Oreos for Breakfast: Chapter 25

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

"Buttercup… Rache, wake up, baby."

I opened my eyes slowly, looking up at Nick. He was smiling, stroking my face gently. "Hi," I mumbled, snuggling closer to him.

But I couldn't move. What the hell… was that a seatbelt? Where the fuck was I?

Nick laughed at my expression as I sat up, unbuckling my seatbelt. We were stopped, right? So it was okay.

Wait. Nick wasn't even in the car. He was leaning in my open window, cracking up as I tried to figure out what was going on.

"We're in Miami, baby," he managed to tell me.

The last thing I remembered was about an hour outside of Tampa. He'd made me drive for a bit, so that he could eat his lunch, but the fucking Escalade was too much for me after a while. It was so big I didn't want to get anywhere near another car. So we pulled over and switched and I must have fallen asleep.

"Sorry," I pouted. "I didn't keep you company at all."

"Your snoring was plenty of company, buttercup," he teased, and I got out of the car, stretching out.

"Shut up. You should have just poked me."

"Then you would have complained about the music. I was fine."

I wrinkled my nose at him, and then noticed the huge white curtains billowing from the building behind him. "Where the fuck are we?"

"The Delano."

He'd never told me where we were staying. I never even asked. He said we were staying in Miami for a day or two and he'd made reservations and I didn't worry about it. I knew he'd pick a good hotel, but the Delano? I wasn't dressed well enough for the Delano!

He laughed again, putting his arm around my shoulders and steering me towards the hotel. "I thought that was the one you'd always wanted to stay in."

"It is, but…" I stopped as a guy appeared from nowhere and took the keys Nick handed him.

"I'll park this, Mr. Carter. Your bags will be in your room. You just need to stop by reception to pick up your keys."

"Thanks," Nick nodded, slipping him a tip.

"Enjoy your stay, Mr. Carter. Ms. Connor." He smiled at me and then stepped into the car.

"How did he know my name?" I asked in a whisper, making Nick giggle.

"They know these things, Rache."

Shit. This was a really nice hotel. "I can't walk in there, Nick," I hissed, and Nick stopped, looking at me. I could tell he was trying not to laugh.

"Why not?" he whispered back, mocking my tone.

"It's… I… I am so not dressed right!" I had on shorts, a black T-shirt and my new favorite sandals with the palm trees on them. My entire outfit probably didn't cost as much as a glass of wine at the bar. Two years ago, James and I had come here and sat in the lobby bar, nursing a glass of wine for an hour, just to people watch.

Hell, I looked better than Nick. He had on ridiculous baggy shorts and a huge white T-shirt. And the ugliest flip-flops I'd ever seen. They were going to laugh at us in there.

Nick cracked up again. "Sweetie, they don't care what you're wearing. I promise." I started to say something and he went on. "We have the penthouse suite. They have my credit card number already. I swear, they're going to be really, really nice to us."

"Is there a problem, Mr. Carter?" Someone walked up to us, and I tried not to look guilty. This was where we were gonna get kicked out.

"Not at all," Nick assured the nice lady. "My girlfriend was just worried about her guitar," he lied.

"Oh, we're taking very good care of it, Ms. Connor," she said quickly. He let someone else take my guitar? "If you'd just step inside, we'll give you your keys. Everything should be to your liking in the room."

It had better be, if someone else was touching my guitar! The woman turned around and we followed her into the lobby. I elbowed Nick and he shot me a look. "What?" he whispered.

"Only I touch the guitar!" I hissed, making him giggle, yet again.

"Sorry," he mouthed, then turned with a smile to the woman as we stepped up to the reception desk. While he signed things, I ran my fingers through my hair, looking around the lobby. The ceilings were about 20 feet high, with long white curtains separating spaces in the long room. When the breeze blew through, it looked like a pretentious music video from the 80s. No wonder Nick Rhodes loved this hotel. That's why James and I had to check it out that last time we were in Miami.

Did we play Miami this summer? I honestly couldn't remember.

Finally my Nick had the keys, but the nice lady had to escort us to our room. She probably had to stay with us until Nick's credit card cleared. How much was this costing a night?

She showed us how to use the key in the elevator to take us up to the penthouse, and then she opened double doors and led us into what looked like a hotel room in a movie or something. Everything was white, and there were fresh flowers everywhere. My guitar case was leaning against a wall, and I touched it briefly as we followed her towards the balcony.

"The wine you requested is chilling," she told us, motioning towards the table. This place had a dining room table! "And enjoy the appetizers with our compliments. If you'd like room service for dinner, we have an excellent menu, or we can suggest several nearby restaurants."

