Oreos for Breakfast: Chapter 25

Oreos For Breakfast: Chapter 25
By the Paperbag Princess and Pumpkin Coach

"Nick, this isn't a mall."

"What do you mean, Rache? It's got, like, 150 stores or something crazy!"

"But there's no ceiling…" she argued and I had to laugh at her. She was so cute.

"Malls can be outside, too. Look, it's lots of stores and people shopping. That's a mall."

"But what if it rains?"

I shrugged, squeezing her hand in mine and pulling her up to the directory in front of us. There had to be a Gap in here, right? She said she needed new jeans and t-shirts. "It doesn't rain, buttercup."

"Never? Nick, it has to rain sometime."

I consulted the map and tried to figure out where we were. I'd just been here yesterday, but it was so big, I had no idea where we were. I knew Anna's store was on the third level. We should go up there. I think there was a jeans place up there, too.

"Nick…" I looked over at her and she smiled, leaning up to kiss my cheek. "Does it never rain in Florida? Is that why Florida is so cool and everyone lives here?"

"Yeah, that's it. We actually have a weather machine and it never rains! You found out the secret, now we'll have to kill you. Damn, and you look so cute in that lime green radio station t-shirt, too…"

She hit my shoulder half-heartedly and I leaned away, "You dork! You know what I mean."

"Of course it rains, Rache, but not a lot. Well, enough that we can shop outside and not care, I guess. Do you want more jeans or something cooler?"

"Both." We were going to be here forever, weren't we? She read my mind, taking one of the brochures from the directory and flipping it open, "Do they have a sports bar or something? You can go hang out there and I'll come get you when I'm done."

"No, I'm the one who forgot your clothes. Besides, you need undies, too, right?"

She rolled her eyes at my suggestion, and pulled me toward the escalator. I guess she knew where we were going? Hopefully it would include Victoria's Secret. I knew that was up here on the second level somewhere, I'd passed it yesterday and almost went in to buy something for Rachel but I'd gotten distracted by the jewelry store next door. Oh, shit! I completely forgot about her present. Where did I put it?

"Coming with, bunny?" Distracted by my thoughts, I'd fallen behind and she grabbed my arm, "We just started. You can't lose steam now. I promise, it won't be long."

"That's not it, Rache, I just remembered that I got you a present yesterday and I forget where I put it."

"Present?" she squealed and I just had to pull her into my arms and kiss her quickly. She beamed up at me.

"Damn, you are just too cute, Rache. It's not a big deal…"

"But I love presents. Not that I need them… but…"

I stopped her with another quick kiss and let her lead me into the store. She was always protesting that she didn't need or want presents, but she was always so excited when I got her something that I just couldn't help myself. And it was always the silly things that made her smile the most. That was cool. Mandy had been like that at first… Damn, why I am I thinking about her?

Probably because just about everything in Tampa reminded me of Mandy. I hoped she wasn't in town. Running into her here would suck. Shit! I should have thought about that before I let Rachel come here, right? Maybe I could slip away and call Vinnie. He still talked to Mandy. He'd know if she was in Tampa.

"Do you like this one, bunny?"

Rachel had led me into a clothing store and held up a little sundress for my approval. I smiled, "That'd look great on you, baby. I like pink."

She wrinkled her nose and put it back. "Too girly. How about the purple?"

"Purple is less girly than pink? Aren't dresses supposed to be girly by definition, Rache?"

The woman standing next to me laughed and Rachel rolled her eyes. James would have known the right answer to that, wouldn't he? The next thing I knew, I was sitting in a chair outside the dressing room listening to Rachel curse her non-existent figure flaws and trying not to laugh.

"I like the dress, baby. It's great. And cool. You keep saying it's hot here…"

"But everything is air-conditioned! Don't you people believe in real air?"

A saleswoman laughed and I shrugged, "She's from New York. This is new to her."

"Nick! Nothing has palm trees. I need something with palm trees."

This time I couldn't help but burst out laughing, and she opened the door to glare at me. "What, Rache? That's weird. You know that, right?"

