Chapter 19

Susan, Kyle and Jocelyn were already at the hotel when Maria, Sarah and Emily arrived. They made their way in and met Susan in the lobby.

"Very daring," Susan commented, looking closely at Maria’s ensemble. Maria just smiled. Maybe the dress wasn’t such a good idea. She hated unwanted attention and her dress screamed: notice me!

"Thanks. Okay, so let’s get this party started," Maria said. Susan laughed.

"It’s early yet. Give the guests a chance to get here," she said. Maria nodded. She was nervous for some reason. It was just a party. She needed to relax. "Where’s the champagne?" she asked, heading for the reception room where the food and drinks were located.

Erik had gotten ready in record time. He had changed into jeans with a white tank top and a light blue button-down shirt over it. He hoped that Alex would be happy to see him. He hadn’t gotten to the hospital as much as he had wanted to due to the band’s full schedule, but she needed time to heal, so hopefully she hadn’t minded. The cameras were covering the party and Erik had asked for privacy, so there wasn’t a camera with him.

Kristi met Erik and Mike as they made their way to Alex’s room. She was dressed in a dark blue, shiny cocktail dress with black sequins sewn around the plunging neckline. She had a matching shawl and evening bag. Maria had invited her to the party since she had done so much for them and for Alex. Erik smiled when he saw her.

"Nice. I never had a doctor who dressed like that," he said. Kristi smiled. Erik hadn’t realized how pretty she was. Dressed in evening wear, she looked totally unlike the ‘doctor’ he was used to seeing.

"Thank you. I cleared your visit with the desk. You have to leave at midnight," Kristi said.

"Or I’ll turn into a pumpkin?" Erik asked. Kristi laughed.

"Something like that. Or security will throw you out," she told him.

"I’ll make sure he leaves on time," Mike said. Kristi nodded.

"Have fun," she said, waving as she walked away.

"You, too," Erik called after her. He nodded at the security guard, took a deep breath and entered Alex’s room.

"Okay, I don’t feel bad about my dress now," Maria remarked as she studied Jocelyn. Talk about tacky. Jocelyn’s dress was of the J. Lo design. Very sheer, very colorful…and very revealing. "How is her chest not falling out of that thing?"

"Tape?" Sarah guessed. The ‘dress’ was basically two strips of fabric that was draped over each of Jocelyn’s shoulders and criss-crossed at her waist to create a skirt. A lot of her thigh was showing. "I don’t think the dress is finished," Sarah then remarked. Emily laughed.

"I can see her panties," she said. Maria just shook her head and sipped her champagne. Jocelyn wasn’t creating a very nice image for the studio.

Soon, guests began to arrive. Kyle had appeared out of nowhere and had become the ‘greeter’ at the door to the reception room. The room was large. There were tables with food in three of the corners and the long, circular bar was in the fourth corner. A dance floor took up a lot of room, but there were plenty of tables to sit at. A DJ was situated on the stage at the back of the room, opposite the entrance. He hadn’t started the music yet, but Maria had talked to him and she had given him a few suggestions---more than a few, actually. A large mirror ball over the dance floor completed the ‘party’ look of the room.

Kyle had invited many prestigious colleagues. Maria was dumbfounded by all of the well-known photographers that passed by her. They even spoke to her, saying that Kyle had spoken highly of her and her work and that they’d like to see some of it sometime. Maria was shocked, but put on her charming personality as she talked to them.

"Boys! Welcome to your party!" Maria heard Kyle say with extra exuberance. She looked over to see Mike C. escorting O-Town, minus Erik, into the room. They looked around. They looked good. Maria zeroed in on Jacob. She smiled. He wore a royal blue, tight-fitting, long sleeved shirt with black dress pants and his silver and black studded belt. He had nothing on his head. His hands were shoved into his pockets as he looked around. When he saw Maria, his mouth dropped open.

