Oreos for Breakfast: Chapter 28

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

"Kevin’s going to kill me."

I blinked at the ceiling. I was holding my phone to my ear, and Nick was talking to me. I didn’t even remember picking up the phone. "What?" I asked him.

"He’s going to kill me!" he wailed.

I sat up, trying to concentrate. Pulling the phone away, I looked at the display. 5:12 in the morning? Why did Nick sound like he was going to cry?

"Everyone’s going to know, and it’s going to be horrible, and Kevin’s going to slaughter me!"

Okay, this was approaching hysteria.

"Bunny. Nicky, baby, what happened? You know it’s 5 in the morning and I usually sleep at 5 in the morning, right?"

"I got ar… arrested," he hiccuped.

Moaning, I fell forward on the… couch? "If you tell me it’s for drunk driving, I’m never speaking to you again."

"No! Rachel, God no, I wouldn’t do that! I’m not that stupid!"

That was a small favor. "Well, I can tell you’re drunk. What did you do?" Nick was in Tampa. Right. My brain was beginning to catch up. I was in New York because we'd had a big fight. And he’d fucking left.

I was sleeping on the couch because…? Right. Movies and way too many cosmopolitans with James and JC. It was all coming back to me now.

"There was a fight, and the cops came, and they were really mean. There was this girl, she was saying all this crap, so I didn’t hear them…"

I cut him off. "Where’s Anna? Put her on, she might be coherent." Anna counted as one of the friends, right? He'd said he was going out with his friends tonight to get drunk and stupid. Well, sounded like he'd accomplished both those things.

"She’s not here!" he whined. "If she was here, this never would have happened!" Great, he'd gone out with just the guys. Lord only knows what they'd been doing without Anna there to keep them in line.

Man, he could whine. Drunk and scared, he regressed to about five years old, and I ached to hug him and protect him from all the mean bad people.

Then again, he was stupid drunk, and I could only imagine what he’d done. Besides, he’d left me. If he’d stayed in New York, he wouldn’t be in this mess, would he?

Sighing, I sat up. James was looking down at me, and I shrieked. "Rache? Rache, what happened?" Nick asked while James laughed at me. Guess he'd stayed over. I had a fuzzy memory of telling them to take one of the bedrooms.

We’d had a lot to drink. Not nearly as much as Nick from the sounds of it… but a lot.

"James just scared me, that’s all."

"Oh, fuck, James is gonna tell JC, and then they’re all gonna make fun of me…"

I decided not to tell him that JC was standing behind James, yawning at us both. JC was gonna know just about as soon as I did. "Go back to bed, James."

He shook his head, sitting on the edge of the couch and pulling JC down next to him. JC yawned again and leaned against James, and they both looked at me expectantly.

"Nicky, where are you?"

"Home. They let me go, and Tony drove me home."

"Good. Now take a deep breath, and tell me what happened."

"I got arrested, Rachel! I got arrested, and it is going to be all over the news in about 20 seconds. AJ was one thing, but this is a fucking mess!"

"Honey, why did you get arrested? Are you going to rehab? What did you do?"

JC sat up, suddenly wide-awake. He started to say something and I shook my head at him. "No… I don’t know!" Nick pouted.

"Did you really get arrested, or was it just a citation or something?"

"Did you know that they really have to read you your rights?"

I screamed, sitting up. "Oh my God! You actually got arrested!"

"What, didn’t you believe me?" he yelled. "Did you think I was making this up?"

"I thought maybe you were exaggerating a bit because you were drunk."

"There were handcuffs, Rachel! I got arrested!" He was approaching hysteria again, and I tried not to giggle. This could not be serious if he was already back home, right? But he probably been drunk and disorderly and stupid, and he was right, it would be all over the papers. That really did suck.

Served him right for being a big jerk to me today. That would teach him to be mean to me.

"Alright, bunny. I believe you. Now, tell me what you did."

"I didn’t do anything!" he protested, and I was quiet for a second. "I didn’t do anything bad! Well… I might have cursed at the cops a little."

I couldn’t help it, I laughed. "Resisting arrest?"

James and JC laughed when they heard me, and I heard Nick whine. "Are they both there?"

"Yes." He was so over the edge he didn't even ask why they were here.

"Don’t let them tell! Tell them they can’t tell! I haven’t talked to anyone, and Kevin’s going to kill me!"

He was panicking again, and I so wished I was there now so I could calm him down.

"Nick, are you alone?" He didn’t respond. Who had he argued with at the club? Why? "Nick..."

"Yes," he said through more hiccups, and I could tell he was crying. Damn, he did overwrought too well. Had he learned that from me?

"When we get off the phone…"

He didn’t even let me finish, "NO! Don’t hang up, Rache! Please!"

"It’s okay, bunny. Do you have land line in your condo?"

"Duh," he grumbled. He called because he knew I’d be calm, but tomorrow he was going to yell at me for treating him like a child. Hell, being arrested drunk at 5 in the morning for doing lord knows what was pretty damn childish.

