by Sam Mariano
"Yep, too bad," Aaron said with a nod.
"And who is this?" Becca asked, grinning at Aaron pointedly and then looking at Julie.
"Julie," he said simply. "This is my sister Rebecca."
"Nice to meet you," Julie murmured with a painted on smile.
"Oh, you too. I didn't even know my brother was bringing someone. So glad you could make it to my wedding."
"Mom, I believe you briefly spoke to Julie on the phone," Aaron said as he leaned in to hug his mother.
"Oh, is this the girl that lives with you?" asked the woman she presumed was his mother, giving Julie a quick once-over.
"Lives with you?" questioned a new voice, sounding a little shocked.
Rebecca, Julie, Aaron and Aaron's mom all turned to look at Shannon.
Aaron was the one that got to offer her a smile and say, "Yep."
The satisfaction Julie got when Shannon shot her an indiscreet dirty look almost made the whole trip worth it.
Shannon looked down at her hands in her lap after that, and Aaron—just to be spiteful, Julie would bet—actually pulled out her chair for her to sit in. She lavished an adoring smile on him as she murmured a thank-you as she took her seat, then she continued to smile at him dotingly as he took a seat beside her.
Shannon stole another glance at Julie, then began fidgeting with the napkin in her lap.
"So, how's the café doing?" Aaron's mother asked.
"Great," Aaron said, picking up a menu.
She nodded, glancing a little uncertainly at Julie. "My name's Denise, by the way. What is it you do?"
Julie was caught off guard with questions aimed at her, but then she hadn't intended on laying it on quite so thick either, she had just reacted to Shannon.
"I'm a full-time student, and I actually work at the café."
"You're in college? What for?"
"I'm an English major," Julie informed her. "I intend to become a college professor myself someday."
Denise nodded, but before she could ask anything else Aaron said, "So, Dad, how's the plumbing business going?"
Josh, Aaron's father, offered his son a little smile. "Same as always."
"I think he was trying to deflect attention off his girlfriend," Rebecca chimed in.
Aaron sighed, and Julie bit her lip to try to cover her smile.
They were going to make him so grumpy, and she was going to be the one to have to deal with the big bear all night, she didn't know why she was amused, but she was.
"Julie's a girl—why don't you tell her about that great deal you got on your dress?" suggested Aaron's dad.
"Oh, she'll see that soon enough. I want to hear about Aaron's girlfriend, too," Rebecca said, not taking the bait.
Josh half smiled. "Sorry, son. I tried."
"Becky," Aaron said, shooting her a dark look from where he sat at the table.
Sighing, she said, "Fine. Let's leave Aaron alone for the moment and talk about the wedding. I am so excited, and you know what I did? You know how normally at the reception the bride's feet are hurting from the heels and everything? Well, since no one is actually going to be seeing the heels because my dress is so long, I got a pair of white ballet slippers so I can dance the night away and never have to worry about my feet hurting."
As the waiter approached the table, Aaron leaned in a little and said, "Will you drive us back to the hotel?"
"Yeah," she said with a nod. "How come?"
"I'm not going to make it through this dinner without something to take the edge off," he stated.
Smiling, she said, "No problem at all. Order one of everything they serve."
He gave her an ironic smile. "You're always trying to take advantage of me, aren't you?"
"I'm not trying to get any information out of you tonight, I just sympathize. Trust me, if I were you, I would require a few gallons to be hooked up to me just to be able to sit at this table for the remainder of dinner. You're a good man, Charlie Brown."
She didn't really realize they were leaning in and talking to each other in hushed voices until she spotted Rebecca grinning at them with a look that said, "Aw, aren't they cute?"
Aaron shot her a dirty look. "Stop."
"I did nothing wrong," Becca said innocently.
Aaron glanced down at the menu very briefly, then he looked up at the waiter. "Can I get a Heineken, please?"
The waiter smiled. "Of course. Did you know what you want to order yet?"
"Spaghetti," he replied.
"With meatballs?" the waiter suggested.
