Chapter 6

"Not particularly," she said. Susan looked closely at Maria. There was definitely something bothering her, that much she knew, but what it was, Susan was still unsure about and she couldn’t help Maria if she didn’t talk to her.

"I’ll help you pack up. We have to pack all of our things anyway. We return to the bus tomorrow morning," Susan said, as she walked back over to where Maria’s equipment was set up. Maria followed her.

"Shit. I have to do Jacob’s interview next. We were getting along, you know? Now, he hates me again," she said.

"Well, you were kind of rude just now. Don’t worry, he’ll forgive you," Susan said, hoping that he would. He hadn’t looked too happy when he had gone back to the cottage, though.

Alex entered Erik and Dan’s room and found Dan packing. Erik’s bed was a mess with clothes scattered on and around it. Alex knocked on the open door. Dan turned and smiled at her.

"Hey, Alex," he said.

"Is Jacob really mad?" she asked as she sat down on his bed, beside his suitcase.

"He’s annoyed, but he’ll get over it. What’s up with Maria? It seems that she got a little too angry about a hat," Dan said, as he folded a pair of jeans and neatly put them in his suitcase. Alex shrugged.

"I don’t know. She’s been acting weird for two days now. Something’s going on, but she hasn’t said anything to me or to Susan," she said.

"Well, everyone has bad days. It’s no big deal." Alex watched as he continued to pack. She looked over at Erik’s bed.

"Where’s Erik? He has some packing to do," she said. Dan smiled.

"He always waits until the last minute," he said.

"He’s a procrastinator like me," Alex said with a smile. She stood up.

"You two sound like you have a lot in common," Dan said, not looking at her. Alex caught on, though.

"Don’t even…" she said. He laughed. Erik came into the room and jumped onto his bed.

"So, who wants to help me pack?" he asked. Alex ran from the room. Dan shrugged.

"Don’t look at me. That’s your mess, you clean it up," he said. Erik pouted, but got up and began to pack.

Jacob bent over to pick up a pair of shoes and winced when a sharp pain gripped him. He had thought that his back was getting better. ‘Think again,’ he thought, as he straightened up. His nerves were shot and he was in pain…and Maria was, once again, being a bitch. He seriously didn’t know what the hell her problem was, but he wasn’t going to put up with it. To get so upset over a hat was just ridiculous. There was something really not right with her.

"Jake? What’s wrong?" Trevor had come in and he frowned when he saw Jacob bent over the bed, his arms propped up on the edge. "And don’t say that you’re fine. It’s your back, isn’t it?" Jacob nodded. He couldn’t hide anything from these guys anyway. "What happened?"

"I think I twisted it a few nights ago. It hurts like hell," Jacob said with a humorless laugh, his head down. Trevor walked over to him.

"How bad is it?" he asked.

"Bad. I’ll survive, though," Jacob replied.

"You should tell the Mikes, dude. If it hurts that bad," Trevor told him. Jacob slowly turned and sat on the edge of the bed. He shook his head.

"It won’t matter. I’ll still have to do the shows," he said.

"Not necessarily."

"Trevor, I can do it. I might not be able to dance my best, but I can still dance," Jacob told him. Trevor knew that it was useless to argue with him. Jacob was stubborn.

"I won’t force you, but I still think that you should tell the Mikes," Trevor said. Jacob just looked at him. "Here, I’ll help you pack."

"Thanks, Trevor," Jacob said. Trevor grinned.

"Maria was ready to fight today, huh?" Jacob scratched his head.

"Yeah, she sure was," he said. "How’d your interview go with her?"

"Okay. I mean it was nothing special. She did seem kinda, I don’t know, like she wasn’t herself," he said. Jacob looked at him, frowning.

"Do we even know who she really is?" he asked. Trevor shrugged.

"Do you want to know who she really is?" Jacob shook his head.

"Not if what we saw today is who she really is," he said and Trevor laughed. Jacob smiled and carefully stood up to pack the rest of his things.

