Chapter Thirty-Five

Realizations

I own nothing except Melissa, Kate, and any other OC's that I create.

The only thing I'm really doing this summer is watching my brother...Plus he goes to summer school, so I'll probably take advantage of those three quiet hours to write. Those are probably going to be the only hours I get since he gets to be a bit much...but oh well!

Happy birthday to GoneOutForSomeChikin!

I really hope that you guys are enjoying reading this! I know I'm having a ton of fun writing this! And I know I left you off with a cliffhanger, but...here you go!

"That's a small boat out there," Jack said from the living room of the cabin. He was looking at a small boat – or was it a ship? "How would ya even steer it? There's no place t' go below-decks and it's shiny...there are no sails!"

"It's a fishing boat," Kate said, arms crossed, looking out the window at the same boat. "It's meant to be small. Do you want to go on it?"

"You know 'ow to steer a boat? You?" Jack asked.

"Just because I'm a girl does not mean that I can't take charge of a ship," she said.

"So you're a captain?"

"No, but my uncle's a commodore..." she trailed off, looking for the keys to The Mighty Fisher, the fishing boat belonging to her uncle. "You'd swear that he of all people would keep the keys on a hook. He's a neat freak. He probably thought that I'd sink it, which I wouldn't–"

"Your uncle's a commodore? He wears a wig that's too tight and dresses in funny, tight pants and goes 'round killin' pirates like meself?"

"No, he doesn't do that, Jack. He's a president of a yacht club." She sighed and looked at the dock. Besides from The Mighty Fisher, there was a rowboat meant for three people.

"Can you row?" she asked.

He answered her question with a question: "Am I man?"

She rolled her eyes. "Then be a gentleman and row for the lady."

They went out the back door. Jack got into the boat first, then helped Kate into it. She sat across from Jack as he took the oars into his hands and started paddling.

Kate loved water – particularly the ocean. She loved being on boats and feeling the mist gently tickle her face. She loved the smell of the water, the freedom she felt on it...

Jack looked exactly the same way. He looked so content and happy. His brown eyes kept their attention on her, and a small smile crept onto his lips.

"Are you getting tired?" she asked, after five minutes or so of rowing.

"I'm a thirty-one year old who's used t' this. What do ya think?"

"You're thirty-one?"

"Do I really look that old?" Jack asked. Obviously he had been asked that before.

"No...I just...you look your age, I guess."

"Then what does dear William look like?"

Kate didn't even know Will's age! She knew so much more about him...but how could she forgotten to even ask that?

She shrugged. "A year older than me?"

"Unless you're twenty-one," he gestured to her face. "Doubtful."

"He's twenty-two?" she asked.

"So ya didn't know The Whelp's age. Do you really think ya should be fallin' fer 'im, love?"

"I'll do what I want," she said.

"That you will," he said. "I have great faith that you will indeed do that. But...I really don't think ya should be doin' that."

"Why not?" she asked.

"He's too clingy. And if you try to break up...he'll be devastated. Who knows what he'd do..." Jack tried to act innocent, but Kate wasn't buying it for a minute.

"Eunich!" Jack whispered, pointing to the house.

Kate rolled her eyes and suppressed a laugh. "Really."

"Well...he seems to be incapable of wooing you, love..."

"And you'd be much more capable?" she said softly, leaning towards him.

"You'd have to find out yourself," she said, gently touching her jaw-line.

"Persuade me," she said, turning the tables on him.

Jack seemed surprised that she would do that. His brown eyes grew wide, then they relaxed again.

"Love is nothing but a game. It goes to the highest bidder."

Jack spread his arms out. "I have a bed."

"Well, then...looks like you're the highest bidder."

Melissa sighed and looked at the empty living room. Will wondered what she was doing. She looked a bit worried and stressed.

Melissa hurriedly went out the door, then came back in. Will was about to ask what she was doing, but Melissa jumped to it first.

"Where did they go?" Melissa asked.

"Who?" Will asked, putting down his glass of water that he was drinking in the kitchen.

"Kate and Jack. Where are they?"

Jack took Kate somewhere? Will couldn't trust Jack. What if he took Kate on that boat to kidnap her? Alright, kidnaping was a little extreme, he had to admit. But Will didn't not want the girl he loved to be close to that pirate.

"I noticed that the rowboat's gone," Will said, trying to keep his voice calm. "Perhaps they took that?"

Melissa walked over to the window and saw that, indeed, the dark red rowboat was gone. She breathed a sigh of relief. "Good. I was worried! She's probably just showing him the trees. They're really pretty...they're huge pine trees, just growing from the center of the lake. It's amazing!"

She walked over to Kate's laptop and logged onto the internet. "Do you think that Kate will mind that I'm using her laptop?"

"No. I'm sure she'll be fine with it. You two are friends, after all."

Melissa nodded. "Yeah. She shouldn't mind. Hey, um...I think 'Moulin Rouge!' is on in about an hour or so. If Jack and Kate get back by then, maybe us four could watch it."

"'Moulin Rouge!'? What's that?"

"A movie. Kate explained what a movie is, right?"

"Yes...she did. I've never actually seen one."

Melissa smiled. Will noticed that she had a beautiful smile. "You'll love 'Moulin Rouge!'. Trust me. It's on channel 254. You might want to check now just in case I didn't get my times mixed up."

Will nodded, then went to the living room. He turned on the television and peered out the window. There was no red rowboat yet.

Where did he take her?

