Oreos for Breakfast: Chapter 26

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

"What are you wearing?" Nick looked up from watching some sports show on his huge TV as I walked into the living room, and I struck a pose for him.

"A bathing suit. Do you like it?"

"Where did it come from?"

"My suitcase. The one you didn't bring to Tampa."

"Good thing. Go and put on one of the bikinis we bought in Tampa!" he ordered, pointing towards the bedroom.

I looked down at myself, pretending I had no idea why he hated my suit. "What's wrong with this one?" It was cute - a sporty black one-piece with red stripes. It even had a built-in bra that made me look like I might have breasts, and little cut outs on the side. It showed some skin.

"It is entirely too covered up! I didn't know you owned any one piece suits."

"But…" I started to protest, and he cut me off.

"I have seen you wear bikinis in front of your family. You can wear them in front of mine, too."

"I am attempting to appear demure in front of your family, Nicky."

He rolled his eyes. "They've all seen your videos. Too late for that, babe. Now, go change. Or do you want another spanking?"

I shot him a flirty look, but he didn't follow me back to the bedroom. Then again, it was nearly noon, and we were both starving. There was no food here, so we had to go up to the main house to find breakfast or lunch or whatever.

Now dressed in a bikini, I grabbed the pretty sarong he'd bought me in Miami and pulled it around my hips. Joining him on the couch, I jumped on his lap. "Better?" I asked, leaning down to kiss him, and he nodded at me, a cocky grin on his face.

"Much," he agreed, kissing me deeply as he ran his hands over my ass and then around my bare stomach, tickling me softly. Okay, the two-piece suit was good. I loved feeling his hands on my skin… fuck lunch. We could just stay here all day, right? Was his family trained to leave him alone when he got back from tour like mine was?

"Aw… how sweet," a young voice said from right behind me.

Evidently his family wasn't trained at all. Sighing, I moved off Nick's lap, adjusting the sarong over my legs. "Morning, Aaron."

"It's afternoon," he retorted, falling into a chair and considering us.

I thought he was supposed to be nice to me today? I'd said one thing and already he was arguing with me!

Then again, I hadn't acted very happy to see him, had I?

"Like you've been up for hours," Nick said, sounding about as annoyed as I was. "You were up as late as I was."

"Whatever," Aaron dismissed us. "Mom's up there, freaking out about the party. What are you doing today?"

"Man, does that mean no food?" Nick whined, and Aaron nodded at him.

"The kitchen is off limits. Don't you have anything here?"

"No. What about your kitchen?"

Aaron had his own kitchen? Aaron shrugged. "Nothing good. Let's go to Pizza Hut or something."

Breakfast of champions.

Then again, I was starving. Pizza was fine by me.

"You have a Pizza Hut?" I had to ask. I hadn't seen much of anything when we drove into town. Marathon was possibly less civilized than Cutoghue. Everything was apparently on the one major road, and if you went off that there was nothing but houses. I'd have to make Nick take me to see some of them. I was curious as to what real houses looked like here in the Keys. I was confident they didn't all look like the Carter compound.

Aaron looked at me. "It's considered fine dining out here."

Was that a joke? I decided to smile at him anyway. He actually gave me half a smile in return.

"Let's go to that place near the bridge," Nick suggested. "We can sit outside."

I knew he was suggesting that for me, because he knew that I had pizza issues. And that I loved to sit outside. Especially when it was 80 degrees in October. Man, I was loving this Florida weather! I thought about James again, shivering in New York. I should probably call him later just to gloat.

"I want pizza!" Aaron pouted, but Nick just gave him a level look.

"But Pizza Hut doesn't have pie."

Aaron nodded, looking swayed. "You're right. Pie is better."

"Pie?" I asked. "Can I get actual real Key Lime pie?"

"You can get whatever pie you want, buttercup," Nick assured me. "We might skip lunch and just have pie."

"They have a new one, chocolate peanut butter something."

"Mmmm… pie…" I said in my best Homer Simpson voice, and both boys laughed. Okay, it just took a Simpsons joke to get Aaron to laugh? I'd have to remember that. "Let me put some clothes on."

"It's the Keys, baby," Nick tried to tell me. "You can go like that."

"Uh, no," I assured him. "You can probably go like you are, but I need more coverage. I'll be right back."

