"I’m sorry. I have a question and I don’t know if I can ask you," she said. "Why not?" he asked.
"It’s about something that I don’t know if you know about and I don’t know if I should ask you about," Maria replied. Jacob actually laughed.
"The party?" he asked. Maria relaxed.
"Yeah, the party. Happy birthday, by the way," she said.
"Thanks. What’s your question?"
"Well, I am already bringing my best friend and my other friend, who’s the stylist that’s coming on the trip, but now my boyfriend wants to go and I just wanted to make sure that it was okay," Maria told him.
"I guess," was Jacob’s answer. Maria rolled her eyes.
"Is that a good ‘I guess’ or a ‘I don’t really want you to bring him, so don’t, I guess?’" she asked.
"Yeah, bring him. I don’t care," Jacob said flatly. Maria shook her head. What the hell was with this guy?
"Thanks. Okay, go back to doing whatever it was that you were doing. I’m sorry I bothered you," Maria said as she hung up the phone.
Jacob smiled when Maria hung up.
"Who was that?" Erik asked, coming over to Jacob and drinking from a water bottle.
"Maria Carpenter. She wanted to know if she could bring her boyfriend to the party tonight," he answered.
"Man, that sucks that she has a boyfriend. What did you say?" Erik asked him. Jacob shrugged.
"I told her that I didn’t care," he said. Erik shook his head at him.
"I’m sure that she appreciated the old ‘Underwood charm,’" he said. Jacob laughed as he put his cell phone away and went back to practice. Smiling, Erik followed him.
Maria managed to finish her work by early afternoon, which was what she had hoped to do since she had to run home in order to get ready for the party. Susan drove her home and Maria entered the loft, sighing when she saw Sarah camped out in front of the TV set.
"Is this what you’re going to do during your whole vacation?" Maria asked her. Sarah smiled at her.
"What’re these?" she asked, holding up the magazines with O-Town on the cover.
"What do they look like? They’re magazines," Maria replied as she put her things away. Heathcliff came over to her and she picked him up.
"I didn’t know that you were a closet boy band fan," Sarah said. Maria sat down next to her on the couch.
"I’m not. What are you watching?" she asked.
"TRL. They’re on number one, so shut up," Sarah said as she put the volume up. A guy that Maria knew to be Carson Daly was announcing the number one video. She perked up when he announced that it was O-Town’s ‘All Or Nothing.’ "Hey, it’s your band," Sarah told her as she held up the magazines again. Maria watched the video and was surprised when she found herself liking the song.
"Jacob must be happy that their video is number one on his birthday," Maria mumbled. Sarah looked at her.
"Jacob? You know them by name? What’s going on?" she asked, suspiciously. Maria looked at her.
"O-Town is the band that I’m doing a cover story on for an upcoming issue of Star Power. They’re my assignment. I’m going to be traveling with them for a few months starting on Friday, which is why you can’t stay here," Maria said as she stood up, putting Heathcliff down onto the couch. She walked to her bedroom. Sarah followed her.
"Can I come?" she asked as she lay down on the bed on her stomach. Maria frowned.
"No. The group doesn’t even want me there. Besides, you have school," she said as she went through her closet looking for something to wear to the party. Sarah sighed.
"It sounds like fun. They’re cute. Not my kind of music, but…"
"Forget it, Sarah. You know, Emily lives in Boca Raton. Why don’t you go stay with her?" Maria didn’t know why she had forgotten that their cousin, Emily, lived in Florida. She had moved there a year or so ago and she was close to Sarah’s age. She was nineteen if Maria remembered correctly. It had been a while since they’d seen her.
"I can’t just drop in on Emily," Sarah protested. Maria gave Sarah a ‘look.’
"Oh, but you can just ‘drop in’ on me?" she asked. Sarah smiled.
"No. Mom dropped me on you. I never said that I wanted to come here," she said and paused. "Okay, fine. I’ll call Emily and talk to her."
"Thank you, Sarah. You know I wouldn’t mind you staying here if I didn’t have to go away, right?" Maria asked. Sarah nodded.
