THEN YOU LOOK AT ME
Chapter Twelve

Jack and Rose returned to Spokane the following Saturday. Everyone noticed a change in the way they acted. Ruth noticed that they were more like an old married couple, rather then boyfriend and girlfriend. They couldn't make each other upset or mad. They were always happiest around each other. Even their friends noticed the change in attitude. And they were always together! One hardly went somewhere without the other following along. And a few people had even mistaken them for newlyweds, like at the store when a cashier said to Jack, "My, Mr. Dawson, your wife sure looks happy."

But, they had been back only a week when something happened that would change everything.

Rose was sitting at home early Saturday evening, trying to decide what do to. She and Jack were talking about either going to the movies and dancing, or just taking a drive north of town. Both seemed like fun, and Rose couldn't make up her mind.

She was just about to set her hand on the phone to call Jack, when the doorbell rang, echoing through the quiet house.

"I've got it!" Ruth called coming from upstairs and running past Rose into the front hall.

Rose curiously followed her mother and watched as she opened the front door.

Two men she had never seen before stood on her front step. One was tall and had curly blond hair, his eyes shielded from the sun with big sunglasses, and a briefcase in his hands. The other man was a little shorter, with shaggy brown hair. He, too, wore sunglasses and instead of a briefcase, he carried a clipboard. A rather expense looking limo was behind them, making both Rose and Ruth wonder what and who these men were.

"Can I help you?" Ruth asked cautiously.

The taller man took off his sunglasses and set them in his pocket. Introducing himself, he stuck out his hand. "Hello, ma'am. My name is Brock Lovett, and my partner over here is Robert Buell. We are with the Hollywood Casting Agency of California and New York...HCACN for short. I am looking for a Rose DeWitt-Bukater. Is she available?"

Rose stepped up from the shadows and pushed in front of her mother. "I am she," she answered. "What do you want?"

The other man, Mr. Buell, took off his glasses and looked at Rose. "Miss DeWitt-Bukater, we have a proposition, that, if you choose to accept it, could mean some very big things for you." He paused and smiled at the two women. "Might we come in for a few moments?"

Ruth and Rose nodded in unison and stepped aside. The men were brought in and led into the living room, where they took seats on the couch. Rose sat in a nearby armchair and Ruth stood leaning against the wall.

There was an awkward silence. Rose didn't know what do say, Ruth was confused, and the men were both feeling a little uncomfortable.

Finally Rose hinted at them by saying, "Well, what did you want?"

Mr. Lovett cleared his throat. "Miss DeWitt-Bukater--may I call you Rose?"

Rose nodded. "Yes, you may."

"All right, Rose...have you ever heard of the Warehouse Organization of New York?"

Rose shook her head. "No, sir, I have not. Should I have?"

"Well, Rose, believe it or not, The Warehouse Theater, the very one you have here in Spokane, has companies all over the country. The biggest theater being in New York City. Back there they run shows, basically the same fashion as the Broadway Shows run--year after year until they either aren't making money, or the show just gets boring. Rose," Mr. Lovett took a deep breath and the continued, "we want you to sign a contract with us."

Rose's eyes dilated open until she was positive they couldn't open anymore. "Excuse me?" she asked in disbelief.

Mr. Lovett smiled. "We saw your performance a couple of weeks ago. And I must say, it was very, very impressive, young lady." He stopped, which made Rose even more anxious, and pulled a stack of papers out of his briefcase. Mr. Buell just sat there, smiling annoyingly at Rose and Ruth. Rose shot him a look and then he stopped.

Mr. Lovett handed Rose the papers and then started talking again while she started to look them over. "Mr. Buell and I have been all over this country for the past couple of months, looking at tons of eligible young actresses. But you, Rose, outshone them all. You were the best we saw. And well, we want you to be our Juliet, Rose. We are starting a, at least, six year run of Romeo and Juliet. Back in New York, of course, not here. But, anyway, you would be our main Juliet. That means four to five shows a week and an average pay of eight thousand dollars a show."

Rose's mouth dropped open. "What? Eight thousand dollars! For a show! That's crazy."

Mr. Lovett shrugged. "Yes, it is a lot. But, you would be our main gal, Rose. Not everyone would get paid that, believe me. Only our Juliet and Romeo get that much. The rest of the cast gets about that much a month. But, those people have two to three understudies each, so they aren't at each show."

"Would I have an understudy?"

Mr. Lovett grinned and then started to laugh a little bit. "Oh, yes, my dear. An understudy, a private dressing room, personal assistant, apartment, oh, and a private airplane," he explained as if it were no big deal.

Rose's mouth dropped even lower then it did when she heard about the salary. "You're kidding!" she exclaimed in amazement. "That's crazy. You have to be joking."

Mr. Buell finally spoke up again. "We're not joking, Rose. It's all there on the papers."

Rose glanced down anxiously at the stack of forms she held in her hands. Skimming it, she did indeed find the things that these men were talking about. It was all there.

"Would she be bound by a contract?" Ruth asked, finally speaking up.

