Oreos for Breakfast: Nick BSB Fiction

Oreos for Breakfast - Chapter 23

By
The Paperbag Princess & The Pumpkin Coach

Em and James were laughing at something I'd said when we walked into Kate Sutton's studio, and I couldn't speak. The office building itself was posh enough, but this suite was amazing. The waiting room was all chrome and black leather, just how I'd pictured it would be.

Kate had always been far too cool for me. She and Em were great friends, but I was never part of that. Em was so amazing, so down to earth and sweet, but she could talk to anyone. Kate was smart and sarcastic and always dressed immaculately. If I'd known we were coming here, I would have dressed up. At least I was wearing that red sweater I'd gotten when I went shopping with Jane. That had cost a fortune.

Em smiled at the woman coolly considering us from behind the reception desk. "Hello, I'm Em Evesham. Could you tell Kate I've got half of Sudden Silence with me?"

"Is Ms. Sutton expecting you?"

"No," Em answered. "But she…"

The woman cut her off. "Ms. Sutton is not to be disturbed. If you'd like to leave a number, I'll have her assistant contact you to make an appointment."

Em glanced over at me, and I bit back a giggle. Was I going to see her diva now?

"Sweetie, you're going to continue to be a frustrated model with no hope of getting into Kate's show if you don't hit that little buzzer and let us back into the studio." The woman continued to glare at her and Em leaned over the counter, looking for the button. "Believe me, I am saving your job. Because if you call Matthew and tell him that you sent Em fucking Evesham away, you'll be out on your ass. Aha! James, grab the door."

She whacked the button as the receptionist argued, and James grabbed the door in between his giggles. Em glanced back over her shoulder as we walked through. "You should really read the gossip pages and figure out who I am. And next week, these guys are gonna have the number one single in the country, and Kate would really like them to be wearing her clothes."

"Shush!" James yelled. "No jinxing it."

Em laughed as the door closed behind her. "You superstitious freaks. Matthew!" she called, as an absolutely beautiful man walked over to us. He had blond hair and dark eyes and a perfect pink suit.

"Darling, how are you?" he answered, giving her an absolutely perfect air kiss. I couldn't look at James or I'd crack up. This was not my life. There were a million people in here, buzzing around sketches and clothes and all sorts of things that made no sense to me.

"You need to fire that receptionist. She told me I needed an appointment."

Matthew rolled his eyes. "Kate thought she looked good, but she's a bloody idiot. She's still pouting because she thought she could sleep with me to get to the top."

Okay, James and I had to laugh at that. Matthew was quite obviously gay. Even without the pink jacket he was wearing, I felt like I'd still be able to tell that.

"Hel-lo!" he said, looking past Em at our laughter. "Now, you are more my type," he said to James, holding out a hand. "Pleased to meet you, Mr. Packard."

James flashed me a grin and shook Matthew's hand. "Likewise."

"You're even taller in person. Kate's going to have an absolute fit! The suit she designed is all out of scale. And Ms. Connor," he said, offering his hand to me. "A pleasure. Tell Nick I send my regards."

This guy knew my Nick? I could only imagine teenage Nick, scared of the flamboyant British man.

"Oh, buttons!" Matthew said, dropping my hand. "If I take you in there without the buttons, she will have my head." He looked at Em conspiratorially. "There's a reason the stupid one out there was using the 'appointments' line. Kate is in a bit of a mood."

Fucking great. Like I wasn't scared of her already? Now I had to deal with her in a mood?

Em waved him away, starting towards the back of the room. There was an office back there, with a closed door. "I'll deal with it."

"Bloody hell!" Everyone in the room stopped when the door flew open and a tiny woman came tearing out. "Rebecca, get to the front desk and make sure that poseur idiot has left the building. Then lock the door. I don't want anyone else just dropping by anyway!"

"Katie…" Em started in her best schoolteacher tone, and Kate rolled her eyes at her.

"Emmie," she responded, mimicking Em's scolding tone. "She just buzzed me. She. Buzzed. ME! To tell me that, and I quote, 'some crazy Americans' were coming back to see me. I told her to pack up and buy some gossip mags to figure out who my clientele might be!"

"I said the same thing," Em admitted with a shrug.

"She was horrible. Matthew, didn't I tell you not to hire her?"

Matthew looked at James and me out of the corner of his eye before going over to Kate. "Yes, dear. I'm sorry."

Sighing, she waved him away. "Fix it. And we need some tea. And the buttons! Em didn't call to tell me she was coming." Now Em got the glare, and I wanted to shrink into the floor. I just knew it'd be me next. "But I still need the buttons!"

What was all this about buttons?

"Kate, do you know how many white shirts you've designed in the last two years?"

"Nick said they were white buttons. That has to help."

Nick? Oh. Oh! My buttons! "They were silver."

Kate turned to look at me, suddenly realizing I was in the room, I think. "Silver?"

"Yes."

"Bloody unobservant little boy," she muttered, and then looked at me again. "Long sleeves, long straight cuffs. Pointed collar, four buttons down the front, the bottom flares out?"

