Jacob Underwood stared tiredly out the window of the plane as the clouds slowly drifted by. He had a headache, which was keeping him from sleeping peacefully. Turning his head, he saw that his band mate, Erik-Michael Estrada, didn’t have that particular problem. Erik was sleeping with his head at an odd angle that Jacob thought looked extremely uncomfortable. Taking his eyes off of Erik, Jacob glanced around at the other passengers in the first class cabin. Two of his other band mates, Ashley Angel and Dan Miller, sat behind himself and Erik, while Trevor Penick, the fifth member of O-Town, sat across from Ashley and Dan by himself. Across from Erik and Jacob were the group’s managers, Mike Cronin and Mike Morin.
"Jacob, do you have my Third Eye Blind CD?" came Ashley’s voice from behind him. Jacob turned around.
"Why would I have it?" he asked.
"Because we shared a hotel room and I think it may have gotten mixed in with your CD’s," Ashley answered. Jacob bent down and went through his bag. He pulled out the CD and handed it behind him to Ashley.
"Thanks, man," he said. Jacob just nodded. The group was on its way to New York for a photo shoot, some interviews and a couple of personal appearances. The work never seemed to end. Ever since the band had signed with Actual Management, the Mikes had kept the band’s schedule as busy as possible. A little too busy if you asked Jacob, but O-Town had yet to gain the credibility and respect that they so desperately wanted, so the PR stuff was very important right now. Jacob hated it. He cared about the music. But, ‘This is the life that I chose,’ he thought. And he kept repeating that over and over in his head. Jacob put his headphones on and pressed ‘play’ on his portable CD player. As Creed started playing in his ears, he turned up the volume and closed his eyes.
Orlando
"Maria?" Maria Carpenter turned toward the voice.
"Yeah?" she asked.
"Can I have that roll of film, please?" Kyle Walsh asked her. Maria cursed herself. She had been daydreaming again. She quickly retrieved the roll of film and handed it to Kyle, who loaded it into the camera. ‘I must have Spring fever,’ she thought to herself. Looking out the window of the studio, though, she didn’t really want to be outside. It was pouring. Maria could barely see across the street, the rain was coming down so hard.
Maria returned her attention to Kyle. He was her boss and one of the most prestigious entertainment photographers around right now. Maria was his assistant/intern. She hoped to one day be a photographer/photojournalist. Interning under Kyle Walsh was her first step in attaining that goal. Maria knew that she was good…even though she was only 22 years old. She loved taking pictures and writing. It was her life and she knew that she didn’t want to do anything else. She was just waiting for her ‘big break.’ Kyle had actually seen some of the work that she had done for her college newspaper and he had contacted her to offer her an interning job. Of course, Maria had jumped at the chance. Now, Kyle was like a father to her. He was in his early 40’s, had wavy, brown hair and was very handsome in a Harrison Ford-ish kind of way. Maria loved him. He was her mentor and friend.
The door to the studio suddenly opened and Susan Martin came running in. She was soaked.
"April showers bring May flowers, right?" she asked. Maria smiled. Susan was the photo editor of Star Power, the magazine that Kyle took most of his pictures for. He did some freelancing work, but the magazine was the most important thing to him. Susan was in her mid-thirties and she was one of Maria’s best friends.
"I told you to bring an umbrella," Maria told her. Susan just shook her head, water flying off of her short, blonde hair. "How’s the shoot going?" Susan asked as she made her way over to where Maria was standing. Maria looked at the up-and-coming saxophonist who was sitting patiently against a blue screen as Kyle finished loading the film into the camera. Mr. Saxophone was surrounded by all of his ‘people’ who were fawning over him, making sure that he looked perfect.
"Okay, I guess. This guy thinks that he’s the next Kenny G. or something," Maria told Susan. Susan laughed. Maria looked at her watch. It was now 4:35.
"Are you still going to dinner with Geoff?" Susan asked. Maria nodded.
"I’m supposed to, but it depends on how many prints Kyle wants me to make," she said. Geoff was Maria’s boyfriend. They had been together for almost two years. He now lived with her in her loft that wasn’t far from the studio or from where Geoff took classes. He was 23 years old and was studying to be an architect. They had been living together for only three months, but Maria was always so busy, they barely saw each other. Susan saw the look on Maria’s face. "It’s not going well?" she asked. Maria shrugged.
