Chapter 8

"Would you like to dance?" Maria turned to see Jacob standing right behind her.

"Sure," she said, no longer feeling tired. He took her hand and led her to the dance floor. Erik and Alex were still dancing and they gave each other a look when they saw Jacob and Maria walk onto the dance floor together. Jacob gently took Maria in his arms and she wrapped her arms around his neck as they moved slowly together. Maria’s eyes drifted shut as she listened to the music and felt her body pressed so closely to Jacob’s. It felt right.

Jacob breathed in deeply. He could no longer deny his attraction to Maria. It was too strong. He didn’t want to scare her away, though. They still had to work together and if he messed anything up, he’d be screwed. He also didn’t want to make it uncomfortable for her to finish her job. He knew how important her job was to her and if he did anything to ruin her work, he’d never forgive himself. And she’d never forgive him.

Trevor, Dan and Ashley were standing by the bar. They were also watching Jacob and Maria. "Now, who saw that one coming?" Dan asked with a smile.

"What? They’re just dancing," Trevor said. He was actually a little bummed. He had been thinking of asking Maria out, but the way that she was hanging on Jacob, it didn’t appear as if that would happen anytime soon…or that it would be a good idea.

"I thought that they didn’t get along," Ashley said, smiling. Dan and Trevor looked at each other.

"Well, I guess something’s changed," Dan said.

"Wait, she has a boyfriend. I mean she never, like, broke up with him, did she?" Ashley then asked.

"Who knows? We shouldn’t jump to conclusions. Like you said, Trev, they’re just dancing," Dan replied. ‘Very closely,’ he added in his head and smiled.

The song ended, but Maria felt very comfortable where she was. Jacob wasn’t letting go either. She opened her eyes and pulled back. Her eyes met Jacob’s and her throat suddenly went dry. He was looking at her with desire in his eyes. There was no mistaking it. Maria’s heart began beating rapidly as she licked her lips. Jacob’s eyes glanced down, watching her tongue wet her lips and then they returned to her eyes.

"The song…ended," Maria said softly. He nodded. A dance song started to play and they were suddenly brought out of their paralysis. Maria’s arms dropped from Jacob’s neck and he released her. She backed away, awkwardly, and headed for the bar to get another drink. Jacob remained standing on the dance floor, watching her walk away.

"Dude, Popstar! is gonna have a great issue because of this party. They must’ve taken twenty pictures of you guys dancing," Erik said, as he walked over and put his arm around Jacob’s shoulders. Jacob sighed. Shit. He’d forgotten about the press that was there.

Maria stood at the bar with a new glass of wine in her hand when a woman came over to her. "Excuse me. I work for Popstar! Magazine. I took some pictures of you dancing with Jacob Underwood and Rich Cronin and was hoping to get your name so that I can identify you when the pictures are printed for an upcoming issue," she said, smiling too much. Maria looked at her.

"My name is Maria Carpenter. I work for Star Power Magazine. I’m a photojournalist who’s traveling with O-Town for a few months. I’m writing a feature article on them for the magazine." The woman wrote all of this down.

"That sounds exciting. How’s it going so far?" Maria didn’t know if this was an interview or not. She was wary of reporters, since she was one herself. What was on the record or off the record was hard to distinguish when talking to a reporter…you never knew if they were digging for information.

"Fine," was all Maria said, looking away. The woman must’ve gotten the hint that she had been dismissed, for she walked away. Maria was grateful to see Mike M. coming towards her.

"We’re going. Are you ready?" he asked. Maria finished her wine and nodded.

"More than ready," she said. Jacob appeared, looking worried.

"Did that reporter bother you?" he asked. Maria shook her head.

"I took care of it," she told him. He nodded. They all headed out to the limo, tired after a truly amazing night.

Once everyone had gone to the hotel and changed, they got their stuff and boarded the bus. Maria was excited to be heading to San Francisco to see her father. He had offered to put up the band for two nights since there would be three concerts on the San Francisco stop. The Mikes had discussed it and they had spoken to her father on the phone, so everything had been arranged. The bus would park at a nearby hotel and the band would get a limo to the house. The venue that the shows were being held at wasn’t very far from Mr. Carpenter’s house.

