Oreos for Breakfast: Chapter 31

Oreos For Breakfast: Chapter 31
By the Paperbag Princess and Pumpkin Coach

Clockwatching
Lately we're running out of time, aren't we?

"And number 22 takes the lead!"

Nick and his dad yelled their appreciation of this fact, leaning over the railing of the observation deck like it would help them see. All I could see was a lot of boats kicking up a lot of water.

Not that it was difficult to know which boat belonged to them. Nick had helpfully named it after himself, and everyone in our section here was wearing incredibly ugly clothes emblazoned with 'Nick Carter Racing'. I'd picked the polo shirt, which didn't fit, but at least the logo was relatively small. He had not asked for my advice when picking out the team gear.

He hadn't asked my advice about any of this, actually. Not that he had to, but… it was a lot of money. Not that he didn't have it, but…

It was big time commitment, too. My tour was over tonight, but I just had a couple of weeks before we were back on the road for the summer radio festival circuit. And in that time Sudden Silence had to find time to demo some new tracks if we were going to meet our album deadline with EMI this fall.

But every weekend between now and then was booked with boat stuff for Nick, and tomorrow we were going on a cruise. A cruise with his family and hundreds of Aaron's biggest fans, so it wasn't exactly the romantic get-away we needed.

We needed something, and I didn't feel like boat racing was it. A couple of months ago, I'd felt closer to Nick than I'd ever felt to anyone in my life. The abortion was horrible, but it brought us closer together. It was this thing that only the two of us understood.

Then I had to go on tour with *NSync and he was recording all over the world and we barely ever spoke. There had been times when we'd been apart and we made phone dates and wrote long, detailed emails. None of that had happened in the last few weeks.

I kept telling myself that it was okay. When we'd made the decision about the abortion, I'd told him it was okay to be selfish. This was a time in our lives that we'd never get back and I needed to think about the band. He needed to figure out what was going to make him happy- Backstreet or his solo music.

I'd never really questioned that I made him happy. I just assumed that I was a given. But now I wasn't so sure.

Looking over, I barely recognized the guy standing next to me as he cheered on his boat. He'd gained weight and gotten a tan. His blond hair was longer than I'd ever seen it. I wanted to push it out of his eyes. Wasn't it driving him crazy in this wind? I'd tucked my curls under a baseball cap to keep them from flying around.

I looked like quite the rock star now, didn't I? Nick's dirty baseball cap on my head and dressed in a shirt that would hang down around my knees if I untucked it. Justin would be laughing at me. He loved teasing me that I looked like a rock star in anything that I wore, but I somehow thought this ensemble would ruin my image.

I was a horrible girlfriend. What was I doing, thinking of Justin Timberlake when Nick was right beside me? Old habits died hard, I supposed.

I'd ended up spending a lot of time with *NSync on this tour because if James and I were with a couple of them no one noticed that James and JC always sat next to one another. They couldn't touch in public, but it was better than hiding out in hotel rooms. And I liked seeing James so happy. JC was great and the rest of *NSync were, too. Backstreet called themselves brothers, and that was so true. By Japan, they'd been a dysfunctional family, whereas *NSync were all still friends.

Besides, they were there and my boyfriend didn't return my calls half of the time or was off doing stupid shit that got his name in the tabloids. I never did get him to tell me what really happened between him and Vinnie in Sweden. Then again, I probably didn't really want to know.

Maybe it was okay if we had a few secrets.

This morning he'd picked me up from the airport and I'd thought we'd have a few hours before the race. But instead we'd come straight here. There were team meetings and press to do. And his family was everywhere. Aaron had conned him into singing the National Anthem before the race and I had to share him with dozens of fans who'd suddenly decided that boat racing was the coolest thing in the world.

Who was I kidding? It wasn't his family or the fans. He was so excited about the race that he'd barely kissed me hello. Well, okay, there had been a little making out in the car.

Besides, he was driving me to the show tonight and we'd have the night before we had to get on the cruise ship with his family. Maybe by then we'd be okay.

Suddenly, he pulled me into his arms, kissing me soundly. Did he know how much I was missing him?

"Our first race, and we won! This is great!"

