Chapter 8
Back up in the ship's elegant dining room, Jack is lecturing the dinner guests with his philosophies about how to live life to a full potential, to never waste each day, to make each of those days count. Afterward Jack gets up, kisses Rose's hand for the last time, and proceeds to shake, only to pass her a note in this fashion. After Jack leaves in the same route Jesse had left earlier, Rose opens the small piece of paper, which read "Make it count. Meet me at the clock." She looks up, then very quickly crumples up the piece of paper, while her mother looks at her from behind, as if wondering what she is up to.
Down in the third-class galley, the third-class passengers put the final touches to the room. All the tables have been pushed to one side of the room, with chairs set up around a makeshift stage for the patrons to sit in. Some of the tables have even been used to be set up as an impromptu bar on one end of the galley. While people start flocking to the galley, an impromptu band starts playing, with Jesse up on a platform, doing his footwork and a small dance while a small crowd starts to gather, to which the festivities began.
Rose meets Jack at the landing of the Grand Staircase, in front of Honor and Glory, with Jack looking at the clock, which read 9:00 and began to chime. Jack turns around, smiles, and asks Rose, "So, do want to go to a real party?" Rose smiles, and they both lock arms as they made their way to the boat deck. Despite the bitter cold, Rose and Jack seem to enjoy themselves.
"Come Josephine, in my flying machine, and It's up she goes, up she goes, bal…bu..." they sang, then ended up jumbling the lyrics in the process, trying to sing a verse which was just written a little over a year prior. Rose finally remember bits of the song.
"Balance yourself like a bird on a beam, in the air she goes…where?"
Jack sang back "There." Then they both make up their own lyrics as they go along. "There she goes, up, up a little bit higher…whooo!" They made their way to a rail, which separated them from the lower third class decks. Jack climbed over the rail first, then he helped Rose over, and went inside one of the rooms, which led down a short corridor. A gate had separated from their corridor down into the lower classes. Jack assumes they were in second class. He walks up to the gate, and to his surprise, it was open. He slid the gate open, and he and Rose walked though.
Leaving the gate opened behind them, they continue down the various passages like a maze until they could hear a little ruckus coming from somewhere down the hall. The music and the happy cheering became clear as they approached a galley. They walked down a stair and were greeted with various accents and laughter that filled the entire room.
A dance floor had been set up on one end of the galley. Tables have been pushed over in the other end, and chairs have set up where the guests were to be spectacled and amazed by the performers and people who are dancing on the floor. Some of the tables contained card players, and in one end a makeshift bar has been set up, using one of the tables, where a bartender served beer from pitchers. A keg is placed behind the makeshift bar, on a table. The energy contained the room was lovely and bright, which makes everyone, from strangers to family, all for one night.
Jack tries to look for Jesse, but the room contained too many people dancing, drinking and all else having a great time. He finally spots Jesse through the ruckus crowd, his once slicked hair now bouncing and flying wildly, as he dances with another young woman up on the platform. He even does a little do-si-do, twirling his finger in the air, and his hand at his hip, all the while smiling and laughing as he does this. Jack could even see Jesse's subtle dimples as he smiled. When the music stops, he claps, then he points to the audience before giving them a bow. Then he gestured to the audience that the musicians are the real stars, and applauds them, while the musicians also applauds Jesse as well. Fabrizio also joins Jesse up on the platform. They both grab hands, and bowed to the crowd, then they both embrace, in front of a cheering crowd, while also giving Jesse a brotherly pat on his back before they both get off the platform to make way for another round.
Rose is seated at a table close to the platform along with Jack's Swedish roommates, while Jack dances with Cora up on the platform. Fabrizio is back on the platform, doing his thing with his new-found love Helga, and Jesse finally gets to sit back next to the makeshift bar, and taking in the spectacle after what seemed like hours being up there on the floor. The bartender asks if Jesse wanted a beer, but he declines, waving his hand, but still looking up at the energy filled room. Meanwhile Eric is in the other corner of the room, still engaged in his poker, and Karl chums with a few Norwegians, while a young girl rubs his shoulders in a flirtatious manner.
Suddenly he heard something crash, followed by a heavy thump.
"What the…" Jesse turned his head, only to quickly move out of the way, as a drunken man had fallen off his seat, and pulled the table down with him. People around him erupted in laughter, as the man slowly tried to get back up. Soon, he and another man offered a hand helping the person back up, and another gave him his beer to the man that had fallen off his chair. After a while he sees Rose and Jack up on the platform, dancing, twirling and laughing the whole time they were up there. Eventually the music stops once more, and Rose and Jack made their way to the bar.
"Two beers please," says Jack, as he and Rose sat next to Jesse. Jack swung around and sat next to Jesse, placing him between Rose and himself. "Hi," he says.