Maria sighed as she lay down in her bunk. Looking up, she saw Jacob looking at her. ‘Don’t look at him,’ she thought. She closed her eyes. Jacob shrugged and got into his own bunk. If she wanted to be that way, fine. He had seen the desire in her eyes when they had danced, though. She was attracted to him and she knew it. He could wait, though.

Outside of the bus, Alex and Erik stood talking quietly. "It was a great night, Erik," Alex said. He smiled.

"I’m so glad that you were there with me," he said.

"Thank you for inviting me," she told him. "Oh, and you were definitely the best dressed band there."

"Really?" he asked. Alex nodded.

"Of course," she said.

"Well, we’ve got an amazing stylist traveling with us," he said as he slowly put his arms around her waist. Alex smiled into his big brown eyes.

"Yeah, you do," she said. Erik slowly brought his mouth to hers and his lips touched hers gently at first, then with more pressure. Alex put her arms around him and kissed him back. They backed away from each other slowly. Alex smiled and touched Erik’s full bottom lip with her finger. "We should get on before the bus leaves without us." He smiled and kissed her fingertip.

"Okay. If we must," he said. Hand-in-hand, they boarded the bus and soon after that, they were all on their way to San Francisco.

Orlando

Kevin yawned as he walked slowly out of his bedroom. He saw Geoff drinking coffee at the kitchen counter.

"Man, why the hell are you up so early?" he asked.

"I’m leaving, remember?" Geoff asked. Kevin shook his head.

"Chasing Maria won’t get you anywhere, dude," he said as he poured himself a cup of coffee.

"I have to see her. I can’t wait another month, month and a half to talk to her and if I try to call her, she’ll just hang up on me. No, I have to see her face to face. That’s the only way that she’ll listen to me," Geoff said.

"Suit yourself. How do you even know where she is?" Kevin asked.

"I talked to her father yesterday. Maria’s gonna be staying with him in San Francisco for three days and two nights. It’ll give me plenty of time to apologize to her and get her back," Geoff told him.

"I think that you’re making a mistake. It doesn’t matter where you are, Geoff. You slept with another woman. Maria’s not just gonna forget that," Kevin said.

"Whose side are you on?" Geoff asked, starting to get angry.

"There are no sides here. I understand that Maria had been a bit neglectful where you were concerned, but that doesn’t mean that you betray her. She probably feels hurt and, well, betrayed right now. Don’t you think that you should give her more time to think about things and cool off before you go begging for her forgiveness?" Geoff shook his head.

"The more time that goes by, the more time she’ll have to get over me. No way am I gonna let that happen. I’m going and that’s that," he said. Kevin watched as Geoff got his travel bag and suitcase. "I’ll see you in a few days." Kevin nodded. Maria wasn’t going to be happy to see Geoff, especially if she was working. ‘He’s only going to make things worse,’ Kevin thought, sipping his coffee and shaking his head.

Emily stretched and sat up. She loved living alone. Maria’s loft was awesome. She stood up and went into the bathroom. She put in her contacts, since she had decided to take a jog and hated wearing her glasses while running. She had been jogging to pass the time and she was slowly learning the area. Emily wasn’t sure what she wanted to do with her life. She hadn’t wanted to attend college, thinking that she’d pursue music, but that hadn’t gone anywhere. She was lazy and she admitted that. That was one of the problems that her perfect mother had with her. Emily just wanted to have fun, but her mother thought that life was supposed to be all work and no play.

The loft was warm, so Emily opened the sliding door to the patio. There was a screen door, too, so that Heathcliff couldn’t get out. The kitten was scared of Emily. He came out when he was hungry, and then disappeared again after he’d eaten. Once, Emily had found him sleeping in the sink in Maria’s bathroom. He was slowly starting to come out more, though.

Sarah had called a couple of times and Kathleen had stopped by to see how she was doing. They had hung out for a while, talking and watching TV. Kathleen had invited Emily to the play that she was going to be in, so Emily was excited about that. She hadn’t had a lot of friends in school, except the ones on the basketball team, of which she had been the star, so she was used to being alone. It was no big deal to her.

After changing into jogging shorts and a tee shirt, Emily pulled on her sneakers, pulled her hair up into a ponytail and left the loft to go jogging.

