The waiting area for a single platform was crowded, and within the sea of so many people, Lucy began to feel lightheaded and claustrophobic. The beautiful sight of the Titanic peered down on her, and she was a definite beauty, but what awaited Lucy after the trip wasn't quite so pleasant. Maybe if she breathed in enough sea air and went crazy, she wouldn't have to stay in America.
With her mother tugging gently on her hand, she was pulled into the line for one of the first class boarding platforms. The people around her were so elegant, so refined, but yet, they treated the ship like something worth much more than they were… But it wasn't. It was amazing in any right, with a size like no other. It was hard to believe that this ship's length was almost the height of the Eiffel Tower.
Lucy could still remember the days that she had spent in Paris. It had been her first and only trip in her lifetime, and her mother tried to soothe her as she complained that she wanted more experiences in the world, saying, "Lucy, traveling can take a toll on young ladies, so we must be treated gently," but that wasn't the case. Lucy's father was far too busy with himself to be concerned with traveling with the wife and daughter that he had to care for.
He wasn't a completely selfish man, but he was one to do things for the money. It was the exact reason Lucy was even boarding the Titanic in the first place. If anything, Jude Heartfilia would have gone by himself.
As she stood beside her mother in line, a butler carrying a parasol over her and her mother's heads, Lucy searched the crowd, desperate for anything interesting. People frantically tried to figure out where their luggage belonged, cars struggled to get through the humans, but what seemed to catch Lucy's eye the most was the areas for the lower classes on the ship.
Second class was nearby, not too distant. The people in line seemed almost so average, treated like normal, everyday people. In the line for first, the people were treated more like gods; dainty and overpowering to all. In the far off distance, Lucy could spot the poorest group, and they were treated like animals with diseases, which was somewhat sickening.
She wasn't ill-willed; The sight of the people didn't disturb her. What was the worst thing was the way that they were being treated. Already, they suffered, yet people dared to look down on them even more, yet it seemed like they tried the hardest? It was a sad sight.
Before her mother could gesture for her to move forward again, Lucy excused herself, too caught up in a single sight. Layla lost sight of her daughter's blonde head in the crowd, and looked worriedly at the butler. He apologized for letting her go, but Layla could only accept the apology and say that her daughter was a brave heart.
"Levy! I can't believe that you're here!" Lucy called, hugging her friend as they met one another's gazes.
The smaller girl hugged back with a gentle embrace. "Lu, I forgot to tell you that I was getting on the Titanic! My father asked me to get him some books from America, so I thought I would take the most interesting passage there," she said with enthusiasm. Pulling out of the hug, she looked to the ship. "She's amazing, right?"
Lucy smiled. There was nothing more comforting than knowing that her childhood friend would be aboard the ship as well. Looking up to the supermassive floating structure, Lucy couldn't help but agree. "I can't even imagine what the inside looks like."
As Levy dazed off dreamily, Lucy snapped her out of her daze. "Levy, you're riding second class?" Lucy asked, staring at the ticket in her hand. Her little friend nodded, looking at the blonde with questioning eyes.
"Yes, why?"
"I could have bought you a ticket for first, if you had brought this up to me! I want you to be the most comfortable on the ship!"
Smiling at her friend's hot-headedness, she nodded. "Maybe that's why I didn't bring it up," she said with a smile. "I wanted to see if I could get myself across the Atlantic Ocean without pestering you."
Levy McGarden was a braver soul, riding a ship by herself, paying the fares alone, and it was all in quest of a few books to expand one of the best libraries in England. Lucy took her friend's hand, promising, "We'll spend time together on the ship," and bid her farewell, searching for the line her mother and father were waiting in.
From the distance, as she approached, Lucy could see her father's dark scowl and sullen eyes. Lucy apologized for running off, telling her mother that Levy would be on the trip as well. As the topic of the blue-haired girl sparked up, Layla dared to mention, "Did you tell her about your 'arrangement' in America?"
Every drop of excitement and happiness drained from Lucy's body in an instant. She hoped that her mother wouldn't dare to mention the man she was supposed to marry, and for a whole week, she hadn't. Her father had been too busy to even mention the foreign man, but Lucy could have assumed her fiancé was on her parents' minds just as much or more than they thought about their own daughter.
