Chapter 8

As the limo made its way to the auditorium where the awards would be taking place, Maria stared out the window. It was still early. The awards started at six. Now, it was only five. It was a hot, sunny day, like most days in California, but the air conditioning in the limo served its purpose, keeping its occupants cool.

"Do you think we’ll win?" Ashley asked.

"That’s not the most important thing. The most important thing is to have fun," Dan said in a serious voice.

"Forget fun. I want to win," Erik said with a smile. He had his arm over the seat and around Alex. She laughed.

"You’ll win if those teens have any brains at all," she said.

"I guess it would be cool to win," Dan agreed, smiling. "It’s too bad Dianna couldn’t come. She seems nice." Trevor grinned.

"Yeah, and Dan noticed," he said. "Too bad she’s not your physical therapist."

"Hey, Dan, you should, like, ‘accidentally’ trip on stage one night, then you’ll need Dianna’s gentle ministrations to make you feel better," Ashley said. Dan reached over and hit him.

"Shut up, man," he said, smiling. "I just meant, why couldn’t she take Susan’s place? I mean Susan was going to come, right?" Dan looked at the Mikes.

"We gave back her ticket when we learned that she wouldn’t be attending. We didn’t think about Dianna. Sorry," Mike M. said.

"You’re all heart," Dan said.

"Why are you two so quiet?" Alex asked Maria and Jacob. They looked at each other and shrugged.

"They don’t want to be here," Erik said. "You guys could’ve stayed back at the hotel and ‘worked,’" he said, winking at them.

"Shut up, Erik," Jacob said. Maria turned back to the window and saw other limousines crowding the already crowded street in front of the auditorium. She was a little nervous. She had never liked being the center of attention or under any kind of scrutiny. She preferred a one-on-one photo session to big crowds of people who thought that they were important.

"Are you nervous?" Jacob asked quietly from his seat beside her. She looked at him.

"Sort of. A little known fact about Maria Carpenter: she has an extreme phobia of being in front of a lot of people. I don’t like that kind of attention," she said.

"You and Alex stay with me," Mike C. said. "I’ll get you in ahead of everyone, so no one will even notice you." Maria nodded, gratefully.

"Maria, you spend way too much time in the darkroom," Alex said, shaking her head. That got a smile out of Maria, who stuck her tongue out at Alex.

"Ouch," Erik said. Alex suddenly turned and got all excited.

"Oh my God! I just saw Enrique Iglesias! I swear, it was him!" she squealed.

"My ear!" Erik moaned, covering the ear that Alex had yelled into.

The limo came to a stop. Maria could see flashes going off and reporters with microphones interviewing youngsters that Maria didn’t recognize. She could hear screaming and saw that it was coming from fans that were being held behind velvet ropes. It was chaotic.

"Okay, guys. I’ll walk behind you. Mike will escort the ladies in. Let’s go," Mike M. instructed. The door to the limo opened and the screams were piercing. Maria winced. She got out behind Alex and just took it all in. There were so many people. Before she knew it, Mike C. had managed to get them into the lobby of the huge auditorium, where he stood with them off to the side until O-Town joined them.

"This is so exciting!" Alex gushed. "I’m, like, trying not to act like a fan, but there are so many celebrities here that you only see in magazines."

"Alex, you’ve met popular musicians before. I don’t even recognize anyone," Maria told her.

"Because you’re not into teen pop, that’s why. That’s Aaron Carter right there. Nick’s little brother." Maria just looked at her. "From the Backstreet Boys? Forget it. Look, over there, that’s Dream and Eden’s Crush. Oh, 98 degrees is over there and Jessica Simpson is with them." Maria could care less. The screaming outside continued.

"Why do they have to scream so loudly?" she asked. Alex sighed.

"Come on, Maria. Try to be in a good mood. Take notes for your article or something. Just don’t be such a downer," she said and moved away from her. Mike made sure she didn’t go far, though. Maria watched a lot of stuck-up young people milling around the lobby and was glad when she finally saw O-Town making their way in. They looked happy and excited. Even Jacob had a smile on his face. They seemed so out of place for some reason.

