Oreos
for Breakfast - Chapter 5
By
The Paperbag Princess and The Pumpkin
Coach
Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 | Page 5 | Page 6
We were laughing over the drinks menu, debating over the SuperGold MegaMargarita or the Tropical Paradise, when the waitress appeared. Giggling, we ordered one of each, and she asked for my ID.
Mine? Nick snickered at me as I pulled out my wallet. "Hey, he's the young one," I protested, handing it over.
"Sorry, ma'am, it's policy." She glanced at him. "23?"
He pouted. "21!"
She shrugged, looking back at my license, then up at me, surprised. "Are you Rachel Connor from Sudden Silence?"
I snickered at Nick before answering. "Yes, actually." Heh. He'd been worried all day about getting recognized. I never got recognized, but he didn't need to know that.
"I love you!" She squealed. "I went to City College, I was a freshman when you were graduating, I saw you guys everywhere! Your single is getting all this airplay, it is so cool!"
Rachel beamed at the girl, telling her about the new tour and the new video. I tried not to look like a lovesick fool, but it was difficult, she was so pretty when she was happy.
Or when she was searching for the perfect pair of jeans. She'd tried on about a million pairs today, and I got to approve them all. Normally, that would bore me to death. Watching Rachel model skin tight jeans in front of me, however, was a different story. We'd finally decided on a pair that was cut low enough to show off her tattoos with a short shirt.
I might die the next time I saw her on stage. I could just see her, in those jeans, and the hot black tank top she bought… Jesus. I was hard just thinking about it, good thing she was across the booth from me.
The waitress left, and Rachel grinned at me. "And you thought you'd get mobbed…" she teased, and I rolled my eyes.
"One waitress is hardly a mob, Rache."
She stuck her tongue out at me and looked back at the menu. "Should we order lots of things that are terrible for us?"
"Absolutely. I'm buying, so the sky's the limit." She started to protest and I held up a hand. "Stop it! You're putting me up in your house, you cook me amazing meals, I can buy you dinner. It's not a date or anything, I'm not going to expect anything at the end of the night."
Maybe that's why she never wanted me to pay for anything. I didn't know, I couldn't figure it out.
She pouted at me for a second. "It's not? I never get to go on dates. I never manage to get involved with boys who have money. I'm pretty used to paying my own way."
Maybe that was why she never let me pay? Do I tell her this can be a date? I already bought her chocolate this afternoon, to make up for never giving her the chocolate I got her in Hershey. We were at a mall, I could probably find some flowers…
Yeah, I'd do all those stupid date-y things for her.
"That Damon guy had money, didn't he?"
She rolled her eyes. "Please. He had money, but dates certainly have no indie cred."
Our drinks appeared, and we ordered dinner from our cute waitress who loved Rachel. Alone again, Rachel smirked at me. "Now, she's gonna be pissed if you pay, she probably wants my autograph on the credit card receipt."
"You can sign a napkin or something. I'm paying. So, if you didn't go on dates with Damon, what did you do?"
Taking a sip of her drink, she shrugged. "I guess he paid for most things. When I was living with him, I never paid rent or anything." She hesitated, about to add something but then looked down at her drink, "You need to try this Tropical Sensation, or whatever it is."
She pushed the drink over to me and I let her change the subject, trying her girly drink. I knew I was pushing it, she hated talking about her ex's. Not that I blamed her at all, I hated talking about Mandy. But I couldn't help myself, I couldn't figure out why anyone would let Rachel go. I knew I was a lousy boyfriend, but I bet she was an awesome girlfriend. She was sweet and funny and sexy, what else did you need?
"So, shall we make it more datey and see a movie?" I asked, trying his drink.
He smiled at me, a flirty, adorable smile, oh good god, what am I doing? "Do I get to hold your hand?"
"I thought you had no expectations," I teased. Yeah, he could hold my hand, and I'd try to feel him up halfway through the show.
Damnit. We'd been doing so well, just friends, hanging out. He was a riot to shop with, he bought everything he liked, and he was patient while I searched for the jeans that would make my life complete.
Friends is good, maybe even a little flirting is okay.
