Chapter 5

Cape Cod, Massachusetts

"Don’t pose!" Maria shouted for what felt like the millionth time. She was trying, unsuccessfully, to shoot individual pictures of Ashley, but he was posing and pissing her off. It was now three weeks into the tour and Maria was, remarkably, on schedule. She had always hated schedules, but with O-Town, schedules were a necessity. The group had been so busy that Maria had barely seen them, except on the bus, and there, they seemed to always be sleeping, so she hadn’t had time to really talk to them.

Erik’s interview had gone well. He had been very funny, yet they had tackled serious issues, too; such as, when Erik’s biological father had re-entered his life after not having been in contact with his son for twenty years. And they had also talked about the recent death of his beloved grandmother, who had practically raised him. Maria now felt closest to Ashley and Erik, since she knew them more than the others. Dan was next in line to be interviewed, but that wasn’t scheduled until…whenever.

"It’s too windy," Alex said to Maria. They were shooting on a beach. The Mikes had rented a cottage on a private beach for the group for four days. The radio performance was tomorrow night and then the guys had a couple of days off before they traveled to their next destination. Maria planned on using that time to take some of the individual photos of Ashley and hopefully of Erik…if she got to him, that is. Ashley’s shoot was taking longer than she had hoped it would.

"Fix his hair," Maria said to Alex, who sighed and ran over to Ashley. He was standing on top of a sand dune, in front of a white, rickety fence, with the water down below the dune, behind him. He had on jeans and an off-white, almost sheer button-down shirt. His feet were bare and buried in the sand.

"This is hell," Alex said as she touched up Ashley’s hair.

"Why is she doing this? It’s too windy," Ashley said as he leaned down so that Alex could reach him.

"She’s doing this because she’s nuts," Alex said. Ashley laughed. He looked over at where the other guys were sitting off to the side. Erik, Dan and Trevor were playing cards. Well, they were trying to, but the cards kept blowing away. Jacob was sitting on a lawn chair, his legs stretched out in front of him and his ankles crossed. He was doing a crossword puzzle, not minding the windy conditions at all. The Mikes were also there keeping an eye on things.

"Maria, wrap this up…and soon," Susan told her. Maria frowned.

"What’s wrong? The sun is out and it’s in the perfect position to have Ashley lit correctly. The wind isn’t that bad," she insisted. Susan just shook her head and backed off. Alex had come back over to Maria.

"He’s ready. And that’s the last time I’m fixing his damn hair. From now on, just go for the ‘windblown’ look," she said, crossing her arms over her chest. Maria looked through the viewfinder of her camera again. She focused.

"Okay, Ashley. Don’t pose. Just look natural," she yelled.

"And don’t blow away!" Jacob called from his spot on the chair. Maria ignored him, but Ashley laughed and Maria snapped the picture. She looked over at Jacob and glared at him.

"I don’t need your help," she said. Jacob went back to his crossword puzzle, an amused look on his face. These last three weeks had been busy and the only time he had seen the reporter/photographer was when he had been getting ready to go to sleep in his bunk. She was usually in her bunk, writing, drawing or looking at pictures. He had stolen a glance at some of her pictures when she had been elsewhere and he had to admit, she was an amazing photographer. In fact, Jacob admired Maria’s passion for her work. She was a perfectionist, which he could relate to. Of course, Jacob had still been keeping his distance from her, so his plan was working well. Unfortunately, his interview was coming up soon, so he’d have to talk to her, but he’d deal with that when it happened.

Amazingly, the wind had died down long enough for Maria to take almost a whole roll of Ashley’s pictures. She couldn’t wait to see them, thinking that they would come out well. "Okay, Ashley, a couple more. Stand sideways and look down. Put your hands in your pockets and kind of kick at the sand."

"Sounds like you’re posing him," Jacob called over to her.

"Shut up!" Maria yelled back, not taking her eye from the viewfinder as she centered Ashley in the middle.

"Jacob, leave her alone, dude," Erik said as he caught a five of hearts card that started to blow by him. Jacob smiled.

"I’m just kidding with her. She’s too damn serious," he said.

"Oh, look who’s talking. Let’s see, who was the serious one when we were recording our album? Gee, could it be…Jacob?" Trevor shouted.

"Shut up, dude. It’s fun giving her a hard time," Jacob said, as he watched Maria meticulously setting up a shot. She had on one of his bandannas to keep her hair off of her face. He hadn’t wanted to give it to her, but he had thought ‘what the hell?’ Jacob didn’t think that she liked him, but he didn’t think that he wanted her to. He was finding himself attracted to Maria, though, which was very bad. There were things about her that drove him crazy, but there were also things that made him want to get to know her better. They had stuff in common, but he’d never tell her that. Distance. He had to keep his distance from her. It was easier said than done, however.

