Oreos for Breakfast: Nick BSB Fiction

Oreos for Breakfast - Chapter 17
By The Paperbag Princess and The Pumpkin Coach

Corresponding Message Board Posts (Fictional!)

"Rachel…"

I burrowed back under the covers, ignoring James' voice.

"Rache, you should get up and shower. Press in an hour. Lola's ordering breakfast."

Press? Shower? What the hell time was it?

Fuck.

Everything came slamming back to me, and I heard myself whimper. The world blew up yesterday, and I had to smile for the British press today. That was so fucked up.

James pulled me back against his body, kissing my cheek. Not Nick, but not bad. "I know. I did the same thing when I woke up."

"Are we doing the show tonight?"

"Dunno, sweetie. Saffron will be here at 11, and we'll discuss. But we've got four interviews before that. You might want to shower because it's free at the moment."

I nodded, but I didn't move, letting James hold me for another minute before forcing myself out of bed. I was almost in the bathroom before I realized I was clutching Thor. When did I get Thor from the bus?

James laughed behind me. "Nick called last night and said you might want it, so I got it from the bus for you."

"Nick called?" Man, that was whiney.

"You were sleeping, sweetie."

I put Thor down on the bed, then started looking for clothes. Did I have to dress to impress the damn British press corps? "Was he okay? Did he talk about Danny?"

"A little. He sounded alright to me, Rache. Do you want to call him?"

I nodded, sitting down on the bed and reaching for the phone, ignoring James laughing at me. I was bad in the morning.

Voicemail. Damnit.

"Hey, bunny." Her voice was quiet and a little rough, her first thing in the morning voice. "James told me you called. He should have woken me up. It's like 8 in the morning, and it's good that you're asleep now. Sleeping is good."

I loved Rachel in the morning. She was stupid and adorable in the morning. I could just see her hair, all messed up and her curls springing out around her head.

"Yeah. I like sleeping. Shut up, James!"

That was his cackle in the background. "Rache, stop rambling and get in the shower."

"Fuck off," she snarled, but her voice was sweet again when she came back to me. "Sleeping is good, right, Nicky? Oh, thanks for telling James to get my bear. I think I liked him. I tried to take him into the shower with me. Thor, not James. I had James and Thor in my bed last night, but that's not half as good as you, bunny. Ow!"

"Cover hog!" James complained. "You think you're so much fun to sleep with?"

"Oh, go away. Who would you rather have, me or JC? Yeah, thought so. Leave me alone for two minutes."

JC? Was that a joke or did two one-night stands constitute a relationship?

"Hey, did I tell you JC emailed James yesterday?" she whispered. I guess James had left the room now. "We could not get James off the computer. He said it was nothing, but I think they were IM'ing or emailing fast or something. Dunno. Anyway. Just wanted to call and say good morning. Love you. Sorry I missed you yesterday. I'm busy today, I think. Saffron's coming at 11, and James told me we have four interviews before then." She sighed. "I am really not in the mood to be chatty. I'll call you when I get a chance, sweetie. Love you."

What time was it? Noon already? I probably shouldn't have gone to the bar with Howie and Leigh after the meeting, but I couldn't sleep anyway… I had her number dialed before I realized I'd called her cell. But it rang! Thank god, her phone was working again.

"Rache, your phone works!"

Duh. I'm checking my voicemail. I bet it never occurred to him that if he left a message, I might not check it.

Of course, I was checking it, because I was obsessive that way, and I really wanted my phone to work again. So perhaps he knew me pretty damn well.

"Hi. I just got up, it's late. Sorry I missed your call this morning. Are they making you work, buttercup? That sucks. Well, I have to work, too. We've got some press to do, and we're doing the show tonight."

They were performing tonight? How in the world could they perform? Thank god we'd decided to cancel the show. I just couldn't face getting up there and having the responsibility of making people happy. Maybe tomorrow, in Detroit. Rock fucking city.

"Bet you're doing the same, now that you're with The Firm." No, actually it'd been Saffron's idea that we cancel the show. Not that any of us had argued with her, but still. "That's really cool, Rache. I hope they make your life easier with Amber. Have you talked to her today? Or did Saffron do that? Was it bad? Man, I wish you were around. I want the details. I just wish you were around, actually. I miss you. You sounded so sad on your message last night, Rache."

