"Myndi," Jack's voice said. "Myndi, get up."
I groaned and placed my pillow over my head. I had seriously been hoping that when I woke up, I would be back in my apartment and realize that I had just been dreaming about being in the Titanic movie. "Go away," I said to him.
"I'm going to get you out of that bed one way or another."
"I said go away."
"Okay, you asked for it."
Suddenly, I felt him grab my feet and yank me forcefully out of the bed so I ended up tumbling onto the floor.
"You are so dead!" I yelled. I grabbed my pillow and started hitting him with it. Needing some way to defend himself, he grabbed the pillow off the top bunk and we proceeded to get into one huge pillow fight.
"Okay, truce! Truce!" I yelled, breathing heavily.
"I win again."
"I let you win."
"Keep telling yourself that," Jack laughed. "Come on, let's go grab breakfast."
We went to the Third Class dining room, which was very small and crammed with people, and got ourselves some plates with a bit of potatoes and eggs. It wasn't a lot, but I guess that was to be expected.
Tommy and Fabrizio came over to join us once we were parked on benches.
"Sleep well?" Tommy asked me.
"I did, until someone presented me with a rather rude awakening," I said, looking at Jack.
"I warned you," Jack laughed. "It's not like it's the first time I've ever done that."
"Say, Myndi," Tommy said. "Fancy a walk around the deck after breakfast?"
Normally, I probably would've said yes. After all, Tommy was a sweet guy, and I wouldn't mind getting to know him. But I had my rules, and that meant no friendships.
"You know, I—"
"She'd be happy to," Jack cut me off. I looked at him with wide, angry eyes. "I've got some more sketches to do, and I promised Cora that I would play with her today. So she's all yours."
I wanted to strangle him. He was not helping my case here. But if I just backed out, I'd look like a jerk, and we had enough of that from Rose's fiancé. So I swallowed all of the words I wanted to say to Jack, and finished eating.
Then Tommy and I started walking side-by-side around the only couple of decks we were allowed on.
"You've known Jack your whole life?" he asked me.
"That's kind of complicated. But no, not my whole life. We've been traveling together for five years."
"Wow. Don't you ever wish for a permanent home?"
"I'm kind of used to it. My dad was in the military, so we had to move around a lot when I was growing up. You know, before I met Jack."
Trying to keep my stories straight was really getting confusing. But I had to be careful not to slip up, so no one suspected anything was wrong with me. Though to be honest, I still wasn't sure there wasn't something wrong with me.
"A military man, you say?"
"Mm-hmm. I'm very honored to be his daughter. And what about you? I can tell you're from Ireland, but what else is there to know about Tommy Ryan?"
"Well, I grew up with me mum, dad, and two older brothers on a farm out in the country. We all got along well enough, but with three boys, we got into a lot of scrapes with each other."
"I'm sure you did," I laughed.
"But our father instilled us with hard-working hands and minds. He made sure to teach us how to be proper gentlemen, even if we didn't have as much money as other people."
"He sounds like a nice man."
"He'd love you. Maybe one day you'll get to meet him."
I hated it when people talked about the future on this ship. It just reminded me of what we were about to face in now three days.
"You alright, lass?" he asked.
"I'm fine," I said with a fake smile.
"I ain't blind, you know. I can see that you're lying. Did I scare you with talk of meeting my father?"
"Really, Tommy. I'm okay. I'd love the chance to meet your father."
We ended up walking around in circles on the deck for hours, each of us trading stories about our lives before Titanic. I had to be careful with what I said because I wasn't exactly sure what parts of my history had transferred to this timeline I had with Jack. But for the most part, I was able to talk freely with Tommy. I hadn't felt so comfortable around someone in a while. Which was extremely problematic. The closer I became to him, the harder it would be to say good-bye when the ship sank.
But I just couldn't find it in myself to leave him. Conversation came easier with him than it did with my roommate, which I couldn't understand because I'd only met him yesterday, and I'd been friends with my roommate for four years.
We grabbed some lunch together and when we sat down on one of the benches, we got to talking even more. There were hardly any awkward pauses, and between the two of us, we never ran out of things to say.
In fact, I hadn't realized how long we'd been talking until people started trickling in to get their dinner!
"Myndi! Tommy!"
We turned to find Jack and Fabrizio walking towards us.
"I haven't seen you since breakfast," Jack said to me.
"Yeah, we just got to talking and lost track of time."
Jack raised his eyebrows knowingly, and I wanted to punch him. There was nothing going on between me and Tommy, nor would there ever be. I wouldn't allow anything to happen.
"What about you?" I asked. "Was spending time with Cora fun?"
"That little girl has more energy than anyone I've ever met. She made me chase her around the deck several times, and she actually managed to lose me twice."
"That's adorable. Get any sketches done?"
"A couple. I got one of this man lying on a bench, and another one of a woman by the railing."
"And now for the most important question…did you see Ro—um…that girl at all?"
Jack's face deflated quicker than I thought possible, but I was thankful he didn't notice my slip-up. "No. I kept a close eye on the First Class deck, but she never showed her face."
"She is First Class," Tommy pointed out. "She's probably with the highfaluting society folk, all talking about how much money they have."
"No, she was different," Jack said with a dreamy look on his face.
I rolled my eyes. "You're crazy. You've only seen this girl once and you're acting like a lovesick puppy."
"Love is never logical," Tommy said.
"This isn't love. Real love takes time."
"Some people are lucky enough to find love faster than others."
"I'll believe it when I see it."
We all finished eating, and Tommy and I finally parted for the evening. Now that he was gone, I was bored, and I desired his company once again. But I forced those desires out of the way, knowing that forming a good relationship with Tommy would only lead to pain.
As I lay in bed, I just couldn't seem to get Tommy out of my mind.
"Hey Myndi," I heard.
I rolled over and looked up. "Is this going to become a regular thing with you?"
"It's not like you're asleep."
"That's because you're talking to me."
"You think I can meet that girl tomorrow?"
"I told you before. She's from a completely different world than you are. The odds of you guys even seeing each other again are astronomical. I wouldn't count on it."
Okay, I'll admit that I was kind of having fun pretending that they'd never meet when they'd actually become inseparable in about 24 hours.
"Maybe I can sneak up there and find her."
"Don't you dare. The last thing we need is you getting arrested while we're on this ship. Plus, if you get caught, you'll never get to meet her then."
"Ugh. I hate it when you're right."
"I know. But hey, maybe you'll get lucky tomorrow. Who knows? On the 'Ship of Dreams', anything is possible."
"You think so?"
"Go to sleep, Jack. And you better not wake me up the same way tomorrow morning."
"I won't if you get out of bed and don't make us miss breakfast."