"It’s…it’s going. I don’t know. I think he’s pissed that I spend so much time here, but it’s my job," she said. Susan nodded. She thought that Geoff was too controlling where Maria was concerned, but Maria was a strong young woman, so she never allowed Geoff or anyone else, for that matter, to tell her what to do. Still, Susan loved Maria and she hated to see her upset. Also, Geoff was Maria’s first serious relationship. She was still an amateur when it came to men. Susan still wondered about that. Why had it taken so long for Maria to find someone? Maria wasn’t un-attractive by any means. She was kind of tall, around 5’7, she had an athletic build, she wasn’t skinny, but she wasn’t heavy either. She had long, light brown hair with blonde highlights. Her hair was slightly curly, not totally straight…it looked like she had a body wave. Susan thought that Maria’s eyes were her most striking feature…they weren’t blue or green, but somewhere in between. Kind of like an ocean in a tropical place from a helicopter view. They appeared to be almost turquoise.
Maria had noticed that Susan was just standing there staring at her. "What’s wrong?" she asked. Susan smiled.
"Nothing. I’ll let you get back to work. I’ll be in my office," she said as she left. Maria shrugged and turned back to watch the rest of the photo shoot.
New York
"Dude, it would, like, be so cool if ‘All Or Nothing’ was number one on TRL on your birthday," Ashley was saying to Jacob. They were in their hotel room getting settled in before they went to dinner. Jacob’s 21st birthday was a couple of weeks away and their current single, ‘All Or Nothing,’ was getting major airplay in all of the big markets and it was also doing well on TRL, which was the most influential, not to mention, the most powerful place of all.
"I guess, but it probably won’t happen," Jacob said as he pulled a black, long sleeve shirt out of his bag.
"It could. The song’s been getting higher every day," Dan said from his place on his cot in the corner of the room. Jacob sighed.
"Well, then, maybe it will happen," he said, solemnly.
"What’s wrong?" Ashley asked him. Jacob pulled off his tee shirt and put the clean shirt on.
"Nothing, dude. I’m just tired," he answered as he sat down on the bed.
"Do you still feel sick?" Ashley asked with concern in his voice. Jacob had recently gotten over pneumonia that seemed to have lasted for several months. All of the guys had been sick at one point or another during their first tour. It had been tough, but they had managed to get through it.
Jacob looked over at Ashley. He smiled. With his spiky blond hair, his handsome good looks and his sky blue eyes, Ashley looked like every girl’s dream boy. ‘Then, there’s me,’ Jacob thought. He was the total opposite of a ‘popstar model’ with his reddish brown dreadlocks and his ‘rebel’ look. "No, I don’t feel sick anymore, Ash," he told him.
"Why are you smiling?" Dan asked. As hard as he tried, he’d never understand Jacob.
"I was just thinking. Do you guys think that we’d have been friends if we hadn’t been picked for the group?" he asked. Ashley frowned and looked over at Dan, who shrugged. It was a good question. The guys had been part of a nationwide audition process to make a band. They had even had a show called ‘Making The Band’ that had aired on national television. The show had just finished airing its second season and a third season was being discussed, but the group wasn’t too sure that a third season was a good idea after the way that the second season had been edited. Things had been put together that shouldn’t have been; for instance, the guys had always been shown fighting, footage had been shown out of sequence just to make a ‘story’ that wasn’t really there, and there had been a lot of drama and not enough fun, lighter moments. Those moments had apparently gotten lost in the ABC video vaults.
"Good question," Dan finally answered. "I don’t know. I don’t think that I would’ve really been friends with Erik. We’re like total opposites." Ashley laughed and lay down on his stomach on his bed.
"No kidding. I think I would’ve been friends with you, Jake. You were into sports and music. Well, the music part we have in common. I think I would’ve gotten along with Trevor, too. We both like acting," Ashley said.
"I was into acting, too," Jacob told him. "My music was most important to me, though." Jacob looked down, a sad look on his face. Dan went over to sit beside him, suddenly realizing what Jacob’s dark mood was probably about.
"Is this about Janie?" he asked. Jacob looked at Dan and shrugged and nodded at the same time.
"You guys are still friends, though, right?" Ashley asked. Janie had been Jacob’s on-again, off-again girlfriend since grade school and they had recently made it off-again over the phone. Jacob felt like he couldn’t be a good boyfriend since he never saw her. Although sad, Janie had agreed that it wouldn’t work and she didn’t want Jacob to feel badly about it. He was just starting a career in music, a career that he had wanted all of his life and she didn’t want to be the one to hold him back from achieving his goals. So, they had decided to just be friends…again.
Jacob sighed and looked at Ashley. "Yeah, we are. I should be used to breaking up with her by now, but I’m not. I feel like if I don’t find someone now, how will I be able to find someone in the future who doesn’t want me because of who I am or because of what I do?" Dan put his arm around Jacob.
"Listen, man. You’ll know when you find that special someone. You’re smart, Jake. Don’t worry about it. Concentrate on O-Town right now. Don’t go bumming around because you don’t have a girlfriend. It’s no big deal," he said. Jacob nodded and smiled.
