Karma: Chapter Two

"Mom? It's Audrey, you know, your daughter?"

"Hi honey, which one?"

Now would be the time to tell you my mom likes to sleep around, therefore having tons of kids in the process. I think I have like eight half-siblings. We're not as close as normal siblings, but we're close enough. She also has another little girl named Audrey, she's eleven.

"Audrey Milan," I answered.

Unlike the other people who sleep with strangers, Mom keeps in touch with us kids. We actually have a relationship with her. It's not strong, but it's still something.

"Hi Audi, what's up? Are we still on for Saturday? I can't wait to meet him!"

"Actually...no. He's not coming on Saturday..."

"Why not?" She actually sounded a bit disappointed.

"We broke up."

"You did? I'm so sorry. I know how much he meant to you. You want me to give him a piece of my mind?"

I chuckled. "No, Mom. It's okay."

"Are you okay?"

"Honestly, no. I'm a wreck."

"I'll be coming over on Saturday anyway. Instead of meeting him, we can go for a spa day and junk food, yeah?"

That sounded nice. I needed to just relax. "Thanks Mom." 

"Anytime. Call Sam for me, will you? He's having girl issues and needs some advice. He won't take any from his old mom, but he'll take some from his older sister."

"Will do."

"Thanks honey. I have to go-another client. He's paying me the big bucks, so you'll have an advance on your allowance. Bye!"

The phone clicked and the line went dead. At least one thing good came out of this, an all-expensed paid trip and more money.

I changed my relationship status on Facebook from 'in a relationship' to single. It killed me, but it had to be done. Apparently Cameron already changed his to 'in a relationship with Julia Pipers'. If there was a dislike button, I would've clicked it. An hour later, I had 57 likes and 48 comments. Most of them were from the idiot guys at our school and the jealous girls that have been wishing Cam was theirs.

I wasn't ready to face school on Monday. I would be bombarded with questions about why the 'it couple' broke up and receiving fake sympathetic looks. Anna was furious that I went behind her back and went to see him. That was soon over because then she stepped into the best friend role and brought over tubs of ice cream and a bunch of crappy romance movies.

"Why can't you see that he totally wants you? You can't reject Channing Tatum like that, Rachel," I shouted at the television, angrily shoving my spoon into a tub of chocolate ice cream.

We were watching The Vow for the third time and Anna was looking at me like I was going absolutely crazy. I frowned at her and said innocently, "What?" 

She shook her head, laughing a little. "You're missing him, aren't you?" she whispered.

There was no denying it. I was shouting at people in the TV, how insane could I get? That's what I've been doing for the past five hours-calling the characters stupid, bawling my eyes out, and shortening my life with junk food.

I didn't have to say anything to Anna; she understood, which is why I loved her. When I told her things, she didn't press for details. She just left it, knowing if I wanted to tell her, I would. She was also smart, like future Valedictorian smart.

"Why are you so dressed up?" I asked, looking at her outfit. I wonder why I didn't notice this before.

She was wearing a hot red tube dress, her makeup was all done, and her normally pin straight brown hair was curled and cascaded down her back like a waterfall. She smiled sheepishly before admitting, "I had a date with Angelo at the club at nine."

"You did? And you're sitting here moping with me? What is it eight-thirty already? Why didn't you tell me?"

"Well, you needed me more, so I canceled."

She was such a good friend, it was almost a crime. Guilt overwhelmed me. She's had a crush on Angelo since freshmen year and he's never even looked at her. "Is it still too late to un-cancel it?" I asked.

"I don't know..."

"Well call him and get your butt out of my house!"

Anna shot me a grateful smile and called Angelo. I pushed her out the door and plopped back down on my couch, resuming my pity party of one.

I was dreading telling my dad that we broke up. Cameron was like a son to him. They did guy things together, you know, like watching sports and stuff. When I told him, he took it surprisingly well. Actually, he was pretty overjoyed.

"But I thought you liked Cameron," I said.

"Oh, I do," he reassured me. "But he's your first boyfriend, so I haven't been able to harass the other guys."

"H-harass?"

"Sure, it comes with the territory. It's one of the perks of becoming a dad. Although, you haven't made it particularly fun for me. Why don't you bring home someone I can shoot with that gun I bought when you were born?"

"Dad!"

"Joking...maybe."

I rolled my eyes and dumped the empty cartons of Chinese food we had for dinner in the trashcan. I went to bed at ten o'clock, wishing that Saturday would come fast. I needed some more bonding time with my mom. Hopefully I wouldn't think about Cameron the whole day. It was kind of ironic really. I usually had him at my fingertips, but now, he had me at his.

