Chapter 19: Happily Ever After

Oreos for Breakfast - Chapter 19

By
The Paperbag Princess & The Pumpkin Coach

James was such a freak. He could sleep anywhere. His too-long legs were stretched out and I had to look behind me to see his face, because he had the seat jacked all the way back so he was like in the back seat. And he was sleeping.

Freak. I hated him.

His cell had gone off as we were just getting on the road to Detroit and he'd just smiled down at the text message and then typed a quick response. . He and JC had this cute little affair going. Fun and light and easy… well, besides the fact that no one could know that JC was gay... But still, it wasn't the melodrama that my life had become. Why do I do this? I can't ever just find a boy and fall in love? Noooooo… my life has to be full of complications. Bizarre family issues or mystery lovers who end up pregnant. Boy-men pop stars who can't keep their dick in their pants for two days running.

Something ran onto the highway and I swerved, barely missing it as the car to my left honked loudly.

Fuck. I might have almost run over a bunny. Was that a sign?

I didn't have time to contemplate it as my phone rang, making me jump. I found the earpiece and fumbled with the phone, trying to keep my eyes on the road. Damn, how did people do this? I should not be allowed to drive and talk on the cell at the same time. It was dangerous.

I didn't even need to say hello. I knew it was Nick.

"Rache!" Nick's happy voice popped into my ear and I smiled. "I thought maybe you had the phone off or something. How's the drive?"

"I almost hit a bunny, bunny."

"Dude. Are you okay? Why are you driving? You didn't get any sleep last night!"

"James is sleeping and… I'd rather drive. Gives me something to do."

"And you're a control freak."

I laughed. He was starting to know me too well, wasn't he? "Maybe. You sound like James now. No, driving keeps my mind from wandering."

Well, usually, but not today. There was too much to think about. The last week had been full of too much to think about, interrupted by seeing Nick. He'd taken my mind off life for a while, but now it was all hitting me again.

James had fallen asleep as soon as we hit the highway and I'd been left to my sad chick music and thoughts. Being alone with my thoughts was not a good idea right now. On top of everything else, I kept coming back to Nick and how awful it was when I had to leave him. I'd wonder what he was doing at that precise moment, but then I'd remember the fairy princesses… how long would it take him now that I was gone again?

"Yeah, your mind isn't wandering at all," he teased.

"What?" I looked down at the speedometer. Why was I only going 50? We'd never make it to Detroit at this rate. "I can't do two things at once, Nick."

I hit the gas and changed lanes. Maybe being in the fast lane would force me to pay attention.

"I beg to differ. Remember last night, when…"

"Stop!" I nearly screamed and Nick laughed. "Not now. I'm trying to drive and James is right here."

"You didn't mind that he was so close last night, babe," Nick's voice dropped and my stomach flipped. Damn, I loved it when his voice got all soft and deep like that. He knew it, too. Bastard. "When he was right next door and you were screaming. Or was it moaning? I don't remember."

"Both," I bit out, trying not to go there in my head. Yeah. Last night had been pretty fucking amazing. Wasn't it always? Damn… the things that boy could come up with. Give him a simple prop like a scarf and… I couldn't go there, no. Guess the fairy princesses had taught him well over the years.

Shit.

"Nick, did you call for a reason?" I snapped. I hated being all jealous. It'd only been what… four hours since I left him in Ottawa? I hated this hole that I felt inside. Like I'd never see him again or I was afraid that when I did, he wouldn't want me. What if he met some other cool rock chick in a vending room and I became passé?

Damn, insecure much, Rache?

His voice returned to normal, "Um… just to say hi. I'm bored. We just got into the hotel, and the fellas are all busy. Sorry."

I instantly felt bad. Of course he wanted to talk to me. This was our re-entry time. I loved his little theory about that. And it made sense. Theoretically. But before we left, we'd been too caught up on spending every second together and now… It hurt too much to think about being with him just a few hours ago.

"Sorry, bunny. But James is waking up and I should keep him occupied, or he'll just start making fun of us. I'll call you later, okay?"

