Cynthia began to make her way to one of the cafes she knew wasn't far from where she was; The Cafe Perisian.
She entered and there were already heaps of people sitting around chatting with each other, some even already had their meals and were eating. Cynthia looked around for an empty table to sit at. Wouldn't mind having lunch with someone else, Cynthia thought as she began to walk around, Would have been a lot better if it was with Rose.
But as she thought that her eyes suddenly locked on someone, sitting by himself at one of the tables, and it was someone she recognised.
Lawrence was sitting by himself, over so often glancing around at the other tables, perhaps he too was waiting for someone when he saw Cynthia and his eyes lit up in recognition. He then sort of stumbled up from his seat.
"Ah Cynthia," He said, walking up to her.
"Hey, fancy seeing you here," Cynthia said warmly.
"Yes, well I guess everyone else I knew already had plans for lunch, so here I am."
"So did I apparently," Cynthia said honestly.
"Then perhaps you would accompany me to lunch then?" Lawrence said, gesturing to his table.
'Of course."
"Right."
Lawrence and Cynthi then moved to his table where they sat at opposite ends to each other.
"So how did you sleep last night?"
"Yeah It was pretty good, I didn't really feel anything, to be honest."
"Yes, the same was for me, I couldn't feel a thing honestly, guess that's why I slept in so much."
Cynthia chuckled a bit.
"So how was last night? With you and the other men in the smoking room?"
"Ah, very tame conversations, nothing too outlandish."
"I see."
Then one of the waiters came around.
"I'll have the Potted Shrimps," He then looked over to Cynthia, "How about you?"
Cynthia glanced down at the menu next to her.
"Umm, I'll have the Mutton chops thank you." She smiled as the waiter then took bother of their menus and went away.
"So what are your plans for this evening?" Lawrence asked, "I'm sure my party would be happy to have dinner with you once again."
"Thanks, but I've already had dinner plans with Rose."
"Rose… Oh yes, that was the girl you were sitting with yesterday wasn't she? She's engaged to Caledon Hockley."
"Yeah, what's he like? He did go with you to the smoking rooms didn't he?"
"Yes, he did, very… distinguished he is, his jokes though… not the best."
"Huh…"
"He's good with business that much I know, he seems quite taken with Rose though, that much is certain."
"What? Did he talk about her in the smoking room?"
"Oh no, none of us ever talk about marriage and that, just business and such, during dessert, he kept talking about the many wedding gifts, how much money everything has cost as well as the engagement gala that's been planned, he really wants everything for Rose."
Cynthia furrowed her eyes, If that's the case why does Rose look sad anytime the wedding is mentioned? And he only seems interested in the money aspect of the wedding, I haven't even met this guy and I already don't like the sound of him.
"I see," Was all Cynthia could say, her eyes glancing down at her plate.
"So when did she invite you to dinner then?" Lawrence asked.
"Oh just before I came here, I was hanging out with her this morning actually," Cynthia said smiling, "It was a lot of fun."
"I see, you've managed to get along with her so well and yet you only met yesterday."
"Yeah, she's a lot of fun," Cynthia said, still smiling.
Eventually, though, both of their lunches came in and they began to eat, as they did Lawrence talked about what he had done this morning.
"So I and a few of the gentlemen from last night decided we would try out the Turkish baths, it was quite relaxing there."
"Oh yeah? I actually went around there too, me and Rose went to the swimming pool, it was really good there."
"I can tell, your hair is still damp," Lawrence said, gesturing to Cynthia's hair.
"I guess so," Cynthia said, glancing down at her braid which still hadn't dried yet.
"So do you have any plans for after lunch?" Lawrence asked as he took another bite of his shrimp.
"Oh yeah, I do, absolutely, got a lot of stuff I need to get done before this evening."
"Ah yes."
They continued to chat a bit more until they had both finished their meals.
"Well then I best be off then," Cynthia said getting up from her seat.
"Yes me too," Lawrence said, also standing up, "I guess I'll see you later then?"
"Yeah sure."
They then both shook hands as the two walked out of the cafe and then, they both parted ways.
Cynthia quickly began to make her way back towards her cabin, in her mind she was thinking about what she was going to write to her mum and dad when she finally made it to her cabin. She quickly entered and shut the door behind her as she went into her room and grabbed the pieces of paper she had been using yesterday and a pen before taking them into the sitting room table and sat down.
She pulled out a new plain sheet and scribbled at the top the date April 11 1912.
She then began to write;
"Hey mum, a bit has happened since I last wrote, I actually ate dinner in the first class saloon, can you believe it? The room was so large and there were so many people there, all of them first class of course. I actually got escorted to dinner as well, this guy Lawrence who took me to dinner with his party of friends. My friends… I'm not sure though, they were these girls I met at the lounge, Pearl, Naiomi and Marie, they were at that table too. I had lunch with them before and they said I could have dinner with them. I don't know about them, they were nice to me, but they just remind me of Rachel, Betham and Natalie, I don't know, maybe its because there were three of them, Idk, They were nice to me, so I guess that's a good thing, I managed to get rich people to like me."
Cynthia chuckled a bit as she wrote.
