Chapter 13
Maria pulled into the driveway of O-Town’s house and after checking her makeup in the rearview mirror she got out and walked to the door. It opened before she’d even knocked and Dan stood before her smiling. He hugged her.
"Hi, Dan."
"How’s it going?" he asked. Maria nodded.
"Okay. Very busy, though," she told him. She looked behind Dan and saw Jacob come into view. She smiled. Dan moved aside and Maria went to Jacob. He pulled her into a tight hug and kissed her cheek. "It’s only been a few weeks." Maria laughed. Jacob released her.
"A few very long weeks," he said, as he looked her up and down. "You look good."
"You don’t look too bad yourself," Maria said. Dan backed away and went to the kitchen. He sat next to Trevor, who was eating his French toast at the counter.
"They’re getting reacquainted," Dan said. Trevor nodded and kept eating. He turned when Jacob and Maria came into the kitchen a couple of minutes later.
"What a mess. Don’t you guys know how to wash dishes?" Maria asked, noticing the pile of dirty plates and glasses in the sink. Trevor got up and went over to her. "Hi, Trev." Maria hugged him lightly.
"Hey, girlfriend. Have you been avoiding us?" Trevor asked, smiling.
"Yeah. I saw enough of you guys during the tour and needed a break," she said. The guys laughed.
"Are you hungry?" Trevor asked.
"No, thanks, but it smells great. Are you the cook?" she asked, looking at Trevor.
"We know the basics, but ordering out or going out is always the best option," he said. A sleepy-looking Erik then appeared.
"Are my eyes deceiving me or do I see Maria?" he asked, his eyes half closed.
"You’re actually having a really good dream," Maria said. Erik laughed and hugged her.
"How’s Alex? I haven’t heard from her," he said. Maria sighed.
"She’s been dealing with her family. It’s upsetting her. We’ve also been busy at work. I’m sure a call from you would make her feel better," she said. Erik nodded. He would call her later. Jacob took Maria’s hand and pulled her past the pool area and up to his room. Not sure what he expected, Maria sat cross-legged on the bed. She looked at her hands.
"Geoff came over this morning. I’m pretty sure that he wanted to stall me from coming over here. I think Sarah and Geoff are secretly conspiring to get me away from you," she said, smiling, but Jacob could see that it upset her. He sat down beside her.
"What did he say?" Maria shrugged.
"The same old shit. He wants me back, blah, blah, blah. Then he kissed me," she said, not looking at him. Jacob frowned. He reached up and put his hand under her chin, turning her head so that she was looking at him.
"Did you want him to kiss you?" he asked.
"Are you kidding? Of course not," Maria told him. Then, softly, she added, "I want you to kiss me." Jacob slowly brought his lips to hers, kissing her lightly, then adding more pressure. Maria’s eyes closed and she put her arms around Jacob’s neck, pulling him to her. When they had pulled away, Maria smiled. "I’ve been dreaming of you kissing me again for weeks now." Jacob smiled back.
"Same here. I’ve been glad that the group’s been so busy---the work has kept my mind off of you," he said. "But the minute I lay down and close my eyes to sleep, you’re there. It’s been driving me crazy." Maria laughed. She lay down on the bed, looking at the ceiling.
"I was a little nervous about coming over here, you know. I wasn’t sure where the hell we stood with each other. Now that I’m here, though, it’s like we were just with each other yesterday," she said. Jacob lay on his side facing her, his right arm propping him up.
"I was kinda nervous, too, but there’s really no reason to be. Now that the nervousness has passed, why don’t we have some fun?" he asked. Maria looked at him.
"What do you have in mind?" she asked. Jacob smiled.
"You’ll see," he said, standing up and pulling her up with him.
"You’ve decided to come, too?" Sarah asked Emily as Emily packed some things.
"Yeah. I love the city and it’s been a long time since I’ve been there," she said. Sarah sat on Emily’s bed watching her. Sarah was kind of surprised. She hadn’t thought that Emily would want to go to New York with them to see O-Town perform.
"Is something wrong, Em? I mean you act kinda, I don’t know, sad sometimes," Sarah said. Emily bit her lip.
"There’s nothing wrong. I’m fine," she said. Sarah didn’t buy it.
"You can tell me, you know," she said. Emily turned away from her cousin. Sarah stood up and put her hand on her shoulder. "I won’t tell." Emily looked at her.
"No offense, Sarah, but I don’t feel comfortable talking to you. I don’t trust you one hundred percent." Sarah frowned as Emily continued. "After what you did to Maria this morning, I just don’t feel right confiding in you." Sarah shook her head.
"But you’ll tell Maria, right? Perfect, wonderful, Maria. Fine, Emily. I understand," she said, but Emily saw tears forming in Sarah’s eyes.
