The characters in this story are of my own imagination, apart from the characters from the film, and are entirely fictional.
Chapter Two,
Engines.
The morning passed with a flurry of meetings and gala's in the ballroom as the ship filled with passengers. It took an hour or two for Rosalie to get over the fact that she was leaving for a year, as soon as she met up with her friend Samantha everything seemed to melt away. Samantha made her feel at home and safe, she could always cheer her up and knew how to have a good time. Mother had disappeared with one of the high-nosed socialites and Rosalie felt at once relieved. All anyone cared about in first class was champagne and gossip. Sam and Rosalie snuck out of the havoc that was high class and decided to explore the ship.
"How long do you think it will take to walk from one end to the other? An hour? Maybe two?" Sam asked with a mischievous grin as they emerged onto the starboard side of the deck close to the stern of the ship.
"Well Sam… I guess we will just have to figure that out! But I suggest we test running instead of walking." Rosalie answered, slipping off her gloves. She cast a glance at the harbour to see if Joseph was still there but it seemed he had gone on his way.
"You can read my mind can't you? Alright… first one to the bow gets first dibs on dance partners tonight!" Sam said rolling up the sleeves on her lilac and lace dress.
Rosalie nodded, walking to their positions at the very tip of the stern's deck. She knew Sam would win, she always did, but it was the thrill of no boundaries. Of course if Mother found out about it she would be confined to her cabin for the rest of the trip, and the ship hadn't even set sail yet! She shot Sam a wicked smile and instantly took off down the deck. All she could hear was Sam's teasing shouts and the wind in her ears.
Rosalie always loved running, when she could get the chance she would run for as long as her legs could muster. Any sport in general was easy for her but she often excelled the most at running, swimming and tennis.
At every chance she got she glanced across the deck to see if Sam had caught up, sure enough she was toe to toe with her. The split second it took to look over at Sam was all she needed to run into a man walking the opposite direction with a women. Mumbling apologies, she quickly regained her footing and sprinted to catch up to Sam's fleeing figure.
Several moments later, Rosalie reached the bow a mere second after Sam. Laughing like lunatics they collapsed on a nearby bench. The laughing continued for a good 5 minutes as they regained their composure.
"Well that was amusing… Oh! This means I get to choose my dance partners tonight first!! Hahaha oh Rosalie when you ran right into that man I almost tripped myself! Did you see who he was?" Sam asked, breathing heavily.
Rosalie smiled and shook her head, this produced a gasp and a flutter of lace as Sam sat straight up and faced her dead on.
"THAT! Was the one and only Mr. Caledon Hockley!!! He is one of the wealthiest men I have had the pleasure of meeting, Oh but he has come on board with his fiancé Rose DeWitt Bukater. She is a very beautiful women I must say!" she said in a whisper as if there was a spy sitting nearby.
"Well Samantha! I must apologize for my rash behaviour, don't you think? I did try to when I ran into him, but of course I had to catch up to you!" Rosalie replied as she stood up and put her gloves back on. She rearranged her dress and started back down the ship toward Mr Hockley. Sam quickly followed with a giggle and a slight skip in her step. They resumed their usual banter as they approached the man and his fiancé. Clearing her throat loud enough to get their attention she smiled and curtseyed as Cal and Rose turned toward them. Rose smiled as she realized who had interrupted their walk, but Cal gave Rosalie the death glare.
"Yes? What is it?" Cal asked in a clipped tone.
"Sir, I am very sorry for running into you just a while ago, my friend and I were having a game of who could reach the bow first and I was not paying attention I'm afraid." Rosalie apologised in her sweetest voice.
"Well, I hope next time you will take care in observing your surroundings and not playing childish games, when it is very clear you are no longer a girl." Cal sniffed, he turned to Rose, rolling his eyes and tugged for her to resume their walk. Rose sadly smiled back at Sam and Rosalie and bowed her head in polite acknowledgment. As they watched the couple retreat down the deck they had to restrain themselves from bursting into laughter. Instead they walked back up the ship looking for another adventure.
"How about we take a look at the engines?! They are rumoured to be the biggest machines ever built! I would very much like to see them." Sam asked.
Rosalie hesitated but gave into her friends request as Sam stuck her bottom lip out and pouted like a child who does not get the last piece of cake. "Alright. But we must be back by 6pm. The ship will be leaving port at 7pm and Mother want's me to be social." she said tapping the tip of her friends nose.
The Boiler Rooms were hot, very hot. Rosalie did not realize anything could make her sweat so much. She was slightly disturbed by the men wearing nothing but trousers and boots when they first entered the steam filled rooms. Now she realized why they were half naked. Sam clung to her like a lost puppy as they walked along the grating. One of the men had noticed them and asked why they were down here. Their response was that they were daughters of one of the designers of the ship and had come to see their fathers handiwork. The man had the ranted about how the designer was a mad man and that the ship was one monster of a machine. Rosalie and Sam has nodded and slowly backed away.
As they passed the first engine a huge gust of humid air swept their skirts up. A couple of whistles later and the girls found themselves running to the next hatch. As they burst through the door, Rosalie ran into another man. This one was wearing a very greasy hat and had papers stuffed under his arms. Bumping into him sent most of the papers flying. Sam managed to catch at least half of them, but the others were lost to the expanse of the Boiler room. The man was well built, he had no shirt on just like every other man in the area, but his shoulders were toned. Rosalie could not help herself as she stared at the mans stomach and chest. He was definitely well built, his core looked like it could have been carved from marble and exhibited in Rome. Not only was his body gorgeous, but as Rosalie's eyes explored his neck and jaw line she felt a sudden tremor in her heart. Had she seen this man before?
Abruptly the man whisked the papers out of Sam's hands and mumbled an apology in a very bad Liverpool accent. He raced out the hatch the girls had just stumbled through and was gone. Sam winked and swaggered her hips as they made their way back up to the upper levels. It was almost 6 and Rosalie had to change if she didn't want her mother to see the sweat marks on her dress.
"Well he was dreamy, in a sort of rustic caveman sort of way… you seemed taken by his charms!" Sam teased as they made their way up the many stairs.
Rosalie spent the rest of the trip back to her cabin thinking about the man in the hat. She knew him from somewhere, she just didn't know how.
In the lower class cabins the man wiped some grease from his forehead. She had almost discovered who he was. That would be no good if he wanted to succeed, but how was he to know that she would go gallivanting around the boiler rooms? The fact that she had been quite taken by his lack of shirt was very disconcerting. He had to be more careful, she could not discover who he was, not until he thought it right to come out of hiding.
Thomas entered the cabin laughing loudly. "Well, well! They were quite the pair weren't they? When their skirts went up I almost died!" he shouted slapping the man on the back.
Without thinking, the man turned around and punched Thomas square in the jaw sending the poor boy reeling to the ground. He turned back to the mirror and continued to wipe the grime from his face. "What was that Thomas?" he asked the boy as he peered into the mirror. Thomas grunted a curse and left the man standing alone in the room. Maybe it's a good thing she liked what she saw…. he thought as the last of the grease left his face and he could see the colour of his skin again. It would certainly make for a good joke.
I Have decided that I shall try and update every Wednesday and Saturday. I hope you like the story so far! xoxo