Nick seemed to think that swimwear was baggy shorts and an even baggier T-shirt, which was pretty much what he wore every day. But he insisted that I wear bikinis. I should probably call him on the double standard of that, but I really did appreciate the way he looked at me in a swimsuit, so I'd forgive him. Besides, boys looked silly in bikinis.

We managed to get to the restaurant, order, and get our drinks without Aaron being a shit to Rachel. This was definitely progress. He liked that she let him sit up front on the drive over, but I knew why that was. She wanted to make sure there was nothing incriminating in the backseat after our tryst there yesterday, no stray underwear or anything.

"So, what are you doing tonight?" Aaron asked us, poking at the ice cubes in his glass, not looking at either of us.

"Do we have plans, Nick?" Rachel asked me, and I shrugged.

"Go to Mom and Dad's party?"

Aaron scowled at his drink, and I caught Rachel's eye.

"C'mon, A," I teased. "We love to watch all their friends get drunk."

He just rolled his eyes. "They're all new friends now. Dad's going to all those boat races and stuff."

"Boat races?" Rachel asked, and Aaron looked up at her.

"Power boats. They're really, really fast. It's cool. Like Nascar, only on water. Dad went to a bunch this summer, and I think they're the friends coming over tonight."

Rachel gave him a sarcastic thumbs up. "Drunk Nascar boaters. Sounds like my kind of party. They gonna get dressed up?"

"That's the plan. Mom got matching costumes for her and Dad."

I snickered. "Romeo and Juliet?"

"I don't want to know," Aaron said, smiling at me. "I don't think Dad knows yet."

"We gotta get out of there, then."

"Totally," Aaron agreed. "But where?"

The waitress came back with soup for each of us. "What is that?" Aaron asked, looking at Rachel's soup.

"Conch chowder. I hear conch is big down here."

Aaron wrinkled his nose. "Never had it. Do you like it?"

"I don't know yet. But I like to try the local specialties. Want some?" She offered him a spoonful, and he shook his head.

"No. Are you going to try alligator? That's big down here, too."

"I've had alligator before," she informed him. "I don't like it. This looks sorta like Manhattan clam chowder. How bad can it be?"

We both studied her as she took a bite, and she laughed once she swallowed. "Your mom isn't one of those try-everything-at-least-once moms, is she?"

We shook our heads. Mom was not a creative cook. She never had time to be, really. "Mom's fussy, so she doesn't force us to eat anything," Aaron answered. "Is it any good?"

"It's like clam chowder. Want some now?"

"Clams are gross. This is better," he asserted, taking a bite of his soup. It was shrimp something, and we always got it at this restaurant. It was pretty amazing. Rachel stole a bite from me, and I saw the look of amazement cross her face. I laughed when she took another bite, savoring it this time.

"Sour cream," she stated, and Aaron and I both looked at her blankly. "Sour cream. In the soup. That's why it's so good."

She knew everything, didn't she? "Want more?" I offered, but she shook her head.

"I'm good. So, what are we doing tonight?"

"Yeah, Mom and Dad's party is going to be boring," Aaron agreed. Did he actually agree with her?

"Dunno, bro. Should we crash the girls' party?"

Aaron scowled. "I don't like their friends. They all look at me like I'm an alien."

Rachel giggled. "Well, you are an international pop phenomenon. I'm sure you're the biggest thing to ever hit this town."

Aaron rolled his eyes. "Yeah, and it's really annoying. I can't make friends, because everyone just wants to talk to the pop star."

I just looked at him. He'd never told me that. He made his records and went on tour, and I'd just figured he was fine. But he really didn't have many friends, just people he met in the business. He was sorta dating that Hillary Duff girl, from one of the teen shows. They talked on the phone a lot, but she lived out in L.A., so you really couldn't call it a relationship. Besides, he was only 13!

When I was 13, I had friends, though. I still had Tony and Anna. Aaron didn't have anyone like that.

"Do you think the girls have problems? Maybe they only have friends because their brothers are international pop phenomenons."

Aaron shrugged. "It's different for girls. Angel seems to really like her friends here. Anyway, I don't want to go to that party, even though I was invited, because it won't be any fun. Everyone will be looking at me like I'm an alien."

Rachel was good enough to drop the subject, even though I could tell she wanted to talk to him more about his lack of friends. Hell, so did I. This is the most he'd ever said about it, and I think he was surprised at himself.

"We did say we were going to go to Key West sometime," Rachel reminded me. "We still could."

I met her look, considering. That could be fun. Key West was always fun, but Halloween was probably a riot.

