Chapter 7

"Just look at them and tell me what you think," she said, as she opened the binder. Jacob was confused and figured that she had a reason for doing this, but he had wanted to see her work, so he might as well look at the pictures. He looked through them one by one, feeling Maria’s intense gaze on him.

"Well, Ashley still poses," he said. Maria smiled.

"I know, but I couldn’t get him to stop," she said.

"Dan’s pictures look good. He never seemed comfortable with the whole ‘photo session’ thing when he first joined the group. I guess he’s getting used to it." Jacob continued to flip through the photos. "Wow. This is great." Maria smiled. He had picked out her favorite picture. It was taken during the ‘windy’ shoot at the cottage before Maria had had her hissy fit over Jacob’s hat. The sun had just come through the clouds, so that there were rays visible behind the group, over the water.

"If it had been raining, I probably could’ve captured a rainbow," Maria said. Jacob shook his head.

"I don’t do rainbows," he said. Maria laughed. "Are you gonna use this one?" he then asked.

"Probably," she said.

"Even though I’m still wearing the hat?" Jacob asked with a smirk.

"Yeah. Even with the damn hat," she said. They looked through most of the pictures and Jacob told her which ones he liked and which ones he didn’t like. He was honest with her and didn’t seem worried about offending her in any way. He just told her the truth as to what he thought and Maria was glad that he did. Jacob really was honest, just as he said he was. She smiled as she took the binder and put it back into her bag. She sat down on her bed and pulled her feet underneath her. Picking up her notebook, she turned the pages until she found a blank page and looked at him. Jacob reclined again on the bed, waiting for her next question.

"So, what about the fans? Do they make you happy or do they make you want to run away fearing for your life?" she asked. Jacob leaned back farther on the bed and thought for a minute.

"I’m very grateful for the fans. Without the fans, there would be no O-Town. Plus, we have a diverse mix of fans: from young kids to teenagers, from parents to grandparents. It depends on who watched the show, which I think has a lot to do with how diverse our fan base is," he said.

"And what about the fans who ‘stalk’ you in a sense. The ones who follow you everywhere and scream when they see you?"

"I think that the fans who do that need to realize that we’re regular guys. We have personal lives and value our privacy. They need to respect that," Jacob answered.

"You’ve mentioned that you don’t like all of the PR stuff that you have to do. Why is that?"

"Because I like to concentrate on the music and rehearsing for the shows. We can only get better if we rehearse and if we don’t, then we won’t get better. It’s as simple as that. The PR stuff takes away from our rehearsal time, which is the main reason why I don’t like it," he said. Maria nodded and wrote quickly. She thought for a minute, chewing on the eraser of her pencil. Jacob watched as she did this, and then met her eyes when she suddenly looked up.

"Um…I totally drew a blank as to what I was gonna ask you next," she said, looking back down at her notebook. Jacob smiled. "Oh, yeah. Why don’t you like photo shoots?" she asked.

"I don’t like having my picture taken. I don’t like to see myself in magazines. It’s embarrassing," he replied.

"But, it could be worse. You’re photogenic," she said. Jacob smiled at her.

"Thanks, but I still don’t like seeing my picture in magazines," he said. ‘He’s gonna give me a hard time at the photo shoot. I know he is,’ Maria thought.

"Changing the subject, you mentioned that you have a large family. How hard is it being away from them for so many months at a time?" she asked.

"It’s probably the hardest part of all of this---for me at least. I come from a close, devout Christian family. Not seeing them is very hard and sometimes we, the group that is, we have to fight to get time off to see them. We know what the job of being O-Town involves, but we need some time off, too, or else we’ll go crazy," Jacob told her.

"How has being in O-Town changed you?" Maria asked.

"As I said before, I’m trying not to change, but it’s hard keeping it real, too. This business isn’t an easy one. You have critics who hate you, fans who love you and people who are indifferent. We haven’t made many celebrity friends because those people don’t want to talk to you unless they can get something from you. It’s like a constant learning experience. Some of it sucks, but some of it’s good too," he said.

"What do your friends back home think of your sudden success?" Maria asked. She was amazed at how articulate and honest Jacob was being. It was refreshing and interesting. He was a fascinating guy. ‘Stop it, Maria. You’re getting too close again,’ she told herself.

"It’s hard because I have to be careful. I know who my real friends are, but it’s the ones who I haven’t seen in, like, ten years that suddenly come out of the woodwork wanting to be my best friend that I have to watch out for."

