Oreos for Breakfast: Nick BSB Fiction

Oreos for Breakfast - Chapter 18

By
The Paperbag Princess & The Pumpkin Coach

The phone rang and I groaned, rolling over and finding it under one of the blankets on the floor. What was it doing there? I hit the button and mumbled hello, and I was met with silence. I stifled a yawn and rolled over, pulling Nick's pillow into my body. Mmmm… that was nice. It still smelled like him.

"Where's Nick? Why are you answering his phone?" a voice said finally.

What the… I moved the phone away from my ear, holding it up so I could see it. Yep. Nick's. He must have dropped it as he was leaving. He left, right? I had a vague recollection of feeling him roll away from me a while ago. When was that? Where the hell were we?

"He must have forgot it. Sorry. Can I tell him who called?" I responded as if on auto-pilot.

The disembodied voice on the other end groaned, "Who are you?"

"Rachel…" I started tentatively. Was this the infamous Vinnie? Or maybe Tony. I hadn't met any of Nick's friends yet… could be anyone.

"Why are you there?" Okay, twenty questions was getting old.

"None of your business. Can I tell Nick who called?"

"Is too my business. Nick said you were in Chicago. Why are you there?"

Sounded young for one of Nick's friends, though. Oh… I get it… "Aaron?" I asked, and he responded with a sigh.

"Duh. Where's Nick?"

I sat up and leaned against the headboard, trying to wake up more. Glancing at the clock, I was surprised that it was so late. Were did Nick go? Soundcheck? Meeting? Ritual sacrifices of O-Town groupies?

"Don't know, Aaron. He must have forgotten his phone. I'm sure he'll be back soon, though."

"Were you sleeping?"

I nodded, forgetting that he couldn't hear me as I spied a note on the bedside table. I grabbed it and lay back down on Nick's pillow, "Yeah. We didn't really sleep on the bus ride." From… Toronto to Ottawa. Right. There was a lot of drinking last night.

"Why not? Oh, don't answer that." Damn, he was a bratty 14-year-old, wasn't he? He was going to stop the attitude soon, or I was going to hang up on him. Why was he talking to me anyway? "Why'd you come? Nick's working."

"Duh," I mimicked him. I had bratty nieces… I could handle him. "We had a few days off, and Nick wanted me to come up."

Well, that wasn't really true. I invited myself. But Nick wanted me here, right? Glancing at the ripped open box of condoms on the bedside table, I had to smile. Yeah. He wanted me here this morning… I blushed at the thought. Right, I was talking to his brother. Couldn't go there just yet.

"Oh. How'd you get there? Nick said you were in Cleveland or something the other day."

"Chicago. We drove." I responded, looking down at the note Nick had left for me. He'd scrawled, "sweet dreams" and what I think was supposed to be "I love you" in his messy handwriting. But it was definitely his signature, all sweeping and dramatic. The freak. He had handwriting you could barely decipher, but the signature looked like a girl who'd practiced writing her future married name 100 times a day in her high school notebook.

"That's a long way, Chicago to Canada."

"10 hours or something. James and I shared, though."

"Is James the gay one?"

"Do you always ask this many questions, Aaron?" He was quiet for a minute, and I heard something on his end. It was a familiar sound and I had to laugh. "Are you winning there, little one?"

"I'm not little! I'm nearly as tall as Nick now! And yeah. I'm killing Nick's high score. Tell my stupid brother that! While he's off messing around, I'm kicking his butt at Final Fantasy!"

"I'm sure he'll be pissed. Should I tell him you called, then?"

"Sure. Yeah. I was just… Mom… dang it!" I laughed, and he whined in my ear, "Why are you laughing at me?"

"Sorry… that 'dang it.' It's just too cute! Your bother does that, too."

"Yeah. Well, Mom's never very far. You can't cuss around her."

Really? Wouldn't Aaron be shocked to know just how well his brother could curse? "Must suck to tour with Mom, then. I know my mom doesn't need to know what happens on the road."

That made him laugh, "But you're the… what did AJ call you? Wicked sex goddess? Dude, your mom can't think you're all innocent."

"And what does that mean?" I countered, making him laugh. I could almost see him blushing.

"Ummm… nothing. Nothing. Sorry. Yeah, just tell Nick that I called and call me later. On the cell." He added quickly, "Not the house phone."

"Okay. Hey, Aaron, nice to meet you."

"Yeah. Bye."

The line went dead. Such a… how old was he? 13 or 14? Teenager, at any rate. Nick and I hadn't really discussed me meeting his family yet. He didn't see them that often, I knew that. And then there was weirdness with Willa and his family… maybe I didn't want to meet them.

Was that strange? I was completely in love with this man and had never met his mom? Well, I hadn't met Jeremy's mom for the longest time, but his family was just fucked up. And then with Damon… well, his parents were in England and we'd been touring the US, so that didn't matter. But Nick was sort of close to his family. Didn't his mom manage him for a while, too? Was I making that up? I needed to call Colleen and Katie and get them to find that book that his mom wrote about him. There might be secrets in there somewhere.

