I'll never let go..| A titanic inspired story 🚢

A real party (chapter 13)

D deck
9:00pm
We travelled down what felt like a million flights of stairs until we reached a third class floor. Classic Irish music joyfully resonated throughout the hallway. The both of us eagerly followed the sound of the music and were greeted by a large hall crammed full of people.

Women, men, children and even a couple of dogs were boogieing down to the rhythm of the music. On the wooden dance floor, a pair of young men were spinning around whilst gripping onto each other. It was nothing like I'd seen before. At least a dozen women were limboing at. under a rope. It seemed quite fun but I wasn't drunk enough for that yet. A young girl, aged around seven, skipped over to Joel and tugged his hand. Shrugging, he followed her to the dance floor and he started spinning her around with the tip of her finger. She looked rather graceful and seemed to be enjoying herself.

Despite being invited there, I felt a little out of place in my fancy dress and braided hair amongst the common folk. I spotted a free chair and decided to take a seat. Everyone was busy dancing anyways.

A group of old men greeted me and asked me what I was doing there.

"Oh. I am with Mr Davies. He invited me here. This place has such a welcoming atmosphere."

"You betcha! Only the best here." He said while taking a swig of his beer.

"Ha! That is pathetic. Give me that." Another old man snatched the drink from him and started to chug the beer and he was finished in 10 seconds flat.

"May I try?" I asked politely. I wasn't expecting a yes but they seemed pretty enthusiastic.

"Of course darlin'. Although, you don't strike me for a drinking type."

He was actually right. I barely drank. James usually did enough drinking for the both of us.

"Oh well. I'm always encouraged to try something new every day." I took the beer and a crowd had started to form around me.

"Chug! Chug! Chug!" A chant started to form and brought the glass up to my lips. I shut my eyes and started to down the glass. It slightly burnt my throat but I kept going. The chants got louder and my chugs got faster. In seven seconds flat, I had finished the bottle. Multiple people cheered loudly and a proud smile spread across my face. They weren't judging me, they were cheering for me!

"She is better than you!" The man said.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever." The other man said sarcastically.

"That was phenomenal! My record is ten seconds." Joel joined me with a gleaming smile.

I was feeling pretty amped up and I felt like I could do anything. The song ended and the live orchestra started to play a new and more lively song. Joel shook my shoulder excitedly and beckoned me over to the dance floor. Without hesitation, I followed him over like a rat following the pied piper. But reality soon hit me. I didn't know the dance.

"I don't know the dance!" I said in a panicky voice.

"It doesn't matter. Half of the people here don't either. Just keep close!"

He took my waist and pulled me closer. His pleasant musk filled my nose. The fragrance was a mix of pine and cigarettes. It was strangely comforting in this time.

We started to move our feet quickly in time to the beat, spiralling around the dance floor along with everyone else.

Joel clasped his hand around me and led the way with our hands. Weaving between people, we laughed in unison. People tapped their feet to the rhythm and cheers could be heard from the crowd.

I had always felt like happiness was a light in a dark room or on a summers day. Satisfactory but you can see everything clearly. In the past, I had never felt true happiness. I considered happiness to be an adequate feeling that I would feel around people I loved. Rarely I had experienced true moments of happiness but this was the first time I had ever experienced true bliss. I felt so alive. So free. So positive. This ship was my beacon of light. And Joel was casting his rays of light on me. He was my sun.

"Joel! This is so fun!" I exclaimed, still gripping his hand and moving to the beat.

"You think this is fun? Watch this!" The music was so loud and I didn't hear exactly what he said so you can imagine how surprised I must've been when he hopped onto the main dance floor, a raised platform, and started doing a strange tap dance.

A crowd of people started to clap for him and I wanted in on the fun! Taking Joel's hand, I joined him up on the dance floor. I kicked my shoes away and started copying his phenomenal footwork. Laughter overcame us and our dancing got sloppy. In the end, we ended up linking arms and spinning around in circles. It was the absolute most fun I'd ever had.

||1 hour later (around 10:00pm)||

Both Joel and I had had a couple drinks. We weren't black out drunk, just drunk enough to have some fun.

"So Isobel. What did you think of the third class existence? Is it as sad as they say it is?" Joel asked, leaning back in his chair.

"What who says?" I did know what he was talking about. He was referring to us upper class folk.

"You people. You refer to us as low lives, scum bags every name you can think of. But what did you think?"

It was quite a strange question. I wasn't used to being asked about my opinion. Usually, James would speak on my behalf because I was a woman. But I wasn't afraid to.

"It's quite... thrilling. I enjoyed it quite much actually." I replied.

"Thrilling?  That's one way to describe it."

"I've never experienced happiness like that before!" I sighed happily. It was true. I hadn't.

"You haven't? Well, don't you have any hobbies?"

"Well, Not particularly." I said

"Well, maybe we'll find you one. Meet me at the top deck tomorrow, 6am. I have to show you something spectacular." He said

"Spectacular? What ever do you mean." I said, whilst taking another sip of my beer.

"I guess you'll have to find out."

He also took a sip of his beer. After he set the glass down, I noticed a froth moustache had formed on his upper lip. It was rather amusing and I giggled a little too loudly.

"What's so funny? Hm?" Joel raised an eyebrow sarcastically. That made me laugh even more.

"Your face! You've got something..."

He stared at me, blankly. It became apparent to me that Joel probably hadn't been taught to have manners. I obviously didn't mind the fact but I knew the upper class folk would.

"Don't worry. I'll get it." I jumped up out of my seat and leant forwards towards him. Pulling out a handkerchief from my pocket, I dabbed his upper lip slowly to remove the residue from his lip. He didn't say anything. Just laughed.

"Why thank you." He eventually said. I stared up at him  and warm blush had spread out across his cheeks. I also noticed that he was looking me directly in the eye.

The details of the next few moments were hazy apart from this. I leant forward and kissed his soft, luscious lips. Passion coursed through my veins. Sure, I had kissed James before but it was nothing compared to this. Joel locked lips with mind and gently cupped my face with his hand. My heart pumped furiously in my chest. I closed my eyes and rested my hands around his head.

Our kiss was short lived though. A horrified yowl came from the opposite side of the room. At first I thought someone had accidentally stepped on a dogs tail but that animalistic sound had come from a human. Not just a human. James.