Chapter 3
Maria held up a finished black and white print, studying it closely for any imperfections.
"Well?" Alex practically shouted as she came running into the photo lab. Maria looked at her.
"It’s okay, I guess. It’s still a little dark, though. I have to adjust the F stop on the enlarger," she said as she put the print down.
"What?" Alex asked and when Maria smiled, Alex went over and shook her by the shoulders. "I don’t give a shit about the picture. How did your meeting with the band go?" she asked. Maria sighed. She had forgotten that she hadn’t seen Alex since the meeting with O-Town, which had been held yesterday afternoon. It was now the next evening and Maria had been working practically nonstop all day. Kyle had had an early photo shoot and Maria had to make the prints to give to him by tomorrow. She looked at Alex’s anxious face.
"It went fine. It was actually a little boring. What do you want to know?" Maria asked. Alex thought for a minute.
"I don’t know. I had a million questions, but now I can’t think of one. Are they cute?" she asked. Maria rolled her eyes.
"Alex, I wasn’t looking at them like that. I was there for business reasons. I’m only going to be associated with them in a business sense, and you are too, so don’t go getting any ideas that you’re gonna get one of them to fall for you. It isn’t gonna happen," she said as she went to clean up. She poured the developer into a container and put the tray in a large sink, turning the water on to wash out the tray. Alex nodded.
"I know that. I was just wondering what they’re like in person," she said. Maria shrugged.
"They’re just guys. They’re not anything really special. You’ll meet them soon, so don’t worry," she said. Susan appeared at the door and motioned to Maria.
"Phone for you. Line 3," she said. Maria went over to the phone and picked it up.
"Hello?"
"Hey Maria, or, I mean, Ms. Carpenter. Miss Carpenter? What do I call you exactly?" a voice asked.
"It depends. Who is this?" Maria asked.
"This is Ashley from O-Town. We met yesterday, remember?" Ashley said, amusement in his voice. Maria was surprised.
"Oh, right, of course. Hi. You can call me Maria. What’s going on?" she asked, wondering why the hell Ashley Angel of O-Town was calling her.
"Well, we, that is, me and the rest of the guys wanted to invite you to a party tomorrow night. It’s a private birthday party, actually, and we wanted you to come," Ashley told her.
"Why?" was Maria’s next question.
"Because we thought that it would be cool for you to hang out with us, you know, before going on the radio tour together. We don’t want it to be, like, awkward, especially on the bus. It’s pretty close quarters and it would be more comfortable if we, like, knew each other a little before going," Ashley said, hoping that he was making sense. There was a shuffling noise and another voice suddenly replaced Ashley’s."Look, we want you to come because we thought that it would be nice to invite you." Maria recognized Erik’s voice.
"That is nice of you…Erik, right? Do I get to bring a friend to this party?" she asked. She already knew that Geoff was going out with Kevin and a few of his friends tomorrow night, so she was thinking about asking Kathleen to go with her. Maria still had reservations about her assignment, but a party was a party.
"Yes, this is Erik and do you want to bring a girlfriend or a boyfriend?" Erik asked. ‘Nosy, isn’t he?’ Maria thought.
"My boyfriend can’t make it, but I have a girlfriend who would love to go," she said to him. There was a pause as Erik relayed the information to, probably, Ashley.
"Ashley wants to know if she’s the one who was drooling over his picture," Erik said. Maria laughed.
"That would be the one," she told him. There was another pause.
"Okay, he’s psyched now. Yeah, bring her," Erik said. Maria glanced at Alex, who was looking at her with a hopeful look on her face.
"How about I bring two friends? There happens to be someone else here who would like to go to the party, I think," Maria said.
"Is she cute?" Erik asked. Maria smiled at Alex, who had a huge grin on her face."Yes, as a matter of fact she is. She should meet you guys, too, since she’s the stylist that I’m bringing along on the trip," Maria told him.
"Then, by all means, bring her to the party. We’d love to meet her," Erik said.
"Great. Thanks. By the way, who’s the party for, where is it being held and what time should we be there?" Maria asked him. Erik hesitated again.
"The party is for Jacob. It’s his 21st birthday. Come to the house at around 7 and we’ll ride to the club where the party is being held together," he said.
"Are you sure?" Maria asked.
"Yes, I’m sure. And it’s not that fancy a party, so just dress, I don’t know, nicely?" he said/asked. Maria laughed.
"Fine, we’ll look nice for you guys. Thanks for the invite," she said.
"No problem. We’ll see you tomorrow then," he said.
"Okay, Erik. Bye." Maria hung up and noticed that Alex was practically jumping up and down with excitement.
