A FIRE IN THE WIND
Chapter Six
Saturday morning went by in a flash. Rose had
to help her mother make sure everything was in order for the gala that evening.
Rose's dress had arrived along with many others to make up for her wardrobe
that had gone down with the ship. Ruth had put herself fully in charge of the
event. Every time the smallest thing went wrong she'd lost her temper.
As the hour for the gala grew near, Rose went
upstairs to her room to get ready. Rose didn't know if she could take in the
hours of boredom and small talk that were ahead of her. It would mainly be her
mother's friends and Cal's former college classmates, but Rose had invited some
of her friends from school.
Does everything have to be such a big deal?
Rose thought. If I were throwing an engagement gala, I'd only invite a few
close friends. It's going to be near impossible to get a few quick words in
with everyone.
Rose jumped at a knock on the door.
"Rose?"
"Come in," Rose said, recognizing
her mother's voice.
Ruth walked in, closing the door behind her,
already dressed in her evening attire. "Rose, you know what I expect from
you tonight."
"The same things as every formal
gathering. I know!" Rose replied, putting in her left earring.
"This is different! You've never hosted
a gala before. You cannot run away from everyone and spend the whole time
talking to Allison, like you usually do. Everyone will want to come up to you
and pay his or her respects one at a time. Be polite, discuss only suitable
topics, and by all means keep your composure."
Rose nodded at her mother and continued to
get ready.
The engagement gala was just as, if not more,
boring than Rose thought it would be. Half of the people there Rose had never
met in her life. Rose's throat began to hurt as she saw her cousin Victoria
heading towards her. "Just what I needed," Rose murmured under her
breath, sarcastically.
"Why, hello Rose! How delightful to see
you."
Rose looked up, keeping her composure. Rose.
She detested how Victoria said her name. Victoria was perfectly aware it
annoyed Rose. That was exactly the reason she said it so sarcastically. Rose
didn't care. She had her own little ways of annoying her cousin.
"Hello, Vicki!" Rose said putting stress
on the name. "It's so lovely to see you."
Of course Rose and Victoria were perfectly
aware of their relationship with the other cousin. They acted polite to each
other partly to annoy the other cousin, and partly to suck up to their parents.
Rose frowned when she saw Cal and some of his
former classmates staring at her, probably admiring Cal's "property".
Rose had engaged herself in many long,
painful conversations with her mother's friends. Rose had been asked the same
question over and over again; so many times that she started to memorize
certain answers to each question.
After Rose had talked to just about everyone
in the room, she excused herself, claiming to be fatigued, and headed up to her
room.
Rose rushed into her room, slamming the door.
She collapsed onto her bed, not bothering to turn the lights on. As she lay on
her side, facing the wall, she began to miss Jack immensely.
Oh, God! Rose thought. Why did you have to
take him? Why? Oh Jack! I miss you so much! Why did you have to go? I wish you
were here, lying next to me right now. What's the point? I loved you so much. I
had never been so happy in my entire life until I met you. Why did it only last
three days?
Cal's hand gently lay on top of Rose's. Or at
least Rose thought it was Cal's. She hadn't exactly seen him come in. Roses'
eyes slowly began to drift to Cal's face. When they got there she gasped. It
wasn't Cal.