"But I love palm trees! Find me something with palm trees. I bet the nice saleswoman will help you."

Indeed, the nice saleswoman offered to find Rachel something with palm trees along with a light sweater to wear over the pretty sundress she'd tried on. She ended up with a dress with palm trees all over it, and a matching sweater. Then she needed shoes, and a couple of hours later I was carrying a bunch of bags and Rachel was happy in her new outfit, shoes and all.

"Undies!" she exclaimed as we both spotted Victoria's Secret ahead of us. Now we were talking. She could spend an hour in here trying things on. That'd be just fine.

"This is my kind of shopping, Rache. I almost bought you something here yesterday…"

"You're so sweet, Nick," she gushed again, wrapping an arm around my waist for a moment before leaving me to look through the bras on a rack near the door. I busied myself with the slinky lingerie on the other side, but when I turned around, she was gone. Was she trying things on already? She couldn't start without me!

I found her in line at the cash register. What the hell?

He looked like someone had stolen his ice cream cone, poor baby. He frowned down at me, holding out some pretty lingerie, "But I thought you had to try things on…"

"Nope. I know what size I take in this bra." I probably had 10 of them in the suitcase he forgot to bring me. These would fit.

"But…" he sputtered. "These are pretty…"

They were. He was pretty good at picking out things that I liked, actually. The panties were lacy but soft and they didn't feel too itchy. And the pjs… well, I'd never sleep if I wore those. But that wasn't the point, was it?

"You want me to try them on for you?" I teased him and he gave me his best eager puppy dog face, which just made me laugh. I took the pj set from him and checked the size. Okay, the boy had no concept of size. I dreamed of breasts that big! "Where did you get these?"

"Over near the door."

I left the line and went back to the front of the store, Nick following behind me. "You know they put all the trashy stuff up front so boyfriends get sucked in, right?"

"You say that like it's a bad thing. I like this one!" He held up a long, pink silk nightgown that was slit all the way up the side, and I shook my head.

"I can't wear that." He pouted at me, and I held the hanger up to my shoulders, looking down to where the fabric pooled at my feet. "Haven't you ever wondered why I don't wear the long things? Nevermind," I corrected myself. It had probably never crossed his mind to think about what type of lingerie I'd wear for him. He just liked me in anything revealing. "Still, this is why." I thrust it back at him. "I'll get these cute pjs, though."

He shoved the nightgown back on the rack and followed me over to the rack with the pjs. "Did I get the wrong size?"

I smiled at him. "Beyond the wrong size. I have the tiny coconuts, remember?"

"I like the little coconuts," he assured me, stealing a kiss as I looked for my size. Mmmm… I guess I couldn't make out with him here in the middle of the store, could I? Damnit. Did I have everything I needed yet? Did we have time to go back to his place and have sex before his friends showed up?

Sighing, I found my size in the outfit he liked and handed it to him. He was still holding the lacy panties, and I checked the size. "Word of advice, sweetie. If I'm a small in undies, then I'm not a 38DD in the bra, okay? That's true for most women who haven't been surgically enhanced."

"Good to know." I shot him a glare and he laughed. "Not that I need to know! I'll never buy underwear for anyone but you, buttercup."

"I'll hold you to that, babe. Do I need anything else here?"

Evidently I needed lots of other things from Victoria's Secret. I had no idea when I'd get to wear any of it, because it was going to be a few days before we were alone to enjoy it. But he'd been patient while I bought jeans and dresses and sweaters and shoes and a million other things, so I'd indulge his trashy lingerie fantasies.

"I'm hungry. You promised me lunch."

"Even after all that food at Waffle House?"

I stopped walking to shoot him an incredulous look. That had been hours ago! "Are you seriously going to tell me you're not hungry?"

He considered for a moment, and then laughed. "You're right. There's a Cheesecake Factory on the first floor."

"But I thought there'd be pizza?"

He rolled his eyes, shifting all the bags into one hand so he could put an arm around my shoulders as we walked. I loved this. Just hanging out with him. Not feeling like I had to be back to my band or some other commitment… it was weird not to be counting down the hours we had together.

