One of the hardest things in life is watching the person you love, love someone else. -Unknown
Chapter two:
Rose was dazed. The warm June sun hit her pale face softly. Jack Dawson hadn't seen her as he stood on the great pier of Santa Monica. The very one which he had made plans with Rose: to teach her to spit like a man from the rail, to take her fishing and to ride a horse in the surf. She shifted those memories from the front of her mind. They were not important for they were now in the past. She concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other.
Her waist length auburn hair billowed in the lovely breeze which she welcomed to splash across her warm face. Within a couple of feet she would see him fully. His girl stood with her back to Rose and she couldn't help but scan her eyes up and down the length of her as she stood so casually happy. Beneath Rose's sea green dress her body shook as much as it had the first night he had held her.
Nothing about this man had changed. His hair was shorter than she remembered, his body was thicker and perhaps his eyes were a little bit wiser. She slowed her pace as she approached and her eyes didn't leave his – not even when his eyes left the girl and landed on a pair he never thought he would see again. Rose stopped right before them. With a trembling heart she blinked away any moisture from her eyes.
''Good morning,'' she spoke cheerily. Her wide smile was genuine.
She saw Jack's mouth form into an 'o.' Those eyes she had known so well had widened and then his right arm, which had been tucked around his girl fell limply to his side.
''M-morning.'' He stuttered in return, his eyebrows were raised. He began to laugh and so did she. What else could she say?
''How are you?''
Jack bent his legs, cupping his hands over his knee caps. She imagined this would be like a blow to the stomach.
''I'm-'' He ran his fingers through his hair. She knew he was at a loss for words.
Rose's legs felt as though they had weakened. She wanted him to put his arms around her and to hold her-but he didn't.
''I am good,'' he managed, ''how have you been?''
''Good!'' She exclaimed, lying through her teeth. That was all that she could manage. His surprise had ensured her heart sank and she felt her breathing become shallow.
''It's just been so long. I thought-'' His face fell serious. ''I though you were-'' he couldn't finish the sentence as he struggled with something. He was silent for a moment.
''No I am all right.'' She smiled weakly. ''For eight years I have been all right.''
That was her way of letting him know that she had survived. She was here before him wanting to say so much more than she could and inside it was slowly eating away at her. She had so much building up and yet it would have to continue to do so. He wasn't alone.
Jack exhaled slowly.
''Darling?''
Jack turned to her. Louise. Rose took her eyes away from Jack for the first time since she had seen him again. She was tall, lithe and beautiful. The way his eyes fell on her made Rose feel something, jealous.
''Hello.'' Rose smiled politely. ''Forgive my rudeness.''
''Louise, this is my...old friend, Rose.''
Louise naively smiled. She was back encircled in Jack's arms.
''Hello.''
''Rose, this is Louise, she is my fiancée.''
Rose felt the burn in her nose and then her eyes. ''Oh my,'' she glanced between Louise and Jack, She, the perfect, lovely wife to be and him, the only love of her life. ''When will you marry?''
''Thursday.'' Louise girlishly watched Jack, her hand threading his.
''Yes,'' he confirmed, ''Thursday.''
''Three days.'' Rose counted. ''Well I offer my congratulations.'' Her eyes fell onto Jack. ''Sincerely.''
''Thank you.'' He loosened his grip on Louise.
''Would you come?'' Louise asked.
Rose's mouth fell open. ''Well, I don't think I can. I am busy. I am sorry. I will ensure to send a bouquet.'' She offered with a smile. As each second passed she was hurting a little bit more. The sun seemed hotter on her face.
''What a lovely gesture.''
Rose nodded to Louise. ''Well I actually must go.''
Jack could sense how difficult this was. ''Must you go right away?''
''Yes.'' She told him and she offered nothing more. She had seen and heard enough already, too much. It had twisted the knife in just a little bit further.