"Um…" He hesitated for a moment, and then I heard something on his end. "Just a sec, baby." There was a muffled conversation and then he came back on. "Sure, Rache. I'll talk to you later. Love you."

I started to say it back, but the line went dead. That was weird. Did I piss him off? Who was at the door? I glanced down at the clock on the dashboard. Too early for sound check wasn't it?

I turned up the CD and looked over at James. Wake up. I couldn't sit here and think about Nick. Wake up and play with me. Distract me. Obviously Nick had a distraction.

I frowned at Frank, but he ignored me, turning around to leave. He was so sure I'd just follow, wasn't he? Everyone was sure of that. Just sit little Nicky down in the room, and he won't say anything or cause any trouble. He'll do whatever we tell him to. I pulled my hood over my head and followed Frank, hearing the door slam behind me.

It probably wouldn't do any good to complain to Frank, anyway. He was just the messenger.

We got to Kevin's room and everyone was milling around.

"Finally," Brian said as we walked into the room, "Let's get started."

"What the hell do you mean, 'finally', Bri? This isn't on the schedule. No one told me we had a meeting."

"Whatever, Nick. It is, too. If you'd been here last night…"

I tuned him out, looking over at Howie and rolling my eyes. Howie laughed before he could stop himself. Gotta love Sweet D. I could always crack him up. Brian knew why I hadn't been here last night. I'd been with Rachel. They were all nice to her face, but I knew they all thought it was too much. Not that I talked to them about it. Well, Brian that once and Howie sometimes. Things had just been different since we came back. Everyone was in their own world, and we didn't hang out like we used to… something was up with Kevin and Kristin. More than Jana, I think. Kev wasn't one to tell you things like that, though. He was the strong silent type.

Then again, I wasn't really doing things with them either. Vinnie and Tony had been with us some… and then there was Rachel. It seemed I spent most of my time trying to get her on the phone or plan a time when we could be in the same place at the same time.

Yeah, I guess I didn't do much with them, huh?

"Wanna go out tonight?" I said it to the room in general, and Kevin looked up at me from the schedule he was reading.

"What, dawg?"

"Go out. Like leave the hotel and do something. Go to a club or something?"

He shook his head and looked around. No one really looked at me. What? Did I smell? Did they decide they hated me all of a sudden? What the fuck ever!

I grabbed an apple out of the bowl on the table and slumped back on the couch, "It was just an idea," I mumbled, taking a bite and staring at my shoes. "We haven't done anything together in a while, you know."

"Well, you've been a little preoccupied, Nicky," AJ said, joining me on the couch. "Whattya you want to do?"

I shrugged, "Dunno. Get out of the fuckin' hotel for a bit."

"You did that the other day." Brian interjected. "Heard you and Rachel and that friend of hers…"

"James." Shit, Bri, could you pretend to have an interest in my life?

"James. Right. You all went shopping. Rachel told Leighanne you got some cool presents for your sisters."

I did. Where were those? I looked up at Frank, and he nodded. He had them somewhere, didn't he? He was really good that way. Good with details, our Frank was.

"I was going to put them in the mail when we got back to the states," Frank offered, and I smiled.

"Dude, that's not your job!" Howie laughed. "Nicky, can't you do anything by yourself?"

I knew he was just teasing, but it pissed me off. Of course I could do those things by myself… I just never had to. What was the big deal? So Frank was keeping track of some stupid presents I got for the girls. So what? Like the other guys didn't have girlfriends and wives who did that sort of shit for them?

Rachel wouldn't do that. She wasn't that kind of girl. What had James said the other day? Said that I was just mad that she wasn't at my 'beck and call'. Mandy hadn't been that way either. Big deal. That didn't matter to me. I didn't need a girl to fawn over me all the time.

Did I?