Fuck. I shouldn't have called him. I was overwrought and feeling sorry for myself. I shouldn't have dragged him down with me.

"Danny's gone," he whispered. "He's gonna have a new baby any minute now, and he's not there to hold her." His voice broke, and my heart broke with it. "I mean, he wasn't my best friend or anything. I don't have much of a right to be sad, when he's got a wife and kids and stuff… but damnit, it makes that fucking attack really fucking… real."

He was quiet for a minute, but I knew he was still there. "Anyway. Sorry. Love you. Miss you. I gotta get ready for this press stuff, but I'll call you later."

I called him, but it went into voicemail again. Damnit. I hated voicemail days, and especially today. I needed to talk to him. I was exhausted from being charming to the British press all day and fielding questions about my love life. I just wanted to hide in my room and listen to him talk, maybe here his cute little laugh for a moment. Yeah, that'd be good.

"Hey, bunny. I'm calling you from my cell phone, isn't that nifty?"

It would be even niftier if she was free when I was, but I'd take it. I couldn't leave rambling messages on the hotel phone.

"Sorry I missed you before, more press. We had to reschedule all this stuff from yesterday, but it's the British press corps, so we should be nice to them… they're not so bad. You know how I love a cute boy with an accent."

She does? Right, Damon. Does a Florida accent count?

"But they keep asking about my love life. Figures. I'm exhausted, trying to be nice, when I really want to scream at them and tell them they're being nosy and it's my fucking life. Thank god we're not doing the show tonight."

They aren't? We were. We hadn't really even considered canceling. Too much money at stake.

"I couldn't imagine getting up there and being entertaining. I just want to crawl into bed and sleep for a day. But I can't, we've got press until six or something, then more tomorrow before we leave for Detroit. I'll be glad to get out of Chicago, though. This is a great hotel, and we've even got a great room, but I am fucking sick of it. The same four walls and the same fucking questions and the same damn images on the TV, because James keeps watching it."

Shit, she was cranky. I could usually talk her out of these moods, but I wasn't feeling very happy myself. I didn't want to do the show tonight, and that never happened. I'd probably be fine once it started, but I didn't want to put on the clothes and the makeup and do those same fucking songs for the millionth time. I wanted to be with Rachel. If not that, I wanted to talk to her all night.

"I mean, I understand. I know him. He's a control freak, so the more he watches, the more information he has, and somehow that helps him feel like it makes sense. But it doesn't make sense, does it? It was just a horrible thing that happened, and now we all have to deal with it."

She sighed. "Fuck. Sorry. Didn't mean to freak out on you. It's just been a long fucking day. I know you've had a bad day, too. I'm so sorry about Danny, sweetheart. I know that's got to be awful. I'll call you when I'm free, maybe we can talk. Love you."

"Nicky!" He answered the phone!

"Rache!" I could hear the smile in his voice, and my heart lifted. I was exhausted. Too many interviews, and not enough sleep. We might not be done. Saffron had told us not to go anywhere, but we could have a break. I liked her, but today had been tough. Still, better Saffron than Amber.

"Where are you?"

"I'm backstage. Show in a couple of hours."

"Do you have some free time? I can't believe you're going on!"

"Yeah, I've got time. You cancelled tonight?"

I sat back on the bed, sighing. "Yeah. I mean, we just played Chicago a few weeks ago, but this was set up so that the British press could see our brilliance. Saffron brought up the excellent point that we are not in the mood to perform, so we cancelled. Better to have no show with a damn good reason than a bad show. Tomorrow's Detroit, and we're doing that, I guess." I wasn't sure if I'd feel any better then. "But enough about me." I was sick of talking about me. I'd been doing it all day. "I'm so sorry about Danny, bunny."

"Yeah…" he sighed. "It's weird that he's not here. I mean, he wasn't going to be anyway, but now we all know he's not coming back. It's just… dunno. The crew is really quiet."

"Think they're pissed to be working?"

He was quiet for a second. "Um… I don't think so. Sometimes it's better to work, isn't it? Get your mind off things."