The next morning, they all returned to the bus. Their next stop was St. Paul, Minnesota. Maria was quiet as she put her things in her bunk. She hadn’t really talked to anyone since the photo shoot fiasco the day before. She had mostly kept to herself. Susan watched her, concern etched on her forehead.

"Stop it, Susan," Maria snapped, feeling Susan’s eyes on her. Susan turned to her own bunk and went about organizing her things. Maria’s cell phone rang just as Jacob was reaching his bunk. Maria got out of the way to make room for him. She located her phone and answered it.

"Hello?"

"Hi." Maria closed her eyes. It was Geoff.

"What do you want?" she asked, irritably. Jacob glanced at her, but she was only paying attention to whoever was on the other end of the phone.

"I wanted to talk to you. We need to talk about something," he said.

"I know what we need to talk about, but we can’t right now. I’m on a job and I can’t get into what you did right now," Maria told him.

Geoff was desperate to get her to listen to him. "Please believe me when I say that I’m sorry and that I made a mistake. It was stupid and I shouldn’t have done it. I lo…"

"Don’t even say it! It’s bullshit and you know it!" Maria’s voice was starting to rise and she was attracting attention to herself. "What you did was inexcusable. If you were so pissed at me, then you should’ve found a different way to deal with it. Betraying me was not the way to solve our problems. I want you out of my loft and if you’re not out by the time I get back, I’ll throw you out on your ass myself, do you understand? And if you ever threaten my best friend again, so help me God, you’ll be very sorry." Maria hung up and took a deep breath. She looked up and saw everyone staring at her. Turning, she went into the back of the bus and closed the door.

"Is she…?" Ashley started to ask.

"She’ll be okay," Susan said as she went to her. The guys all stood there looking at each other.

"Well, at least we know that something was, indeed, bothering her these last couple of days," Erik said.

"What do you think Geoff did?" Ashley asked.

"It’s none of our business, guys," Jacob told them, but he was curious as to what was going on, too. Alex looked furious.

"I bet that bastard cheated on her. She was too mad for it to have been something minor. And to think that I thought the guy was hot," she said, shaking her head.

"Will she really be okay?" Ashley asked.

"Maria’s tough. She’ll be fine," Alex replied. "Just don’t bring it up unless she does." The guys nodded and resumed settling in.

"Come here," Susan said as she enveloped Maria in a tight hug.

"I’m okay, Susan. It’s just that, it hurts," Maria said. She wasn’t crying. No tears would be shed for Geoff King. No way.

"What did he do?" Susan asked.

"Kathleen caught him with another woman a few weeks ago. In the loft, coming out of my bedroom," Maria replied. "And then he threatened Kathleen if she told me about it."

"Oh, I’m sorry," Susan said. She knew that Geoff was bad news.

"No, don’t feel sorry for me. I’m okay and I don’t need any sympathy. It would’ve happened sooner or later, right?" Maria asked, as she sat down on the seat, watching out the window as the Massachusetts landscape rushed by.

"It still hurts, I’m sure," Susan said.

"Well, I can’t worry about it now. I have a job to do and I can’t let my pathetic personal life interfere," Maria said.

"I think it already has," Susan told her. Maria actually looked embarrassed.

"You’re talking about yesterday, aren’t you?" Susan nodded.

"It was just a hat," she said. Maria sighed.

"And Jacob and I were actually starting to get along. I think I screwed that up, didn’t I?" she asked. Susan laughed.

"Since his interview is next, I think that it would be a good idea to talk to him beforehand," she suggested. Maria nodded.

"Yeah, I should talk to him," she said. But she wasn’t looking forward to it.

"You wanted to see me?" Dan asked as he sat across from Mike and Mike at the table in the front of the bus.

"What’s wrong with Jacob?" Mike M. asked softly, since Jacob was in the sleeping area, lying in his bunk.

"I don’t know," Dan answered. Mike M. sighed.

"Dan, we need to know. He seems hurt or something. He hasn’t said anything to you?" Mike C. asked.