"An O-Town party! And I’m going? I love you, Maria!" Alex exclaimed as she hugged her.
"Alex, be professional. You’re going to be dressing these guys. Don’t go jumping all over them. It would really embarrass me and you’ll end up making a fool out of yourself. It’s only a birthday party, anyway. It’s nothing to get so excited about," Maria said as she went back to cleaning up the lab. Alex frowned.
"How can you not be excited? Come on, fess up…what did you think of the group, and I don’t mean professionally speaking," she said. Maria took a deep breath and turned around to face Alex.
"Alex, I have a boyfriend. Yes, the guys in the group are cute, but they are just subjects to me---subjects to interview and subjects to take pictures of. That’s it," she said firmly. She went over to the sink, turning her back on Alex, who shook her head. For some reason, she didn’t quite believe Maria.
"A birthday party, huh? For who?" Alex asked. Maria turned to look at her.
"Jacob, one of the guys in the group," she answered as she put a clean tray next to the sink. Alex nodded.
"Great. I can’t wait. It sounds like fun. And you will have fun, Maria. I’ll see to it myself," Alex told her. Maria just nodded, absentmindedly, as she continued at her task of cleaning up her mess. Alex shook her head and left the lab.
"She’s coming," Erik said, smiling, as he hung up the phone. "And she’s bringing not one, but two friends with her. Actually, the other friend is the stylist who’s coming with us on the trip." Ashley nodded.
"Cool. It was right to invite Maria, right?" he asked. Erik frowned.
"Yeah. Why not? We will be hanging out with her for three months. It would be easier if we got to at least know each other a little before Friday," he said. Ashley agreed. They had all gotten the impression that Maria Carpenter wasn’t thrilled to even be going with them on their trip. If they were able to somehow make her relax and maybe even have her liking them a little before they left, it would make things a lot less tense.
"Do you think that Jacob will mind that we invited her?" Ashley then asked Erik.
"Why would he mind? He barely said two words to her yesterday. I don’t think he’ll care one way or another," Erik replied. "Oh, Maria also mentioned that she has a boyfriend."
"Damn. Oh, well, I guess that’s cool. I just hope that the more she gets to know us, the more excited she’ll be to do the story on us. I mean, it’s, like, kinda strange that she seems so not into this feature, you know?" Ashley asked. Erik nodded, and then smiled.
"We’re irresistible, though. She’ll get to like us. I know she will," he said.
Jacob was in the group’s studio, working on a song. They were already writing for their next album and the guys hoped to get most of their songs on their second album. It seemed strange to be thinking about another album so soon after their first one had been released, but Jacob wanted to take the time necessary to make sure that the next record was musically better than the first. He liked the first album, but it had been too rushed and he had been unhappy with his work on it…of course, being a perfectionist, he was never really happy with his work.
The door opened and Trevor walked in. He smiled and Jacob was immediately suspicious.
"What’s that smile for?" Jacob asked, putting his pencil down.
"Nothing," Trevor answered as he sat down on a stool, the smile still on his face.
"Look, Trevor, I already told you and the others that I don’t want a big party for my birthday. I know that you’ve already planned something since Ashley can’t keep his mouth shut and told me all about it, but just don’t go making a big deal out of it, okay?" Jacob said to him. Trevor’s smile faded.
"Why are you such a party pooper? It’s your 21st birthday. It is a big deal and we want to celebrate. Just so you know, the party is gonna be private with only invited guests. It’s not gonna be a big out-of-control bash kinda thing, so don’t worry about it. We just want you to have some fun," he told him. Jacob strummed his guitar.
"I know. And I don’t mean to sound ungrateful, it’s just that we have a lot to do before Friday," he said.
"Jake, you think too much about work. You need to have some fun. Erik and Ashley have been calling people and inviting them, so it’s cool. I think that photographer, Maria, is coming, too," Trevor said. Jacob looked up at him with a frown.
"She is? Why did they invite her? Dude, she doesn’t even like us," he said. Trevor shrugged.
"I guess they wanted to include her so that she gets to know us a little before the trip. It’ll be good. There will be other people there, so it’s not like you’ll have to hang out with her. She’s bringing a friend and the stylist who will also be coming on our trip. Erik said that Maria said that she’s cute," he told him with a grin. Jacob shook his head. Great. That was just what they needed---another distraction.
"You guys better concentrate on what it is we have to do on this trip," Jacob remarked. Trevor laughed.
