Oreos for Breakfast: Chapter 28

Oreos For Breakfast: Chapter 28
By the Paperbag Princess and Pumpkin Coach

What was that noise? There could not possibly be someone up in this house. It couldn’t be morning, not yet. I sighed and rolled over, reaching out for Nick, but the bed was cold. He couldn’t be up. Our afternoon nap yesterday had messed up our sleep schedule, so we'd made love most of the night. That was really nice…

I heard another noise, and then the door opened. I shielded my eyes from the sunlight coming into the room and squinted toward the door. Nick was standing there, dressed in his silk pajama pants that I loved and nothing else. His blond hair was sticking up all over the place, and he grinned at me.

"What the hell are you smiling at?" I yawned and stretched my arms above my head, glancing over at the clock by his bed. 9 o’clock. Still too fucking early. I sighed and curled back up, patting the bed next to me. "Come back and keep me company, bunny."

"Didn’t you hear the phone ring?" he asked as he came over to the bed and sat something on the bedside table.

I kept my eyes closed and shook my head, breathing in the scent from his pillow. He sat down next to me and stroked my face gently. I felt him leaning over and then his lips on my forehead as he pushed the hair off my face. "Rache, baby, you gotta wake up for me. That was James."

I opened my eyes, and he laughed. "I knew that’d wake you up."

I stuck out my tongue at him. "What’s wrong? Did EMI come back with something?"

"Not yet." I could hear the smile in his voice, and I sat up. It was then I noticed the tray by the bed. I leaned around him and stared at the table.

"Nicky… what’s that?"

"Breakfast in bed, Rache." He leaned over and grabbed a strawberry, popping it into my mouth before I could say another word. What did he want? Was it going to come out today that he’d actually been fucking that girl he was supposedly arguing with at the club? No… but he was acting very strangely.

Was that champagne on the tray?

This time I heard the phone ringing. Mine? But I’d turned that off last night… Nick smiled over at me, and I knew he’d turned it back on. "Yours."

"Nick…" I didn’t have time to say anything else. as he held the phone out to me. "Rachel Connor," I said tentatively.

"Did he tell you? Tell me he didn’t. I threatened to break both his legs!"

"Lola?"

"Turn on the TV to CNN, Rachel."

"What? CNN… Lola, what is going on?" I whined, and Nick jumped up, grabbing the remote and turning on the TV.

I just blinked at it. That was James. My James. Why was he on CNN? And then it clicked. The Grammy Award banner was in the corner, and under James’ incredibly happy face it read, "James Packard, Sudden Silence, nominated for two awards."

"You’re fucking joking!" I screamed, and Nick smiled over at me broadly. "We’ve got a Grammy nomination?"

"Two," Lola corrected me, and I screamed again. Nick grabbed the phone from me.

"See, I can keep a secret…" I grabbed the phone back from him. Oh my God, we were going to the Grammys. The fucking Grammys. I wanted to call James, but he was staring at me from the television set. I tried to listen to him and Lola at the same time, suddenly wide awake.

"You so didn’t keep the secret, Nick." I clued into Lola, who thought she was talking to Nick. "She was still asleep!"

"I’m back, Lola. Nick, she says that it doesn’t count, because I was stillsleeping."

"Hey that counts!" He pouted, sticking out his bottom lip and leaning down towards me. He was too cute. I leaned up and pulled him closer, kissing him quickly. He smiled down at me, and I couldn’t help giggling. I was suddenly overcome with the urge to pin him on the bed and kiss him until he couldn’t breathe.

"We’re nominated for a Grammy Award," I said out loud again. If I kept saying it, maybe I would believe that it was true. Granted, they all had been telling us that this would happen, but I couldn’t let myself believe it. Not even for a second. It was a nice idea… but my little band didn’t get Grammy nods!

"Two," Lola deadpanned again before laughing. "Do you want to know what they are?"

"What do I care?" I giggled, still getting used to the idea.

"Well, someone will. Pop vocal duo or group and pop video. Now, go and kiss that boyfriend of yours and wake up. I’m sure you have a million messages from Saffron. She called me looking for you. She’ll want you to be available for comment and will get every camera crew she can to Tampa."

"Is that smart? You know, with everything else that’s going on down here?" I saw Nick’s smile fade and I wanted to take it back. I could tell that this had taken his mind off the arrest and the media hell he was currently in. I moved over to him and wrapped one arm around his waist, leaning my head against his stomach as he stood next to the bed.

"What do I know, Rache? She’s the professional."

"Oh, please, Lola! You know more about this stuff than most of us!"

Lola just laughed and congratulated me again. The line went dead, and I clicked off the phone, throwing it across the bed and fell back on the pillows, screaming.

"Oh my fucking God! Nick! I get to go to the Grammys!!!"

He fell down on the bed next to me, his smile blinding, "Can I be your date?"

"Of course! Oh, we can wear matching outfits! It will be so cute. Just like you and Aaron!"

He groaned, and I tousled his hair, jumping up and running into the bathroom.

"Rache… whatcha’ doin,’ baby?" I leaned my head out the doorway and stuck out my toothpaste-covered tongue, making him laugh.

I ran back over and jumped onto the bed, falling on top of him. He sighed as I tangled my fingers in his hair and kissed him fully, moaning deeply as his tongue parted my lips and touched mine. God, I loved this. Softly his hand caressed my ass as I fell into kissing him, blocking out the sound of the television and my phone ringing.

