Searching For Treasure - By L.C. Davenport Page 0,38

"I don't know what you are asking me."

"You should. It's a simple enough question. You asked me to stay with you and I did. We held each other all night. We made each other happy. And when we woke up this morning, I thought we'd find ourselves in a different place. If I was wrong you need to tell me. So I'm asking, what did last night mean to you?"

The panic grew in her belly until her whole insides churned from it. Oh no, I'm blowing it, she thought. Terrified of saying the wrong thing, she found herself unable to verbalize anything of what she felt. Last night had been magic. And for the first time in her life, she woke up feeling complete. Did he want to hear those things? Or did he want to hear how he had made her tremble with need, with ache for his touch, and with burn for his kisses? "I don't know what you want me to say,”she whispered wretchedly.

Feeling utterly dejected that he couldn't make her understand, he began to turn away from her. "It's not what I want you to say. It's what I need to hear you say. I need to hear you say it, Dana, and you're not."

Near tears, she clutched his arm. "What is it, Jack? Tell me what you want to hear and I'll say it."

"I can't tell you. You have to tell me."

"Jack, what's wrong? Why are we out here fighting instead of-?"

"Playing?" Hearing the misery in his voice, Dana felt her panic morph into a cold knot of despair. "When you know the answer to that Dana, come let me know."

Dana slammed the door in his face. She threw her shoes across the room. She cursed him. She cursed herself even harder. She beat her fists on the wall. Then she sat on the floor and cried until she gave herself a headache. She did everything but understand what the hell had just happened.

She was still on the floor sometime later when Noah knocked on the door. He had gone to his room to change his shirt and heard strange noises coming through the wall that separated it from Dana's bedroom. "Dana?" The sight of her tear-stained face shocked him. "Dana! What's wrong?" He quickly closed the door and dropped to his knees next to her.

"He wants something and I want to give it to him. But he won't tell me, so I can't."

"Dana, you're not making any sense." Noah didn't know what to do. Dana rarely cried and when she did, she never cried in front of him. "What happened?"

"He doesn't want me anymore,”she wailed. "He's walking away from me, from us." She rounded on him furiously. "What did you say to him? He's been acting funny since you talked this morning."

Noah was stunned. This was about Jack? He thought everything was fine now between them. "Nothing! I-I just asked him if he loved you."

Dana looked at him through her fingers. "What did he say?"

"He said that he did. And,”Noah took a deep breath, "I asked if you loved him. He said he wasn't sure."

"What's the matter with him? How can he not know?"

"Maybe because you haven't told him?"

Dana blinked once, twice, feeling quite stupid. She shoved the heels of her palms into her eyes as fresh tears flowed. "Oh, God, I've messed everything up!" She sobbed brokenly into her hands.

"Dana, please; please stop crying." Noah patted her foolishly on her back. "Do you want me to get someone? Do you want me to get Rose?"

"No,”she said bitterly, turning away from him.

*****

"You made her cry, dude." Noah had gone looking for Jack ready to fight. But the fight drained out of him when he found Jack on the back steps staring morosely at the gazebo, clearly as miserable as Dana was.

Jack closed his eyes in pain. "That wasn't my intent."

"Yeah, well just what was your intent?" Not willing to give up his anger just yet, Noah clattered noisily down the steps and sat down next to him.

"You don't understand, Noah, I need to hear her say she loves me."

"What is it with you and words all of a sudden? You're pushing her, man. You've had a lot longer to get used to the idea of the two of you being more than friends. This is new to her. You need to give her time."

Jack laughed harshly. "I've given her nothing but time."

Noah stared at him. "That's just stupid. You've waited and waited. Finally, she's