Oreos for Breakfast: Chapter 26

Oreos For Breakfast: Chapter 26
By the Paperbag Princess and Pumpkin Coach

"So, Rachel, Nick tells us your CD went gold?" Mom asked casually, as she fussed with the salad. She'd asked me to find the dressing in the cupboard… which one? I was never here long enough to remember where she hid things. Finally, she came over, opening the cabinet above my head and smiling. "Here, Nick."

I glanced over at Rachel who was busy cutting veggies at the center island. I could tell she was biting back a smart-ass comment, and I turned around quickly, closing the cabinet door. Yeah, she was just about to remind me to do that. She hated it when I left her kitchen a mess, all the cabinet doors open and dishes all over the counters.

Rachel just smiled, though, turning her attention back to my mom. She was so good with my family. From the moment we'd gotten here, she'd been being the good daughter that I saw at the Point when we were with her family… a marked contrast from the sexy girlfriend who'd made me stop on the way down here so we could have one hell of a hot quickie in the back of my ride. Somehow, that just made me fall in love with her all over again. I did that about ten times a day, didn't I?

"Yeah, nothing like your boys have done. But we were pretty excited."

"Oh, don't let them fool you! There was a time when gold records meant a lot to them, too!"

I tried not to openly groan. Rachel purposely didn't meet my gaze, or we'd have both ended up laughing. Maybe Mom wasn't trying to be condescending. No, she was being really good for… well, for Mom. Everyone was on their best behavior, I could tell. Even Dad wasn't openly leering at Rachel like he did when the girls brought their friends over. Okay, everyone was being good- except for Aaron. He'd barely said hello to Rachel when we'd come in, preferring to whine that we could have dinner now that his "stupid brother and his stupid girlfriend were finally here." Whatever. He was being a brat.

"When Nick first heard a Backstreet song on the radio…"

I lunged at Mom, putting a hand over her mouth to stop her. "Don't even start with the stupid Nick stories!" I yelled, and everyone laughed.

"Oh, Nick… there are so many!" Angel taunted from her perch on the living room couch a few feet away. She was pretending to watch TV, but I knew better. She was eavesdropping, trying to figure out if she should like Rachel or not. Of course she should. They all had to like her as much as I did.

Okay, maybe not as much. If that happened, they were going to have Rachel sitting down watching all the embarrassing videos and looking through the family album. I could just feel it. And that would take hours, possibly even days. I was the first-born. I think I had three photo albums devoted to my baby pictures alone. Aaron and Angel? They were lucky if they got half a photo album. That was something else that Aaron and the girls would complain about when the mood struck them.

"Why did I think it was a good idea to bring you here again?" I whined, but Rachel just smiled over at me sweetly, telling me in one look that she had no sympathy for me.

"Cool! We'll talk later, Angel," she called out to Angel, who beamed over at her. One down. "Nicky, my brothers are always telling you stupid Rachel stories. It's about time I got to hear yours!"

"Yeah, but my childhood's practically a part of the public record. You can even turn on VH-1 and see the stupid talent shows. And then there's somebody's book…" I nodded pointedly at my mother, but she ignored me. Whining never worked with her. I remembered that from when I was younger. When I didn't want to do something, I'd try to play sick, but she never bought it. This was definitely a "suck up and deal" kind of family.

"There was a time when the talent shows weren't 'stupid.' Did Nick show you the studio on your way up here?"

Again, Rachel caught my eye, and I felt my cheeks flush. I hadn't had a chance to give her the tour. We'd dropped our stuff at my tiki hut and we'd cleaned up a bit from our 'detour' on the way down. Then she'd changed into a cute dress before we took the golf cart up here to the main house to meet everyone. She'd thought the golf cart was really funny.

I'd pointed out the studio to her when we passed it, and she'd told me in a very calm voice that she'd always wanted to have sex in a recording studio. I doubted we'd get enough privacy to do that here, but I'd do everything in my power to make it happen.

I went over to Rachel and hugged her from behind, just wanting to touch her for a moment. This was so nice having her here, seeing part of my life like this. What was I worried about again? This was my family. I liked my family!

Moving the hair off her shoulder, I kissed her skin lightly. Mom smiled at us and I felt Rachel stiffen a bit. Was I not allowed to touch her in front of my family? If that was the case, we were never going to see them again. Fuck family. They're over-rated anyway!

But Rachel squirmed out of my arms and moved over to put the carrots she'd been cutting into Mom's salad bowl. "No, we didn't have time."

"Well, Nick, you should take Rachel over there after dinner and show her all the gold and platinum records. It's very impressive."

"I wondered where they all were. I expected your house to be full of them. Maybe you could just use all the gold records and forget the wallpaper!"

"Very funny," I muttered, catching her again, and kissing her cheek before she could pull away, "I think I'll go find Pops so you'll quit torturing me!"