"Some of the people were fine, though they kept asking me about Maybelle's fiance, it got annoying pretty fast though. I somehow knew his name though, I don't know how it happened though, it just popped into my head, but it like wasn't even one of my thoughts. Does that make sense/ I sound crazy, don't I.? I also met this girl though, we moved tables and I sat next to this girl, her name's Rose and she was a lot of fun to be around, I actually made her laugh a couple of times, she looked really lonely when I first saw her and from what I've figured out from her is that she seems very… confined? Trapped? I don't know, she doesn't like talking about her marriage or her fiance to me and from what I've heard her fiance doesn't sound that interesting. But she is, she loves art and has a couple of Monet pieces with her. I forgot they made replicas of those pieces, she told me about them today, we actually saw each other and she's just very fascinated with… everything. I showed her my camera and she really liked it, was even impressed with it, she looked so excited looking at it, I even managed to show her how to use it. She looked so happy doing it. "
"I got cut when I was playing chess with Rose, well it wasn't really chess, we were kinda making out own rules with it. But it got me thinking of something. I can still get hurt, well I mean yeah that's kinda stupid when I'm writing it but like, but like I can get hurt here and that means Maybelle can too. And I guess what I'm now realizing was that if something was to happen to me, like I die or something then Maybelle would die, and by that logic that would mean everyone from her side of the family including you would die, because you would never exist. That was really dark wasn't it, sorry it gonna be pretty miserable if I keep writing like this huh? Sorry, it's gonna be a bit weird when your reading this and I'm suddenly going on about how I might die. I'm not gonna let anything happen to me on this ok? I won't go putting myself into danger, at least not too much, Ive kinda done that when I decided to stay aboard this ship. But don't worry Mum, if things go bad for me I will get into a lifeboat, there'd be no reason to stay on the boat after that. But hopefully it won't come to that, after all now my entire family bloodline is counting on my survival."
"Anyways, I figured I need to make a bit of a safeguard in case I don't end up stopping the iceberg from hitting. Basically one of the main reasons that Third Class didn't make it up to the boat deck was because they didn't know the way, the stewards and that forgot to guide them up towards the boats and many of them don't understand English so they were even more confused. So I'm gonna go down to Third Class right after I finish this letter and I'm gonna try and figure out which way is the quickest way to get from Third class up to the boats, and maybe then I can make a map and distribute them to as many people in Third class as possible."
"Anyways I should probably be off, I'll let you know what happens after dinner, I've got to go and change now. I'll talk to you later. Love you and Dad."
Cynthia finished signing and looked at what she had written as she took the papers and went back into her room in the drawers in her dressing table and closed it again. She sighed a bit, before her eyes went to her wardrobe. She then stood up and began to rummage through her clothes.
There gotta be something in here that doesn't look like it's expensive, she thought as she pulled out some dresses and then put them back in again.
And then she found something, and pulled it out from the wardrobe; a red jumper dress which had a red bowtie on the collar with lacy red sleeves. Perfect, she thought as she placed it gently onto the bed. She began to take her blue dress off again and began to put on a red jumper dress, as she did, she began to loosen her corset a bit, enough that it didn't look that obvious that she was wearing one. She then looks at herself in the mirror, to her dress, and then to her hair.
She instinctively pulled her hair out of its braid, grabbed a brush and brushed through it and grabbed a hair tie from the trinket box and pulled her hair up and put it into a ponytail. Do people wear ponytails in 1912? She wondered, as she then looked at her earrings. I should change those, shouldn't I? She then sat down at the dressing table and began to rummage through the trinket box, pulling out any earrings and looking at them.
There's gotta be something in here that isn't gold and jewels, She thought as she looked, and then she found something, a pair of silver studs that were shaped like hearts. Perfect, Cynthia thought as she pulled out her blue bird earrings and changed them out for the silver ones. She looked in the mirror once again. I think I need something else, I don't know, I still look a bit first class to me. She turned back to the wardrobe and began to rummage even more into the wardrobe, their into the other drawers. She didn't know what she was looking for, not really, maybe a hat, maybe something that would hide her first-class status, she didn't know, but she knew she was missing something.
And then she found it in one of the drawers, a wide thick black scarf that had been neatly folded. Cynthia immediately took it out, and opened it up. It was both wide and long on each side as an idea came to Cynthia for its use. She swung it around her body, draping it along her shoulder like a shawl of sorts. She looked in the mirror once again, the scarf ended at her hips and rested gently along her shoulders. Perfect, She thought smiling to herself as she went and grabbed her camera and put it around her neck. She then walked over to the wardrobe once again, this time looking at the bottom of the shoes, she knew she couldn't just wear her heels to third class.
It didn't take her long to find something, a pair of brown heels with laces on them. She quickly took her heels off and began to put the brown ones on, loosening the ties on them enough so she could put them on, and then tightening them back up again. She stood looking at herself in the mirror once more and she smiled. She then rummaged into the drawers once again and managed to find what she was looking for; a small black booklet. She flicked through the pages which were lined and had the White Star Line printed on the right edge. Perfect, She thought and she quickly grabbed a pen, putting them into her pocket as she hurried out of her room again and out the front door.