"I’m sorry. I don’t mean to hurt you. You just have to stop being jealous of Maria and stop interfering in her life. Sarah, you have to live your own life and distance yourself from your sister. It’s not healthy." Sarah was getting mad.
"I don’t need you telling me what to do," she said as she turned and angrily stalked out of the room. Emily watched her go, shrugged, and continued to pack.
Alex felt like crying. She was looking through racks of clothes. Kyle had a shoot with an up-and-coming Jazz band next week and she had to coordinate outfits, but she couldn’t concentrate. It had been a week since she’d gone to her parent’s house to see everyone and she hadn’t heard anything from them…then again, she really didn’t want to hear anything. Carlos had scared her, Miguel was pissed at her, and her father hated her. It seemed like only her mother cared about her. And Erik. She should call him, but he was busy and she didn’t want to bother him.
"How’s it coming?" Alex jumped and turned to see Susan walking toward her. She quickly wiped the moistness from her eyes.
"It’s…coming. Slowly," she said. Susan looked closely at Alex.
"Are you okay?" she asked. Alex shook her head.
"I feel so alone, Susan. My family is so mean to me. I didn’t do anything wrong. I made a decision to not see Carlos while he was in prison and they’re treating me like a criminal. It’s not fair." Susan put her arm around Alex, who started to cry.
"Give them some time. They’ll come around. And you’re not alone. You have friends and co-workers who care about you," Susan told her. Alex nodded and hugged Susan.
"Thank you," she said.
"It’s okay. Now, put your mind on these clothes. It’s what you love to do. Forget everything else for now," Susan said. Alex stopped crying and went back to work.
"Your idea of ‘fun’ is getting hit by a car?" Maria asked as she looked up and down the street that she was standing in the middle of with Jacob. Jacob laughed. He put a skateboard down and motioned for Maria to get on. "I’ve never skateboarded before."
"You are going to right now. And this street isn’t busy, so we won’t get hit by a car," he said. Maria sighed. Jacob looked at her. He was challenging her again.
"You just want to see if I’m good at this or not. You want me to fall flat on my face and when I do, you’re gonna laugh at me," Maria said. Jacob shook his head.
"I will not. Scout’s honor," he said. Maria smiled.
"Like you were ever a Boy Scout," she said. Fed up by her stalling, Jacob pulled her so that she was now standing with one foot on the skateboard. He put his board down and did the same. They got going and Maria had a balancing problem at first, but then she was able to do okay, as long as she held onto Jacob’s arm.
They turned around and went back the way that they had come when one of the wheels on Maria’s board hit a rock and she went flying. She tumbled and landed on her butt by the curb. Jacob stopped and went over to her.
"Are you okay?" he asked, failing to hide a smile.
"You put that rock there, didn’t you?" she asked, examining her scraped elbow. Jacob laughed.
"You caught me. This was a set-up so that I could see you fall on your ass," he said. He put out his hand and pulled Maria up. She looked into his eyes and smiled. Then, she pulled him and threw him to the ground.
"Jesus!" he exclaimed. "What did you do that for?"
"Because I can," she said. "Now, we’re even." Smiling, Jacob reached up and pulled her down on top of him. A woman walking her dog gave them a funny look. They laughed after she had walked by.
"You’re gonna get a bad reputation if the neighbors see you beating up women in the street," Maria said. Jacob pulled her head to his and kissed her hard on the mouth. Maria responded, kissing him back. "You’ll get a worse reputation if the neighbors see you making out in the street," she said when he had released her.
"Then let’s go back to the house," Jacob said, with desire in his eyes. Maria stood up and pulled him with her. They picked up the skateboards and walked the rest of the way to the house.
Dan was hitting golf balls into a glass. He was missing more than he was getting the balls in, which wasn’t good. Ashley appeared in the doorway of the game room.
"Phone for you," he said. Dan hadn’t even heard the phone ring. He hurried to answer it.
"Hello?"
"Hi, Dan. It’s Dianna." Dan smiled.
"Hey, how’s it going?"
"I’m moving…to Orlando," she said.
"What? When? Why?" Dan stammered. Dianna laughed.
"Good questions. It’s complicated. I’m looking into job opportunities there right now," she told him.
"That’s great. I hope it’s close to us. When do you think you’ll get here?"
"I’m not sure. I have to get some things taken care of first," she said.
"Yeah, it can be complicated moving out of state," Dan remarked.
"Well, it’s not only that…I have to wait until the divorce goes through." Dan frowned.
"The divorce?" he asked.
"Yeah. Mine. I’m leaving my husband." Dan was shocked. He hadn’t even known that she was married.
