Oreos for Breakfast: Nick BSB Fiction

Oreos for Breakfast - Chapter 15
By The Paperbag Princess and The Pumpkin Coach

There was a knock on the door, and I ducked back into the bathroom, grabbing the hotel robe. "Is it that late already?" I asked, pulling it around me and going into the bedroom.

Nick wheeled in a room service cart. "It's 6:35. Frank will be here at 7." He was wearing his glasses. Did he do that just to drive me crazy?

"You got breakfast?"

He shrugged, putting plates on the little table next to the window. "I thought you could use some coffee. And it's New York. The bagels should be good, right?"

He always remembered what I liked. I knew he kept a little mental list of all my likes and dislikes. I loved that he paid attention.

Damnit, I needed coffee, I could feel tears in my eyes again. "Thanks, sweetie. I appreciate that. Let me get dressed and then we'll have a few minutes?"

He just nodded, pouring us coffee and taking a seat, adding three sugars to mine. I went to find my underwear and discovered he'd picked up all my clothes, folded them neatly and put them on the bed next to my bag. "You cleaned up!" I exclaimed.

"Sorta. Wanted to save you some time."

I fell onto the bed next to my clothes, burying my face in his shirt that I was holding.

"Hey! No more crying!" he said, coming over to me.

"I'm not," I protested, looking up at him, blinking back tears. "You're just so fucking sweet sometimes."

He smiled down at me. "You're easy to impress sometimes."

Laughing, I wrapped my arms around his waist, leaning my head against his stomach. "I must be overwrought, then." He was wearing the bottoms of the red velvety pj's I'd gotten for him one day when we were at a mall, joking that it was unfair that men didn't have sexy lingerie. I loved these pajamas, I had the top to them somewhere.

He pulled the towel off my head, carefully arranging my curls. "We're good at overwrought, aren't we?"

I nodded, loving the feel of his hands in my hair. We stayed like that for a moment, then I moved away with a sigh. "Alright, I need to get dressed and out of this room."

"Are you gonna steal that shirt? I like that one!" It said 'player' on the front. It was so coming with me.

I held it to me protectively. "Mine now!"

"Then I'm taking…" he cast about for something of mine to steal. "These!" He held up my hair extensions to his head, making me laugh. "Is purple my color?"

"You are a dork!" He played with my fake hair while I got dressed and teased him about his many poor fashion choices. Finally, he pulled me down onto his lap, feeding me pieces of bagel and making me have some of my coffee. I loved it when he tried to take care of me. Frank knocked way too soon and we looked at one other for a long moment before I slid off his lap, freeing him to open the door.

I found my shoes and shouldered my bag, my giggling a thing of the past that quickly.

I found my room key and took her hand, glaring at Frank when he started to say something. He just looked at us for a moment, then shrugged and led us out to the elevator. We didn't say a word on the way to the lobby. Rachel didn't even have anything to say to Frank.

There were a few die hard fans in the lobby, but Frank silenced them with a look. I just held Rachel's hand and looked down, not wanting to make eye contact. The three of us went to the doors, and Frank had a quiet conversation with the doorman.

"You can't kiss me," she whispered, and I turned to look at her.

"Screw them, Rache. There are plenty of pictures of us kissing."

She shook her head, not looking at me. "No, I'll fall apart."

Oh. I squeezed her hand as a sleek black car pulled up, and Frank opened the door for her. She managed a smile for him.

"That's not a cab."

"You're a rock star, Rachel, get used to it. Lola had it sent, to make sure you made your flight."

With a quiet sigh, she walked towards the car, and I followed, still holding her hand. She sat inside and looked up at me, tears in those pretty brown eyes that I loved. Her hair was wet and curling around her face, she was in jeans and my T-shirt. This was Rachel, not the rock goddess of last night. "You're gonna be great tonight, baby," I told her, and she nodded.

"Once I sleep I might be. I love you, Nick."

"I know. I love you, too." I leaned in to kiss her, unable to help myself, and she moved away.

"Don't," she whispered. "I'm just barely holding it together."