"Okay, Ashley. You’re done. You can go change," Maria told him. Ashley smiled and headed back to the cottage while Maria began to gather up her equipment.

"What do you think?" Susan asked Maria, helping her brush sand off of her camera case.

"I think they’ll come out well. I don’t know how well, but they’ll be usable for my article. I only need a couple of individuals anyway. It’s the group shots that I’ll want to use more than one of," she said. Susan nodded.

Alex had walked over to where the guys were sitting on the ground. "Erik, I’ll need to meet with you and discuss your wardrobe for the individuals since you’re next."

"I don’t want my pictures taken here. I prefer a less windy environment," he said.

"That’s up to Maria. My job is to dress you," she said with a wink and walked away. Trevor smiled at Erik.

"Whoa. She’s digging you," he said.

"No, she’s dressing me. There’s a difference," Erik told him. When another card blew away, Erik sighed in frustration. "This is impossible, you guys. Our cards are all over the beach. Let’s go inside." They got up and followed Erik to the cottage. The Mikes also departed, which left Susan, Maria and Jacob. Jacob had finished his crossword puzzle and was lying with his eyes closed, enjoying the feeling of the sun on his face. Susan and Maria continued to pack up her photography equipment.

"Have you heard from Geoff?" Susan asked. Maria shook her head.

"Nope. And I don’t care if I do or not. He’s acting like a jealous child and I refuse to tolerate his immaturity," she said.

"Not talking to him is kind of immature too, Maria," Susan told her.

"I wasn’t the one who freaked out at that party. He was. He hasn’t apologized yet either and until he does, I want nothing to do with him," Maria said firmly. She was more worried about not hearing from Kathleen. It had been three weeks and she hadn’t called or anything. Maria planned on calling her later.

"Why do you think that Geoff is jealous?" Susan asked. Maria sighed. Why couldn’t Susan just let it go?

"He doesn’t trust the guys in the group. I don’t know why. He doesn’t even know them. It’s so stupid. I kinda think that he really doesn’t trust me. I mean, does he think that I would actually allow one of them to try anything? They aren’t like that and Geoff just has to accept the fact that I’m traveling with them for a few months. If he really loves me, then he’ll understand," she replied.

"Do you love him?" Susan then asked her. Maria looked at her. Jacob opened his eyes. He hadn’t meant to eavesdrop, but they appeared to have forgotten that he was lying right there. "Well?" Susan asked. Maria turned and unhooked her camera from the tripod. "Maria?" Maria suddenly turned on Susan.

"I don’t think so. There. I said it. Now, will you please leave me alone?" she said, as she gathered up her things and walked as quickly as she could to the cottage. Susan looked over at Jacob, who was watching Maria’s retreating form.

"I wouldn’t say anything about this," Susan said. Jacob looked at her.

"I wasn’t planning to," he told her. Susan nodded and followed Maria into the cottage. Jacob looked out at the water. He actually felt some sympathy for Maria. She was in an unhappy relationship and he could relate to that. But, he still didn’t want to get in the middle of her personal life. After all, he didn’t care.

Orlando

Kathleen looked at her phone. Three weeks. It had been three weeks since she had caught Geoff cheating on Maria. Kathleen had debated about whether or not to call Maria and tell her right away or to wait a little while in order to give Geoff a false sense of security. He wouldn’t think that she’d wait this long to drop her bomb. Kathleen didn’t want to hurt Maria, but she had to know what a bastard Geoff was. So what if he told Maria that he’d slept with her? Maria would never believe him and he’d still be in deep with Maria for cheating on her, no matter who the hell he said that he had slept with. ‘He’s crazy. Besides, Maria doesn’t love him anyway. I know she doesn’t, so it won’t be that bad,’ Kathleen told herself. Sighing heavily, she picked up the phone.

Southport, Connecticut

"Go to hell! Leave me alone!" Sarah screamed as she slammed the door to her room and lay face down on her bed, crying. Her mother was totally clueless and stupid and Sarah couldn’t take it anymore. She wanted Maria…the sister that she always gave an attitude to and who she was oh so jealous of. Sarah needed her. Now.

Having returned from Emily’s rested and happy, things had gone downhill fast. Her mother was on her back all the time about everything: schoolwork, her friends that she didn’t approve of, where she went when she went out at night and who she was with. Sarah had even been given a curfew. Ten o’clock. Right, ten o’clock. How pathetic was that? Like Sarah wasn’t an expert at sneaking in or out whenever she wanted to. Maria had taught her all of her former tricks before she had moved to Orlando. Sarah smiled through her tears. She missed her big sister and had to get out of the current hell that she was living in.

"Who would know where Maria is?" she asked out loud. She smiled. Kathleen. Kathleen would know.

