that will put up with his shit?"

"Hey!" Jeremy protested, and James turned on him.

"Oh, please. You're a fucking dysfunctional mess, but Lola is great with you. More power to her."

James looked at Darien, but Darien shook his head. "Oh, no! Rachel told me to tell Mari that I love her, and it was great. Rachel can meddle all she wants with me."

"Fine, then, meddle with Darien, but stay away from me and Jeremy."

"James, I'm just worried about you. Is JC coming out?"

"No," he answered, trying to pretend that was fine.

"So, what, you'll have another couple of months before that drives you insane again?"

"I pushed him, and I shouldn't have done that," he answered quickly.

"Yes you should have! You shouldn't have to hide your relationship with him."

"I'd rather be with him than without him, and that's my choice to make."

"What, because he was drunk and depressed last night, and he showed up on your doorstep? What's going to happen now that he's sober?"

"It's not like he could show up with a ring and make the big gesture. I don't get to marry him, no matter if he's in the closet or not."

"Nice ring," Jeremy commented, and James clenched his fist.

"Okay, I got a ring. But it's not like when Nick showed up with a diamond. I'll never get that, no matter what happens."

"JC gave you a ring? Wait. Nick?"

Did James say diamond? Nick had never given me a diamond. Well, not a ring.

I looked around at my band, and they all looked guilty. Darien couldn't look down at his feet fast enough. "What do I need to know?" I asked them.

"We agreed not to tell her," Darien said, looking at James, who was biting his lip, caught.

"Tell me what?" I demanded.

"The day after that TRL thing, Nick showed up backstage and wanted to give you a ring," James said. "An engagement ring," he clarified, since I could only look at him. "You were already gone, and I told him not to look for you."

I remembered that show. I couldn't stop thinking about him all night, and Shirley took me out and got me drunk to forget about him.

Nick was there? Ready to propose?

The room was silent for a moment, the guys waiting for my reaction.

"I think you've got the vocal on this one, Jeremy. I'll see you later."

I walked out of the room, leaving my guitar behind, my head spinning as I walked down the quiet hallway.

Nick. With an engagement ring. At that point we hadn't spoken in two months, and he wanted to marry me?

Absence makes the heart grow fonder and all that. He certainly hadn't wanted to marry me when we were together. That last month he'd barely wanted to be with me, let alone spend forever with me.

"Rachel," James said from behind me and I stopped walking.

"I'm glad you didn't tell me. I might have said 'yes'."

"I know."

I turned around to James, but ignored his open arms. "Don't you get it? That's why I'm so mad at JC now. Just because I loved Nick doesn't mean he was good for me."

"But we were never like you and Nick. We never fought. It's not the same thing, Rachel."

"You deserve someone who can give you the world, James. You deserve someone who loves you as much as you love them."

"He does," James said, his voice sincere. "Why would he have come to me last night if he didn't? It would be better for him to just forget about me. But he can't. That has to mean something."

I let him pull me into his arms and leaned my head on his chest. "I will kill him if he hurts you again."

"I know," James said, wrapping his arms around me tighter. "That's why I told Nick to leave. I knew he was being emotional and impulsive and you didn't need that. I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner."

"No, it's okay. Now what do we do about Jeremy and Lola?"

"Pray."

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