I stroked her face quickly before stepping away and shutting the door. She didn't even look at me, just stared straight ahead as the car pulled away. I watched until it turned the corner and then looked back at Frank. "What?" I snapped.

"Is there something going on that I should know about?"

I started back into the hotel. "No. We're just tired. And we're not going to see each other for about two weeks. How long until I have to be up?"

"You're leaving at noon for the studio."

Why can't I sleep all day? Maybe if I slept all day this ache in my chest would go away. Sighing, I punched at the button for the elevator. I didn't want to talk to the fans, I could feel them hovering near me. The elevator doors opened, and I stepped on, looking around when I realized that Frank wasn't following me. He was a few yards away, ripping the film out of someone's camera.

"Some things should just be private, little girl," he told her, handing her back her camera and stepping onto the elevator with me. As the doors shut, he pulled the film out of the cartridge, exposing it.

"What did you do that for?" I asked him, surprised. Frank never did that. I didn't care if someone took my picture.

"You and Rachel looked pretty bad out there. It's gonna be all over the Internet that you broke up with her."

"But… we…" I sputtered, and Frank just shook his head at me.

"Five bucks. By the end of the day, Rachel will be history in the fans' eyes. At least now there will be no pictures of it."

"You can check in here, Ms. Connor," the driver told me, and I looked up with a start. I didn't even realize we were at the airport, I was so lost in thoughts of Nick and our long night together. It was great and horrible, all at the same time.

"Oh. Sorry. I was sleeping, I guess." I gathered my bag and slid out of the car, and the driver shut the door behind me. I was so out of it I didn't notice the car stopping and him opening my fucking door. Should I tip him? I didn't even get his name.

"Quite alright, ma'am. Are you okay? Know where you're going?"

I smiled at his concern. "I'm fine." I knew I was traveling first class this time, thank god. We got the star treatment for Leno. I thanked him and slipped inside. Check in only took a minute, and the nice lady behind the counter directed me to the first class lounge. I had time. It was just past eight, and our flight didn't leave for another 45 minutes. Damn Lola and her obsession with promptness. I could still be with Nick now.

The airport was crowded with business people rushing around to make their morning flights. I hurried to the lounge, hoping that the others were there. I could use the distraction of my band. And James… I so needed to see who James had been with last night.

He was there, just James, staring out the window, and I ran over to him, flopping myself on his couch. He raised an eyebrow at me, hardly surprised. "Morning, sunshine. You look as good as I feel."

"You didn't even shave. Must have been good. So who was it?" I demanded, and he gave me a look.

"Who? I told you who!"

I shook my head, reaching over and stealing his coffee. "You didn't. God, James, I hate that you take it black."

"Get your own damn coffee. And if you didn't listen when I told you, because the blond wonder was pawing at you, then you have to guess."

"He wasn't pawing at me!" I protested, catching a server's eye and motioning for coffee. I should probably sleep on the flight, not jack myself up with caffeine. But if I didn't get some coffee, I'd fall asleep before I made it to the plane.

"He was so pawing at you. What, do you think no one noticed you disappearing down that dark hallway?"

Shit. James laughed at my blush.

"You will be glad to know that Willa fucking Ford saw it, too."

I screeched, grabbing his hands. "You slept with Willa?"

"No!" he laughed. "God, give me more credit than that. Why would I ruin this perfect run of lovely men with such a worthless specimen of womanhood?"

"Why did you even talk to her?"

He flashed me a mysterious smile as my coffee appeared, and I stuck my tongue out at him. "It must have to do with your pick up."

"Perhaps."

I started throwing names at him. "Eminem. Moby. JC. Kevin. Steven Tyler. Shakira."

"I'd ruin my run for her."

I high fived him. "Me too, darling. We can share."

We looked at one another and shuddered, then burst into giggles. There was time, years ago, when I was a kid, that I was convinced that James was my perfect man, and I lusted after him desperately. That cracked me up sometimes now.

I punched his arm. "Who? Come on, who? Tell me it wasn't another one-night stand, that would be so unlike you."

"Well… what does two one-night stands with the same guy add up to?"

