Oreos for Breakfast: Nick BSB Fiction

Oreos for Breakfast - Chapter 22

By
The Paperbag Princess & The Pumpkin Coach

I hated phones. I hated anything waking me up, actually. Nick groaned, pulling a pillow over his head, and I glared at him, rolling over on top of him to answer the damn phone. Ignoring it would not make it go away!

"What?" I grumbled.

"Rachel? Did I wake you up? Sorry."

Nick ran his hand down my back, tickling my ribs lightly, and I wiggled away, trying to talk to Brian. "It's okay. What time is it?"

"Ten. I just wanted to see if Nick wanted to shoot some hoops."

I could feel a growing erection underneath me. Nick probably didn't want to play basketball with Brian, did he?

"Yeah?" I said into the phone. "Can I come?"

Brian laughed as Nick whispered "I could arrange that…" against my free ear.

We had all day. I didn't want to be the reason that Nick didn't get to hang out with his band and have fun. I barely knew Brian, and he was one of Nick's best friends. If this was going to work, I had to get to know the people in Nick's life. When I got back from Europe, I was going to force him to introduce me to his family.

But Brian was talking to me. Right. "You play?" he asked me.

"I'll kick your ass. Every man for himself, Littrell."

He laughed, and Nick looked up at me when he heard 'Littrell'. "You've got a bet, Rache. Wake him up, and I'll see you in the hallway in fifteen minutes. The court's a couple of blocks away, Carlos knows where."

"Fifteen minutes. And bring your wallet!"

She hung up the phone with a giggle and then jumped out of bed. "Get up! I have to kick Brian's ass at basketball in fifteen minutes."

I pulled her back onto the bed with me. She had to do what? Why did she get to play with Brian and I didn't? And I had plans for today…. Okay, it was basically to repeat all of yesterday, when we'd just stayed in bed and had sex, but that'd been a good day. She was leaving tonight, and I had no idea when I'd see her again.

"No," I whined. "Stay here and play with me!"

She laughed, looking up at me. "I have played with you plenty in the last couple of days, bunny. Brian wants you to play basketball, and I'm going to tag along, okay?"

I shook my head. "No. I can do that later, after you leave."

"No. We're going to model good behavior."

"What?" She looked so serious, too, reaching up smooth the hair away from my face.

"Good behavior. That you can still hang with your friends while I'm here. That way, when Leighanne's around, maybe Brian will remember that he can still hang with you."

I sighed and lay down next to her. "Doubtful. They're all happy and married and shit."

"That sucks," Rachel asserted. "Just because you're married doesn't mean you can't hang out with your friends."

I started to answer her but just shook my head. I didn't want to get into it. It was a long story… or maybe not. Maybe it was all in my head. Maybe it was just normal that Brian had found Leighanne and didn't want to hang around me all the time anymore. Or… "Nevermind, Rache. When are we meeting him?"

"Grabbing my ass does not count as defense, Carter!"

"It's better than grabbing Brian's ass!" he laughed, lunging for the ball. I sidestepped him just to have Brian take the ball from me and slam it into the basket.

"And the more you two paw at one another, the better I do. Damn, Nicky, I didn't think it was possible for you to get worse on the court." He dribbled the ball around us, and we both went for it.

I got it, elbowing Nick out of my way to make the basket. "You're just jealous, that Nick's allowed to grab my ass and you aren't."

Of course Brian then had to grab my ass. I'd set myself up for that one. Laughing, I was distracted enough that Nick got the ball away from me, but then proceeded to miss his shot. Brian and I both snickered at him.

This was fun. It reminded me of playing with my brothers. It was mass chaos, many insults and completely illegal shots.

Thankfully, my brothers never pawed at me like Nick did.

He was still for a second, setting up his shot, and I ran over to him, wrapping my arm around his waist and biting his earlobe, effectively distracting him. Brian called his thanks as he sank another basket.

Nick turned his head, about to either kiss me or kill me, I wasn't sure which, when he froze, looking past my shoulder. "Aaron? Aaron!" He ran past me, across the court to a little boy, Nick in miniature.

I knew that little boy. He was all over Colleen's room. He wasn't quite little, nearly as tall as Nick. How old was he again? 13? 14?

Brian bounced the ball over to me, and I looked at him, bouncing it back. "Were we expecting the brother?"

He shook his head, dribbling the ball from hand to hand. "I wasn't. Know who's with him?"

I took the ball mid-bounce and glanced back over to Nick and Aaron, punching each other that way boys do when they don't want anyone to know that they're happy. They were watched over by an pretty, older woman, blond, and I didn't need to see more of her to have my stomach sink.

"Oh, fuck. She saw me mauling her son, didn't she?"

