Chapter Thirty-Two
A Campfire Chat
Wow...I have over two hundred reviews for this story! Thank you all so much!
Thanks to Aliza-phantom for the guys's ages!
GoneOutForSomeChikin – get your cookies, soda, and popcorn now! LOL
Don't own Fort Snelling or Dr. Phil.
At 9:00, Kate pulled up to her uncle's blue two-story cabin, clad with a dirt driveway (which was typical for rural northern Minnesota, apparently the city didn't see the need for roads or it was really as poor as her uncle joked). She turned off the car and gathered her CD collection.
"We're here," she smiled, getting out of the car. She popped the hood and got her backpack. Will followed suit. Jack was the third, looking a little bored (or was he irritated?) and Melissa was last, still trying to wake up from her nap.
Kate dialed the code on the key pad on the garage door to have it open. She then opened the unlocked door to the inside of the house.
"Everythin's dark," Jack said when they stepped into the unlit cabin.
"No, really?" Kate felt around for a light switch, then turned it on. She then walked to the living room and turned on a lamp. It was much easier to see now.
"Alright," Kate announced. "There are three bedrooms, so one of us will have to sleep on the sofa-bed. Any volunteers?"
"I elect dear William," Jack piped up.
"Um...I really like the firm mattress," Melissa said.
All three of them looked at Will. "I suppose the bed is out here?" he asked.
"Why don't you two sleep together?" Melissa asked Kate and Will. "You do get the big bed after all, Kate."
"I couldn't," Will said. "That's not proper. She is a lady and does not need her honor destroyed."
"I didn't mean that kind –" Melissa began.
"Why don't you and Jack take it?" Kate offered. "Will can sleep in the guest bedroom upstairs and I can take the one downstairs."
"No, no!" Melissa said. "You drove us all the way here, you get the big bed."
There was an awkward silence until Will put his bag down on the couch. "It's fine, Kate. Don't worry about it. I'll be fine."
"Will, I feel horrible –"
"You shouldn't. There's no reason to, my love."
Kate was reluctant to let him be the hero and take the sofa, but she had to remind herself that was in his nature.
She nodded. "If you're sure."
"I am."
Kate went to her guest bedroom, then put her bag down. Both Melissa and Jack were gone when she came back; she guessed that Melissa was showing him his room, since she had been here multiple weekends.
Kate went to the kitchen and got out the food for smores. Behind her, she heard Jack say, "So, who's ready fer a fire?"
Jack and Will had made the fire, while Kate and Melissa got sticks for roasting marshmallows. The four of them sat on logs around the fire, each couple taking a log. The girls had changed into sweatshirts and jeans since the sun had set, sending a slight chill through the area. The boys remained in t-shirts and jeans.
"I don't know about you, but I am hungry," Kate said, opening a bag of marshmallows. She took one, put one on Will's stick, then put one on her own before passing the bag to Jack.
"Of course you are, Skinny," Melissa teased as she grabbed a marshmallow and put one on her stick.
Jack sniffed the bag. "They smell funny."
"No, they don't," Melissa said. "They're just fine."
Jack took one out and poked it. "I don't like."
"You haven't tried it yet."
"I don't want t'."
"Yes, you do."
"Ya look like Giselle."
This caught her off-guard. Wasn't Giselle – put kindly – his whore? Or, one of them, at least?
Kate tried not to laugh as she said, "You actually sort of do, Melissa."
"Jack, that's not very nice," Will said.
Melissa was insulted. "So, what, are you all saying that I'm ugly?"
"No," Will said, "you're beautiful. But it's not polite to compare you to Giselle. You're opposites. She did certain things for money that you wouldn't dream of doing."
She saw Kate covering her laugh with her hand. This made Melissa angry. What was so funny?!
"At least I don't remind some people of Elizabeth," she shot back. But as soon as she said it, she knew it came out horribly and wrong.
Kate stopped laughing suddenly. Melissa noticed that she was red. Was that from laughing or the fire?
Kate narrowed her eyes. "That is an impolite comparison! I don't cheat."
"That came out wrong. You're...it's – you're right. You don't cheat. You're independent and smart. That's what I meant to say. Oh, my gosh, I'm so sorry, Kate."
Thankfully, Kate seemed to buy the excuse. Her face turned less red and her eyes got more gentle. "No, I...you're right. I'm like her in that sense. You're right."
Melissa knew it was horrible to compare her best friend to a cheater. It was wrong because Kate, who dated a guy for two years, would never even think about someone else while dating.
She roasted her marshmallow over the fire in silence. Jack was the first one to speak.
"Who's mad?" he asked.
"No one," all three of them said. Kate smiled, then roasted her marshmallow.
Melissa broke apart a graham cracker, stuck a square of chocolate and on the now light brown marshmallow in it, then started eating.
"What does everyone want to do with their life?" she asked.