"No," Dan replied.

"He said something to me." Trevor had been getting a soda out of the small refrigerator and had overheard their conversation. They looked at him.

"Trevor, what’s wrong with Jacob?" Mike M. asked him.

"Look, you guys know Jacob and he obviously hasn’t told anyone because he doesn’t want anyone to know, but I think that you should know, even though he’s probably gonna kill me for telling you," Trevor said.

"Just tell us," Mike M. said, rubbing his forehead.

"Jake hurt his back a few performances ago," Trevor said. Mike C. nodded.

"That’s what we thought. He hasn’t been dancing like he usually does," he said.

"Oh, you noticed the pained expression on his face too?" Dan asked, somewhat sarcastically. It was obvious that Jacob was hurting and Dan was surprised that no one had mentioned it sooner.

"Jacob? Come here," Mike M. called.

"What are you doing?" Trevor asked. "He’s gonna kill me. I’m dead. That’s it, I’m history." Trevor lay down on the seats that were on the opposite side of the bus from where Dan and the Mikes were sitting.

"Jacob!" Mike M. yelled.

"I’m coming. What’s going on?" Jacob asked as he slowly made his way into the front cabin of the bus. He glanced at Trevor, who had pulled a pillow over his head.

"Why didn’t you tell us about your back?" Mike M. said. Jacob frowned.

"What about it?" he asked. Mike M. shook his head.

"Trevor told us. How badly does it hurt?" he asked. Jacob glared at Trevor, who peeked out from under the pillow, then covered his face again when he saw the way that Jacob was looking at him.

Jacob returned his gaze to the Mikes and shrugged. "It hurts, but I can still perform," he told them.

"You’ve been dragging during the last couple of performances," Mike C. stated.

"It’s okay. I think I just twisted it, but it actually feels better," Jacob said, hoping that they would believe him.

Mike M. looked at him skeptically. "Why don’t I believe you?"

"I don’t know, Mike. Look, I just needed some rest. I had that rest and it’s getting better. I swear," Jacob said.

"Jake, you had trouble just walking to the front of the bus," Dan told him. Jacob sighed.

"You guys are freaking out over nothing," he said.

"If it isn’t better by Friday night, then we’re doing something about it," Mike M. told him. Jacob nodded. It was only Tuesday. By Friday, he was sure that he’d be better.

"Fine. Anything else?" Jacob asked them.

"No. You can go," Mike. C. said. Jacob gave Trevor one more glare and headed back the way that he had come.

Maria had hidden out in the back of the bus. Susan had gotten her Table Of Contents drawing for her and Maria had been working on that for the past hour. Susan and Alex had stayed with her and kept her company, talking to her and trying to get her mind off of Geoff. It seemed to be working.

"Can we come in?" Ashley asked as he poked his head in. Erik was right behind him.

"Sure," Maria said with a smile. The guys entered cautiously. "I’m okay, guys. Relax." Erik smiled as he sat down beside Alex.

"We knew you would be. Can we watch TV?" he asked.

"Go ahead," Maria answered. She continued to draw. Susan stood up and stretched.

"I’m going to go lie down. If you need anything, let me know," she said to Maria, who nodded.

Erik put on a baseball game. Alex frowned. "Baseball sucks. Find something else," she said.

"No. Why don’t you like baseball?" he asked her.

"It’s boring," Alex replied.

"It is not, Alex," Maria said. Alex looked at her.

"Oh, I forgot that you’re a baseball aficionado," she said. Erik smiled.

"You like baseball?" he asked Maria, who nodded.

"I’m a huge Yankees fan," she told him. Erik’s smile widened.

"My kind of woman," he said. Alex frowned.

"You just like that guy…Derek what’s-his-name," she said to Maria.

"Jeter. Yes, he’s cute, but I’ve been watching the Yankees for a long time. And I don’t just watch it because of him," she said. "My father works for Major League Baseball. He’s in the Giants organization, but don’t ask me what he does, I haven’t a clue, really." Erik and Ashley were looking at her, interested.