"No thanks," Aaron said, shaking his head.
Nodding, the waiter moved on to Julie. "And for you?"
"Water to drink please, and… I'll just have the same thing he's having. No meatballs."
When Julie glanced up, she saw Becca was giving her that dumb smile again. Sighing inwardly, Julie wished they would all stop. The more they harassed him the higher the chance he was going to get fed up and inform them that she wasn't his girlfriend, she was his brother's boo-boo, and then Shannon wouldn't feel threatened anymore.
Julie enjoyed making Shannon mad. If anyone deserved it, she certainly did.
However, when Aaron's beer was brought to the table Shannon eyed it up a little hopefully too, and Julie got the feeling that she probably wasn't the only person Aaron got nicer to when he was drinking.
They made it through dinner without too much excitement. Mostly the family members visited, catching up and chattering about Rebecca's nuptials. Listening to Rebecca talk, the husband-to-be seemed great, naturally, but when Aaron finished off his second beer he scoffed a little and shot Julie a private look that distinctly conveyed the "Yeah right" without words.
Unfortunately, Poppy Seed wasn't being good just because they were out in public. Julie cleared half of her plate and then her stomach began turning over. She really should have known better than to eat, but she was hoping against reason that she would at least not get sick until she got back to the hotel.
No such luck.
She didn't know it was showing on her face until Aaron frowned and murmured, "Are you okay?"
"I… have to go to the bathroom," she said.
Nodding in understanding, he said, "Okay."
Julie tried not to jump out of her chair and run, but she also didn't want to start vomiting at the table in front of everyone, so there was a little haste in her steps.
"Oh, I'll follow you," Shannon said as she went to stand up. "I was just wondering where that was."
Aaron's gaze darted quickly to Julie and then—it looked like he did it without thought—his hand shot out and grabbed Shannon's wrist. "No."
Her eyes widened, and she stared at his fingers clasped around her delicate wrist.
He seemed to also notice, and he dropped it immediately, relaxing his body as he said, "I meant to ask, how's… that place you work?"
Julie didn't have time to wait around and listen to his lousy stalling tactic, she just ran to the bathroom, hoping she could empty the content of her stomach before Aaron ran out of ways to keep Shannon out of the bathroom.
The rest of dinner went by smoothly until just a few minutes before Julie and Aaron decided to make their exit. As it turned out, at the touch of Aaron's hand Shannon no longer needed to use the bathroom, so she didn't catch Julie in a bout of morning sickness. She did, however, seem to think that since Aaron initiated speaking to her, she was allowed to flounce and talk and laugh prettily at him.
Julie found it very annoying, and Aaron simply ordered another beer. He didn't really talk back once Julie returned from the bathroom, he just gruffly responded to whatever she tried to say with as few syllables as possible.
Consequently, Julie had to sit there squirming a little—not in jealousy, of course, but in mild irritation as Shannon attempted to turn on the charm every chance she got.
Dinner finally hit a brick wall when Rebecca was clumsy—or uncaring—enough to mention the one person that both Julie and Shannon were probabl
y hoping wouldn't come up.
"Does anyone know when Matt's coming? I talked to him earlier and he promised me he was coming out tonight as soon as Emma got off work."
Aaron's gaze darkened, which Julie noticed as she squirmed a little uncomfortably, and then she stole a glance at Shannon, who also shifted uncertainly and stole a glance at Aaron.
"Did he say anything to you?" Rebecca asked Aaron.
"Nope," Aaron responded succinctly.
Rolling her eyes, she said, "You live in the same city. Why couldn't you guys have just traveled together and left Emma in Chicago?"
It looked like it was with great effort that Aaron lifted his Heineken to his lips muttering, "I would have been more inclined to bring Emma and leave him."
At that, Shannon's eyes took on a frosty gleam and something flickered across her face, but she masked it quickly and took a drink of her water.
But Aaron smiled dryly as he sat his bottle back down and he gazed right at Shannon.
