Chapter Thirty-Three

In The Dark

Thank you to my wonderful reviewers! I care very deeply for you...Eh, who am I kidding? I love you all! LOL

GoneOutForSomeChikin – did this give you enough time to get your cookies and everything?? XD

I own nothing except Melissa, Kate, and any other OCs that I create.

Kate had waited for exactly one hour until she decided to go outside and sit by the campfire with Jack. She had laid on the guest bed, lying on her back, legs straight, hands folded onto her stomach, staring up at the ceiling concealed in the black darkness. Kate needed to make sure that Will was in a deep sleep, as well as Melissa. She knew that it was risky going out: the only way out was through the back porch door, which was in the same room that Will slept in. And if Kate knew anything about that sofa-bed, it was that it was impossible to sleep on and the bar that hurt bad the next morning.

Kate thought that 11:00 was never going to arrive. She wanted to talk to Jack. No, she needed to talk to Jack. They wouldn't have to talk. Even having him hold her...

She could swear that he was teasing her. His back was to her, and he was looking at the campfire. It was as if he was saying "Fine. Don't talk to me," when really, it was killing her that she wasn't.

The minutes slowly ticked by. It seemed that three times a minute she would look at the big, red numbers on the clock by her bedside. Time seemed to move slower than ever. Slowly, the numbers changed from 10:15 to 10:30, then to 10:45, then to 10:55. The last few minutes seemed to not budge. Kate swore that the clock was broken.

10:56.

This is wrong, she thought.

10:57.

Then why are you still awake and counting the minutes?

10:58.

You're falling for him, Kate.

10:59.

No, you aren't. This isn't love. Love is what you and Will have. This is lust. You just want to rip his clothes off and spend one guilt-free night with him.

10:59.

So what if I'm having thoughts about another guy when I have a boyfriend? I'm human. I'm allowed to make a mistake.

10:59.

Not if you know that it's bad.

11:00.

Kate quietly got up and walked silently through the kitchen. She looked at Will laying on the sofa-bed, eyes peacefully closed. A pang of guilt ran through her when she imagined how he would react if he knew.

The door opened and closed without a sound. She walked down the stairs, her arms crossed over her chest. She was still in her Yale sweatshirt from earlier this evening.

She took a seat next to Jack and said nothing.

"The lass who so impulsively said that she was goin' to bed comes out," he said. "Wonder why that is."

Kate didn't know what to say. She remained silent and stared at the orange fire that was starting to weaken.

"I couldn't sleep," she said. "I was thinking about things."

"Ahh..." he said, taking a drink of a can of beer. "My incredibly intuitive sense of the female mind tells me that you are troubled."

"Where did you get that?" she asked, trying to change the subject.

"I borrowed Melissa's parent's alcohol without permission."

"So you stole it?"

"No, love, borrowed without permission. There is a difference."

She rolled her eyes.

"No, ye didn't come down 'ere to chit-chat about me borrowin' some alcohol."

"That's right, I came down here to tell you how much I hate you."

This caught Jack a little off-guard. "Hate me? Now why would you tell me that, love? That's not very nice."

"You purposely asked that question about what I want most! You just wanted me to admit in front of Will and Melissa that I wanted freedom!"

"But they didn't understand our curiosity for each other, dear Katherine. William and Melissa thinks that you want freedom from yer father, who does not give you said freedom."

She looked down at the ground. She was barefoot. Hadn't she bothered to put on flip-flops? God, why was she thinking about shoes right now?

Kate stood up and walked a little further away from the fire. She couldn't be that close to Jack. They might kiss otherwise. And, as much as Kate wanted to do that, Will would be able to see it easily.

Jack got up and went behind her. "Close yer eyes," he whispered into her ear.

His breath sent chills up her spine. She slowly closed her eyes.

"Hold out your hands," he said.

She held her hands out, but kept them close to her. She felt something go into her hands. It felt like wood, very nice and expensive wood, not cheap wood.

She let her mind wander. She could feel Jack's hands on her's. Was he trying to torture her? She wanted to turn around and kiss him now.

"Open them."

She opened them, and that damn compass was there, the one that supposedly told you what you wanted most. It was the same damned compass that was supposedly broken, which Kate was tending to believe that it was.

The compass's needle didn't even budge when she looked at it. It was pointed right back at her.

"Either you want the man that is standin' behind you," Jack said, "or you are very into yerself. And I don't think that ye're about t' admit t' either."

"This is broken," she said, stepping away. "It most certainly does not point to what you want most."

"Keep tellin' yerself that, darlin'."

"I don't!" she said a little loudly. "I don't want you. I'm in love with Will."

Even as she said that, she knew that it wasn't the truth. She couldn't meet Jack's eyes when she said it.

She handed it back. "Go get a real compass."

"Go get a conscience."

"Excuse me? I do have one."

"It's broken. But, I suppose my compass is, too, isn't it, love?"

"Fine! If you're so confident that your compass is indeed fine..." She grabbed his wrist and led him over to the coast of the lake and grabbed a stick. She went in ankle deep, then turned around, and took three steps to the shore.

