If you could be anything you want, ANYTHING, what would you be?
I guess I'd be a hero, with sword and armor clashing, a shield within my grip. If i was a hero, I would scale a tower to save a hothouse flower, and carry her away...
It's been four weeks since the incident. Jack and Rose had agreed their little rendez-vous was over and now they were the best of friends... almost. They spent quite a lot of time together since Rose started working at the RMS, the activities seemed to distract her from her personal life... before the sunset. The worst attacks came by night. She hadn't told anyone about it. At midnight she would finish whatever was on the fridge, then would throw everything up before morning. Cal had also tried to take advantage of her at night a couple of times, sneaking into her bed while Ruth was asleep.
Rose's days without the RMS were pretty much the same. Exercise all morning, prepare everything for the next country, set the schedule, where would she be, what would she wear, what would she post, weekly emails with her community manager (from Hockley's team, of course) copywriting, Photoshop and Lightroom.
Rose was looking forward to the Halloween party, everyone on board would be there; she even asked for permission to have a sleepover with Helga afterwards... except she wouldn't be sleeping with her.
Fabrizio and Jack thought their idea was revolutionary, and self-proclaimed themselves geniuses not long after the girls agreed. Fabrizio would be sleeping in Helga's cabin (since she wasn't sharing with anyone) and Rose would spend the night at Jack's. It was Halloween, everyone would be on costume, unrecognizable. The plan was infallible, or so they thought...
On the early afternoon of October 31st, our beloved Italian walked through the hallway of the auditorium deck, still in his apron, offering everyone the Halloween treats he had baked this morning in class. The Titanic II was offering a bunch of activities on board, such as horror movies, a costume contest, and a carved pumpkins contest. Fabrizio was approaching Jack, who was gluing the final details of his knight costume in a sofa nearby.
"Hey do you want a cupcake? Pick any. Yes they're all the same, thank you! ... hey do you- okay... hey do you want a cupcake? thank you!... Hey Jack! Do you want a cupcake? We baked them this morning" Fabrizio offered with a flashing smile
"Thank you buddy, they look great!"
"Oh, i could've sew you that..."
"Thanks Fabri, I've got it, now all I have left to do is the mask..."
"A mask? Is it a masquerade?"
"No, no! It's cause couldn't find a helmet"
"Is it to sneak into the first-class deck?"
"Maybe..."
A group was just leaving the auditorium, Fabrizio was happy, he could get more people to try his food. It was the business major, that meant Tommy was in the crowd.
"Hey Tommy! Do you want a cupcake?"
"Oh yeah, i need energy to keep craving my pumpkin... Italian this is great!" Tommy exclaimed, mouth full of red velvet
"Thanks, it's my mama's ricetta"
"What are you dressing up tonight as?" Tommy asked
"I'll be a Newsie!"
"Knight... you?"
"Oh, I ain't telling ya. But you must know that it's my mission to scare the shate outta you tonight"
Without taking his eyes off the fabric, Jack let out a small giggle "We'll see... now, if you'll excuse me, i have to finish an oil for my class"
"'Brizio come here... I think we are rather overdue for a little talk..." Tommy said, wrapping an arm around his friend's shoulders
"No! I know where this is going..."
"Regarding tonight, you have reached an age where you have to give yourself over to pleasure buddy"
"I'm not having this conversation"
"Wait! Can I have another cupcake?" Jack asked
"Take the whole tray, I'm going back to the kitchen"
"You can run, but you can't hide!"
"Tommy, leave him alone, you'll traumatize him..."
"He's nineteen, he'll be fine. I'd already mastered a thing or two when I was his age"
"Yeah but he's... different"
"What do you mean different?"
"Yes, you look different" Cal stated, he had just returned to their suite and kissed his fiancée on the cheek as she straightened her hair.
"Different... in a bad way?"
"In a good way, actually. I know... it's because you're having a girl's night, isn't it? Look, I'm sorry I've been so overprotective Rose... it's just... I don't want anything to happen to you, I love you so much. I don't know what I would do without you..."
One of the things Rose hated the most about herself, was the fact that no matter what Cal made her go through... she would always fall back to him. Hypnotized. He knew every detail, exactly the way to her heart and how to make her tangled in his words once again...
What Rose didn't realize... it was exactly the same way with Jack.
She would fall for even the smallest token of love so quick it was dangerous. Going at such speed without any safety measures was an accident waiting to happen. The power to lose herself was inevitable.
The devil strikes at night.
The sun was starting to set, Rose and Cal were dressed up as angel and devil hanging in the first-class outdoors lounge, enjoying the themed drinks and discussing the latest gossip with Molly, who was dressed as Cleopatra in a stunning golden dress that accentuated her dark skin. Between laughter and empty talk, night came. A couple of decks below, the park was transformed into a cemetery which featured pumpkins carved by passengers. Spider webs everywhere and robotic lights added the finishing touches to the decoration. The costume contest was over and Tommy was nowhere to be found.
"Seems like he took it pretty serious when he said he was gonna scare me, huh?" Jack smirked. The Irish lad had tried to scare him dressed as Freddy Krueger a couple of times, but none of them worked. He finally gave up and joined the rest of the trio for dinner at the buffet. It was almost midnight, but night was still young.
"Too bad the first-class party is right above us..."
"The climbing wall is closed, we're gonna get our arses kicked if they catch us!"
"They won't"
"He's not bein' logical, I tell ya"
"Amore is'a not logical"
"Help me up!"