She refused to meet his gaze, even though Julie knew she had to have felt Aaron's eyes on her.
Strange.
"I haven't seen Matt in a while. I saw pictures of Anna though, she's getting so big!" Rebecca cooed.
"She looks just like Emma," Denise contributed.
"Oh, she's a beauty," Becca said with a nod, agreeing.
Aaron smiled again, still looking at Shannon, and Shannon still refused to look up, taking a moment to look at her nails as if suddenly they held the secret to life.
Finally it was Josh who tore his gaze from Aaron long enough to say lowly, "Becca."
Becca looked up obliviously. "Yeah?"
He merely shook his head slightly, flicking a glance toward Shannon and Aaron.
"Oh," Becca said stupidly. "I forgot," she said under her breath.
"Oh please, don't shut up on my account," Aaron said brightly. "Let's keep talking about Matt and Emma, we can all share a favorite memory. Anyone want to guess which one I'm thinking about?"
That was all Shannon could take.
Mysteriously, her bladder needed to be released again, and she said, "Excuse me," standing up and walking back toward the bathrooms.
Aaron smiled. "Damn, we should have started talking about him a while ago."
"You're being so mean to her," Becca accused.
Aaron's eyebrows shot up and he could only stare at his little sister.
"Aaron," Denise said, her tone scolding. "I thought we already discussed this."
"Oh, I'm sorry, Mom, am I not being nice enough?" he asked mockingly.
"You're being a prick," Denise stated. "You're making everybody uncomfortable."
His gaze darkened, and he said, "Sorry, Mom. You're right. I shouldn't have made my girlfriend fuck my brother. I should have thought about how terribly uncomfortable that would make everyone else."
With that, he stood up, glancing at Julie long enough to say, "Come on."
Sighing, Denise said, "Aaron."
Shaking his head, he said, "Have a nice dinner."
Julie hopped up, offering a half-hearted smile in the general vicinity of his family members, then without a word she followed after Aaron, digging his keys out of her purse.
"You okay?" she asked, hazarding a glance at him.
He nodded wordlessly, but his brown eyes were still especially dark.
She didn't want to irritate him, so she said nothing, just walked next to him quietly to his car.
As they approached the car, he said, "I shouldn't have come to this wedding."
"'Cause of Shannon?"
Shrugging a little, he said, "Just 'cause of everything. I shouldn't have. My mom asked if I could… leave it alone for the weekend, and I thought that I could, but… I should have just stayed home and sent a card."
"It's not right that you shouldn't be able to come to your own sister's wedding," Julie stated vehemently. "You are the only person who didn't do anything wrong."
"Are you sure?" he asked almost absently.
Frowning slightly, she answered unthinkingly, "Yes."
"You might hear a different story before this weekend's over."
"That… doesn't sound good," she said hesitantly.
"I'm just forewarning you," he said. "There are too many of the people involved here this weekend, and none of them really like you or each other. I wouldn't put it past any of them to try to tell you their version of the story this weekend, especially since you're here looking like you came with me."
Julie pondered that for a moment, mulled it over in her mind, and then decided that perhaps the wedding hadn't been such a stellar idea.
If there was something bad she might hear about Aaron, she was almost certain she didn't want to know.
"You know… it's not too late to go back home," Julie offered. "If you don't want to do this, if you don't want to go to the wedding… I mean, it's not that late, and I had plenty of rest. We could jump back on the freeway right now. Take the weekend off. We could go see a movie or go to a… museum. Or rent movies, or… just do nothing, and just not go to the wedding."
"Nah," he said, shaking his head. "I'm not going to let them chase me away from my little sister's wedding. I'm here now, I may as well just show up and… get it over with."
"I just hate to see you so uncomfortable," she told him.
"I can deal with uncomfortable. As long as you don't mind seeing me impersonate an alcoholic, because I have absolutely no intention of being sober any part of tomorrow."
Shaking her head, Julie said, "Trust me, that five minutes at the table made me wish I could have a drink."
He shot her a sideways smile, saying, "Ha ha."