"But we love torturing you, bunny!" she cooed, and Angel laughed again, mimicking Rachel's voice. "Bunny… bunny" floated out from the living room, and I groaned. They were definitely going to know all my secrets by the end of the visit, weren't they?

"That's it! Back to the tiki hut if the family can't behave!" he exclaimed, grabbing my hand and trying to pull me towards the door. But I didn't budge. I was having fun here. Angel was dying to start telling me all about Nick's childhood, and I could feel that Jane was about five minutes from pulling out the photo albums. I'd seen the pictures of him in her book. He'd been a really cute baby!

"But I want to see the video library of early talent shows!"

Jane smiled over at me, "I think we'll have to get him really drunk to get those out."

Nick sighed, defeated, and grabbed my bottle of beer off the counter. "Here I go. Pops!" he called to his father as he left us. "Mom said we can start drinking!"

"Start?" Jane muttered, turning her attention back to the cucumber she was slicing.

Okay. Drinking is a sore spot? I filed that away for later. I hadn't quite figured out what all the Carter drama was. I only knew that Aaron had kept calling Nick all weekend, complaining that his parents were fighting and that Nick should come home. I didn't know if that was just standard parent behavior or if maybe I'd come here at a bad time.

I liked Jane. And it seemed like she liked me, which was a plus. She understood the business and kept asking me questions about the band. She was a pretty smart woman and I had to admire her dedication to her boys' careers. I wasn't so sure what the girls thought of it. There must be some weird sibling stuff going on. The Carter boys were obviously the stars here. That probably made for some interesting family dynamics.

Then there was Bob. I didn't have a handle on him yet. He was a "guys guy," I think, so that was okay. A little guarded when we'd met this afternoon, and not terribly approachable. Nick had just shrugged it off and told me not to worry when I asked him about his father. Did that have something to do with the weekend's fighting?

The sisters were… interesting. Leslie hadn't said more than a sentence to me when we were introduced, and then she'd escaped up to her room. Maybe she was just at that age where family wasn't cool. I think I'd spent my entire high school career locked in my room listening to records and writing bad poetry. BJ was gone, but Nick said she'd be back for dinner. Angel was a carbon copy of her brother, even if they didn't look alike. They acted exactly the same and probably had that weird twin psychic link or something.

Angel and Aaron were exactly alike, only Angel seemed to like me, and Aaron had been complaining ever since we got here. He hadn't liked me when we met a few weeks ago, either. I was definitely in the middle of some weird brother bond. My brothers got along, but… then again, they were only a couple of years apart. Eight years difference could lead to some hero worship.

Jane continued to ask me about the album. I was complaining about our small marketing budget for the original album release when Aaron wandered into the kitchen, picking at the salad and grabbing a soda from the refrigerator, "Rachel doesn't need a marketing budget, Mom. She dates famous guys instead."

"Aaron!" Jane scolded. "Don't be rude."

"It's true, though," he smirked, not meeting my eyes. "There was that English guy and now Nick. Can't buy that kind of publicity, can you? Bet that helped sales."

The little… would Nick be terribly crushed if I smacked his little brother upside the head?

"Aaron! Stop it. I'm sure Rachel doesn't…"

I stopped her. "Aaron, I know how it looks, but believe me, if I wanted your brother for the publicity, the past few months would have been a bit different." I never talked about Nick! Well, I tried not to. The boys and I had the whole interview routine down to a science. Someone would try to pry about my relationship with Nick, and they'd deflect it. Everyone on our publicity team knew that my love life was off-limits.

"You're just waiting until you get him good and hooked. That way he doesn't see what you're up to." He narrowed his eyes at me, and I just stared at him, shocked. Why the hell did he hate me so much? It was one thing to see me as competing for Nick's time… but some bizarre gold digger… who did he think I was?

Then it hit me. Willa. He thought I was just like Willa goddamned Ford.

"Heard you tried to get the support slot on his tour, and now you're going with him to Japan. You guys haven't hit in Japan yet, have you? That's the market you really need. Tons of money to be made there, right, Mom?"

I shook my head, reaching for the plates to help set the table. If I had something in my hands, I couldn't strangle him, right? Although I could accidentally smash one of these dishes into his pretty little face.

"That has nothing to do with why I'm going." I was going with him because I didn't want him to be alone on Thanksgiving. Had anyone in this family even considered that? Or were they just so used to not having Nick around that they didn't consider it any longer?

Aaron cut me off, seeming to grow about a foot in the process, "But you signed with his management firm. That's convenient for you."

"Aaron Charles Carter, stop it! You're being rude!" Jane's voice was shrill and Aaron took a step back, openly glaring at his mom and then shrugging at me.

"Whatever. It's true, though." Okay, Aaron might be evil. Had Nick been this bad at his age? I couldn't see it. Nick was sweet and kind to a fault.

He bounded out of the kitchen, joining Angel on the couch, and she hit him with a pillow, calling him a brat, and he just laughed, fighting with her over the remote control. He ignored Jane and me like nothing had happened.

