Chapter Fifty-Six

The Weekend Alone

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

Kate put both Will's and her's suitcases in the trunk of her silver car that afternoon. She got into the drivers seat and checked that she had her CDs with her (which she would need if they were going on a road trip to wherever they were), which included Aerosmith, James Blunt, and much more (just in case Will wanted to listen to something new).

Was today already Friday? It seemed like just a day ago she was shopping with Jack and Melissa to pick out a dress for this very day. Well, weekend, actually. They might go out to eat somewhere nice tonight, though.

Kate drove to Fort Snelling and picked up Will. He got in the car and kissed her sweetly before taking out the directions and fastening his seatbelt.

After taking fifteen minutes, Kate had finally gotten to a highway.

"Just stay on I-35 for two hours," Will said. "I'll tell you where to go, then."

She smiled. "Are you taking me to Canada?"

"We're close to Canada?" Will asked.

"Sort of...I just assumed that if we're going north for two hours that we'd be going up there."

"No, it's not Canada."

Silence.

"Um, I brought some CDs with, if you want to listen to some music. They're right here." She opened the glove compartment and pulled out two blue CD holders. "You pick."

Will skimmed through the CDs (none of them he knew of, except James Blunt and Aerosmith), and picked one at random.

"We watched Moulin Rouge!, right?" Will asked.

"Yeah. Did you find the soundtrack?"

"Yes. May we listen to it?"

"Of course!" It's a great soundtrack."

He took the CD out and handed it to her. She put it into the player. David Bowie's "Nature Boy" started playing.

"How was your day?" she asked.

"It's was very good. It went by quickly. How was your day?"

"It was good. I thought it went by slow. I couldn't wait to actually be out on the road and going to wherever it is you're taking me."

"I could see where you would feel it's a slow day."

"Yeah."

Silence.

"You know, if we go somewhere in a few months, maybe you could drive. You can go try out for your permit maybe next weekend. You've completed the manual and have a pretty good feel for driving, right?"

"I suppose...I've never attempted, though."

"Oh, don't worry. I'll teach you. It'll be nothing drastic, like a highway. We'll start you out in an empty parking lot, and then residential streets, then maybe a fairly busy road, then the highway. Then you'll have your license, aka you're ticket to freedom."

"And how long will it take me to let my license?"

"It depends how quickly you pick things up. It took me a year to get mine. Then again, I got my permit right when I turned fifteen, and I couldn't get my license until I turned sixteen. The law, and whatnot. I have a feeling that you'll do fine."

"Oh." He looked at the directions. "It says that we'll arrive in two more hours, so we'll arrive shortly before six."

"That's cool. We can go find a place for dinner, then."

"Lady Marmalade" came on the sound system. Kate smiled and turned up the volume and started singing along.

"Voulez vous coucher avec moi, ce soir," she sang.

"What?" Will chuckled.

"Oh, it's something in French is all." She turned down the volume.

"What does it mean?"

"Um...would you like to sleep with me tonight."

Will's eyes widened. "Oh."

Kate tried not to laugh at his reaction. "I wasn't asking you to have sex me. That's the lyrics of the songs. They're just words."

"I-I know."

Kate playfully rolled her eyes and smiled.

At 5:30, Melissa stood on the driveway, waving goodbye to her parents, pulling away in their car.

"Bye!" she said. "Have fun! I'll miss you!"

Her mom waved goodbye as her dad concentrated on pulling out of the driveway. Once he was on the street, he waved goodbye, then drove down the street.

Melissa could hardly believe it: it was Jack and her, alone, for a whole weekend. She went back into the house, locking the front door behind her out of habit. Her dad always had the front door locked after everyone was home, and Melissa had picked up on it, despite that he was off for the weekend.

She ran down the stairs and hugged Jack, who was waiting for Melissa's okay before leaving the living room, since neither knew if her parents were aware of the fact that Jack still lived there.

"It's just you and me now, Jack," she said, sitting on the couch. "One whole weekend."

"Someone seems excited," Jack commented.

Melissa told herself to calm down. She was not in high school anymore! Even though this was the weekend that could be the weekend.

"And you're not excited? You get me alone for the weekend."

"'N' what? We watch Chicago 'gain 'n' ye 'ttempt t' burn th' 'ouse down with another grease fire?"