Jack climbed the wall as he could in the dark, the wall's end was exactly aside the first-class outdoor lounge. He found Rose alone (thank God) in a beautiful white long dress and feather wings not too far from him.
"But soft, what light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun" The girl did not hear him... or at least she didn't show it, so he tried again, this time, a little bit louder. "Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon, who is already sick and pale with grief that thou, her maid, art far fairer than she"
Rose did hear the verses but didn't saw anyone. Who could that possibly be? The sound comes from below I think... but we're way too high... wait, does it come from the side of the wall? With the most discretion, she left the party and walked curious towards the edge of the balcony. The sound was getting louder as she approached.
"The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars as daylight doth a lamp; her eye in heaven would through the airy region stream so bright that birds would sing and think it were not night"
"Where did you learn that?"
"Aaaah!" Her response startled Jack and almost made him lose his balance. She laughed.
"Come on, we have an afterparty to attend"
"I'm not going down that way, and you shouldn't have come up without harness in the first place"
"I don't need a harness when I can fly with the wings of love!"
"Behave yourself!"
"You're right, I'm sorry friend"
"No problem, friend. Now come here and let's get the real party started"
Rose helped Jack climb over to the balcony. He put his mask on, so nobody would recognize him. They walked hand in hand, giggling towards the elevator, then they took the staircase a couple of decks below... as they crossed to the other side of Deck 6 towards the school, they realized they were being followed.
"Do you know that guy?"
"What guy?"
"The one who is following us?"
Oh no.
Spicer Lovejoy. Born in England, Lovejoy emigrated to America where he was a former Pinkerton's private investigator and cop. He was later hired by Cal's father to take care of his son and keep him out of trouble in his trip. Rose and Jack had no choice but to mix themselves with the rest of the people at the park. They found Helga and Fabrizio about to leave the party and they agreed to go to Helga's cabin so they could mislead Lovejoy. Once there, they had another problem to worry about: the security cameras. After a session of brainstorming, Fabrizio and Rose got rid of their costumes and she put on the Newsie costume, making sure her hair was well hidden. What the cameras saw next, was Jack and Fabrizio returning to their cabin.
Rose
2:45 am
"It wasn't that scary"
"I agree... you wanna watch another movie, Rose?"
Jack's organization skills actually surprised me, he had turned all the cabin into Halloween mode, with lots of candy and snacks for the night. I would've been happy with popcorn and a soda but he really outdid himself. I mean, the cabin was clean, usually there were clothes everywhere and brushes, and drawings, and food, and 'don't touch that, it's for a class'
"Not really..."
"It's almost 3am... aren't you sleepy yet?"
"Funny enough i'm not"
"We could play something?"
"How about poker?"
"Alright, let's do it"
"Wait... how about we spice it up?"
"You wanna bet?"
"Strip poker"
"Are you sure?"
"Why not? We're just friends right"
"...right. But I have to warn you, i've never lost a game of poker in my life"
"It's because you've never played against me"
"Alright, alright. Shuffle"
"Here you go... ready?"
A mischievous smile formed in Jack's face "As ready as I can be, you go first, draw"
Jack drew a couple of times, then announced "Full house"
"What? That's not fair! How-"
"I told ya... no-one can go against the Dawson luck. Now, vest off"
We played a couple of rounds until we both ended up in our undergarments, Jack suggested we should stop and go to sleep, but i dared him to play just one more round. It's not like we haven't seen each other in a swimsuit before, what's the difference? I knew I liked Jack, and I knew he liked me, and I also knew I was completely, utterly sober. When i'm with him, everything else seems to fade, all my problems minimize, I get a chance to breath and think... and I think i will break up with Cal. We don't even like each other anymore, we don't spend time like we used to, it's like we're just doing it for a stunt... let it be that way then.
"Seems like the Dawson-luck has ended..." Jack's eyes grew open "In honor of the Royal Marine School... a royal straight flush" I exclaimed proudly.
"No way"
"Here you go"
"That's imposible... how?"
"It looks like you need to work on your shuffling, mister. I got all the hearts" i said, collecting the cards and getting them ready to go back to the package
"Okay. That was fun, do you want me to leave the AC on? Or would you like me to turn it off so you can sleep"
"Hold on! We haven't finished here"
"You can have my bed, I'll sleep in Fabrizio's" Jack said, grabbing one of his t-shirts and handing it to me
"No! You stay here. We are not done with the game" His face was indeed priceless, but what happened next, was even more. Maybe I was pressuring him... just a little, but I knew he wanted it too and men are too easy to convince regarding this stuff.
"You lost the bet, you lose an item of clothing"
"I only have ONE item of clothing, Rose"
"Oh, so your word isn't reliable? That's a shame..."
"I know what you're doing... we agreed on something too, missy"
"I would like to re-negotiate that agreement"
"Really?"
"I don't feel anything for him. What's the point of being loyal? If you're loyal it's because you love somebody..."
"I'm gonna have to stop you there, being loyal is a commitment with yourself. It speaks about you, not the other person"
"Also hitting somebody. It speaks about you, not the other person. You don't hurt what you love"
"I just... I just want you to be okay"
"I'll be fine, as long as i'm with you" I positioned myself on top of him and kissed him. Knees on either side of his legs, my crotch brushing him, it didn't take long before he got fully hard. When his breathing and body temperature increased, i whispered on his ear "Time to pay the bet" I pushed him so he could fully lay on the bed alongside the cards and took off his last item of clothing. My lips visited each spot on his torso and then headed south...
And that was the last time they spoke to each other...