"Dude, what’s wrong?" Ashley asked, noticing Jacob’s shocked expression. Ashley followed Jacob’s gaze and smiled when he, too, saw Maria. "Holy…"

"Wow," Trevor said softly. Maria’s dress was incredible and she looked incredible in it. Jacob made a beeline for Maria. The camera, of course, followed him. Emily smiled when she saw Jacob approaching Maria. Sarah had a forced smile on her face. ‘Why can’t he look at me like that?’ she asked herself. ‘I guess my crush isn’t as gone as I thought it was.’

Jacob came to a stop in front of Maria. His gaze traveled up and down her body as he took her in. He smirked. "Nice dress." Maria laughed.

"Like it?" she asked. Jacob nodded, vigorously.

"Oh, yeah!" he said. Very aware of the camera, Jacob bent and took Maria’s hand, kissing it lightly, which sent shivers through her body. He stood up straight and leaned in close to her ear. "I’d do more, but we’re on TV," he whispered. Maria smiled.

"It’s good to see you, too, Jacob," she said, formally and winked. The other guys now joined them.

"You ladies look lovely," Dan said.

"Thanks, Dan. At least someone is paying attention to us," Sarah said. Jacob couldn’t take his eyes off of Maria.

Ashley then stood in front of Maria. "Can I hug you? I want to hug you in that dress," he said, smiling. Maria laughed as Ashley took her in his arms.

"Okay, that’s enough," Jacob said, jokingly, as he pulled Ashley away from Maria.

"Did you guys see Jocelyn?" Trevor asked them. The guys shook their heads. Maria rolled her eyes.

"There’s a lot of her to see," she warned them. Immediately they began searching the room.

"I don’t know what she looks like," Dan said.

"She’s the one who’s almost naked," Sarah told him. Dan smiled as his eyes scanned the room.

"I found her," Trevor announced, "And she’s with…uh, oh." Maria followed his gaze. She then felt sick. Jocelyn was greeting none other than Geoff at the door.

"What the…?" Ashley asked, looking at Maria. "Why is he with her?"

Maria saw Kevin and Kathleen right behind Geoff. Kathleen made eye contact with her and started walking over to the group. Kevin followed, since Kathleen had a death grip on his hand.

"Can you believe it?" Kathleen asked when they had reached the group.

"How do they even know each other?" Maria hissed. Kathleen shrugged.

"I have no idea," she said, looking at Kevin.

"Hey, don’t look at me. He never told me anything about his date, only that he had one for tonight. I didn’t even know he’d be attending the same party as us," he said. Maria sighed. She took Jacob’s hand.

"Let’s get as far away from them as possible," she said. He nodded. They left, as did Kevin and Kathleen. The camera stayed with the rest of them.

"So, who are you here with?" Ashley asked Emily and Sarah, but he was looking at Emily, who was trying to avoid looking at him.

"We’re here together. You know, cousins with no dates, hanging out," Sarah answered.

"I’ll be your date," Trevor said to Sarah, who smiled.

"Okay," she agreed and hooking her arm in his, they walked away.

"I guess you have two dates," Ashley said to Emily. Emily looked at Dan.

"How can you guys not have dates?" she asked. Ashley and Dan looked at each other and shrugged.

"We’re pathetic?" Dan said. Emily laughed.

"Fine. You can both be my dates." Emily knew that Ashley was curious as to why she couldn’t look directly at him, but that was for her to know…and no one to find out.

Alex was sleeping as Erik quietly made his way to her bed. He kissed her cheek and she opened her eyes. Erik held out a bouquet of a dozen red roses. Alex smiled.

"What are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be at the party?" she asked.

"Nah. Parties like that suck. I prefer a ‘private’ party…just me and my girl," he said. He then produced some non-alcoholic champagne. "I know you can’t drink because of the meds you’re taking, so it’s the next best thing." Alex carefully pushed herself to a sitting position. She winced a little. "Are you okay?" Erik asked.

Alex nodded. "Yeah, I just can’t move around a lot," she said. "I must look horrible." Erik smiled.

"On the contrary, you look beautiful," he told her. He pulled a box over and took a portable boom box out of it. Placing it on the table at the foot of the bed, he put on some music. Alex smiled as Janet Jackson’s voice filled the room. Erik then sat down on the bed beside her. "I have a feeling that we’re gonna enjoy ourselves a lot better than the others who went to the party."