Mike M. led them over to the girls and Mike C. Jacob walked beside Maria. She wasn’t having a good time. That much he could tell. He had to restrain himself from putting his arm around her waist like he wanted to, but then he could just see the gossip written about him and the ‘mysterious’ date that he had been seen with at the Teen Choice Awards. Popstar! Magazine especially kept their eye on O-Town and they were, not surprisingly, the first reporters to have snagged the guys as they exited their limo.

The auditorium was only half-filled when they went in. The guys had good seats because they were nominees, so Mike M. led them down to almost the front. They were about six rows back from the stage. Seating was up for grabs. Mike C. went in first, followed by Dan, Trevor, Erik, Alex, Maria, Jacob and Ashley. Mike M. sat on the end.

"There’s Christina Aguilera. She should’ve gotten dressed. It looks like she’s wearing underwear," Alex remarked. Maria laughed.

"Maybe you should talk to her about her fashion sense," she said.

"Ashley!" came a scream from somewhere above them. Maria turned around quickly. Jacob laughed at her sudden movement.

"The fans sit in the balcony. I guess Ashley’s been spotted," he said. Maria looked up and saw some young girls leaning precariously over the edge of the balcony taking pictures.

"Those will be great shots of the back of your head, Ashley," Maria said. Ashley turned and waved. The girls screamed. "Uh, oh. I’ve been given the evil eye," Maria then said. Jacob smiled at her. She was loosening up, which was good.

"You have to have a sense of humor to come to these things," he said.

"Do you care if you win or lose?" Maria asked, turning towards him. Jacob shrugged.

"It’s good for publicity if we win, but it’s like, for these awards anyway, the voters are girls who have your posters hanging in their rooms. Whoever they have the most posters of, they’ll vote for," he said. "It’s a popularity contest." Maria thought that he had a good point. These awards weren’t about the music at all.

"Well, at least you’ll get to perform, so your music will be a part of the show," she said. Jacob smiled at her.

"True," he said.

Alex leaned over to whisper in Erik’s ear. "They’re talking," she said. Erik frowned.

"Who?" he asked softly.

"Jacob and Maria," she whispered back. Erik leaned over to look at them.

"So what? They’ve talked before," he said. Alex just shook her head.

The show was ready to begin and the lights dimmed. Cameramen were all over the place: in the aisles, at the front of the stage, on the stage and everywhere else Maria happened to look. Aaron Carter opened the show and Maria had to keep from laughing. He was cute and a good entertainer. ‘Too bad I’m not ten years younger,’ she thought.

As the evening went on, awards were given out and Maria started to doze. She felt a hard nudge and woke up to see Jacob smiling at her.

"That hurt," she said, rubbing her arm.

"Wake up, one of our categories is next," he said. She looked up to the stage and saw three cute guys. They had English accents and were reading the nominees for Breakthrough Performance.

"Who’re they?" she asked Jacob.

"BBMak," he said. Maria nodded. She had actually heard of them. She perked up when the blonde guy picked up the envelope. A camera was right in the aisle beside Mike M., but it was focused on the guys.

"And the winner for Breakthrough Performance goes to…O-Town!" Ashley actually jumped up out of his seat, he was so happy. Everyone clapped and turned to look at them, as the other guys got up as well. Maria and Alex had to stand in order to let Erik, Dan and Trevor out. Ashley and Jacob were already standing in the aisle. The applause continued as they made their way to the stage. Maria felt a smile on her face. She was happy for them. She believed that they deserved it.

O-Town shook hands with the guys in BBMak and Ashley held the award, a shocked look on his face. "This is incredible," he said into the microphone. Girls screamed and chanted "O-Town." The guys looked up and waved. "Um…we want to thank our fans for this. Without you, we wouldn’t be here, so thank you. We love you guys." More screaming erupted from the balcony. Ashley moved aside so that Dan could talk.

"It’s been an incredible year, as well as a tough one. We want to thank our families and friends and all of the people who have believed in us from the start. Thank you," he said, smiling. The guys waved once more before turning to walk offstage.

"Yes!" Erik yelled as he hugged Ashley when they were backstage.

"This is awesome," Ashley gushed, a huge smile on his face.

"Man, I can’t believe we won," Trevor said. They stared in awe at the award, and then they were ushered into a press area where they had to talk to the media. After that was done, Mike M. took the award from Ashley, who didn’t really want to let it go, and told them to get ready to perform, so they were off once again to a small green room to prepare for their performance.