Was that Riesling? From Nick's smile when he caught my eye, I guessed it was. I started to say something, but she was leading us to the bedroom, so I just followed. We might get lost in that bed… or the tub. Good God, that was one of the best tubs I'd ever seen.

A white marble, round sunken tub was sitting underneath the window on the far side of the room. They had the windows open and the white curtains billowed above it. It even had one of those waterfall thingies so the water didn't make a lot of noise as it was filling. Looks like we got all lavender-scented bath stuff, too, the bottles had that familiar purple look to them. Did Nick tell them about that, too, or did they just do their research? Okay, can't think about that too hard, or I'd get creeped out!

Finally, she left us alone, and I just stood in the middle of the living room, blinking at Nick when he smiled at me. "I really wasn't mad at you, baby. This might be overkill."

Laughing, he pulled me into his arms. "I have to admit, it is a bit much. But we might as well enjoy it!"

Finally, she laughed, leaning her head against my chest. I knew she was just confused because I'd woken her up, but she'd seemed overwhelmed ever since we got here. "This is amazing, Nick. I never dreamed I'd get to stay in a room like this."

"Get used to it, buttercup."

She looked up at me. "Even you don't get to stay in the penthouse suite, superstar."

Superstar? Now she was picking up Anna's nicknames for me?

"True," I admitted. "We don't stay in rooms this nice on tour, and I usually don't get the fancy rooms when I'm on vacation. But I wanted it to be nice. This is the cool hotel you like in Miami, right?"

"Yeah," she agreed, pulling away from me and wandering around the room, looking at things and leaning down to smell the flowers. "Nick Rhodes mentioned it in an interview once, so James and I had to check it out. It's an amazing lobby, isn't it? Have you been here before?"

"No." I definitely would have remembered this hotel. "I'm glad you told me about it."

"It's really sweet that you remembered," she said, smiling over at me. "Thank you."

I just smiled at her for a second, and then glanced around, remembering the snacks they'd left out for us. "Wonder what they gave us?"

She joined me at the table, pulling the wine out of the ice bucket. "Riesling?"

"They asked if I wanted anything special. I said no air conditioning and Riesling. We've never gotten to enjoy it together. Should I open it?" I considered the snacks in front of us… something with caviar, another thing with salmon… something cheesy. I popped that one in my mouth, and then looked at Rachel again.

She shook her head, considering the wine. "Give me a few minutes. I'm still a little groggy."

"We have all night. Have a salmon thingie, bet they're good."

She ate it, shutting her eyes to savor it. I loved the way she did that. "I might need dinner before wine."

It had been a while since she'd eaten, hadn't it? I'd gotten McDonald's when we first got on the road, but she just stole a couple of my fries. "Cool. Should we order room service?"

"Um… can we go out?"

She sounded unsure, but I just shrugged at her. "Whatever you want, buttercup. I wouldn't mind walking a little bit, after driving for hours." I loved her smile.

"Good. But nowhere fancy. There's a cool street with restaurants and shops and stuff… I don't think it's far. Let's just wander. I don't want to go to one of those snooty South Beach places."

"Snooty?"

"South Beach is too hip for me," she admitted. "It's all models and beautiful people, and I just feel inadequate."

Grinning, I pulled her into my arms. "You are a beautiful person now. You know that, right?"

"I think I'm beginning to, given that no one blinked an eye at my ten dollar sandals. But I don't want to do that. I just want to wear one of my cute cheap sundresses and wander around with my boyfriend. Okay?"

"That sounds perfect, Rache. Really."

Her smile was blinding, "Cool. Let me just change and we can go."

I followed her into the bedroom. "No rush, baby."

Sitting on the bed, I reached for the phone to call downstairs for a cab so we didn't have to worry about drinking. But instead I got distracted by watching her in the bathroom. She pulled her hair back into a ponytail and brushed her teeth, making faces at herself in the mirror. There were so many reasons why I loved this woman… I was constantly stunned at how beautiful she was. Even when she wasn't trying, she was the prettiest girl in the room.

And she was right. She'd be fine at the cheap hotel down the road or just a normal room. Even if their album went multi-platinum and they started selling out stadiums, I think she'd still be the girl standing in front of me. She'd still need to go home to the Point every few months to stay grounded… she and James would still complete each other's sentences and have more fun shopping at Target than on Rodeo Drive.

"Nick?"

He blinked at me and then looked away quickly. What was he doing staring at me? Did I have a big zit on my forehead or something? I ducked back into the bathroom. Okay, I looked tired and my skin was a little blotchy from sleeping in the car, but I didn't look horrible.

Suddenly he was behind me, his arms encircling my waist as he bent down to nuzzle my neck. I moved my head slightly to give him better access and the stubble on his chin tickled my skin a little. I'd have to get him to shave that tomorrow.