"I think you’re right," she said, looking into his eyes.

"I thought that you were here with me," Jocelyn whined as Geoff stared at Maria. "I have the better dress." ‘What there is of it,’ Geoff thought. He had only agreed to be Jocelyn’s ‘date’ so that he could see Maria. Fortunately, he had gone to the studio one day to see if Maria was there. She hadn’t been, but he’d met Jocelyn and had ‘befriended’ her. Geoff figured if he became close to someone who worked with Maria, he’d get chances to see her and maybe even talk to her. This party, for example, was a prime reason why Jocelyn was so important to him.

"You look great," Geoff said, taking his eyes off of Maria and…that guy---Jacob…the bastard that Maria was now sleeping with. Geoff got pissed just thinking about that guy’s hands all over Maria.

"Do you want something to eat?" Jocelyn asked. Geoff frowned. His eyes had been on Maria again. She was talking to some guy in an expensive suit. Jacob was right by her side, of course. ‘I can’t believe I’m at a party honoring the guy,’ Geoff thought, disgustedly. "Stop looking at her!" Jocelyn said with anger in her voice. She walked away. Geoff let her go. His eyes remained on Maria.

The DJ put on some music as more guests filled the room. There were many guests, too. Kyle’s guest list was extensive. Maria and Jacob mingled. A lot of the photographers complimented Maria on a job well done regarding the O-Town issue of Star Power. She took the praise graciously, a little uncomfortable by all the attention.

Jacob had noticed Geoff staring at Maria. It took all of his willpower to not go over and punch the guy’s lights out. "Hey, are you listening to me?" Maria’s voice asked him. She tugged on his hand. Jacob turned to her.

"What?" he asked.

"I asked if you wanted to try and find a quiet corner…alone," she said with a small smile. He nodded.

"Sure," he said. The camera was elsewhere, so he pulled Maria behind him and they quickly made their way out of the room. The pool area was open for the party, so they went outside and stood away from the other partiers that were also out there. They ended up in a dimly lit corner of the pool. Jacob reached behind him and turned off his microphone.

"Can you do that?" Maria asked. Jacob smiled and pulled her into his arms. Maria closed her eyes the minute his lips touched hers. Maria wrapped her arms around his neck and moaned lightly as Jacob kissed her thoroughly. When he finally pulled away, Maria smiled. "You know, I booked a room here for the night," she told him. Jacob tightened his hold on her.

"Really? And why is that?" he asked.

"The party may go later then planned, and I didn’t want to worry about driving home after having had some drinks, so I got a room," she replied. Jacob smiled.

"Is that the only reason?" he asked, bending to kiss her neck. Maria’s eyes closed.

"I can’t think when you do that," she said. Jacob didn’t stop. Maria pulled his head up and kissed his mouth again. So far, Maria was having a great time.

"Hey, Dan, is that…?" Ashley asked, looking out at the crowd of guests.

"Who?" Dan asked. Ashley squinted.

"It is. It’s Dianna," he said. Dan’s head swiveled to look where Ashley was looking. Sure enough, Dianna, Jacob’s former physical therapist, was standing with Susan. He wouldn’t miss her amazing blue eyes anywhere.

"I had no idea she was even in Orlando," Dan said. Ashley shrugged.

"Just make sure her husband isn’t with her." He smirked and turned to the buffet table to grab some hors d’oeuvres.

As Dan walked away, Emily turned to Ashley. "Who is Dianna?" she asked. Ashley looked at her. She was looking at the food.

"She was on tour with us for a while. Jacob hurt his back and she was his physical therapist. She flew all the way out to meet us from Boston. The last I heard, she had called Dan and told him that she was getting divorced," Ashley told her.

"Divorced? She doesn’t look that old," Emily remarked. Ashley shrugged.

"I’d rather talk about you. Why did you leave your home in…where are you from again?" he asked.

"Boca Raton. I left because my mom was driving me crazy. She was really ignoring me, but when she was around, she drove me crazy." Emily continued to examine the food while she talked.

