I'm trying to update faster, folks, I really am! I really, really am!
titanicgirl1625 - Yeah, I don't like cliffies either, but I love writing them. For some reason. And you're quite right, there are too many Jack-and-Rose-centric stories out there... but I like reading them anyway, lol. Thanks so much!
Laura9109 - Thanks!
Insectlover - Yeah, Fabrizio rocks, doesn't he? Thanks a bunch!
Enchanted Princess Gal - Don't we all? Lol. Here's your update!
Later that day, I had calmed down enough to talk normally. Cora and Uncle Jim had gone to A-deck, probably to watch for the dolphins she had come to love so much. We hadn't yet run into Tommy. Jack was still talking to Rose. I was on my bunk, absently doodling (and green with envy because Jack was a much better artist than I). Merdoc was sleeping on my pillow. Fabrizio was sitting on Mark's bunk, below me, and Mark himself was lying on the floor opposite them with his legs up on Uncle Jim's bunk.
"But-a she only speaks-a Norwegian," finished Fabrizio rather dejectedly. The two guys were talking about Helga, the blond girl he had spotted and liked a lot yesterday.
"Ah, cheer up, Fabrizio," said Mark. "You know each other's names, don't you?"
"And-a nothing else," replied Fabrizio moodily.
"You'll get some kind of connection going," Mark assured him.
"I-a hope so."
"Don't worry," said my brother, punching Fabrizio's leg lightly. He put on a rich, Shakespearean voice. "True love knows no boundaries."
He and Fabrizio glanced at each other and grinned like the two goofballs they were.
"So how about that redhead from first class, huh?" Mark said.
Fabrizio grinned. "They just-a met, Jack-a tells me. Eet-a turns out she's-a the exact opposite of-a what you'd expect from a first-class-a girl."
"I thought not," I said, and related (for the second time) what had happened on the lift on the tenth.
"He should ask her out," said Mark.
"Her mother would have a stroke if he did," I said, shaking my head. "Cora and me ran into her on the tenth, too, in the lift. She just looks like she wouldn't approve."
Fabrizio grinned. "That's-a never stopped-a Jack."
I smiled. "Doesn't surprise me."
Yes, I was putting on a show. I was still shaken up from a couple of hours before, but as long as I stayed in steerage, as did Cora, Mark, and Uncle Jim, Lionel would never know we were here. I was trying to brainstorm, though. Rose had said her fiancee was a friend of Lionel's, and I was trying to figure out which. There had been John Jacob Astor, but hadn't he been married to someone named Madeline? There had been Guggenheim, but he had a wife as well. There had been Cal Hockley, and his valet, Lovejoy. Could it have been Hockley? I'd never seen him, but I'd had the misfortune of running into Lovejoy more than once.
"We should head to dinner," said Mark, interrupting my thoughts. Fabrizio and I agreed and got off our respective bunks.
We met up with Cora and Uncle Jim, and ate quickly, because dancing is more fun than eating, even if the food was pretty good. Once everyone had eaten, a couple of guys climbed up onto a table and started playing instruments.
"I love this ship!" I exclaimed, pulling Mark over to the floor, where everyone was pushing tables out of the way so people could dance.
"Do you even know how to Irish step dance?" asked Mark.
"Nope!"
Mark and I danced for awhile, and as other people began dancing too, I saw some people I recognized. There was Helga, dancing with her father, and there was the redheaded woman I'd been seeing around, watching her two children dancing together. Cora was dancing with Fabrizio, and Tommy was sitting, drinking a beer and drumming on the table. I lost sight of Cora as Mark spun me around and I almost fell. He pulled me up, both of us laughing. When the song was over, I sat down next to Tommy.
"Having fun, Cassie?" he asked in his Irish accent, taking a swig from the glass he had. I nodded happily.
"Yeah!" I looked around for my cousin. "Hey, do you know where Cora went? She was dancing with Fabrizio the last I-"
"She is-a not here," said Fabrizio from behind me, and I jumped a mile into the air.