It would be kind of nice to have a girl who would be around and want to spend time with me while I was on tour. We could wake up together every day and do real people stuff, not just the occasional outing like Rachel and I did. Brian and Leighanne were always doing stuff, even if it was just walking those stupid dogs around the park when we were near one. With Rachel and me, it was like we fit in the normal time between fucking like bunnies or fighting about how we didn't see each other.

Or she was just too busy to talk to me. Like just now. Why couldn't she talk to me when they were driving? She was with James practically 24/7. I just wanted a few minutes of her time. Was it wrong to expect my girl to want to talk to me?

Kevin's voice brought me back into the conversation, "So Europe is out."

"What? When did we decide that?" I heard myself asking. What the hell?

"The other day when we met with management, Nick. Try to keep up. Maybe you could take notes or something."

I rolled my eyes. "I so don't remember that decision, Kev. We said we should consider it, but I don't remember making it. How can we be on a world tour if we ignore the rest of the frickin' world, man?"

"Circumstances are beyond our control here, Nicky," Howie interjected, backing Kevin up. "It's not safe to be scheduling an overseas tour. We don't know what's coming, if anything."

"Well when do we? Should we cancel the rest of the US tour now? What? We let Jive put out that damned Greatest Hits thing and then we just stop?"

"What do you mean stop, Nick?" Brian joined in. Was it wrong that I felt like I was being ganged up on here?

"Stop touring. It was supposed to drop and then we'd do promo in Europe and Germany and Japan. That's the only way the stupid thing makes sense." None of us wanted to do a greatest hits thing yet; we wanted to wait until at least the next album. But we'd lost that fight. Why did I feel like I was losing every fight lately?

"Germany's in Europe."

"Shut up, Kev. I know that. I'm just saying…"

But they didn't let me even get out my thought. Telling me how it was too unsafe to be traveling and how much it was going to cost. Money we didn't have and were losing hand over fist, anyway. I was so sick of the money thing, I could scream. We had money! Who the hell were they kidding? I had more money than I could spend in a lifetime. We all did.

"It's not about the money, fellas. We could trim down. We don't need 10 dancers and…" Howie started to say something, but I just talked over him. I was pissed off now. They never listened to me, and it seemed like it was just getting worse lately. Hell, they probably all got together last night when I wasn't here and made that decision about the tour. No one would have noticed if I was even in the room. "Unless Kevin needs a way to get chicks."

Okay, that was maybe not the smartest thing I could have said. Kevin leapt off the other couch and towered over me, "Fuck you, Nick!"

"Nick," Howie warned, but I just waved him off, setting my jaw and standing up so Kevin wasn't hovering over me. I had 30 pounds on him, if not more, I could take him. Hell, I could take him when I was 18.

"What? What's Jana, the 2nd or 3rd dancer you've had an affair with? What makes her so fuckin' special, Kev? Is that why we aren't going to Europe, so you can go be with your mistress?"

"You don't want to have this fight with me, Nick. Just drop it."

He backed up, and I could tell that he was trying to get himself under control. I must have hit a nerve. It's not that I didn't like Jana. I did. I even kinda liked Kevin with her… I was just… what was I?

Picking a fight because I was annoyed with the world?

Yeah, that might be it.

"Sorry, man." I sighed, sitting back down. "So we don't do Europe. How about Japan? We can't axe Japan, can we?"

No, they loved us there and just threw silly amounts of money at us. That's why everyone toured Japan. You couldn't say no.

"No. Japan is on," It was Martin now. I hadn't even realized that there was anyone else in the room but us. Frank had stepped out with the other guards. They did that when we started talking business. I turned around to face Martin.

"But we could scale back, couldn't we, Marty? We don't have to do a whole production. We could maybe see if the girls wanted to hear us sing, not just shake our asses." Everyone laughed at that and I felt a little better. "That's how other bands do it."

"You mean, that's how Rachel's band does it, Nicky," AJ said, and I nodded.

"Yeah. You've all seen them. Just them and some amps and… costs them nothing to tour. We could do that. Well, just us and the band. We did that once, remember? That was cool."

