never let go || juke au

I

Southhampton, England
April 10, 1912

The sun shone down upon the busy crowd, and the cobalt colored water sparkled and glistened as it surrounded the larger than life boat floating on the water.

Every inch of space beside the ocean was taken up. People rushing to get on board, cargo being lifted onto the ship. An expensive automobile stopped in front of the boat, people changing their routes to make way for the vehicle.

The doors opened and a young woman stepped out, looking up to see the ship from under her humorously large hat.

"I really don't see what all the fuss is about," She said, her every word carefully enunciated. "It's no bigger than the Mauritania."

She turned at the sound of footsteps and found herself face to face with her fiance, Nick. "Your indifference is acceptable most times, Julie, but not when discussing the Titanic. It's far more luxurious than the Mauritania and over a hundred feet longer!"

Julie smiled politely and stood up straighter as her mother approached them.

"So, this is the ship they say is unsinkable?" She asked, nodding curtly.

"It is unsinkable, Rosa," Nick said, looking at the ship with more adoration than Julie had ever seen in his eyes. "Even God himself could not sink this ship."

Julie turned and looked at him as he bribed a porter into taking care of their luggage. She held back her scowl and followed her mother towards the ship. She tuned out Rosa's rant about Nick's tardiness in buying the tickets, which caused them to enter the ship with passengers in lower classes, and instead focused on her feet as they stepped off the dock and onto the shiny floor of the soon-to-be legendary Titanic.

"We wouldn't have been late if Julie hadn't taken so long fussing over her dress," Nick said to Rosa, his voice sickeningly charming. Julie looked up at the sound of her name and immediately defended herself.

"Well, you asked me to change."

"You wanted to wear black," Nick scowled. "It's bad luck."

Julie pouted slightly and looked down again. "I felt like black, though."

As they ventured farther into the ship, Nick placed a hand on Julie's arm and squeezed tightly. To anyone else, it might've looked like endearing gesture between a loving couple. But Julie knew it was a possessive touch reminding her of Nick's power.

She didn't make a move to shake off his hand, knowing that wouldn't end well. She stood tall, stayed silent, and smiled at the stewards as she was led to her room.

But as she acted like everything everyone wanted her to be, she was desperately screaming on the inside.

~~~~~~~~~~

Luke looked out the window at the large boat sitting in the distance. He looked back at his cards and took a drag of his cigarette.

"Luke! You bet everything we have!" Reggie whispered loudly. Luke leaned back in his seat and looked up at his friend.

"Don't worry, Reginald." He watched as the other two argued in some foreign language, Swedish maybe. "When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose."

He played his cards, keeping his face still as a statue the whole time. He then blew smoke out of his mouth and leaned forward eagerly. Luke looked at the three men surrounding him. "This is it. Someone's life is about to change."

Reggie slapped his cards down on the table with an annoyed look on his face.

"Nothing?" Luke asked desperately.