Will was the first to speak up after a few moments. "I want to do what I had intended to do." He looked at Jack, then focused on everyone else. "I plan to be a blacksmith at Fort Snelling for quite some time. It's truly a wonderful place. Besides that...I suppose I want to get married and have children. I adore children." He smiled. "I can hardly wait for them."
"Then it's a good thing that Kate got the big bed," Jack said.
Melissa hit his arm. "Be quiet!"
Kate bit her marshmallow. "Marry, have kids, be successful. The usual."
Several beats of silence.
"That was it," she said. "You go next, Jack."
"Fine," Jack said. "I really don't know what I'm goin' t' do with me life. Travel, s'pose. Maybe take Melissa with me if she fancies so."
Melissa felt herself smile. Where would they go? Rome? Paris? No, Jack would hate those places. They'd probably live on a boat together in the middle of the ocean and be nomads.
"I see you haven't changed so much," Will said. "You still refuse to marry or have a child."
"Come on, lad," Jack said. "I'm Captain Jack Sparrow. Why would I need those things?"
Silence.
"I want to be a vet," Melissa said. "And, of course, marry and have kids, unlike someone."
"Not my fault," Jack said. "Why buy the milk when ya can get the cow fer free?"
"Now you're calling her fat?" Kate asked. "Why did I bring you here, again?"
"Guilt, and no, I'm not calling her fat, ya so-called smart lass. It's a sayin'. It means why marry when you can just –"
"Jack!" Will said. "There are ladies here!"
Melissa tucked a strand of hair behind her ear to hide a burning face. She prayed that someone would bring up a new question.
"What if the doctor said that you had exactly one year to live?" Kate asked. "How would you react and what would you do with your life?"
"A year from right now?" Jack asked. "What's the disease?"
"I don't know...cancer?" Kate said. "Sure, a year from right now. How would you react and what would you do with your life?"
Will cleared his throat. "Well...I'd be frightened, of course. I'd spend everyday with Kate and tell her how much I love her. I'd tell everyone not to miss me...I'd go back to the Caribbean and free my father from the Dutchman, if it still exists, that is. I would get married. I would proclaim my love for Kate on the top of a house and not care who heard it. And I would want to see the birth of our child."
Melissa smiled at the sincerity of it. She could tell that Will really loved her. She made a silent bet that they would be together forever.
"It won't be your time to go for quite a while," Kate said softly to him.
"Your turn," Melissa said to Kate.
Kate balled together the sleeves of her dark blue, baggy Yale sweatshirt in her fists. "First of all, I'd be pissed. You know...why do I have to die? Why me? I'd feel sorry for myself for a couple of weeks and be depressed. But I'd want to go on a runway for a fashion show. And...I actually wouldn't get married or have a child. Because Will would then be a widower and my child would grow up without a mother. I'd bungee jump from a bridge and get a tattoo. Then I guess I could die a happy person."
This question was getting depressing. Why did Kate have to ask this question? It really let the four of them bond, though. Was that why she did it?
"I wouldn't die," Jack said. "This is Captain Jack Sparrow ye're talkin' to. This whole segment is irrelevant."
"Jack!" Melissa whined. "Please? It won't happen!"
"Fine," he said. "I'd let people have their mournin' period. "Y'know, cry, hug me, whatever they need t' do. I'd personally be fine with th' whole thing. I'd go back t' th' Caribbean. Spend th' rest o' th' time on a beach drinkin' rum."
Silence.
"You're serious?" Kate said.
"Darling, look at him," Will said. "Does he look like he's joking?"
It was an unspoken truth between the three of them that he really wasn't joking. Melissa rolled her eyes. Of course Jack would spend the last year of his life on a beach drinking rum. Melissa would be right there with him though.
Except she wouldn't be doing any drinking.
"Let me just say that this is a very sad question, Kate," Melissa asked.
"It's 'cause you've ne'er been asked it b'fore," Jack said.
It's true. Melissa hadn't been asked it, nor did she care to answer or think about it.
She sighed and grabbed another marshmallow. "I'd cry and cry and cry. I'd be scared. I'd get married, have a kid, and just once get drunk. And I'd travel to Paris and make out on top of the Eiffel Tower."
"I never thought that I'd hear you say that you want to get drunk and make out on top of the Eiffel Tower," Kate said.
Jack sighed. "Love, I'm not gettin' married! Didn't I just say that?"
"Not even if I was dying and that was my last wish?" Melissa asked.
"Would ya come back t' 'aunt me if I didn't?" he asked.
"Yes. Yes, I would."
"Maybe, then."
Silence.
"Someone lighten the mood!" Jack said.
"Well, I'm sorry that I wanted to get a little deeper than favorite colors, Jack," Kate replied.
"What do you regret doing in life?" Will asked quickly.
Jack looked at Will, then rolled his eyes. "Ye're deep now?"
