Bruce followed his "parents", who were walking behind the man who built the ship. It was slightly breezy and the wind tousled with Bruce's hair. He just wanted to sneak off and find Diana, whom he hadn't seen since last night. He just wondered if she was okay. Vivian was at his side, holding on to his arm so he couldn't leave. They carried along the tour until they passed by a row of lifeboats, Bruce's stomach churned at the sight of them. He tapped the man on the shoulder.
"Mr. Brigham, I'm sorry to be so bold, but by multiplying the number of lifeboats to the number of people aboard the ship then dividing the number by how many people a lifeboat can hold, I'm afraid there aren't enough lifeboats for everyone." He stated. Mr. Brigham looked at him, so did his parents and Vivian. Mr. Brigham chuckled.
"My dear Bruce you don't miss a thing." He said. Bruce offered him a quick smile. "No wonder you have become such a successful business man. There isn't any need to have more life boats. If we did, the deck would be cluttered and we wouldn't have this passage way. Don't you think that would look unappealing?" Bruce's father tapped the bottom of a boat with his cane.
"It's a swell thing you didn't. That would be a waste of deck space, considering the shipisunsinkable." His father said walking away. His mother and Vivian followed him while Bruce and Mr. Brigham walked slowly behind them.
"Anyways, there is need not worry, Mr. Wayne. I have built an unsinkable ship, and a beautiful one for that matter. You will sleep well tonight and wake up feeling good. Just relax yourself until we get to New York. I'm sure a busy young man like you would enjoy a break." Bruce pasted on a smile and nodded at his words. He slowed down his pace, that way Mr. Brigham walked in front of him. He looked out into the sea, hoping that something would tell him what to do next. Because right now, he was feeling awful that he knew something everyone else didn't.
As he walked behind them he felt someone grab his hand. He turned around and saw Diana with her finger up to her lips. He looked around them to see if no one was looking and led her to the empty gymnasium. She looked different from the last time he saw her. She was wearing a deep navy shawl, one that looked as if it was made out of silk. And there was a whistle around her neck, one that rusted at the ends. He closed the door behind them.
Diana turned around to Bruce as he closed the door behind him. It was so hard to sneak into the first class deck. She had to take a woman's silk shawl and cover her face with her hair. As for her dress, the cleanest dress Sarah's mother had, one that covered her dirty shoes. She looked at Bruce weirdly. It was odd to see him in a fancy suit. She only ever saw him in his Bat suit, or just in his regular skinny jeans and a hoodie. Or shirtless, but that only happened once in a while.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Cause you look stupid." She answered plainly. He did look slightly stupid, you could easily see the outline of his muscles. Yet despite that, she thought he looked the tiniest bit adorable. He pulled on his collar.
"Well I'm dying in this suit. And where did you get that shawl?" He asked, taking it off her shoulders and rubbing it between his fingers.
"Stole it." She said. He gave her a look. "What? You know that's what I do." She said. He sighed and threw it at her. She caught with a smile when she saw Bruce smirk.
"So what happened to you last night?" He asked, leaning against the wall. She crossed her arms.
"Well, after being painfully escorted off the deck, the guy shoved me into a room. I was going to go back and find you, but there was a little girl. I ended up spending the night talking to her." She explained.
"So instead of coming back to me, I waiting for you by the way, you decide to stay with a random girl you just met?" He asked with the slightest bit of attitude.
"Her mom was drunk Bruce. I wasn't going to leave her alone. She was scared." She explained. That made Bruce soften his tone a bit. He started to talk about what happened to him, he wasn't feeling the need to talk about her night.
She was shocked when he told her about his great grandfather. How he lived during the sinking, how Bruce met his parents. But when it came to the subject of Vivian, Bruce's apparent fiance, she was pissed. At the sound of her name she was pissed. She tucked a strand of hairbehind her ear.
"I swear if you have to end up marrying that creature I will dig up your great grandfather's grave and throw it off the cliff. Then I'll go and throw you if you end up kissing her." She said angrily. Bruce pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed.
"Relax, he doesn't get married to Vivian. My dad told me that he fell in love with someone else and married her instead." He explained.
"Do you know who?" She was going to make the story go exactly the way it happened. She just wanted to leave as fast as possible.
"She had a weird name. Who was that princess? The one with the evil stepmother?"
"Snow White?"
"No the other one with the old winged lady. With the stepsisters and the shoe."
"Cinderella?"
"Yeah that was her name. My dad told me someone started calling her that so after the sinking she changed her name to it." Diana sucked in her breath. Cinderella. Who was the one person she knew that called her that?
Sarah.
So she was the one Bruce had to fall in love with. Her, one of his closest friends, the one who always argued with him on every little thing. She opened her mouth to say something, but closed it. She didn't want him to know. If he knew, it would just make things awkward between them. So, she decided to keep it to herself and wait till the time was right to tell him. But then again maybe someone else was nicknamed the same thing. Someone of a different class.
"Do you know which class she's in?" She asked, silently hoping he wasn't going to say third. He shrugged.
"It's either second or third. There was no one in first class named Cinderella." He explained.
"Of course. People born wealthy always think the same thing. It doesn't matter if she turned into a princess, she's still poor to the eyes of those who always had money." He shot a look at her, slightly offended at her words.
"I hope you're not talking about me." He said darkly, shooting a bat-glare that could force people to run if they were scared of him. Brushing his look aside, she crossed her arms.
"I'm not. I'm just saying." She stated. He rolled his eyes.
"Forget about it. Look, I should get go-" He started to say, but was quickly interrupted by the door opening. There, Vivian, his parents and Mr. Brigham were all staring at Bruce and her. She wrapped the shawl around her and tried to look like she was one of them. She saw Bruce straighten up.
A girl of dark brown hair and green eyes stared at Diana. She stepped up to Bruce and linked their arms. Diana didn't know why, but she wanted to hit who she assumed was Vivian.
"Where were you my love?" She said, never taking her eyes off of Diana.
"I got distracted. Then I chatted with this young lady for awhile." He said motioning for Diana to talk. She held her head up high and cupped her hands at her waist.
"My apologizes, I was just talking to Mr. Wayne about his business." She sounded proper and poised. If there was one thing she was good at, it was acting. To steal something you had to act, to act, you had to observe the people around you. That's what she always told herself. Bruce looked impressed by her behavior.
"What is your name?" A woman said. She assumed that was his mother. Or at least his fake one. She looked at Bruce.
"Diana." She said. At first she felt the need to say Cinderella, but decided not to. His mother looked happy and strangely amused at her name.
"I didn't know Bruce knew someone with such a lovely name. And with equal beauty as well." She said looking at Bruce. The tips of his ears turned pink and he looked away from both his mother's and Diana's gaze.
"She should join us for the ball this evening," His father said. "I don't think we've ever seen you before." Diana politely refused but they insisted. She said that such occasion required much fancier dresses than what she had.
"Nonsense, you can wear one of mine." Vivian said with a smile that didn't reach her eyes. Bruce's mother agreed, and so did his father. And it was official, she was going to a ball. No backing out now, she thought. They all left the gymnasium. Bruce stayed slightly behind and leaned into Diana.
"We'll talk more tonight." He whispered before leaving to catch up with the others. She didn't know why, but she was happy that she was going to be with him. But, she was of course going to keep an eye on Vivian. She stared at Bruce's back as he walked off. And she realized, he did really look adorable in that suit.
Veryadorable.
I'm just going to say one thing, you will hate Vivian after the next chapter. Unless you already hate her.