"You didn’t mention that you were…"
"I know. We’ve been separated for a while. It’s definite now, though, that we’re not going to be able to work things out. I filed for divorce last week."
"Why are you telling me?" Dan asked, more than confused at this point.
"I consider you guys friends and I was hoping that maybe you could help me out when I get down there. I know that you’re busy and it won’t be for a while yet, but…"
"Yeah," Dan said quickly. "Sure, we’ll help you out anyway that we can."
"Thank you, Dan. I’ll talk to you soon, then. Bye."
"Bye." Dan hung up and just sat there. Ashley came by and looked at him.
"What’s wrong?" he asked. Dan shook his head.
"You’ll never believe it."
"Try me," Ashley said with a smile.
"That was Dianna," Dan said, scratching his head.
"I know. I answered the phone. Remember? What did she want?"
"She’s getting divorced and is moving to Orlando," Dan said. Ashley laughed.
"Divorced? She’s married? Dude, I, like, had no idea."
"Me either. It’s a good thing I didn’t ask her out when we were touring, isn’t it?" he asked, smiling. Ashley slapped him on the back.
"Well, she’ll be available soon, man. Good luck," he said and ran out of the room.
Trevor was sitting out by the pool looking over the lyrics of a song that the group was working on together. Jacob was the lyricist of the group and Trevor considered himself the worst at it. He was trying, though. He looked up and saw Maria and Jacob walking towards him. They were laughing and looked extremely happy.
"Hey, Trevor," Maria said. Trevor frowned.
"Do you know that you’re bleeding? What the hell did you guys do?" he asked. Maria looked at her elbow and shrugged.
"It’s just a scratch. I’m fine. We went skateboarding. Jacob is determined to find things that I’m not good at. He has succeeded once again with the skateboarding. I think I’ll stick to taking pictures, drawing and playing the piano," she said.
"You did good for the first time," Jacob said, trying to reassure her.
"Yeah, right. If ‘doing good’ means falling on my ass in the street," Maria said. Jacob smiled. He nodded at Trevor and led Maria to the guesthouse. Trevor watched them go. They seemed good for each other. It was weird how different they acted around each other now. Well, they had slept together. You can’t get closer than that. Trevor had to be happy for them…he just had to. It was the right thing to do---unfortunately, the right thing to do hurt.
Alex was staring into space. She didn’t see Susan come in. "Alex, you have a visitor." Alex looked up at her voice…and saw Erik standing in the doorway. She jumped up and ran to him. Erik smiled and hugged her tightly.
"Are you really here, or am I dreaming?" she asked. He smiled and pulled back to look into her eyes.
"I’m here. I didn’t think it was fair that Maria got to spend the day with Jake and you had to work, so I came here to see you," he said. Alex leaned forward and kissed him. Susan smiled at them.
"Kyle said that you get two hours. So," she said, looking at her watch. "Since it is past lunchtime, I think you can go." Alex went to grab her purse and taking Erik’s hand, she pulled him down the hallway and out of the building.
"No limo?" Alex asked when she saw the O-Town van parked outside.
"I like to drive and I wanted to be alone with you," he said. Alex smiled as he opened the passenger door for her. Once he was settled in behind the wheel, Alex leaned over and kissed him again.
"It is so good to see you," she said. He smiled and started the van.
Jacob closed the door to his room behind him. Maria walked up to him and pushed him against the door. Jacob smiled as Maria forcefully kissed him. He deepened the kiss and heard her moan softly. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her against him as the kiss continued. Maria finally broke it and Jacob slid his mouth to her neck, knowing that kissing her there turned her on more. Maria smiled as she put her arms around Jacob’s neck.
"You know me better than I thought," she said as he continued to kiss and suck lightly on her neck. He raised his head to look at her.
"Is that good or bad?" he asked. She smiled and ran a finger over his lips.
"Very good," she said, kissing him lightly. He pushed her towards the bed. Maria stopped when the back of her legs hit the bed. "Jacob, I don’t think it’s a good idea for us to, you know, have sex again." Jacob frowned.
"Why not? We had fun the last time," he said, kissing her lightly. Maria felt her defenses weakening the more that he kissed her.
"I know, but it will only be harder to be apart if we keep doing it," she said. Jacob leaned in and kissed her cheek, his lips moving once again to her neck. He slid her shirt off of her shoulder and pulled the tank top and bra strap down also. He kissed her exposed shoulder. Maria sighed.
"I’ve done nothing but think of that night every night that we’ve been apart. I want you," Jacob said, breathlessly against her skin. Maria was sweating. He was wearing her down and he knew it. She couldn’t let him, though.
"I want you, too, Jacob, but it’s not right," she said as he slid her shirt all the way off, his lips never leaving her skin.
"Why not?" he asked, now nibbling on her ear. Maria took a deep breath and gently, but firmly pushed him away. Jacob frowned.
