Chapter 18

For some reason, Erik was the first one to wake up. As he got up he looked out the window. It was raining and the day looked miserable. Erik yawned and went to take a shower. After that, he walked slowly downstairs to the kitchen. It was so quiet. Erik wasn’t used to being the only one up…or the first one up. It was weird. He had been restless last night and had found himself tossing and turning more than sleeping. He hated not getting enough sleep. Now, he couldn’t stop yawning.

"Erik?" He turned to see Gillian standing behind him with her camera. "Why are you up already?" He smiled.

"I don’t know. I’ve been wondering the same thing," he said, yawning again. Gillian put his mic pack on the table.

"Put it on when you’re ready," she said. He nodded. Gillian then headed for---the guesthouse. Erik hesitated before taking off to intercept her.

"Hey, Gillian! Why don’t you go see if Ashley’s up?" he asked, standing in front of her, blocking her path to the guesthouse. "I’m sure some more footage of him in the shower would be greatly appreciated by all O-Town fans everywhere." Gillian smirked.

"Or you just don’t want me to see something up in Jacob’s bedroom. Is it Jacob with his new girlfriend? It is, isn’t it? I’m not stupid, Erik. But, if you don’t want me going up there, I won’t. Just make sure that they get these," she told him, handing him two mic packs. Erik nodded, smiling.

"Thanks," he said. She nodded and headed back inside the house. Erik gave a sigh of relief. He then made his way up the stairs to Jacob’s room. He knocked lightly.

"Jake? It’s me, can I come in?" No answer. Erik took a deep breath and tried the door handle. It opened. He slowly peeked his head into the room. He heard deep breathing. Jacob and Maria were still sleeping. Opening the door wider, Erik stepped into the room. Maria was lying on her back, the sheet the only, and he noticed the only thing covering her. One of her legs was uncovered and sticking out from beneath the sheet, which was also pulled low on her chest. Erik couldn’t help but look at her. He switched his gaze to his band mate. Jacob was on his side facing Maria, his hair a tangled mess.

Erik cleared his throat. "Um…guys? The cameras are on and looking for things to film," he said. Maria stirred, but didn’t wake up. "Jake? You gotta get up, man." This was different. Jacob was usually the one pulling Erik out of bed.

"Dammit, Erik! What the hell are you doing here?" came Jacob’s scratchy voice. Erik smiled.

"Rise and shine! It’s time to get up and get going!" Erik said, loudly. Jacob yawned. He then noticed that the sheet was very low over Maria’s body and he quickly pulled it higher on her.

"Dude, go away," Jacob told him. Erik stayed right where he was.

"So, how was the make-up sex? It’s always better after a fight, right?" he said. Jacob glared at him.

"Go away!" he said, louder. Maria opened her eyes. She looked at Jacob’s frowning face and then to the door where Erik was standing. She pulled her leg under the sheet that wasn’t really concealing much.

"What’s going on?" she asked, pushing her hair out of her eyes. Jacob sat up. He reached to the end of the bed where his boxers had ended up and grabbed them.

"Erik, can we please get dressed without an audience?" he asked. Erik nodded.

"Sure. But I have to tell you that I kept Gillian from coming up here with her camera, so you’re lucky it was me who woke you up or this little scene would’ve been filmed. I suggest that after a night of ‘fun,’ you put something on again to cover you up. Sleeping au natural around here is dangerous." Jacob threw a pillow at him and Erik laughed as it hit his back. "Oh, here, these are yours." Erik put the mic packs on the dresser before he then left the room, closing the door securely behind him.

Jacob quickly got out of the bed, pulled on his boxers and went to the door to lock it. Maria located her tee shirt and pulled it on. "He’s right," she said. "We shouldn’t sleep naked with the cameras around and stuff, especially if we’re trying to hide our relationship. It would be hard for people to believe that we’re ‘just friends’ if we’re seen sleeping together with nothing on." Jacob nodded as he sat down beside her on the bed.

"Or, we’ll just have to go someplace else to be together," he said, rubbing her leg.

"I don’t think that’s an option. We’re gonna be on a tour bus and from what I remember, there’s not much personal space on a tour bus," Maria said. She stood up and pulled on her pajama shorts. It was cool in the room. Maria walked over to the window and peeked out the blinds. It was raining and windy. "Nice day," she said sarcastically before turning back around to face Jacob. "I have an appointment with Dr. Brooks at 11:30 this morning. I have to tell her that I’ll be going away for a while. Hopefully my head isn’t really that screwed up anymore." Jacob stood up.

"You had a nightmare last night. I was going to wake you up, but you calmed down pretty quickly, so I let you sleep," he said. Maria frowned, but nodded.