"No, I won't make you watch Chicago again, and I will not burn the house down! We'll have take-out or something."

"Oh, then that sounds like a fun weekend, just sittin' 'ere 'n' doin' nothin'," he said sarcastically.

"Something tells me we'll find something to do," she said, leaning against him.

"Ah, tryin' rum, are ya?"

"No! I'm not drinking underage."

"But ya will loosen up this weekend?" he grinned.

"Of course not," she lied. Melissa wasn't about to admit that she was thinking about "loosening up" this weekend. What Jack do, then? Seduce her on the couch right then and there?

"Look at 'ouses?"

At least he believed her lie.

"Maybe. Let's just take it as it comes. Who knows when we'll have another weekend like this."

Silence.

"Well, maybe if ya get off the couch 'n' do some searchin', we could fairly soon."

Melissa remained sitting. "I know."

Will had spent two and a half hours in the car with Kate. They had talked, and Kate put on Aerosmith and started singing. Will loved to hear her sing – she had a beautiful voice. She told him what the different songs were (apparently she was going to teach Will to love this Aerosmith band). She would say "This is "Angel', I love this one!", then proceed to sing it. But the one she seemed to like most was "Dude Looks Like A Lady." Will thought she was the most beautiful thing when she was having fun. She had a big smile on her face, and her green eyes shone with happiness.

"You'll learn to love this song so much!" Kate had said. "But if you don't like it, we can change to James Blunt."

"No, it's alright," Will said. "You like this, so I like it."

I'll learn to like it, he thought.

It was around 5:45 when they arrived near their destination. Kate gasped as she drove over a hill and saw a beautiful view of a body of water. Even Will had to admit it was beautiful.

"Will...we're in Duluth!" she said. "I love this city!"

Duluth was a port city in northern Minnesota on the coast of Lake Superior, from what Mr. Sims had told Will. He said that if he wanted to Kate somewhere, Duluth would be city.

"I'm glad that you do. You're going to have to take exit 256B up here..."

Will gave her the rest of the directions, and Kate ended up at the Hampton Inn, a brown three story inn with semi-filled parking lot. Kate pulled into an empty spot. Both got out of the car. It felt nice to stand after sitting for two and a half hours.

She unlocked the trunk. Each got their own suitcases and wheeled them to the front door, Will holding the door open for Kate.

"Thank you," she smiled.

They walked into the lobby. It had wooden columns and purple furniture. He walked to the front desk.

"Darling, why don't you go and have a seat while I check in?" Will said.

"I've been sitting all day, I'll stand with you," she replied

"There's a nice view over by the dining area," the receptionist said. "It overlooks Lake Superior."

"Alright, then. I'll let you check in, Will." Kate left her suitcase by Will and walked to the dining room.

"Thank you," Will said.

"You're welcome," the receptionist chuckled. "Name?"

"Will Turner."

She typed something into what looked sort of like a laptop. "Alright, Mr. Turner, we have you and Miss Sims with a two bed room, numbered 309." She dug something out of a drawer, and put two cards in a paper card, wrote something on it, then handed it to him. "We have a complimentary breakfast from 6:00 to 11:00 in our dining room. And here's a map of the city center." She handed him a small, folded map. "Enjoy your stay at the Hampton Inn, Mr. Turner."

Will got Kate, who was looking at the view of Lake Superior. Will wondered what it would be like to live near the water again. It made him miss Port Royal. Who knew that this is what his life would turn out to be? Traveling to the future and learning about things like computers and automobiles!

They went into an elevator, something that Will wasn't familiar with. When he went inside, he felt like the floor was moving upwards. It was strange!

The doors opened, and they found their room. Will didn't know how to open it, so Kate helped him. She slipped a card into a black holder, then removed the card, then turned the handle. Will was still amazed at what technology could do!

Will opened the door for her again and looked at the room. The bed had forest green sheets and white pillows. Both beds were large enough for both of them.

Each set their suitcases on their bed. Will close the one closest to the window, while Kate had the one close to the window. He saw their view consisted of the lake and a bridge. He was glad that he chose Duluth to go to, it seemed like a beautiful cit.

"Would you like some dinner?" he asked.

"Yeah, let me go change while you pick a place. Did the receptionist give you a map?"

Even though Will had no idea what he was going to pick, he said "Yes."

And so began their romantic weekend alone.