Once she stepped outside, she kept glancing around the hallway, there was barely anyone out and so she quickly hurried down the hallway and up the stairs up the promenade deck. All the time, she kept glancing around at the other passengers, some of them looked at her strangely as she eventually made her way to the end of the Promenade deck, where she had been standing just yesterday. She looked back around her, there was not many people around and they were all not paying any attention to her
Cynthia then pulled out her booklet and pen as she walked over and opened the gate and started going down the stairs. She turned back and closed the gate, which had a sign on it; "NOTICE: 3RD CLASS PASSENGERS ARE NOT ALLOWED PAST THIS."
Hopefully, I won't have too many troubles getting back into First class, Cynthia thought as she went further down the stairs, until finally she made her way down, and was now standing on the Third Class Promenade deck. There were a lot more people around, all of them focused on what they were doing, either looking out to the sea, playing cards or just chatting with each other. So far, no one seemed to have noticed Cynthia, which was just what she was looking foR.
She then opened the booklet to the first page and wrote her first word; Stairs.
She took a breath as she began to walk, taking the time to write her directions as she did.
Left, straight, straight, right, straight, straight, straight.
As she did, she kept looking up and kept keeping an eye on her surroundings as she made her way inside, and found herself in one of the corridors.. It was somewhat crowded, with people moving along, all of them dressed very differently to what First class had dressed, no lacy elegant dresses or suits, but instead wor ragged clothes, all of them in dark hues, jackets, long skirts and many layers. Many of them were of different ethnicities as Cynthia heard a great deal of them talking in different languages with each other.
Cynthia tried to gently move through along the crowded hallway, which was when some of the passengers looked at her, they smiled and nodded as Cynthia whispered a "thank you," before making her way along. She kept walking along and kept writing her directions as she went. Every so often thought she found herself at an intersection, and when that happened she looked around, for anything that looked distinct enough, and he would then write it down
(Fire Axe)
She continued down her way. If I remember correctly, Third Class cabins run down from D-deck to G-deck, So I'll start going along D-deck then.
She kept walking, taking notes as she did and passing many more third-class passengers along every corridor she went around, and sometimes having to stop so that others could go through.
She eventually made her way to the very end of D-deck and by then she had already nearly finished on the second page. Alright, I guess I gotta trace my way back and then head down to the next deck. And so, following her booklet, she followed the directions she took and went back again as she kept glancing up and down at her booklet. Several times she once again had to stop and let other people pass, which made her stare at them a couple of times.
To think if I was traveling on this ship back home I would probably be here in Third class, she thought as she kept moving, passing two men who looked around her age.
She kept going though, following her directions until she finally made it back outside again. She looked up at the sky, where she could see the mast high in the air and the clouds in the sky.
Well, that's D- deck she thought as she wrote D deck on top of what she'd written. E deck is next.
But before she headed off again, she snapped a photo of the Third Class Promenade deck. She pulled it out of the camera slot and waited as it developed. There were very few photos of the Titanic's Third class areas, that much Cynthia remembered from all the history books she read when she was a child, and she knew her parents and grandparents were going to love these photos. She put the photo in her pocket and began to make her way back inside, still writing the directions down until she came across some stairs. Along the wall next to it pointed an arrow that said "E Deck" Cynthia quickly wrote it down and made her way down the stairs, down to E-deck.
And then she continued to do what she had done on D deck and wrote down her directions as she went along the corridors and passageways, and much like before she made note of any specific details she found.
Fire axe, air vent, notice board,
She kept doing this until she reached the end of E- and then made her way back just like she did before. Shen then made her way down to F deck and did the same. She kept writing down her directions and her surroundings when she needed to and by the time she had reached the end of F deck and by then she had already filled the first ten pages of her booklet. She flicked through the pages a bit, Yeah this looks a bit nonsensical huh? During her notes, she would periodically take photos of the corridors, of the hallways every so often.
She then made her way back along F deck from where she had come, as she did she passed two men, who unbeknownst to her were the same two men she had passed earlier. She hadn't noticed it herself, but this was the 5th time she had passed them in the last 2 hours.
Cynthia gently made her way past some more people, unbeknownst to her, two of them she had already seen before, she had passed them by when she was up on D-deck. Cynthia hadn't paid any attention to them, and it seemed only now, at least one of them looked at her in oddity
These two men's names were Tommy Ryan and Fabrizio De Rossi, and Tommy was the one who stopped them both.
"Oi, it's that lady again," Tommy said quietly to Fabrizio.
"Huh?"
"That Lady, the one in red, that's about the 5th time we've seen her in the last two hours."
"Ah, Don't know, I'm not too preoccupied with how many times we see other people, Tommy."
"Nah, nah, it's just weird, like what is she doing?"
"Maybe she's a lost?"
"I don't know, probably lost or something, come on now, Jack probably waiting for us."
Cynthia heard none of this of course and began to make her way back up the stairs. As she was walking, she was now starting to feel her feet were beginning to ache. She rubbed her legs gently a bit, trying to soothe them a bit.