"Wow," Alex said. "They won."

"Shhh," Maria said, as three more cute guys came onstage to introduce the next performance. The place seemed to be swarming with cute guys. These cute guys were announced as ‘LFO.’

"This next group may have been made for TV, but they’ve more than proven themselves to be great performers as well," a blonde guy said. He had a Boston accent. "Give it up for O-Town!" The screams came again. The familiar piano introduction to ‘All Or Nothing’ started and Dan appeared. Maria watched as one by one, the guys came onstage to sing their parts. The audience was receptive and some of the audience members were even singing along. Maria loved the end the best because that’s where the guys got the most emotional. Jacob was bending better and he seemed to not be stiff like he had been. At one point, it appeared as if he were looking right in Maria’s direction as he sang. Maria kept her eyes glued to him as he sang his heart out.

Before long, the song had ended and the guys were waving and blowing kisses to the fans. They seemed to pay more attention to the fans than to the ‘celebrity’ audience. Maria smiled at that. Then, the awards continued.

About ten to fifteen minutes after their performance had ended, the guys returned to their seats. Nothing was going on, since it was between acts and time was left for a commercial break. Ashley hugged Maria, who had gotten up and walked into the aisle so that the other guys could get back into the row where their seats were.

"Congratulations," she said to him. He smiled.

"Thanks. Go ahead," Ashley told her. Maria went back to her seat. Jacob sat back down next to her.

"You look like you’re feeling better," she remarked. He nodded.

"It’s been a good night," he said with a smile. And it wasn’t over yet.

Forty-five minutes later, Mandy Moore stepped out onstage to announce the nominees for Best New Group. She went through them and the camera once again was in the aisle, the lens trained on O-Town. They waved when they were announced.

"And the winner is…O-Town!" Mandy said, excitedly. The guys were shocked once again. They stood up and Erik hugged Alex tightly. The guys quickly made their way to the stage again. Mandy hugged each one of them. Erik stood with the award at the microphone. The fans screamed and the guys just soaked it all in for a minute.

"Wow. Well, we’re speechless here. This is great. Again, it’s the fans. Without you guys, we’d be nothing, believe me," Erik said. "We’re doing what we love: performing and making music and we hope to continue doing that for a long time. So, on behalf of the guys, thank you!"

The group never returned to their seats. After the show had finally ended, Maria and Alex stood up. Mike C. led them out of the auditorium to the lobby. Maria looked at her watch. It was a quarter after nine. The show had been delayed in starting and there had been a couple of technical problems that had held it up, but since the show had been taped, it hadn’t really mattered.

"The guys will meet you in the limo," Mike explained.

"No, we want to see everyone," Alex said.

"There’s a party that we’re going to. You’ll get to see everyone there," he said. Alex nodded and didn’t protest as Mike led them to the limo.

"They did a great job, didn’t they?" Alex asked. Maria nodded.

"Yeah, they did. They don’t seem to be comfortable in front of all of those other people, though. Like when they’re performing, you can tell that they’re much more comfortable than when they had to accept the awards," she said.

"Leave it to you to notice that," Alex said. Maria laughed.

Ten minutes later, they heard shouting and the limo door opened. The guys piled in, Mike M. right behind them.

"Are we ready to party?" Ashley asked.

"I think so," Erik said, hugging Alex close to him. Jacob sat a little too close to Maria and put his head back against the seat. "No way, Jake. You’re gonna have fun if it kills you!" Erik told him, reaching over and hitting his leg. Jacob looked up and smiled.

"I don’t take orders from you, dude," he said.

"Tonight, you do," Erik insisted. Jacob looked at Maria. She looked happy, as well.

"Well, did you like your first awards show?" he asked.

"Sure. I just wish that I knew some of those acts," she said.

"God, you’re worse than I was," Jacob said, shaking his head.

"She’s ‘pop ignorant,’" Dan told them.

"I am not. I just didn’t know many of those artists. I mean ‘Lil’ Bow Wow?’ What’s that?" she asked. The guys laughed.

"He’s one of many ‘lil’s’ in the teen pop scene right now," Trevor explained.