"Thanks for telling me. The nightmares have been getting less frequent, so I guess the fact that I didn’t wake up was good. I think you being with me helped," she said. Jacob walked over to her. He kissed her forehead and pulled her into his arms. Maria sighed against his chest.

"When will they stop?" she asked softly. Jacob shook his head.

"After what you went through, I think you’re holding up amazingly well. Those pictures that you showed me surprised the hell out of me. I knew that you had been there, but the fact that you were so close…it’s amazing that you are recovering as quickly as you are," he said.

"It was scary," Maria said. They stayed holding each other for a few minutes.

"We should get showered and changed," Jacob told her. Maria nodded and kissed him tenderly. She smiled when they broke apart.

"I’m going to go to the studio after seeing Dr. Brooks. If Jocelyn’s there, I promise I won’t kill her," Maria said as she pulled some clothes from her bag. Jacob laughed.

"Good. I don’t think my schedule will allow me to go bailing you out of jail for murdering someone," he said. Maria pinched him before she cautiously left the room to go take a shower.

Jacob smiled. He was in a good mood. He decided to go into the studio and do some work. He preferred to work on his music right after he had just woken up. The guys had all been writing as much as they could for the new album and Jacob knew that this would be their chance to actually submit songs to Clive Davis, so the more material they had written by them, the better. The only way that they would get respect from all of the anti-O-Town critics would be for the group to get their own songs on the album. It was Clive Davis’ decision, though, and with all of the established songwriters Clive knew and would be considering, Jacob knew that the group had their work cut out for them. He quickly got dressed and headed to the studio.

1 p.m.

Maria slammed the cab’s door and ran into the photo studio building. The rain had gotten heavier and with the wind blowing, it was like a mini-hurricane. Her appointment with Dr. Brooks had gone well and Maria had been given names of various therapists/counselors in several cities in case she needed one while on the tour. Maria was nervous, though. Jacob telling her that she had had a nightmare last night had shaken her up a little. ‘I’ll be okay,’ Maria told herself. She shook the rain from her hair as she walked to the photo lab. Thankfully, Jocelyn was nowhere in sight.

"Well, at least things are neat," Maria said out loud, looking around. She took off her jacket and threw it onto the couch. A schedule for upcoming photo shoots was posted on a small corkboard on the wall. Maria looked at it and shook her head. Everything had been assigned to Jocelyn.

"Maria." Maria turned to see Susan standing in the doorway.

"I’m still here for a couple of weeks. I could’ve done at least one shoot before I leave," Maria said, crossly, motioning to the schedule. She then noticed how upset Susan looked. "Susan? Are you okay? What’s wrong?"

"Alex," Susan said, tears falling from her eyes. Maria frowned.

"What about her?" she asked, starting to get nervous…and a little scared.

"I saw it on the news at noon. There was a stabbing and a shooting. It was Alex," Susan said, sobbing now. Maria hurried over to her.

"What? When? Oh, my God. Not Alex!" Maria was shocked. How could something like this happen? Alex was nice and sweet. She was like a sister to Maria. This couldn’t be happening. "What hospital is she at? I’m going." Maria didn’t bother grabbing her jacket as she pulled Susan with her and they ran out of the building to catch another cab.

"So, do you think that Britney will look as fine in person as she does on TV?" Trevor asked. He was sitting on the floor in the rehearsal studio, staring at himself in the mirror. Ashley laughed as he drank from his bottle of water. He almost choked.

"Probably. Have you rehearsed what you, like, want to say to her?" he asked, coughing. Trevor shook his head.

"Man, when I see her, I’m, like, probably gonna totally freeze and look like an idiot," he said.

"Too bad you couldn’t hook up with her," Jacob said softly, but Dan had heard him. The two of them were behind the soundboard, fooling around with the music that they had been practicing to. Ed had left and they were now waiting for Doc to come and begin their vocal practice.

"What’s up, Jake?" Dan asked, so only Jacob could hear him.

"What? Nothing," he said. Dan shook his head.

"Bull. Come on, it’s Maria, isn’t it? Trevor’s liking Maria is bothering you," he said. Jacob looked up at Dan and nodded.

"Dude, nothing gets by you," Jacob told him. He sighed heavily. "I know nothing will happen between them, but it’s weird. I feel awkward around Trevor and I don’t want to because he’s one of my best friends. But him having feelings for my girl is just wrong."

"I think you need to sit down with Trevor and the two of you need to discuss some things. For the record, it’s bothering him, too. He feels torn. He can’t help the way he feels about Maria, but he also doesn’t want to do anything that will wreck his friendship with you," Dan said.

"I’m in love with Maria. She may not feel the same way about me yet, but we’re serious and Trevor wanting her is wrong," Jacob said, frowning.