Ugh, my legs are killing me, she thought as she stopped in front of the sign to E-deck. I need to sit down somewhere.
Then she remembered something: there was an Open space on the D-deck for third-class passengers. Yes, I'll rest there and go through my notes and then I can work it out from there. Shen quickly hurried along the stairs again up to D-deck, trying to retrace and follow her own directions
But eventually, after some time, she stumbled across and found what she was looking for; The Third Class Open space.
It was a large room, though not nearly as big as the dining saloon back in first class and not nearly as luxurious. There were plenty of wooden chairs and benches around, some even went along the corners, and the walls had a sort of wooden panelling to them. The place was very crowded, with many benches and chairs full of people, laughing and chatting away with each other, smiling and happy.
Cynthia hugged her arms a bit, still holding her booklet and pen as she walked around, glancing over to see if there were any empty seats around. As she did, some of the people there looked at her, they smiled and nodded at her, and she did the same as they went back to their conversation.
Do they somehow think I'm first class? She thought worriedly, Maybe I should have found a skirt and shirt or something, Oh god, what if someone tells a crewmate or something, and escorts me back up to First class, I still need to go and check E and F-deck.
She stopped for a moment and took a deep breath in, I'm stressing myself out, People are gonna be more suspicious of me if they see me freaking out like this, Let's just find somewhere to sit.
She kept looking around a bit again and walking around until she found a spot. In one of the corners, there was a bench that was empty. There were a couple of people sitting alongside the bench, but they were all talking and chatting with each other. There was also a boy sitting right across from the bench. As she got closer, she got a better look at him.
He had short, dirty blond hair and a long fringe that shaped his face. He looked around her age as Cynthia quietly and quickly sat on the other side of him. He didn't seem to really notice as his eyes, his blue eyes were on what Cynthia could only think was a sketchbook of some kind, and was drawing something.
Cynthia shuffled in her seat a bit as she glanced around at the people around her. Everyone seemed so… lively, so happy, nothing like what the First class had been. No, everyone here was full of life, full of joy. They all seem like a lively lot, Cynthia thought as she picked up her booklet and began to skim through her own writings. Ok let's try and figure out how I can make this sound somewhat coherent, she thought and started on the first page. OK, so It started with left, straight, straight, right, straight, straight, straight and ended with right right straight straight. So maybe It should start with going forward and then going right twice and then following the corridors until you see the air vents in the crossway.
She began to write those new directions onto the blank spaces and titled the Page: Third Class instructions for D deck.
She began to scribble down more instructions whilst going through the directions she wrote. It was now that her hands were getting a bit sore from writing and she began to stretch them out a bit by shaking them out.
She then looked around her again, at the people once again, Cynthia remembered that there weren't many photos of the Third-class open space, much like the other places on the ship, any photographs used when discussing the Titanic came from her sister's ship; Olympic.
I want Mum and Dad to see how happy these people are, she thought as she put her booklet and pen down and grabbed at her camera again, lifting it up a bit before taking a photo of the Third class passenger, all of them smiling, all of them happy.
She took the photo out of the camera slot and began to shake it in her hands, trying to get it to develop. After a bit, she looked at the photo and sure enough, the image developed, showing a group of third-class passengers laughing and chatting together on a bench. She smiled at her work, Mum and Dad are gonna love these photos.
It was now that the boy who was sitting across from her had looked up at her as Cynthia began checking on her camera. She hadn't noticed that his eyes were looking at her.
"Been keeping you busy?"
"Huh?"
Cynthia looked up, her hands still holding the camera as she saw the man across the bench looking at her, his gentle blue eyes. He then gestures with his hands to Cynthia's camera.
"Oh, yeah," she laughed a bit, "Yeah, yeah been using it a lot since I got on this ship."
"Where did you get on from?"
"Southampton, what about you?"
"Same, was a very close call."
The young man then smiled as Cynthia then glanced down at his sketchbook; "Been busy with that?"
The man seemed to know immediately what she was talking about as he glanced down at his sketchbook, still holding a charcoal pencil.
"Ah yes, plenty, plenty of things for me to draw around here."
"Made much money off of it?"
The man's mouth curled back in, "Nope, has yours."
Cynthia bit the ball of her mouth jokingly, trying to hide her smile, "No…" she couldn't hold it for long as she started laughing and so did he as Cynthia finished, she couldn't help but smile at the young man. He then leaned forward a bit reaching his hand out to her.
"Jack Dawson, nice to meet you."
"Cynthia Thorntell," She said, taking Jack's hand and shaking it also. They then both let go as they leaned back onto their respective seats.
"So where you headed from?" Jack asked.
"Whitepool, It's a small town near the coast, get plenty of visitors there, you?"
"Chippewa Falls, it's in Wisconsin haven't been there in a year."
"What were you in Europe for then?"
"It just felt right, you know what I mean? I just needed to get out of there for a while, I mean I had no one really around there so there was nothing holding me back."
Cynthia stared at Jack as he looked thoughtfully down at his sketchbook, giving it a bit of a squeeze as I did. "I've actually been meaning to try and get back home for ages, and now I'm finally here, heading for home." He then gazed upat Cynthia, right into her eyes, "So what business do you have in America?"