"Congratulations, baby."

I groaned as I reached back for my phone. "It’s going to be hours before I can ravish you properly, isn’t it?"

Nick nodded and rolled away, looking around for my robe and tossing it to me.

"Rachel Connor," I practically giggled into the phone as I tried to pull on my robe and hold the phone at the same time. Finally, James! "You were just on CN fucking N, James! Oh my God!"

He screamed into the phone, and we both started talking, cracking the other up as we said the same things. "My brain!" I screamed at him, standing up and tying my robe and then considering the breakfast tray that was still sitting on the bedside table. Was that coffee? Nick smiled and handed me the cup, and I stopped talking long enough to take a gulp. Perfect. Sweet and warm. Then he held up another piece of fruit for me, and I wrapped my lips around his finger, lightly sucking as I pulled it into my mouth. He licked his lips slowly just to tease me.

"Rachel! Stop doing whatever you’re doing to the poor boy and pay attention to me now!"

"James you are such a spoiled little child sometimes! Give me a second to adjust to this news. How’d you hear?"

"Boy toy woke me up to watch, of course."

"He did? Oh, they were nominated for something?" I deadpanned, and James laughed.

"More than yours was! My boy toy is bigger than yours!" He joked, and I crooked my finger at Nick and he came closer to me. I ran my hand slowly across the front of his pajama bottoms, making him gasp.

"Hmmm… I don’t know about that. Mine’s pretty big right now. And getting bigger!"

"Rache," James whined. "Stop manhandling the boy!"

I giggled, and Nick’s eyes locked on mine, "James says his boy toy is bigger than you!"

Nick frowned. "We’ve been nominated every year since 1998."

"Hear that, James?"

"And how many Grammys are on his shelf, Rache?"

I rolled my eyes and then looked up at Nick again. "Did you get nominated, baby?"

He sighed, and nodded at me. "Yeah, but we won’t win. We never fucking win. It’s rigged! Besides, I want you to win."

"Me?" It couldn’t be possible that we were nominated in the same category, was it?

From the sound of James’ laughter and Nick’s expression, I knew that was exactly what had happened. "No!" I groaned, leaning back against the pillows. "What the hell do we do now?"

"Hope for a tie?" Nick asked. "That’s okay. We can keep one of yours here and the other at the Point house. Then we have to stay together."

Was that a question? After everything that’d happened already this week… the rest of the year had to be easy, right?

She knew I was teasing, right? Even so, I felt my back stiffen at the thought. I didn’t have a key to her place, and she didn’t have one here. Not that she’d asked… and I knew her secret hiding place for the key at the Point, but that wasn’t the same, was it?

Suddenly, I was laying on my back as Rachel sat over me, feeding me a bit of her banana, smiling wickedly as she listened to something James was saying. I’d get her a key when I went out later. Maybe put it on a chain or in a pretty box filled with glitter. She’d like that.

I took a bite of the fruit and tried not to think about anything else but how great she looked this morning. Her face was all flushed from laughing and she couldn’t stop grinning. It was a grin like a little girl has as she’s running around on the playground, completely amused by nothing in particular and everything all at once.

Reaching up, I untied her robe and it fell open, exposing her perfect body to my eyes. She tried to pull it closed again, but I grabbed her wrist, shaking my head. Leaning up, I kissed her stomach and felt it tighten against my lips. Far away, I heard the house phone ringing and then my cell, but I didn’t want to get either of them. We’d been through this before. They’d nominate us and even let us present or perform, but it wouldn’t matter. At least 'Nsync never won, either. That was our only saving grace.

Would that be different this year, too? Did they have enough artistic credibility to win?

"You look so serious, baby." Rachel had hung up the phone, and she was looking down at me, playing with my hair lightly as I caressed her stomach.

"Nah. Thinking too much. How cool are you, buttercup?"

She grinned at that. "James said that EMI called Jeremy to congratulate us."

"They did? Who? Amber?"

"Dunno. Jeremy said they could talk to our lawyers. Isn’t that great? This really is going to be the bargaining chip that Jeff and Saffron keep saying it would be, isn’t it?"

"Probably. You’ll damn near get to write your own ticket. Don’t need no stupid opening slot now."

Shit! It was out of my mouth before I could stop it, and… I couldn’t take it back. I didn’t know if I wanted to take it back. But it was out there, just lingering between us, and then Rachel’s phone rang again, and she pulled her robe closed, leaning down and kissing me quickly.

"We do, Nick. We already said yes, and we can’t…"

I didn’t want to hear her finish that sentence. They couldn’t break their promises? They couldn’t go back? We’d talked about this last night and had been okay when we finally went to bed. Why couldn’t I just let it go? It’s not like she was going to fall for Justin just because he was there with her every day. Right?

Sitting up, I hugged her tightly, and she tossed her phone on the floor, letting the call go into voicemail, sighing as I held her. "I’m sorry, baby. I’m… I guess I’m not over it. But I will be. Promise. This is your day." Leaning back, she looked up at me, her big brown eyes just a little sad and I kissed her nose, making her laugh. "Your day. You go talk to Saffron or whoever and I’ll take a quick shower and then go get us real food for breakfast. How’s that?"

She considered me for a long moment, and then nodded. "That would be great, bunny. I promise, this won’t go on all day."

But I knew that was another promise she didn’t have the power to keep. None of this was up to her. The machine had started, and she was powerless to stop any of it. We all just had to hold on for the ride.

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