"It must be hard to maintain a relationship, too," Maria said. Why was she bringing this up? She hadn’t gotten into the other guys’ personal relationships. "That is, if you want to talk about that. You don’t have to answer," she added. Jacob saw that she had suddenly gotten nervous.

"Yeah, it was hard," he said. Maria looked up.

"Was?" she asked, not being able to help herself.

"I recently broke up with my girlfriend," he explained. Maria nodded and decided not to pursue that line of questioning.

"What did you do before O-Town?" she asked. Jacob felt like he had just gotten whiplash from the sudden change in direction that she took with the question. She didn’t want to ask about his girlfriend. Why not?

"I used to build acoustic guitars," he said.

"That’s cool. Like the ones that you play?" she asked. He nodded.

"I always need to be creating something when I have free time. Whether it’s writing a song or building a guitar, I like to be creative," Jacob told her.

"Me too. I get bored easily. I’d rather be swamped with work than just sit around with time on my hands. I have to keep busy," Maria said. Jacob squirmed and sat up a little. His back was starting to bother him again.

"I think I have enough information. It must hurt to sit there for so long," she said.

"I’m okay," he said.

"No, you’re not," Maria said back. "What happened to being honest?" Jacob smiled.

"I don’t want to be pitied or have anyone feeling sorry for me. It’ll get better," he said.

"And what if it’s more than just a twisted back? You could’ve seriously hurt yourself…more than you know," she said.

"How about another massage?" he asked, not thinking that she’d go along with him. Maria stood up and put her notebook down on the bed.

"Take off your shirt," she said. Jacob’s eyebrows shot up.

"You don’t have to. I was only joking," he said.

"It helped the last time, didn’t it?" she asked. He nodded. "Then take off your shirt and I’ll try to make you feel better again." Jacob looked at her. She just wanted to help him. Which was fine with him. He pulled his shirt over his head and lay on his stomach on the bed.

‘What the hell am I doing?’ Maria asked herself as she leaned over Jacob and began kneading his back. Jacob closed his eyes and tried to relax, but he was tense. There was a different vibe between them than there had been before. It was uncomfortable to say the least.

"Does your boyfriend get this kind of special treatment?" Jacob suddenly asked. Maria pushed hard on one of his sore spots and he grimaced. "Ow!"

"Sorry," Maria said. "No. I’ve never given Geoff a massage. He doesn’t do anything that makes him tense, so he’s never needed one." She felt funny talking about Geoff with Jacob. ‘Probably because I’m developing some weird, unwanted feelings for Jacob,’ she thought.

"Are you going to work things out when you get home?" he asked.

"That’s really none of your damn business," Maria answered. Jacob deserved that. It really wasn’t any of his business. The door to the room suddenly opened and Alex and Erik entered. When they saw what was going on, they looked at each other with shocked looks on their faces.

"Hey! I didn’t get a massage during my interview. That’s not fair!" Erik exclaimed. Maria took her hands off of Jacob’s back and turned around to face them. Alex had a knowing look on her face, and a smile that she couldn’t hide to save her life.

"I’m lucky, I guess," Jacob said. He was making no move to get up.

"Don’t let us bother you. I just came to get a magazine so that I can show Erik some clothes that I think he’d look h-o-t in," Alex said as she rummaged through her suitcase. Maria had wandered over to the dresser and was fiddling around with some things in her bag. Alex noticed her nervousness. She leaned close to Maria’s ear as she passed her. "Go for it. Geoff’s a bastard and Jacob is cool. You could do a lot worse. Have some fun," she said and left, pulling Erik behind her.

Maria turned to look at Jacob, whose eyes were on her. She refused to use him in any way. Also, he had told her that he had just ended a relationship as well. Nothing would happen. Maria wouldn’t let anything happen. After all, Geoff wasn’t totally out of the picture. Yet.

"Are we done?" Jacob asked Maria, who was just standing there looking at him.

"I think that your physical therapist can help you more than I can," she told him. Jacob lifted his head and looked intently at her.

"I wouldn’t be too sure about that," he said softly. Maria’s heart skipped a beat. What did he mean by that? She watched as he sat up and pulled his shirt back on. He stood up and walked toward her. "I like the picture, by the way," he said, looking at the picture that was still on the floor. "Although it’s scary how you got the details so exact. You must’ve done a lot of staring at us during these past few weeks." He smirked at her.