"JESUS, MARY, AND JOSEPH!" I yelped in surprise, and turned around to see a very startled Fabrizio. "Sorry... you scared me."
He and Tommy laughed at me, and I stuck my tongue out and walked away to find Cora. It didn't take long. She was sitting on top of a table, talking to a small Asian girl.
"And then Cassie just picked me up and made me leave," Cora was saying. "I think she didn't like being in first class."
"Ahem," I said, tapping her shoulder. She whirled around.
"Oh, hi, Cassie!" Cora said. "Rachel, this is my big cousin Cassie Meyers, and Cassie, this is my new friend Rachel Fuller. She's nine."
"Hi," I said.
"Hello," replied Rachel. She had an American accent like us.
"You guys having a good time?"
Both replied with an affirmative, so I turned to go back to the guys and let Cora and her friend chat. A guy I hadn't seen before was talking to Tommy. He looked about my age and had longish dark hair and pale skin. I waltzed over there, nodding my head in time to the music.
"Found Cora!" I said, sitting across from Tommy.
"Good," replied Tommy. "Cassie, I don't know if you've met Todd Waters?"
"Hi," I said. "I'm Cassie Meyers."
"Hey," Todd replied. "Tommy's already saved me the trouble of introducing myself. And here I was thinking I was rid of him." Todd was Irish, too.
"Ah, shut up, kid," said Tommy idly.
"You know each other?" I asked.
"Lived next door," replied Todd.
"Don't listen to anything he tells you, Cassie," said Tommy, "he's a little shit."
"Bug off, old man," Todd lashed back. I laughed. They were acting like brothers. "You've been hanging out with him this whole time, Cassie?"
"Yeah," I replied, with a smile. Todd shuddered, and Tommy smacked him lightly on the back of the head. "Tommy, where'd Fabrizio go?"
"He's dancing," said Tommy.
"With who? Mark?" I laughed.
"No," Tommy grinned. "Helga."
I gasped. "Oh my god! Yes!" I punched the air. Tommy laughed.
"Is Fabrizio that guy you were talking to, Tommy?" asked Todd.
"Yeah," replied Tommy. "The one who introduced himself to you as 'Hello, I'm-a Fabrizio." He tried to imitate Fabrizio's accent, without much success, and I was not the only one who thought so.
"You have a horrible Italian accent," said Todd frankly. I giggled.
"He's right."
Tommy stood up. "Well, I have better things to do than be insulted by a couple of eleven-year-olds."
"I'm twelve!" I said indignantly.
"I'm thirteen!" protested Todd at the same time. Tommy grinned.
"You kids have fun." And he walked away.
"You seem like you've known him for awhile," I said. Todd sat next to me.
"Yeah, since I was, like, seven," he replied. "Always been like an older brother. Like an annoying older brother," he added as an afterthought. I laughed.
"My brother Mark is the same way sometimes," I said. "But I'm glad I'm with him."
"Yeah, I guess I'm glad Tommy's here," said Todd.
"Are you here by yourself?"
"Until I met up with Tom? Yeah. My parents died a year ago, and I was sent to an orphanage. I ran away, got myself on this ship, and who do I run into but the annoying guy who lived next door?"
I gave a small, polite laugh. "How'd you get your ticket?"
Todd looked at me, serious this time. "Can I tell you a secret?"
"Sure."
He looked around to make sure no one was listening, and then bent his head towards me. I did the same. "I didn't get a ticket."
"You mean you're a stowaway?" I said in a whisper. Todd noddd.
"You can't tell anyone," he said urgently.
"Why would I do that?" I asked, genuinely confused. "We're friends, right?"
Todd grinned. "Guess so."
I smiled, too, but then someone's small hands came down on my shoulders.
"HI, CASSIE!"
"FOR THE LOVE OF JESUS CHRIST IN HEAVEN!" I screamed, whipping around to see a snickering Cora. "IS EVERYONE TRYING TO SCARE ME TODAY?"
"I dunno about everyone else," said Cora, "but I sure am!"
I scowled. "Thanks, Cora."
She giggled and sat on my lap. "Who are you?"
