LOVE DOESN'T ASK WHY
Chapter Eight
Rose was a little bit nervous, but why? She
had been dating Mark for a while, and on top of that, they were married now.
Yet that was not the thing that she was worried about. It was her appearance in
front of Jack. She did not want to embarrass herself with something unfashionable.
She was the owner of a little bookstore, but that had never stopped her sense
of fashion. She dug through the suitcases and found the perfect thing. It was a
little black dress with crossing stripes in the back, and it barely reached her
knees. She put on the dress and makeup, and put her hair up, leaving some to frame
her face. She smiled at herself in the mirror. Then Mark stepped into the room,
and was wearing what was fashionable in the stock market...Regis Wear.
"Oh, alert the media. Mark is going to
be a Regis impersonator tonight," Rose said sarcastically.
"For your information, this is what the
cool stockbrokers wear," Mark said, straightening his tie.
"Oh, now, we wouldn’t want little Marky to
be an outcast in the wonderful world of stock-breaking, would we?" Rose asked,
helping Mark straighten his tie.
"Well, we’d better head down there, or
we’ll be late," Mark said.
Rose took another look in the mirror and
noticed that her hair was going every which way. "Go ahead, darling. I’ll
be down there in a while," she said, signaling to Mark to go on.
Mark sighed, and said, "All right. I’ll
just meet you down there."
Rose started fixing her hair. She was trying
to hurry and be careful at the same time. When her hair was fixed, she looked around
the suite and headed downstairs.
*****
"Jack, I’m ready!" Maria called as
Jack sat on the couch.
"It’s about time." Jack got up from
the couch.
Maria came out of the bathroom wearing a
tight gold dress. Jack held the door for her and she stepped out of the room,
making him lock the door behind them. She was walking quickly, but he decided
to just walk casually. As Maria went down the grand staircase, she saw Mark at
the bottom of the stairs and went to talk to him. Jack followed and leaned
against the nearest pillar. He really didn’t feel like talking to Mark tonight.
His gut was telling him to just lean against this pillar. Then he saw Rose and
he knew his gut was right.
Jack marveled at Rose as she came down the
steps, and he moved closer to her. She smiled at him as he came closer to her,
and he did the same. As she stopped on the bottom step, he took her hand and
kissed it. "I saw that in a movie once, and I’ve always wanted to do
it," he said, chuckling.
Rose chuckled, too, and said, "I take it
that boarding a luxury ship has made me elegant."
Jack nodded, and said, "I guess so. Shall
we?" He held his arm out. Mark and Maria walked arm-in-arm in front of
Jack and Rose.
"Have you ever tasted caviar?" Jack
asked Rose.
"Why?" Rose asked, perplexed.
"Oh, no particular reason," Jack
replied, shrugging his shoulders.
"Yes, and I hate it. How about
you?" Rose asked.
"Well, I was four at the time that I
tried it. After that dinner, I went into the bathroom and put back where it
belonged...the water," Jack said, chuckling.
Rose chuckled back, saying, "That's
disgusting!"
Jack and Rose laughed. As they came closer to
the table, they slowed down. Jack helped Rose sit down, and Mark helped Maria
sit down.
"Well, this is nice," Mark said.
They heard an announcement. "Excuse me. May
we have your attention, please?"
Silence fell over the room at the request.
"Thank you. The White Star Line would
like to welcome you aboard the second Titanic," the announcer said, and
everyone clapped. "We can assure you that there will be no hitting of
icebergs on this trip, since we are going to the Bahamas."
The whole room laughed.
"Well, we have a great band playing here
in first class, and in second class, and in third. So, may I introduce to
you...N'Sync!" the announcer said. There were no huge N'Sync fans in first
class, so there just a slight smattering of applause as a welcome for the band.
"Thank you very much. We will be your
entertainers for the rest of your trip on the Titanic. we are N'Sync, and we
hope you enjoy your voyage," Justin said, and they started to sing.
"So, Mark, I heard that you are in the
stock market," Maria said.
"Why, yes. I am. Have you invested in stocks?"
Mark replied.
"Yes, I have," Maria said.
Jack and Rose did not want to talk about
stocks, so they started their own conversation.
"So, Rose, what do you do for a
living?" Jack asked.
"Well, I own a bookstore called Shop
Around the Corner. How about you?" Rose asked.
"I work at the New York Times as
a cartoonist," Jack said.
"Really? Which cartoons do you draw?"
Rose asked curiously.
"I draw political cartoons and for the
sports section," Jack replied.
"Oh, I guess I should start reading the
sports section, then." Rose chuckled.
Jack chuckled back, and said, "Yeah,
well, I get too much fan mail."
"From girls, I suppose. Right?"
Rose asked.
"No. My mother," Jack said,
chuckling.
Rose and Jack laughed for a while, and then
ordered their meals. After they ate, they saw something that was a little
surprising. Mark and Maria were starting to slow dance. Still, Jack was a
little bit glad, because he really wanted to dance with Rose.
"Well, would you like to join the crowd
and dance?" Jack asked.
"Sure," Rose said, and they went to
dance.
"Rose, why don’t we go down to third
class?" Jack asked.
"Why?" Rose asked.
"I heard that Blink 182, Poppa Roach, and
Eminem are playing down there," Jack said.
"Poppa Roach? No kidding?" Rose asked.
"Yeah," Jack said.
"Let’s go!" Rose said, and they
headed down to third class.