THEN YOU LOOK AT ME
Chapter Eleven
Rose was sitting at a small, two-person table
outside a sidewalk cafe overlooking the water in downtown Seattle. She watched
as people strolled by, on their way to some shop or event. Rose smiled as she
saw a mother with her children, all of them smiling and looking happy as they ate
their ice cream cones from a nearby store.
Jack sat too, not watching the passers-by but
studying his beautiful girlfriend. She smiled a few times at different groups
of people and then she laughed as a little boy walked by with his father, both
of them singing the John Jacob Jingleheimer song. His attention was only taken
away when their waiter appeared, bringing the check and final things to their
table.
Rose turned toward Jack and smiled at him
softly after a few moments. He was getting the check from the waiter, and
before she could say anything, he said he was going to pay for the whole thing.
Rose grinned this time and started looking around more. Behind her in the
distance were the high rising skyscrapers, various shops, and things like the
space needle and Pacific Science Center. She continued her scan of the skyline
until something off to her left caught her eye. It looked like the top of the
ship. Rose peered closer and realized that it was a ferry. And when she looked
closely she could see that there were people on board. They must be loading!
she thought excitedly.
Jack had talked a few times about taking a
ferry ride somewhere. He had only been on one once before and that had been
when he was young. He wanted to go again. And Rose was addicted to boats of any
sort, so she was all up for it.
"Jack?" she asked suddenly, making
him glance her way.
"What?" he asked. "Is
something wrong?"
Rose grinned and shook her head. "No,
I'm fine. But look over there," she said pointing toward the ferry.
"The ferry is loading! We should go. It would be so much fun, Jack."
He smiled back and her and looked thoughtful.
"You really want to go?" he asked, teasingly, after a minute.
Rose nodded enthusiastically. "Oh yes,
Jack."
"All right! We can go!"
Rose let out a little scream and jumped up,
running over and throwing her arms around him she exclaimed, "Oh, thank
you!"
Jack started laughing at her excitement, but
he couldn't help feeling the same way. Stopping a different waiter than before,
he asked if the man knew when the ferry usually left.
The old man scratched his head while Rose and
Jack watched on anxiously.
"Well," the waiter mused,
"it's the summer season. And let's see...it's about twelve." He
thought for a moment and then turned toward the couple.
"I would say you have about five
minutes," he finally concluded.
Jack jumped up and threw the money for the
check on the table. "Thank you!" he called to the waiter as he
grabbed Rose's hand and they started running.
Quickly they dodged through the crowds of
people, laughing and screaming all the while. They were being stared at, but
they didn't care.
Once they reached the dock, they quickly
bought their tickets and then ran through the portal. Before they knew it, they
stood on the deck of the ferry, with just a minute to spare, exhausted and
breathing heavily.
But, without skipping a beat, Rose made Jack
run toward the bow. "This is the best place to be when it starts,"
she explained once they got there.
Jack leaned against the rail and managed to
catch his breath, while Rose did the same thing. And then all at once he
started laughing.
Rose grinned at the sight of him.
"What's so funny?" she asked.
Jack looked up at her and shook his head.
"We didn't even ask where this was going!" he got out before starting
to laugh again.
Rose laughed along with him as she pulled out
her ticket. "Bainbridge Island," she concluded after a minute.
"Good thing it wasn't the San Juan's or something." Rose giggled.
"That’s like a three hour trip."
"That's what Gilligan thought!"
Jack exclaimed, starting to laugh again.
Rose reached over and gave him a playful slap
on the arm. "Jack," she sighed happily as she watched him recover
from the laughter.
Then, without any warning, the loud engines
of the ship started up and after a minute, the ship lurched forward.
"Yahoo!" Rose screamed, not caring
who was around to see her. Jack picked her up by the waist and started spinning
her around, making Rose laugh as she threw up her arms. She repeated his name over
and over, trying to make herself really believe this was all happening.
Finally, Jack put her down and pulled her close.
"There is nowhere else I would rather
be, than here with you," he whispered to her. "And I mean that,
Rose."
Rose looked at him lovingly. "I don’t
want to be anywhere else either, Jack. I'm happy just being with you."
Jack smiled softly and leaned down to kiss
her on the cheek. "Come on," he whispered after a moment. "Let's
get away from these people. They're still looking at us."