Before I did that, I had to find my boyfriend. I smiled at the thought of him lost without his phone. He was more attached to the cell than I was, and that was saying something! Hmmm… wonder if he took mine by mistake? I dialed my number and he answered on the 2nd ring.

"Yo! It's Nick."

"Where'd you learn etiquette, Nicky?" I giggled. He answered the phone like a frat boy. It was kind of cute. Man, I was far gone, wasn't I? "Wondering why your phone number came up on the caller ID, baby?"

Nick laughed, "Rache! Dang it!"

"You sound just like your brother. He just called. I think he was freaked out that I was answering your phone. Well, he might have been freaked out that I was here at all."

"Oh… well… he doesn't really get girls and all, Rache."

"No big deal. But he sounded… I don't know. I don't really know him or anything, but I think he wanted to really talk to you. Said something about having you call him but not on the house phone."

"Oh. Secret Aaron things, then. Doesn't want Mom to know I'm calling."

"Do you have a secret code ring, too?"

He laughed again, and I closed my eyes. Damn, I loved that little giggle of his. Made my stomach jump just a little whenever I heard it in my ear.

"Nah. Just… when you meet my mom you might understand. She can be a little nosey."

"So I gather. Oh! And Nick, he's completely killing your high score at Final Fantasy, too."

"Dang it! I'm gonna…"

I heard AJ's voice in the background, and then Nick was gone.

"Am I interrupting anything, darlin'?"

"You wish, Alex! No. Nick and I were just discussing his Final Fantasy high score."

"Damn, that's boring, babe. Let me suffer under the delusion that you are still the sex goddess or something!"

I had to laugh, "What? And have you bug poor Nicky's room when you get bored? Nah. We've moved on to boring couple stuff like discussing video games. It can't always be about the sex, babe."

"Dang it!"

There they go again with that 'dang it.'

I scowled at AJ and grabbed for the phone, but he pulled it out of reach. Man. He was so getting on my last nerve. We'd been practicing our acoustic "America the Beautiful" for something like an hour. Howie kept screwing up… I just wanted to get back to my room and Rachel. I couldn't stand just having her voice in my ear when I knew she was so close by and probably still naked in my bed.

I pulled the phone away from AJ, "Baby, whatcha wearing?" She laughed at that. A deep sexy laugh that told me that she wasn't wearing much. "Did my stupid brother wake you?"

"He called you that, too, baby."

"What?"

"My stupid brother! You two are such children when you are together, aren't you?"

What the hell did that mean? He was my brother… okay, maybe I could be a bit childish around him, come to think of it. "He's the one whose always pulling pranks on me. Short-sheeting the bed and putting whipped cream on my pillow and shit. Alright, as the adult maybe I shouldn't retaliate, huh?"

"Maybe."

She laughed at me, and I smiled stupidly at the sound of her voice. Man, I needed to get out of here soon.

"You didn't answer my question, Rache."

"I didn't?" she teased. "Hmmm… nothing much. You wore me out, baby. Damn." Her voice drifted off, and I would bet money that we were both remembering the same thing. "But I need to get in the shower soon… Oh, and see if James is up."

"He's here."

"He's what?" Her voice squeaked, and I smiled over at Frank and James who were talking animatedly about something across the room.

"He's with me. You were sleeping and he was going to be bored all by himself in the room…"

"What? No good porn today?" she interrupted.

"Very funny! As a matter of fact…"

"Don't even, Mr. Carter! There will be no porn while the wanton sex goddess is in residence! Save it for the fairy princesses!"

"Rache…" I whined at her.

"Oh, right. No sex in the fairy tales is there, Nick?"

"Nope. Not mine, anyway. Only sex with my incredibly hot girlfriend who is going to be hot and wet and slippery soon…" All right, I should maybe not have said that out loud, huh? Kevin was laughing at me, and I turned around, trying to ignore them all.

"Are they teasing you, baby?"

"Yeah. You just… you get me so worked up."

"Well, come back to the room and maybe we can do something about that."

"As soon as I can, Rache. Believe me. I'd much rather be hearing you scream my name than Howie strangling another note."

"Ohhhh… annoyed with the fellas again?"

"Maybe. I just…" I lowered my voice, ducking into the hallway so everyone couldn't hear me. "We don't have very long, Rache. You'll be gone tomorrow, and it'll just be these damned phone calls, and who knows what will come up the next time we're supposed to see each other!"

"Whoa. Where did that come from, bunny? I'm right here."

I clenched my teeth, staring at a spot on the wall. She was right. Where the hell had that come from? This was okay. Stolen days and moments with her were fine. They'd be enough, they had to be… it's not like either of us had much of a choice. Still, it sucked. I just knew in another week it'd feel like forever before I'd see her again and the fairy princesses would be appearing everywhere. Out of thin fuckin' air!

No. Not going to happen. I loved Rachel. Just Rachel. Her voice pulled me back from my hysteria.

"So call your stupid brother and then come here. I'll take a long bath, and maybe I'll still be wet and slippery when you get back."