"Don't move away, Rache," he murmured against my skin, making me squirm as his breath tickled me again. Just as quickly, I felt his lips against my neck and I didn't want to move away from him for anything in the world. Closing my eyes, I leaned back against him and sighed. Bliss.

I loved him for so many reasons… just being together for this little bit of time made everything else fall away. Last night was a foggy memory in my head and I didn't want to think about it or replay any of it. We were here and together. It was all good, as he and the fellas would say.

My stomach grumbled and we both opened our eyes, catching each other's gaze in the mirror. "Oops… guess I need to eat something…" Next thing I knew, he was feeding me little bits of salmon on the most perfectly light crackers. Was that bits of mango mixed in? God, these were good. Could I just have a dozen more of these? Screw dinner.

But half an hour later, we were at a sidewalk café, waiting for our dinner. The sun was setting, and we had a perfect table to watch the people walking by on the pedestrian mall. We'd passed about 5 shops that I wanted to go into on our way here, but Nick knew I should eat first. He was so good at understanding my moods sometimes.

It was a Sunday night, so it was fairly quiet, just a handful of other people scattered at different tables. We were secluded enough in our corner underneath a big, brightly colored umbrella that I felt safe in leaning over the table to kiss him. He responded by moving his chair closer to mine, taking my hand and bringing it up to his lips briefly. "This is better than being in the hotel."

"Well, I bet we get a great view of the sunset," I countered, thinking about our balcony with the billowy curtains and sundeck. There was an amazing outdoor table and chairs. They'd probably serve us dinner out there if we asked. We could watch the sun set over the ocean and then make love as the wind blew over us.

I felt a shiver run down my spine at the thought. And Nick smiled at my expression, leaning over to kiss me and I could taste the wine on his tongue. The whole thing made my head swoon. How was I ever mad at this man? He could be so sweet and attentive… when he wanted to be.

"I love you, buttercup," he whispered as we broke apart. I felt him move away and opened my eyes slowly to find him smiling at me. "If you lean over this way, and look down the street, you can see the sun disappearing over the buildings!"

Giggling, I leaned over his shoulder. I could kinda see the sunset from here. "Tomorrow night, we'll watch the sunset from our balcony."

"And drink the Riesling?" he flirted.

I nodded, leaning closer to him to whisper in his ear as my hand caressed his thigh under the table, "We might do that when we get back. Think anyone could see us if we… ummm… used the balcony?"

He sighed at my suggestion and kissed me again, this time with more urgency and I fell into it for a moment before I realized that we weren't that secluded here. I pulled away from him, moving my hand from his thigh to take a sip of my wine and he frowned at me. I loved making him all hot and bothered in public. He was too much fun to tease.

I cleared my throat and looked out at the people walking by, "But if any of the stores are still open when we're done with dinner, I should look for presents. Oh, and I need a beach bag. Can we hang out on the beach tomorrow?"

"That's the plan, right?" he said with a smile. "I think we need a little down time. Why do you need a bag?"

I rolled my eyes. Boys never understood bags. "I need a bag for suntan lotion and a book and stuff. Guess I need a book, too."

"What, I'm not enough distraction for you, baby?" he teased, nuzzling my neck.

I pushed him away. "If you do that, you'll be in my tanning light. I need to return with a tan. James was very jealous that I was coming to sunny Florida."

"He could come to Florida. He's got a credit card!"

I giggled. "Good point. But he felt obligated to go home and see his parents, and do his laundry. I think he was really looking forward to being home and sleeping in his own bed."

"Sorry. I know I'm keeping you from that."

I shook my head. "Don't be! Honestly, bunny, I love being here with you. Even after that stupid fight last night. I got to hang out with Anna. And Tony is very cool."

He nodded. "Tony's a good guy. And I should have known that you and Anna would be best friends."

"You have excellent taste in women," I teased, making him smile. "She thinks a solo CD is a great idea."

"You told her that?" He sounded almost angry at that, and I met his eyes.

"Is it a secret?"

"No, but… I haven't even decided if it's something I want to do. Maybe I should just take the next few months off. Why change things?"

"Because things are changing, bunny. You've told me you're not happy doing the pop thing all the time. Wouldn't it be exciting to do something that you want to do?"

It would be great. I saw how Rachel was with her songs. She meant them all. They were all based on things that had happened to her. They were hers. I had Backstreet songs that I liked, but none of them were mine.

"Yes," I admitted. But if I did a solo album, it would be even longer before Backstreet got back into the studio, and would the fellas hate me for that? "But what if no one buys it?"

"Who cares?"

Rachel never did a song just because it might sell. I knew she didn't mind if it did sell. She was certainly enjoying having a little bit of money right now. But that wasn't ever the reason she did anything.