"Oh well, I have family in New York who are waiting for me, so in a way I guess ii'm going home in a way, it's hard to explain."
She took a deep breath, looking down at her camer. "I mean, I've never been to America before, much less New York and I've got family who are waiting for me there, and I guess after being in Europe for so long without having seen them, I guess seeing them again feels like I'm coming home in a way. Are you travelling alone?"
"Oh no, definitely came with someone, my best friend actually, he hasn't been to America either and he's really happy he's going."
"Yeah.." Cynthia smiles for a bit. Before she had even come to to this time she was alone, and she was with her friends, but that was shattered in seconds and she was alone again, and then she was surrounded by the people in the butterfly enclosure and then she was alone again, and then she was talking to her mother and she was alone. And then finally she was on the bus, sleeping soundly with people nearby and then she thrust into this time period, even though she was surrounded by people who called her different names or didn't even notice her she was alone, there was no one around her time period, no one who knew Cynthia Thorntell; only Maybelle Cornell.
Cynthia frowned for a few seconds as she thought about this, Jack seemed to notice but as quickly as he did, Cynthia's smile returned.
"So how have you found the ship so far?" She asked, leaning forward a bit, looking at him in the eyes, her green eyes with his blue ones.
Jack's eyes looked concerned for w moment before they softened.
"Been alright so far, barely been any stowaway so far."
Cynthia laughed a bit.
"So how have you-"
"Oh there you are Jack."
Just before Jack could say anything more, two men were coming towards them. Both Cynthia and Jack looked up as Cynthia couldn't help but feel like she had seen them before. They looked around her age, with one of them having brown short curly hair and wearing a bowler hat, while the other had black hair and wore a sort of old-fashioned cap.
"You sure took your time," Jack said, clearly he knew who both of these men were as they both glanced over at Cynthia. The one in the bowler hat stared at her.
"Oh, you're that girl we kept seeing around."
"Huh?" Cynthia said, Was I already looking weird when I came down?
"Yeah, I think we kept seeing you around the hallways these couple of hours, you er.. Had a booklet or something."
"Oh well, just making sure I know what the best way is to get to the lifeboats, nice to know where the best place to exit the ship is" She lied, smiling.
"Oh, Probably shouldn't have to worry about that, with how solid this ship is, like a rock."
"Well, you never know."
He then gave a bit of a chuckle, before he reached his hand out, and Cynthia instinctively took it also.
"I'm Tommy Ryan."
"Cynthia Thorntell."
The other man reaches out his and Cynthia lets go on Tommy's hand and shakes the other men.
'Fabrizio."
Jack then got off the bench and moved over to sit next to Cynthia to her surprise, as Tommy and Fabrio move to sit where he had been sitting. Jack leaned back a bit into the bench as Cynthia glanced over to him. He seems so… carefree, she thought. He's not stressed about anything and I've hardly seen him frown or scowl. He's just got.. such a gentle face.
"So how have you found the ship so far?" Jack asked.
"Yes, it's been great so far, been exploring it since yesterday, she's a really nice ship."
Jack nodded as he leaned back on the bench and Cynthia watches him, he seemed to have no care in the world. He seems happy no matter where he seems to be, Cynthia thought as she watched him, I don't I've ever meet a guy like him back home, it's like he. I don't know…
She then turned back and saw Tommy and Fabrizio had pulled out a deck of playing cards and were decking them out to each other, not really looking at either Jack or Cynthia.
Cynthia leaned back a bit, still clasping the camera gently in her hands. Jack's eyes glanced at them.
"So that's your camera?' He asked, turning his body a bit more to her.
"Oh yeah, it's mine," She said and gently took the camera off from around her neck and held it out so Jack could see it better, "My dad gave it to me when I was a kid."
"It's really small huh?" Jack said, putting his sketchbook down next to him and gently putting his hands along the camera.
"Yeah, but it does the job, takes photos, develops them, you know."
"Like instantly?"
"Well no, it comes out of the slot here, and then it takes a couple of minutes to develop and then the picture comes out."
"Never heard of cameras doing something like that."
"Yeah well, my dad wanted me to have it, said he wanted me to make sure I was always able to capture what I'm seeing through the lens, regardless of what circumstances I find myself in."
"I guess that's kinda me with my drawings."
"Really?"
"Yeah, for me it was more about living on the streets and trying my best to put what I saw on the paper."
"Yeah, yeah it is."
"Develops huh? Like instantly?" Tommy asked, who by now had a cigarette in his mouth.
"Yeah, all in colour too."
"Print in colour? You're full of shite."
Cynthia then turned her head to Tommy, an eyebrow raised, and almost felt like smiling. With one hand, she raised her camera in front of her and snapped a picture of Tommy and Fabrizio, with Tommy looking a bit confused with the cigarette in his mouth.
The photo came out of the photo slot and Cynthia pulled it out as Jack, Fabrizio and Tommy leaned forward and looked down at the photo in Cynthia's hands.
"The image is blank," Tommy said, "There's nothing there."