I had to smile at that. Yeah. At least we had a day. This was good. Better than good.

I hung up the phone and dialed Aaron's number, surprised I knew it by heart, seeing as how I always just used the autodial on my cell phone.

"A!"

"It's my stupid brother! I'm kicking your butt at Final Fantasy, dude! You suck!"

"Very funny. You called to tease me about videogames?"

"Nah… I was bored, and Mom was getting' on my nerves… you know."

"What's she doing now?" I asked, leaning back against the wall as he went on and on about Mom. She wanted to cancel everything on his schedule for the next few months because of the terrorist threats.

"She can't do that, Nick! I mean… if we just crawl into a hole and hide, they win right? That's what Dad says."

"Oh, bet she didn't like that."

"When does she? No one gets to contradict her… least of all Pops!"

"Yeah." That was my mother. Right about everything… even when she wasn't. And we all went along with her because it was just easier that way. "Just try not to panic, A, okay? She's freaking out… everyone is. She'll calm down soon, and everything will get rescheduled. No one's doing business now anyway."

"You are!"

"Yeah… well, that's different." I didn't want to have this conversation with my brother. "Rachel's not performing. They postponed everything until Monday. Most people are."

"Why didn't you?"

Man, that was a loaded question, and he didn't even know it. Because we had to keep everyone busy. Yeah, everyone really just meant AJ. Limited down time, that's what the therapist had told us when he agreed that AJ could come back on tour. AJ needed to stay busy so temptation would be less, and had to find AA meetings in every town just in case, and about a million other things that I didn't understand.

But that wasn't all. There was the money. It was always about the money, wasn't it? Never just about the music. Not like Rachel and her band. They could load up a van and do a gig on a moment's notice, if they needed to. We needed to have 20 trucks and a staff of nearly 100 just to do a 90-minute set.

We were just bleeding money now, too. I'd thought once we were back on tour, it would be okay, but Kevin had talked to the tour accountant this morning and we were still in the red. I hated this. Even thinking about it. Let Kevin and Howie deal with the business stuff. I just wanted to make music and see my girl. Why was that so difficult?

"It's complicated, A. Hey, you talked to Rachel. What'd you think?"

"She's alright. Why's she there?"

"They postponed stuff and… I wanted to see her. She wanted to see me."

"You aren't in love again, are you?" he whined, drawing out the word 'love' like only a 13-year-old boy could. Like it was a dirty word.

"Maybe. Yeah."

"Ah, damn! Can I have the guest house if you're moving out?"

"Who said I was moving out?" Man, my brother could jump to conclusions. One bad relationship and he thought just because I was with Rachel, I'd move out and quit talking to them again? No. Rachel would never let that happen. Family was too important to her. Then again, she'd never met mine!

"Well, you did. Before."

"That was way different, A. Way. Rachel is cool. You'll really like her."

"Doubtful."

I was just about to yell at him when Brian appeared, motioning me over. We had to go through the new song one more fucking time.

"Hey, Aaron. I gotta get back to my meeting. Trust me. You are going to love Rachel. She'll kick your butt at basketball and everything."

The phone rang and I nearly slipped on the floor, lunging for a towel. Could you get electrocuted talking on the phone in the tub? Hmm… Where the hell was Nick, anyway? My fingers and toes were all wrinkled now from being in the tub so long. He said he'd be right up…

"Hello," I answered, wrapping the towel around me and sitting down on the toilet seat. Why did hotel bathrooms have phones in them? Who wanted to… oh, never mind.

"Hey, baby. Are you all slippery for me?"

"Have been for a while now, Nick. Water's cold." I tried not to sound annoyed.

"Oh," he said with hesitation, "sorry. Guess it's been a while. Took longer than I expected, and now I have to do a press thing. Just photos and a quick interview. Shouldn't be long."

"Yeah, right," I sighed, pulling the stopper up on the tub. I knew what that meant, another hour of waiting around this room for him. Was this what it'd been like for him to be on tour with me? Man, that must've sucked.

"What's that noise, Rache?"

"The water draining from the tub. I'm all wrinkly and gross now."

"Damn. I'm sorry, baby. Really." He sounded sorry, too.

"Can't be helped, bunny. But waiting around sorta sucks. There's an open air market a few blocks away. How about James and I go, and you and Frank can catch up with us?"

I could just imagine the pout on his face. I know he wanted to be back up here with just me, not sharing me with James. But if I had to sit around this room and watch bad afternoon TV, I think I'd go out of my mind.

"Umm… okay. But I get you after the show, okay? Just me?"

I had to smile at his emphatic tone. He could have had me all afternoon. I frowned at my reflection in the mirror. Jealousy so didn't suit me. "Sure, bunny. But send James up to entertain me."

He had to laugh at that, calling me a diva princess as he hung up. This would be okay. James and I would go explore a bit, and by the time Nick and Frank joined us I'd be okay again. I could tell all weekend that James had felt guilty that he was infringing on our couple time. But he knew I liked getting out of the hotel and seeing things.

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