"I know, Maria," she said. She looked up at her older sister. "I did the shopping that you wanted. Want some popcorn?" Maria nodded and Sarah took off towards the kitchen to make them some ‘dinner.’
Jacob sat on his bed, wearing just a towel. He had taken a shower and was preparing to get dressed for his party. The other guys were more excited than he was, but he didn’t want to bring them down, so he was planning on putting on a happy face. His mother had called him and he had gotten that sad, homesick feeling again. Jacob had a huge family, so parties for occasions such as birthdays were always a big deal. Now, though, talking to his mother, his younger brother, Bryan and his younger sister, Danielle, on the phone had to do. Jacob’s parents were divorced, but he still talked to his father occasionally and was close to him. Jacob now had a new ‘family’ to celebrate with.
"Do you need anything?" Jacob looked up to see Ashley standing in the doorway.
"Nah, I’m fine," Jacob said and sighed. Ashley came in and sat down beside him.
"Feeling homesick?" he asked. Jacob looked at him.
"Should I be scared that you’re reading my mind?" he asked. Ashley laughed.
"No. I know how you feel, that’s all. It’s times like this, you know, your birthday and holidays that you miss your family the most. We all feel the same way," he said.
"Yeah. That’s true. It’ll be a long time before we can see our families again," Jacob told him.
"We’ll talk to the Mikes. I’m sure that, like, after this radio tour, we’ll get some time off," Ashley said. Jacob nodded.
"We better," he said. Ashley smirked.
"I think we will. After last time, Andrew is, like, scared of you," he said. Jacob laughed. During the group’s previous tour, Jacob had ‘gone off’ on Andrew Berkowitz, who was J Records’ VP of Artist Relations, because the group hadn’t gotten the four days off that they had been promised. They had eventually been given some time off to see their families, though, and the guys attributed that to Jacob’s tirade.
Ashley got up. "I’ll let you get ready. See ya downstairs," he said as he left. Jacob stood up and went over to his closet to find something to wear.
Alex and Kathleen arrived at Maria’s loft at 6:15. They would all be driving together to O-Town’s house, since Maria was the only one who knew where the house was. Maria was glad that they had arrived early because she needed Alex’s help in getting ready. She had been told to look ‘nice.’ Not a whole lot of information, but she thought that she looked pretty good.
Maria wore a short, black skirt with a shiny, silver, wrap-around blouse that criss-crossed across her front and tied in the back. She wore her hair down, but hadn’t blown it dry after her shower, so it was very wavy. She also wore black, sheer stockings and high-heel sandals. A black and silver beaded choker completed her look. Alex did her make-up, then Kathleen’s. They both looked great, as well.
Alex had on a short, tight, black dress with a gold chain around her waist. Her hair was pulled up in a neat twist and her make-up was, of course, perfect. Kathleen wore a black leather, mini skirt that showed off her long legs. She had on a tight, red blouse that was very low cut, but sophisticated looking.
"Ladies, I am very lucky to be in your company tonight," Geoff said, smiling when he saw them.
"You don’t look too bad yourself," Alex said. Geoff wore black slacks with a tight white tee shirt and a black button-down shirt opened over it. Maria went over to him and gave him a quick kiss.
"How’s your hand?" he asked her quietly. Maria looked at her bandaged hand and shrugged.
"It’s getting better," she said, and then turned to the others.
"Ready to go?" she asked. They nodded and they all exited the bedroom. Sarah was lying on the couch, petting Heathcliff, who was perched on her chest. "Wow. You guys look great. Say ‘hi’ to O-Town for me," she said. "Especially the blonde." Kathleen laughed.
"Oh, I will," she said with a smile.
"We might be late, so goodnight," Maria said to Sarah. Sarah nodded and watched as they left. ‘I don’t see why I couldn’t go,' she thought. ‘Maria is always the lucky one.’
"Why should I stay where I’m not really wanted?" she asked Heathcliff. Sarah carefully picked him up and put him down onto the couch. She then went to the guestroom to make a call.