"That’s what we have you for and that’s what we have Dan for. The rest of us like to have fun," he said as he got up and left Jacob alone once again. ‘I can have fun,’ Jacob thought. ‘I’m just more serious about my career than the others.’ He looked back at his writing book and continued to work.
Maria arrived back at her loft at 9:30 that night. She opened the door and stopped in her tracks.
"It’s about time you’re back." Sitting on the couch was her sister, Sarah.
"What are you doing here?" Maria asked, confused and more than a little annoyed. Sarah got up and walked over to Maria. She looked older than eighteen. She had brown hair, which was a little darker than Maria’s, but her face looked a lot like her older sister’s. They could almost pass for twins, except Sarah was cute, whereas, Maria was more ‘beautiful,’ if there was such a difference.
"Mom finally threw me out," Sarah said with a smirk. At Maria’s skeptical look, Sarah laughed. "I’m just kidding. She sent me here for spring break because I’m too ‘wild’ and she can’t handle me anymore," she said with a roll of her green eyes. Maria sighed, put her things down, and walked into the sitting area, already trying to figure out what to do with Sarah.
"Who let you in?" Maria asked.
"Your boyfriend. He really is hot, Maria. He went out, but said that he’d be back later. He told me to make myself comfortable, so I did. I fed the kitten, by the way," Sarah told her as Maria paced.
"You can’t stay here," Maria stated, stopping her pacing. She looked at her sister. Sarah’s face fell.
"Why not?" she asked.
"Because I have a life. I have things to do. I can’t baby-sit you," Maria replied. Sarah got angry.
"For your information, I don’t need babysitting. I can take care of myself," she yelled. Maria shook her head.
"Is that why mom shipped you here…without telling me, I might add," she said.
"Mom is too busy with all of her socials and volunteering and whatever the hell else that she does. She doesn’t give a shit about me. When you left, she decided that she had no more children and Joey and I became invisible," Sarah shouted. Maria rolled her eyes.
"Don’t go getting all dramatic. That’s not true. You decided to test mom and you started acting all bratty and rebellious. That’s why mom sent you here. You have no discipline and just need some guidance," Maria told her.
"So, is that why you’re trying to get rid of me, too?" Sarah asked. Maria sat down and rubbed her forehead.
"Okay, listen. You can stay here for a few nights, but I have a party to go to tomorrow night and then I leave on an assignment on Friday. I’ll be gone for a while, so you can’t stay here after that. You’ll have to find somewhere else to go," she said.
"Why can’t I stay here? Geoff is here. And, like I said, I can take care of myself," Sarah told her.
"No way am I leaving you here alone. I like my place and I don’t want it trashed. Geoff’s got his classes. He won’t have time to spend with his girlfriend’s little sister…no offense," Maria said. Sarah picked at her bright pink nail polish.
"That’s fine. I’ll look for someplace else to go, then," Sarah said as she stalked down the hall to the guestroom. Maria was furious. How dare her mother just ship Sarah off to Orlando…to her, without even calling and telling her. ‘Mom better not call,’ Maria thought. ‘Because I plan on giving her a piece of my mind…and she won’t be very happy getting it.’
"Is it all or nothing at all/ There’s no where left to fall/ When you reach the bottom/ It’s now or never/ Is it all/ Or are we just friends/ Is this how it ends/ With a simple telephone call/ You leave me here/ With nothing at all." The guys stopped singing and nodded, satisfied. They had been ordered to practice their vocals more at home and they had tried to put aside an hour each night to just sing together in the studio. They were getting better…slowly but surely.
"Okay, guys. That was pretty good. We’ll probably be singing a lot of a capella on this tour, so we need to get the harmonies down and sounding good," Jacob told them. They nodded.
"We’re getting there," Dan remarked.
"We sound a lot better than we used to," Erik said. Ashley nodded.
"You know, these practices with just us has really made a difference. It’s cool that we’re all so dedicated and willing to make this happen," he said with a smile.
"Yeah, Ash, but there will still be sub-par shows and we have to make sure that we have more good ones than bad ones," Jacob told him. "Especially with what’s-her-name around."
"You mean Maria?" Trevor asked. Jacob nodded.
"Why? So what if she happens to see a bad performance?" Ashley asked. Jacob looked at him.
"I don’t want to sound like the one who’s constantly worrying about this, but think about it. She knows nothing about us. She’s never seen ‘Making The Band’ and she has never even heard our music. And I know that I’m not the only one who got the vibe that she doesn’t even want to be doing the article. When you think about it, she really doesn’t have any interest in us at all, other than she was given a job and she has to do it," he said. Erik frowned.
"So, what are you saying?" he asked.
