Chapter 3 ~ Dinner & Dancing

Chapter 3 ~ Dinner & Dancing

"But where did he go?" wondered Jessie. His disappearance troubled her as did his warning about being near the ship's bow at ten. "What could he have meant?"

James laid his hand on her arm. "Don't worry about it, Jess. We're here to have a good time; don't let the Boss ruin it." He smiled, "Now let's eat."

Standing, Jessie grinned back. "Okay."

They walked over to the buffet table and James's eyes widened. Spread before them was almost every type of food imaginable. There was everything from sushi to hamburgers, wonton soup to tomato soup. Indian food, American food, Chinese food, French food, Japanese food, and Spanish food. Teriyaki, salad, rice, mousse, tempura, pancakes, hot dogs, crepes, and…

"Chicken fingers!" exclaimed James. Then his eyes grew wide. "And… and… DONUTS!" James was practically drooling at all the food they had. He took three plates and piled them high with a helping of every food there, topping it off with 17 donuts. Jessie looked at James's overflowing plates in disgust.

"How can you actually eat that much?!" She took just one plate and went around the buffet tables sampling a few appetizing dishes. Her weakness was the sushi, though, and she took a large serving of each of the rolls they had to offer. Jessie walked back to their table where James had spread out his heaping plates. He was already finished with his whole first plate by the time Jessie sat down.

"What do you do – inhale the food?" she asked as she dipped her first California roll into the soy sauce.

James smiled, "Yup!" Then he caught sight of Jessie's pile of sushi, and wrinkled his nose. "Eww! You actually like that stuff? It tastes like … cat food!"

"Then why did you take some James?" she asked, eyeing one of James's overfull plates.

"Because I had to take everything they had. Besides, that is the plate of the things I don't like, but I am going to eat anyway."

Jessie rolled her eyes and continued to eat her sushi..

When they were finally done eating (James had gone up for two more plates), Jessie sat back in her chair. "You know, that was a great meal. Filling too."

"What do you mean filling?" asked James, stuffing the last of a donut into his mouth, "You only had two plates of food and a slice of Key Lime Pie!" How can you be full?"

"Not everyone is blessed with your unique ability to eat five plates of food and still be hungry, James."

"Really? Anyway, what do we do now that they closed the buffet table? It's only…" James glanced at his watch. "9:45 and we won't reach Cinnabar Island for an hour."

"Well," replied Jessie, "We could dance." She looked over at the dance floor next to them. There were already many people dancing across the large oak floor. A DJ was playing a variety of songs from his stand by the wall.

"Oh I don't know Jess," James blushed.

Before either of them could say anything, the DJ's voice rang above the noise in the room. "And that was Don McLean's American Pie, what a classic. Well I would again like to welcome you all to the St. Stephen. I'm your DJ Eric and here's your next song: Picture Perfect by Angela Via.

The song began. It was a slightly fast-paced song and Jessie and James, like everyone else in the room, began to listen to it…

"All of this time/Guess I must have been blind/Not to see you and me/We're picture perfect

Now baby we've been friends/For such a long, long time/We've been through lessons and we've been through cries…"

Jessie sighed. The song reminded her so much of her and James. "Come on James!" said Jessie, pulling James out of his seat. "We HAVE to dance! Pleeeease?"

"Oh all right." James smiled and walked out to the center of the dance floor with Jessie. He spun her under his outstretched arm, then pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her waist. Jessie flung her hands behind James's neck.

"…It took so long to reveal but now I know that/All of this time, guess I must have been blind/Not to see you and me we're picture perfect

I'll be yours, be mine/We're picture perfect/Forever picture perfect

My heart keeps tellin' me/Make up your mind about whatcha mean/You've been holding back for too long/You know it makes good sense/Best of lovers are the best of friends/I guess we should have known all along…"

They danced, spinning and swaying the entire length of the song. Picture Perfect touched Jessie. She felt like it was trying to send her some kind of message. It was exactly how she felt about James.

"That was terrific James," remarked Jessie when the song ended, "I didn't know you could dance."

"Thanks Jess."

The DJ began to speak again. "What great dancing out there! Now, for a change of pace, here's a slow song. This song topped the charts for a while and is a favorite among both country and pop music fans. So here's Lonestar's hit, Amazed."

Jessie turned to James and raised her eyebrows. "A slow song." She grinned. "Let's do it."

James smiled back and rewrapped his arms around her waist. Jessie clasped her hands behind James back and hugged him close. She rested her head on his chest and shut her eyes. This was how she wanted it to be. She wanted to show James how much she loved him. And, well, dancing was the first step anyway. The rocked back and forth to the slow beat of the song, hugging each other tightly like they had so many times before.

"Every time our eyes meet

This feeling inside me

Is almost more than I can take.

Baby when you touch me

I can feel how much you love me

And it just blows me away.

I've never been this close to anyone or anything.

I can hear your thoughts.

I can see your dreams.

I don't know how you do what you do,

I'm so in love with you.

It just keeps getting better.

I wanna spend the rest of my life

With you by my side

Forever and ever.

Every little thing that you do,

Baby, I'm amazed by you…"

When the final chords of the song played, Jessie and James loosened their grips. Jessie looked up and her eyes met James's. His emerald eyes looked even more beautiful than they ever had. No words seemed right for this moment. Instead, Jessie tilted her head ever so slightly. Her lips parted and she let her eyes close naturally. She leaned in closer to James and sensed him moving closer to her. This was it! The moment they had both been waiting for for such a long time! Their noses were almost touching.

Closer…

Closer…

BOOM!