"Yes!" That was my favorite white shirt, the one that Nick had popped all the buttons off of.

"Three years ago, Matthew. Flat silver buttons." She turned back to me. "What the fuck were you doing wearing that shirt? Nick said you played guitar in it. Was he lying?"

"No, I…" She scared the crap out of me. She was even shorter than I was, but she freaked me out. Had I committed some fashion faux pas by wearing that shirt?

She whirled over to Em. "Why the hell did you give her that shirt? Did you not like it?"

"I love that shirt, Kate. So much so that I have two of them, and I gave one to Rachel."

"Without consulting me?" Kate roared, and James snickered when I backed up into him. "What if there are pictures out there of her wearing that shirt? I'll be ruined!"

Jeez, I didn't realize I was that much of a fashion liability. And to think, I teased Nick about his fashion disasters all the time. Was he actually in style and I was so behind the times that I didn't know?

"People will think I can't fit a petite, and I have an entire petite line! I have that shirt in a size that won't hang like a dress on her!"

"You do?" I couldn't help asking. I loved that shirt, but it was always too big.

Kate turned to me and I swear, she was smiling. "Well, it was three years ago, but I can have one made. And you'll wear it and I'll have to put it into this year's line, because it will fly off the racks."

"I'd love that," I told her sincerely. If Nick liked me in that shirt, he'd go nuts over one that fit. I'd seen Em in that shirt, and it had never looked that good on me. "I don't care how much it costs…" I added quickly, hoping she didn't think that I couldn't pay for it.

Kate stopped me with a laugh. "One of the great ironies of life, dear, is that as soon as you become rich and famous enough to afford designer clothes, we fall over ourselves to give them to you. Now, what fabulous events do you have where you can wear my clothes?"

"Umm…" I looked up at James. "We've got an industry party tonight."

"Wonderful!" Kate said.

"And the Concert for New York in a couple of weeks," James offered.

"The Paul McCartney thing?" Em questioned, and we nodded at her.

"Fantastic!" Kate cried. "I need the others here, too, for a fitting. I can do that one." She looked up at James, shaking her head. "I can't do anything for you for tonight. You're a circus freak. But you, Rachel… we will find you something fabulous that actually fits!"

Was that my phone ringing? Where was I? Did it matter?

Yes, because I needed to know what time it was in London. Rachel was in London. Was she calling me? Is that why my phone was ringing? I reached for it, but it stopped. Silence was good.

Opening my eyes, I looked around the room. That didn't help tell me where I was. All hotels looked the same after a while, even the nice ones.

Denver. I was in Denver. I'd flown here from New York last night. Right. Had Rachel gotten into London?

Yes, that's right, she called me. It was 2 a.m. here, but I'd still been awake. We only talked for a few minutes, but she'd called to tell me she'd gotten in okay.

So, 10:14 here was… fuck it. It was afternoon-ish. She might be sleeping off the jet lag, but I could call her.

I rolled out of bed and found my phone, checking my voicemail. Aaron, Vinnie, Mom, and Rachel. I just cared about Rachel.

"Hi bunny! It's me, and I'm at Em's. We got in on time and the boys are sleeping, but James and I came over to see Em and give Lexa her presents. She loves them. What girl doesn't want to be a fairy princess? She keeps turning James into frogs and stuff. He's so good with her."

Somehow, I could just see James hopping around like a frog. A really tall, gay frog, but… yeah.

"Watching him, I keep remembering you playing with Allie yesterday when we were picking grapes. It just seems like a moment ago and forever at the same time."

It felt like forever. Now I was back to my regular boring life.

"Well… that's all. I love you, Nick. And I miss you already. Call me when you wake up. We have the record company thing tonight, but I'll try to keep the phone on. Love you." She made kissing noises into the phone, and I laughed. My girl was such a freak.

She wasn't at the party already, was she? It was sorta early.

Why was someone knocking on my door? Sighing, I went to open it. "What?" I asked, as Howie fell inside.

"You're late."

"For what?"

He leaned down and picked up a piece of paper off the floor. "Planning meeting. Right here."

I just sighed as he pointed at the paper. "You couldn't have given me the schedule last night, when I got in? Nobody could tell me this?" Hell, Frank had picked me up at the airport. He didn't know I had a 10 a.m. meeting?

Howie started to say something, then stopped himself. "Alright, maybe we forgot. But come on, we've got everyone up there."

"Do I look ready?"

"You look like you just rolled out of bed. Normal, in other words."

I scowled at him and went back to the bedroom. "Where is it? I'll be right there."

"I'll stay," he offered.

Yeah, he'd stay. Because he knew that if he did, I wouldn't call Rachel or try to do something bizarre like take a shower before sitting through a two-hour meeting. They just didn't know what to do now that we didn't have to baby-sit AJ, did they? For a while, one of us always had to be with AJ on show days so that he wouldn't drink too much. Were they going to baby-sit me now?