"Well, then pick it up and call Anna. Have her come over. She’ll be calm. Lord knows that Tony and Vinnie are probably passed out somewhere."

"They’re downstairs."

"I thought you said you were alone?"

"I am. Well, no one’s right here."

Oh God, this was getting to be a long conversation. Dumb, drunk, scared Nick at 5 AM was a nightmare. "Okay. Can you call Anna, or do you want me to?"

He was quiet. I sighed and looked over at James. "Palm Pilot, James."

He got up and walked over to my bag, finding my Palm for me. JC giggled and grabbed his cell phone, disappearing into the next room. "I don’t care what time it is, Britty, he’s gonna wanna know this… Dude! Nick got arrested! Seriously, dude…"

I shook my head at James. I wasn’t going to tell Nick about that. Not now. Like he didn't hate Nsync enough today? I found Anna’s number and handed James my phone. "Talk to the boy wonder. I’m calling Anna."

I called Anna on the room phone, waking her out of a dead sleep and trying not to giggle as I told her the story. Well, what I knew of it. She said she’d go over immediately. At least Nick had one good friend in Tampa.

James was distracting Nick by talking about the club and the video games they had there. "I hate to break up the strategy session, James, but does he want to talk to me again?"

"Dude, you wanna talk to Rachel or know more about how to beat Aaron's ass at Grand Theft Auto?"

He must have screamed my name because James threw the phone to me. "I’m going back to bed, Rache. Call me if he needs bail." I waved James away and settled back under the blanket on the couch, pulling my knees up to my chest.

"Nick, Anna’s on her way. She said she’d bring you donuts and coffee. Sober you up a bit."

"I’m completely fucking sober, Rache."

"No, you aren’t, sweetie. It’s okay. Now, tell me what happened."

"I dunno!"

"Well, that’s not going to fly in court, so try to remember."

I imagined him smiling at my lame joke on the other end of the phone. I turned on my Palm again and clicked through my calendar. Nothing for the next couple of days. EMI might come back to us any minute with a deal. Or they might not. I glanced back at the clock, wondering when the first flight for Tampa left JFK.

"Rachel, I don’t know! Seriously. There were a couple fights at the club. It was one of those nights…"

"Fights? With who?" My Nick was so not a fighter. His lame ass hanger-on friends… they were another story. I hated his friends. Well, except for Anna. No wonder Anna hadn't been invited.

"Not us, Rache. Just fights in general. At the club. Just stupid shit. So the police came, and they were closing down the club at 3. I was getting my car from the valet, and this girl came over. She started bugging us. Just stupid shit. Ragging on me and Backstreet and my friends. Just lame shit and you know what, Rache, I’m so sick of hearing it. I mean, can’t I just not be a Backstreet Boy for two fucking minutes and not hear it? I just wanted to…"

"Be normal? Have a few drinks with your friends and trash your girlfriend in peace?" I smiled at the phone as he sighed.

"Yeah. Not the last bit. I mean…"

This was not the time. We'd been sorta okay the last time we'd talked. Not great, but not screaming at each other. "It's okay, bunny. You were allowed to be stupid tonight. Although I never considered that getting arrested would be part of that."

"Me either!"

I giggled to myself at his outraged tone. "So finish. This girl was egging you on…"

"Yeah! And I was tired and, okay, maybe a little drunk."

"Maybe a lot drunk?" I offered, and he laughed.

"Maybe. I wasn’t feeling any pain, how’s that?"

"Thought so."

"And the cops are getting people to leave, I guess. I don’t really remember, Rache, and she’s yelling at me, so I yell back, and then I see this other girl who knows Anna, and she and I start talking. I guess the cop asked me to leave a few times, but I was in the middle of something."

I leaned back on the couch, covering my eyes with my hand. He didn’t seriously think the cop was going to let him finish his conversation, did he? Was my Nick that stupid? Sheltered little pop star.

I could hear James and JC talking in the other room, so I called out. "Pop quiz, James. You’re talking to me outside a club and a cop tells you to leave. Do you A- leave or B- ignore the cop and finish your conversation?"

"Do I wanna get arrested or not, Rache?" James hollered back.

I laughed, "Bunny, you are the only person in the world who thinks your conversation takes precedence over a direct order from a cop with a gun."

"I know that NOW, Rache!"

"How many times did he tell you to leave?"

"I dunno. Said he was counting to three, and then suddenly he was arresting me. He knew who I was, too. I think he just wanted to arrest a Backstreet Boy! I really do. Bet he wouldn’t have arrested me if I was Justin fucking Timberlake."

"Is Justin even old enough to drink? The cop said he was counting to three, Nick? Do you know how bad that sounds?"

"Makes me fuckin’ look like a kindergartner!"

I had to laugh. Yeah, it did. "What, were you waiting for him to get to two and a half?"

