Oreos for Breakfast: Chapter 28

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

"Nick?" I called out, opening the door to our hotel suite. We didn’t really need the cool suite now that the kids were gone. But we hadn’t taken advantage of all the amenities yet. Maybe one more night. We could fight and then have angry make-up sex on the pool table. That would be nice…

The room was quiet. He must have gone with Aaron to the airport. Probably better that he was out of the room for a while.

What time did Aaron’s flight leave? Maybe he’d be back soon. I took off my coat, and then looked around the room, wondering what to do. It was very clean, which was strange. Even after the maid service came in, it was usually still a little messy. I thought Nick was messy, but Aaron put him to shame.

I checked in Aaron and Katie’s rooms, and they were both hotel tidy. It was like they’d never been here. Freaky.

We’d probably just stay in tonight, right? Maybe if I greeted Nick in one of my sexy nightgowns, he’d be more willing to forgive me. Smiling to myself, I went into our room, opening the dresser to choose the perfect outfit.

None of his stuff was in the dresser. A quick check of the room told me that he’d taken everything but one T-shirt, which he'd probably forgotten because I liked to wear it to sleep in, so it was with my stuff.

He'd left? We’d barely talked about this, and he'd left? Where the fuck did he go? Did Aaron convince him I was evil? Did he go to Florida?

He went to Florida. I was pretty sure of that. It’s not like he’d go to another hotel in New York. Although he might be in another room at this hotel and planning to stick me with the bill for this crazy suite.

I found my cell phone, hitting his number and getting voicemail. "Where the hell are you?" I asked him. "You didn’t even have the decency to leave me a note! I’m pretty sure you’re gone, since you took all of your stuff with you. We had stuff to talk about, and you just fucked off? That sucks, Nick. I know I pissed you off, and I’m sorry about that. But you left? Fuck you."

Shaking, I fell onto the bed. He’d left. I knew this was a big fight, but he’d never left before. We were adults. We talked things out!

When I found out he’d slept with a groupie, I’d just left. I’d barely even packed. I hadn’t even given him a chance to explain. I’d just grabbed my stuff and stormed out of the hotel.

My stomach sank, and I bit my lip to keep from crying. This was not the same thing, was it? I hadn't done this to hurt him. I’d never do that. He knew that, didn’t he? It was just business. I knew he hated Nsync, but…

To him, this was like cheating. I was crossing enemy lines. James and JC freaked him out on some level, but that was just James. This was me, on tour with Nsync for two months.

My phone rang, and I answered it quickly. "Nick?"

"Just me. Whatcha doing? Where’s Nick?"

Tears escaped my eyes at hearing James’ sweet voice. "I don’t know," I whispered.

"Rache? What’s wrong?"

I wiped my tears away and tried to get myself under control to talk to James. Otherwise he’d be over here, banging down the door.

That would be okay. James would always take care of me.

"I told him about the Nsync tour this morning, and now he’s gone!"

"He probably just went out to get a drink and cool off, honey."

"No! His stuff is gone! He’s gone! He was so mad, James."

"He’s a dick. This is not the end of the world. So, we’re touring with Nsync."

"Nsync, James. Think about this from Nick’s perspective for a minute. First Lou creates a new band while Backstreet’s off in Europe. Suddenly, everywhere they go, there’s Nsync. They sue Lou, and Nsync does the same thing, as soon as they knew it worked out. They sign to their fucking label for Christ’s sake! Backstreet’s been busting their asses for years, and now Nsync’s the cool boy band. Cool enough for us to open for them. There are a whole lot of reasons for Nick to hate this."

It was amazing how easy that was to understand now, after the fact. James was quiet for a second. "I’m coming over. Can I bring JC, or is he the enemy now?"

"Hey!" I heard JC yell.

"Please come over. Yes, bring JC."

I shut off my phone and stared up at the ceiling. Ha. I’d bring the enemy into the hotel room, too. I was fairly sure that Nick was still paying for the room. If he weren’t, I’d probably be kicked out by now. I should have a party, and charge everything to his account.

Mom gave me a huge smile when she saw me coming down the concourse with Aaron. How quickly could I get out of here?

"Nicky! What are you doing here?"

"He had a fight with Rachel." I couldn’t even open my mouth before Aaron was tattling. I whacked him.

"Oh, dear. What happened?"

"Nothing," I told her, glaring at Aaron.

"Her band is opening for Nsync."

"Shut up!"

This was all to deflect attention from his kiss with Katie last night, wasn’t it? Brat. Mom had called, and he’d just ignored it.

"Are they, Nick?"