"That will just annoy you, won't it? Will it be okay if we have not New York cheesecake?"

"Eh, New York cheesecake is overrated. Does this place have things other than cheesecake?"

"Yeah. Mand…" he stopped himself, pretending sudden interested in the escalator we were on.

"Mandy. You can say it, baby… Mandy," I teased him, drawing out her stupid name. I hadn't thought about the fact that Tampa meant Mandy. They'd met here, they'd lived here together… I wonder how often they shopped here? Was this restaurant their place? Suddenly I wanted to ask him a million questions about them and their relationship. Where did that come from? I used to be satisfied with the pat answer that Mandy sucked and I was better. That worked for me.

But he'd been all introspective when he was talking about his family earlier… maybe if we talked about her, I'd learn more about what happened there, too. Certainly there was more in his childhood and with his family than met the eye…

We were led over to a booth, even though there was a line out the door, and I looked over at Nick, "Did you call ahead?"

He shrugged, taking the menu from the hostess and flashing her a flirty smile. Did that smile really get him anything he wanted? "Nope. They must just like us today."

"Superstar!"

Nick's face lit up and I turned around to see a woman coming over to us, her cell phone in hand, "Found him. Yes, I'll ask, Tricia… promise!"

"Scoot…" she commanded and Nick moved over, letting her into his side of the booth as she said goodbye to whoever she was on the phone with. What the hell? Who was this pushy woman who made Nick light up like that?

They started talking over one another, her teasing him about getting preferential treatment and him complaining that as a superstar he didn't usually have to wait for anything. I knew he was teasing and I tried to say something, but they were still talking, so I looked down at my menu, pretending to read. Was this the amazing Anna? Must be…

She was a little taller than me and probably 30 pounds heavier. Yeah. I'd had to roll her sweatpants down to get them to stay on my hips. Her dark hair had bright red streaks and she had dark eye shadow on. Not really punk… but I definitely got a defiant vibe from her. I couldn't quite picture this girl with Vinnie. Not that I'd met Vinnie or Tony, but they seemed like your stereotypical frat brothers to me.

"Of course I knew you were here! I got the APB as soon as the Escalade pulled into the parking lot, dude!"

I laughed at that and they both looked up, startled.

"Shit! Rache, sorry… this is Anna…"

"Figured," I raised an eyebrow and held out my hand to her.

She smiled at me warmly. "Sorry to monopolize your boy here. I just wanted to come say hi. You should stop by before you leave, not that you need to buy anything in my store. I think Nick bought every last lavender candle I had in stock!"

"Stop!" he whined and they were off again, teasing one another and laughing. They acted like brother and sister, didn't they? I had the feeling that Anna was more a sister than any of his real sisters.

I'd suggested that we buy his sisters some presents while we were shopping, and he was beyond clueless. Did he really not know that much about them? I saw stuff all the time that I knew my family would like… buying them presents had become sort of a hobby this summer.

He thought Angel's favorite color might be pink, but he wasn't sure. And he had no idea what Leslie would like, other than the new Linkin Park CD, which I found odd because that article on her said they were grooming her to be the next pop princess. Someone had gotten that one wrong.

"That's a cute dress, Rachel," Anna said, and I looked up from my menu to smile at her. That was pretty much international girl talk for 'let's be friends'. Well, for cool girls… sometimes it was international girl speak for 'that's a cute dress, but it would look better on me, along with your boyfriend.' Which one was Anna?

"Rachel is very into palm trees today," Nick offered before I could say anything, and we shared a quick smile.

Anna rolled her eyes at him. "I'm so sure you picked that out for her, too."

"I did!" he protested, and I laughed.

"With some help from the nice saleslady," I corrected. "Palm trees or not, it was better than the ugly T-shirt he had me wearing. Did you tell Anna that you forgot all my clothes?"

"Yes…" Nick sighed. "And then I washed what she wore yesterday, but I forgot to put them in the dryer. So she ended up in your sweatpants."

"The gray ones?" Anna questioned, and I nodded. "I was wondering where those were. Didn't they just fall off of you?"

"They were fine," I assured her, but Nick cackled.

