Chapter Twenty-Eight

New Things And News

The scenic drive that Melissa and Jack took really was just that: a scenic drive. They drove to a park a few minutes away and stopped in the parking lot and took off their seatbelts. Melissa saw that there was only one car in the driveway. It was an old, red one parked under a tree in the shade.

Melissa noticed that it wasn't that warm out. It was actually sort of cold. She kept the windows down halfway, otherwise it would get too hot.

"This is it?" Jack asked, looking at the empty park in front of them.

"Yeah. We can be here for about half an hour to make it believable. The town homes are about fifteen minutes away. Just so you know, your house has a lot of hail damage and the windows are broken, thus making it uninhabitable. I then say that you can move in temporarily, so you, Jack, are going to be fine."

"Another lie?" Jack mused. "You're gettin' deeper into it." He held her chin in his hand. "So you're not a saint?"

"I never said I was. I'm a good girl. You called me a saint."

His lips inched towards her's. "Exactly."

She smiled. "Pirate."

They kissed in the front seat of the car. She had never tried to kiss like this in a car. She realized that it was a little difficult to do.

"Ow!" she said, when she hit her knee on the divider between the two seats. "Jack, this isn't that comfortable."

Jack put her hand on the knee that she had hit herself on. As cliche as it was, it did sort of feel better already.

Kate had been careful to not let her father know that she and Will really did have a relationship. That started the moment that they walked into the house. Kate had let go of Will's arm, and she ended their conversation as if they were discussing going out to breakfast together, when really beforehand they were talking about how nervous Will was to actually start his job.

"Here, follow me," Kate said, leading Will upstairs. "I need to get my purse. Then we can go out for breakfast like I promised you."

Breakfast really was nothing special: they planned to just pack a couple of muffins and go eat breakfast by a pond. At the same time, it was special: it was alone time.

Both went into her room. Kate saw a large box on her bed. Once she got closer, she saw that it had a picture of a laptop on it. She picked it up and turned around to find her dad, who was in the next room, putting away his clothes in his drawers. She could feel Will following her.

"Dad," she said. "What's this?"

"It's a laptop, Kate," he said. "It's a late graduation present. A father does love to dote upon his daughter." He gave a smile that said "I love you and I'm proud of you."

"Well...thank you. But really, this is too much. I can't accept it."

"Nonsense! I got that in New York for you. Your mother and I spent an hour picking that out for you. Both of us want you to have that."

Kate looked at it. It really was nice, and she was going to need a laptop for traveling. But she couldn't accept it. It was too nice.

"We both figured that at the end of the summer when you m–"

"Dad!" Her face turned red and she looked down at the box.

"Oh..." Her father picked up on the hint. "Well, I shouldn't hold you up. Why don't you go start the laptop? I'm sure that Will could help you. He is a smart boy, right?"

"Actually, we were going out," she said softly. "We'll be back in an hour."

Kate went to her room and set the box down gently on the bed. She felt a lump form in her throat.

"What's the end of the summer?" Will asked, once they were going down the stairs.

She shook her head. "Nothing."

Melissa and Jack returned home at a little past 7:45 from the park. Melissa had put her hair in a ponytail to hide the messiness that Jack had created.

She started giggling as she rolled up to the driveway. Already today she had learned how to make-out in a car, something that she wouldn't have thought about trying to do before.

"Don't pull that pirate-day stuff again, Jack," she warned, trying to lower her giggling. "I'll start laughing again!"

"Then I'll remember t' do that more often," he said.

"Not in front of my parents! They think you're..."

"What? Mad? Quirky? Drunk?" Jack guessed

"So crazy that you need to be put in a straight jacket and put in a room with squishy walls with no one to talk to except yourself."

He gave her a questioning look.

"It's where they put the crazy people. The mad ones."

"Now that doesn't sound like a very fun thing to do, love. All you can do is talk to yourself."

"Exactly." She got out of the car with Jack and went inside. She heard the that the TV was on to a news channel. The power must have came back on while they were gone.