"You play the guitar, right?" Ashley asked. Emily nodded.

"Yeah. I needed something to do while my parents were fighting during their divorce proceedings. It drowned out all the yelling," she explained.

"I’m sorry about your parents. I had a lot of trouble with my dad. He doesn’t, like, support what I do. It was hard at first, but we’ve managed to, like, work it out and we are actually closer now then we were," Ashley told her.

"That’s great. I never see my father. In fact, I have no idea where the hell he is, so it’s great that you and your father are close. I’m really freakin’ happy for you," Emily said and stalked away. Ashley watched her go, a frown on his face.

"What did I say?" he asked himself.

Dan approached Dianna and Susan slowly. Dianna turned and saw him. She smiled. "Hey, Dan. It’s been a long time," she said. Dan hugged her lightly.

"What are you doing here? At this party and in Orlando," Dan asked, releasing her. She looked great. Her hair had grown longer. She had it pinned up in a twist. She had on a black, shiny, slip dress with spaghetti straps that had a long slit up the side. Dianna also wore a black, silky scarf-like shawl over her shoulders. "You look amazing, by the way." Dianna smiled.

"Thanks. You do too," she said. Dan was dying to ask her about her divorce. That sounded so strange to him. Her divorce. She was too young to even be married much less getting divorced.

Dianna had a feeling that Dan wanted information. They had gotten close during the tour, by ‘close’ meaning that he had been the one that Dianna had talked to the most. She had talked to Jacob, too, obviously, but Jacob wasn’t much of a conversationalist unless the subject was music. "Do you want to talk?" Dianna finally asked him when he kept quiet. Dan smiled.

"Sure," he said and they went to find someplace quiet to talk.

Trevor and Sarah were bumming together. They stood at the bar. Sarah wanted so badly to drink, but since she was underage and Maria had been one of the party planners, Maria had been so kind as to inform the bartenders that Sarah was her sister, she was underage, and she shouldn’t be served. ‘Bitch,’ Sarah thought.

Maria and Jacob had disappeared. Sarah knew they were off somewhere making out or something. She grabbed Trevor’s beer and took a healthy drink. Trevor frowned.

"That was beer," he said.

"No shit," Sarah told him. "I can’t be served real drinks, so you’re gonna have to help me."

"I can’t. Maria will…"

"Maria’s too busy getting busy with Jacob somewhere. Now, are you gonna help me or not? I can always find someone else to do it," Sarah said. Trevor decided that he’d rather be the one to keep an eye on Sarah.

"Fine. What do you want?" Sarah smiled.

Erik fed Alex another scoop of chocolate ice cream. She savored it and closed her eyes as she ate it. Erik swallowed hard as he watched a look of pure pleasure come over Alex’s face as she swallowed the ice cream. It was erotic as hell.

"Is it good?" Erik asked, his voice shaky. Alex opened her eyes and nodded.

"More," she said, eagerly. Erik almost moaned. He fed her another spoonful and Alex smiled happily. Erik loved seeing the smile on her face. "You know," she said. "Chocolate is an aphrodisiac." Erik nodded.

"I know." He smirked. Alex looked surprised.

"You’re trying to seduce me?" she asked him.

"Right. You’re in a hospital bed, healing from a serious injury. How am I possibly gonna seduce you?" he said. "Unless…you can give me a rain check." Alex smiled and pulled him closer to her. She looked at him intently before pulling him the rest of the way, her lips touching his lightly. Erik added pressure and kissed her like he wanted to…until he almost fell off the bed since he was off balance leaning over her on the bed.

Alex laughed. "Klutz," she said. Erik looked embarrassed. He put the bowl of ice cream on the table and went back over to his bag of tricks.

"I have movies!" he announced, holding up a couple of VCR tapes.

"How did you know I had a VCR?" Alex asked him.

"Kristi told me," he answered, smiling. Alex frowned slightly. Erik noticed. "Relax, she’s pretty, but she’s not you." Alex relaxed.

"What do you have?" she asked.