"You didn't complain when I asked a deep question," Kate said. "I believe Will has a right to ask a question. You can ask one next."
"But I don't want t' answer another deep question."
Kate's eyes stayed on his for a few seconds, then she answered the question.
"I have no regrets in my life," she said. "I always say 'live life with no regrets.'"
"You have to regret somethin'!" Jack said.
Kate shook her head. "What do you regret?"
"Three words: Barbossa and Lizzy."
Will looked angry when Jack mentioned that he regretted meeting Elizabeth. She was glad that she wasn't Kate right now, with having to try to talk Will down from getting angry over his ex.
"I regret not being stronger at times," Melissa said. "I just wish that I had said the things that were on my mind."
"So is this going to be a Dr. Phil session and let it all pour out?" Kate asked.
"No, but this is like a Dr. Phil session in the sense that we are bonding and confessing."
"Confessing is a Catholic ritual."
"Is this an aww moment? Am I s'posed t' do somethin'?" Jack asked.
"At World's End?" Melissa asked. "How do you know about that? What does Catholism have to do with At World's End?"
She saw three pairs of eyes on her. Two brown pairs were filled with confusion, and one green pair was wide with a "don't-spill-the-beans!" look.
"Huh?" Jack asked.
"What?" Melissa asked back.
"World's end? Isn't that th' land of the dead?"
"I-I don't know." She felt herself blushing. "I don't know a thing about world's end."
"Yes ya do–"
"I regret things, too!" Will said, interrupting Jack. Melissa was grateful that Will spoke up.
"I'll bet ya do, lad. Ya should regret lots o' things. Now, if ya don't mind, I'm talkin' to dear Melissa 'ere. Now, love, why would ya mention world's end if ya s'posedly know nothin' about it?"
"I regret Elizabeth, too," Will said.
Even Jack stopped the rant that Melissa thought was about to go on. All eyes were on Will.
"I regret falling in love and trusting her," he said. "I promised myself that when I found out I was in the twenty-first century that I would never fall in love again. But I found Kate. And that changed everything. Kate told me about first loves and how not to expect too much from your first love–"
"As beautiful and profound as that was, William," Jack said, "I get the feeling you are not goin' to get to the point about Elizabeth and why you regret her."
"I'll bet you'd like to hear that." He raised his voice slightly. "Wouldn't it just make your day if I could just admit how much of a mistake Elizabeth was to me? That I regret ever falling in love with her–"
"We're two peas in a pod, mate," Jack said. "I regret her, too. And for the same reasons. We both regret e'er kissin' her."
Will's normally kind brown eyes now were narrowed with anger. "You take that back, you bas–"
"Will," Kate said calmly, putting a hand on his. She whispered something into his ear that Melissa couldn't hear, but he seemed more calm when she was done.
"Alright, Jack," Melissa said. "You ask the last question."
"What's your favorite alcohol?" Jack asked with a smirk.
"I'm not sure that applies to all of us," she replied. "Try a different question."
"Alright...Who hates Lizzy the most?"
"Yet again!" Melissa said. "Not a good question!"
Jack looked at Kate when he asked this question. "What do you want most?"
Kate looked away from Jack. It was obvious that she was trying to hide being uncomfortable.
"For Jack to be locked out for the night," Will said bitterly.
Melissa had a feeling that was edited.
"That's wonderful to get your feelings out, mate, very proud of you," Jack said. "I want nothin' more than fer Will t' get over Elizabeth and anything concernin' the wench."
Now it was Melissa's turn. "To make a name for myself. I want to be remembered for something. You all have done that already, even Kate, who was huge at our school. Will, you're a great blacksmith and a wonderful person. And Jack...your, um...pirating skills have made you known. I don't want to be famous, I just want to be remembered."
"You'll find it one day, Miss Lewes," Will said.
Melissa smiled. "It's Melissa, Will. And thank you, I hope to."
Jack smiled and turned his attention to Kate. "And I'm curious as to what Kate wants most."
Why was Kate turning red? Was it because of the fire? No, she looked sort of nervous...
"Freedom," Kate said. "I want to do what I want because I want it."
Everyone was silence. Melissa could feel something different between Kate and Jack. Had they gotten into a fight? What was this...thing between those two?
"I'm going to bed," Kate said, getting up.
Melissa agreed, Will quickly volunteering to go inside, as well. Jack stayed outside and watched the three of them go inside.
Melissa's Blog Entry
I'm borrowing Kate's laptop that she bought with. This is a really nice one, actually...Anyway, I'm so happy that she invited us to come here this weekend. I love it here. It's so relaxing. Did you know that Kate's uncle is a commodore? He really is, actually! He's the president of the Detroit Lake Yacht Club. I wonder if Will and Jack would find that ironic. But anyway, getting back on track...The campfire was fun. A little crazy at times, but what's a vacation without a little drama?
Love,
Melissa Rose
Kate's Blog Entry
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 driving 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