"You were fantastic up there. I didn't know you could dance." says Jack, bewildered. Despite the noise and excitement, they could hear each other perfectly.
"When I came back down here I was swamped. But we did get the entire room the way we wanted." Jesse says, a little exhausted himself. Rose also couldn't help but notice Jesse. Now that they were down there, together once again, since the time they were on the Mauretania and the night prior. She saw his toned arm that disappeared under his folded sleeve, as he leaned on the table. She could also see a little bulge of his bicep under the loose folds of the sleeve. He brushed his hair to one side, then shook his head as if to keep it there. It soon fell over his eye, as he smiled at the passengers who were having a time of their lives up on the platform.
With an impulse Rose grabbed his hand and they ran back to the platform. Jack follows behind, smiling as he does, while Jesse holds his hair away from his eyes, and was also smiling. When the music starts again, Jesse held her close. With her heart beating, Rose looks up at him, as Jesse's thick hair had fallen and covered one eye, and with a light shining behind him, he looked like he had a halo. Jesse looks around the crowded smoke-filled room. He sees Jack, sitting next to Cora, then motions him up. Soon, they trade places, with Jesse now standing on the edge of the platform. With the music now starting, Jack tells her, "You're going to have to stand a little closer, like this." He pulls her in by her waist, making them closer. Soon, they were in a waltz, with everyone clapping and stomping to the beat of the Irish jig, including Jesse, laughing and clapping along, his hair still covering one eye, until he swore their legs would fall off from all the dancing. A Russian man soon came up to Jesse, and asked for his hand to the dance, but he declined, and smiled, showing his subtle dimples.
As the night continued on, Jack and Rose became more and more like friends than they were acquaintances just hours earlier. For the first time Jesse sees a happy Rose. He remembered his grandfather saying that the rich are never happy, just only in their materialistic ways, and accumulating more wealth, and gaining status along the way. They never cared about living their days to their fullest. Maybe he decided that's why his grandfather had moved out west, into what was known as the Arizona territory, in a small but growing city of Phoenix, but now it is just about two months being officially a part of the Union, along with his home state of New Mexico, which had become a state a month prior.
Eventually, Jack, Rose and Jesse were all worn from their dancing and frolicking with the third-class partying passengers in the galley. They followed Jesse back to his cabin, his jacket slung over his shoulder, and his sleeves still rolled up. Rose and Jack bring up the rear, laughing, hugging and kissing each other. Soon, they both looked at Jesse, as Jack began to wonder if he will ever find someone, and a lump formed in his throat. They walked past the Turkish Bath entrance, and the Squash court. The Grand Staircase was located a few corridors back, behind a locked gate, that Jesse picked earlier to go to the first-class area for the dinner. Finally, what seemed like forever they arrived at Jesse's room. Jack had followed Eric in another corridor, but this is his first time coming from a different part of the ship.
"Here's my cabin, or 'Casa de Jesse'" he giggles. Rose and Jack joined in the laughter. "It's not as glamorous nor sophisticated, compared to yours. For one, there's no porthole." Jesse says as he led the couple inside. Compared to the one Jack is in now, this cabin was a little tight, more cramped and slightly more claustrophobic.
"Well, we had the most fun tonight, and it was thanks in part to you." Jack says.
"Don't thank me, it was the entire class who put this whole shindig together. But I agree, the lower classes are much better, cheap beer, dance parties, and the like." Jesse laughs, before stretching and yawning. Both couple do the same, with Jack wrapping his arms around Rose after he stretches.
"Well, we'll do the same tonight." Jack says, bringing Rose closer to him.
"Better return Cinderella here back to first class, or her room will turn into a pumpkin." he says.
"Good night" Jack and Rose started to walk, then Jack quickly turns, knocking on the door. There was a slight delay, and they looked at each other. The door opens, Jesse pokes his head out, then comes out when he sees the couple again.
"Which way do we go…uh back to first class without being detected?" Jack asks. Jesse beckons the couple over after he walks past them.
"The easiest way to get her back is through this corridor, make a left and…" Jesse trailed off, remembering there was a locked gate.
"Follow me." He led them down for a short way, then makes a left. They come up a flight of stairs, that led them to a locked gate. Jesse digs in his pocket and pulls out a pin, shows the couple, and puts his hand through the other side of the gate. Jack become curious, then watches as Jesse inserts the metal thing inside the keyhole, then fiddles until they heard a snap. With the pin still inserted, Jesse twists, and he opened the gate again.
"Good luck to you, and I'll see you later." Jesse says, giving Rose a peck on her cheek, and gives Jack a huge embrace, while Jack squeezes him hard, before returning to his cabin for the night.
"Thanks Jess." Jack says softly, as he felt a little lump form in his throat again.