Jacob emerged from his room and made his way down the stairs to the rec room where he figured everyone else was waiting. He hadn’t dressed fancily at all. He had on black slacks and a long-sleeve, button-down black shirt that was shiny in some places. He wore nothing on his head. When he entered the rec room, he noticed that the others were similarly dressed.
"Happy birthday!" Trevor yelled when Jacob appeared.
"Thanks. So, we have to wait then?" he asked. Erik nodded.
"Yeah. Maria and her guests will be coming here soon," he said. The Mikes then came into the room. They were also going to be attending the party, mostly to ‘baby-sit’ them. Jacob sat down beside Dan on the couch to wait.
"We didn’t have to get a birthday present, did we?" Alex asked. Maria frowned. "I hope not. We don’t even know the guy. What would we get him anyway?" she asked as she read the street signs. She had been to the house, but didn’t remember exactly where it was.
"I don’t think he’d expect gifts from us. Don’t worry," Kathleen said from the backseat where she was sitting with Alex.
"What the guy needs is an attitude adjustment," Maria said, thinking about the phone call. "There it is." She pulled into the driveway and turned to see the reactions of the girls as they looked at the house.
"Holy…" Kathleen said as she looked at the brightly lit mansion.
"Nice place," Alex said as she got out of the Jeep. Two white limousines were parked in the driveway. "Oh, cool. We’re going to be traveling to this party in style," she added with a smile. The others followed her and walked to the front door. Maria felt Geoff take her hand. She looked at him, but he just stared straight ahead.
After Kathleen rang the doorbell, the door opened and Mike C. smiled at them. "Hi, glad you can make it. Please come in," he said. Maria led the way into the house and saw the group sitting around, looking bored. Erik smiled when he saw her.
"I honestly didn’t think you’d want to come when I called you," he said.
"Why not? It’s a party," she said with a smile. Kathleen and Alex looked at her, silently begging her to introduce them.
"Okay, let’s see if I remember your names. Erik, Ashley, Dan, Trevor and Jacob, meet Alexandra Hernandez and Kathleen Burns. Alex is the stylist who will coming with us on the trip and Kathleen is my best friend," Maria said. Ashley smiled at Kathleen, who looked nervous.
"Maria told me that you liked my picture," he said. Kathleen then looked confused. Maria laughed, and Kathleen glared at her.
"What did you tell him?" she asked. Maria just kept laughing. Ashley took Kathleen’s hand and shook it politely.
"It’s a pleasure to meet you," he said.
"Okay, I’m embarrassed, but it’s nice to meet you too," she said.
Geoff cleared his throat. Maria looked at him and took his arm. "Oh, this is my boyfriend, Geoff King. Geoff, that’s O-Town. I’ve already been through their names, so…" she said. Geoff nodded at them. The guys said ‘hi.’
Jacob stood up and shoved his hands into his pockets. He actually thought that Maria looked great. He wished that he didn’t think that she looked great, but he wasn’t blind. She still had that ‘devil may care’ attitude, but she seemed happier than she had been at their first meeting. Her boyfriend was studying them. Jacob shook his head. Did the guy not trust them…or did he not trust Maria? Whatever. Jacob really shouldn’t care, but he had a feeling that this Geoff dude was going to eventually be trouble.
"Can we go?" Jacob asked, looking at the Mikes.
"The birthday boy is impatient!" Erik shouted. "Let’s go!"
Alex pulled Maria aside. "I have to dress them for your pictures?" she asked. Maria nodded.
"Yeah, why? What’s wrong?"
"Look at them. They really do need a good stylist," she said with a smile. Maria smiled back.
"That’s why you’re coming on the trip," she said as they made their way out of the house to the two limos. Mike M. was trying to figure out who was going with whom.
"There are eleven of us, and there are six to a limo, so six in one limo, five in the other," he told them. Everyone looked at each other. When everything had been talked out, it ended up that Maria, Geoff, Kathleen, Ashley, Jacob and Mike C. would go in one limo and Trevor, Dan, Erik, Alex and Mike M. would ride in the other limo.
