Titanic - You Are Safe In My Heart

Rose Seeks Jack Out

Rose POV:

I made my way through third class, in search for Mr Dawson. There were many passengers, most stared at me in confusion as to what a first class passenger was doing mixed in with them. I scanned the area until I finally spotted his golden locks in a chair next to a group of people. I made my way over to him, smiling awkwardly.

Jack POV:

I was in mid conversation with Fabrizio when he nudged my shoulder, interrupting me. "What was that for?" I complained, rubbing my shoulder. He pointed behind me and I turned my head to see beautiful Rose staring back at me. I couldn't help but smile at the sight of her. I knew there were plans to have dinner with her but I never expected her to come all the way down here looking for me. "Hello, Mr Dawson," she said, greeting me. I felt my cheeks heat up and prayed it wasn't noticeable. "Hello, again. Also, call me Jack." I responded. She looked at the ground before saying, "May I speak with you?" I nodded my head yes and waited for her to talk. She awkwardly looked at the group infront of us before adding, "In private?" God, I'm so stupid, she's obviously not gonna want to talk about how she tried to kill herself infront of a group of random people. I followed her lead to the upper boat deck, it felt weird to be up there as third class passengers were forbidden from entering there unless they had been invited.

Rose POV:

I walked with Jack as he continued talking about his childhood. I couldn't help but feel my heart ache at it. He seemed like he had been through too much yet he managed to keep a smile on his face and seem so happy. "I've been on my own since I was 15, when my folks died. I had no brothers or sisters or close kin in that part of the country. So I lid on out of there and haven't been back since. You can just call me a tumbleweed blowing in the wind. Ah, I do miss it though. Which is why I'm on this ship, to return home." He seemed like he really wanted to talk about anything else but before I could strike up a new conversation, he did it for me.

"Well, Rose, we've walked about a mile across this boat deck and chewed over how great the weather's been and how I grew up but I'm guessing that's not why you came to talk to me, is it?" He was correct. I took a deep breath. "Mr Daw... Jack... I wanted to thank you for what you did. Not just for pulling me back but for your discretion. Look, I know what you must be thinking. 'Poor little rich girl, what does she know about misery'" I said, letting out a loud sigh. No one ever understood me, I didn't think this stranger to be any different

"No. That's not what I was thinking. What I was thinking was, what could have possibly happen to this girl to make her think she had no way out?" He responded. This felt odd to me. I'd never met someone who would ever regard my feelings like this. I'd never been able to open up to anyone. And who better to open up to than the one person who's managed to understand me and listen to me, even if he is a stranger.

"Well... well it was everything! It was my whole world and all the people in it. And the inertia of my life, plunging ahead and me powerless to stop it," I blurted out, presenting the engagement ring on my fourth finger. "Wow, look at that thing, you would've gone straight to the bottom" he joked. I was so wrapped up in my thoughts I ignored his joke. "500 invitations have gone out. All of Philadelphia society will be there and... all the while I feel I'm standing in the middle of a crowded room screaming at the top of my lungs and no one even looks up," I complained, relieved to let everything out to someone other than myself.

"Do you love him?" Jack asked me. I didn't really know the answer to this question but I found it a rather disrespectful question to be asking. "Pardon me?" I replied and he repeated his question without hesitation. "You're being very rude! You shouldn't be asking me such a question," I stated, to which he shrugged and asked it again. "It's a simple question, do you love the guy or not?"

Awkwardly, I laughed the question off but he didn't seem to be changing the subject so I protested further. "This is not a suitable conversation! This is absurd! You don't know me and I don't know you and we are not having this conversation at all. You are rude and uncouth and presumptuous and I am leaving now. Jack, Mr Dawson, it has been a pleasure. I sought you out to thank you and now I have thanked you-" He cut me off, visibly upset with my choice of words. "And you've insulted me"

I was quiet for a few seconds. I was brought up to never be rude to anyone yet my mother was rude all the time. "Well you deserved it. I'm leaving now. God you are so annoying! Wait a minute. I dont have to leave. This is my part of the ship. You leave," I commanded, pointing him in a direction away from me. This just made him laugh. "Well well well, now who's being rude?" He responded. I scoffed at him before snatching a folder he had in his hand. He let it slip out of his hands and didn't pull it back. No man would ever allow me to snatch from him.

"What is this stupid thing you're carrying around?" I asked, opening it up, revealing lifelike drawings. As upset as I was, I realised they were too good to make fun of. "Oh... these are rather good. They're uh, very good actually. Jack, this is exquisite work." I complimented. He seemed extremely talented at art. I flipped the next page, gazing at them. "They didn't think too much of them in old Paree." He replied, sitting next to me. I wondered why he continued to be so kind to me after I had just been so rude to him. I got rid of the thought. "Paris? You do get around. For a poor-" I began to call him a poor person but then stopped myself before it came out. I awkwardly tried to fix it. "Well a, uh, person of limited means" Jack laughed and shrugged. "Go on, a poor guy, you can say it"

I smiled. He seemed to allow me to get away with everything. I flipped the page and saw a drawing of a nude woman. "Well, well, well." I flipped the page and there she was again. And again. "You liked this woman. You used her several times." He grabbed a side of the portfolio and motioned to her hands

"Well she had beautiful hands, you see?" I stared at her hands and he wasn't wrong. I laughed before teasing him. "I think you must have had a love affair with her," I joked. I immediately regretted saying it as the last time I made a joke to somebody, mother scolded me. But he didn't, he laughed. "No just with her hands. She was a one legged prostitute.. see?"

He flipped a couple pages back to show me and I uncomfortably noticed. He then flipped a few pages forward to reveal a drawing of a fully clothed woman. "And this lady, she used to sit at this bar every night wearing every piece of jewellery she owned, just waiting for her long lost love. We called her Madame Bijou." He showed me, and I stared intently. I looked back up at him, smiling. "Well, you have a gift, Jack. You do. You see people" I stated, slightly jealous of such a wonderful thing to have. "I see you" he responded, looking at me with that gorgeous smile of his. He saw me? Nobody ever saw me. I was just an object to everybody. "And?" I asked, waiting for more to what he was going to say. "You wouldn't have jumped" he said, teasingly.