"Not now, though," Martin said, "You've created this expectation in people's minds. You can't be different now. The girls want the whole package. All five of you. Singing. Dancing. It's an elaborate production, but you gotta do that to be competitive. N*Sync is going to be starting their tour, and I hear…"

We all jumped on him at the mention of N*Sync, and I had to smile. We didn't use the "N" word in business meetings. That was one of those hard and fast rules. We didn't want to compete with them, and we didn't make business decisions based on what they did. It was like they didn't even exist.

I smiled to myself, did the other guys know N*Sync's big secret? I looked around, feeling smug about my secret. I promised Rachel and James I wouldn't say anything… but it was just too good. Hell, they probably all knew anyway. They all knew about Frank when I didn't, after all.

A phone rang, and we scrambled to find it. James and I had been discussing my love life for way too long now. I half hoped it was James' phone ringing, so if it was JC I could tease him mercilessly.

No, it was mine. Good enough. "Hey, sweetie," I answered, and James made a face of disgust at my tone. Jerk.

"Friday, right?"

"What, bunny?" I loved it when Nick started talking in the middle of a conversation. Sometimes he assumed that I'd been following his thought processes for the last hour.

"We get to see each other on Friday?"

"Yeah. I think. Wait, let me get my schedule."

I rummaged through my bag, and James had to be the voice of doom, glancing over at me from the driver's side. "You know that schedule is all shot to hell. Darien told me this morning that Saffron's insane."

"Oh, come on, Friday we're in… Cleveland. What the hell can she come up with for us in Cleveland?"

"Cleeeeveland…" James drawled in his best Nick Rhodes impersonation. "They're great."

We had way too many Duran in-jokes. Nick just ignored my giggle, knowing it wasn't for him. "Cleveland is near Detroit, right?"

"Three hours, according to the note in my Palm," I informed him.

"Or…" I could hear him flipping pages. "I'm in Chicago the next day, we could go early and have a whole day off together. Want to meet in Chicago? It's cooler than Detroit."

Chicago was cool. We filmed the video in Chicago. We were also trapped in Chicago on 9/11… maybe it would be nice to have fun there again. "Excellent idea, bunny. I can leave for L.A. from there instead of Cleveland."

"Yeah, what are you doing in L.A. for days and days? I'm off next Monday and Tuesday, can I come out?"

"You'd better! Monday's my birthday!"

Silence for a second. "What?"

I gasped in mock horror. "Monday is my birthday. You mean you haven't made lavish plans already?"

Did he honestly not know it was my birthday? I hadn't mentioned it?

Hell, I'd been so busy, I'd barely thought about it.

"Nick's a bad boyfriend," James sing-songed, and I whacked him, making him shriek, "No hitting the driver!"

"When's JC's birthday, then?"

"August…" he considered for a moment. "August 8th, I believe."

"Been reading those teen magazines much, James?" I giggled.

"They are a veritable font of knowledge, my dear Rachel. I have also discovered that he has a fear of needles and likes dogs."

Shit. Rachel's birthday was in a week? Shit. How did I not know that? I knew it was in September. I hadn't thought about it much… James was right: I was a bad boyfriend.

She and James went on about JC, and I drew a big circle around September 24th. L.A. That was cool. I could come up with something there.

Fuck, I had to fly to get there. My stomach dropped at the thought. Flying freaked me out when things were normal, but now? Anything could happen. Hell, those planes that got blown up were going to L.A. What if they tried it again?

"Fuck me, I'm going to be six years older than you now!" Rachel whined, pulling me back to reality. I was just going to have to deal with the flight. I wanted to be with her on her birthday. She wouldn't be able to be with her family, and I knew she'd miss them, so I'd have to make sure it was really special.

"Shit, Rache, five years is my limit," I joked. "I'll have to break up with you."

"Shut up!" she protested. "You will not."

She so knew I was kidding. We both knew I'd never break up with her.

I might push her away by flirting with groupies, but break up? No. I loved her too much for that. I'd just be stupid, and she'd leave me. That would be typical for me. Find someone great like Rachel and then fuck it all up.