Maria found herself sandwiched in the back of the limo between Geoff and Jacob, while Kathleen sat with Ashley on the side seat and Mike C. sat facing the back. Jacob stared out the window.
"So, Geoff, what do you do?" Ashley asked.
"I’m studying to be an architect," Geoff replied. Ashley nodded and turned to Kathleen.
"And you?" he asked. Kathleen smiled.
"I’m studying to be an actress. You know, taking drama classes and doing as many plays as I can so that I can get the experience," she said. Ashley smiled.
"I’m interested in acting, too," he said.
"Then why are you in a band?" Kathleen asked him.
"Well, I’ve always loved music, so when the auditions came up, I couldn’t pass up such an amazing opportunity," he replied. "Acting will be a part of my life eventually, but right now, I, like, want to concentrate on O-Town." The limo took a sharp turn and Maria leaned in Jacob’s direction.
"Sorry," she said as she straightened up, taking her hand off of his knee where it had landed when she had tried to catch her balance. Jacob smelled very good and Maria silently cursed herself for thinking that.
"No problem," he said softly. Maria wondered why he was being so quiet. He didn’t look like he would be the quiet/shy member of the group. She had a feeling that Jacob wasn’t acting like himself, but why would he do that? It was all very confusing and Maria didn’t know why she was spending so much time thinking about it.
"I saw that your video was number one on that countdown thing on MTV today," Maria remarked. Jacob didn’t look too thrilled. He just nodded. "My sister watches that show…" Maria added.
"TRL," Ashley said. Maria nodded and he continued talking. "We saw that, too. It’s so amazing that our video is number one on there. But, those are the fans and we have, like, the best fans in the world. They’re so dedicated, so ‘All Or Nothing’ being number one is all because of them," Ashley said with a big smile.
The limo stopped and Mike C. got out. They were at a club, but no one was waiting to get in. Maria guessed that the club had been reserved for the party. Geoff got out next, followed by Maria and Jacob. She turned when she heard some screams. A group of girls stood behind a rope. The screams got louder when Ashley stepped out of the limo. He smiled and waved. Jacob, Maria noticed, waved, but paid little attention to the girls.
The others met them and they all headed inside the club. It was decorated with balloons and streamers. There was a large dance floor with a colored mirror ball over it and small tables surrounded the dance floor. A long bar was to the right with a mirrored wall behind it. The group scattered. Geoff led Maria to a table, where she sat down while he went to get them some drinks. Kathleen and Alex joined her.
"Don’t you want to mingle with the guys?" Maria asked.
"I can’t believe that you told Ashley that I liked him," Kathleen said.
"I just told him that you were drooling over his picture. No big deal," she said with a smile. She watched as more people came in and went over to Jacob to wish him a happy birthday. Jacob actually had a smile on his face. Maria frowned.
"What’s wrong?" Alex asked, following her gaze. "That guy, Jacob? Did he do something to you?"v "No. I just have a feeling that he’s gonna be a tough one to get to open up for the article. He’s already being very distant, but I have a feeling that he’s not really like that," Maria told them. Geoff reappeared and set a glass of wine down in front of Maria. She took a sip of the wine, her eyes still on Jacob. Geoff noticed.
"So, what are the travel arrangements for this trip going to be like?" he asked as he sat down beside her. Music suddenly filled the club. Maria looked at Geoff.
"I’ll be traveling with the band," she said over the music. "On their tour bus." "Oh, really?" Geoff asked, not looking too happy about that.
"It’s no big deal, Geoff. Susan and Alex will be with me. It’s not gonna just be me and the five band members. There will only be certain times when I’ll actually be hanging out with the guys," she said.
"Maria, a bus isn’t that big," he told her. Maria just shrugged. She looked up when Trevor came over to their table.
"Would one of you lovely ladies like to dance?" he asked. Alex smiled and jumped up.v "Sure," she said as Trevor grinned and took her hand. Maria shook her head.
