Chapter 23

Emily had no idea where to find Jacob. She remembered the direction he had taken Maria in, but she was confused now as she made her way down the stairs.

"Lost?" Dan asked. Emily jumped. She hadn’t seen him lying on the couch, a writing book in his hand.

"Oh, hi, Dan. I’m looking for Jacob. I know he took Maria toward the pool, but…" she shrugged. Dan smiled.

"I’ll show you," he said, leading Emily out past the pool and up into the guesthouse.

"He really is a loner, huh?" she asked. Dan laughed.

"Nah, not ‘the elusive Jacob Underwood,’" he said. They heard the sound of a guitar and stood at the open door where they could see Jacob playing for Maria, who was lying on the bed. "Did you play some of American Game for her?" Dan asked. Jacob looked up and smiled at Dan and Emily.

"Come in, guys. Yeah, I played a little and she liked it," he said.

"Would she say if she didn’t like it?" Dan asked, smiling.

"Sure. If it sucked, I’d tell him," Maria said, winking at Jacob, who shook his head.

"What’s up, Dan?" Jacob asked.

"I’m just showing Emily to your room. She was looking for you," Dan replied before he turned and headed back down the stairs.

"I asked him already, Em, and he said it’d be fine. If that’s what you’re here about," Maria told her. Emily looked at Jacob.

"Are you sure?" she asked him. "I don’t want to impose or anything."

"It will be fine. I’ll call my mom tonight to ask her, but believe me, there’s more than enough room and my mom likes company, especially on the holidays," he said.

Emily smiled. "If you’re sure. Thanks," she said.

"No problem." Jacob smiled back and started to play again.

"We should go," Maria said, stretching and sitting up. "I still have packing to do."

"But, it’s still early," Jacob protested. Maria sat next to him on the edge of the bed. She put her arms around him and kissed him lightly.

"We’re going to be together for over two weeks. Really, I need to get my crap together if you want me to go with you to your house," she said.

"It’s a compound, actually," he said, smirking. Maria rolled her eyes.

"Whatever," she said, standing up. Jacob stood up and placed his guitar on the bed. He pulled Maria into his arms and hugged her. Emily smiled as she watched them. She went into the narrow hallway to give them some privacy.

"It’s going to be the best Christmas, I know it is," Jacob said.

"I think so, too," she told him. Jacob pulled back to look at her.

"I love you," he said and kissed her deeply. Maria smiled against his lips.

"I have to go," she moaned when his lips moved to her neck. Jacob sighed and abruptly let her go.

"Fine, go. If you don’t go now, I’m gonna make it impossible for you to go at all, so…" Maria smiled, kissed him quickly once more and ran out of the room, grabbing Emily and pulling her along behind her on her way down the stairs.

December 20^th

"Okay, fellas, it’s time to choose," Mike M. said. The guys were all dragging. It was too early and they were still on German time. Although excited to be going home for the holidays, they weren’t looking forward to more traveling. Now, they were all gathered at the long table off of the sitting room watching Mike M. put their names in one of Erik’s baseball caps.

Jacob had his head down on the table. "My name better not be in there," he said.

"That wouldn’t be fair, Jake," Mike C. said.

"I don’t want a camera with me," he said, crossly.

"You might get lucky," Mike M. told him. He held the hat out to Mike C., who reached in and took a name.

"Ashley," he said, holding up the small piece of paper. Ashley didn’t mind and just smiled, tiredly.

"One more," Mike M. said. He mixed up the remaining four names and held the hat out to Mike C. again.

"Trevor," he said. Jacob lifted his head and smiled triumphantly.

"Nice," he said. Trevor laughed.

"Man, you got the boring one," he said, making goofy faces at the cameraman, who was filming.

"Don’t talk to the camera," Mike M. scolded, playfully. "Okay, either Mike or I will be in touch to let you know what’s going on as far as the schedule is concerned. We expect you all to be back in this house no later than the 29^th. We’re going to New York on the 30^th, so we would just love it if you could get your acts together and get back here on the designated date, which is the 28^th. Any questions?" The guys just tried to keep their eyes open. Mike M. smiled. "Okay, then have a great time with your families and friends and we’ll see you when you get back. The limos and security are waiting for you outside."