San Francisco

"I got it!" Maria announced. She heard muffled moans come from behind the curtains of the still-sleeping members of O-Town.

"What?" a tired-sounding Alex asked from above her.

"Jacob’s photo shoot. It’s perfect. I know exactly where to do it," she said, happily.

"I’m glad. Now shut up so that we can sleep," Alex said, turning over once again. Maria smiled. She hopped out of her bunk and walked to the front of the bus. Mike M. was up and he smiled at her as she sat down across from him at the table.

"I need your help with something," she said. He nodded.

"Sure, anything you want," he said as Maria kept smiling.

A few hours later, the guys were up, still excited about their award wins the night before. Jacob was being polite, but Maria felt his eyes on her more than once. She did her best to ignore his staring, but it was getting impossible. What did he think would happen if he kept staring at her? Nothing. And nothing was going to happen, either.

"Dianna, you’re amazing," Jacob was saying now as he stood, drinking some orange juice and leaning against the counter. She smiled at him.

"Your back was only twisted. The more that you danced, the more you strained it. You should’ve been resting," Dianna scolded, a smile still on her face.

"Blame them," Jacob said, indicating the Mikes. "They made me dance."

"You’re still going to need treatments, though, so that it doesn’t tighten up anymore," Dianna told him.

"My back is all yours," Jacob said. Maria looked up and her eyes met Jacob’s. He smirked. Maria shook her head and looked back down at her camera that she was loading film into.

"Jacob, I’m going to need your back and the rest of you for your photo shoot," Maria said, still concentrating on what she was doing. Ashley laughed at that. He was sitting next to Maria, watching her fiddle with her camera.

"Where are we doing it? Here? On the bus?" he asked. Maria looked up at him.

"Nope. I know a man who owns a music shop not far from my father’s house. I had Mike call him this morning and I talked to him as well. Anyway, he’s going to open later than he usually does so that I can do your photo shoot," she said.

"In the shop?" Jacob asked.

"Yes. It’s perfect," Maria replied. Ashley nodded.

"It’s a good idea. With you being the musician of the group, it’s only fitting for you to be surrounded by instruments and music," he said. Maria leaned forward and kissed Ashley’s cheek. He looked at her, surprised.

"Exactly, Ashley. See? He understands where I’m coming from," she said looking again at Jacob. Jacob had to admit that it was a good idea.

"Who else is going?" he asked.

"It’ll just be me, you and Mike C.," Maria said. ‘Oh, good,’ Jacob thought. ‘It’ll be nice and awkward.’ No. They were working. Any feelings that Jacob thought that he had for her had to be forgotten…at least for now.

"Okay. Just let me know when you want me," he said as he turned and walked back to the sleeping area. ‘Right now,’ Maria thought. Shit. No. ‘Stop it, Maria,’ she told herself and continued to load her camera.

Alex and Erik were lying together on the seat at the back of the bus, listening to CD’s and talking quietly. Jacob entered and sat down, sighing.

"Problem, Jake?" Erik asked.

"Maria’s arranged my photo shoot at some music shop. Just her and me and Mike," he said. Alex smiled.

"Sounds cozy," she said, tightening her arms around Erik.

"Try torturous," Jacob said.

"You’ve always been good in working situations. Just be professional and try to pretend that you don’t want her," Erik said with a smile.

"I don’t want her, Erik," Jacob insisted. "I meant that it would be torture because I hate photo shoots."

"You can’t lie to me, Jake. That’s bullshit and you know it," he said as Jacob left the room. Alex giggled.

"He wants her," she said.

"He sure does," Erik agreed and kissed Alex gently. As the kiss became deeper, they both fell off the narrow seat onto the floor.

"Hi," Dan said as Dianna came into the sleeping area.

"Good morning. What’s the schedule for today?" she asked him.

"Well, let’s see. It’s almost noon now?" he asked, looking at his watch. "We should be arriving at the hotel parking lot in a couple of hours. From there, we’ll take a limo to Maria’s father’s house," Dan told her. Jacob suddenly came out of the back of the bus and stalked by, a frown on his face. Dianna looked at Dan, who shrugged.