"I don’t know if it’s gonna work out with her coming. She’s too guy-crazy to concentrate. I mean, they’re okay looking, but she has to be a professional," she said. Geoff felt a little better about things after she had said that. Maria wasn’t looking at the band like they were guys, she saw subjects to write about and to shoot photos of. He gave a sigh of relief. As long as it stayed that way, he had nothing to worry about.
Alex went to the bar to get something to drink. She noticed Erik standing there and surveyed him, looking him up and down. Erik turned to see her checking him out.
"Like what you see?" he asked with a smile. Alex gave a ‘sort of’ look.v "I think that you’re the best dresser out of the five of you," she said.
"Oh," Erik said. She had been looking at his clothes.
"You’ll be dressing even better when I get through with you," Alex said with a smile. She took her drink and walked away. Erik watched her go, an amused look on his face. Ashley and Jacob joined him at the bar.
"What’s going on?" Ashley asked Erik.
"Alex, our new stylist, is already dressing us with her eyes," he replied. Ashley frowned.
"I thought it was ‘undressing’ you with her eyes?" he asked. Erik shrugged.
"Not her. I think she’s planning on how to dress us for our photo shoots," he said. Jacob shook his head.
"Terrific. We’re gonna be ordered around by those girls the whole tour. Just make sure that you don’t do everything they say. They are not in charge," he said, firmly.
"I don’t know, Jake. They don’t seem like the types that take ‘no’ for an answer," Erik told him.
"They will," Jacob said with a look of determination on his face.
Maria was tired. She had had a few glasses of wine and she had done her fair share of dancing. Now, she was once again sitting at the table. The party was still in full swing and looked like it would never end. She had danced with Geoff and Trevor. Trevor was an amazing dancer with a very high energy level and he was a nice guy, so Maria had had fun. She watched everyone partying and having a good time. Alex was at the bar talking to a guy that Maria didn’t know, while Kathleen was dancing with Geoff. Maria’s eyes went to the bar where Ashley, Jacob and Erik were standing with drinks in their hands. They were laughing at something that Erik had said. Maria didn’t think that they were drunk, but she couldn’t be sure. Erik seemed like the group’s ‘clown’ and she had noticed that they were usually laughing around him anyway.
‘I wonder if Ashley is even old enough to drink,’ Maria thought as she took a pen from her purse and began doodling on a napkin. Her eyes didn’t stray from the trio at the bar. Five minutes later, Jacob suddenly looked over at her and their eyes locked. Maria gave him a small smile and continued to draw on her napkin. She looked down at her drawing and when she looked up, the three of them were standing in front of her. Erik’s eyes grew wide when he saw the napkin.
"Did you do that?" he asked. Maria nodded.
"Yes. Who did you think did it?" she said. Ashley picked up the napkin.
"Wow. It’s us," he said. "Are you, like, an artist, too?"
"Sort of. I mean I took art classes in college. I was kinda into all of the arts in a way. I also play the piano," she said. Ashley smiled.
"I’d love to hear you play sometime. I play, too. That is really amazing, you know? You, like, do a little of everything. That takes a lot of talent," he said. Maria shrugged.
"I guess," she said. "Why aren’t you guys dancing?" she asked, uncomfortable with the conversation that was focusing on herself.
"We were. Why aren’t you dancing?" Erik asked.
"No one’s asked me," Maria replied.
"Hey, why don’t you dance with the birthday boy?" Ashley asked. Jacob glared at him. Maria saw this and smiled.
"Does he want to?" she asked.
"Sure. Right, Jake?" Ashley said.
"Why not?" Jacob didn’t want to dance with her. He was supposed to stay away from her. But he also couldn’t appear rude. He was caught between a rock and a hard place and it sucked. Maria stood up and Jacob put his drink down on the table. Erik and Ashley smiled as they watched Jacob and Maria head for the dance floor. A slow song came on and Jacob wanted to kill the DJ.
"Isn’t that funny?" Maria asked.