Louise was a lovely, bright young girl worthy of Jack, a wonderful life with him. From the way her eyes fell on Jack, Rose knew Louise was deeply in love with him.
''It was nice to meet you.'' She told Louise, genuinely. She was grateful to have met the woman who had stolen her love's heart.
''You too.'' Louise smiled. Her hand sliding in Jack's. Rose felt her eyes begin to burn.
''Jack...'' she exhaled slowly. She knew this would be the last time she saw him. She wouldn't stay in Santa Monica, she couldn't witness him become another woman's husband and she wouldn't allow herself anymore time to think of him.
''Well, goodbye.''
She meant it and with a smile she turned to leave the pier. She didn't let him respond, nor did she see his face. It took about four steps before the tears began to fall. She kept one foot in front of the other and did nothing to clear her blurred vision. She felt dizzy, sick and the foolish, idiotic notion that Jack would have been alone for all of these years fell from her mind. He loved another. The other loved him and so did Rose.
The salty sea air which she once welcomed seemed to sting her face as it blew. She quickly wiped her face as she approached the end of the pier she felt her stomach sink. She mentally told herself to return to her hotel room, collect her belongings and go straight to the train station and to not stop to think of anything. She continued on her way, thinking of nothing except putting one in front of the other. She had resisted a look back at the sea, the beautiful view, the ballroom, the rollercoaster, the pier and them. She felt her heart beating so fast that it made her breathing become erratic.
''Rose?''
She stopped.
Her breathing did too.
Dare she turn to find it was her own imagination playing a cruel trick on her?
She found him in front of her before she had taken the chance to move.
''Jack?'' Her voice was hoarse, her lips had suddenly become dry.
Her eyes flashed around them and Jack knew why.
''Louise went on home.'' He told he quietly. She found the strength to gaze at him. His left hand came up suddenly to her cheek, stroking away the stray fallen tears and then his fingers moved upwards to her eyes, stroking along the lash-line. She felt her breathing stop, her heart soar and as she opened her eyes she knew that he was aware of her tears for him.
''Goodbye?'' He hadn't moved his hand. Oh how his hand felt so familiar, causing her heart to ache so much. ''Eight years...two minutes and then goodbye?''
She tried to find the words, anything to make this better and to find an incredible lie to pull out of her book to make everything seem as though she was all right and that she truly meant how happy she was for him.
''You're going to be married.'' She exhaled. At that moment another tear came. She wiped her own face. ''I am so sorry, today hasn't been an easy day-'' She told him, smiling through her tears.
He shoved his hands into his pockets.
''Rose, I thought-I didn't know where or how? I thought you had gone.''
''I thought so too, then I saw the papers.'' She glanced at the ground. His stare was too intense to meet. ''That was before the war.''
''Right.''
''I came here to find you and then I went to Europe. I was a nurse out there. I had hoped to see you.''
She felt foolish for confessing such a thing. She couldn't help but notice how little he had changed, how he was still the same and how his presence still intoxicated her. Every second near him she fell a bit more when she had tried so hard to dig herself out. He tucked his hair from his face once more. She couldn't watch him anymore.
She went to walk past him and to continue on her way back to the hotel but his hands grasped her shoulders and soon she was encased in his arms. Just as she had wanted to be all of these years. She couldn't stop her tears...he smelt the same, his touch hadn't changed and she never wanted to leave.
''Don't.'' She sobbed. ''Don't hold me if you plan to let me go.''
He pulled her into his body even more and she cried into his shirt. She cried for everything. For the eight years she had lost, for the sight of him with another girl and everything in between.
''I can't stay,'' he whispered to her, ''but will you meet me later?''
She pulled away from him. He was asking her to see him again? Before she could think it over she was nodding. Her head had followed her heart and she was fully in love with him again.
''9pm by the Carousel?''
She glanced back to the Pleasure pier at the building which sat next to the ''Yes.''
He nodded as he hesitantly let go of her. ''I will see you then.''
Then he was gone again.