"Well, you need to tell him that, not me," Dan said. "I think it’s just a harmless crush and as soon as Trevor meets someone else that he’s attracted to, he’ll switch his attention to her." Dan slapped Jacob on the back and walked away. Jacob looked over at Trevor. He hoped that Maria had a plan for hooking Trevor up with someone else because Jacob was very close to telling him to back off.

"Where’s Erik?" Ashley asked. "He was supposed to be back with our lunch fifteen minutes ago." The door to the studio suddenly opened and Erik rushed in with Mike C. and a camera in tow.

"Lunch!" Erik announced, dropping wet paper fast food bags onto the floor.

"Yum," Trevor said sarcastically, a frown creasing his forehead. "I hope you guys like soggy French fries." Erik pulled off his wet sweatshirt and ran a hand over his wet, mostly shaved, head.

"Hey, you can say ‘thank you’ you know. It’s awful out there," he said.

"Thank you, Erik. You are a God and an awesome person and the best band mate a guy can have," Ashley said, his hands over his heart. Erik smiled at him.

"Thanks, Ash. I know," he said. Jacob walked over and picked up one of the bags. The bottom of the soggy bag broke and the food spilled out all over the floor. Erik let out an exasperated cry.

"Dammit, Jake! The bag is wet! You have to pick it up from the bottom! Are you stupid?" he exclaimed. Jacob picked up the food and put it on a clean towel.

"The floor’s clean," he said.

"Gross, dude," Trevor said, smiling. Jacob looked over and smirked at him as he put a French fry that had been on the floor in his mouth. Erik laughed.

"You are disgusting, my friend," he said as he went over to get food from another bag where the food hadn’t been dropped on the floor.

"So, Alex told me that Kyle Walsh is throwing us a party and she’s in charge of planning it," Erik said as he got comfortable on the floor, his food in his lap. Jacob took a sip of his soda and nodded.

"Maria is gonna help her. It should be interesting, especially if the ‘bitch,’ as Maria calls her, shows up," he said, smiling.

"Man, you should’ve seen it, Dan. It was a classic catfight between Maria and this girl who works with her," Ashley said before taking a bite out of his Big Mac.

"I always miss the good stuff," Dan told them. "The party sounds like fun, though. We’re gonna be gone for a while, so I think we deserve it." Dan smiled and they all laughed.

"Yeah, we should have a ‘going away’ party before every tour," Trevor said. "And Maria coming is an added bonus." Jacob looked sharply at him. Trevor noticed the look on his face. "For you, Jake, you know," he added quickly. Jacob swallowed what he had been chewing and just nodded.

"You guys, the camera almost caught an interesting ‘R’ rated scene this morning," Erik remarked, smiling. Jacob glared at him, but Erik ignored him. "It paid getting up early today, I’ll tell you."

"Shut up, Erik," Jacob warned him. The camera was still there, but Erik didn’t seem to notice.

"Why?" Ashley asked. Jacob shook his head, but Erik pretended that he didn’t see him.

"Let’s just say that the little scene on the couch last night made its way to Jake’s bedroom and, well, more intimate stuff went on," he said.

"How do you know?" Ashley asked, innocently.

"Shut up, Erik," Jacob barked. Erik still ignored him.

"They were naked," he said. Jacob got up and Erik did, too. When Jacob went for him, Erik sprinted to the door, but Jacob was quicker and caught him before he could open it. He easily pulled Erik into a headlock. The camera wasn’t far away, capturing all of this on tape.

"Are you gonna shut up or do I have to hurt you?" Jacob asked. Erik was laughing, but Jacob was stronger than he looked and had a firm grip on Erik’s neck.

"Okay, okay! I’ll shut up," Erik said. Jacob released him. "That hurt." Erik rubbed his neck. Jacob went back to his spot on the floor and sat back down. "Come on, Jake. I’m only kidding. You should be happy that you’re getting some. We’re not that lucky," Erik told him. Jacob looked over again at the camera. At this rate, his relationship with Maria would be the feature of a whole episode…or two or three.

"What about Alex?" Trevor asked. It never took much to get Erik to talk about women. Now, though, he hesitated before answering.

"She’s different. I mean I really like her and not as a casual fling type ‘like.’ It happened fast, though, so I’m not pressuring her or anything," he said.

"That’s good, dude," Jacob told him, impressed by Erik’s sensitivity. Erik smirked as he looked at Jacob.

"You didn’t even have to pressure Maria at all. She was, like, all over you," he said. "Remember at her father’s house? The night she kissed you for the first time?"

"Um, no. I forgot," Jacob said, rolling his eyes.

"It’s, like, weird that your first kiss with her was in front of everyone," Ashley remarked, crumpling up his garbage. Jacob kept eating, pretending to ignore the conversation.

"They do a lot more than kiss now," Erik said, backing up when Jacob shot him another piercing glare. Trevor got up and threw out his garbage. He then went to the door and disappeared into the rain. Ashley frowned.