"I’m saying that we have no clue as to how she’s gonna write her article. We have no clue as to what she’s thinking. It’s not a given that this article is gonna be positive. She’s not like our cheerleader or anything. She’s an observer coming in to write an article about us, an article about how she sees us…it could be positive, it could be negative. We just don’t know," Jacob replied.
"He’s right, guys," Dan said. "It’s not definite that Maria is gonna like us. We have to be careful." Ashley looked confused.
"So, do we act careful or do we act, like, ourselves?" he asked. The guys thought for a minute.
"We could still be ourselves and get Maria to like us," Erik said. "We just can’t act like we don’t want her around." He looked at Jacob, as did the other three guys. Jacob gave them a ‘what?’ look.
"Hey, if I have to keep my distance from her, I will. No problem," he said. "I’m the ‘elusive’ one anyway. It’s no big deal."
"Don’t make her think that you’re ignoring her, though," Trevor told him. Jacob sighed.
"Okay, I won’t. Look, it’ll work out. Let’s stop talking about it," he said.
"You brought it up," Erik said with a smile. Jacob smiled back.
"Who’s hungry?" he asked. They all ran out of the studio to go order pizza. Jacob looked toward the sky. He had a lot of praying to do if the next three months were going to go smoothly.
"Mom, what the hell were you thinking?" Maria practically hollered into the phone.
"I knew you’d be upset, but…"
"You’re damn right I’m upset. How could you just send Sarah to me without even telling me?" Maria asked her mother. Maria had sat, thinking about what to do and she had finally decided to call her mother and get out some of her frustration as to her current ‘sister’ situation.
"Maria, Sarah needed a change of scenery. She had to get out to settle herself down. She was getting too wild. I thought that you wouldn’t mind. After all, she is your sister."
"And she’s your daughter. How can you ship her away like an unwanted package? How do you think she feels?" Maria asked, amazed by her mother’s idiocy. "Sarah wanted to go. She wanted to get away for a while. She loves you and I thought that it would be good for her," Caroline told her daughter.
"Good for her or for you?" Maria asked softly. Caroline breathed in sharply.
"Are you accusing me of wanting to get rid of Sarah?" she asked. Maria didn’t say anything. "Maria, I have tried to talk to Sarah, to do things with her, but she’s unresponsive. She’s going to get into real trouble if she’s not careful. The only ones that she’ll even listen to are you and Joey and Joey’s too busy with school and friends to spend much time with Sarah. Her father certainly doesn’t care…"
Maria cut her off right there. "Dad cares, mom. He’s just not close enough to help her right now. Why can’t she go stay with him?"
"I told you why, Maria. Why is it so difficult for her to stay with you? It’s only for a week and a half."
"Mom, I have a job that takes up most of my free time. Also, I’m going away for a while on Friday and she can’t stay here alone. Geoff can’t watch her. He’s got his own things to do," Maria told her.
"What about Kathleen? She seems responsible," Caroline said.
"Mom, I can’t ask my best friend to watch my little sister."
"Why not?" Maria couldn’t believe that she was even having this conversation. Sarah then came into the room wearing pajama bottoms and a tank top.
"I don’t feel like discussing this now. I’ll call you tomorrow," Maria said and hung up. Sometimes her mother just didn’t think.
"Who was that?" Sarah asked.
"No one," Maria answered. She watched as Sarah turned on the TV. The door to the loft opened and Geoff came in. Maria met him at the door and he kissed her lightly.
"What do you think of our unexpected guest?" he asked her. Maria shook her head.
"I just talked to my mom," she said quietly. "She didn’t offer to take Sarah back right now and I can’t leave her here alone. That’s not fair to her or to you." Geoff pulled Maria into his arms.
"I wouldn’t mind watching her, but I wouldn’t really be around much either," he said. Maria nodded against his chest.
"I know. Thank you. It’s Friday that I’m worried about. I’m leaving. What am I gonna do with her?" she asked him. Geoff shrugged. He held her, enjoying their closeness again. Maria had seemingly forgiven him for their argument, as he knew that she would. He smiled.
"Hey, don’t worry about it now, okay?" he said. Maria looked at him.
"You’re going out tomorrow night, right?" she asked. Geoff frowned.
"Yeah. Why?" he asked.
"I’ve been invited to a party. I knew that you were busy, so I asked if I could bring Kathleen instead, if you don’t mind not going," Maria replied.
"Whose party?" he asked.
"The band that I’m covering for the article is having a private party and they invited me," she said. Geoff nodded, but he didn’t look too happy.
"I could always change my plans and go," he said. Maria shrugged.