Passing through the entrance to the ship, Lucy rebuttled, "Of course, I didn't! I'm not going to tell her, because I'm not marrying some man for you to get richer!"
Her shouting was too lost in the fascination and awe of the surrounding people for others to notice the argument at hand. Layla turned to Lucy with sad eyes, which struck her heart with pain for a second, but Lucy couldn't bring herself to feel sorry, for she wanted to marry someone she loved.
Before Layla could say anything sympathetic to Lucy, Jude interjected. "What, do you think that you'll find some love on this ship? That true love is waiting to knock on your door before you knock on your fiancé's door? I think not, Lucy. Accept that you're marrying that man!" he demanded, and Lucy pulled back, a single tear in each of her eyes.
"All I want… All I want to do is marry a man I love, become an author, and be happy…" she struggled to say as she choked up.
"You are not Lucky Lucy anymore, and you will not find love on this ship. Even if you did, you wouldn't marry him. This is the end of the conversation!" Jude boomed, remaining in the middle of the hallway. Lucy struggled to breathe in without sobbing as she held her father's gaze, and she nodded in defeat.
Stepping around her father and mother, Lucy walked off, hoping that she could make it to the deck before the railings were too crowded. Finding a single open spot, she peered down on the people below her. They waved and shouted to their comrades, and only now, above them all, Lucy could tell that they were all bidding their final goodbyes to the people aboard the ship.
Seeing Levy in the crowd, finally getting onto the platforms to board, Lucy smiled. She still had someone to look forward to seeing on the ship, and she would do whatever it took to get to see Levy. If anything, some nights, she would be dining without her parents, so she could as her friend to join her.
Each time Lucy saw her, Levy had another tale to tell, speaking about it as though she had lived every moment of it. She'd read so many books, and her avid memory kept the stories in her thoughts in vivid detail. If Lucy didn't have access to someone to tell her real stories that they had done, Levy's books would suffice. She loved them just as much.
Nearby, she could hear people asking others about what they thought of the Titanic. From what she heard, all the replies were positive, other people bringing Thomas Andrews into the conversation, saying the man had created a masterpiece. As for Lucy herself, she could admit that the halls she had already walked through were all more beautiful than her own home, decorated more elegantly than any other ship. The vessel was far too big for her to even feel the waves of the ocean, and being on the Titanic made her feel amazingly small.
However, deep in her mind, the thoughts on her fiancé begun to stir, rising up to the surface of her thoughts. Her father's words continued to echo, and she knew that she didn't have a choice but to marry him. There was nothing that she could do to prevent such an event. What saddened her most was that she had never even met him, only knew his first name as Evan, and he was a stern and boring banker from the US.
She'd heard stories about him from her father. He had picked him, so it was obvious that the marriage was nothing more for money and human creation. Lucy doubted that she could even let the man near her. He was a boring inner city banker from Chicago who had never been outside of the state, worked hard daily, and had never dated a single woman. Lucy hadn't even heard a tale of him getting drunk or in trouble or even if he had gone to a party, and there was nothing that signaled the man enjoyed having his own sort of fun.
What awaited her was a boring and dull life, like the rest of it. The Titanic would be her first and last amazing experience, and she would die an old and boring woman. She seeked thrill and adventure, and wanted to write a novel based on all of her experiences. Being amazing was a woman's taboo, which was something that Lucy couldn't handle. She wanted to be someone more than a girl that got married and could only procreate.
Of course, her idea of "amazing" wasn't much, but thanks to Levy, she had a zealous interest in reading and writing, and she desired to publish her own novel, like her friend's father. Levy's begetter was an amazing author, occasionally editing Lucy's short stories, and had become renowned for his amazing books and unrivaled talent and creativity.
She would do anything to change her parents' minds. Her mother would be an easy sway, and Layla could easily make Jude drunk in love and convince him that Lucy could be an independent soul… or so Lucy thought. It wasn't going to be an easy task, and in the end, if she failed to convince them, she had two options: run away or marry the bloke.