Chapter 21

Utah

December 1st

            The van carrying the five members of O-Town pulled into the driveway of the three-floor cabin. Another van carrying the camera crew was right behind the band’s van.

As soon as the band’s van stopped, the guys all jumped out, laughing and yelling, unable to get over the size of their ‘cabin.’ It was, as Mike had said it would be, ‘huge.’ They couldn’t wait to get inside to look around.

            "Man, this is gonna be awesome!" Ashley said, laughing.

            "It’ll be even better when our women get here," Erik added. He couldn’t wait to see Alex again. It had been too long and he missed her like crazy.

            "Let’s go," Dan said. He held the key that would let them into the cabin. They went down a few steps until they got to the door.

            "Go!" Jacob ordered. Dan smiled. He was glad that Jacob was starting to be himself again. He hadn’t been as moody lately and he even seemed excited about this weekend getaway.

            Dan unlocked the door and pushed it open. The guys ran by him and began looking around. The cabin was very nice. A large sitting room was directly ahead of them and the kitchen was off of that room. The dining room was next to the kitchen. A staircase leading down was just off of the sitting room and on the other side of that staircase was another one leading up.

            "Let’s find rooms!" Trevor yelled. The guys went crazy looking for bedrooms, each one wanting to grab a single room with a large bed as opposed to the two rooms that had bunk beds in them.

            After ten minutes, the guys had claimed their rooms. There were five single bedrooms in all. One, which was located on the top floor, was a ‘master bedroom’ that had its own bathroom and deck. The other four rooms were connected in twos and each one shared a bathroom. Two of these rooms were located on the main level of the cabin and the other two were on the lower level at the bottom of the stairs.

            Erik had claimed the master bedroom with pride. Only Trevor had argued, but Erik told him that he had a girlfriend who was recovering from a serious injury, so she should be comfortable. Trevor agreed and let Erik have the room without a fight.

            Ashley and Dan had grabbed the main level connected rooms, which weren’t as large as the other rooms, but they didn’t mind. They still had a nice view of the landscape. That left the room connected to Jacob’s as the only option left for Trevor.

            Jacob, of course, had found the room farthest from everyone else. It was practically in the basement. Trevor wandered downstairs to find the room that he had been forced to take. He found Jacob looking around his own room. It was a nature/outdoors-themed room. The bed had logs as bedposts and a footboard. A carved, wooden chest sat in the corner and the lamps on the two nightstands had log-like bases. The room was a mixture of brown and forest green.

            "This is cool," Trevor said. Jacob nodded and smiled.

            "I feel like going hunting for some reason," he joked. Trevor laughed. Jacob was in a good mood…Trevor hoped it would last. Neither Trevor nor Ashley had told Jacob about Maria’s invitation. They had discussed it and had decided that they wanted to be alive to enjoy the weekend, so they hadn’t told him.

            "I guess I’m your neighbor," Trevor told him. Jacob wandered through the spacious bathroom into the adjoining room. It was similarly decorated in the ‘nature’ theme.

            Trevor threw his bags down on the bed. He then jumped onto the bed and sighed. "This is nice. Imagine, a whole weekend of doing nothing. It’s not often that we get a break like this," he said. Jacob nodded.

            "I know. I plan on working, though. With our second album coming up, we need to write if we want to submit our songs to Clive," he said. Trevor bit his tongue to keep from saying anything. He wanted to say, ‘Don’t work too hard, you might be surprised by who shows up.’

            "Well, don’t work the whole time. This is a chance to relax," Trevor said, instead.

            "Where the hell are you guys?" came Erik’s voice from the other room. He suddenly came running and jumped on Jacob’s back. "Hey guys! This is too much. What time are the girls gonna be here?" he asked. Jacob shook Erik off of his back.

            "Dude, get off! I have back problems, remember?" he said, but he was smiling. Erik backed off.

"Sorry, Jake. So, when are the girls getting here?" he asked again.

Jacob shrugged. "Ask Dan," he said. He was trying to hide his disappointment that the one girl that he wanted there wasn’t going to be there. Jacob had almost called Maria and invited her, but he’d changed his mind. He didn’t think he could stand her rejecting him…and he had to keep reminding himself that he was mad at her.

"Did anyone notice it’s freezing in here?" Ashley asked as he joined the other three guys in Trevor’s room.

"It’s winter, Ash. It’s gonna be cold," Erik told him. Ashley rolled his eyes.

"We’ve got a fireplace, but not enough wood. Who’s gonna, like, chop it?" he asked. Trevor sat up, smiling.

"I’ll do it!" he volunteered.

            "Of course, Mr. Muscles will do it," Jacob remarked.

            "I’ll go, too," Erik said. "When?"

            "We don’t need it yet. Wait until everyone is settled in before you go swinging axes at stuff," Jacob told him. He made his way back into his room and grabbed his guitar. Ashley followed him.

            "Dude, your bed is, like, so high off the floor," he said, climbing onto it. Jacob ignored him. He flexed his hand, which now only had a thin bandage covering his healing cuts. It was taking a long time to heal, but seeing as how he had had a piece of glass lodged in between his knuckles, he was lucky that it was healing so well. The knuckles still hurt occasionally, but he was able to play the guitar again. "How’s your hand?" Ashley asked when he saw Jacob examining it.

            Jacob shrugged. "It’s okay. The pain is almost totally gone. It was my own fault, though. It was really stupid to punch that window."

