Oreos for Breakfast: Nick BSB Fiction

Oreos for Breakfast - Chapter 22

By
The Paperbag Princess & The Pumpkin Coach

Maybe she was still sleeping… that would be nice. I'd called her a couple of times, but she hadn't answered. Sleeping. I'd be sleeping if I could. Three hours on the flight hadn't been enough. I had a couple of hours now before I had to be back at the venue for the show, so maybe I could crawl into bed next to her and sleep.

I could crawl into bed next to her, right? We had the two-bedroom suite like she'd wanted, and all her stuff was in one room and all of mine in another, but just sleeping would be okay. Right?

Yeah. It had to be. Last night had been great, getting drunk with her and acting like we were at least friends again. And today, on the plane, she'd curled up and rested her head on my chest while we slept. So, yeah, I could sleep next to her.

I let myself into the room and called her name quietly. No answer. I went over to her door and opened it carefully…

No Rachel.

The bed was made, even. Of course she wasn't sleeping. I'd sent her lunch and a massage and stuff. She'd left me a message to thank me. I'd forgotten about that.

Then where was she? My room?

No. Damnit.

I chewed my lip, looking around. She hadn't left. I hadn't wanted to let her out of my sight, but that was stupid. We were almost good again. Why would she have left? It was her idea to come with me.

I went back into her room and breathed a sigh of relief when I saw her clothes still there. She couldn't have gone anywhere.

Then again, most of her stuff was currently on its way back home…

I lay down on her bed and pulled out my cell phone. It was stupid that I was nervous about calling her. She answered on the second ring. "Hey, bunny! Did they free you from press commitments?"

"Yeah. I'm back in the room. Where are you?"

"Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't even think to leave a note. I didn't think you'd be back. I'm shopping. I need clothes, remember?"

I smiled, remembering helping her pack this morning. Had she really said one of her shirts was 'broked'? I'd called Kate Sutton today and asked her for new buttons for that shirt. She didn't know which one it was, but she was going to check with Em. "I see a bunch of clothes here in your closet, buttercup."

"Nothing good. I'm buying new stuff! I might even buy you something, since I have money now. Or coming. That's what credit is for, right?"

"Right, baby." I still needed to hear all the details about what sort of money they were talking about now. I couldn't remember what my first gold record had meant, money-wise. Then again, I'd only been 15 when that'd happened.

"And why did you hang up all my clothes when we're just leaving tonight? What's the point?"

"I didn't hang up your clothes, buttercup. The hotel did."

"Really?" she asked, sounding shocked. "Guess I was dead to the world. Oh, that's right… you were here, and maids were here, and I just wanted to sleep… they're good!"

"Too bad we're not staying." Why weren't we staying? Couldn't we leave for Portland tomorrow?

Right. Because the others had been here for like three days already. I missed the good hotel. I hated when that happened.

"Sucks! Is the Portland hotel nice?"

"I don't know. I'll check. We're leaving right after the show, I remember that. It's a six or seven hour drive, according to Frank."

"Cool. Well, sweetie, I need to pay here. You get a nap, and I'll meet you back at the hotel soon. When do you have to leave for the venue?"

"Seven. But you'll be back before then, right?"

"Totally. See you soon!"

Yeah, I knew about the bus ride. I'd finally tracked Frank down after my massage. Well, after my massage and a nap. That'd been so cool of Nick to get me a massage. By the time Greta left, I'd felt like a whole different person. Happier. More relaxed.

Good thing he hadn't come back to the room then or… or what, Rache? You'd have pulled him into your room and made love to him? Was that so horrible?

I tried to concentrate on the helpful saleswoman who was ringing up my purchase, pushing all those thoughts out of my head. Em was probably right. We probably needed to just call a truce and move on. Lord knows we'd talked everything to death the other night.

Had Nick really told me that everything was exploding in Backstreet? That couldn't be right. Everything looked normal to me. But what did I know? We never even saw most of the guys when I would visit. Maybe for a quick dinner or before or after the show, but usually we just locked ourselves away, too wrapped up in one another to care much about what anyone else was doing.

No wonder he missed me so much when I was gone.

The woman handed me my receipt, and I smiled, taking the little bag from her. How the hell had I just spent $200 on underwear?

Guess I really was calling a truce. I had new lingerie and a bottle of lavender-scented massage oil for later. Six hours on the bus could be fun, right? I'd repay Nick the favor from today, and then we'd have sweet sex… not like the other night. Not that it wasn't… I blushed just remembering how he'd made me feel. I loved it when he just wanted to possess me, when he'd just push me up against the wall and fuck me. But that wasn't all we did, right? He loved me and I loved him, and sex didn't have to be like that.

No. Tonight I'd make him dinner on his bus and give him a massage, and it would be nice and romantic. That's what we needed. Not sex to forget… we'd done enough of that. Or I had, at any rate.

"Nick! Are you here? Sorry… I'm so late! Fuck!"

What the hell was that? Rache…?

I opened one eye to find her pulling my suitcase out of my closet and throwing things into it like a madwoman. Was I having a flashback?