"They were huge!"

"Nick!" I scolded. I didn't want Anna to think that I thought she was fat. She wasn't, just bigger than me.

"It's okay, Rachel," Anna said, rolling her eyes. "He loves to tease me that I'm huge. He has no idea what a real woman looks like, because he's surrounded by anorexic groupies all the time."

"Hmm, that must be why he thinks I wear a 38DD. Unrealistic beauty standards."

That made Anna smile at me, and I knew we were cool. It was fun to have someone to tease Nick with.

"We still have to find you the tiny coconuts, Rache," Nick remembered, ignoring our teasing. "Rachel is going to be a hula dancer tonight."

Anna considered me. "Sure you want to do that?"

I shrugged. "I'll wear a bikini top and a long grass skirt. That's not too risqué, is it?"

Anna shook her head. "You have no idea how crazy Guavaween is, do you? It's one of those silly things like Mardi Gras, where guys think that women will bare their breasts in exchange for beads."

We both glared at Nick, and he shrank back from us. "I've never been to it! I had no idea! Rachel will be a vampire or something very covered up."

"It's fine," I dismissed. "I'm in a bar band. I'm used to guys demanding to see my tits. I have lots of good comebacks."

"I find that demanding to see their dicks shuts them up," Anna offered, and I laughed.

"That's right, you're in a band. Are you the only girl?"

"In one of them. The other band is all girls, but then we all just get the tits comments."

"Are you ready to order?" Our server appeared, and Anna looked at her watch.

"Shit, I'm late. Rachel, great meeting you. Oh, Nick, you have to stop by the store, or Tricia who works with me will kill me. Just say hi and give her an autograph."

"I'm not working!" Nick whined and Anna and I both scolded him at the same time. "Okay! Okay! We'll come up and I'll do the good pop star routine."

Anna slid out of the booth and our server smiled at us. "Just two, then?"

"Yes, finally," Nick said, smiling at me. "Do you know what you want, buttercup?"

"This menu is like 50 pages long!" I protested. I was only halfway through it, and I'd seen about ten things that looked good.

But Nick knew what he wanted, so I picked a salad at random and let him chose an appetizer. After our grease-laden breakfast, I needed something green to counteract it.

Our server left, and I leaned across the table, taking Nick's hands. "I like Anna."

He smiled at me. "I knew you would. She reminds me of you."

"How?"

"Dunno." He shrugged. "She's cool, and normal, and funny. She doesn't take any of my shit. She was one of the first people I told about us, did I ever tell you that?"

I smiled. "I think you did. Right after we got together, when you were here in Tampa."

Anna was one of the only people in my life who really understood what Rachel meant to me. "Yeah… it's funny, because I talk about you to her all the time, and she's never met you!"

"I hope I lived up to her expectations."

Leaning across the table, I kissed her. "I'm sure you did, buttercup. How could you not? I only told her that you're smart, and funny, and gorgeous. All true things."

Rachel smiled, settling back into her seat. "Yes, very true. Didn't you tell me once that Anna hated Mandy?"

I shook my head. "It was mutual. They didn't get along."

"I get the impression that Mandy is one of those girls that guys love and other girls hate."

"That is exactly what Anna said!"

Rachel grinned. "I knew I liked that girl."

"Mandy might have had a thing with Vinnie, too," I admitted, and Rachel giggled.

"I haven't met Vinnie, but that doesn't surprise me. Before or after you were with Mandy?"

"After. Sorta. We were on a break. So I couldn't really get mad." Even though I was. I knew I shouldn't be. Mandy and I weren't together. I wasn't even in the country. But did she have to sleep with one of my best friends?

"Let me guess… was this when he was still with Anna?"

"They were pretty much over…"

She laughed. "I'm sure that made them really over. Well, Anna and I can bond over our mutual dislike of Mandy this evening. I'm sure she has stories you'd never tell me."

"Anna is uninvited to the party!" I threatened, and Rachel giggled just as our server appeared with our drinks. Could we forget about Mandy for the rest of lunch? Maybe for the rest of the day? Preferably forever.

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