"Just wait a minute, it's gotta develop," Cynthia hushed.
Sure enough in a couple of minutes of waiting, the photo started to develop and showed Tommy and Fabrizio holding onto their cards looking a bit dumbfoundedly at the camera. Cynthia glanced up at Tommy who both he and Fabrizio leaned back on the bench again at Tommy reached out gently and took the photo out of Cynthia's hands.
He nodded a bit as he looked closely at the photo.
"It's pretty good," Was all he said as he passed to Fabrizio who also took a look at it.
"Yes, it's a nice," Fabrizio smiled as he then handed it over to Jack, who also took a good look at it.
Tommy and Fabrizio then went back to their card game as Cynthia watched Jack's expression. His eyes were very focused as his eyes moved ever so slightly along the photo.
"These are really good," Jack said, smiling as he then passed the photo back to Cynthia., "So I guess then you're a photographer then?"
"And I guess your an Artist then" Cynthia joked, gesturing to Jack's sketchbook. That got a laugh out of Jack and Cynthia chuckled a bit as she shuffled the other photos in her pocket to get it to fit.
"You have more?" Jack asked, looking at Cynthia's pocket.
"Yeah, I've taken a couple up on deck."
"Can I see them?"
Cynthia thought for a moment as her eyes went over to Jack's sketchbook, "If you let me see your drawings?"
Jack glanced over at his sketchbook as Cynthia had seconds thoughts,
"I mean, it's fine if you don't, I can show you my-"
"Alright, if you insist," Jack said, picking up his sketchbook and holding it out to Cynthia. Cynthia glanced down at the sketchbook, a bit surprised as she then pulled out the photos from her pocket and held them out. Then both at the same time, they made the swap as Cynthia gently took the sketchbook from Jack's hands, and he did the same with her photos.
Cynthia leaned back a bit on the bench as she looked at the cover, it was bound in light brown leather and put her hand along the cover.
She then gently opened to the first page as Jack began to shuffle through the photos.
The first page she came across seemed to be half done, which depicted a couple of passengers sitting at the benches chatting and smiling.
Cynthia blinked as she turned her head and looked at Jack.
"Jack this is amazing," She said genuinely as she gently turned the paper around a bit. She then turned to the next page, which showed a sketch of a father and his daughter.
"Ah, they didn't really think about much in old Paire ."
"You've been to Paris?"
Jack nodded a bit as he continued to look at the photos.
"Some of my…"
Cynthia was about to her friends had been to Paris, after all, it was them coming back that was the reason they were all meeting up at the Cafe yesterday in the first place. But she trailed off and her mind went back to that place.
Jack turned and looked at her as she tried to think of an answer.
"Well… people I knew, thought I knew were in Paris a couple of months ago…" Cynthia said, trying to sound confident and smiled, "I mean I went of course, about a year ago and I really enjoyed being there."
Jack's eyebrows furrowed a bit as Cynthia looked through a few more pages.
"And what did the people you knew think of Paris?"
"Don't know, I never really got to hear about it."
"Why?"
"Things happened, it's not really important anymore, not really."
Despite her words, the image of Rachel, Natalie and Bethan came into her mind, laughing and smiling nastily as they had done back at the cafe, despite everything that had now happened after that, it still…
"I see, ok…" Was all Jack said, as he looked down at Cynthia's photos, "These are really good."
"Yeah well, been doing that since I was 10, my dad actually gave me my camera for my birthday."
"So both your parents are still around?"
"Yeah, I'm actually going to see them when we get to New York."
"Hmm.."
Jack then turned his head back and kept looking at the photos, he seemed to be thinking of something, but Cynthia didn't want to prod, so she turned her head back to the sketchbook and skipped through a couple of pages.
However, after a few seconds of looking, she immediately shut the sketchbook down. Her eyes went wide a bit with what she saw and kept looking down at the book. Was that.. Did I? Did I see a boob? I think I saw someone naked.
Cynthia didn't notice, but Jack seemed to have noticed her flabbergasted expression as she opened the sketchbook open again and took another look.
This time she got a better look at what she was seeing; a drawing of a woman with long hair naked, lounging with a cigarette in her mouth.
Cynthia opened her mouth a few times and then closed it again, looking from Jack then to the picture and then back again, trying to figure out what she should say.
"So… these were drawn, from people?" She asked, her voice a bit high, "Like real people?"
Jack's bemused expression answered her question as Cynthia turned to the next page, which had depicted another woman naked posed in front of what had to have been a ballet studio, with a large mirror and leaning against a ballet bar.
"Yeah, well that's one thing about Paris, lots of girls willing to take their clothes off."
Cynthia laughed a bit, feeling a bit calmer now as she looked at these drawings. Her initial shock was gone and that he was actually taking a good look at them, it didn't feel as weird anymore. They look beautiful, she thought as she smiles and kept flicking through the pages. Then Cynthia began to notice something, with the women; it was clear that a lot of them had to be the same women.
"You keep drawing this woman," Cynthia found herself saying aloud.
"Well, she had beautiful hands, see?" Jack said, gesturing to one of the sketches which showed her hands. They looked so detailed, long and narrow at the fingertips. He was right, they were beautiful.
