never let go || juke au

VIII

"Luke, she's amazing. No doubt. But she's from a different world than you! You just have to forget about her. She's already closed the door," Alex tried to reason with Luke. The two of them and Reggie were walking across the deck.

"That was because of them, not her. You don't know shit." They had arrived at the wall under the first class deck. Luke looked around. Once he was sure the coast was clear, he turned to his friends. "Ready?"

Alex rolled his eyes and sighed. He crouched down and put his hands together. Luke stepped onto his palms and was boosted up towards the deck. He grabbed onto the railing and pulled himself over it. He gave a salute towards his friends and hurried off.

"He's really not being logical."

Reggie shook his head. "He never is."

Meanwhile, Luke was sneaking around on the first class deck. He hid behind a lounge chair and peeked out to see an older man watching his grandson play with a top. The man's coat and hat were sitting on the chair in front of Luke.

He leaned forward and grabbed the items, slipping the coat on and placing the hat on his head. He stood up and took a deep breath before walking away and turning the corner.

From afar, he truly looked like he belonged.

~~~~~~~~~~

Julie walked through the exercise room, looking around at everything with curiosity. Nick rubbed his hand over the machine. "Reminds me of my youth."

[Not nick being a crusty old middle aged man]

The gym instructor approached the group with a big smile. He pointed over towards a machine across the room. "The electric horse is very popular. We also have an electrical camel."

He looked over at Rosa and gestured to the rowing machine. "Wanna try rowing, ma'am?"

Rosa scoffed. "I can't think of a skill I'd need less."

Mr. Andrews nodded towards the instructor and looked back at the group with a smile. "Lets continue our tour, shall we. This way."

They exited the exercise room and found themselves on the deck where Captain Smith was talking with some crew members.

"There's another ice warning, sir. From the Baltic this time," One of them said, handing the Captain a paper. He read it over and put it in his pocket.

"Thank you, sir." He turned to the group and smiled. "Don't worry, this isn't unusual for this time of year. We're actually picking up speed quite a bit. I just ordered the last boiler to be lit."

Julie noticed Mr. Andrews' subtle scowl at the Captain's remark.

"Did you ever find those binoculars for lookout?" A crew member asked as he stepped out on to the deck. The other one shook his head.

"Nope. Haven't seen 'em since Southhampton."

Julie turned away from the others and looked out at the water. Something about the rolling waves and the sun in the distance calmed her. She couldn't help but wonder if Luke was looking out at the water just like her.

No.

She had to stop thinking about Luke. It just didn't make sense. Her infeasible fantasy was just that. A fantasy.