"They have showers inside, love, unless you're trying to imply something."

"Oh, do shut up," she said. "This is called Will We Or Won't We. You write the first initial of you and your other's first name. If the tide collects it by third try, you and your lover won't make it. If it surpasses three waves, then you will make it."

"And this accomplishes what?" he asked.

"I'm showing you how wrong that compass is! Let's do you and Melissa first."

She wrote M + J on the dirt with her stick. It stayed for one wave until it was swept away by the second.

"So...supposedly me and Melissa won't make it."

"If you believe this game, yes."

"This looks like somethin' Tia would have done."

"Yes, well, I'm not Tia, thank you." She wrote W + K next on the dirt. It stayed for two waves. She was positive that the gods were working in her favor, until she felt a vice tighten around her heart when it was cleared on the third wave.

"And you claim that my compass is broken?" Jack stated it more as a fact.

"This is a silly child's game," she said, starting to act like a child herself.

"Wonder why ya did it, then." A grin crept upon his lips.

There was silence between the two of them. Kate noticed how charming Jack looked against the glow of the bonfire.

Jack took the hand that Kate held the stick in. He guided her hand, and together, they wrote K + J.

The first wave didn't come close.

Kate's eyes were locked on Jack's.

The second crept closer, but still didn't take it away.

Kate was beginning to wonder what exactly he was thinking.

The third wave didn't take it away, either.

"Well, isn't that interesting?" Jack said. "There could be a li'l bit o' truth to this game."

Jack shook the compass in his hands after Kate had left for her room for night. It was just him outside, the fire still flickering. It was going to go out soon, but there was enough glow to clearly see where the red needle was pointing to.

"I know what I want, I know what I want," he muttered to himself. But each time he reopened it, it pointed straight to Kate's room. Not Melissa's room, which was on the other side of the house, but to Kate.

Jack didn't expect the compass to point to Melissa. She wasn't what he was chasing after, so to speak. He already had her. It was getting Kate that was the challenge.

He wanted nothing more than to kiss Kate's lips and touch her. It was plain and simple: Jack wanted her.

Curiosity. She'd want to know what it would taste like. One day she wouldn't be able to resist.

As tired as Melissa had been this evening, she couldn't find sleep. She had slept two hours on the car ride up here and probably wouldn't be going to sleep until early Saturday morning.

If Will wasn't asleep on the sofa-bed in the living room, Melissa probably would have gone out there and did some late-night channel surfing. Instead, she pulled out her pink iPod and turned it on.

Had Jack come in yet? She thought she heard someone walking...maybe Jack had come in already. Melissa decided that she would check if he had put the fire out.

She rolled out of bed and went down the hallway to the kitchen and saw Kate at the breakfast bar with her laptop on. She was typing something in what she guessed was her blog. She gasped and turned the screen away from her.

"What?" Melissa asked, pausing her music.

"Oh, nothing. You just scared me is all." She typed for a few more seconds, then closed out of her blog site.

"Sorry," she laughed lightly. "I didn't mean to." She wrapped her ear phones around her iPod. "What are you doing up so late?"

"I-I couldn't sleep," she said. "What about you?"

"Same. Do you know if Jack's come in yet?"

"No, he hasn't."

The fire was still dimly burning outside. Jack was shaking something, his body moving with it. He would stop for a few seconds, then start shaking again.

"What is he doing?" Melissa asked.

"Who knows." She got off of the tall chair and stretched. "Do you want to write your blog?"

"Sure," Melissa said, still keeping an eye on Jack.

Kate kept going in circles with Jack. One minute she wanted him and would do anything to get him – that was mainly when she was by herself. The next minute she would wonder why they were stringing each other along – that was mainly when she was with Jack.

Now, in the darkness of night, she let herself thinking of what could be. She could have the freedom that she longed to have. She swore that it wasn't a coincidence that she got the big bed.

As she laid on the left side of the bed, she looked at the other side. Jack could be there with her right now. She could be cuddled up against him, but at the same time, have all the freedom that she dreamed of.

She sighed. Her hand went to the right side of the bed and rested there for a few moments before tracing a lazy pattern on the pillow. She closed her eyes. The last thing that she thought of before going to sleep that night was not Will, the man she loved, who it had only been for the last two weeks.

Now it was Jack.

Kate's Blog Entry

I can't stop thinking about him. It's nearly midnight and I can't go to sleep. Does that game have a 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

Melissa's Blog Entry

Jack is quirky. Flamboyant. A bit crazy. He's what some might consider "special." Me? I love him. Yes, I can finally say it! I love Jack Sparrow!!! Wow, that made me sound like such a fangirl, but I didn't love him in the beginning. I hated him, actually. But the more I talked to him, I saw how different he made me feel. I need to tell him! And as stupid as he can be at times (i.e. aggravating Will tonight with questions/comments about Elizabeth at the campfire), I really do love him.

Love,

Melissa Rose

P.S. I said "love" four times just in this entry...oops, five now!

I so hope you all are enjoying this!