"I don't…" I couldn't dream of working after Dad died. It took me months, but in the end, it was the only thing that made me feel better.

Man, the last thing I wanted to talk about now was Dad.

I shook my head, trying to clear it. "Yeah. Maybe. Your meeting went really late last night, huh? Or you slept in?"

"Pretty late, I guess. I ended up going down to the bar with Howie and Leigh, and we got back late."

"What?" He was hanging out in the bar, having fun? How could anyone be having fun yesterday?

Judgmental much, Rachel?

"We had a drink, talked to some of the fans. It was pretty quiet, but I was sick of being in the room."

"There were fans at the hotel?" Did they not have families? They didn't have anything better to do than hang out stalking my boyfriend?

"Yeah. This one, Erica, flew in for the shows, and her plane landed at, like, 9 am. So she's sorta stuck until they start flying again."

He seemed to know a lot about this girl. I shouldn't be jealous, right? I'd needed to get some sleep last night, but if I'd been awake, he would have been talking to me, not random fan girls at the show. And I'd kissed Jeremy last night, hadn't I? That seemed like a million years ago now.

"Did you make her day by talking to her?"

He laughed. "Maybe. She seemed pretty relaxed, but maybe that was the drinking."

"Was there a lot of that?" I knew how he got when he was drinking, touchy and affectionate and sweet. Why did this stupid girl get to see that when I was hundreds of miles away, missing him so much I'd cried myself to sleep?

He hesitated at the tone in my voice. "Some. I had a couple of beers. I'm legal, ya know."

"I know," I growled. "Was she?"

"What the hell, Rache? Nothing happened. I had a couple of drinks with some nice people. I know you were with your band all day, but the fellas were all off with their wives or girlfriends or mistresses or whatever the hell Jana is…"

I interrupted him. "Jana?"

"Kevin's girl. You know… our dancer. I've told you."

"Yeah." This was his role model, married Kevin who was hooking up with a dancer when Kristen wasn't around. Great.

"But they were off with their girls, and Howie took pity on me and invited me down to the bar, but Leigh was there, so I had to talk to somebody. Nothing happened."

"I didn't say anything did." Why was he assuming that I thought something had happened? Should I be worried?

We were quiet for a minute, neither of us willing to apologize. "So, uh, did Amber freak when you told her you weren't going to New York?" he finally offered.

"I have no idea," I told him smugly. "Saffron got to make that call, and we've been so busy all day that I didn't get the details. Probably. I'm sure she's pissed that we're not doing the show tonight, and they won't get their cut. Is that why you're performing tonight?"

"What? Money?!?"

Oh, now he sounded really pissed off.

"I don't really think it's out of some altruistic motive, babe. I don't think pop music can solve all the world's problems. That's why we're not doing it, I just couldn't get up there and pretend to be happy."

"So you're just going to let them win? We should cancel the entire tour, because some buildings got blown up? Yeah, that was terrible. But the world can't just stop."

"It could stop for a day or two," I muttered. It should.

"Whatever. Hell, it's not like we're in America, we're in Canada. It's a neutral country."

"Neutral?" I snapped. "Neutral? Don't be stupid. Canada hates Americans! They think we're selfish and arrogant and aggressive."

"God. You sound like Kevin. We did an interview today, and he actually said that maybe America deserved it."

"Maybe he was right."

There was a knock at the door, and Darien stuck his head in before I could tell him to go away. "Babe, we've got an interview in two minutes."

"What? Saffron said we were done!" Man, that was whiney. And Saffron hadn't actually said we were done, but I'd been hoping we were.

Fuck, not like this conversation with Nick was making me feel any better.

"We're pushing three more tonight. They're the only guys left. Then we get tomorrow off until the show."

"Does nobody fucking ask if we want to do fucking press any longer? Maybe I'm tired!"

Darien just raised an eyebrow at me, and I sighed. Okay, that was a tantrum. "Fine. I'll be there in a minute." He nodded at me and left, closing the door behind him. I shut my eyes, rubbing my forehead roughly.

"You hear that, bunny?"

"Yes," he said shortly. Damnit. I didn't have time to placate him now.

"Have a good show."

"Have a good interview."

I was halfway through the interview before I realized I'd hung up with him without saying 'I love you.'

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