"Can I hang out at your place, then?" Aaron said in his best long suffering voice. "Since you'll be gone and all."

Rachel leaned over to poke him. "I meant the three of us. We can take the boat down, right? Find a little hotel and stay the night, hang out with all the crazy Key West characters. An international pop phenomenon is boring compared to some of those people."

Aaron looked at me with excited eyes, and I had to laugh. "I don't know if we can get a hotel room there tonight. It's probably booked up."

"Gimme your wallet," Rachel commanded, holding out her hand. I gave it to her, ignoring Aaron's 'I told you so' look. I knew she wasn't taking it just because she wanted my money or something. I had no idea what she was looking for, but I trusted her. Maybe this would prove to Aaron that she wasn't like Mandy. Mandy used to take cash from my wallet all the time.

Rachel plucked a card out with a smile. "American Express Black. They can do anything, right?"

I nodded. "That's how we ended up in Miami." I hadn't even known the name of the Delano, but they figured it out for me.

"Who's got a cell phone?"

Aaron handed his over and Rachel punched in the number on the back of the card. She had to get up to get better reception, but she was back in about ten minutes, handing over the phone.

"Okay, that was freaky."

"Why?" I asked her.

"They knew who I was. I can see them knowing you, since it's your card. But evidently they have your girlfriend on file, too. So it was no problem for me to get us a suite for this evening. Sunset view, a place to dock the boat, we are set."

"Cool!" Aaron exclaimed, pocketing his phone again. "Key West is way cooler than here."

"Card," I ordered Rachel, and she gave me a mock blank look.

"Card?" she asked, in her best dumb girl voice.

"The credit card, Rache."

"I gave it back to you already."

I leaned over, reaching into her pocket and pulling out the card. She tried to snatch it back, but I handed it to Aaron, making her pout. "Oh, yeah, give it to your brother."

"I already have one," he bragged.

"You're not even legal yet!" she protested. "You are too young for that sort of power! That thing has the power of the universe!"

Laughing, I took it back from Aaron as she settled into pouting at her food. "I can get you on my account, buttercup."

She shook her head, picking up her sandwich. "No. I'll be cool enough to get one on my own someday, I hope. I'll just take advantage of yours for the occasional difficult-to-book hotel room, thanks."

Nothing like Mandy. Nothing at all.

Take that, Aaron. I knew that would be Rachel's answer, and I shot him an 'I told you so' look. He had the grace to look a little embarrassed.

"Why did I get a hotel room?" I asked, leaning over the side of the boat to look down at Nick and Aaron. They were on the dock, fussing with something as we got ready to leave for Key West.

"Because we don't want to have to come back in the dark tonight?" Nick asked, and I rolled my eyes, jumping off the side to join them on the deck.

"Please. You've got two bedrooms down there! This thing is bigger than James' apartment." It looked big from the outside, but I'd had no idea what was below deck. It had a real kitchen that was definitely better than what James had in his ridiculously outdated apartment.

Aaron shook his head. "Then I'd hear everything, and that's gross. I'll take the hotel room, and you guys can sleep here."

"Not a shot, little man," I warned him, wrapping my arms around Nick's waist and kissing him quickly. Although I liked the idea of sleeping out on the open water, snuggled up in Nick's arms…

Nick met my eyes with a smile, happy that Aaron and I were joking. Getting the boat ready for our trip gave us something to do together, and it was working. Aaron was being less of a sullen teenager and more of a kid who was excited to be hanging out with the cool grown ups. Thirteen was a weird age to be.

"Start her up, captain," I told Nick, stepping away from him. "We are ready to go. Aaron and I will untie her." He didn't need any more encouragement to jump on the boat, heading up towards the cockpit. This boat had multiple levels. I'd thought my sailboat at home was big, but that was basically a plank with a piece of fabric attached compared to this thing. It was a wonder that Nick wasn't bragging about boat size with my brothers.

Hey, maybe that was why Jon didn't like him… he felt threatened by the size of Nick's boat.

"What?" Aaron asked, catching me giggling to myself.

"Nothing," I assured him, unwinding one of the ropes where it was securing the boat to the dock. "Just thinking about my boat at home."

"What do you have?"

"Nothing like this. We've got a sailboat and a motor boat, about 25 feet. What's this one?"