"You’re right. This is stupid. Let’s have some fun. I know, let’s go harass Trevor and Erik in their room," he said as he stood up. After tying a black and white bandanna around his head, the three of them left the room.
Orlando
Geoff King winced at the strong smell of the chemicals when he entered the photo lab. The main lights were off. Only an orange fluorescent light was on, making the room dim, but not dark. "Maria?" he called. He knew that she was there somewhere. She always was. He then saw that the red light near a small room was lit. She was in the darkroom. Geoff sat down on a black leather couch to wait. Maria was already an hour late for their dinner, but he was used to it. He didn’t like it, though. She never had fun anymore. That guy, Kyle Walsh, kept her working at all hours. ‘Hours that she should be spending with me,’ Geoff thought.
He noticed a table set up with four trays that were filled with chemicals. She was developing. Geoff sighed, knowing that Maria was going to break their date. The door to the darkroom opened and Maria appeared with a canister in her hands. She hurried over to some chemicals that were in labeled containers.
"So, we’re not going to dinner, are we?" Geoff asked. Startled, Maria spun around at the sound of his voice.
"Geoff! You scared the shit out of me," she said. "Don’t do that!" She turned back to what she was doing, setting a clock and timing how long she flipped the canister over and over again.
Geoff watched her. Maria was so beautiful…and she didn’t even realize it. She was so busy taking pictures and developing them that she rarely spent time on her appearance. She could care less, he knew. Now, for example, she had on a pair of black jeans, a long burgundy spring sweater that had holes in it so that the black tank top that she wore underneath it could be seen. On her feet, she had on black leather boots with a silver buckle and her hair was pulled back and held with a black barrette. Geoff stood up. He went over to her and stopped right in front of her.
"Do you want to go to dinner or not?" he asked her, already knowing the answer. Maria looked at him sadly, guiltily.
"I’m sorry, Geoff. Kyle wants these pictures by tomorrow and I have to make sure the negatives are clear enough to make some good prints. I don’t know how long it will take," she said as she watched the timer and picked up the canister again.
Geoff was out of patience. "Do you realize that you’ve cancelled dinner plans with me five times in a row now? I never see you anymore, Maria. How the hell can we be together if we never see each other?" Maria sighed. She looked at Geoff. He was so good-looking and Maria was confused as to why she constantly chose her work over being with him. She studied his handsome face and her eyes roamed over him. He had slightly spiky, dark brown hair that was lightly gelled. His eyes were light brown, a little lighter than his hair and he had chiseled facial features that almost gave him a model-ish quality. His body definitely looked like a model’s. He was well built and liked to jog. He didn’t lift weights too much, so he didn’t have a strong muscled body, but Maria was happy with it.
"I’m sorry, Geoff," she said again as she tore her gaze from his body and banged the canister down onto the counter to get air bubbles off of the negatives that were in the developing solution in the canister. She went over to change the chemical in the canister while talking to Geoff at the same time. "I promise that I’ll make it up to you," she said. Geoff put his arm around her waist and leaned in close to her ear.
"And how will you do that?" he asked softly. Maria gave him a small smile.
"You’ll just have to wait and see," she said. Geoff kissed her gently, his lips lingering on hers before she pulled away. "I really have to do this," she said, apologetically. Geoff nodded, sighed, and backed away from her. "Why don’t you call Kevin and meet him somewhere?" Maria then asked him. Kevin was Geoff’s best friend.
"I’ll see," he said as he headed for the door. He breathed in the fresh air as soon as the door closed behind him. He saw Susan what’s-her-name coming down the hall toward him. She smiled at him.
"Maria’s still busy, I assume?" she said. Geoff nodded.
"Of course," he said.
"Well, this is unusual---for her to be here this late I mean. Kyle did a last minute shoot and he needs the pictures by tomorrow," Susan explained. Geoff nodded.
"Yeah, well. It’s not that unusual when you think about it, but I’ll live. See ya," he said as he walked away. Susan shook her head at his retreating back. She didn’t like him, but she wouldn’t tell Maria that. Maria would just have to see for herself that he wasn’t the man for her. Susan hoped that it was soon because she had the feeling that Geoff would hurt Maria sooner or later.
New York
Jacob blinked after the flash had gone off again. He was tired, he still had a headache and he hated photo shoots. Especially late photo shoots like the one that they were currently doing. The group had gone to dinner, which had been nice, but it had been anything but relaxing since they’d had to hurry in order to make the photo shoot on time. ‘We don’t even have time to eat,’ Jacob thought as he rolled his head on his shoulders.