"Happy Gilmore or a tape of very funny Saturday Night Live episodes that I taped," he said. Alex thought about it.

"I guess I’ll go for Adam Sandler. Why not?" she said. Erik smiled. He put the tape in, grabbed the remote and went to sit beside Alex. He had to be careful not to jostle her.

Alex couldn’t believe that Erik was really here with her instead of at a fancy party given in honor of the band that he was in. She looked up at him. His eyes were on the TV screen. Alex smiled and took Erik’s hand. He looked down at her, kissed her cheek and they began to watch the movie together.

"I see Maria and Jacob are still together," Dianna remarked as she walked out into the pool area with Dan. He smiled at the couple that was in very close conversation in a dimly lit corner. Dan led Dianna over to them.

"Look who I found," he said. Maria smiled when she saw Dianna.

"I’m so glad you could make it," she said, hugging her. Dianna nodded.

"It was perfect timing, actually. I was going to come here to look for a place to live anyway," she said. "Hi, Jacob. How’s your back?"

"Always the therapist, huh?" He laughed. "It’s okay. When it stiffens up, I do those exercises you showed me how to do and it gets better."

"We’ve been rehearsing so much lately, though, that it hasn’t had time to stiffen up," Dan told her.

"Oh, right. You guys are leaving for another tour soon," Dianna said.

"Yeah, they’re touring with Britney Spears herself," Maria said.

"How exciting." Dianna frowned at the look on Jacob’s face. "Or not…?"

"Sort of," Jacob murmured. Dan shook his head.

"Jacob’s the party pooper who didn’t want to do it. He lost the vote, though," he told her. Maria rolled her eyes.

"Oh, he’s just being a pain in the ass. He’s gonna love performing in front of all of those people," she said. She turned to Jacob. "Right?" He looked at her.

"Right," he said, a fake smile on his face. Maria kissed him lightly.

"I’m going to go mingle. I’ve been MIA for too long," she said. "Dan, Dianna, I’ll see you later." Maria walked away, smoothing her hair as she went. Dan smirked at Jacob.

"Gee, Jake, where’s the camera?" Jacob just smiled. Dianna looked confused.

Maria made her way inside. She looked around, but didn’t see Sarah anywhere. Or Trevor. She frowned.

"Hi." Maria turned to see Geoff standing almost on top of her.

"Bye," she said, turning away. Geoff lightly grabbed her arm, but immediately let go when she turned back to him.

"I don’t want to fight, Maria. Really, I don’t. I haven’t seen you since, you know, New York and I just want to know how you’re doing. That’s all, I swear," he said. Maria knew Geoff. Well, not as well as she thought she had, but she knew him and she felt that he was being sincere.

"I’m okay…now. It was tough to deal with, but I survived," she told him.

"That’s great. It was really scary. Just the thought of you there…"

"Yeah, it’s over, though, Geoff. I’ve been trying to put it behind me," she said.

"You always were tough," Geoff said. Maria gave him a small smile.

"I had to be," she said.

"So, you’re going on tour with…them…again," he said. Maria nodded. "Wow. You’ve really changed. I remember when you had this dream of taking photographs that would change the world and now you’re touring with a boy band again…and the same band at that. Why?" Maria frowned.

"Because that’s the job that I was offered. It doesn’t mean that it’s gonna be a career. It’s just a tour," she said.

"That guy must be really afraid of losing you," Geoff said. He was drifting into dangerous territory.

"Jacob had nothing to do with my getting the tour job. He didn’t even know about it. It was the record company. I don’t even know why I’m discussing this with you. Goodbye, Geoff." Maria started to walk away again.

"Maria, wait. I’m sorry. It’s just that you are too good to be taking worthless photos of a boy band. You’re too talented to waste that talent on a nothing project like this tour. Think about what you’re doing and don’t sell yourself short." With that, Geoff was gone. Maria’s frown deepened. Was that what she was doing? Selling herself short? Was she just going because she could be with Jacob? And had Jacob really been telling the truth when he had said that he hadn’t known about the job? Maria continued to frown as she searched for her sister.