I couldn't sleep, no matter how hard I tried or how still I laid. I tried reading the dictionary and even listening to my dad's collection of classic music. Counting sheep only kept me awake-it required thinking.

I ended up looking at the pictures of us hanging on my powder blue wall. The first one was taken when we were in the fifth grade. I had bribed my teacher to let me have it. I had a major crush on him then. We were sitting on the swings, me with a big toothy grin and him giving the camera and small smile.

The second was a piece of notebook paper tacked to the wall. I don't know why I kept it. Written in pink waxy crayon was Mrs. Audrey Rae Wright in my poor sixth grade cursive. Underneath that in blue ink was 'Cameron and Audrey Forever' in Cam's messy scrawl. When he had seen that, he had immediately written that. It brought a smile to my lips.

The next I had snapped when I first brought Cameron home to meet my dad. The picture showed them shaking hands. Cameron had a terrified expression while my dad had an intimidating one that said, 'hurt my daughter and I'll kill you'. They both fought for the camera once they realized I had taken a photo, but I locked myself in the bathroom until they went away.

The third and fourth were taken at our eight grade graduation. The first was at the actual ceremony and the other one was at the actual dance where only the graduates were allowed in (besides the chaperones of course). I had my chestnut colored hair in soft waves and had a crap load of eyeliner on. I was obsessed with eyeliner that year. Cameron wore his usual crooked smile and I smiled like an idiot.

The others were pictures of us at homecoming, junior prom, and just other random ones I took. I missed those days and I would kill to have them back.

It was probably unhealthy for me to still have these up and Cam had the right idea to take them down, but I couldn't do it. I just wouldn't let myself do it. I was truly an idiot.

Like she promised, Mom picked me up at noon the next morning. She had took one look at my outfit and promptly demanded that I change into something more appropriate. I didn't know that jeans and a t-shirt weren't appropriate. I put on a white sundress and a pair of sandals. She beamed in approval and drove to The Diamond Spa, a really fancy place where rich people go to get pampered.

I was currently indulging in a mud bath, which seems gross, but was really nice. I was lying in the white tub with my head tilted back and my cucumbers on my eyes. My mom was in the one next to me, going on and on about her current boyfriend, who was loaded. He was the senator and showered her with couture gifts. She was saying that they were serious and that I might have a step-daddy. I rolled my eyes. She couldn't keep a relationship. Even if she could, it would be smashed because of what she did for a living. My mom told him that she was a dancer. Ha, yeah right.

Not once did Mom mention Cameron, which I was thankful for. She understood what it was like to have your heart broken. She told me this story about a million times. She was a sophomore in college and met the man of her dreams. He was studying to become a teacher. His parents thought she was trashy, just because she was poor and didn't have money to throw around. She told me they fell in love, but his parents broke them up and arranged a marriage for him. He's now married to a model and couldn't be happier.

It was sad, losing the one you love. But the difference between her and I was that I broke our relationship, not our parents. I had no one else to blame but myself, and I hated that.

After our mud baths, we got manicures and pedicures. An extremely cute guy was doing my fingernails, which I'm thankful for because he didn't have to see my horrendous feet. If this was part of the therapy, then I'll take it.

He had short, brown hair that curled at the top and light blue eyes that glittered in the soft yellow lighting. He was Cameron's height: 6'3. His voice was, to say the least, sexy. It was rough and husky, but not to the point where you knew that they smoked.

"Hi, I'm Gavin."

"Hello Gavin, I'm Audrey."

"Well, Audrey, may I just say that you have the best cuticles I've ever seen?"

I giggled and blushed. "Thanks."

He nodded and went back to applying my nails with a bright red color-it made Cameron go crazy. I was planning to wear my little black dress, which he loves, my red pumps, and go over to his house and seduce him. There was no way that he'd be able to resist me.

"Are you single?"

I was about to respond 'no' when I realized that I was. I nodded and his face lit up. "Really? A pretty girl like you doesn't have a boyfriend?"

I shook my head. I could feel more color rising in my cheeks. "What would you say if I asked you out then?" When I didn't respond right away, he quickly added, "Sorry, too soon?"

I smiled. "Not too soon. And to answer your question, why don't you just ask and find out?" I winked.

"Okay then, Audrey, would you like to accompany me to dinner tonight?"

I smiled apologetically. "Sorry, no."

His face fell and I burst out laughing. "You're joking, aren't you?" Gavin concluded.

"Pretty and smart."

"So is that a yes?"

"It's a yes," I confirmed.