"I’m sure they wouldn’t mind my bringing you. I’ll call and ask, though," she said. Geoff smiled and leaned down to kiss her again.
"If you guys are done making out, can I have some chips or something?" Sarah’s voice asked from the other room. Maria sighed. ‘Why me?’ she asked herself.
The next day, Maria got up early. She left a list of groceries for Sarah to buy. Maria figured that since she was there, she could help out a little. Susan would be picking Maria up so that Sarah could use Maria’s Jeep. Sarah had visited before, so she knew her way around a little. Geoff was already gone. He had an early class that morning. They had made love last night for the first time since their argument. Geoff really was sorry for what had happened and Maria forgave him. So, at least that was good again.
Maria rushed out of the loft, coffee in hand. She ran out and jumped into Susan’s waiting car.
"Where’s the fire?" Susan asked as she drove to the studio.
"I don’t know. I feel like I’m always running lately. I can’t slow down. It’s like there’s not enough time to do everything," Maria told her as she put her coffee carefully in a cup holder between the seats and pulled her hair back, tying it up with a scrunchie. "You have to relax, Maria. I’ve never seen you like this. You’re usually so in control," Susan told her.
"I know. My mom just has that affect on me. She sends Sarah to me without even telling me. I’m still agonizing over that one," Maria said as she picked up her coffee and took a sip.
"Sarah will be fine. Doesn’t she have any friends in this area?"
"You know, I haven’t thought of that. I think that she might. I’ll check around later. God, Susan, I have so much to do. I have this party tonight, I have to start packing for a three month long trip and now I have my sister to think about. When am I gonna get it all done?" she asked, exasperated. Susan looked over at Maria and smiled.
"You could have bigger problems, you know," she said. Maria nodded. Yeah, she knew that. She shouldn’t really be complaining, but she couldn’t help it. She hated the feeling of being out of control. She just hated it.
"Does Jacob know about the party?" Dan asked Erik as they sat in the kitchen eating breakfast. Dan had made French toast for himself and Erik was eating cereal.
"Yes, he does," Jacob said as he entered the kitchen, just wearing jeans.
"Damn, man. Who told you? I thought that it was going to be a surprise," Dan said.
"Ashley can’t keep a secret to save his life," Erik said. Jacob laughed as he poured some cereal into a bowl. "By the way, happy birthday!" Erik then said as went around the counter to give Jacob a manly/half-hug. Jacob smiled.v "Thanks, man. You know, I didn’t even have to coax the information about the party out of Ashley, either. He couldn’t wait to tell me. I was like, ‘Dude, why are you telling me about my own surprise party?’ I think he forgot who he was talking to," Jacob said. Erik and Dan smiled.
"He probably did," Erik said. Dan then went around the counter to wish Jacob a happy birthday.
"I’m bummed that I can’t be home home, you know, with my family," Jacob said.
"Don’t worry, we’re throwing you a great party tonight. You’re gonna have fun if it kills you," Erik told him. Jacob smiled. The Mikes suddenly appeared.
"Uh, oh…time for work. Someone better wake up the other two," Dan said. Jacob finished his cereal quickly and ran upstairs to do just that.
It was early afternoon when Maria remembered that she had to call O-Town and ask them about Geoff attending the party. She went into Susan’s office to get the number.
"Is one of these their home phone?" Maria asked when Susan handed her a sheet with some phone numbers on it. "What are these other numbers?"
"One is their home phone and the others are their cell phones," Susan answered.
"Which guy goes with which cell number?" Maria asked her. Susan shrugged.
"I guess I didn’t write that information down. Sorry," she said as she left her office. Maria called the first number and got the guys’ answering machine. Maria had to smile at the answering machine message that played in Erik’s voice: "You have reached O-Town! We are obviously not here right now because if we were, we would answer the phone. Or we might not. We might be screening our calls because we are very particular about who we talk to. Just specify who you want, Erik, Ashley, Jacob, Trevor or Dan and let us know what you want. But, we probably won’t get your message because none of us ever checks this thing anyway. So, call our cell phones instead. It’s much easier. If you don’t know our cell numbers, then you’re out of luck. Sorry. Thanks and show the O-Town love!" After the beep, Maria hung up. ‘I’m going to be hanging out with five crazy people for three months,’ she thought.
Looking at the list of numbers, she did eenie-meenie-miney-moe and picked a number. She dialed it and waited as it rang.
"Yeah?" a voice that sounded slightly out of breath said. Maria frowned.
"Hi, this is Maria Carpenter. I’m trying to get a hold of one of the O-Town guys," she said.