"Exactly. It’s hard to take my eyes off of you," Maria said, rolling her eyes. Jacob laughed as he walked slowly to the door.

"Later," he called over his shoulder. Maria watched the door close and sighed.

"Later," she said to the empty room.

In Erik and Trevor’s room, Alex was flipping through the fashion magazine that she had retrieved from her room earlier. Erik watched her. He was nervous for some reason. He wasn’t normally shy around girls. He was a flirt, after all, but with Alex, it was different. Maybe it was because he didn’t know that much about her and because they were working together.

"Erik?" she asked.

"What?"

"I want you to see this. Come here," she said. Erik walked over to the bed and looked down at what she was looking at.

"Alex, that stuff is expensive," he said.

"Yeah, but it would look great on you," Alex told him.

"Even if it does, I’m not about to go broke buying a shirt," Erik said. Alex laughed.

"Like you’ll have to worry about money. Once the group takes off, you’ll be fine, Erik," she said, a hint of…something in her voice. Anger? He couldn’t tell. "You’ll be able to buy ten of these shirts without putting a dent in your wallet."

"Hey, I mean it. I don’t like to spend a lot on clothes or other frivolous things," he said. Alex suddenly smiled.

"Okay. I believe you. Now, what do you think is going on with Maria and Jacob?" she asked.

"Oh, now you want to gossip? I don’t gossip on my friends, especially Jake. He’ll kill me," Erik said with a look of fear on his face.

"Come on, I know you were as shocked as I was when we walked in on them earlier."

"Well, yeah, but we can’t jump to conclusions. His back’s been bothering him and she was just trying to help him out," Erik said. "Besides, Maria has a boyfriend. Right?"

"Wrong. She told him to get lost. He cheated on her," Alex told him. She wasn’t sure if she should be telling him Maria’s business, but why not? They heard what Maria had said to Geoff on the phone, so they probably had it figured out anyway.

"I suspected that, but it’s too soon for her to be looking at another guy, isn’t it? I mean, if she was living with that Geoff guy, I think that she’d wait before hooking up with somebody else. And Jacob just broke up with his girlfriend and I know for a fact that he’s still getting over that, so I doubt that what we saw was really anything serious."

"That could be bad if they’re just using each other to get over their failed relationships," Alex said, biting her lip. "We’ll have to keep an eye on them. I don’t want Maria getting hurt again."

"And I don’t want Jake getting hurt either," Erik said.

"Fine, then we’ll both just watch and see what happens," Alex told him with a smile. Erik stood up and turned to look at her. He should do it now.

"Alex, I want to ask you something," he said. Alex looked up at him.

"Sure, what?"

"Would you consider maybe, you know, going to the awards with me?" he asked, hesitantly. Alex smiled.

"Who put you up to this?" she asked.

"No one. Really. I really want you to go with me," Erik replied.

"Okay."

"I mean, you don’t have to if you don’t want to, but I really like you and…"

"Erik, I said ‘okay,’" Alex said, laughing. Erik stopped babbling and smiled.

"Really?"

"How many times do I have to say it?" she asked.

"That’s awesome. Thanks," Erik said.

"Thank you for asking," she told him. They stared at each other for a minute. Alex looked away first and stood up. She picked up her magazine.

"I better go. Look, I’m still up to that challenge of finding outfits for you guys for the group photo shoot or maybe even the awards. I didn’t forget about it," she said as she walked to the door, Erik right behind her.

"Go nuts. I’m sure that whatever you find will be great…and very expensive," Erik said with a smile. Alex turned and pinched his cheek.

"You boys deserve the very best," she said and left. Erik closed the door and sighed. He then ran and jumped onto the bed. He had a date with Alex…and he couldn’t be happier.

Alex ran into the room that she shared with Maria and launched herself happily onto Maria’s bed. Maria looked up from her position on the floor where she was paining her picture.

"What’s up with you?" she asked.

"Erik just asked me to go to the awards show with him," Alex replied.

"And I assume you’re happy about this?" Maria said with a smile.

"Are you kidding? I’m extremely, very, most definitely happy!" Alex said.

"That’s good," Maria said. ‘At least one of us is,’ she thought.

"Why don’t you go with Jacob?" Alex asked, hanging over the edge of the bed so that she could see Maria better.

part4