"Can you score us some tickets?" Erik asked. Maria laughed and shrugged.

"I’ll try, the next time that I see my dad," she said. After a minute of silence, she looked at them. "Guys, does Jacob hate me?" she asked. Ashley shook his head.

"I don’t think so. He was just annoyed and wanted to wear his hat," he said with a smile. Maria covered her face with her drawing pad.

"I can’t believe I freaked out over a hat. I wouldn’t blame him if he hated me," she said.

"Jacob doesn’t hate, he just, he’ll probably distance himself from you," Erik said.

"Great. I have to interview him soon so that could be a problem." Maria moaned as she put her head back against the seat. Ashley smiled.

"That should be interesting," he said. Maria stood up, taking a deep breath. ‘Here goes nothing,’ she thought as she opened the door.

Maria stepped into the sleeping area, closing the door to the back of the bus behind her. Susan’s curtain was closed and Maria figured that she was sleeping. Looking down, Maria saw Jacob in his bunk. She was about to speak to him when her cell phone rang. Sighing, she reached into her bunk and answered it.

"Hello?"

"What are you smoking?" Maria smiled when she recognized the voice.

"What are you smoking, Joey?" she asked her brother.

"Sarah is going to live with you after she graduates? Are you crazy?" Joey asked. Maria leaned against her bunk.

"Yes, she’s going to live with me and no, I’m not crazy. Sarah’s obviously having problems with mom, so I figured that instead of her doing something stupid that would ultimately screw up her life, I would take her in and be there for her," she told him.

"Maria, you told me that you’re so busy you don’t even see your cat. How are you going to handle Sarah?"

"I will handle her, Joey. You worry about your life, okay? I’ll worry about Sarah and me. You have your studies keeping you busy, so you probably never see her anyway." Joey was attending a local college and was majoring in education. He wanted to be a teacher, preferably a high school English/Literature teacher.

"Well, don’t say that I didn’t warn you. Mom almost had a heart attack when Sarah made her ‘announcement.’ I don’t think that mom thinks that it’s really going to happen," he said.

"It is. Sarah sounded horrible the last time that I talked to her and if I can help her, then I will. She’s got Emily close by, too, so it’s not like I’m her only family around."

"Emily lives in Boca, she’s not exactly next door," Joey told her.

"I know that, but it’ll be okay. Don’t worry, Joey. I know what I’m doing and no one will change my mind."

"I’m not even gonna try. How’re things going with your assignment?" he asked. Maria sighed.

"Okay, I guess. The band is really great. They’re nice guys and hard workers," she said, knowing perfectly well that Jacob could hear every word that she was saying.

"I thought that you didn’t go for that kind of music," Joey said.

"Their music isn’t that bad. They’re just starting out, so I’m willing to give them a break," she said with a smirk.

"Well, good luck for the rest of the tour. Oh, I talked to Dad, by the way."

"How is he?" Maria asked.

"He’s doing okay, but he misses us."

"I’m actually going to be in California next month. I’ll have to check to see if we’ll be near San Francisco, though. Maybe I can stop in to see him."

"He’d like that," Joey said. "I gotta go. Please re-think the Sarah thing."

"Nope. She’s gonna live with me and that’s final. Bye, Joey."

"Bye." Maria hung up.

Jacob could only see Maria’s legs, but he knew that she knew that he could hear her. "I’m glad that you’re giving us a break," he said. Maria smiled and leaned down so that she could see into his bunk.

"I was just kidding," she said. Jacob looked at her.

"Yeah, right," he said.

"I was. Your interview is next, you know," she told him. Jacob nodded.

"I know. I was waiting until you came to me. I didn’t want to get in trouble for wearing a hat or anything," he said. Maria rolled her eyes.

"I’m getting on my knees to apologize, okay?" she said as she knelt on the floor in front of him. "Please forgive me for taking your stupid hat. I’m sorry---it was a stupid thing to do and I’m a horrible person," she said flatly.