Brian nodded, taking the ball back from me, making me chase him. "Ever meet the mom?"

"Never even really talked about the mom." I'd tried, but I'd learned more from those damn books she'd written than from Nick.

"I've toured with the woman. We don't talk about mom."

I grabbed the ball and made a basket. "Should I be afraid?"

Brian just nodded at me again. "Be very afraid."

Pushing my hair out of my face, I looked back at the group near the door. Nick was talking to his mom now, standing up straight and trying very hard to be the proper son. I could see it in every line of his body. Aaron was staring at me suspiciously, standing as close to his brother as he possibly could without looking clingy.

Turning on my heel, I passed the ball over to Brian. "Should I be afraid of the brother?"

He tossed the ball at my chest, and I caught it. "Be terrified. You don't want to know the things he did to Mandy."

I dribbled around Brian, ducking under his arm to make another basket. "Yes, but I am the coolest girl in school!"

I did a victory dance, holding the ball out of Brian's reach as he lunged for it, catching Nick's eye and winking at him as he glanced over at us, trying to still pay attention to his mother.

God, she winked at me. How could I possibly pay attention to my mother when Rachel was over there, laughing with Brian? Brian called Aaron's name, and Aaron looked up at me, questioning. I grinned at him and pushed him towards Brian and Rachel.

Aaron would like Rachel. He'd hated all my other girlfriends, but Rachel played ball. He'd like her soon enough. He walked over to them, dragging his feet a little, and I tried to listen to my mother.

What was she talking about? I got my gift for rambling from her. I didn't care. I was just happy to see my brother.

"Aaron, this is Rachel. She's a friend of ours," I could hear Brian say, and I couldn't help but look over.

"I know Aaron," she said, dribbling the ball. "I answered Nick's phone once. So, Aaron, are you better at basketball than your brother?"

She bounced the ball to him, and he caught it, giving it an experimental bounce before sinking the shot from across the court. Excellent, bro. "Being better than Nick isn't saying much," he told her, and she laughed, going after the ball.

"Then you can take his place. We're playing every man for himself, and I'm winning."

Brian ran past her, grabbing the ball. "You are not."

She tried to block his shot and failed. "Are we even keeping score, Bri?"

"I've got fifty, and you and Nick combined don't have that."

"You so lie!" she wailed, going after the ball, but Aaron got there first.

"Is that lovely girl your Rachel?" Mom asked, and I looked back at her guiltily. I hadn't heard anything she'd said for the last three minutes.

"Yeah," I answered, and Mom and I watched as Rachel elbowed Brian out of the way to make a basket. This was not the best way for Mom to meet her. Damnit, why hadn't I remembered that Aaron was coming today? Then I could have made sure we met them at the hotel and Rachel would have made a great first impression.

I knew why I'd forgotten about it. Because for the last few days, I hadn't thought of anything but Rachel. Fuck my family, and the band, and my friends, everything was about Rachel.

"I thought you'd broken up," Mom went on, and I shrugged.

"We… did. But we got back together."

She just looked at me for a long moment, and she didn't need to say anything. Mandy and I had done that all the fucking time. It wasn't the same thing, not at all. I was not going to lose Rachel again. No fucking way.

But Mom decided to guilt me with something else. "I was hoping that Aaron could get some of your attention today. It's been so long since we've seen you."

I scowled at her. I couldn't help it. What bullshit. I'd done like 10 shows with Aaron this summer, and I talked to him on the phone at least every three days. "It's only been a couple of weeks, Mom."

"Well, maybe it's good that we have to leave tonight, instead of staying like we originally planned."

Hey! Aaron was supposed to spend the week with me. Okay, so I'd just remembered that, but still. Damnit, Rachel was leaving tonight and so was Aaron, now. I was going to be so bored tomorrow. "Why do you have to leave?" Why the hell had they come if they had to turn around and leave?

Mom told me something about Aaron's press commitments in LA, and I restrained myself from rolling my eyes. Whatever. "Well, I'm glad you're here," I told her. "Rachel's leaving tonight, but this will give you a chance to get to know her."

Like her, Mom. Please.

Mom didn't say anything, just looked back at Rachel, considering her. Maybe I should be pleased that Mom never liked my girlfriends, that in her eyes, no one could ever be good enough for me.

I wanted to remind her about what happened with Mandy, but that would just start another fight… but I didn't want to get into that situation. I didn't want to have to choose, not again. Don't push me there. This might be the one. Mom and I would say that after every audition, and one day it came true. Why couldn't she share that same sense of hope about my girlfriends?

She was staring at me, and I didn't dare turn around to look at her. Parents loved me. Jeremy's parents liked me more than they liked him. I was good with parents. It came from being the prized little girl.