"Rache," Nick groaned, "Can you not make fun of me? Everyone is going to be on my case tomorrow. Isn’t that soon enough?"

"Nick?"

"What?"

"Were you driving?"

"No."

His voice was barely a whisper. Was he lying to me? I fought back tears, remembering talking to Mom that horrible night, her words echoing in my head.

"Rachel, baby, I wouldn’t drive drunk, you know that."

And I did. Now. But before he met me, he probably drove drunk all the time.

"Tony was driving. I was allowed to drink."

"I know, Nick. I love you." Had I said that yet? That’s all he needed to hear. Not me telling him how stupid he was for not listening to the cops or what he should do in the morning. He just needed me to listen and support him. He was right. Everyone else in his life was going to be yelling at him in a few hours anyway. "Tell me the rest of the story."

Shutting my eyes, I just let him talk, agreeing with him when the story called for it. He was still drunk, and wound up, and it took maybe half an hour for him to run out of steam. As ridiculous as this story was, I loved to listen to him talk when he was in this state of mind. He was funny without meaning to be, jumping from thought to thought before he'd remember what he was trying to tell me. I amused myself with trying to follow his train of thought when he wouldn't let me get a word in edgewise.

"Donuts!" Okay, he definitely wasn't talking about donuts… oh.

"Anna there?" I asked.

"Yeah, and she brought me donuts. Oooh! They have sprinkles. And these have filling. I love the jelly ones!"

I think I heard him stuff an entire jelly donut in his mouth. Next thing I knew he was going to be choking and would be rushed to the hospital. I could see the headlines now: "Distraught over arrest, fat Backstreet Boy chokes on jelly donut." I had to stifle a laugh.

"Baby, you go and have your breakfast. I’ll call the airline and figure out when I can come in, okay?"

"You're coming?"

I bit my lip. "I'll be on the first flight to Tampa." James would back me up… this would be okay.

He was quiet for a second. Shit, did he still need time to be mad at me? "Thank you," he whispered. "I really miss you right now."

"And I guess I'm chopped liver?" I heard Anna ask.

"You are the best friend ever, Anna!" Nick said, and I heard a squeal as he must have hugged her.

"Nick, eat something and let Anna make fun of you for a few hours. You should probably get some sleep, too."

"I know," he sighed. "When will you be here?"

"I don't know yet. I'll call Anna when I figure it out, because you'll be asleep by then, right?"

"Okay, Rache. I love you."

"Me, too, bunny."

James jumped onto the couch before I could hit the off button. Had he been lying awake, waiting for me to get off the phone? "So, tell me everything."

I groaned and pulled the covers over my head. It was going to be days before I could sleep again, wasn’t it?

"Yeah, Rache, every detail!" JC chimed in, and I peeked over the covers. He was standing next to the couch, the phone still to his ear. Who the hell was he talking to now?

"No, it’s bad enough I’m telling you. I’m not telling your whole band at the same time! I’m not the traitor in the boy band wars like James!" Well… I might be soon. But right now I could at least keep this news to just JC.

Dude, no one in Backstreet knew yet. It sucked that Nsync found out first.

"Call ya back, Joe," JC said, then clicked off his phone and tossed it on the coffee table. "There. Now dish!"

How did anyone think he was straight? Was he more flamey when he was with James, or was he always like this?

"James, turn on my computer. I need to go to Tampa. Can I do that?"

"The Grammy noms are Friday morning, right?"

I rolled my eyes at him. "Like we’re gonna get a nom, no matter what Saffron says."

"That’s what you said about the AMAs," he reminded me, getting up and turning on the computer across the room. We'd been looking something up tonight… 'Gilmore Girls' sites. JC liked the 'Gilmore Girls. Further proof that he was gayer than gay.

"That was a fluke," I dismissed him. "We’re not gonna win. We’re up against Alicia fucking Keyes. She’s going to win everything."

JC took James’ place at the end of the sofa, nodding. "We’re up against U2. In what fucking universe does that make sense?"

"Exactly!" I agreed. "Since when is U2 ‘pop’? Just because it gets played on MTV does not mean it’s the same fucking genre!"

James sat on the back of the couch, in between the two of us. "The two of you are impossible." We both looked up at him blankly. "Distractible! Totally off the fucking subject, as usual. Nick’s arrest!" he exclaimed, whacking my knee.

"There is other furniture in this room," I told him, trying to be mean. "Do we really need three people on this couch?" It was a pretty big couch, but still…

"We have dragged poor JC into our tragic co-dependency. Shove over!" Grumbling, I sat up, and James stretched out his legs, leaning back against the couch. "Now spill!"

I did. I couldn’t keep anything from James, ever, even if it did mean that JC would soon be telling the entire Nsync camp. Hell, it wasn’t going to be quiet for long. This was going to be everywhere within hours. It was nothing, and because Nick was famous, it was going to be a mess.

This was too much karma for being a jerk to me today. I was the one that started it. What was going to happen to me? Was my plane going to crash?

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