Gavin was pretty easygoing from what I could tell. He was a college freshman, hoping to become an engineer someday. His favorite color was blue, he loved pizza, and his last serious relationship was junior year.

And then it occurred to me. I could use Gavin to my advantage. I know it's wrong and immoral to use people and lead them on and blah blah blah, but I really didn't care. Cameron was easily jealous, and a hottie like Gavin would make him fuming with it. It was perfect. I'd just have to take Gavin wherever Cameron and Julia were at and everything would fall into place. I'd add a little PDA here and there, just to top it off. I felt a little bad for Gavin, but he was good looking and could find another girl.

Anna came over to help me pick out my outfit. She was grilling me with questions and I was getting a tad bit annoyed with them. She supported my plan-said it was perfect and flawless. We finally settled on a royal blue romper, a pair of gladiators, and a loose, grey wrap. It was perfect for the light May weather.

When I told my dad, he did a little happy dance in the living room. Anna seemed amused by it, while I just sat on the couch, waiting for him Gavin arrive.

"You can't meet him," I told him.

He pouted. "I'm your father. He has to pass my test to take you out."

"You don't have a test."

"Yeah, well, I'll make it up as I go. You can't spoil my fun," he whined.

"It's our first date, Dad. If we go out again, I'll let you meet him, okay?"

He agreed reluctantly, grumbling about something as he went upstairs to his room. I told Anna she could leave, but she just chirped, "I want to meet him."

"Anna, if my dad doesn't get to meet him, you don't get to."

"Well that's not fair at all!" she protested. "I'm your best friend and he's your dad!"

"In due time, Anna."

"Don't talk like that. It's weird."

I pushed her out the door and waved. "Goodbye Anna!" I sang.

Ten minutes later, and right on time, Gavin arrived. He ran around to the passenger side and opened the door for me. How sweet. I thanked him and we rode the rest of the way to Olive Garden in comfortable silence, the radio playing softly in the background.

I ordered the fettuccini alfredo and he got the shrimp primavera. When the food arrived, I stole a piece of his plate and ate it, testing to see if it there was any trace of nuts. "Excuse me, sir? Does this have nuts in it?"

He shook his head and went off on his merry way. Okay, well, maybe not so merry, but the point is that he left. Gavin was giving me a strange look, probably regretting ever coming on this date. It dawned on me what I had just done. I made a fool of myself. It was just a natural instinct to do all of that for Cameron.

"I'm so sorry, Gavin. I'm just used to doing this for my brother and-"

He stopped me before I made more of a blabbering idiot of myself. "It's fine, Audrey, really."

I felt even more worse about lying to him, but I didn't want him to know about Cameron. I considered telling him to get lost, but I needed Cameron back too much.

"Thanks Gavin. Oh! And the by the way, that's some good shrimp primavera."

He chuckled and took a bite. "Good to know. So now that you had some of my food, do I get some of yours?"

I nodded. "Go ahead, that way I'll know if it's poisonous or not."

"I'm so glad you want me around," he said sarcastically.

"Well, you know..."

The date with Gavin was really easy; he always had me laughing. As entertaining as he was, there was just no spark. Although, I don' think he realized it. If he did, he was just really good at pretending there was. I could tell he could make an excellent friend, and really in the end, that's all that we would end up as: friends. I would have to somehow keep him interested until Cam and I got back together.

"Thanks for the date, Gavin. I had a great time."

"Me too."

We were now standing in front of my door, standing awkwardly. I could tell he wanted a good night's kiss, but I wasn't going to give it to him. The longer he waited the better. I gave him a hug and he patted my back awkwardly, obviously not expecting a hug.

"Have a good night, Gavin! Thanks again!"

"Hrm...yeah. You too. Night."

I left him scratching his head, wondering what was happened. He's probably used to more action on the first date. I wasn't good at the whole dating thing. Cam was my first and only boyfriend, so I never really got any experience. I never needed any. I always thought Cam and I would someday run off and get married and have kids.

My dad was sitting on the couch watching TV. When he heard me come in, he switched it off and patted the seat next to him, indicating that he wanted me to join him. I put on my best smile and pecked him on the cheek. "Hi Daddy."

He rolled his eyes. "Don't 'Hi Daddy' me. You do realize that it's a school night, right?"

"It's only eight o'clock..."

"Exactly! Now tell me, will I be getting grandchildren soon? Because I'm too young to be a grandpa."

"You're not getting grandchildren..."

"Good. Go shower and go to bed."

"Night Dad..."

"Night Sweetie."

Photo of Cam on the side!