"How's Rachel?" Howie called, and I looked at myself in the mirror. Was I being paranoid? The guys liked Rachel, didn't they? No one had said I shouldn't go and visit her or anything. They all seemed to think it was a good idea.

"She's great. Her place on Long Island is so amazing, man. Hey, I got to pick grapes!"

Howie came and leaned against the door. "What?"

I unzipped my bag and pulled out a pair of jeans. Sweet, my laundry got done while I was gone. I loved that. "Her family has a winery. I've told you that, right?"

"Yeah…"

"It's harvest time, and I got to help."

"You picked grapes?"

I pulled on a shirt and looked at myself in the mirror, running my fingers through my hair. I'd do. It was just the fellas and management. If I was a little smelly, then no one would sit next to me. Fine with me. "Yeah. You pick the bunches, though. Not just the grapes."

"Did you learn that the hard way, Nicky?"

I scowled at him, picking up my phone and slipping it in my pocket. "Shut up."

My phone rang, and I answered on the first ring. I could use a break from watching the boys get measured for their new Kate Sutton suits.

Hell, I didn't even know she had a men's line.

"Hello?"

"Hey, buttercup! What are you doing?"

I laughed. "I'm in Kate Sutton's studio, watching her torture the boys. How about you?"

"Kate!" he cried. "Tell her I say hi."

"Nick says hi!" I yelled to Kate, and she didn't even look up from Darien's inseam. "I don't think she heard me," I told Nick.

"In five minutes, she will. Is she doing something?"

"Yeah…"

"She's very single-minded. She'll clue in when she's done. Why are you there?"

"She had to find buttons for me, because someone told her that my favorite white shirt no longer has any buttons." He chuckled, and I sighed, falling into the nearest chair. I wanted to find a quiet room and just talk to my boy, but I didn't think there was a quiet room here. Besides, Kate would probably need to measure another part of my body any second now. I wasn't sure what she was measuring, but she'd promised me a new dress for the party tonight, so I wasn't arguing.

"Anyway," I went on, "She's making me a new white shirt that will actually fit, and…"

Nick interrupted me. "What was wrong with the other one? I liked the other one."

"Don't get her started. I need to wear only clothes from her petite line. I'm going to be her spokesmodel or something. Anyway, she made Darien and Jeremy come over, too, and she's making us clothes for the Concert for New York. It's free, who am I to argue?"

"Free clothes rock," he agreed. "Especially Kate's. I'm gonna tell her to put you in really short skirts."

I laughed. "You would. So, what are you doing?"

He sighed. "Publicity sucks, Rache. We've got this crazy schedule after the New York thing, selling the greatest hits thing. I just got out of a meeting."

"Sorry, bunny. I'll be back here in Europe then. Are they cutting into your time off?"

"No…" he said, but there was hesitation in his voice.

"What?"

"After Japan… we don't have anything."

"What do you mean?"

I wasn't even sure myself. It was too weird. "We talked about all the stuff we're doing in New York, then we've got time off until Japan. So I asked what we were doing next, and the fellas all just looked at me like I was crazy."

"Really?" She sounded as surprised as I was.

"We're not… doing anything. They said we'd get together after the holidays and figure it out. Then management left and the fellas reminded me that our contract with The Firm is up in January, so we need to figure out if we're staying with them or not, and we shouldn't make any plans until then."

"Oh." She hesitated a second. "Are you leaving The Firm?"

"I have no idea." I didn't want to, but… if the other guys did, I guess we would. But where would we go? Shouldn't we be discussing that? They didn't want to. Every time I asked a question, they said we'd talk about it in January.

January was months away! What was I supposed to do until then? When we got back from Japan, Rachel was going to be doing Christmas shows and stuff. It wasn't like I could hang out with her.

I'd never had time off like this before. Even when we'd had a month or two off, I always knew then we'd be recording or touring or whatever. This was just… nothing.

It was freaking me the fuck out.

"Do you want to?" she went on, and I had to remember what we were talking about. The Firm, right.

"No. I like the people there. But I think AJ and Brian don't."

"You think?"

"I'm not sure. No one wanted to talk about it. So I came back to my room and called you."

"I'm glad you did, bunny."

"Gold or blue?" another voice asked, and I laughed.

"Hi, Kate!" I said. Did she just rip the phone out of Rachel's hand? That would be so Kate.

"Hello, Nicky," she cooed. "Now, when your gorgeous girlfriend is impressing all the boring record company people tonight, should she do it in a blue dress or a gold dress?"

"Gold. Definitely."

"Blue it is! Matthew, get the blue one!"

I cracked up. Kate always told me I had horrible fashion sense.

"Now, Nick, Rachel tells me you insist upon wearing clothes that don't fit. What do I have to do to convince you to wear decent clothes?"

Rachel ratted me out! "Give me free ones?"

"I do that already! I've told Rachel to withhold sex, but I'm not sure that I'll get her to stick to that."

"You'd better not!" I protested.

I wasn't getting Rachel back on the phone any time soon, was I?

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