Oreos for Breakfast: Chapter 28

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

There was a knock at my door and I paused my video game. An hour. I wanted one fucking hour in my own place to blow things up and not deal with the latest Carter family crisis. It had been quiet when we got back from being on the boat, so I figured I was safe to go to my own place and shower. I'd been sleeping on the couch in Aaron's living room. A couple of nights ago,, I'd been there at one in the morning and Mom had started freaking out about something again.

Tomorrow was Christmas and then I was leaving. I hoped stores in LA were open on the day after Christmas. I needed to buy stuff for Paris. I sorta figured I could just go to Rodeo Drive and drop her name and someone would be able to tell me what she liked.

"Nick!" Aaron yelled, and I tossed down my game controller, going to open the door.

"What, A? I just wanted-"

"I have a great idea." He pushed past me, heading for my bedroom. "It's perfect."

"What's perfect?"

"My idea!" He threw open my closet and pulled out my suitcase.

I could be behind any idea that involved me far away from here. "What?"

"You need to leave. You can get to Long Island before midnight, I bet."

Long Island? Why did I need to go to Long Island?

He looked a little crazy, throwing stuff into my suitcase.

"Don't you own a suit?"

"I own plenty of suits. They're in the other room."

"Cool." He took off for the other bedroom, and I followed him. "Because you should really be wearing a suit for this. Or at least tomorrow."

"We usually eat Christmas dinner in our sweatpants, A. What are you doing?"

"You won't be here tomorrow. Wear this one!" He held out a suit to me, but I didn't take it. He looked like he was one step away from crying, but he was smiling to cover it up.

"Why do I need a suit?"

"Because you're going to go to Long Island and propose to Rachel."

My brother was freaking insane.

"She can't say no, right? You told me. She has that big party every year. You can get there before it's over and propose and she'll have to say yes. Then you can go to Vegas tomorrow and get married."

I sat on the guest bed and just looked at him. Normally I sorta freaked out whenever anyone talked about Rachel, but I knew this wasn't about me at all.

"Why would I do that?"

"Because then I can live with you," he said.

"You can live with me now. We don't need Rachel."

"Yes we do! You know they'll never let me live with you. Never! Besides, you're nicer with Rachel around."

"Did they do the 'pick who you want to live with' thing again?" I asked him, and his face crumpled as he nodded, looking down.

I pulled him over to the bed and let him cry, wrapping my arm around his skinny little shoulders.

Sometimes I hated my parents. Both of them. In their own individual ways, but both of them sucked. This wasn't the first time they'd gone to one of us, or all of us, and said "We're getting divorced! Who do you want to live with?" It always hurt Aaron the worst. The girls could pick. Sometimes it was Mom, and sometimes it was Dad, but they'd pick. Aaron never wanted anyone to be mad at him.

He finally caught his breath, and I handed him a box of tissues to wipe his face. "Sorry," he mumbled.

"Bro, it's okay. Our parents suck. Are they torturing the girls now?"

"They started with Leslie. I heard them and started to think about who I wanted to live with, and I don't want to live with either of them. I want to live with you and Rachel."

"I'm not good enough by myself?"

He just gave me a look. "You so don't want your little brother cramping your style. I doubt Paris Hilton wants me hanging around."

"Fuck her. Seriously, Aaron, come with me to LA. It'll be fine."

"I'm still in school, Nick. And you know Mom and Dad won't let that happen. You're a bad influence."

They loved to play that card on me. It was one of the few things they could agree on, that I was a bad influence on the others. Mostly Aaron. I thought most of the problem was that neither of them wanted to give up their cash cow. They'd never seen much money from me. That was the one good thing about Lou taking all of our money in the early days. I was eighteen by the time I started earning real money, and it was all mine.

But Aaron? He'd made Mom and Dad millions.

I didn't tell him that, though. He had enough problems.

"But they like Rachel."

"I know, but… that's not going to work, Aaron. I fucked that one up."

"I bet you can still buy a ring. Stuff is open late on Christmas eve."

I already had the perfect ring for Rachel. Well, Anna did. I wondered what she'd done with the ring. She'd probably returned it. Anna was practical like that.

Maybe she'd kept it and pretended that I'd given it to her. Since she was in love with me and all.

Probably not.

"Not gonna happen."

Aaron groaned and fell back on the bed. "I know. It's still the best option."

If I hadn't fucked up with Rachel, maybe I could have saved my family. She would have come in here and told BJ that her boyfriend was a loser, gotten Leslie to stop moping in her room, and whipped Aaron and Angel into shape. She probably even would have told my parents how much they sucked.

"Sorry. I'm a fuck up. I have crappy role models. I'm not sure why she put up with me as long as she did. Her family is fucking perfect and ours is a disaster."

"Think she's at her family Christmas party now?"

I looked at the clock. Only six. "Not yet," I told him. "It starts around eight. She's probably at the vineyard, though, getting ready."

"Who will she sing 'Little Drummer Boy' with this year?"

I'd told him about that, how she'd tricked me into singing the song she used to sing with her dad.

"No clue, A. Justin Timberlake, maybe. Come on. Let's go up to the house and save the girls."

"Can't we just stay here?"

"No," I said, pulling him off the bed. "We are men. We must save the women."

"Except Mom," he said, following me out of the room.

"Mom can save herself. She's half the problem. But BJ's probably screaming at her, and Angel is trying to smooth everything over, and Leslie's just crying. We'll fix it. Bake Christmas cookies or something and act like a normal family."

Aaron laughed at me. Punkass.

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