No, I couldn't flirt with him, he was too adorable. I rummaged through my purse, finding my Palm Pilot and pulling up movie times. We bickered about what to see and decided on some action flick. Whatever. I just wanted to go out and not be at home alone with him.
When was the last time I'd been in a regular movie theatre without Frank sitting behind me? I honestly could not remember. I glanced behind me as two girls to my left giggled, looking at the same magazine. Instinctively I slid down in my seat and then cursed myself for doing so. I hadn't been recognized all day. I didn't know whether to be glad about that or insulted.
Rachel had teased me that our popularity had peaked and it was all about 'Nsync now as we passed by store after store filled with their merchandise - stuffed bears and jewelry and back to school crap. I tried not to be defensive. But she'd laugh if she knew how much I obsessed over that being true. Sure, we didn't want to do any of that stuff. We made that decision with our managers, we were moving beyond the teen market. But it still bothered me to see their faces everywhere.
God, how selfish was I? We'd had all this success and her band had worked just as hard, probably harder, and she was thrilled that one waitress recognized her.
A group of girls came in and one of them caught my eye. Shit. Shit. Shit. I knew that look. She stopped walking and considered me. I smiled weakly and leaned down, pretended to be very interested in the shopping bag at my feet. I glanced back up a moment later and she'd taken a seat a few rows in front of me. She whispered something to her friend, who looked back at me. Fuck.
Where was Rachel? How long did it take to get more butter for popcorn?
I know I'd left him here. I looked up and found him slumped down in a corner seat in the back row.
"I thought this was a date? Are you trying to lose me already?" I whined, smiling at him.
His raised an eyebrow and then glanced down at a group of girls sitting close to where I'd left him earlier. One of them kept looking back at us.
"Oh… I see." I sat down beside him and took his hand in mine. I looked down at her, she was still watching us. I moved away from him abruptly, "Robert, you are so silly! Keep you hands to yourself!" I said loudly and glared down at the girl looking at us. She turned around quickly and her friends laughed.
Nick leaned over to me as I sat back down, offering him popcorn. "You are so mean," he whispered.
"What? You want them to come over and ask for an autograph?" I started to get up, "I can go get a pen and some napkins from the concession stand…"
He grabbed my arm, pulling me back down into my seat, "No! I just… nothing."
I looked over at him, "What's wrong, Nick?"
"Nothing." He shook his head and took a handful of popcorn, shoving the whole thing in his mouth and then grinning at me.
"You are such a boy!" I groaned, leaning back in my seat and putting my feet up on the seat in front of me.
"Is that a bad thing?"
"Depends… " I considered him for a moment and then the lights went down and we turned our attention to the promos.
Right now, him just being a "boy on a date" was a very bad thing. He was so cute and just inches away from me. Part of me wanted this to be a real date. I wanted him to drive me home and ask to kiss me goodnight. I wanted to go to bed with butterflies in my stomach and wake up the next morning and find that he'd called me 10 times just to say hello. He was like the coolest boy in high school and I was the geek with the crush, wasn't I?
God, why was I being such a hopeless romantic? I knew what would happen if this were a real date. We'd have a few nights of really great sex - at least I hoped so, that groupies site was so explicit and I could go there! - and then he'd leave to go back on tour and some new chick would take my place. I knew guys like Nick, I met them all the time on the road, it was all about the allure of someone new and the chase. Hell, I was one of those 'guys,' picking a new hottie from the front row every couple days and shagging him senseless in my hotel room, knowing full well that I'd never have to call him again.
What would it be like to have someone who cared about me as much as I cared about them?
"Penny for your thoughts." His voice was next to my ear and I jumped.
"Nick!"
"Shhhhhh!" He shot a look down to the observation deck below and I laughed. They were busy gooning over some boy in the promo running on the screen, thoughts of the hot Backstreet Boy long gone.
"Sorry. You scared me. God, he's adorable isn't he? Tall, dark and handsome. So my type!"
I didn't even have to look at him to know he was pouting at me, "Tall and blond is good, too, right? I'm the cute one, Rache!" He whined and my stomach did a flip flop.
I smiled and took his hand in mine, "You are so the cute one." Lord help me.
Chapter
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Some content not suitable for children. You have been warned.