That kiss had nothing to do with me at all, did it?

"Sweetie, I have to go."

I turned around from talking to Dad to look at Rachel. Go? Go where? We were having fun here!

Damnit.

"Right," I said. "Orlando. Give me just a minute, and I'll be ready."

The last thing I wanted to do now was see an *NSync show. Not that I'd seen them on this tour. I'd seen Sudden Silence a few times, and then we'd leave. But I didn't even want to be near *NSync right now, and I didn't want my girl near them, either. I'd finally won something again, and I didn't need *NSync reminding me what a loser I was at my career.

Maybe I'd just race boats forever. I was good at that.

In six months, Justin would buy a bigger and better boat, and beat me again.

Rachel shook her head. "No. I'll go. You're having fun here. You don't need to come with me. Can I borrow your car?"

I kissed her. She was the best girlfriend ever. "I'll get you something better. Mom!"

Mom was around here somewhere. Right? I'd seen her… a couple of beers ago. I was in no shape to drive anyway.

"Mom!" I yelled, looking around the room.

"Why are you yelling, Nick?" Mom said, appearing next to me.

I kissed her cheek. That would erase the annoyed look on her face. "Rachel needs to borrow your car."

She wasn't annoyed now, just curious. Mom didn't like anyone else driving the Porsche.

I bought her that car! She could let my girlfriend drive it.

"What do you need, Rachel? I can take you there."

Rachel smiled at her. "I need to go to Orlando, and Nick for some reason doesn't want me to have his car."

"You hate my car! I'm trying to get you the cool convertible."

Rachel loved convertibles, and Mom's car was cooler than Rachel's little VW. Not that I didn't like Rachel's little convertible. We'd had a lot of fun in that car. But it was a perfect Florida day, and Rachel would like driving to Orlando in Mom's car. My big Escalade would just make her nervous.

Even drunk, I could be a good boyfriend.

Mom considered us for a moment, and then pulled her keys out of her purse. "I don't blame you for not wanting to drive the Escalade, Rachel. It's too big."

Rachel didn't take the keys. "It's okay, Jane, really, I can…"

Mom laughed. "It's a Porsche Boxter, Rachel. Believe me, you want to drive it."

I saw Rachel's eyes light up, and I had to kiss her. I knew she'd like that.

"Well, if you insist."

"Say your good-byes to Nick and I'll meet you over at the door."

"Thanks, Jane." Mom left us, and I pulled Rachel into my arms.

"Way better than my big car, right?"

"Yes," Rachel admitted, kissing me.

"You'll be back tonight?"

She nodded, her pretty hair falling in her eyes. "I'll call you before I leave, so you have time to sober up."

I kissed her, tangling my fingers in her hair. She'd been wearing my baseball cap all day, saying that it annoyed her to have her hair flying around in the wind, but I liked it. She looked so sexy in my racing t-shirt, the sun making her nose just a little pink. "I will be waiting impatiently. Are you sure you don't want me to go with you?"

Say no. Please say no. I wanted to say here and celebrate with my friends, not go and deal with *NSync.

"Then I don't get the Porsche! See you later, bunny."

She kissed me, leaning up and stealing my hat back. I watched her walk away, looking so cute in all her Nick Carter Racing clothes. I liked having my name all over her. That would show Justin who she belonged to.

He was supposed to run after me. Didn't he know that? It had been weeks since we'd seen each other, and then a couple of hours and 'bye, have a nice car.'

It was a great car, and I'd made it to Orlando about an hour earlier than I'd thought. Part of that was because I was so pissed off, I floored it as I blared Ani, feeling more self-righteous with every song. And part was because flooring it was such fun in this car.

Why had Nick just let me leave? He seemed perfectly happy to have me go. Maybe I wasn't being great company, but that was just because I wanted to be with him. Not him and his family and all his boat friends. I wanted my Nick back.

Were we more fucked up than I realized? Or had the blush of new love finally worn off? But he'd never treated me like this before - not when I was right there in front of him. I was always the most important thing to him. Not that I wanted him to ignore the boat race for me, but I wanted a little attention. I'd rearranged my whole schedule to be there for his race, and he didn't even care. Maybe I should have just met him tomorrow for the cruise.

