Oreos for Breakfast: Chapter 26

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

Our plates pushed aside, I thanked Jane again for the meal. She just smiled at me, telling me again how wonderful dessert was. I was explaining the recipe, when Bob got up, trying to refill my wine glass. I reached over, covering it with my hand, "Enough for me. I'm going to fall asleep if I have another glass."

Nick leaned back in his chair and put his arm on the back of mine. "Can't have that. Aaron's got some new stuff he wants us to hear."

"You, not Rachel," Aaron corrected, and Nick sighed. This had been going on all night, and I could tell even Nick was beginning to get fed up. Every time someone tried to talk to me, Aaron was interrupting, turning the conversation back to him or making a snide remark. He'd even tried to correct me on some mundane musical fact. Whatever. I had to stop drinking so I didn't lose control of my tongue.

"C'mon, A. Rachel's a good critic. We'll listen to your stuff, and then I think we need to hit the sack. That's a long drive from Miami." He yawned loudly, emphasizing his point, and the whole table laughed.

It wasn't even three hours from Miami. Big deal. Now, the pit stop for hot sex in the backseat… that had worn me out a little. Our eyes met for a moment, and he raised an eyebrow, letting me know he was thinking the same thing.

"What are your plans for tomorrow, Nick?" Bob asked as he poured the last of the wine into his glass.

Nick looked over at me before answering. "Dunno. You and Mom have that party, right?"

Bob nodded. "And the girls have plans with one of BJ's friends."

Oh, I get it. We were going to entertain Aaron? Great. Was there anything we could do that wouldn't piss him off? Maybe I could suggest that they do something alone. But that would defeat the purpose of being here so I could get to know the family, wouldn't it?

Before I knew it, the dinner dishes were cleared, and Aaron was dragging us down to the studio. Well, he drove Nick down on the golf cart, and allowed me to tag along. The golf cart looked like a tiny Hummer, but Aaron wouldn't even laugh at my jokes about it. One of the dogs came with us. The dog liked me. I sat in the back behind the boys and petted the dog, giggling when he nuzzled my knee. I'd get to see my cat next week… Bates was always happy to see me.

It was a nice studio, even some of the same equipment we'd used to record our last CD. I almost said something about that, but then thought better of it. Aaron was probably just going to argue with me. No, I'd keep my mouth shut and hope this whole male posturing thing would blow over.

"You're being quiet, Rache," Nick whispered when Aaron went to find another CD.

"Trying to avoid a fight."

"He's not that bad."

"Wanna bet? I know he's just jealous, but it's getting old. Maybe I should let you two finish up. I'm tired anyway. I could sleep."

Nick pouted at me as I moved to get up, but he didn't stop me. "I'll talk to him, Rache."

"No, that'll just make it worse. It'll blow over." I leaned down to kiss him quickly as Aaron came back into the room. "Wake me when you come in?"

"Count on it, babe."

"Can I take the cart?"

"Then how will we get back?" Aaron whined, and Nick shot him a look.

"We'll walk. Or maybe I'll walk back with you now, Rache, and Aaron can take the cart when he's done here."

"No, take the cart, Rachel. That's cool. Nick's place is straight up the path." Aaron waved me out the door, and I exchanged a look with Nick over his head. Little brat.

Even the dog stayed with them.

Aaron seemed to relax as soon as Rachel left. He'd been trying too hard, bouncing around the room and challenging her every time she said something. Now he settled on the couch with me, singing along with the track he'd put on, glancing over to see if I liked it.

"That's a good one, dude," I told him. "I like the drum track. You do that?"

"Nah, it was some session guy. It's good though, isn't it?"

"Yeah. You could do that, if you kept up with your lessons."

He glared at me, getting up to switch off the track. "You never took lessons."

"I wanted to. I sorta got some this summer, with Darien. That was cool."

"Who's Darien?" he asked, sitting in the chair at the console and spinning around.

"Rachel's drummer." I know I saw him roll his eyes as he spun past, and I stopped his spinning with my foot. "What? Have you ever listened to them? Darien's fucking amazing, man. You should see them live."

"I'll pass. I've seen enough of her, thanks."

I almost shouted at him, but I bit my tongue. That wouldn't work. I knew us. We'd just yell at each other and neither one of us would listen. Maybe if I was calm, and talked to him like a grown up, he'd listen.

I could always kick his ass if that didn't work.

"Tell me what you've seen, A. Really."

He considered me for a second and then went for it. "She is so playing you, Nick. Why can't you see that? She was nobody until she met you. Then you started dating and all of a sudden, she's the wanton sex goddess. She's just going to use you until you're not cool anymore and then start dating Justin Timberlake or Tom Cruise or something."

Justin? She hated Justin. Besides, Rachel was no Britney Spears.

"Why do you think that?"

He snorted. "It's so fucking obvious! Hell, they even signed with The Firm. Did you do that? After what happened with Mandy, you're still doing favors for girls who…" He started to say something crude, but something in my eyes made him stop. "Girls who date you."

"Do you really think she's like Mandy?"

"She's just like Mandy!"

"Rachel is nothing like Mandy. Mandy pretended to be a singer, and a songwriter, but Rachel has real talent." Mandy pretended to love me, but Rachel really does.

Aaron snorted, his arms crossed against his chest, not meeting my eyes. I knew that pose. He wanted to fight with me, but I couldn't give into that. "If she's so good, why does she have to date you to get publicity?"

"Why do you think that's the only reason a girl would ever date me? Maybe she actually loves me, Aaron. The worst thing I've had to deal with since I've been with Rachel is that no one in my life thinks I can pick a nice girl now. I made one bad choice, and it's like I can't ever be expected to do better. It took long enough to get the fellas to like her. I don't want to go through it again with you."