"No, that's the, well, good or bad, part, depending on how you look at it," Mr. Lovett answered. "We are bound by those papers to keep her for the first six years. After that, we would have to sign more papers. But, if she chooses, she may leave at any time, so long as she gives us a week's notice."

The rest of the world simply disappeared as Rose absorbed this news. It was almost too much at one time. Everything they had just said was swimming around in her mind, and she was confused. It was almost presumptuous to even consider taking the job; all those things she would get getting. And just for acting in a play? It didn't seem right, by any means. Sighing heavily, she attempted to sort everything out as best she could so that she could answer the anxious men.

"How many weeks a year would we have off?" she asked after another minute.

The men looked confused at her question all of sudden. "We?" they asked in unison.

"Jack and I...how much time would we have off?"

Mr. Lovett and Mr. Buell exchanged nervous glances with each other and Rose's heart immediately skipped a few beats.

"Jack's not coming?" she asked in a harsh whisper.

"Shit," Mr. Lovett whispered under his breath. "Kathy said there may be a problem with this."

"Rose, ah, the thing is, we...already have our Romeo," Mr. Buell nicely tried to explain the best way he could. "And, that person is not Mr. Dawson. I'm sorry, Rose," he added when he saw her face turn white and her eyes widen. "But we already had picked someone--a nice boy from Massachusetts. I think you'd like him. Mr. Dawson doesn't know anything about this."

For some reason the phrase, "It's like a thousand knives stabbing you all over your body, you can't breathe, can't think..." popped into Rose's head. Forgetting where she had even heard it, she gasped, knowing that was just how she felt.

"Jack's not coming," she whispered to herself and then her mind went blank.

"Rose..." Ruth's hand was suddenly around her shoulders.

Rose jumped up at her mother's touch and turned toward the men. "Thank you for coming," she said weakly. "But ah, I need to...think about it. Um, leave the papers here, okay?" And then, without another word, she turned and left the room. She ran upstairs, picked up the phone, and, with trembling fingers, dialed his phone number.

She waited impatiently until someone on the other line picked up the receiver and said, "Hello?"

"Jack, I need to talk to you..."

*****

"You know you have to go."

Rose sighed and closed her eyes. "I just don't know, Jack," she mumbled as she moved into his welcoming arms. "I don't know about it."

Just outside of Spokane, they were carefully laying on the roof of Jack's car, watching the night sky above them. The air was hot and dry--it was August, after all--and the sounds of crickets and other little critters could be heard in the distance. But the radio from inside the car provided most of the noise as it played song after song.

Jack buried his face in her soft red hair and breathed in the smell of her shampoo. He didn't want her to go, he didn't. But this was a great opportunity for Rose. She couldn't let it pass her by.

"What am I going to do without you?" he asked out loud without meaning to.

Rose picked her head up and looked at him, tears running down her cheeks. "I can't leave you," she whispered. "It's not supposed to happen like this. What about all our plans and the things we talked about this summer? What about college? What about us, Jack?"

Jack reached up and traced her jaw line with his finger. "I guess," he finally said, "that we will just wait for each other."

"For six years?"

Unable to speak, Jack just nodded. He knew that if he spoke the words, he would break down.

Rose could see the pain in his eyes, so she simply nodded and then she bent down to kiss him. And by the time that ended, both had tears running down their cheeks. Rose was about to try to say something, when a new song came over the radio, putting to words things that they were both feeling.

Another turning point a fork stuck in the road
Time grabs you by the wrist directs you where to go
So make the best of this test and don't ask why
It's not a question but a lesson learned in time.

"Jack?" Rose gulped, fighting back even more tears.

It's something unpredictable
But in the end is right
I hope you had the time of your life.

"Yes?"

So take the photographs and still frames in your mind
Hang it on a shelf in good health and good time.

"I love you," Rose whispered into the darkness. "I'll always love you."

Tattoos of memories and dead skin on trial
For what it's worth it was worth all the while.

Jack let out a shaky breath and pulled Rose as close as he could. "I love you, too, my Rose." He paused for a moment and then took a chain necklace off from around his neck. Slipping a ring off of it, he quietly took Rose's hand and placed the ring on her left hand.

"What's this, Jack?" Rose asked, her eyes wide as diamonds.

"A promise ring," Jack whispered. "It was my mother's. My father gave it to her when they were in high school. I want you to have it."

Rose looked at Jack with new fresh tears as she waited breathlessly for him to speak again.

"Promise me now, Rose. Promise me that, no matter what, we will be together always. At the end of those six years, we'll come together again and get married. And than we'll go on, live forever with each other. Promise me now, Rose. And never let go of that promise."

It's something unpredictable
But in the end is right
I hope you had the time of your life.

"I promise, Jack."

It's something unpredictable
But in the end is right
I hope you had the time of your life.

"Never let go."

It's something unpredictable
But in the end is right.

"I'll never let go Jack, I'll never let go..."

I hope you had the time of your life...

Chapter Thirteen
Stories