Man, Nick, stop it. We were over that. Last week was bad. I made a mistake, but so did she. We were good now. Everything was fine, and I'd make sure her birthday was great. I only had a week to plan, but I'd figure something out.

"Rest stop!" she cried, and I had to laugh at the excitement in her voice.

"Hungry, baby?" I asked, and she giggled.

"No, I have to pee. I'll call you back, bunny?"

"Please. I'm totally bored."

"What, the fellas aren't around to bug? Weren't you having a meeting or something when we talked last?"

I sighed. I didn't want to think about that. "Yeah. Whatever. I'll tell you about it later. Enjoy your junk food for me, okay?"

"There is a soft pretzel with your name on it, I'm sure," she giggled. "Love you, bunny."

"You too, Rache."

I never wanted to drive again. We pulled into the hotel parking lot and James and I cheered. Okay, maybe we were a little slaphappy now. The last hour had been hell. Who knew Michigan had a thing for doing construction at midnight? We should have been here over an hour ago, but were stuck in the most god-awful construction maze. If I saw one more orange detour sign, I might lose it.

"I love you, babe," James smiled at me as we walked up to the hotel, "but leave me for a couple of hours." He pushed on my shoulder, and I just laughed at him, holding the door open while he went through ahead of me.

"My pleasure." I just wanted to go upstairs and maybe take a long bath and then sleep for a solid five hours before we had to be up and on the radio. Seeing Nick had sounded like such a good idea a few days ago, but I always ended up feeling so wrecked afterwards. Never enough sleep and too much emotion.

It was strange being in the lobby at this hour. It was eerily quiet. With Nick there was always activity, girls sitting nearby in overstuffed lobby chairs hoping for a glimpse of their favorite boy while not looking like fans. But not here. We didn't need Carlos or Frank to get us upstairs. At 1 AM there was no activity, just someone dusting down the hall and the front desk clerk finding our keys, barely looking up at us.

How quickly I'd gotten used to that other life. I suddenly had a little idea of what it must have been like for Nick to be on tour with us. How weird it must have felt for him.

"Rache! James!"

I heard my name as James retrieved our keys from the disinterested hotel clerk. I was pulled into Jeremy's arms before I could react. He hugged me tightly, and I relaxed into his arms, wrapping mine around his waist and returning his hug. Familiar. Secure. Like Nick the other day.

"I'm glad you're back," he whispered, his lips nearly touching my ear as he spoke.

I squirmed at the feel of his breath on my skin, "Stoppit! That tickles!"

"Does it?" He leaned down, blowing against my neck and making me giggle before I pushed him away. "Long drive?" he asked.

I just rolled my eyes at him. Stupid question.

"Interminable," James sighed, leaning against the desk and considering us, "I want a few hours alone and a shower."

"Mmm… that sounds lovely. But I want a bath. Wonder if I have any bath bombs left?" I mused out loud as we made our way to the elevator. Jeremy filled us in on his and Darien's exciting weekend of sleeping and trying every bar they could find in Detroit. Finally, the elevator opened on our floor, and I realized that Jeremy still had an arm around my shoulders as we walked toward our rooms. "When's our call, J?"

"Seven," he responded, taking my key and opening my door for me. "Saffron said to be in the lobby at 6:45."

"Saffron?" James questioned before I could find my voice. Saffron was supposed to be back in LA as soon as she could get a flight, not in Detroit with us.

"Yeah. She came with us. Said she wanted to help us through a few days. But she and Lola keep going off and talking in secret. They might be plotting to take over the world… I'm not sure. But in the past two days The Firm has rescheduled just about every commitment we have and then added more. Oh, and Amber is pissed off! But it's great to hear Saffron with her. She may seem nice, but she doesn't let Amber get away with anything."

I jumped in before he continued rambling. Obviously Jeremy was craving new company. "Added? But we barely have any time for the press we're doing now!" I hoped that didn't sound as whiny as it felt. But by the look on Jeremy's face, it did.