I knew that would do it. Aaron gave me all the specs of the boat as we untied it and got on board, ready to go. He told me about the navigation system as we joined Nick on the top deck, where I found a stocked cooler and comfy white leather seats. Damn, this was the life. I could tell I was going to be spoiled after moving 5 feet in this thing.

"And now it has sonar," Aaron teased, and Nick whacked him.

"Shut up."

"Is that to tell you where the sea grass is, bunny?" I asked Nick, getting a glare in response. A few months ago, this boat had gotten stuck in a patch of protected sea grass, and Nick had had to pay a huge fine for destroying it. I hadn't even known him then, but I remembered reading about it on some gossip site or another.

"The sonar wouldn't even help. I thought it was deep enough!"

"You just ignored all the warning signs," Aaron told him seriously.

"I can dump you back on the dock, little brother," Nick warned, turning the key and letting the boat roar to life. I gave Nick a second to get distracted by steering and then turned back to Aaron.

"So, did he call you guys when he got stuck?"

"He cried when the cops came."

I giggled as Nick took one hand off the wheel to whack his brother again. "He did?"

"Totally! When he got stuck, he was really pissed off, and called Dad to give him a tow. But the cops saw where he was from the bridge, and the Coast Guard came and told him he was destroying a protected habitat, and then he cried."

"I'm just dumping you over the edge as soon as we get to really deep water," Nick told him calmly, concentrating on getting us out of the lagoon that led up to their house. "Maybe there will be sharks."

Aaron stuck his tongue out, acting like the 13-year-old brat he could be, and Nick just rolled his eyes, trying to ignore us.

"How did he get the boat out?"

"The Coast Guard had to tow it out. That's what really destroyed the sea grass."

"Don't they mow that stuff?" I asked, cracking Aaron up.

"Yeah, if they just mowed it, it wouldn't get in anyone's way!"

"You both need to stop making fun of me now," Nick pouted.

"Aww, bunny, it's sort of funny, isn't it?" I cooed, going over and running my hand through Nick's hair as the wind picked up as he increased our speed. Damn, it was beautiful here. I'd never seen water this blue and clear. Even from all the way up here, I could see a few fish swimming around, getting out of the way as the boat moved through the water.

"You know how much my stupid fine was, Rache? $30,000! That wasn't very funny!"

"Damn, just for running over some sea grass?"

"Yeah, but they're going to put all the fines together and install these perches for the birds." Aaron stated, knowingly. "If the birds use them, then they'll fertilize the sea grass and help it all grow back and be stronger."

I just stared at Aaron as he went on and Nick laughed, shaking his head, "Don't get the boy started, Rache. He's like a little marine biology encyclopedia."

Now it was Aaron's turn to pout, "At least I know something! You never even graduated high school, dork!"

"Screw you! I did too!"

"What?" I looked back at Nick. Surely Jane and Bob had made him finish high school.

"Ignore him, Rache. He likes to tease me that the only thing I learned from my tutor was sex ed."

"She was cute, Nick…"

They both laughed at Aaron's comment, but then Nick pretended great interest in the map on the screen in front of us. Did he have a hot tutor while the Boys were on tour? I couldn't imagine Jane liking that idea.

"Do you want to go under the 7-Mile Bridge or all the way around the Keys?" Nick asked, trying to change the subject. We'd be coming back to that subject later, though. When we were alone. I had images of hot teacher fantasies come to life.

Aaron giggled, "Trying to show us that you can go under the bridge and not get us stuck?"

Leaning over Nick, I looked at the map on the screen. This was cool- global positioning for the boat. Nick pointed out our route around the Keys and I smiled, letting him pull me next to him on the seat as we hit some rough water and the boat rocked slightly. "Let's go down and around Key West and then on the way home we can go the other direction?"

"Sounds like a plan. This way is easier, anyway. Fewer little Keys on the Atlantic side to navigate around."

"Can I drive, then?" Aaron asked, forgetting that he and Nick had been sparring a few minutes ago. Did they do this all the time? I considered them, remembering how Patrick and Jon used to bicker all the time when we were growing up. Hell, they still did.

"Sure. Then I can give Rachel a proper tour of the boat." Nick caught my eye, wiggling an eyebrow at me and making me laugh. A tour could be fun.

We wish we were clever enough to have come up with some of the sea grass stuff... But instead, major props to the best BSB humour site - Whodaman! - for insight in the whole 'sea grass incident.' Read their truly hilarious account here! (Under "WDM Originals" - "Great Boating Accident")

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