Giggling, they made their way do a different
part of the ferry. Their happiness was apparent in so many ways as they passed
by people who couldn't stop and look at the young couple, obviously in love.
*****
Some time later, on a remote beach of
Bainbridge Island, Jack lay with Rose resting against his shoulder. They had
been there for about twenty minutes, but before that had been a mad trip
through the little town, trying to take everything in. That had been fun, but
Jack was more content here with Rose in his arms. The only thing that could be
heard was the lapping of the water against the beach and the occasional, far
off sound of a car or person yelling.
Rose sighed softly a moment later and Jack
turned his head toward hers. He quickly noticed the tear running down her
cheek, although she tried to wipe it away.
"Something wrong?" he asked,
immediately worried.
Rose closed her eyes and shook her head.
"No, Jack," she whispered, opening her eyes back up. "I just
can't believe it."
Jack pushed himself up on his side and looked
down at her. "What?" he asked gently.
"I can't believe I found you," she
said softly, wiping another tear from her face. Rose looked up at him and tried
to smile. "Jack, you won't believe how much I wanted you. Even when I was
younger, I felt something was missing. I was never really happy. I used to pray
to God, asking him to send me someone to love. And I prayed he would love me
back. I wanted it so bad that I could taste it, Jack. I was beginning to give
up. And I know that is silly. You're only eighteen, I tried to tell
myself. You have years. But Jack, I couldn't stand it. I wanted to find
him, the man that was meant for me. I've always believed in things like
soulmates and all that." She stopped and paused for a moment. "I
always believed, above all, in love. Love was something I worshipped and lived
for. And I just couldn't believe I hadn't found that person yet." She
stopped again and wiped yet another tear from her eye. "And now, Jack, I found
you. And I am so scared that something is going to happen. I don't want to
leave you. I don't want to be apart from you. I don't now how I am going to
live when we get back to Spokane. I just...I just love you..." She trailed
off then, still looking at Jack.
Everything was quiet as Rose thought about
what she was going to say next. It was something she had been thinking about
all day, for weeks even. But today, just this moment, she had finally made her
decision. "Jack..." She waited until she had his attention. "I
want to wait." This was it. What he said next would tell her if he really
loved her or not. This was the ultimate test.
*****
Jack was quiet for a moment as he lay there
thinking about what Rose had just said. He felt the same way. She was the other
piece of his heart. The girl he had always dreamed about, the one he was
willing to do anything for. But he didn't know how to say it. He never was good
with words. The stage was the only place where he could express emotion of that
kind, and that was because the lines were there for him. Whatever he would say
would come out sounding maudlin and ridiculous. Nothing like the beautiful
words Rose had just spoken to him. And he wanted to wait, too. He loved her too
much risk anything. He wanted them to have something to look forward to.
And so, coming up blank and tongue tied, he
did the only thing that came to mind. Jack leaned down and passionately kissed
Rose, letting her know, in his own way, that he felt the same and would wait
for her. And after he finished, he pulled away just slightly and softly teased
her, "You should be a writer."
Fresh tears formed in her blue eyes. Jack
loved her! He really, truly loved her. He respected her and wanted her to be
his one and only. She could tell by the way he would wait for her. It was the
ultimate love.
"You don't know how much this means to
me," she said softly.
Jack smiled and stroked her cheek lovingly.
"It means a lot to me, too, Rosie." He took a deep calming breath and
looked out across the water. "I don’t want to be like everyone else. I
want us to be different. I want us to have real love." He stopped again at
looked back at her. "I don’t just want something physical, Rose. I want us
to have..."
"True love," Rose interjected. Jack
nodded back at her.
"Yeah," he agreed, jumping up
suddenly and pulling Rose up with him. "True love!" he repeated,
throwing his arms up and shouting. "Romeo and Juliet type true love!"
Rose broke down laughing, so hard in fact
that even more tears formed in her eyes. She happily danced around with Jack.
He picked her up and spun her around, while she laughed and screamed as she was
whisked through the air.
Both terribly dizzy, they stopped spinning
after a minute and leaned against each other, still laughing. "No one is
ever going to believe us when we tell them what we decided," Rose
knowingly said through her giggles.
Jack shook his head happily and grinned.
"Nope," he agreed. "They won't. But who the hell cares."
Rose grinned and threw her arms around Jack's
neck. "I love you," she declared.
"I love you, too," Jack whispered
back before leaning down to kiss her.