I sighed. "Yeah. I needed some time away from her to cool off."

"Is that really the best move for them?"

"Mom, I really…" I caught myself from yelling at her, rubbing my eyes. "Mom, I don’t want to talk about it. I’m going to Tampa, to hang out with my friends for a couple of days."

She didn’t care that I was upset. She was more interested in figuring out N fucking Sync’s market share.

"Why don’t you come with us to Miami? The weather is great there, and we…"

I held up a hand to her and started towards baggage claim. "I haven’t seen my friends for a while. We’re going out tonight, and I need to get on the road or I’ll miss them."

Bullshit. It was barely six. I’d be in Tampa by eight at the latest, and we never went anywhere before 11.

Mom kept complaining, and I ignored her, pulling out my cell phone to check my messages. I’d talked to Vinnie before I left New York and he was rounding up the troops and then calling to tell me what was going on tonight. I didn’t care what we did as long as it didn’t involve Rachel and did involve a lot of drinking. Maybe I’d be less pissed off tomorrow.

No messages from Vinnie yet, but I had a really pissed off one from Rachel. Screw her. I didn’t care that she was upset that I’d left.

Okay, maybe I should have left a note. Whatever.

Mom was still talking when I got off the phone. "Happy New Year, Mom. We had a great time at the party last night. Aaron really hit it off with Rachel’s niece."

"Is that who that was? Hilary has called the house about a dozen times today, young man! What were you doing, kissing another girl on national TV?"

"Hilary called or Lindsay?" I asked her, stepping aside as Aaron reached over to punch me.

"Where the fuck are you?" I yelled. Guess he was finally off the plane. I’d called every half hour, checking to see if his phone was on.

"Driving to Tampa," he answered shortly.

"Did you get my message?"

"Yes."

I sighed when he didn’t add anything else. "Thanks for calling me back and letting me know you were still alive."

"I’m alive. I decided to fly down here with Aaron."

"Is he with you?"

"No. I’m getting together with my friends tonight."

In Tampa. That meant Vinnie. Great. They’d probably go out and the entire night would be all about trashing me. "Don’t…" I couldn’t finish my sentence, because suddenly I was fighting back tears.

I knew I shouldn’t have let James and JC make all those cosmopolitans. The last thing I needed to do right now was drink.

"Don’t what, Rache?" he snapped.

"Nothing. Have fun. Do whatever you want."

We were quiet for a long time, while I tried to catch my breath. I was trying to be quiet, but I wasn’t sure if I was succeeding. James hadn’t come in from the other room to find me yet. That was a good sign. He always knew when I was crying.

"I’m not going to do anything, Rache," Nick said, his voice softer. It was quieter, too. Had he pulled over? "I mean… I’m planning on getting really drunk. But I’m just hanging out with the guys."

"That’s fine."

"I did not come down here to find some other girl to fuck. It never even crossed my mind until right now."

"Great," I muttered, wiping away tears. Not that it mattered. I was really fucking sure that it had crossed Vinnie’s mind.

"I love you, Rachel," he insisted, his voice breaking. He was sounded so sincere it was enough to make me cry again.

"Really?" I asked him.

"Really. I need to hang out with my friends and be a guy tonight. I swear to you, I’m not going to do anything to hurt you."

"Coming back here and finding all your stuff gone hurt a lot, Nick."

"Well, you opening for N fucking Sync hurts a little, too." His voice was angry again, and I sighed.

"Okay. Sorry. Go off with your friends and be an idiot tonight. Can we try to talk about this rationally tomorrow?"

He hesitated a second, taking a deep breath. "We can try. I am really fucking angry, Rache."

"I know," I said softly. "You’re allowed to be. I just can’t… never mind. Go out tonight, have fun, and call me after the hangover wears off."

"Might be late in the day," he said, and I smiled a little.

"Fine. I love you. I’d never do anything to deliberately hurt you. You know that, right?"

"I know, baby. I know. Same here. I was a jerk for leaving without telling you."

"You were," I agreed. "But I understand."

"I don’t understand at all about N fucking Sync, but we’ll talk about that tomorrow."

"Okay. Love you."

"Love you, too. Talk to you tomorrow."

"Drive carefully."

"I will. Bye, Rache."

"Bye, bunny."

He hung up first, and I collapsed onto the couch. That was… probably the best I could have hoped for today. He was angry, and I had to trust him that he wasn’t going to cheat on me.

I considered it for a second. I actually did believe him on that one. He got stupid when he was drunk, but I felt like I could trust him. God knows what other trouble he might get into, but it wouldn’t be that.

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