For dinner, Ruth chose a luxurious French restaurant, decorated in the Baroque style, on the upper deck. Dim lights, gentlemen in suits, ladies in expensive evening dresses, a pianist who played the classics. I felt like Lady DeWitt Bukater...
And that I was going crazy.
I entered the restaurant wrapped in a loose black jacket covering a dress that seemed perfect to me until I walked down the corridor in it and caught a lot of ambiguous male looks.
"You look great," Ruth complimented. "What is this, a new hairstyle?"
"A good dream," I replied, sitting down at our table.
I noticed that dishes and cutlery were placed on the table, and not for two, but for four people.
"You said we'd have dinner just the two of us."
"I said we'd have dinner," she corrected, flipping through the menu.
"And who will be with us? Did you really find a man so quickly and not even one?"
"Better," mother put down the menu and looked at me with a smile, "I found investors."
"Why am I not surprised? You don't stop thinking about business even on vacation."
I crossed my arms over my chest in displeasure. I'll have to play the well-mannered and amiable daughter again, pulling a smile every time so as not to spoil Ruth's business conversation.
"Oh, darling, relax! We will spend the evening in a wonderful male company."
"I have no doubt about it."
"Just be a good girl. Okay?"
"I'm already like that, Mommy," I replied sarcastically in a sweet voice.
"And take off your jacket, it's hot in here. You have a very beautiful emerald dress under it."
And two grown men will stare at me? No way. I'd rather stay in my jacket for the rest of the evening.
"I'm cold," I finally said.
A waiter came up to us to pour champagne. He filled my glass first. And I immediately took a few sips, which caused Ruth's indignation.
"Rose! This is unethical! We haven't waited for our guests yet."
"Just add more, okay?" I turned to the young waiter, using charm.
He silently, with a grin, filled the glass to the brim. He has already earned my respect and generous tips.
"See? No one will know."
"Oh, Rose," she muttered, "how naughty you are."
"I promise, no more tric..." - I stopped in mid-sentence when the so-called investors came to our table.
"Dear, meet Mr. Hockley and Monsieur Richard!" Ruth sat up slightly. "They're going to have dinner with us tonight."
I promised not to do it again, but my hand reached for the glass by itself. I just needed a drink to digest the fact that there was a f*cking Caledon Hockley in front of me!
"Maybe you can introduce us to this young charm, Ruth?" he kindly asked, studying me with an interested look.
"Oh, I'm sorry, this is my daughter, Rose." She lightly hit me on the arm to stop me from drinking in the presence of her possible partners. "She's... a little nervous. Please sit down!"
"To be honest, I'm also a little nervous when I'm in the company of beautiful women," said a man with a French accent. He also drank some champagne, wanting to support me in this way.
Monsieur Richard looked to be about fifty years old, his head was almost completely gray, and he didn't seem to care much about his appearance, unlike such a sickeningly flawless Hockley.
"Nice to meet you, Rose," Cal just smiled at me tenderly, since he couldn't take my hand off the glass to kiss it.
"Nice to meet you too, Mr. Hockley."
"Just Caledon. But you can call me Cal!"
Everything in his behavior and speech made me uncomfortable, and I couldn't even hide it.
"When you mentioned your daughter Ruth," Hockley said again after everyone had chosen the dish, "for some reason I imagined a little girl and did not expect at all that she had already turned into a beautiful blooming flower."
Oh, those vile epithets. He wanted to make a beautiful mention of my name, but only emphasized his attitude towards a woman as something decorative and useless.
"You look good, as for the mother of an already grown-up girl," Monsieur Richard supported.
Ruth, beaming, thanked them for their compliments and only then remembered about me.
"Rose is only seventeen."
"A wonderful age," Hockley said.
Yes, don't hide your preferences, dear.
"Let's drink to youth!"
But the realization that he was at the same table with me again and tried to flirt again made me finish this glass before the toast was announced.
"Sir," he said to the waiter, noticing this inconvenient detail, "please pour this lady some more champagne!"
I didn't interfere in their business conversation and didn't react in any way to Cal's jokes. I also didn't feel like eating anymore, so I just looked at the food and went back to the champagne every time. At least, it was the only pleasant company for the evening.