Fuck, I should skip the cruise. I did not want to be trapped on a boat full of Aaron's fans. *NSync fans were a little older, and I was pretty sick of them, too. I was used to Nick's fans, but I didn't have to deal with them all the time. As I turned the corner, I could see the crowd of girls before I saw the hotel sign. I wasn't in the mood to smile for pictures and tell them how great the guys were, so I kept going, pulling out my phone and hitting Frank's number.

"You're early," he said. "Punk ass driving too fast?"

"It's just me, and I borrowed Jane's car."

"Which one?"

"The Porsche."

"Sweet. She must like you."

"At least someone does."

Frank hesitated for a second. He hated it when I said anything bad about Nick. If we broke up, Frank didn't want to have to choose.

Although I was pretty sure I would win. I was nicer than Nick.

"Problems?"

I let him off the hook. "Yeah, there are a million girls outside our hotel. How can I sneak in?"

"Come around the back and I'll meet you. Can you find it?"

I took a right. "Sure."

Frank wasn't alone when he met me. Justin and Darien were with him. Justin and Darien had become fast friends, bonding over beer and picking up groupies. If Darien ever started beat-boxing, I'd have to kill him.

"Dude!" Darien said, as I pulled up in front of them. "That is a sweet car."

"Nick giving you guilt presents for something?"

I raised an eyebrow at Justin. "Know something about guilt presents, Justy?"

Justin wasn't exactly faithful to Britney. She might proclaim to be a virgin, but I knew for a fact that he wasn't. He was winning the little groupie competition that he and Darien were having. He just scowled at me.

"It's his mom's. They won the race and he stayed to celebrate." Neither of them pushed me on my explanation, which was good. I didn't need to be reminded right now how Justin wouldn't let a stupid boat race come between us. "So, who wants a ride?"

Frank sighed. "It's a two-seater, Rachel. No one gets a ride."

I gave him my best innocent smile. "Aw, we'll be fine, Frank. I can out pace any fan in this thing, believe me. But I have to stay with the car. Who's first?"

Darien and Justin did 'rock, paper, scissors' and Justin won. I slid over to the passenger seat. "You can even drive."

Was it mean, letting Justin drive Nick's mom's car with his girlfriend in the passenger seat? Probably.

Justin hopped in, adjusting the mirrors, and then peeled out of the driveway as I waved to Frank and Darien. "Where are we going?"

"Wherever. We can't stay out long, or Darien will be pissed."

"In twenty minutes, we could be halfway to Miami in this thing." Justin mused, turning off Ani and searching for something on the radio. Okay, Justin wasn't perfect enough to actually like Ani. If I ever found that man, Nick was in trouble.

Miami… maybe I could convince Nick to skip the cruise and we could lock ourselves away at the Delano again, or go down to the Keys and have the Carter compound all to ourselves… I liked the Keys. We could take the boat and explore Rachel Key properly.

His boat was probably boring now that he had the racing one. He'd want to go faster and we wouldn't see any of the scenery.

"That's cool that Nick won. But he's missing your last show."

I shrugged, not wanting to have this conversation. "He was having fun, so I let him stay."

Besides, if I hadn't, he would have just resented me. But I didn't say that part out loud. Justin didn't need to know too much about my relationship.

"What, he doesn't have fun at our shows?"

He glanced away from the road, laughing when he saw my expression. "Okay, guess not."

I shrugged, settling back into my seat. "Imagine if Backstreet was the biggest band in the world, and *NSync was 'taking a break.' How would you feel?"

"Shitty. I don't blame him. But now you can stay all night and not feel guilty."

"Guilty?"

"Don't let him make you feel guilty for having fun, Rachel. Just because Backstreet is over doesn't mean your career is."

"Backstreet is not over!" And it wasn't Nick's career that was making me feel guilty… well, that wasn't the only thing that made me feel guilty. I had a lot of things doing that.

"Whatever," Justin said. "You think we're running back into the studio after this tour? We're not stupid. Boy bands will be a thing of the past in a few hours."

"*NSync being the boy band to end all boy bands, I suppose?"

Justin just gave me an 'of course' look and I had to laugh.

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