"You seem to be the only one who knows what’s going on at all times," Dianna said, smiling.

"Somebody has to," he said. They heard a thump, then laughter coming from the back of the bus. Dan walked over and opened the door. He saw Erik and Alex on the floor, tangled in a heap.

"What are you doing?" he asked with a smile. Erik looked up at him from his position on top of Alex.

"Um…nothing," he said. Alex laughed. Dan closed the door, shaking his head. Dianna looked at him.

"If the people on this bus aren’t careful, I’ll have more than just Jacob’s back to worry about," she said, smiling and rolling her eyes.

"Joseph, are you sure there’s enough room?" Marilyn Clark asked her fiancé.

"Yes, dear. There’s more than enough room. At this point, I wouldn’t mind a whole baseball team sleeping here if it meant that I could see my daughter," Joseph Carpenter answered.

"I know, I just want everyone to be comfortable," she said. Joseph kissed her lightly.

"Don’t worry, they’ll be fine. I spoke with Maria and she said that the five young men in the band would sleep anywhere. They’ve been on a tour bus for how many months? I’m sure they’ll just be happy to be staying in something that doesn’t move." Marilyn smiled. She had only met Maria once and it had been a long time ago. Maria was a grown woman now and Marilyn was a little uncertain as to how she’d take the unexpected news that she and Joseph had to tell her.

The limo made it’s way to a shopping center where it parked away from the building at the back of the parking lot. Maria, Jacob and Mike got out. Maria had a Snickers bar in her mouth and she grabbed her equipment as she chewed on it. Jacob helped her when she appeared to be having some trouble.

"Thanks," she said, her mouth full of candy bar. They made their way to a small music shop that was closed. Maria knocked on the door. She saw a little old man come running to let them in.

"Maria, my sweetie girl! My how you’ve grown. You’re beautiful," the man said as he put his hands on Maria’s cheeks. He had a slight Italian accent. Maria smiled.

"Hi, Mr. Venetti," Maria said.

"What’s this ‘Mr. Venetti’ stuff? Call me ‘Sam’ like you always used to," he said as he hugged her after she put her things down. Maria smiled. "It’s been too long, sweetie girl."

"Okay, Sam it is. Sam, this is Jacob and Mike. Jacob is my photo subject today," she said. Sam nodded at him.

"He looks musical," he said. Maria smiled at the look on Jacob’s face. "Sweetie girl, come here." Sam dragged her over to a piano in the corner of the store. "Remember how you’d play? Play for me." Maria looked at the piano, then back at Sam’s hopeful face. Sam turned to Jacob and Mike. "She was playing concertos when she was ten years old," he told them proudly.

"Not well," Maria reminded him.

"Go ahead," Sam insisted.

"Yeah, go ahead," Jacob said, crossing his arms. Maria looked at him and took a deep breath. She sat down at the piano and just sat there for a minute. She lightly touched the keys and began to play a beautiful Beethoven concerto. Her eyes closed as she felt the music. Jacob was entranced. She was incredible. Sam smiled as he watched Maria get lost in the music. Five minutes later, when she was done, she looked at them. Sam clapped loudly and pulled her off of the piano bench, hugging her tightly.

"Beautiful! I knew that you could still play. Come here, look at this." Sam then dragged her over to look at a picture that was hanging on the wall. "Sweetie girl drew this when she was only nine." Jacob looked at the picture. It was a pencil sketch of a harp. Every detail was there. ‘She must’ve been a freakin’ prodigy,’ Jacob thought.

"Nine?" he asked, incredulously.

"Actually I was nine and a half," Maria admitted. Sam looked at her, a look of worship on his face. Jacob smiled. "Sam, I don’t want to be rude, but we have to get the pictures taken by two," Maria told him.

"Oh, you kids go ahead. I’ll be in the back and won’t bother you," Sam said. He kissed Maria on the cheek and shook Jacob’s hand. "If you’re smart, young man, you won’t let her get away." Maria blushed and coughed. She went over to her things and took another bite of her candy bar. Jacob was enjoying her embarrassment.

"I won’t, sir," Jacob told him, winking at Maria, who looked quickly away. The old guy did have a point. Sam smiled and scurried away to go to his back room.

part 3