I squealed, clapping a hand over my mouth when he glared at me. "Again? That wasn't even a week ago!"

"What can I say? I must be good."

"Or he's hard up," I retorted, ducking when James tried to whack me.

"Be nice or you get no details."

"I am so nice. How did you do it, with all those fans around?"

"We went to my place. If anyone followed our cab from the party, they deserve the exclusive."

"Your place?" James never took guys to his place.

He shrugged. "Seemed more private than the hotel. I think he was at Nick's hotel, was it amazing?"

"Very comfortable rugs," I offered, and he groaned.

"I doubt I needed to know that." He stopped joking for a minute, looking at me closely. "Seriously, are you alright? You look…"

"Tired," I finished. "No sleep. And… two weeks, James."

"Two… oh." He figured it out. He always did. "That's a long time."

I nodded into my coffee cup. It was. I couldn't think about it too hard, or I'd start crying again. "Tell me about Willa," I ordered. That would surely cheer me up.

"Jeremy can tell you all about her!" Darien fell onto the couch next to me, making me spill my coffee a bit, and I glared at him.

"Oh, diva princess this early in the morning? Lord help us all!" Jeremy teased, taking the chair across from us.

"Yeah, yeah, the gang's all here!" I deadpanned and James laughed, handing me a napkin to wipe up the coffee that spilled. Oh, fuck it, it was just Nick's t-shirt. No one would be paying attention to us at this hour, anyway.

"Oooo…" James looked around, "Where's Lola?"

We all searched the lounge, "That's weird. She usually beats us. Wait! Did she hook up last night, too?"

"Are tour managers allowed to do that?" Darien asked as the waitress handed him a cup of coffee and a shot of something. I raised my eyebrows and he smiled, raising his shot in a toast-like gesture before downing it.

"Okay, boys… time to come clean. How did you spend your evenings? Darien is obviously still fuckin' drunk!" I smiled at them, pulling my legs up underneath me as they all started talking at once.

"Don't you know it. Remember Mari?"

We all nodded. Fuck, yeah. Mari and Darien had been dating on and off for a few years. She was a waitress and chef. What can I say? Darien has a way with the bar staff at whatever establishment we were frequenting. He'd only been in the lounge for 15 minutes, but the waitress had already been over twice, batting her blue eyes at him.

"Mari? Was she there last night?" I was so not paying attention. It didn't even occur to me, but she worked for some catering company that did all the good parties… I might have to pump her for Backstreet dirt the next time I saw her.

Darien nodded, "Back bar, yeah. She saw you disappear, girlfriend!" Darien laughed at me and I blushed about 12 shades of red.

"Oh, no, we always get to tease Rachel about her love life… now it's the boys' turn! So, J, something about Willa Ford? Really?"

"She's hot, Rache."

Ewww… I wanted to reach for my phone and call Nick, but realized again that Lola still had it. I'd file this away for later, though. Nick would laugh so hard.

"But… ewww… Jeremy, how could you? Are you that interested in one upping Nick?" James interjected.

Jeremy rolled his eyes, "Well, she tells a very different story than Nick. Not that I care, mind you, but she's…"

"A Hoover," Darien shouted, making us all crack up.

"I knew it!" I crowed. Damn, why didn't I have my phone? We were all in hysterics by the time Lola joined us, punchy and wired from lack of sleep and too much alcohol for some.

"Did I miss the joke?" Lola whined. "I hate that. Get up, we're boarding."

Darien jumped up, throwing an arm around her, "Just recounting Jeremy's sexual exploits with the fine Willa Ford."

"Willa whore is more like it," I growled, making Jeremy laugh.

He was walking beside me and casually tossed an arm around my shoulder, pulling me close to him as we walked to the gate, "Not so far from the truth. I think she wanted it to get back to Nick, oddly enough."

I looked up at him, "Oh, it will. So…"

He looked at me blankly and just blinked.

"Come on, J!" I whined, and he leaned down closer to me.

"You are so much better, babe. Different league."

I plastered a self-satisfied smirk on my face and danced away from him to find James.

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