HERE AND NOW
Chapter Two
Prep Week
Stones wasn’t what most people
would call a classy place. It was a small nightclub on a quiet back street in
central London. It had been there since the 1930’s and always owned by the same
family, which it was named after. The current owner was Johnny Stone, who was a
laidback thirty-something that Rose had befriended through Mandy, who had had a
dramatic on-off relationship with Johnny since Rose had known her.
For a while, they sat at the bar
and drank cocktails. Rose watched everyone else dancing and having a good time
while she sipped her tequila sunrise, trying not to keep thinking about the
Titanic as she feared her head would explode with excitement. She was still
struggling to believe this wasn’t a dream. It all seemed too easy.
Lost in her thoughts, Rose felt a
tug on her arm.
"What?" she asked.
Mandy was grinning and looking towards the other end of the bar, where an
exceptionally good-looking guy of about twenty with floppy blonde hair who was
dressed in a suit with his shirt untucked, his blazer undone, and his tie loose
sat. He had just walked in and sat down on one of the stools before ordering a
drink and lighting up a joint.
Rose watched him with
fascination. He looked so unhappy.
"Do you know who that
is?" whispered Mandy, excitement in her voice "It’s Jack
DeWitt-Bukater!"
Rose looked at the man again and
chucked. "No. Get real, Mandy. Someone like Jack DeWitt-Bukater wouldn’t
be caught dead in a place like this."
Jack DeWitt-Bukater was only
twenty-four, just one year older than Rose, and was one of the most famous men
in the world. His father was George Bukater, a businessman who owned a chain of
hotels, clubs, and half of California. The Bukater family was always in the media.
Jack had been labeled one of the world’s most eligible bachelors and his sister
Posey was a fashion model and famous socialite. Parker, Posey’s identical twin
sister, stayed out of the limelight and her hatred for media attention was
somewhat notorious.
"It’s him, Rose," Mandy
insisted.
"Well, so what if it
is?" Rose asked. The Bukaters had never impressed her. They seemed so
arrogant and unreal, with all their ridiculous amounts of money and fame. Rose
wouldn’t care that they were famous if they’d actually done something that was
worth noticing, but so far they hadn’t. Really, all they seemed famous for was
being impossibly rich and having a party animal of a daughter.
"So, his family is gonna be
on the Titanic, too. It was on Showbiz News the other day. The only reason they
came to England was so they could go on it," Mandy told her. Mandy’s eyes
twinkled. "I dare you to ask him for a dance."
"Dare me? What are we,
twelve?" Rose laughed as she finished her drink. She grinned. "Okay,
I’ll ask, but only because I can tell you’re probably going to drag me over to
him otherwise. And I still don’t think it’s even the real Jack
DeWitt-Bukater."
Rose got up and walked over to
Jack and tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention. "Excuse me. I am
so sorry to bother you, but my friend is being immature and won’t leave me
alone unless I ask you for a dance."
He raised his head from where he
had been staring at the bar top and looked at her with intense blue eyes.
"Sorry. I don’t really feel like dancing right now."
For some reason, Rose found
herself feeling incredibly disappointed, even though only moments ago she
hadn’t cared one way or the other. "Oh. Well…er…never mind, then.
Sorry."
Feeling bad, Rose went back to
her seat, frowning. "Thanks a lot, Mandy. You just made me look really
stupid."
"Sorry, but it’s him, isn’t
it?" Mandy asked.
"Yes," Rose said. If it
wasn’t, it was one of the best look-alikes Rose had ever seen.
"I knew it! What did he
say?" Mandy asked.
"That he wasn’t in the mood
for dancing. He made me feel like I was stupid for even thinking of approaching
him. Snob," chided Rose. "Come on. We don’t need men to have a good
time. Let’s dance."
Wanting to show Mr.
DeWitt-Bukater that she wasn’t at all bothered by his refusal, Rose pulled
Mandy onto the dance floor. They partied until four AM.
*****
The next six days flew by so
quickly that Rose hardly had time to blink. She quit her job at The Dog House,
apologizing to her boss when he yelled at her that she was supposed to give at
least two weeks notice.
Then, using the money that she’d
been saving for her plane ticket, she went on a shopping spree and bought some
new clothes, makeup, and anything else she thought she would need for the
voyage.
Two days before they were due to
leave London, Rose and Mandy were brought into the radio station to talk about
their prize on air. Rose found it a bit silly, but rather fun when she saw that
the DJ’s booth had been decorated to resemble a ship. They were also given
goodie bags and five hundred pounds worth of prize money each to spend on the
ship as a special surprise bonus.
The day before, they were driven
to Southampton in a limousine and were put up in a hotel right near the harbor.
"Oh, my God, Rose! Look!
There it is!" said Mandy excitedly as she looked out of their window,
jumping up and down. "We can see the Titanic from our room–how cool is
that?"