"I'm Todd Waters," said Todd. "Who are you?"
"Cora Cartmell," said my little cousin. "Are you Cassie's new boyfriend?"
"All right," I said loudly, picking her up and standing, "it's time for you to go and - oh, Jack!" Jack and Rose were coming down the stairs.
"Hey, Cassie, you remember Rose, right?" Jack said.
"Yes, I do." I smiled at her. "Nice to see you again."
"You too," replied Rose.
"Jack, will you dance with Cora?"
Cora nodded energetically, and Jack grinned.
"Sure, I can spare a dance for my best girl."
I almost literally dropped her, and returned to the table, where Todd was watching with a raised eyebrow.
"Sorry about that," I said, sitting down.
"It's all right," replied Todd. "She's cute."
"Isn't she?" I grinned, and shook my head. "A little too cute, sometimes."
Todd laughed. "Looks like everyone's dancing except us. You want to dance?"
"Sure!"
We stood up, and Todd took my hands. "You know how?"
"Does anyone?"
He laughed again, and we started dancing. The music was upbeat and I was having a great time. Todd was really good-looking, and he was nice, too. We swung and twirled and tripped (once or twice), and then, the music stopped and another tune came on. We were right near Cora and Jack at this point, and Rose was sitting down. As the next song began to play, Jack bent down to talk to Cora.
"I'm gonna dance with her now, okay?"
"Aww," I said, as Jack tried to convince Rose to stand up and dance. "He likes her."
Todd raised his eyebrows. "Wish him good luck getting her, she's a Dewitt Bukator."
"Yeah, the mother doesn't like steerage," I said. "I could tell. I ran into her on the lift."
"What fun," said Todd sarcastically.
"I know, isn't it?"
Todd and I danced during this song too, and we passed Helga and Fabrizio.
"Having fun, Fabri?" I said. He nodded with a big smile on his face, and Helga steered him towards the tables.
"I wonder who my brother's dancing with," I said aloud, but my question was soon answered: laughing like idiots, Mark and Tommy danced past.
Todd laughed. "Tommy's such a weirdo."
"Mark, too."
"Whoa, look at the lady dance!" exclaimed Todd, pointing to a table. Standing on top of it, Rose had thrown her shoes to someone and was Irish step dancing. Jack clapped once and joined her. "Want to dance on the table?"
"Sure, why not?"
We climbed on top of the table and joined Jack, Rose, Helga, and Fabrizio as they spun their respective dance partners around.
"Jack!" I heard Rose say. "No!"
"Whaaaaa!" was Jack's reply.
The song ended, and all of us, out of breath, went back to our table. Tommy was arm wrestling with a guy, and Jack came over and took two beers.
"Lose! Lose! Lose!" chanted Todd, who was sitting next to Tommy. Indeed, the other guy slammed Tommy's fist onto the table.
"Two out of three, two out of three!" challenged Tommy, and they grabbed hands again.
"So!" said Rose, leaning between them. "You think you're big, tough men?" She took Tommy's cigarette, puffed once, and gave it back. "Let's see you do this?" She took a handful of her long dress and gave it to Jack. "Hold this for me, Jack. Hold it up."
"What is she...?"
Rose began to rise into the air, and at first I thought, for one absurd moment, that she was levitating. I was wrong. She stood completely on her big toes, and fell into Jack's arms.
"OW!" she yelped.
"Jesus, Mary, and Joseph," muttered one woman, as the rest of us clapped.
"You all right?" asked Jack.
"I haven't done that in years!"
I laughed, and happened to look over to the stairs. I'm quite sure my face turned dead white. Lovejoy was peering into the party. He saw Rose quite literally hanging from Jack's grip, both of them smiling. And then he saw me. I turned on my heel and ran across the room, knocking over at least four people and jostling a good deal more. Another tune started up, and a chain dance began. I saw Rose, Fabrizio, Jack, and Helga pass, but felt no inclination to join them. Todd, Cora, Mark, Tommy, Cora's friend Rachel, everyone I knew joined the chain. But I was afraid that if I moved, I'd be seen.