"You're really good at drawing hands," Cynthia said as she looked down to the bottom of the sketch, her eyes focusing on the bottom right corner.
The date was there, but that was not what Cynthia focused on, it was the signature; JD
Wait, I've seen this, it was on that drawing I saw at the museum! JD stands for Jack Dawson, he's the mystery artist.
Her eyes lit up with recognition as she tried to think about what the plaque next to the drawing had said, there was something about the drawing, about the person he drew, as she tried to remember. Jack seemed to notice as he then asked; "See someone you recognise?"
Cynthia quickly looked up, "Oh no, it's just that, these are really good Jack," She lied.
Jack nodded a bit as his eyes glanced over to Cynthia's camera again and then back up to her.
"So what did you like about Paris then?" Cynthia asked.
"The people really, for me about Paris was more about living out there and trying to put it on the paper, you know what I mean?"
"Yeah, I get that, everything in Paris was soo… beautiful, I mean how everything is built, how its designed, like the building and exterior is just really great, like they put so much detailing in how they build those buildings and houses, it was just so.. Intricately decorated and designed."
Cynthia then looked at Jack, who was now looking at her, smiling and listening to what she was saying. Cynthia smiled back as her eyes glanced down at her shoes for a bit. They didn't say anything before Jack spoke up again.
"So how does your camera work?"
Cynthia then looked back at him and saw he was looking at her camera which was still sprung along her neck.
"Oh yea," Cynthia said, pulling the camera off from around her neck and putting Jack's sketchbook on her lap as she scooted over so she was closer to him. Jack leaned in a bit closer as Cynthia held out the camera in front of them both, "So you see through this glass slot here, see, and use it so see through so you can see what you're taking a photo of, and then you press this button here and then its snaps the picture."
"Ok I get it," Jack said breathlessly, his head very close next to Cynthia's at that moment, "Is it ok if I have a go at it?"
"Yeah sure," Cynthia said as she pulled the camera off from around her neck and held it out to him. Jack then took it gently off of Cynthia's hand, He then raise the camera to his face.
"Am I doing alright?" He asked.
"Yeah yeah yeah, just make sure you aren't moving it when you're taking the photo, otherwise it will come out blurry."
"Got it."
His hand were very still as he continued to hold up the camera, but then he began to slowly turn it so it faced Cynthia.
Cynthia leaned back a bit, a bit surprised by this. "Oh, you- want to take my photo?"
"Hmm hmm," Jacked hummed, as Cynthia gave a smile as Jack snapped her photo. The photo then popped out of the camera slot and Jack pulled it out, as they both leaned in and watched it develop.
"You did pretty well," Cynthia said, nodding as the image of her almost laughing came up on the photo.
"Really? Well you know, it's not something I could have drawn."
"Shut up," Cynthia laughed as she playfully punched Jack's arm.
She then glanced over to Tommy and Fabrizio once more, they were still playing, but as they were Fabrizio kept glancing off into the distance, not at his cards, not at Tommy.
Jack seemed to have noticed also.
"Who are you looking at?" Cynthia asked, gently taking the camera back from Jack and turning her head to see who he was looking at.
A bit away, on one of the benches was a blonde-haired woman, her put up neatly and looked to be around their age. She sat with whom Cynthia in the head presumed to be her parents as they chatted with each other. Occasionally though, the blonde-haired girl would glance over in their direction, and Cynthia and Jack and Tommy knew that it was towards Fabrizio.
"The blonde girl?" Cynthia asked as she turned back to Fabrizio who seemed a bit flustered, but smiling.
"It's she beautiful?" He asked as Tommy glanced over as well.
Cynthia turned and looked back at her as well, she stared for a bit, her mind was thinking of other things, so she wasn't really paying much attention to what she said next.
"Yeah, yeah she's pretty cute, can see why you wanna go talk to her."
What did I say?
Cynthia blinked as she slowly turned her head back to the others. Jack had a bit of a smile on his face, Tommy's mouth was open a bit and looked a bit bewildered, and Fabrizio just kept looking at Tommy and Jack, confusion written all over his face.
Oh, crap why did I say that? Why wasn't I thinking?
Cynthia then began to think quickly about what she should do no, or rather what she should say now. She of course remembered the fact, that the term Pansexual had not been coined yet and wouldn't be until 1914.
"Umm, So why don't you go try and talk to her then?" Cynthia said, quickly trying to change the subject.
"Oh no," Fabrizio chuckles, glancing to Cynthia then back to the blonde girl, "I'm just, oh I don't know…"
"Oh come on now," Tommy said, still holding his cards, "You've got much more of a chance with her than Jack with that woman from first class."
Jack quickly then leaned forward a bit and playfully jabbed at Tommy's arm who just laughed as Jack leaned back again, smiling.
Cynthia leaned back a bit and stared again around at the people, What time is it? She could see that there were some stairs that lead to the outside which brought in some sunlight, I've still gotta get dressed for dinner tonight, and I've gotta get back into First class.
She then glanced over to Jack who had taken back his sketchbook and seemed to be watching Tommy and Fabrizio's card game. I don't wanna go just yet though, I still need to look around a bit.
