Title: Love Story
Rating: T
Disclaimer: I don't own Titanic, Gossip Girl or any of its characters.
This is my first story, so please enjoy!
Chapter 1
Titanic was called the Ship of Dreams. And it was. It really was…
Southampton, England, April 10, 1912.
People crowded the Southampton dock in sheer awe of the magnificent ship. The ship sat in its glory in the gleaming sun. The bluff-colored funnels stood against the sky like the pillars of a great temple. Crewmen moved across the deck, dwarfed by the great steamer.
It was almost noon on the sailing day. A crowd of hundreds of people blackened the pier next to the Titanic like ants on a jelly sandwich. A gorgeous, burgundy Renault Touring car was lowered onto the ship, hanging from a loading crane. On the pier, horse drawn vehicles, motorcars and lorries moved slowly through the dense throng. The atmosphere was one of excitement and general giddiness. People embraced in tearful farewells, or waved and shouted bon voyage wishes to friends and relatives on the decks above.
A white Renault, leading a silver Daimler-Benz, pushed through the crowd leaving a wake in the presence of people. Around the handsome car, people streamed to board the ship, jostling with hustling seamen and stokers, porters and barking White Star Line officials.
The Renault stopped and the driver scurried to open the door for a young lady dressed in a stunning white and purple dress with an enormous feathered hat. She was merely nineteen years of age with milky skin, beautiful hazel eyes and blonde waves. She looked up at the ship and slightly jumped with giddiness; however, she quickly composed herself when she noticed her fiancé, Charles Bartholomew Bass', eyes gaze towards her.
Charles Bass was handsome, arrogant and rich beyond meaning. Chuck was eighteen, and the only heir to his father, Bartholomew Bass', fortune. His menacing dark gaze and smooth, brown hair polished his professional nature. Chuck helped his fiancée, Serena Van der Woodsen, out of the Renault and looked up at the brilliant Titanic.
"I don't see what all the fuss is about. It doesn't look any bigger than the Mauretania," Serena looked at the ship with cool appraisal. Chuck looked slightly annoyed so Serena sweetly slipped her hand into his. Chuck cringed and pried his hand out of her grip with a fake smile.
"Serena, darling. You can be blasé about some things, but not about the Titanic. It's over a hundred feet longer than Mauretania, and far more luxurious. It has squash courts, a Persian café – even Turkish baths," Chuck smirked and checked his pocket watch ignoring her futile attempts to flirt with him.
A personal valet opened the door on the other side of the car for Nathaniel Archibald. Nate was Chuck's best friend with sparking blue eyes, and glistening blond locks. At eighteen he had received the fortune of the Vanderbilt family, his late grandfather.
"Charles," Serena whined watching Chuck turn and hand her mother, Lillian Van der Woodsen, who was descending from the touring car behind them. Lily was a society empress, from one of the most prominent Philadelphia families. She was a widow and ruled her household with iron will.
"My daughter is too hard to impress, Charles," Lily sneered.
"Of course, mind your step," Charles pressed his smile, while his jaw ached. He felt suffocated near the two women, so he checked his pocket watch again and made his way towards his best friend, managing to avoid his father's threatening gaze.
"So they say this ship is unsinkable," Chuck smirked while Nate admired the ship.
"Oh it is unsinkable my friend. God himself could not sink this ship," Nate spoke with the pride of a host, providing a special experience. Chuck grinned and chuckled lightly looking up at the huge ship once again.
After handing a porter a fiver to manage the luggage, Chuck indicated the way towards the first class gangway. Nate smiled and led the way, weaving between vehicles and handcarts. Most of the first class passengers avoided the smelly press of the dockside crowd by using an elevated boarding bridge, twenty feet above.
"Steerage swine," Serena whined as a man brushed her arm. "Apparently he forgot to take his annual bath." Chuck would have normally agreed but instead ignored her, irritated at her pathetic cries for attention.
"Honestly Charles, if you weren't forever booking everything at the last instant, we could have gone through the terminal instead of running along the dock like some squalid immigrant family," Lily complained.
"My apologies Lily," Bart interrupted before Chuck could answer. "But frankly let us be grateful he even remembered to book the tickets." Chuck felt his cheeks grow hot and fumed yet again at another comment from his father. He could never do anything to please the man.
"What is it, mate?" Nate noticed Chuck's expression while boarding the ship. "We have pulled every string to book us the grandest ship in history, in her most luxurious suites. And you mate, act as if you're going to your execution."
Chuck shook his head and looked up as the hull of Titanic loomed over them – a great iron wall. Bible black and sever. Serena motioned him forward to join her, and he entered the gangway to the D Deck doors with a sense of overwhelming dread.
It was the ship of dreams – to everyone else. To Chuck, it was a slave ship, taking him to America in chains. To marry a woman he supposedly loved and run an empire he had no interest in. Sometimes he felt as if he were forty and not merely eighteen.
Serena grabbed onto his arm possessively and let him escort her up on the gangway. The black hull of the Titanic swallowed them. Outwardly, he was everything a well brought up man should be. Inside, he was screaming.
The screaming blast echoed from the mighty triple steam horns on the Titanic's funnels, bellowing their departure warning.
Please Review
xoxo