She cracked a smile. "Nice."
"You're stuck being my DD."
"I knew you brought me for a reason," she said, shaking her head.
"You want to run me to a store?" he asked. "I should probably get a six-pack or something so that I can start before the wedding. Tonight it was just Shannon; tomorrow… it will be the whole damn Turner gang."
Nodding, Julie said, "Yeah. I remember that feeling."
Raising an eyebrow, he said, "From Jack?"
Julie shook her head. "No, the guy before him. I didn't love Jack, I loved the one before him."
"Fuck love," Aaron said.
"That's what I thought too," she said with a nod. "Until I finally got over the pain."
"When was that?" he asked conversationally.
Frowning, she answered honestly, "I'm not sure."
"How'd you get over the pain? Jack? Or Matt?" he asked, saying the last name like a curse word.
Frowning, she said, "Actually, it wasn't either one of them. I was still pretty anti-love when I was nannying for Anna."
"So, you never thought you loved him?" Aaron asked.
"Matt?" she asked, her eyes widening. "No. I've never fooled myself into thinking I love anyone—I either do or I don't."
"Well, that's good. At least you didn't love him. I wouldn't like if later in your pregnancy I had to listen to you blubber over him."
Smiling, she said, "I don't think you run any such risk."
"I guess we'll see," he said, sounding a little skeptical. "Part of me still kind of thinks…"
She waited, but he didn't finish, so she prompted, "Part of you still kind of thinks…?"
"I don't know, I still kind of think you'd go back to him."
Frowning, she said, "No, I wouldn't."
"Maybe you're just trying to convince yourself that you wouldn't," he suggested. "Maybe… you actually think the same thing deep down, or you worry that you would."
"No, I don't," she said firmly. "I am done with him. D-O-N-E, done."
He nodded, but it looked a bit condescending to Julie. "If you say so."
Scowling at his profile, she decided to stop talking to him until he had imbibed some more alcohol—he must not have had enough to trigger the nice side yet.
"This is a waste," Aaron complained back at the hotel as Julie brou
ght him a second beer. "There's no one here but you; I don't have to be drunk to be around you."
"Ah, build it up in your system," she said dismissively as she shoved it at him.
He sighed, shaking his head, but he still smiled. "I swear, you don't have any idea what's good for you, do you?"
She merely smiled. "You can still use it to calm your nerves," she said without answering.
"I don't think you want me to drink to calm my nerves. My nerves are just fine right now, Julie."
"Preemptive measure," she said easily.
"Or…," he said, smirking at her as he took a sip of his beer.
"Or… post-dinner nerve-calming," she supplied.
"Or?"
"Or nothing," she said, a touch exasperated.
"Liar," he said with a smile, turning the TV on anyway. "You may have a 4.0, Julie, but you're not very smart sometimes."
"Why am I not very smart?" she asked, sitting down next to him on the bed.
"Okay, see, now this is another clue," he said, gesturing at the few inches between them. "What are you doing?"
Blinking, she said, "I am watching television."
"Why are you sitting so close to me?"
"Because I passed the cootie test; you're safe."
Rolling his eyes, he said, "You know what I'm like when I drink, Julie. You need to sit in the chair."
Guffawing, she said, "You sit in the chair if you're so worried about it. I'm personally not concerned."
"Not being concerned about how close you sit to men is how you got a poppy seed," he stated.
Thinking back, since Poppy Seed had actually been conceived in a chair, she had to silently concede a little of that point—but never aloud. Instead, she shook her head, and said, "No, I don't think that's how."
"If I'm going to make it through this wedding, you're going to have to respect my personal space. I am not going to make an uncomfortable situation just because I didn't want to leave you alone in Chicago."
Rolling her eyes at him, she said, "You would seriously think that you're never alone with the opposite sex. You're like a fifth grade boy. 'Don't sit next to me,'" she mock-whined.
Shooting her an ironic look, he said, "If I were a fifth grade boy, we wouldn't have to worry about you sitting next to me."