"Well, apparently there's always time for another interview or photo shoot."

Photo shoot? We didn't really do photo shoots. Most papers only wanted our publicity shot, and those were all done months ago, before the album dropped. They didn't care about original photos.

Jeremy pulled me into another quick hug before I could start whining again. Was I going to start having to do my hair in the morning and wearing makeup? What the hell was I going to wear?

"Shall I bang on your door at 6 AM, diva princess?"

"Only if you want to die, J. 'Night, guys."

Safe inside my room, I dropped my bag and found a little basket full of bath stuff and some chocolate on the dresser. We were only staying in a Sheraton. Certainly this wasn't the customary welcome basket? I sat on the bed and looked through it. Not just any chocolate, British chocolate - Galaxy Caramels and Flake bars - and not just any bath stuff, but Lush bath stuff. Lola? Nick? No, there was a note from Saffron inside.

Welcome to The Firm! Hope you had a nice few days off. Pamper yourself before the work begins again. I'm in 412 if you have any questions about the schedule… They don't pay me to sleep.

I smiled and kicked off my shoes, grabbing the basket and bringing it with me into the bathroom. OK, I could get used to this treatment. Examining my choices of bath bombs - Butterball or Tisty Tosty?- I found another piece of paper at the bottom of the basket. This must be the schedule. I read through it quickly as I started the water in the tub.

Shit. I thought we were busy before… before I could really process it, my room phone rang and I ran to answer it.

"When do we sleep?" I whined into the phone, and James laughed at me.

"Fuck sleep! Did you see this week? Spin. Rolling Stone - again! This time a photo shoot when we get to LA. People. Us. Entertainment Weekly."

I read along with James, and my stomach did a flip-flop. We'd never been in half these magazines. And then next week there was television. We didn't do television! Radio, yeah. In whatever town we were in… but national chat shows? And meetings about the new video… what the hell song was it going to be? Had we decided that yet?

"Are there any magazines left to be in? Do we have to do them all in two weeks, James?"

"Careful what you wish for, huh?"

"No shit! Hey, did you get a care package from The Firm?"

"Maybe," James' voice drifted off. Little shit! He knew that'd drive me crazy!

"What'd you get? Better not be better than mine! All I got was chocolate and bath stuff - from London!"

"You live for British chocolate and Lush, Rache. You are so competitive, you freak!" He laughed.

"So! What'd you get?" I whined again.

"Games and an X-Box."

"A what?" I didn't know that one. We had a PlayStation… 2 or 3 or something… in the bus. Nick and James always argued about what was better, PlayStation or Nintendo. It was all words to me. Silly boys making things blow up. Nick and Jeremy had nearly come to blows one night with that stupid game where you got to fight to the death. I made a mental note to get rid of that game now that things with Jeremy were weird again. Didn't want Nick getting any ideas…

"X-Box. It's new. Actually, it's not out here until Christmas, but I have one," he boasted. "And I think every game that goes with it, too. Nick might even be jealous of this one!"

"Man, they must really like us, huh?"

James just laughed, and we hung up before my tub could overflow. Without giving it another thought, I lit my lavender candles and turned up my favorite Dido CD before I sank into the water. Bliss. My legs ached from driving all day, and I just wanted a few hours of sleep now.

And my bunny… I wished Nick were here. He loved taking baths with me, even when I put that 'girly smelly stuff' in the water. We hadn't had time to do the bath thing on this visit. Too much traveling and dealing with other people.

I dried off a hand and reached for my cell phone, hitting his number. We'd been at the hotel for 20 minutes or so, I was surprised he hadn't called yet. He'd only called about a dozen times on the drive, but we couldn't talk then.

"Yeah?" he said into the phone, and I could hear commotion behind him.

"Hey, bunny! Where are you?"

"Rache! Are you home?" He was yelling over the noise around him. Sounded like a bar? There was music, and talking, and he sounded a little bit drunk.

"Finally, yes. We ran into a lot of construction. Sounds like you found a party."