Rose went over to the window and
looked at the ship. Seeing it for the first time sent a shudder down her spine,
and for a moment she felt as though someone had stepped over her grave. But the
feeling passed as quickly as it had came, so she didn’t think about it and
enjoyed watching people outside mill around. The hotel was crowded. Had it not
been for their VIP prize Rose and Mandy likely wouldn’t have been able to get a
room anywhere in Southampton. People from all over had made a trip just to
watch the Titanic leave the dock tomorrow. Rose thought it was still rather
mad, but now that she was seeing it in person, she found that the ship was so
grand and beautiful that she didn’t want to take her eyes off it.
The girls stood at the window for
ages, just admiring the ship and watching the activity. At around six o’clock
they had supper in the dining room before going back upstairs, Rose deciding
not to party that night--much to Mandy’s disappointment--so that she’d feel
refreshed for the big day tomorrow.
Instead, Rose spent the night
watching TV in their hotel room, finding a channel that was showing one of her
favorite movies, Breakfast At Tiffany’s. Tired from her hectic week,
Rose fell asleep early that night.
*****
Ice. Water. Cold. Blackness. Such
things filled Rose’s dreams that night, and when she woke up it was with a
start and she felt afraid, but she wasn’t sure what of.
Not wanting to go back to sleep,
and feeling well-rested despite the strange dreams that felt almost like they
were foreshadowing something, Rose got out of bed and went to the window. She
opened the curtains and looked out, greeted again by the sight of the Titanic.
Glancing at the clock, Rose saw that it was after nine and realized, with a
shock, that she had slept through the entire night without waking up until now.
"Oh, damn! Mandy! It’s after
nine; we’re going to be late!"
Rose had a bath and then got
dressed. She decided to wear the pretty pink summer dress she’d bought and put
a sunhat on her head, leaving her hair loose and flowing. She put beige
espadrilles with white ribbons on her feet and looked just like someone who was
going on holiday. Mandy chose to dress in some three quarter length blue
trousers and a matching halter neck top, and by the time both girls were ready
to leave, it was after ten.
"I hope everything was to
your satisfaction?" the hotel receptionist asked them as they handed in
their key.
It sure had been. Staying in a
luxury five star hotel without having to pay for it, with lots of complimentary
freebies thrown in on top of that, wasn’t something Rose did much. Or ever,
come to think of it. She smiled. "It was great. Thanks."
"That’s what we like to
hear. Have a pleasant voyage." The receptionist smiled.
Rose and Mandy left, both
struggling a little with their heavy suitcases.
"We’ve still got an hour to
kill before we have to board…there’s a pub right near the dock. We could hang
out there," suggested Mandy as they made their way to the hotel’s main
entrance/exit doors.
No sooner had the bellboy opened
the door for them than Rose had a burst of white light go off in front of her
eyes, and her ears became filled with loud, excited shouting. Once she stopped
squinting, she saw that the outside of the Devereaux Hotel was completely
surrounded by the press and paparazzi, all waving cameras and microphones
around and yelling out questions.
"Are you sailing on the
Titanic?"
"How do you feel about the
voyage?"
"Do you really believe that
the ship is unsinkable?"
"We’ve had a tip-off that
the Bukaters are staying in this hotel. Have you seen any of them?"
"Can we get a picture of you
two lovelies?"
Rose rolled her eyes. Just why
was everybody so interested in the Bukaters? She couldn’t understand it. Still,
the press seemed to want to take pictures of her, so she posed a little for
them, admitting to herself that she rather enjoyed the attention. She told them
about the Capital Gold radio competition, giving the station a plug she felt
they deserved.
"There they are! The
Bukaters!"
As the press were dealing with
Rose and Mandy, one of the photographers spotted the doors opening and the
Bukaters stepping out of the hotel. The horde of journalists seemed to stampede
closer to the hotel doors, pushing Rose and Mandy rudely aside as though they
were suddenly the most unimportant people in the world.
"Oy! Watch it!" shouted
Mandy in annoyance as Rose stood scowling. Craning her neck over the crowd,
Rose was able to see the Bukaters all posing together, showing off that they
were old pros when it came to the press. She noticed that they were all there,
aside from Jack, who was strangely nowhere to be seen. Rose thought she was
going to be sick as she watched Posey DeWitt-Bukater lap up the attention like
a cat did milk, doing cutesy poses that might not have looked so stupid had she
been five rather than seventeen.
"Great outfit, Posey!"
called one of the reporters. "Who are you wearing?"
"Vera Wang," Posey
replied, doing a spin to show off the blue and white dress that looked like a
sailor girl’s outfit. Beside her stood her sister Parker, who was dressed much
more casually in a blue denim skirt and a white tank top. Parker looked like she
was trying her best to stomach the media attention, but her little smiles and
waves were obviously very fake.
"Thank you," said
George after giving the press a few minutes. "I think we should be getting
on our way now. Good morning."
George led his family away, and
Rose watched as they were followed by three men in dark suits who looked
suspiciously like bodyguards.
"Ugh. Look at them,"
Rose said "They’re so arrogant."
"But loaded." Mandy
smiled "Don’t tell me you wouldn’t be happy if you had all that money like
they do."
"Well, I don’t think many
people would turn down the chance to be rich. But can you be rich without being
like them? I wouldn’t want their personalities at all. They seem so fake and
empty to me."
"Yeah, well…come on, Rose. Enough
standing about. Let’s go and have a drink."