SPARKS
02. piercing gaze
April 11th, 1912
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THE SUN WAS BEAMING DOWN ON THE TITANIC as it set sail through the ocean on the second day of its voyage - nothing ahead of it but the ocean. Everything was peaceful as the ship traveled ahead, partaking in its mission to safely deliver passengers from all walks of life to America.
As it turned out, Josephine had found that she was actually quite fond of the ship. It allowed her to get away from her family, even if it was for just a while. The never-ending breeze that flowed through her hair as the ship was in movement was enough to bring a relived smile to her face and it felt amazing; like taking a breath of fresh air after having one's lungs filled with water.
The first night had been fairly uneventful. Josephine had still been getting used to the fact that she was leaving her home, most likely to never see it again. She had spent the entirety of diner sitting in silence and staring down at her plate. The brown-eyed girl had initially attempted to chat with Rose for a few moments during the meal, but it was clear to her that her dear cousin was feeling just as trapped as she was.
Apart from the most unlikeable and, in Josephine's humble opinion - boring - group that decorated the first-class areas, a woman had stepped aboard from the port of Cherbourg that had brought a sense of warmness with her.
Mrs.DeWitt Bukater had informed Josephine and Rose that the woman's name was Molly Brown, and Josephine could feel the disgust radiating from Ruth as she told the girls that the woman was what people called "new money."
The other passengers, including Josephine, simply called the woman Molly. But what they were unaware of was that history would call her 'The Unsinkable Molly Brown.' Everyone secretly looked at her as if she was a vulgar woman, undeserving of the riches that her husband had stumbled upon.
Josephine thought the woman was absolutely wonderful.
Sounds of chatter could be heard from around her as Josephine was seated as her chair in the Palm Court Restaurant; where she was regrettably, eating lunch with Rose, Ruth, Cal, Molly Brown, Mr.Ismay, and the ship's main engineer, Mr.Andrews.
It had been a hassle to get Josephine out of bed that morning, as she would have much preferred to sleep in and ignore the looming reality of soon arriving in New York. But nonetheless, Samantha had urged the girl out of bed and tightened her corset for her - albeit as delicately as she could have possibly.
"She is the largest moving object ever made by the hand of man in all of history," Mr.Ismay remarked proudly "and our master shipbuilder, Mr.Andrews here, designed her from the keel plates up."
Josephine turned her head to Mr.Andrews to see that he was bashfully looking down. It was refreshing to see that among so many people that did anything to stand out, this brilliant man was actually at peace with keeping mostly to himself. He never bragged nor showed off any of his skills, a trait which Josephine thought extremely humble and admirable.
"Well I may have knocked her together, but the idea was Mr.Ismay's." Mr.Andrews spoke with a smile "he envisioned a steamer, so grand in scale and so luxurious in its points that its supremacy would never be challenged. And here she is-" he knocked on the table proudly "willed, into solid reality."
"It really is a breathtaking ship, Mr.Andrews," Josephine smiled softly "I wonder, how long did it take for you to plan everything out?"
"I believe, if I am correct that is, that we started the plans for the ship three years ago." Mr.Andrews answered, "however, construction commenced two years ago."
Josephine nodded her head along to what he was saying when a puff of smoke passed through her eyes. She turned her head to see Rose placing a cigarette between her lips and inhaling it slowly.
"You know I don't like that, Rose," Ruth spoke, her tone frigid yet elegant.
"She knows," Cal spoke curtly, his hand quickly grabbing the cigarette from Rose's hand and starting to put it out.
Josephine was quicker, however, as her hand latched on to his and grabbed the cigarette before he could put it out. Her eyes never left his as she placed the rolled-up paper between her lips and inhaled.
"It's rude to take things from people without asking Cal," she scolded lightly "surely someone taught you that?"
Out of the corner of her eyes, Josephine could see that Rose was smiling lightly at her, although she was subtly hiding it behind her hand. It peeved Josephine beyond extent that Cal thought it appropriate to control everything her cousin did.
"And what would you like to order?" a waiter asked before Cal had the chance to answer Josephine's snarky remark.
"We'll both have the lamb," Cal spoke, his hand gesturing between him and Rose "with very little mint sauce."
Josephine had to strongly resist the urge to roll her eyes at that, and she felt the pit of her stomach sink as she realized that soon, she would be in the same situation as her dear cousin.
"You like the lamb, don't you sweet pea?" he asked, turning to Rose, who simply pursed her lips in a straight line at him before looking away.
"Not as much as she likes making her own decisions," Josephine spoke under her breath as she put out the cigarette that she had been smoking.
"I'll have the salmon," she spoke, her tone directed towards the waiter.
"You gonna cut her meat for her too there Cal?" Molly asked with a small smile, which immediately made Josephine like the woman more; she was glad that someone other than herself could tell how possessive Cal acted towards Rose.
"Say, who thought of the name Titanic?" Molly asked "was it you Bruce?" her head turned towards Mr. Ismay.
"Well, yes actually," he answered pointedly "I wanted to convert sheer size, and size means stability, luxury, and above all, strength."
"Have you ever heard of Dr.Freud, Mr. Ismay?" Rose asked.