"What?" Jacob said as they stood on the dance floor.
"Well, it’s comical how a slow song happens to come on when we go to dance because I know that you don’t really want to dance with me," she said, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Oh? And how do you know that?" Jacob asked as he held out his arms. ‘A challenge, huh?’ Maria thought. She stared at him for a minute before accepting his challenge. She put her arms around his neck and he pulled her close---too close. She backed away a little bit, although she didn’t find his hands on her waist all that unpleasant. "Is something wrong?" he asked. Maria knew that he was deliberately trying to make her feel uncomfortable. And it was working.
"Nothing," she said, refusing to look at him. Jacob smiled. She smelled extremely good and her eyes…if he wasn’t careful, he could get lost in them, but he pushed those thoughts away as soon as he had them. She was a nosy writer/photographer who was going to be in his way for three months. He had to remember that…despite what she looked like.
"You didn’t seem too thrilled that your video got to number one," she told him. He shrugged.
"It’s cool. That show has ridiculous power over what is successful, though. That’s our teenage fan base talking," Jacob said. "I guess it’s good for us. At least we didn’t only have one hit, although, I wouldn’t really call ‘Liquid Dreams’ a ‘hit.’" Maria couldn’t believe that he had said all of that.
"Wow. I didn’t think that you talked," she said with a smile. Jacob told himself to shut up. He had already said too much to her. His plan to remain distant from her wasn’t going too well right now and they hadn’t even started their trip yet. It had to be the alcohol, although he hadn’t consumed that much.
"Uh, oh. A certain someone is coming this way and he doesn’t look too happy," Jacob said in her ear.
"May I cut in?" an annoyed voice asked. Maria turned to see Geoff standing there with a pissed-off look on his face. She looked at Jacob, who shrugged and released her. Geoff stared at Jacob, trying to intimidate him, but Jacob just smiled and silently walked away.
"You don’t have to be rude," Maria said as Geoff wrapped his arms around her.
"I’m sorry if I want my woman all to myself," he said as he kissed her forehead. Maria rolled her eyes. Geoff’s jealousy was all too apparent.
"You have no reason to be jealous or worried about me going on this trip, Geoff," she said.
"I’m not jealous. I just wanted to dance with you, so what’s the problem?" he asked.
"You are jealous, so don’t try to deny it," Maria shot back. Geoff stopped dancing and looked at her. He was starting to get angry.
"Excuse me if I’m having reservations about my girlfriend going off and living on a bus with five guys for three months," he said. Maria pushed away from him and stalked over to the table. She downed the last of her glass of wine and shoved the empty glass at Geoff, who had followed her over to the table.
"Can you please get me a re-fill?" she asked, icily. Geoff took the glass and threw it to the ground, causing everyone to look over at them. Maria watched as the glass shattered into a million pieces on the floor. She was trying to hide a smile, but she couldn’t because the wine had gone to her head.
"You think this is funny?" Geoff asked, angrily. Kathleen and Alex had come over to see what was going on.
"Geoff, calm down. You’re embarrassing yourself and you’re embarrassing me. Everyone’s looking to see who the freaked-out psycho is," Maria told him. Geoff grabbed her arm and she quickly pulled it away from him. "Don’t touch me. You’re causing a scene. Just stop it." Geoff glared at her.
"If there’s a problem…?" Mike C. asked as he came up behind Maria.
"I think that we’ll just go now. Can you please call a cab for us?" Maria asked Mike, who nodded and immediately took out his cell phone. Maria pulled her keys out of her purse.
"Oh, that’s really responsible. You’re gonna drive now?" Geoff asked. Maria hesitated for only a split second before she threw her keys at him.
"No, you are," she said angrily as she left. Kathleen and Alex quickly followed her. Geoff reached down and picked up the keys. Without looking at anyone, he practically ran out of the club.
Jacob and Dan had been standing close enough to see and hear everything that had gone on.
"It’s gonna be a great trip, Danny," Jacob said, sarcastically. Dan laughed.
"It sure is," he agreed.