No, last night was on the floor… not the…

"Ow!" Did she just hit me?

"Sorry, bunny… we have about fifteen minutes to pack before we need to leave. I'm sorry. Fuck! I told Frank I'd be back and he didn't have to worry about getting you. You need to get up and finish packing your stuff!"

I looked over at the clock. 6:45… hadn't she told me she'd be back before we had to leave for the venue? Where the hell had she been all this time? Was she avoiding me by shopping all day? That didn't seem right…

I didn't have time to think about it anymore as we both ran around packing everything the hotel had so nicely unpacked for us. It would have been easier if they hadn't bothered.

Suddenly Frank was at the door, and I didn't have time to ask her about her day as she talked to him and he took us down to the lobby, outside and into the waiting van. Then we were surrounded by the guys at the venue.

"Go, bunny," she whispered, hugging me before I left to follow Frank into the meet and greet.

"But we haven't had two seconds to talk. Where were you all day? Why didn't you come back to the room? Did I do something, Rache? I got the two rooms like you wanted and…"

She stopped me, leaning up and kissing me, sighing as I pulled her into my arms and kissed her back. Her tongue met mine, and I felt my dick move. She pulled away, smiling at me, "Put him away… you have pretty girls to meet and greet…"

She'd been biting her bottom lip and smirking, pushing her hips back against mine, but now her smile had dropped suddenly. Fuck. Was she jealous of the fans waiting in the next room? She couldn't be. I squeezed her hand in mine, "Don't worry, buttercup. You're the only girl that has that effect on me."

"I doubt that," she muttered, and I pulled away. What the hell? I hadn't done anything to deserve this attitude, did I? I turned to leave, and she grabbed my arm, stopping me.

"Fuck. Nick… I'm sorry. Just… I talked to Em today, and she said some things that really made sense, and I'm trying…" Martin, our tour manager, called my name again, and I held up a hand to him. He could wait two seconds while I tried to figure this out. "Hell. You have to go."

"They can wait, Rache." I wasn't coming this far to have her be pissed at me for doing my job, was I? Fuck the fans and the fellas. They could all wait.

She just shook her head and pulled me back into her arms, letting me kiss her, "Go. We'll have time to talk on the bus, bunny."

Reluctantly, I followed Martin to the meet and greet room trying to ignore AJ as he tried to talk to me about Rachel. What the hell just happened there? I didn't know any more now than I had yesterday. It seemed like every minute her mood changed and… fuck… did I have time to call Anna before the show and figure out what the hell I was doing wrong?

It was cool to see her down in the pit during the show, though. I caught her smiling and laughing with Sarah. She even danced along to a few of our fast songs. During the first video bit, I'd stuck my head around the curtain under the stage to catch her eye before someone caught me, but she was busy signing autographs for a few fans who were brave enough to tap her on the shoulder. Frank was even hovering over her like a good bodyguard. Hell, he liked her more than me most of the time, bet he was happy to be guarding her and not worrying about my sorry ass.

Finally we were rising above the stage for the final song, and I looked out for her but just found Sarah looking up at AJ with the expression that I wanted! This was a slow, romantic song, and I even had a good line, but she was gone. I couldn't even dazzle her with a heartfelt lyric. I'd truly lost everything. I had no fucking idea what I could do now. I'd groveled and brought presents and done every sweet thing I could think of for her.

I took a deep breath and tried not to lose it in front of everyone as I sang.

I can't imagine a life without your love
And even forever don't seem like long enough

As soon as my riser hit the floor, I pulled off my mic pack and thrust it at the first stagehand I saw, ignoring Frank yelling for me and even beating Geoff out to the bus. I pounded on the door, and she opened it quickly.

"Yay, Frank!" she said, and then she saw me. "Oh, hell," she grumbled, looking past me.

"What?" I yelled. I didn't want to deal with another of her moods. She'd just been happy during the show and then she'd just disappeared. It couldn't have been to avoid the fans, she was fuckin' signing autographs during the show!

Maybe I just needed something to eat and some sleep. That nap before the show hadn't been enough.

"You're early!"

"I didn't know where you were." I sounded pouty, even to myself, and she took pity on me, smiling and holding out her hand.

"Sorry. Come on. Frank will bring the bread in a minute."

"What?" I whined, following her on the bus. But I stopped just inside the curtain that separated the driver's compartment. Was this my bus? My bus had never looked this good. How had she done that? She had candles everywhere, and real dishes on the table, and a salad waiting for us. Something smelled amazing on the stove.

I smiled at his dumbfounded expression. It'd worked! Or maybe he was just exhausted. I wasn't sure which.

"Frank is bringing the garlic bread, because you don't have an oven. Dude, even we have an oven."

"Because Darien is a freak and cooks on the bus. Are you cooking?"

I nodded, going over to the stove. "Fettuccine Alfredo. It's one pot cooking. I wanted to make you a steak or something, but that got too complicated." That's why I'd been so late getting back to him. I'd spent an hour in the gourmet grocery store, contemplating various dinner options.