"Does he want to blow away?" he asked. "It’s brutal out there. Where’s he going?" Jacob glanced at Dan, who looked right back.

"Maybe he just needed some air," Dan said. Jacob sighed. Why should he feel guilty for loving Maria? He shouldn’t, but Trevor was bummed and Jacob didn’t want him to be upset. What could he do, though? He wasn’t about to give up Maria because Trevor also liked her. It was messed up.

Doc arrived as the guys were finishing their lunch. "Hello, gentlemen. Ready to sing?"

"Yeah, I’ll get Trevor," Erik said, running to the door.

"Why is Trevor out in the rain?" Doc asked. The guys just shrugged. "You boys need help," Doc remarked.

Maria hurried into the hospital, Susan right behind her. They ran to the desk. "Please, can you tell me where Alexandra Hernandez is?" Maria asked. The nurse, who had white hair piled atop her head, looked at her like she was crazy.

"Who?" she asked. Maria sighed.

"Alexandra Hernandez. She was brought in last night or very early this morning," she said, panicky. The nurse nodded and took her time adjusting her bifocals as she looked through her admittance book.

"Um…oh, the stabbing and shooting incident. Yes, there were cops all over the place," she said. Maria’s patience was gone.

"Will you just tell me!" she shouted, causing people to look over at her. Susan put a hand on Maria’s back. The nurse frowned.

"Young lady, that is very rude. You need to respect your elders," she said. Maria wanted to slap her. Susan gently pushed Maria aside.

"Please. Alexandra is a very close friend. Can you please tell us where she is and how she is?" Susan asked. The nurse seemed satisfied by Susan’s politeness.

"Yes. She is in the ICU. As for her condition, I don’t know. Only family members are allowed in the ICU, though," she said. Maria wasn’t listening. She was already heading for the elevators. Susan thanked the nurse and followed Maria.

Once they got up to the floor where the ICU was located, Maria looked around. She was surprised when she saw Kathleen sitting in the waiting area. She hurried over to her. "Kathleen?" Kathleen stood up and hugged Maria tightly. "What happened? How did you know? When did you find out?" Maria asked. Kathleen wiped tears from her eyes.

"Not too long ago. I saw the news and freaked out. I was gonna call you, but I wanted to see how she was first. I didn’t want to worry you too much," she said. "Here, sit down. Hi, Susan." Susan nodded and sat down beside Maria. "I spoke with a cop who told me that Alex had been found in her apartment by a neighbor who had heard something late last night. Alex, she was stabbed in the side and was lying in a pool of blood." Kathleen stopped to wipe her nose with a tissue. Maria remained stoic, waiting for Kathleen to continue. "Her brother, the one who had just gotten out of prison, was there, too. He’d been shot."

"Carlos," Maria said. Kathleen nodded. "Is her family here?" Maria then asked.

"Yes. Her mother is beside herself and the younger brother isn’t doing too well, either," Kathleen said. "The doctor is with them now. Alex had to have immediate surgery when she was brought in." Maria frowned.

"Who did this? Robbers?" she asked. Kathleen shook her head.

"There was no sign of a break-in and nothing was taken. The cops think that it may have been drug-related," she told them.

"Drugs?" Susan asked. "Is that what Carlos was in jail for?" Maria nodded.

"Yes. He was caught selling," she answered. Just then, Mr. and Mrs. Hernandez came down the hallway, their youngest son trailing after them. Alex’s mother was crying while her husband was trying his best to hold her up. Maria stood up.

"Maria!" Gloria cried as Maria hugged her. She began talking rapidly in Spanish, so Maria didn’t understand her, but she held her, comforting her the best she could. Maria led Gloria over to a chair and sat her down. Javier sat down beside his wife, a look of shock on his face. Maria turned and looked at Miguel. He looked absolutely devastated. Maria put a hand on his arm and he started sobbing. He tried to control it, but couldn’t. Maria pulled him to her and hugged him tightly. She was close to Alex’s family and knew that their hurt must be unimaginable right now.

"They’re gonna be fine. Alex and Carlos are strong, Miguel," Maria said softly. He cried on her shoulder. He was only a year younger than Jacob, but he looked like a child just then. Maria felt herself beginning to tear up, but she held her tears in, like she had been ‘trained’ to do. After a minute, she released Miguel, who went and sat down on the other side of his mother. "I’ll be back." Maria walked to the elevators. Erik. She had to call Erik. He’d want to know what had happened and she didn’t want him to find out from the news. She got into the crowded elevator and headed down to the lobby. When the elevator doors opened, she quickly ran out the front doors of the hospital and got out her cell phone. The wind was still blowing and Maria, who didn’t have her jacket on, hugged herself after she had dialed. She hoped that Erik would answer.