"Still, please," the photographer said. Jacob smirked. He wiped his nose with his hand and shifted his weight from one foot to the other. Erik smiled up at him from his place at Jacob’s feet where he was crouching in front of him. Jacob smiled back, but when he looked up, he saw that Mike M. was glaring at him. Jacob took a deep breath and stood still as the photographer shot him angry looks. After the group pictures had been taken, the guys were given a break to give the photographer time to set up for individual shots. They went over and stood around in front of a large table with food. It was quite a spread: vegetables, dip, cookies, crackers and cheese, and some other things that the guys couldn’t recognize.
"Yuck, this smells like fish," Erik said as he held up a small crystal saucer with some kind of orange pasty-looking stuff inside. He held it in front of Trevor who winced and pushed it away.
"God, Erik, that’s disgusting. Get away," he said. While they were messing around, Dan looked at Jacob.
"You know," he said, "The way that you act makes us look bad. I’m not saying that you can’t have some fun, but if you’re difficult to work with, then it makes it look like O-Town is difficult to work with." Jacob just looked at him. Ashley looked from Dan to Jacob and back.
"It’s no big deal, Dan. It’s late and we’re all tired," he said.
"Yeah, well then we have to suck it up. The more we mess around, the longer we’re here," Dan said right before he grabbed a handful of vegetables and walked away.
"What’s up his ass?" Jacob muttered.
"Dude, I thought that it was funny. That photographer is a tight ass. No sense of humor," Erik said as he chewed on a cracker.
"Dan’s right too, though. It wouldn’t be good to get a reputation like ‘O-Town’s impossible to work with,’" Trevor said. Jacob frowned.
"Guys, relax. It’s a freakin’ photo shoot. We’re having our stupid pictures taken. Why the hell is everyone so damn serious. Jesus," he said as he stalked off. Ashley, Erik and Trevor just looked at each other. It was no secret that Jacob hated having his picture taken, but his behavior often reflected badly on the group.
"I didn’t mean to upset him, but he has to think about the group, not just himself," Trevor said.
"Give him a break. He just broke up with Janie again and he’s kinda bummed," Ashley said. A make-up woman then came over to fix their make-up before the individuals, ending their conversation.
Orlando
Maria unlocked the door to her loft and went in. A lamp on a small table by the door was on, but the rest of the loft was dark. Maria closed the door and dropped her stuff on the floor beside the table. A soft, high-pitched meow made her look down.
"Hello there," she said as she reached down and picked up her kitten, Heathcliff. Heathcliff was a small, longhair, gray kitten. He looked like a little fluff ball. "Have you eaten?" she asked him as she held him close to her and walked into the spacious kitchen. She put Heathcliff down on the counter while she picked up his empty dish off of the floor and filled it with Fancy Feast kitten food. Heathcliff rubbed up against her hand and pushed his head underneath her hand to reach his food. "Okay, here," Maria said as she placed both the dish and the kitten onto the floor. "So impatient," Maria said and smiled as she left the kitchen, heading for the bedroom.
Geoff wasn’t there. She knew it the minute that she had walked into the bedroom. Where had he gone? It was only…1 am? ‘Shit,’ Maria thought. She hadn’t realized that she had been at the photo lab that long. She took off her sweater and kicked off her shoes, then went into the bathroom to take a shower. She was used to the smell of the chemicals by now, but she still didn’t really like them and they seemed to linger on her clothes, as well as her body.
The bathroom was big. There was a counter with a sink against one wall with a large mirror/medicine cabinet over the sink. The bathtub was opposite the counter and there was a shower in the corner, separate from the tub. Maria stripped off the rest of her clothing and got into the shower. She turned on the water and sighed as the warm spray hit her. She was still wondering where Geoff could be when she heard the bathroom door open. Turning, her heart beating fast, she was relieved to see Geoff standing there admiring her through the glass door of the shower. "Would you like some company?" he asked as he began to undress. Maria smiled.
"Sure," she said. Geoff joined her and immediately kissed her as he pulled her into his arms. Maria smiled against his lips and they proceeded to take an enjoyable shower together.
New York
"Here fellas," Mike C. said as he handed them each a bunch of papers that had been stapled together.
"What’s this?" Erik asked.
"Read it and see," Mike M. answered. The seven of them were in a closed portion of the dining room of the hotel having a meeting, although it was 1:30 am.
Jacob’s head was beating and all he wanted to do was sleep, but apparently that wasn’t allowed. The individual pictures had taken longer than he had wanted them to. He thought that the photographer drew out the process on purpose just to piss him off. Jacob didn’t really care. As long as it ended, that’s all that counted. Now, he read over the first page of what he had been given, a frown creasing his forehead. "It’s a schedule for some radio shows that we have coming up. We know about all of this," he said. Mike M. shook his head.
"Keep reading," he told him. Jacob kept reading, fighting to keep his eyes opened and focused on the words. He read most of it and looked up, a confused a look on his face. "What?" he asked. Mike M. sighed. Dan looked up from his papers.