Cape Cod

Jacob had returned to the cottage when the wind had gotten so bad that it had whipped one of his dreads into his face and Jacob had felt that he had to get inside before he lost an eye. The cottage was very spacious, consisting of a large living room with a fireplace, a dining room, kitchen and washroom downstairs. Upstairs were five bedrooms and two full bathrooms, one in the master bedroom and one in the hallway. The three women had a room, Erik and Dan shared a room, Ashley and Trevor shared a room, the Mikes had a room and Jacob had ended up with the master bedroom, which he couldn’t have been happier about.

Now, as Jacob sat on the big bed, his writing book open in front of him, his guitar in his hands, he looked up when he heard someone knock lightly on the door.

"Come in," he said. He was surprised to see Maria.

"I’m just returning this," she said as she held out his bandanna. He took it from her and nodded. "Thanks for letting me borrow it." Jacob noticed that she had gotten sand in her hair anyway, despite the bandanna.

"No problem," he said as he put the bandanna on the bed. She turned around and left the room. Jacob was starting to feel guilty about the way that he had been treating Maria. She was just doing her job and he was making it miserable for her. Why? Was he doing it to protect the group…or to protect himself? He believed that it was a little of both. But, he was starting to think that she wouldn’t put so much work into an article where she would totally diss them. Three months was a long time to be away from her home with a group of strangers, watching their every move and getting to know them along the way…or trying to get to know them. Jacob was making that nearly impossible where he was concerned. ‘My interview is coming up. I’ll talk to her then,’ he thought and resumed concentrating on his writing.

"Go fish," Erik said, making a face at Alex. She rolled her eyes.

"This is just lame, you guys. I don’t want to play anymore," she told them as she put her cards down. They were in the living room, sitting on the floor on huge cushions that they had taken from the couch.

"What do you want to do then?" Trevor asked as he lay down on his cushion.

"What is there to do?" Alex asked.

"Sleep," Erik said as he, too, lay down and closed his eyes. Alex sighed and walked over to the window.

"You can help me prepare dinner," Susan suggested, as she appeared next to Alex.

"Okay. It’s better than sitting around being bored," she said, as she followed Susan into the kitchen.

"She thinks that we’re boring," Dan said with a smile. Ashley then came in wearing jeans and a green tee shirt. He rubbed his head hard.

"I’ve got so much sand in my hair, it isn’t funny," he complained.

"Poor Ashley," Trevor said, pretending to play a violin. "Poor, poor, heart-throb Ashley has sand in his perfectly spiked hair. Oh, the horror and the pain." Ashley bent down and pulled Trevor into a headlock.

"Anything else you want to say?" he asked, threateningly.

"You couldn’t hurt a fly," Trevor told him. They proceeded to wrestle around on the floor. Well, it was one way to pass the time.

Maria was in the bedroom that she shared with Susan and Alex. She was going over her notes on Ashley and Erik. She knew that she had enough information to write up their profiles. Her cell phone rang and she reached over to the nightstand next to the bed to answer it.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Maria," Kathleen said. She sounded down about something.

"Hey. I was going to call you later. I was getting worried," Maria told her.

"I’m sorry. I had play rehearsals and classes. It’s been busy."

"Have you been by the loft?" Maria asked. Something was wrong.

"Yes. Heathcliff is fine. I think he misses you, though. He hissed at me the other day," Kathleen said. She had still been going to the loft to check on the kitten and thankfully, she hadn’t run into Geoff since ‘that’ night.

"He can be a pain. Don’t take it personally," Maria said with a smile. "Is something wrong? You sound funny."

"Maria, there’s something that you need to know." Another buzz was heard. "Damn. Someone’s calling. Hang on a minute." Maria waited while Kathleen took her other call. She looked up from her notes when Kathleen came back on. "It’s Sarah. She sounds freaked out and wants to know where you are. I think she’s having trouble with your mom."

"I better call her. I’ll talk to you later," Maria said. Kathleen sighed.

"Okay. I’ll tell her that you’re gonna call her. Bye," she said and hung up. It wasn’t the right time to tell Maria…especially if there were problems with Sarah. Kathleen would just have to keep the disturbing information about Geoff to herself a little longer.

"Maria, it sucks. I can’t stay here anymore. I want to be with you," Sarah said when she had answered the phone.

"What about school?" Maria asked.

"I don’t give a damn about school anymore. I’m practically flunking out anyway. Can’t I meet up with you? You’re not too far away, right?" Sarah asked. Maria was torn. She felt badly for her sister, but taking her away from her home and school right now…it wasn’t right.

"It’s only one more month until you graduate, then you’ll be free, Sarah. Just try and stick it out a little longer," Maria implored.

part 2