But I already had about 20 strikes against me, and we hadn't even been introduced yet. Her first sight of me had been as I mauled her son. Her much younger-than-me son. I knew I didn't look ancient, but I looked older than Nick, surely. Add the fact that I needed a shower, and I was wearing one of Nick's rattiest tank tops...well, I don't think I'd like me much, either.

And hadn't Nick told me that Jane didn't like any of his girlfriends? Well, besides the last one… Tiffani. Jane had liked her. Never mind that Nick could never remember the girl's name.

"Relax," Brian said quietly, standing in front of me and passing the ball from hand to hand as Aaron danced around him. He let Aaron take it and smiled at me. "You're looking a little freaked out, Rache."

"If I ever meet Amanda Willaford, I will kill her."

Brian laughed, running back over to grab the ball from Aaron. I followed him, slamming into both of them and coming up victorious, sinking my shot and gloating.

"C'mon, Aaron, you're worse than your brother! My niece is going to fall out of love with you when I tell her I kicked your ass."

He grabbed the ball out of my hands, dribbling around me. "Hey, I was just being nice because you're a girl and all…" He went for the shot, and I went to push him, but he moved too quickly. We both ended up on the ground, laughing.

"Aaron! Stop roughhousing! You have a photo shoot tomorrow."

Brian helped me up, but not before I caught Aaron glaring at me a little. Shit, I was getting him in trouble. We'd been getting along for like thirty seconds there. Damnit!

Nick and Jane came over to us, and I tried to make myself presentable. Brian saved me, getting to Jane first and kissing her on the cheek as he made making small talk, giving me 10 seconds to exchange a glance with Nick. We had an entire conversation in that glance. I questioned if she hated me, and he had no idea. "Jane," Brian added, "since your son has forgotten all his manners, let me introduce our friend Rachel Connor."

Brian steered her over to me, and I could feel Nick step behind me, fixing a stray curl on the top of my head. I held out my hand to her. "Nice to meet you, Mrs. Carter."

"Please, call me Jane. I somehow feel we'll be spending a lot of time together in the future." Her smile seemed sincere as she shook my hand. So why did I still feel so nervous?

"Jane, then." I smiled back at her. She was just a mom, right? Okay, so her sons were international pop sensations, but she was just a regular mom.

"I'm glad we got a chance to meet you, Rachel. It's so difficult juggling their schedules. Aaron was supposed to spend the rest of the week with Nick, but something came up, so we're leaving tonight. If I'd known you were here, I would have attempted to get out here yesterday."

I couldn't look at Nick. Thank god she hadn't been here yesterday. Nick and I had just barely managed to string our relationship back together yesterday. We'd needed that day to ourselves.

But I'd wanted to hang with Brian this morning, and now I was meeting Nick's family. Funny how I was getting everything I'd wanted.

Be careful what you wish for, Rachel…

Brian's cell phone rang, and he ran over to grab it. "Is it Leighanne?" Aaron teased, and in two seconds, he and Nick were taunting Brian, rolling their eyes and making kissy noises.

When did my boyfriend become 12?

"Tell me he's more mature when he's with you," Jane asked conspiratorially, and I had to laugh.

"Much, thankfully. Am I about to see a side of Nick I've never seen before?"

Jane laughed. "Eight years between them, and sometimes you'd think it was only eight months."

"All Nick regressing, it looks like," I added, and she smiled at me.

"Usually, yes. Get them talking about work, and it's the other way around. Hopefully they'll be on good behavior today. I doubt you want to deal with an even younger boyfriend, do you?"

I shrugged. Was she trying to say I was old? "I'm used to it. I have nieces. I know from kids. Aaron's fourteen?"

"Thirteen," Jane corrected. "He and Angel will be fourteen in December."

Shit. Missed the trivia question.

"How old are your nieces? Nick told me that one of them is infatuated with Aaron." Nick had told her about my nieces? What had he told her about me?

"Nine and eleven. Colleen's the younger one, and she loves Aaron. Katie was going to marry Nick until I stole him away from her."

Jane was amused by that, and we talked about my nieces for a couple of minutes, until Nick came back to us. "Let's go back to the hotel and grab some lunch and figure out what we're doing."

"Good," I answered. "I need a shower."

Nick managed not to make a lewd comment, since his mom was right there. We walked back to the hotel, talking about the softball game scheduled to celebrate Kevin's birthday and discussing where we could go to buy presents after lunch. I ducked into the bathroom as soon as we got back, letting Nick order lunch for me.

Damnit, I'd had other plans for this afternoon. I was leaving tonight, and I wanted to be alone with Nick.

But this was good. I needed to meet his family. His mom and I were sorta getting along, even if Aaron kept glaring at me.