"I'm sorry. He's usually a very sweet boy. I don't know what's wrong with him today." Jane joined me in the adjoining dining room, her voice low.

I tried to shrug it off, "I'm here, and he doesn't like me taking Nick's attention away. It's okay."

"No, it's not." She suddenly noticed that I was setting the table and she took the plates from me. "Stop that, Rachel. You're our guest, and we should treat you like one. I'm sorry. I'll finish here. You go find Nicky." I hesitated for a moment, but she pushed me gently toward the side door. "I think he's out at the grill with his father."

I started to leave, and she caught me. "Rachel, I haven't seen Nick this happy in a very long time. I think you're good for him. Aaron will get over this silly jealousy. Just give him some time to adjust."

I smiled and nodded, not quite sure what to say. I hoped it was just silly jealousy. Was it possible that Aaron could be that jaded about women already, just from one bad girlfriend? And it wasn't even his girlfriend! Nick had told me that Aaron had been dating that little girl from TV… the one that Katie idolized… Lizzie something-or-other. I felt sorry for her if he already had a chip on his shoulder about girls.

"So, what's up, Pops?"

"Huh?" He looked up from the grill and squinted at me in the afternoon sun.

"C'mon. Aaron was calling me all weekend. What's going on with you and Mom?"

He shrugged and flipped one of the steaks. "You know your mother. Hand me that sauce over there. No, the one for the chicken."

Like I could tell what was for the chicken? It all looked like barbecue sauce to me. I handed it to him and took a swig of the beer in my hand, considering him. He wasn't good at the heart-to-heart talks, and I really didn't want to be having one with him… but Aaron had sort of freaked me out the other day. Mom and Dad fought all the time, but this time Aaron said they'd been talking about splitting up. That didn't usually happen.

"Yeah, she's difficult and controlling. But you love her anyway, right?"

He looked up at me, a half-smile coming to his lips. "I love my family, Nicky. You know that."

Uh-oh. Not that same thing, is it? "But Mom. You love Mom… Aaron said you were talking about splitting up."

"Just letting off steam, son. It's all talk. Your mother…" He took a deep breath and reached for his beer, taking a long drink, "She can be difficult, you know. And the past few months of your brother's tour were tough. He's not you, Nick."

"So?" What the hell did that mean?

"So, his sales aren't what they used to be, and we had to downgrade some of the venues. Your mom's planning a winter tour for January, but I don't know. Maybe he needs to take some time off."

"Why? He loves this. Being here is driving him nuts. Even I can see that! He's just like me. He likes to be busy."

Dad just shrugged and turned his attention back to what he was doing. What the hell? Aaron was just telling me the other day that he was glad I'd be home so he could show me some stuff he was working on. He liked working. He was just like me.

"Perhaps. Hey, so, that Rachel, she seems real nice."

"Masterful attempt at changing the subject there, Pops," I laughed. "Yeah, she's nice."

"Pretty, too. Leslie has her CD upstairs. She played it for us the other day. Not bad. And your mom, you know her, she's been following Rachel's press. They're doing really well."

"They are. They're a great band. You should see them live. So different than what we do… but so much fun. I sort of want to do that."

He looked over at me, meeting my eyes. "You could, son."

My turn to shrug. Rachel had been trying to get me to talk about the solo album stuff all weekend, and I kept trying to change the subject. The more I thought about it, the more excited I got at the prospect. Maybe I could do that. Write my own songs and hit the road with a bus and a few guys. Hell, I could probably persuade Anna to take time off school and come with me. She played bass better than most of the session musicians we'd used for Backstreet albums.

"Maybe… but we'll see what happens with Backstreet after next month. I'm not really thinking much farther than that right now."

I heard someone behind me and I turned to find Rachel joining us. I smiled, standing up and hugging her quickly. She looked a little… weird.

"Mom send you out to spy on us?" I teased, and she smiled up at me, letting me kiss her quickly.

"Something like that. I think I was getting in her way. So what are you two up to? Secret Carter family grilling secrets?"

She looked over at Pops, and he just laughed, asking her how she liked her steak. Rare? Dad pulled one of the steaks off the grill for her, making her giggle. I sat back down and pulled her onto my lap, just enjoying being out here with her and listening to them talk. Everything would be okay. I'd corner Mom tonight and figure out what was up with Aaron's tour. She always knew what was best for us, after all. If she thought Aaron should do a winter tour, then he probably should.

Before long, Mom was calling us in to dinner. I didn't remember the last time the whole family had been home for a meal together. It was a little weird. We weren't like Rachel's family. Her homecoming was a big event. The whole family would get together for dinner when she was home. Even when she wasn't home, the rest of them ate together at least a couple of times a week. Rachel liked to call on those nights because she'd get to talk to everyone at once. I was lucky to get one member of my family on the phone without playing phone tag for a day.

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