"Rache… you are amazing," he said, still just standing in the middle of the room.

"No, bunny. You are." I went over to him, leading him to the couch where we could curl up for a minute. "I wanted to do something special for you. You're always doing sweet things for me. I have miles to go to catch up."

"You don't..."

"I know," I interrupted, placing my finger over his lips. He kissed it softly, and I felt my whole body tingle. "And it's not that I'm paying you back or something… it's just… I just wanted you to have a nice meal. I know you're exhausted. You got less sleep than I did. And my massage was really nice, so after dinner, we can go back to the bedroom and I'll give you one. I tried to talk my massage therapist into coming with us, but I think maybe she read the tabloids and was scared of the bus orgies."

He didn't laugh at that, just leaned over and pulled me into his arms, kissing my check quickly before burying his head in my shoulder. "That sounds great, Rache. Really. Just having you here with me is more than enough. Thank you."

The doorbell rang again, and I jumped up to get our garlic bread. Geoff came on with Frank. Immediately he started bitching about how it smelled great, and how he couldn't eat and drive at the same time. I promised to save him some leftovers. Then frank started in on how we weren't allowed to stop unless we called ahead to him on Howie's bus. Blah, blah, blah. I had no intention of stopping. We didn't need anything but each other, right?

When I got back to Nick, he was asleep on the couch. I giggled and sat next to him. "Hey, bunny. We could skip dinner and just sleep, if you want…"

He sat up with a start, and I laughed.

"Shut up," he whined. "I had a long day."

"I know. Do you want to just go to bed?"

"No, I'm starving," he decided, getting up to sit at the table. "But I definitely can't have any of that wine."

I picked the bottle up from the table and put it back in the fridge. "I sorta thought that might be the case. Coke or iced tea?"

After a glass of iced tea, he woke up a little, and we talked about his show, and mine the night before, and our various encounters with the press… it almost felt like things were right between us again. He raved about my cooking, and I chose not to tell him it was mostly pre-made stuff. I'd done my best. In a few weeks, when our tours were over, he could come to the Point and I'd cook for him.

During dinner he'd hung on my every word, not saying much but just watching me. Had I really shocked him that much with the dinner? Sometimes he was easy to impress.

"Hey, did I tell you I talked to Colleen?" I asked him as I was washing our dishes. Okay, that didn't fit with the romantic mood, but it had been ingrained in me at an early age to clean up after yourself. Then again, he didn't seem to mind. He was too excited by the ice cream I'd pulled out for dessert.

He just shook his head, since he was shoveling ice cream into his mouth.

"Did I tell you she wasn't speaking to me since she found out we broke up?"

"No!" he said. "Although… she did seem a little pissed at you when she called me."

"Yeah, she's got a temper. I have no idea where she gets it."

He choked on his ice cream, and I let him suffer, looking over my shoulder and considering him until he caught his breath.

"Don't even," I told him. "So, I called home, because I figured I should tell them I wasn't coming home today like we'd planned, and I got her on the phone. Before she could hang up on me, I told her I had good news and bad news."

"Which was?" he prompted.

"The bad news was that I wasn't coming home today. Which didn't faze her, the little brat. But the good news was that I was with you, and she shrieked so hard my ears are still ringing."

That made him smile, and I went over to kiss him, drying my hands on my jeans. "I think she likes you."

"I like her," he said, and I kissed him again for that. I loved that he loved my family. "So what exactly did you tell her?" He was trying to be casual, but it wasn't working.

"About us, you mean?"

He nodded into his ice cream.

"She's nine, Nick. I just told her I was with you. I think her head would explode if I tried to explain things."

"Can you explain them to me?" he wondered, and I laughed, sitting across from him.

"No. Sorry. But I told you that I talked to Em today?" He nodded again, offering me a bite of his ice cream. I leaned forward and licked it off his spoon, and he raised an eyebrow at me. "She said I should declare a truce. I should stop being angry and see what happens."

"I could do that," he offered, and I grinned at him.

"Good. Now let me give you a massage and we'll see what happens."

He definitely liked that idea, but he still helped me finish cleaning up and blowing out the candles before we went back to the bedroom. He took off his shirt while I lit some candles, and when I turned around, he was already sprawled out on the bed. His tour bus wasn't the ideal spot for a romantic encounter, but it would do. We'd done it before. It didn't matter. I just wanted it to be right this time. I'd give him a massage, and he'd be all relaxed and happy, and we'd just quietly make love and show each other it could be good again.

Or he'd fall asleep in five minutes. He groaned at the first touch of my hands on his shoulders, but within moments, he was snoring. I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing out loud.

Okay, this was not meant to happen tonight. "Alright, bunny. Maybe tomorrow. We have as long as it takes." I stretched out on top of him, enjoying the feel of his skin next to mine. This was going to have to be good enough for tonight, and it was pretty damn good.

Disclaimer | Sudden Silence Website
Feedback to Authors | Tragical Fiction (home)

Subscribe to receive an email when this site is updated!

Powered by groups.yahoo.com