"It’s not right because I don’t just want a sexual relationship with you. I feel like a groupie---someone that you want around just so you can sleep with me. That’s not right and I refuse to be used as your whore who services you when you want to get some," Maria said. Jacob turned around and sighed.
"That’s not what I’m doing. I would never treat you or any woman like that," he said and turned back around to face her. "Maria, I can’t stop thinking about you. You mean more to me than just someone to sleep with when I want to have sex. I don’t know how to make you believe that, but it’s the truth."
"I know that you’re honest and I believe you…to a point. Why can’t we just hang out? I want to hear about the songs that you’ve been working on. I want to know what you’ve got planned; for instance, the Britney Spears tour. How the hell did that come up? I can’t see you opening for her, but as you’ve probably guessed, I’m not really a fan of hers. I want to know about the concert next week in New York and the video and you. I want to talk about you. We’ve slept together and I only know ‘O-Town Jacob’ or what you probably tell all the media people about you. I want to know ‘personal Jacob.’ I want to know you," she said. Jacob was a little surprised. He hadn’t known that she felt that way. He leaned down and picked up her shirt. He handed it to her and Maria slipped it on. Jacob took her hand and led her to the bed. He sat back against the pillows and pulled her to him. She sat beside him with his arms around her.
"You’re right. I haven’t told you much about me, but that’s because I’m very selective about who I let know the ‘real’ Jacob. It’s not that I’m trying to exclude you, but you being a reporter and all, I have to be careful," he said. Maria smiled.
"Oh, so I’m not gonna get any O-Town dirt out of you? No secrets? No skeletons in your closet?" she asked. He shook his head.
"There’s not that much to tell. Any O-Town dirt can be seen on the show. We were on camera all the time, so what you see is us. We really didn’t have a choice."
"I haven’t seen the show, though," Maria said. Jacob smiled.
"That’s good, then. It was kinda embarrassing. We sucked and everyone got to see how much we sucked," he said. Maria laughed. Jacob looked down at her.
"You really are beautiful," he said, running his hand along the back of her neck. Maria shivered at his touch, reaching up and touching his cheek gently.
"Thanks," she said. Jacob lowered his head and kissed her. Maria smiled against his lips and didn’t object when he deepened the kiss. Her feelings for Jacob were growing deeper by the minute…and she was actually happy about that.
After lunch, Erik and Alex went for a walk in a park located not far from the studio. They walked in silence for a while. Erik looked over at Alex while they walked.
"Have you seen your family?" he asked. Alex nodded. "And? How did it go?"
"Not very well. Everyone but my mom is mad at me. My brothers hate me and my father treats me like a stranger who goes to the house looking for handouts. I’m not sorry for not going to see Carlos in jail, though, and they just have to understand that," she said. "What do you think, Erik? Should I apologize just to make things right again?"
"If you’re not sorry, then you have nothing to apologize for. And if Carlos refuses to listen to you when you try to explain, then that’s not your fault. When he is ready to listen, then tell him why you didn’t go see him. Maybe he’ll understand, maybe he won’t, but never apologize for something that you’re not sorry for." Alex stopped and faced Erik, who looked at her.
"Thank you for supporting me on this. I know how close to your family you are and I may seem insensitive, but I couldn’t see my brother locked up like some animal. It would’ve hurt me too much." Erik gave her a small smile.
"I understand and you don’t owe me any explanations. I don’t think that you’re a bad person at all," he said. He pulled her to him and hugged her. "Are you coming to our concert next week?" Alex nodded.
"Of course. Maria told me all about it and she’s taking Emily and Sarah, too."
"Cool. The more, the merrier," Erik said. He kissed Alex and took her hand as they headed back to the van.
Jacob and Maria were standing at the door. It was late and it was time for her to go. "I had fun," she said. "Although, my elbow still hurts." Jacob laughed.
"Next time, don’t fall off," he said, smirking.
"It wasn’t me, it was that damn rock!" she exclaimed. Jacob leaned forward and kissed her deeply. Maria held him to her, not wanting to go. She was suddenly regretting her ‘no sex’ stance that she had taken earlier.
"Bye, Maria!" Ashley said loudly, startling the couple. Jacob pulled away and glared at Ashley. Maria laughed.
"See you next week, Ash," she said. Pulling her keys from her purse, she walked outside, with Jacob right behind her.
"Bye, Jacob. You know, it’s cool that we’re saying goodbye this time, knowing that we’ll be seeing each other again next week," she said. Jacob smiled.
"I know." He kissed her once more and watched as she ran to her Jeep. As he watched it take off down the street, he sighed. It was getting harder watching her leave him. At least he’d see her again soon…very soon.