She kept glancing around before she put her camera back around her neck again, grabbed the photos and then finally grabbed the booklet and pen, clutching it tightly.
"Alright, I think I'm gonna take a walk a bit," Cynthia said quickly, now getting up from her seat.
"Mind if I join you?"
Cynthia then turned and looked down at Jack who now stood up also, carrying his sketchbook in his hand, "Kinda feel like I need to stretch my legs a bit."
"Yeah," Cynthia said, and she began to lead the way,
"See yas," Cynthia waved to Tommy and Fabrizio as she and Jack walked away from them and left the Third Class Area Space and made their way back up to the Third Class Promenade deck.
"So what deck are you staying on?" Jack asked.
"Oh, D-deck," Cynthia lied, "What about you?"
"G deck."
"Oh yeah, and how are you finding it so far?"
"Yeah it's been pretty good so far, our roommates haven't been causing too many problems yet," Jack let out a low chuckle, "Though, I don't think that we were the ones they were expecting."
Cynthia smiled a bit as they kept walking.
They continued down, going down a couple of decks as Cynthia kept glancing around at the windows. Lillian and that are probably wondering where I am.
"You staying with anyone?"
"Oh-"
Just as she started, he saw someone coming up on the corridor they were on, and Cynthia felt her heart go rampant; a steward.
No, he cannot see me! Cynthia thought, rather impulsively she grabbed Jack's arm and pulled him down another hallway, gripping his hand tightly and she pulled him along
"Wha- Where are we going?' Jack suddenly asked, looking around a bit confused.
Umm… "Someone who I don't want to be talking to right now," Cynthia lied quickly.
"Was it someone you knew?" He asked again as Cynthia began to slow down.
"Not especially," Cynthia said breathlessly, looking back at where they came from, she then glanced over at Jack, still holding his hand and joked, "Would you believe me if I said I was a wanted criminal?"
Jack chuckled as Cynthia let go of his hand and then she stopped. There were no windows that showed the outside, but she knew it had to be close to dinner, or at the very least it was around the time she would need to get ready. She then turned to Jack, smiling again.
"I think I might need to go now," Cynthia said stopping.
"Oh yeah?" Jack asked.
"Yeah, I've got to meet someone," Cynthia said nodding, it wasn't entirely a lie.
Jack nodded a bit, glancing around a bit, trying to think of something to say.
"Will I see you around dinner?"
"Umm, no sorry, but I'll try to see you tomorrow."
"Try to?" Jack laughed a bit, "You make it sound like you've got a lot of people to hang around with."
"Not really, honestly, thought so far you've been one of the few I've met here so far that was…real."
Cynthia then looked up at Jack, who gave a small smile and Cynthia nodded.
"Well then, I'll see you later."
"Bye, Cynthia."
"See ya, Jack."
Cynthia then shuffled away as she made her way out from Jack, as she did she kept turning back to look at him and it seemed that he was doing the same until Cynthia turned the corner. As he left, Cynthia began to think a bit more, about before. There aren't really boys like that back home huh, I don't know, the way he was talking, the way he was speaking to me, its almost like… he sees right through me. Cynthia sighed, No way, she thought as she turned around
Ok, now to get back up, Cynthia thought as she began to pick up the pace. She made her way along the corridors until she found some stairs and began to head up, as she did, she couldn't help but notice the gates that were at some of the doorways. It was enough that Cynthia quickly wrote them down in her notebook and continued on. There's got to be a way back up to the promenade deck from here.
She was going up one of those stairs when;
"Excuse me Mrs, Are you supposed to be here?"
No.
Cynthia froze in place, her heart racing in and out of her chest, I've been caught, no no no no, it's over isn't it?
She still hadn't turned around yet to face whoever it was that just spoke to her.
I could run for it, couldn't I? She blinked a bit, but she eventually turned her body around and faced whatever steward had just caught her.
But the moment she did, she knew it was not a steward who was speaking to her.
No, instead it was an older man dressed in a back suit, who looked to be around in his 30s but Cynthia recognised who he was, as she had seen him the previous night at dinner.
It was Thomas Andrews.
And immediately, this put Cynthia a bit more at ease.
Thomas's eyes seemed to furrow, almost recognition.
"Ah, I think I saw you last night at dinner," He said.
"You did?"
"Yes, but the better question is what are you doing here in steerage class?"
Immediately, Cynthia began talking rapidly, "I'm so sorry, I was just very curious to see what third class was like and I wasn't trying to get into any-"
"It's quite alright Mrs, I'm honestly surprised that someone from first class would be interested in the decks below," He said gently.
"Yes well, I was very interested to see what it was like down here."
"Well, it's good to hear that there are people who are interested in such things."
He then reached out his hand, "Thomas Andrews."
Cynthia took a couple of steps down so she could shake his hand, "Cynthia Thorntell."
"Well, I do believe it's getting somewhat near to dinner, shall we both head back up to the boat deck."
"Yes, thank you." Cynthia smiled and Thomas then took the lead as they both went up the stairs, back towards First Class.