The group got up and hugged the Mikes ‘goodbye.’ They then went to the door. Jacob smiled when he saw Maria’s jeep pull into the driveway. She jumped out of the driver’s side as Emily got out of the passenger side.

"I’m sorry we’re late," Maria called over to him. "I had to bring Heathcliff over to Kathleen’s. He was being a pissy little shit and wouldn’t get in his cat carrier." The guys laughed at the frustration in her voice.

"It took the two of us to coax him out from under Maria’s bed," Emily said, not amused at how she had spent a good part of her morning. Ashley smiled at her.

"I can so picture that," he said and laughed. Emily glared at him, which made him laugh harder.

They got into the limos and headed for the airport.

Jacob slept during the entire flight. Maria was having a feeling of déjà vu since she had seemingly just returned from California. She talked quietly with Emily and listened to some CD’s in her portable CD player. The butterflies that had been dormant thus far had begun to flutter as they got closer to their destination.

The airport turned out to be chaotic. Jacob had been recognized and Maria and Emily had had to stand and watch for almost 45 minutes while he signed autographs and took pictures with enthusiastic fans. Some of the women that approached him weren’t even teenagers. Maria watched closely as one twenty-something woman got a little too touchy-feely for her taste.

"Slut," she muttered. Emily laughed.

"It’s worse for me. I like the heartthrob of the group. Imagine the groping he has to put up with," she said. Maria looked at her and smiled.

"Oh, you like Ashley, huh? Since when?" she asked. Emily blushed and looked away.

"Uh, since, you know, I just like him as a friend," she said. Maria nodded, but didn’t believe her at all. She returned her attention to Jacob and his fans. She then bit her lip and smiled mischievously.

"I wonder what the fans would think if I went over to get him," she said. Emily laughed.

"Go for it," she said. Maria handed her bag to Emily and fought her way through the throng of fans that had made a circle around Jacob. They gave her dirty looks as she slipped through until she was at the edge of the inner circle. Some of the fans may have recognized her, but she wasn’t sure. She heard the word ‘girlfriend’ but didn’t know if it was she that they were discussing.

"Excuse me," she said, poking Jacob’s shoulder. When he didn’t even acknowledge her, she smiled and slid her arms around him from behind. The fans that didn’t recognize her were shocked that she would be so bold.

Jacob felt someone hugging him from behind and immediately tensed up and went on alert. Where the hell was security? He turned and smiled when he saw Maria. The fans were glaring at her and telling her to back off. "What are you doing?" he asked.

"Trying to get your ass out of here," she said, releasing him, but still standing close to him. "Judging from the way that these girls are looking at me, they’re gonna get violent."

Jacob turned back around and signed a few more autographs before he apologized and said that he had to go. He took Maria’s hand and made his way over to where Emily was waiting with their luggage. The fans were still watching Jacob’s every move.

"Wait, one more thing," Maria said. Jacob frowned as Maria smirked at him before kissing him deeply right there in the middle of the airport. After they had separated, Jacob smiled at her.

"Why did you do that?" he asked.

"Because I can," she answered, glancing at a group of girls who were standing with their mouths hanging open and looks of total envy on their faces. Jacob, Maria and Emily gathered up their things and followed the limo driver as he led them out of the airport without any further delays or interruptions.

"There’s no need to be nervous," Jacob said. Maria’s hand that he was holding had gotten sweaty and he could tell by the way she fidgeted in her seat that she was nervous.

"I’m sorry. I’m just, I don’t know, I’m nervous," she admitted. Jacob put his arm around her and pulled her close.

"They’ll love you, Maria," Emily said.

"All ten thousand of them?" Maria asked. Emily looked at her, confused. "He’s got a big family," Maria added. Jacob laughed.

"There are only going to be assorted aunts, uncles and cousins coming. Some have gone away to be with their extended families, so it won’t be that crowded," he said. Maria didn’t feel a whole lot better.

Jacob smiled as he looked out at the familiar neighborhood. He had missed it. The homesickness was the worst part of being in O-Town. He always cherished the time he spent when he was able to return home, rare as it was. Maria saw the look on his face and decided to calm herself. She didn’t want to make him uptight about her being there with him. She knew that he didn’t get to see his family much, so she just had to chill out and go with the flow.

