LOVE DOESN'T ASK WHY
Chapter Ten

Rose was fixing her hair when the phone rang.

Who could that be? Rose thought, looking at the phone.

After the second ring, she picked it up, and said, "Hello?"

Jack smiled when he heard Rose’s voice coming from the other line.

"Rose?" Jack asked.

"Jack?" Rose asked, smiling at hearing his voice.

"Rose, I’m sorry, but Maria has the chicken pox, and she needs me. I’m so sorry," Jack said.

"Oh, Jack. That’s all right. Thank you for calling me," Rose said.

"Anytime. Well, I'd better get back to taking care of Maria. Again, I’m so sorry that I’m not able to make it," Jack said.

"Jack, it’s fine. I hope Maria feels better," Rose said.

"Yeah, I hope she does, too. Have fun," Jack said.

"I will. Bye," Rose said, and hung up the phone.

Mark was still down talking about stocks, but he said that he would meet her there. Rose headed down to the dining room to the table where he had said that he would meet her. She found the table, but he wasn’t there. She sighed, and thought to herself, Mark is just running a little behind schedule. She sat down, and waited. About ten minutes later, she saw him coming towards the table.

"I’m sorry, Rose. There were too many questions. You know how people are who are so lost when it comes to stocks," Mark said, sitting down.

"The shame," Rose said, staring into the candle’s flame.

After they had dinner, Rose decided to get some chicken noodle soup to go.

"Rose, I’m going to go into the smoking room again," Mark said.

"All right," Rose said, and Mark kissed her on the cheek.

After Mark left, the waiter brought Rose her soup in a cream-colored bag.

"Thanks," Rose said, and got up.

Rose decided to go straight to Jack’s suite, before going to see Gaelic Storm perform. She knocked on Jack’s door once again.

Jack answered the door and smiled, saying, "Rose, I thought you were going to go see Gaelic Storm."

Rose smiled back, and said, "I am. I’m on my way down there. I thought that Maria might want some gourmet chicken soup." She held up the paper bag.

"Oh, thanks. She is really going to like this," Jack said, taking the bag. He chuckled, saying, "I think that she needs the bag more than she needs the soup."

Rose laughed, saying, "Well, I might as well go and see Gaelic Storm. Good night, Jack." She turned around.

"Good night," Jack said.

Rose sat down at a table in third class and got a drink. Since she didn’t have a dance partner, she decided to watch. She thought that it was absolutely breathtaking to watch them dance. Then, she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around to see Jack smiling.

"Jack, I thought that—" Rose said in shock, but he interrupted her.

"I’m surprised that you aren’t dancing," Jack said.

"Well, I—" Rose began, but Jack interrupted her again.

"May I have this dance?" Jack asked, and put his hand out.

Rose smiled, got up, and said, "Sure." She took his hand.

Jack pulled Rose out to the center of the dancing area.

"Jack! Jack, wait! I can’t do this," Rose said.

"We're gonna have to get a little closer, like this," Jack said, and pulled Rose closer.

"I don’t know the steps," Rose said.

"Neither do I. Just go with it. Don’t think," Jack said, chuckling.

Rose laughed. She couldn’t believe that she was actually dancing to Gaelic Storm! Jack started to go faster.

"Wait! Wait, Jack! Stop, Jack!" Rose said, but Jack ignored her and stayed in step with the music.

Jack got up on a platform with Rose and started to dance. Rose took off her shoes and did the same thing as Jack, but better. Jack couldn’t compete with that, and interlocked arms with Rose, going one way, and then switching arms and going the other. Jack grabbed both of her hands and started to spin around fast.

"Jack, no!" Rose cried.

Jack ignored her, saying, "Yeah!"

Rose couldn’t help but laugh. After they stopped, applause came from all over. Rose looked at Jack perplexedly, but the only thing that Jack did was take her hand and bow.

"Let’s go get a drink," Jack said, going over to where a table full of beers were and grabbing two.

Rose chugged it down like a man, and Jack was surprised.

"What? Do you think that a girl who is married to a stockbroker can’t drink?" Rose asked, chuckling, and Jack chuckled with her.

"Come on. Let’s see the couple again!" one man called from the crowd, and they heard cheering.

"Yeah, encore!" another man said, making the crowd go wild.

"All right, then," Rose said. "Let’s see you do this."

Rose stepped back, lifting her arms up in the air. Her feet followed. Jack could see the pain on Rose’s face as she put all her weight on her toes. Still standing on her toes, Rose pulled her dress up to show that there was no help involved.

Then Rose couldn’t stand any more, and she collapsed, saying, "Ow!"

Luckily, Jack caught her safely in his arms. "You all right?" Jack asked.

Rose laughed, and said, "I haven’t done that in years."

After all the commotion, Jack and Rose decided to head back to first class.

"Thank you for the wonderful time," Rose said, shaking Jack’s hand.

"No, thank you," Jack said, still shaking Rose’s hand.

"Well, I might as well go to bed. I heard that we should reach the first island by lunch," Rose said, letting go of Jack’s hand.

Jack put his hand in his pocket, and said, "Wonderful."

"Well…um…good night," Rose said.

Then, out of nowhere, Jack gave Rose a kiss on the cheek.

"Good night," Jack said softly.

Rose smiled and watched Jack as he went to his suite, which was the door right beside hers. He unlocked the door, smiled, and entered the room. Rose did the same as she heard his door shut. Rose saw no sign of Mark yet, and she flopped on the big waterbed. Lying there, she reflected on the day she had had, and how wonderful it was being with Jack.

Chapter Eleven
Stories