"Oh, my god. Are you Nick Carter?" a breathless voice asked, and I looked over from Rachel's challenging eyes to see a little girl in front of our table. She was maybe 14, wearing braces and looking at us nervously. "And Rachel Connor! What are you doing here?"

"We're on vacation," Rachel told her sweetly, holding out her hand. "You know my name, but what's yours?"

"Brianna. I can't believe it's you! I was just here with my mom, and…"

"Brianna!" An older woman came over to us, pulling Brianna back from the table. "What are you doing?"

"Mom, it's Nick!" she said, and her mom looked at me, her mouth falling open slightly when she saw my face. I loved it when the moms loved us, too. "And Rachel, too. They're on vacation."

Mom looked over at Rachel and pulled herself together. "I am so sorry," she apologized. "Bri, I know this is exciting, but you shouldn't be disturbing them while they're eating."

"It's okay," I offered. "We haven't gotten our food yet."

"Then I'd be mad," Rachel joked, winking at me. "I'm starving."

"See, Mom, it's okay. They don't mind. Where's your camera?"

Mom tried to argue, but Rachel told her it was fine, and we posed for a picture with Brianna, and then got the waitress to take a picture of all four of us when she came over with our appetizer. "Now, we're going to leave them alone so that they can eat, Bri. Nick, Rachel, this was so extremely nice of you. Thank you for putting up with my daughter."

"No problem, I still think it's cool to get recognized. Nick here is an old pro," Rachel told her before hesitating a little, "Bri, can I ask you a quick question before you go?" Brianna nodded at her, and Rachel didn't even glance at me before she asked it. "If Nick released a solo CD, would you buy it?"

"Yes." They both answered in unison, and Rachel gave me a triumphant smirk.

"Is that what you're doing now?" Mom asked.

"Does that mean there won't be another Backstreet CD?" Brianna asked, worry flashing into her big blue eyes, and I shot Rachel an exasperated look.

"Of course not. But we've decided to take a few months off, because we've been touring for years now, and I was thinking of doing something on my own. It's not for sure yet. But I'm glad to know you'd like to hear it."

"I would," she told me sincerely.

"You should do rock," her mom said, and I had to laugh. "Us moms, we like that you like Journey. Now, Bri, we are really going now. Have a great vacation," she said, smiling at me. Brianna waved as her mom led her away, and I saw her turn back a few times before I lost her in the crowd.

"See?" Rachel gloated, taking some of the nachos we'd ordered. "Two sales, right there. With me and Anna, that's four!"

I just shook my head. "That's why I don't want it to get out yet, Rache. She was all worried that this means the end of Backstreet."

"Well…" Rachel hesitated, taking another nacho. "It doesn't. Just a break. Right?"

I took her hand, meeting her eyes. "That's what everyone's saying. Just a break… but we don't have any firm plans after Japan to do anything."

"Is that freaking you out, bunny?" she asked softly, and I nodded slowly. It freaked me out so much I couldn't even think about it.

"It'll be okay, I'm sure," I rationalized out loud, "We've just spent too much time together."

"Yeah, those last few days… doing all that promo so quickly..."

I shook my head, interrupting her. "No, Rache. You don't know. Even when you were touring all over the country in that van, it wasn't months and months on the road in Europe, never seeing anyone but each other. We're in a bubble most of the time, and we're the only ones in it. We've all got girls now, and that helps... Maybe what we need is some time to be away from each other. Away from Backstreet. We can't do this forever, can we?"

"Do what?" she prompted.

"Backstreet. Pop music doesn't last forever. We're not the Beatles or the Stones or even Duran Duran. We'll just be a footnote someday."

From the look in his eyes, I don't think he could believe that he said that. I know I couldn't. "Nick," I whispered, and he looked at me, panic in his eyes. "Bunny, just last week, you were still on tour. It's too soon to give up, okay?"

He nodded, holding on to my words. "But even if you and the fellas decide that Backstreet has had its day, you don't need to give up music. You should try this solo thing, if you think it'll make you happy."

"I don't know how," he admitted, and I just smiled at him.

"You do. I know that you have so much to say. It'll probably be scary, going into the studio by yourself, but I think you might end up liking it. What do you want to do?" I asked, and was rewarded by a smile when he considered it.

"What that nice mom said I should do. Rock."

"That's what you love. You should always do what you love. But I will not allow any duets with System of a Down."

"I sorta doubt they'd return any of my calls, Rache. I'm still a black hole of indie cred."

I kissed him, excited that he was talking about it. "Screw indie cred. Do some rock songs and have fun. And ballads about my eyes, of course."

"Of course!" he agreed, grinning at me.

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