The limo pulled into a long driveway. Jacob was jumping out before the limo even came to a full stop. Maria got out and smiled when she saw Jacob hugging a woman who looked a lot like him. Emily joined her and they stood watching Jacob’s reunion with his family.

Mechele was in tears the minute she saw her son. She hugged him tightly. "Welcome home, baby," she said. Jacob smiled. He turned to his brother, Bryan.

"Dude, you look bigger," he said. "Pretty soon, you’ll be taller than me."

"Probably, you’re so short," Bryan said as he hugged Jacob.

"Hey, Dani." Jacob turned to his sister, Danielle, and pulled her into a hug. She had tears in her eyes, too.

"Honey, introduce us to your friends," Mechele said as she looked over at Maria and Emily. She knew immediately which one was Maria. She was very beautiful and looked tough. Jacob had told Mechele a lot about her, but Mechele was still hesitant about anyone who got involved with her son, especially because of the fact that he was now in a popular band and could easily be taken advantage of.

"Oh, sorry." Jacob ran over and took Maria’s hand. He led her over to his mother. Emily followed them, shyly. "Mom, this is Maria and her cousin, Emily. Maria, Emily, my mom, Mechele, and that’s Bryan and Danielle." Maria smiled at Bryan and Danielle. Bryan looked just like Jacob, only not as cute, but Maria was biased there. Bryan’s hair was brown and curly and he had a nice smile. Danielle also had dark brown hair and she was very pretty. They all kinda looked alike in one way or another.

"It’s nice to meet you," Maria said, turning and taking Mechele’s hand, looking directly into eyes that were identical to Jacob’s. Mechele smiled.

"You, too, dear. It’s wonderful that you’ll get to spend Christmas with us," she said. She then shook Emily’s hand and after retrieving their bags, they all headed into the house.

Bryan pulled Jacob aside. "Holy shit, dude. She’s hot," he said. Jacob smacked him on the back of the head.

"Dude, don’t even think about it. But, yeah, she’s beautiful, isn’t she?" he said, smiling. Danielle overheard them and rolled her eyes.

"Maria, they’re drooling over you," she announced. Jacob laughed as Maria turned to look at them.

"Now I have to put up with two of them?" Maria asked, shaking her head. Mechele smiled. She liked Maria so far, but would reserve judgment until she had a chance to talk to her and get to know her better.

"There’s a guest room with two beds. It’s right down the hall here to the right," Mechele said. Jacob held his tongue. He wanted Maria in his room, but he didn’t want to push it. He could already tell that his mother was hesitant about accepting Maria.

"Thank you, Mrs. Underwood, for letting me come here to spend Christmas. If there’s anything at all that I can do to help, please ask. Oh, and thanks for letting Emily stay, too," Maria said. Mechele smiled.

"It really isn’t a problem. I’m happy that you’re both here. Jacob has spoken highly of you and I saw your article on the boys. It was very well done. You’re extremely talented," she said.

"Thank you. Unfortunately, I haven’t been working a lot lately, but hopefully, that will change after the New Year," Maria told her.

"Well, make yourselves at home and if there’s anything you need, ask me or Jacob and we’ll do our best to accommodate you," Mechele said. Maria smiled as Jacob’s mother walked away. She went over to one of the beds and put her things down on it. Emily went over to the other bed. Jacob, Bryan and Danielle came in behind them from the hallway where they had been listening.

Jacob hugged Maria. "See? I told you she’d be cool," he said.

"I’m just kinda anxious for some reason. Like, Bryan and Danielle, I’m cool with, but your mom is making me nervous," Maria said as she rested her head on Jacob’s shoulder.

"You did a great job just now. Don’t worry, Mom is just protective, especially of Jacob because of what he does," Danielle told her.

"She’s right," Jacob reassured her. "Just relax." He kissed Maria lightly on the lips and left with Bryan and Danielle, so that Maria and Emily could get settled in.

"Do you like her?" Jacob asked Danielle.

"She seems nice and is really pretty. It’s just weird that you’re not with Janie anymore," she said. Jacob sighed.

"I know, but when you get to know Maria, I know that you’ll love her," he said.

"Like you do?" Bryan asked. Jacob nodded.

"Yeah, like I do," he said, smiling.