When Melissa logged onto the internet, she clicked on the Xanga link that she thought would lead her to the Xanga homepage. Instead it lead her to a page decorated in blue with a headline that said "Beautiful Model Fallen For A Handsome Blacksmith."

This had to have been Kate's blog page, the oh-so secret one that neither of them shared with the others.

Don't look! she thought. You'd hate it if Kate was looking at your's.

She looked at the headline for a few more seconds.

One look won't hurt! she argued back. Come on, what's the worst she could have on there?

Melissa drummed her fingers on the breakfast bar. She took a deep breath in and out. This was Kate's Xanga, and it would probably the only time that she would ever be able to access.

And, come on, she was sure that there were things that Kate wasn't telling her. Things that she would love to know.

She looked behind her just to make sure that Will wasn't there, then scrolled down.

Saturday, June 16, 2007

10:30 AM

I love Will, I love Will, I love Will. I feel horrible for thinking what I think about Jack. I don't deserve Will. I don't deserve such a great man who loves me as much as he does. I really do love him.

XOXO,

Kate

What bad thoughts were filling Kate's mind about Jack? And why did she not feel worthy of Will's love?

Friday, June 15, 2007

11:57 PM

I can't stop thinking about him. It's nearly midnight and I can't go to sleep. Does that game have a little bit of truth, like Jack said? Of course it doesn't! And I'm angry that it said that Will and I wouldn't make it. Oh, God, Melissa's here! She scared me...Gotta go! More later.

XOXO,

Kate

Was she talking about Will?

Friday, June 15, 2007

9:59 PM

I fear that I'm falling in love with Jack. I catch myself thinking about him when I'm doing the simplest things, like when we drove up to the cabin. I mean, Will is such a sweet person, and I hate what I'm doing. I don't deserve him. He doesn't deserve to have a girl with a wandering eye like me. Maybe we're not right for each other. Jack looks really lonely outside. Did he stay outside so I'd go visit him?

Damn, he's good.

XOXO,

Kate

Melissa's breathing became shallow. She felt tears sting her eyes. This is what Kate thought. Kate was in love with her boyfriend?!?! How could she be so mean?

Melissa felt a lump in her throat. She stared blankly at yesterday's blog entry and reread it. She felt like she wasn't really reading this. Kate falling in love with Jack? It didn't seem possible. Kate was always faithful. And she really acted like she loved Will. What was going on?

How far had they gone? Had Jack and Kate kissed? Did they have sex yet?

Now it made sense why Jack had taken Kate onto the boat. Time alone. Everything made sense now: Why he had been so distant from her those first few days that he met Kate, why Kate said that she was "working" all this week...

Melissa didn't want to believe that this was really happening. Maybe that's why she wasn't crying. She just refused to accept the fact that her best friend loved her boyfriend.

She walked back to the couch and curled into a ball. She refused to look out the window.

Time seemed to stand still. Everything around her seemed to have no value. A commercial for a toothpaste ad seemed to be a million miles away. The fabric on the sofa felt like nothing...it was almost as if she was floating on air, like she really was as far away as she felt.

"What's wrong?" Will asked Melissa gently.

So Will didn't know yet. She didn't know what to say. Yes, he deserved to know, but Melissa didn't deserve to tell him. He couldn't have his heart broken the second time by a woman. Poor, innocent Will..

She shook her head and looked down at her pink-colored toenails. "Nothing," she said softly.

Jack rowed to the shore of the cabin and got on the dock first. He helped Kate out, then pulled the rowboat onto the dirt so that it wouldn't get lost in the water.

"Thank ye for ye're time, love," Jack said, putting a hand on her waist.

Kate walked with Jack back to the cabin. She felt comforted by having his hand on her waist.

"Thank you," she returned. "I told you the cabin's beautiful during the summer."

"Right ya are, love," he said, his hand trailing down her back until he reached her butt.

Normally, she would have started freaking out if Jack did that (not that he had tried it before). But it was too obvious to hide anymore: the other one wanted the other, so what point was there in hiding it?

To make it not obvious for Melissa and Will, of course.

"Jack!" she hissed. "Get your hand off of my ass!"

"Sorry to inform you, but my hand is not on your donkey."

"Oh, shut up!" she said, yanking his hand away.

After getting back inside, Kate had gone into her bedroom to open up her window. She noticed it was a little stuffy inside the house.

"What he do to you?"

Kate turned around and saw Will at the doorframe, looking at her.

"What?" she asked.

"Jack. What did he do to you while you two were on the boat?"

How did Will know that they went on the boat? How was she going to explain this one to him?

"He did nothing. We just talked, Will. It's fine."

"Kate, I don't want you being near that pirate. Do you understand?"

That was the last time that she was going to be told what to do. Will was not going to tell her that she wasn't allowed to be with Jack. It was her life and she was going to what she wanted to do!

Something inside Kate snapped. For eighteen years, people had lived her life for her. She was through with it now.

Kate, she thought, do you want freedom? To do what you want because you want to?

She nodded, even though she said yes only to her own question.

Kate's Blog Entry

I want freedom. I will get freedom. I will get freedom by today's end.

XOXO,

Kate

Melissa's Blog Entry

Kate's cheating. Jack's cheating. He's cheating on me. She's supposed to be my best friend. What is wrong with everything? And Will...he has no clue...I wish I didn't have a clue, either. Things were easier that way.

I was right yesterday at the campfire. Kate is just like Elizabeth in every sense!!

Love,

Melissa Rose

I know that may have seemed a little uncharacteristic of Will to be telling Kate that at the end, but what I tried to convey is that he really loves her and wants to keep her safe.