"All I could think about was dog biscuits for some reason," Maria said. Jacob laughed. His hand somehow landed on Maria’s thigh and he didn’t move it. Chills ran through Maria’s body at his touch. His eyes locked with hers and he smiled. Maria looked right back. He was probably waiting for her to mention where his hand was lying, but she wouldn’t. She didn’t really mind. Looking away, she stared out the window.

The club where the party was being held was huge. There were already a lot of people there by the time O-Town arrived. The Mikes cleared O-Town and the girls at the front door and they made their way inside. Five young women, the ones whom Alex had called ‘Dream’ at the auditorium, came over to congratulate the guys. They seemed a little too flirty to Maria, but they were nice. There were so many people there it was hard to move without bumping into someone. Once, when Maria wasn’t paying attention, she felt someone pull on her arm and realized that Jacob had a firm grip on her. He acted like it was nothing, though, so she just stayed with him.

After a half hour, Maria stood with Jacob, Dan and Ashley. Nelly’s ‘Ride Wit Me’ blared through the club as they sipped sodas and talked to whoever came over to talk to them. Maria watched as Mike C. led the three guys who had introduced O-Town when they had performed, over to where they were standing.

"Congratulations," the blonde guy said. The guys said ‘thanks.’ "Who’s this?" he asked, eyeing Maria.

"Rich, this is Maria Carpenter. She’s a photojournalist who’s traveling with the guys for a few months. She’s writing an article and taking some pictures for a feature in a magazine that she works for. Maria, this is my brother, Rich, and that’s Devin and Brad. They’re in LFO," Mike introduced them. Maria smiled and shook their hands.

"I thought that you looked kinda familiar and with the accent, I should’ve put it together," Maria said as she shook Rich’s hand. "It’s nice to meet you."

"Yo, Mike, why can’t we have a reporter who looks like that traveling with us?" Brad asked. Maria smiled. Jacob didn’t.

"I don’t know. Ask your manager," Mike said, smiling.

"Would you like to dance?" Rich asked Maria. She looked at Mike, then back at Rich. Why not?

"Sure," she said and he put his arm around her waist, leading her to the dance floor. Jacob gritted his teeth. He excused himself to get another drink, all the while keeping his eyes on Rich and Maria. Why should he care whom she danced with anyway? Because he wanted her…. that’s why. Once he had admitted it to himself, he had felt somewhat better, but now when he saw her dancing with someone else, it bothered him. Jacob knew that Maria didn’t want anything to happen between them, so he wasn’t about to make the first move. If he waited too long, though, he might not get another chance.

"Relax, buddy. She’s just dancing," Erik said, as he and Alex came up beside Jacob.

"What? I don’t care. She can dance with whoever she wants," Jacob said.

"Yes, you do care. Admit it, Jacob," Alex said. Jacob shook his head. Alex pulled him by the arm over to a corner where they could have a little privacy.

"Listen, I know that you just broke up with your girlfriend and Maria is having problems with her bastard of a boyfriend, but she likes you. I can tell and I can also tell that you like her. So, stop all the staring and shit and just tell her already. But, and this is a big ‘but,’ do not hurt her. Do not use her. Do not force her to do anything that she doesn’t want to do. Do you understand?" Alex asked, pointing a perfectly manicured finger in his face. Jacob nodded dumbly. Then he shook his head.

"No. She’s not ready yet. That ‘bastard’ boyfriend is still on her mind. I’m not gonna be somebody’s rebound," Jacob told her and walked away. Alex went back over to where Erik was waiting for her.

"He’s still in denial. It’ll happen soon. I don’t know how or when, but it will," Alex said confidently. Erik dragged her out onto the dance floor and they forgot everything else but each other for the rest of the night.

A few hours later, Maria was sitting alone at a table, sipping a glass of white wine. She was ready to go home. It was almost 1:30 and she was tired. The party was still going strong, though. Not many people had left. Maria had met a lot of the ‘teen scene’ as Trevor had called it. She had met BBMak, Jessica Simpson, 98 degrees, Mandy Moore, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Freddie Prinze Jr., Usher, and Carson Daly among others. Jacob had disappeared and she hadn’t seen him since she had danced with Mike’s brother. Was Jacob mad? Jealous? That was ridiculous. He had no reason to be jealous. Maria looked up when ‘Here’s To The Night,’ by Eve 6 started playing. It was one of her favorite songs.

part 2