"Some of the dancers decided to go out, and I was bored."

I knew that. he'd been complaining about that all day. So it was good that he was out doing something. Then why did I feel so jealous? I liked it better when he was bored in his hotel room and missing me.

I was such a selfish bitch sometimes. I was just going to be asleep in a few minutes. I picked the bath bomb for just that reason. Its little tag declared:

Can't sleep? Won't sleep? The Waving not Drowning's essential oils give strength and courage to the weak and fatigued then dispatch you to the land of nod. Keep several in stock for emergencies, jet lag, and 3 a.m. insomnia cures.

It was sitting right next to the tub, and I could read it in the light from my candles.

"Cool," I told him, trying to sound like I meant it. "I'm in the tub now, and I'll be asleep in a few minutes, I bet. Just wanted to call and say goodnight."

"You're in the tub? You know I love that, buttercup…" I sighed. Suddenly I didn't want to be at this crowded, noisy club any longer. I wanted to be in a bathtub with Rachel, surrounded by hot water and her warm, slippery body.

"I know, baby," she answered. "I was just missing you. Saffron gave me this little gift basket with more of the bath bombs I like. And good chocolate! British chocolate!"

I had to laugh. Such a girl. "Rache, didn't you buy a ton of chocolate in Canada?" They had British chocolate, Cadbury and Flake Bars and something else she liked… Milk Tray?

"But it's always good to have more, sweetie! You go back to your party and I'll eat some of my lovely chocolate before I fall asleep. Love you."
"I love you, too, Rachel. We'll talk tomorrow when you're more awake."

"And you're sober?" She laughed and I had to laugh with her. Yeah, I was a little drunk now. I'd finally convinced some people to get out of the hotel, and we'd been drinking for a while now. I should probably stop and go back to the hotel. I spotted Eddie, Howie's guard, at the end of the bar talking to one of the crew and waved him over. He'd come with me because Frank… what? I didn't want Frank to come, but I forget why now.

The girl on my left reached out to touch me, and I suddenly remembered why I didn't ask Frank to come. He'd be all disapproving. But I wasn't doing anything wrong. I was just sitting here drinking with some of the crew and dancers. Girls just kinda came up to me. Wasn't my fault. I smiled at the girl, and she handed me her number.

Okay, I didn't need that. I mouthed "thank you" and tucked it into my pocket. Didn't want to offend her, now, did I?

I moved off my stool, and the world spun for a second. "Whoa! The whole floor just moved, baby."

She giggled in my ear again and my stomach flipped. I could just feel her breath on my skin, her hair in my hands or dragging across my chest. Oh, that was a nice feeling. She had such soft hair…

"Yeah, maybe I need to be a little more sober. I'll go back now, though. We can talk now that you're alone."

"Don't forget wet and slippery," she reminded me, her voice low.

I moved over to a corner, hoping it would be quieter and I could hear the water through the phone. "Oh damn, baby. Are you all relaxed? Is it a big tub?"

"Big enough. I can stretch my legs out and you'd fit in here with me, I bet."

"Hmmm… that'd be nice."

Eddie joined me in the corner, and I scowled at him. Why could they never just leave me alone? No one cared that I was here. "Damnit, Rache, I'm not alone…"

"Oh right… it got quieter…"

"Yeah, I found a corner, but you know I can't do anything alone."

Rachel giggled in my ear, "You can do plenty alone, bunny. But go… have fun at your party, and we'll talk tomorrow. I love you."

"Yeah, me too." She was probably right. I probably couldn't get it up anyway. I dropped my phone back in my pocket and turned to Eddie.
"Are we leaving, then?" he asked.

"Yeah. I should get some sleep. Think I'm drunk enough."

"To sleep or in general?"

Is that what I was doing? If I got drunk enough, I'd forget about missing Rachel and hating to sleep alone? Not too likely. Maybe I'd just have a couple more drinks. One of the dancers nodded at me, and I joined her. Rachel was going to be asleep soon, anyway.

Chapter Added 7.3.03

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