"Why don't you, though?" Charlie asked Jack, struggling to keep up with his pace. He glanced back at Hurley, who was behind him, wiping his forehead with the back of his hand. "Eww," Charlie muttered to himself. "Anyways," he said, his attention turning to Jack again, "why?"
"I don't know, Charlie. Why should I even bother? I mean, she could like anyone else on the island! Probably Sawyer!" Jack said, looking around. "Wait," he said, mostly to himself. "Why am I even talking about this?"
"Because I asked you," Charlie pointed out, crossing his arms in front of his chest.
"Can't we talk about something else?" Jack pleaded, sighing. "Anything at all?"
"Okay, then," Hurley called out from the back, "let's talk about how tired I am and how much I want to rest."
"Okay, okay. Fine," Jack said, stopping. "We can take a short rest. Only a short one, though." He sat down on a log next to Charlie.
Charlie looked desperate at Jack. "C'mon," he said, nudging Jack.
"Charlie, I said I don't want to talk about it," Jack replied, sighing.
"Jack?" a voice called. Jack immediately stood up. He recognized that voice. It was Kate. "Jack? Charlie? Where are you guys?" Jack heard the sound of rustling leaves in the distance.
"Kate?" he called out. "Kate!"
Suddenly Kate appeared. She looked around at Charlie and Hurley, then her attention turned to Jack. She smiled. When Jack saw her, he smiled, too. Charlie coughed deliberately, and Jack looked at him, giving him a face. Charlie looked away, smiling. When Jack turned to face Kate again, she looked at him as if he was hiding something from her… which he was.
"What's going on?" Kate finally asked, looking from Charlie to Jack, and from Jack to Charlie. "What are you keeping from me?" She smiled a silly kind of smile.
Jack's face was quickly filled with fear. What if she found out what we were talking about? he thought. "Um… Nothing," he quickly lied unconvincingly.
Kate rolled her eyes, grinning. "Yeah. Right," she said. "Nothing, huh, Jack?" She looked at Jack. "So, Charlie, what were you guys talking about?" She made her way towards him. Charlie's eyes went skyward, then came back to Kate.
"Huh?" he asked, not paying attention. Kate sighed.
"What were you guys talking about?" she repeated.
"We were… talking… about- something," he replied, trying to make it sound convincing. He sighed. "Okay, okay. Jack was-"
"Just thinking we should go back now!" Jack cried, interrupting Charlie. Charlie gave Jack a confused look, and Jack gave Charlie a pleading look back. Then finally Charlie understood.
"Um… I think we can go now. It's about to rain," Hurley pronounced, looking up at the sky. Without a moment's hesitation, Jack make his way towards the beach.