He pouted. "Of course, they already know her. They're way more important than your real family."

"That's just unfair, Aaron, and you fucking know it." Okay, Nick, no yelling, right? You're the grown up here.

Why the hell am I explaining myself to a 13-year-old? What the fuck did he know about love?

"I was on tour. If I wanted to see her, sometimes she had to come on tour with me. And the fellas said all the things you're saying, and now they love her. Mom likes her."

"Yeah, that's an endorsement," he replied sarcastically.

"Mom never liked Mandy. Ever. You need to give Rachel a chance, Aaron. Because she's not going anywhere." Not again. Not if I can help it.

"She will as soon as she meets Justin Timberlake," he muttered, and it was really everything I could do not to smack him.

"What has she ever done to make you think that?"

"She hangs all over you and giggles all the time. She's such a girl."

"She doesn't hang all over me! Hell, she kept pulling away from me all night. If you thought we were too touchy, that was me, dude. I can't keep my hands off her."

He looked at me. "So, it's all sex, then."

"No, that was Mandy," I admitted, and I thought I saw him smile before he caught himself. "I just… Rachel is the most amazing person I've ever met, bro. She's funny, and smart, and I trust her with anything. You're my favorite brother, and I want my favorite people to get along. Could you just give her a chance?"

He considered me for a long moment. "She's a good basketball player," he said grudgingly, and I smiled.

"See? She's cool. She loves boats, too. Tomorrow we can go out on the boat together. Just try to be nice? Please?"

"I can pretend to be nice," he joked, quoting her new single, and I laughed.

"Catchy fucking song, isn't it?"

He nodded. "Hear it once, and it's in your head all day! I thought only your songs did that."

"She wrote that without the help of Max, even."

"She doesn't really write all her own stuff, does she?"

No one in our world wrote their own stuff. Parts of it, maybe, but Aaron had worked with dozens of songwriters in his life.

"Her and the band. I've watched them do it, man. It's amazing. They did their whole album in her living room, and I bet their set-up wasn't this good."

Hey, I could do my album right here. I could go out on the boat every day and record at night.

And be bored out of my mind within a week or two and want to kill every member of my family. Maybe not.

"Hey!" I looked back at Aaron. I hadn't told anyone yet besides Rachel. "I'm doing a solo album."

"Really?" He was excited by that, leaning forward to look at me.

"Yeah, Backstreet's taking a break, and Jive came to me to see if I wanted to do it. Rachel's the one who convinced me I could."

"You totally can!" Aaron thought I could do anything, but it was still nice to hear. "Are you going to rock out? You so should. That will be awesome!"

Nick crawled into bed with me, wrapping his body around mine, and I smiled when he nuzzled my neck. He smelled like the salt water in the air, and I felt my body relax in his arms. "Hi," I whispered.

"I didn't mean to wake you, baby," he apologized, but he didn't mean it. I could tell by the way he pulled me a little closer, my back against his bare chest. That was nice.

"You were supposed to wake me. You promised."

"But it's late," he said softly. "And you look so pretty asleep, even when you have clothes on." I giggled as he slid his hand under my nightgown, stroking my thigh lightly.

"I thought you might end up bringing Aaron back or something, so I wanted to be clothed."

He kissed my shoulder. "Not a chance. I've spent enough time with Aaron tonight."

I looked around, but the clock was on the other side of the bed, and I was too comfortable to turn around yet. "What time is it?"

"Almost two. What did you do while I was gone?"

"Ran around naked, turning on appliances."

He laughed. "I'm sorry I missed that."

"I thought it would be weird, being in your house without you. Like I'd be finding out all your secrets or something. But…" I drifted off, wondering how to phrase what I was thinking.

"But it was like you were in a hotel. I know. I haven't spent any time here at all."

"So it's not that I missed the secrets in my methodical search of your house?"

I loved that my silly jokes made him giggle like that. "No secrets, Rache, I promise. You know everything interesting about me."

"Oh, there's lots more I need to know, I'm sure. Like, what did you talk to your bratty brother about for three hours?"

"You. And my solo CD."

He talked to Aaron about the solo album for three hours? I'd barely gotten him to talk about it for three minutes.

And me?

"Did he have lots of advice, as a jaded solo artist?"

Nick snorted. "He thought he did. But it was sorta cool… we talk about the business a lot, but it's always been different for him. If something goes wrong, he can't blame Howie."

I giggled. "Are you sure? You seem to blame Howie for lots of things that aren't his fault. Maybe you passed that on to Aaron."

"Shut up," he scolded, spanking me lightly. When did his hand end up on my ass? "I only blame Howie when he fucks up."

"Yeah, I can't wait for the first time you hear a lousy playback of a solo track and turn around to yell at Howie."

"Do you want another spanking?" he threatened, and I wiggled back against his growing erection.

"Not yet. Tell me what you and Aaron said about me first."

He hesitated for a second, and when he spoke again, he wasn't joking. "I'm really sorry, Rachel. It's not fair that every time you meet someone in my life, you have to spend all your time proving that you aren't Mandy. Everyone should just be able to love you immediately, but instead there's all this baggage you have to deal with."

I turned around, looking up at him and smoothing the hair away from his face. It was too dark to see his expression, but I could feel that he was serious. "You shouldn't ever regret anything, Nick. I'm okay with being compared to Mandy. I am much cooler, after all."

Grinning, he leaned down, kissing me. "You are amazing."

"Will your brother figure that out someday?"

"I made him promise to be nice to you tomorrow. He'll try."

"Damn. I was getting good at perfecting my sullen pre-teen look."

Laughing, he rolled over, pulling me on top of him. "Do you need a spanking?"

"Oh, definitely. I had very bratty thoughts tonight."

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