Josephine had to hide her smile behind her hands as she anticipated the next words that would come from her cousin. She already knew too well where this was going.
"His ideas on the male preoccupation with size might be of particular interest to you," she finished with a raised brow.
"What's gotten into you?" Ruth whispered sharply to Rose.
"Excuse me," Rose spoke quietly before standing up and walking out of the restaurant, her head not turning back at all.
"I do apologize," Ruth told the people at the table with a fake smile.
"She's a pistol Cal, I hope you can handle her," Molly piped in.
"Well I may have to start minding what she reads from now on, won't I Mrs.Brown?" he spoke coldly.
Josephine felt as though the tension at that table could be cut through with a knife. She knew that things were already too heated, but she felt an itch, urging her to retort to Cal's rude comment.
"Freud, who is he?" Mr. Ismay spoke up "is he a passenger?"
"The both you may actually benefit from reading about manners that are not related to business," Josephine spoke up as she stood from the table, her words directed towards Cal and Mr. Ismay "you might just learn something."
Before anyone could say anything else, she pushed herself away from the table and followed in Rose's footsteps, also eager to rid herself of that tedious lunch.
"Pardon her," she heard Ruth speaking "she's just adapting still - what with her parents being gone."
The girl felt the urge to return to the table just so she could reply to Ruth's words, but the need to get away from everyone was much stronger - too strong to resist.
She saw Rose standing near the railing and staring out into the sea and quietly joined beside her cousin. Rose realized that Josephine was standing beside her, but she did not acknowledge the girl's presence for a few moments.
"Thank you for what you did back there, Jo," she spoke slowly.
"There really isn't any need to thank me, I was just looking out for you," Josephine smiled "besides, I don't really think you needed my help."
"How shocked were they when I walked away?" Rose asked with a small smirk.
"Fairly shocked," Josephine replied proudly "I think your mother almost had a nervous breakdown when I followed you out here."
Rose laughed softly at that before she turned quiet once more. Both girls watched the waves hitting the bottom of the ship as the sun beamed down on their faces, glad to be in each other's company and away from everyone else.
"I think Cal is going to come looking for you soon," Josephine spoke up after a while.
"Could you tell him that I went back to my suite to rest?" Rose asked quietly "I don't really feel like going back there."
Josephine nodded her head warmly as she watched her cousin walk away from her and towards the other end of the ship.
Turning back to lean against the railing, Josephine patted the skirt of her light pink dress before placing her hands atop the support beams and looking out at the view once more. She was starting to drift into her thoughts as her eyes stared ahead at the glimmering ocean ahead of her when she felt a piercing gaze on her.
Her brows furrowed before she looked to her left and saw that the young American she had seen the day prior when the ship had started sailing was looking back at her. The wind was blowing against his hair, making his face easier to see. Even from far away, Josephine could tell that he seemed completely focused on only her, a thought that scared her a bit.
The girl felt her heart speeding up as her gaze remained on the mystery man. His hands were holding what looked to be a few sheets of paper and a charcoal pencil, but they were long forgotten as he stared at her.
Josephine decided to break their stares first and she turned her head back to look at the view in front of her. But even as she did so, she could still feel the man's eyes on the side of her face, making her wonder why he found her so interesting.
"Forget it boyo, you just like have angels fly out of your arse as get next to the likes of her," Tommy told Jack as he realized that he had been staring at Josephine.
Although her mind urged her not to, Josephine could not help but turn her eyes back in the direction of the man that had been looking at her. She was surprised to find that he was still adamantly keeping his eyes locked on her face - it was as if he was in a trance.
Jack could not understand it himself, but ever since he had stood next to her on the boat deck the past day, his mind would not leave him alone about her. And now that he had seen her again, he felt like his eyes could not leave her figure for one second.
Meanwhile, Jack's friends were having a field day with the intense staring he was directing towards the first-class girl. Fabrizio waved his hand in front of Jack's face, laughing to himself as the blue-eyed boy barely blinked.
Josephine watched the little encounter between both friends and she felt her lips quirk up in a small smile and her cheeks heating up to a red color. For some reason, no matter how much she felt as though she needed to look away, she could not bring herself to do it.
However, someone else did it for her, because Josephine was pulled out of her staring at Cal's hand grabbing her elbow. Her gaze was torn away from that of the man's and she sighed inwardly as she turned to look at Cal.
"What?" she asked slowly.
"Where did your cousin go?" he asked, seemingly out of patience.
"She went back to the room," Josephine answered as Rose had asked her to, "said she was feeling a bit off and wanted to rest."
Cal raised his brow at her words, and it looked as if he was trying to find any lies behind her words. But Josephine kept a stony expression, not giving him any cracks to see through.
"Right," he nodded after a minute of silence, "Ruth asked me to call you back, the food has already arrived."
Josephine nodded her head slowly at him before pushing softly past his body and walking back into the restaurant, her mind already feeling drained in advance.
Back at the third class deck, Jack kept his eyes on her figure until he could no longer see her. He prided himself on the fact that he could see people's emotions far beyond the surface, and just by looking at that girl, with her hair pined perfectly and her dress impeccable on her body, he could tell that she was screaming inside. He just wanted to know why.
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