"Hi, Melissa," her dad said, as she walked up the stairs. "Jack's house good? Or should I say, in ship shape?"

She rolled her eyes at the lame joke. "Actually, his house was flooded."

"Flooded?" Her dad craned his neck to see both of them in the foyer.

"Yeah. Something happened in the laundry room and the entire downstairs is flooded, and we both decided that it'd be best if he stayed here for a few days. Is that alright with you?"

"The downstairs is flooded?" her dad questioned.

She nodded her head and tucked a strand of blonde hair behind her ear. "I was thinking he could sleep downstairs on the couch until it gets fixed?"

"Mr. Sparrow, do you have anyone else that you could stay with?"

Melissa saw the look of irritation come across Jack's face at the name "Mr. Sparrow."

"I happen to have no hide nor hair of family in the area, sir. I'm terribly sorry, but I am going to have to be sleeping downstairs on the couch doing nothing to your daughter whatsoever. I do appreciate your hospitality, though."

Melissa couldn't tell if that last sentence was sarcasm or not.

Her dad shrugged. "Sure, go right ahead, Jack. There should be some blankets by the sofa downstairs. As long as you behave yourself, I don't have a problem with you staying in my home."

Melissa found it hilarious that her dad was talking to Jack as if he was a child. "Go right ahead...As long as you behave yourself..."

"Thank you!" Melissa said. "Come on, Jack, I'll show you around the house."

When she knew her dad wasn't looking, she took Jack by the hand and led him into her bedroom and closed the door behind them. They started kissing again, just like they had been in the car, only Melissa noticed that it was a lot easier, seeing that there wasn't a divider between them.

"I'm not sure that now's the time, love," Jack said, putting a finger up. "If yer father caught us, I'd be the one he'd blame, deflowerin' his daughter and whatnot."

"Deflowering? That's what you call it?"

"Well, if I'm speakin' t' a lady with delicate ears, then yes, I call it deflowerin'."

She smiled and kissed him. "You're funny, Jack."

"Believe it or not, I don't hear that much."

"No...I'd believe it," she said. She opened up the window blinds and let the sunlight in. "You had your chance to – how did you put it? – deflower me before. Sorry." She let a smile crawl on her lips.

After going out for breakfast, Kate and Will came back home. She started to get her new laptop going when she saw that the power was back on. Will hadn't asked what was going to happen at the end of the summer, but she knew he was curious.

She put in an internet disc and loaded it. She lied down on her stomach in her bedroom and saw Will's eyes were only inches from her's. He was lying the same way.

"Kate," he said. "What's happening at the end of the summer?"

She shook her head. "It's nothing. It's just something that my father likes to talk about."

"But what is it?"

She felt a lump forming in her throat again. She didn't want to cry. She never did. The last time that she had was graduation, which was a week ago. Kate had only cried when she felt that things just weren't going to be the same anymore.

"It's nothing," she said softly.

"Katherine–"

"Please, Will," she whispered. "I don't want to talk about it."

He took a hand of her's. "But do you promise that you will?"

"I suppose I wouldn't be able to not tell you if I tried," she said. "It's going to be that obvious."

Melissa's Blog Entry

Well...Jack and I spent a while kissing in a park parking lot. Thank goodness no children saw us. I'm just so happy to have one-on-one time with him. I really do love him...I just don't know how to tell him! I don't want to say it a week into our relationship. Don't you think that's a little too soon?

Love,

Melissa Rose

Kate's Blog Entry

I'm feeling all depressed now! I should be happy, because my parents are home, they got me a new laptop, and I told Will that I love him today...but why did my dad have to say it? I can't tell Will! I just can't! It's going to break his heart...I knew I shouldn't have kissed him! Why am I so stupid?!

XOXO,

Kate

I'm so sorry if this chapter confused you...I know part of it is kind of cryptic, but I promise that everything is going to be explained by the end of the story!