We ordered lunch, and I showed Aaron the video games. Then I went into the bedroom to find Rachel. I needed to touch her for a minute. "Rache?" I called out.

"Are you alone?" she asked from the bathroom.

"Yes, don't worry," I answered, finding her dressed in only a towel. I reached for her with a grin, and she stepped away from me.

"Don't touch me. You're all sweaty." I pouted at her, and she pointed at the shower. "Get in the shower, and don't pout at me."

I pulled off my sweaty clothes, and she shook her head, smiling as she pulled a comb through her curls. "I'm not going to have a chance to ravish you again before I leave, am I?"

I laughed, kicking my clothes into a corner. "I'll get Howie to distract her for a few minutes. He's good at that."

She was looking for something in her makeup bag, distracted, and I yanked her towel off, making her scream. "I mean it, Nick! I've got twenty minutes to pull myself together. Don't touch me until you're clean."

I jumped back, surprised by the annoyance in her voice. She saw the expression on my face and put a hand over her mouth. "I'm sorry, bunny. I… I just didn't expect your family today."

"I knew they were coming," I admitted sheepishly. "I just forgot. I was thinking about you and lost track of what day Aaron was coming. I'm sorry, I should have warned you."

Damnit. I'd fucked everything up. This should have been good! Everyone should have been prepared ahead of time. Then everyone would be nice to each other, and Aaron wouldn't be pouting that he didn't get me all to himself.

Suddenly Rachel kissed me, and I had to stop myself from pulling her into my arms. I was sorta sweaty and gross…

"It's okay, honey," she said softly. "I'll be fine. It's just… a lot. We've been though a lot this week, and now I have to be nice to your mom."

"Sorry," I whispered, and she shook her head, moving away from me.

"It's okay. Hell, it's great. I really wanted to meet them. Well, your whole family, but I'll take Mom and Aaron for now. Is Aaron mad because he has to share you?"

How did she know that? "Probably," I answered, turning around to start the water for my shower.

"You're the coolest kid in class," she teased. "Everyone wants to be your best friend."

"Duh!"

He stepped into the shower with a cocky grin and I had to smile at him. I knew exactly how Aaron was feeling. This was my last day with Nick for a while, and I didn't want to share him. Aaron hadn't seen him in weeks, and now he had me to contend with. That did sorta suck.

And I was the grown-up here, wasn't I? I'd spent the last few days with Nick. I could let him spend time with his brother.

Staring into the closet and contemplating what to wear, I resolved to be good. I'd talk to Jane and let Aaron have Nick. That would be fine. As long as Nick was nearby, I'd be fine. I was good with parents, right?

The dress I'd worn last night to the show was trashy, wasn't it? Too short to impress a mom. Maybe…

Oh, fuck it. Jeans and a T-shirt would be fine. And the cute blue sweater I'd bought the other day, since it was chilly out. That was good. Trying a little bit, but not too hard. I didn't want Jane to think I was trying to win her over. That would make me look desperate. I should just be relaxed and myself.

Did Jane know we'd broken up?

Was it possible she'd missed the tabloid article? Doubtful. Was it possible that perhaps she thought it was lies, all lies?

Doubtful.

I looked at myself in the mirror and shook my head. I looked tired. I'd never caught up on my sleep the way I was supposed to this week, and it was showing. Not that I regretted one second I'd spent talking to Nick, but now things were okay and I'd wanted to spend today wrapped in his arms, sleeping with occasional breaks for more sex.

I had to stop this! His mom and brother were here, the most important people in his life, and I needed to know them. Okay, maybe the timing wasn't perfect, but it was what we were doing now. I needed to be happy about it.

Nick appeared in the mirror behind me, and I turned around, throwing myself at him. "Hey!" he exclaimed, but he wrapped his arms around me anyway, hugging me tightly. "What's wrong, buttercup?"

"Nothing," I sighed. "Just needed a hug."

"I'm gonna get you all wet," he warned, and I just shook my head.

"This shirt makes me look old anyway."

"It's a T-shirt, Rache," he teased, but I couldn't tease back.

"I'm old. And tired and cranky, and I just need a minute to regroup."

He pulled me closer, leaning down to kiss my neck. "Do you want to nap, baby? I can tell Mom and Aaron that you're tired."

"No. I want to hang with them. And I probably need to eat something." Taking a deep breath, I moved away from him. "We need to buy Kevin presents, and go to the baseball game, and I need to be packed so that I can just leave from there… shit. I need to pack."

"Yeah… want to do that now?"

I sat on the bed with a sigh. "No. I'll find a minute later. What should I wear?"

"Whatever, Rache." He stroked my hair, and I looked up at him. "I think she likes you. And Aaron will come around. Relax, buttercup."

"I'll try…" I promised.

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