Mother, who had been watching me intently all this time, whispered angrily:
"Rose, you promised!"
"Forget it!"
"I think we should get together more often with such a company," the Frenchman suggested to us. "What do you think?"
Oh, please! Just without me.
"We agree," Ruth replied happily.
"We"? Did she say "we"? Is no one else interested in my opinion? Well, are we going back to 1912 again?
"I'd spend every day with you," Cal said, not taking his eyes off me.
"I have to go," I suddenly announced, getting up from the table. "I'm sorry. Have a nice evening, everyone."
Cal grabbed my hand before I could leave. Why does this guy think he's allowed to touch me?
"Baby, did I offend you in some way?"
Yes... You've offended me by being here.
"No, it's okay," I said, pulling my hand away. "I need to leave."
"What happened?" Ruth joined his question.
"I have a headache, probably because of the champagne."
"You haven't even eaten anything!" she said.
"I'll order something in the room. And don't ever call me baby!" I snap at Hockley and walk away proudly, swaying slightly on my heels.
"Excuse me, gentlemen, I don't know what came over her," Ruth spread her hands. "She is becoming more and more like her late father. George was just unbearable sometimes."
"Calm down, Ruth, she's just a teenager. When my son was 17, he did worse," M. Richard assured her. "Thank God, he's already grown up..."
I felt calmer in the fresh air. I drew a strange parallel again. Rose in my dream often refused to eat because of Hockley and her mother. Maybe it was all for a reason? Maybe this dream was some kind of warning? This dream helped me to form my possibly biased attitude towards two different people.
Anyway, I still wanted to be in Jack's comforting arms. Only I didn't even know where he was. Could he still be by the pool? But which one?
It's been a long time...
Without much hope, I chose Ruth's favorite pool, where there are always fewer people, and went there. A walk to the elevator, and then along the 15th deck to the pool in heels, after all the glasses of champagne I drank, turned out to be another test, but I successfully and with the dignity of a lady passed it... to get into the company of drunk, noisy young men who came here to refresh themselves after an open-air party.
"Hey, join us!" they called me.
The idea was tempting. We were close in age, I was drunk too, and I desperately wanted to do something to spite Ruth.
"Rose?" someone gently touches my shoulder.
And I immediately turn around.
"Rose! Rose!" The guys from the pool shouted when they heard my name. "Come on!"
"Shut up! She won't jump!"
I wasn't ready to see Jack... with a beer bottle in his hand and, especially, in wet swimming trunks.
"Wow, and you're here?" I had to use my acting skills not to show that I came here just to see him. "I thought it was quieter here in the evenings."
"In the evenings, the most interesting things begin here," he laughed.
"Can this pool be considered a bad area?" I asked jokingly.
"Only for good girls."
Then I grabbed the beer from him and took a couple of sips.
"But I see that you are not one of them!" Jack concluded with a grin, watching me swallow this disgusting cheap swill.
"So I won't be the only girl in this company anymore?" A tall, tanned girl in a swimsuit approached Jack. She hugged him from behind and began massaging his chest too boldly for just a friend. "Will you introduce us?"
"This is Rose," he introduced me, discouraged by her actions. "Rose, this is Lucy, m-my..."
"Girlfriend," Lucy finished for Jack and kissed him on the cheek. "We met in Paris."
No! I felt that it would not be easy, but it is absolutely... impossible.
"Cool," I barely uttered, backing away.
"You're very beautiful," Lucy complimented. "Yes, Jack?"
"Yes," he agreed, hiding his eyes in embarrassment.
"You have such a rare hair color and porcelain skin..." she continued. "You are a real muse for the artist."
"Thanks..."
The meeting with Hockley, Lucy, the mess in my head that almost made me jump overboard. I would have exploded with anger if I hadn't urgently found a way to cool my ardor!
I finished my beer, took off my shoes and jacket, and did the most reckless thing in my life. I jumped into the pool to strange guys.
"I like her!" Lucy approved.
"I was sure she wouldn't do it," Jack said in surprise, getting ready to jump into the water too.