            "You were hurting," Ashley said. He didn’t say anymore. He wasn’t sure how Jacob would react to Maria’s appearance. One minute, it seemed as if Jacob was missing Maria terribly, the next, he was either indifferent or angry with her. Maybe inviting Maria hadn’t been a good idea after all. Well, it was too late to take it back now. Maria was coming whether Jacob liked it or not…Ashley only hoped that the Jacob who was missing Maria would be the one who welcomed her to the cabin.

            Maria was freezing. It was very cold. She pulled her sweater tighter around her body. She hadn’t dressed warmly enough for the trip because it hadn’t been that cold when she had left California. Now, though, the difference in temperature was extremely noticeable. She didn’t mind the cold; after all, she was from the northeast, where the winters could be brutal, but after having lived in Florida for so long and after having just spent over a month in California, the cold weather was very uninviting.

            The closer the limo got to the cabin, the more anxious Maria became. Jacob didn’t know that she was coming. It could either be a good thing or a bad thing. Maria hoped that he would at least be civilized. She wanted to kick herself for writing that letter. Jacob had only wanted to help her and what had she done? Write him a ‘Dear John’ letter. How cruel could she be? It wasn’t like her, either, but at the time she felt as if she hadn’t had a choice.

            "I just hope that Jacob understands that," Maria said out loud as she looked out the window.

            "Is there any food in this place?" Erik asked. Ashley joined him and together, they looked through the kitchen cabinets and cupboards. "Bulls-eye!" Erik shouted. The place was fully stocked with the guys’ favorite foods. There were frozen, microwavable dinners, but ingredients to cook with, too. And, there was, of course, plenty of cereal.

            "Make some popcorn," Ashley suggested. Erik opened a box of microwave popcorn and handed a package to Ashley, who put it into the microwave, set the timer and started it. "Erik, did Trevor tell you what we did?" he asked, quietly. Erik frowned.

            "No, what did you do?" he asked. Ashley looked around. Only the cameraman was with them filming their fascinating hunt for food.

            "It was Trevor’s idea, but he suggested that we ask Maria to come for the weekend," Ashley said. Erik’s mouth dropped open.

            "Man, that could blow up in your faces, Ash. Jake might freak out," he said.

            "Don’t say that!" Ashley exclaimed. "We hope that if they, like, get a chance to talk, they’ll, you know, get back together."

            Erik sighed. "It’s a good idea, I guess. I mean, your hearts are in the right place, but you never know. Jake may miss Maria, but her writing that letter, man, it must’ve been bad what she said. He punched a freakin’ window. If whatever she said was bad enough for him to do that, then, well, I don’t know. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. I’m assuming that she did agree to come?" he asked. Ashley nodded.

            "Yeah. She should be the first to arrive, too," he said. Erik frowned when something caught his eye outside.

            "Let the games begin," he said. "She’s here."

            Dan had seen the limo pull up as well. He left his room and jogged to the door. Ashley and Erik joined him as he opened the door. When he saw Maria, Dan turned to the other two guys, a surprised look on his face. They shrugged.

            "It was him…and Trevor," Erik said, pointing at Ashley. Dan shook his head. He went up the steps to help Maria with her things.

            "Well, well, well. Look who’s here!" Dan shouted as he hugged Maria. "Damn, girl, you’re tan." Maria laughed.

            "It’s warm in California. Here, however…" she shivered. Dan put his arm around her.

            "Come inside where it’s warmer, then," he said. Dan noticed Maria hesitate for a minute before following him down the steps and into the cabin. Ashley and Erik bombarded her, both of them hugging her at the same time.

            "Hi, guys," she said. She didn’t think that it would be so good to see them again. Erik smiled, but his smile didn’t quite reach his eyes like it usually did.

            "We’ve missed you," he said, softly. Maria nodded.

            "I know. I’ve missed you guys, too," she said, looking around. Erik knew who she was looking for, but he had yet to make himself seen.

            Trevor suddenly came running up the stairs. He grinned as he pulled Maria into a bear hug. "I’m so glad you decided to come," he whispered into her ear.

            "We’ll see whether or not it was a good idea soon," she whispered back. Trevor smiled as he released her. "Am I the first to arrive?" she asked.

            "Yeah, everyone else is coming from Florida, of course, except for Dianna, who’s coming in from Boston," Dan told her.

            Maria surveyed the cabin. "Wow. This place is great. I wasn’t picturing a ‘cabin’ quite this size, though. This isn’t a cabin, it’s a resort," she said. Trevor laughed.

            "I think we like it better than our own house," he said.

            "I sure do!" Erik shouted as he threw himself onto one of the plush sofas in the sitting room. He could see that Maria was nervous. Where the hell was Jacob?

            Jacob frowned when he heard the guys talking to, presumably, one of the girls. It couldn’t be Dianna yet or the girls who were traveling from Orlando. Who was it, then? Jacob suddenly got a weird feeling in his gut. It couldn’t be. Or could it? He wouldn’t put it past the guys to have invited Maria without telling him. Part of him was excited at the thought that she was here, but another part…he wanted her to go. Or did he? Jacob didn’t know.

            Placing his guitar on the bed, he left his room. He heard voices again and recognized Maria’s laughter immediately. Leaning against the wall, Jacob ran a hand through his hair, pulling on it gently. ‘So much for this being a ‘relaxing’ weekend,’ he thought.