Roaring 20s Royalty

Chapter 11- theatre

We stood by the railing on deck, our shoulders touching and a cold breeze blowing my hair back behind me. There was a salty, fresh smell in the air off the water, of which stars reflected brightly. It was extraordinarily calm out here, not at all the rough waved and hard winds I had imagined. Every time I'd sailed out with my mother to meet eith some global King, the waters had been unrelenting. I could only put it down to the world suiting the situation, as situation I enjoy would be calm, and one that causes me stress would be chaos.

My mind was clouded with thoughts of what we had done in the cabin, my conscious only now telling me it may have been a bad idea. We hadn't done anything serious, at least not to the extent where we should be concerned. My worry was more of a moral issue, as I still barely knew him. Yes, his features were attractive and every word he said charmed me, but in the back of my mind, I knew I'd only spoken to him twice.

"The stars look beautiful tonight," He interrupted my train of thought, "they always have out here, don't you think?"

I answered sheepishly, "Yes, quite."

He must have caught onto my tone from both my silence beforehand and now my shy tone. He turned to me, placing a hand over mine on the railing, "Is something bothering you? I do not mean to be rude do please excuse the expression, but this is what you've always wanted and you're acting like a drowned cat."

I frowned and raised my eyes to him. But I brushed it off, "I've never been so happy to be doing something, this is really all I've ever asked for." I froze for a moment, "But I think things may be moving a bit too quickly for me to adjust to. It's nothing to do with you." I felt bad at the pang of hurt that crossed his face.

He smiled either way and nodded, but he wasn't hiding how my words affected him, "Well, I'm a racing driver, fast is what I do." He laughed, "But if you really think so, we can slow down a bit. Take our time, relax, we have forever and a day once we're there, so nothing too crazy needs to happen."

I nodded, a small laugh escaping my mouth. He laughed too and gestured for us to head inside, "I want to check out the buffet," He suggested, "I don't often get to eat badly."

I agreed and took my place, linking my arm with his as he led me inside once more.
It was considerably warmer inside, a welcome detail. We headed downstairs to the dining room, at one end of which was a long counter with all kinds of pastries, drinks and confectionary. A lady stood at one end serving hot meals. Another man stood where normally alcoholic beverages would be served, but in stead he served things that were carbonated or plain. A sign above his head read, "Missiple law in action. No alcoholic beverages to be sold to any person." I'd heard about the prohibition in the newspaper, but in Montekino we had no such thing. We had a culture built around hard liquors, so it was a little bit of a shock for me when I saw it was forbidden.

Henrique wasted no time in grabbing some pastries of foreign origin, seemingly pleased as he tried them. Reluctantly I too took a small baled good, sugar coated and delicious. He laughed at my elegant form of eating, causing me to nearly choke on my food as I laughed back.

"It's an apple turnover," He told me, "You can enjoy yourself, its not a sin to eat something bad, just not too often."

I smiled with embarrassment, finishing off the rest of the pastry.

The doors to the dining hall swung open and a man in a long red tails coat walked in and stopped, "Dear passengers, I would like to inform you that tonight's on-ship stage performance will be underway in ten minutes time. It is free of entry." He left just as quickly as he'd appeared.

My eyes lit up. One thing I never missed am opportunity at was theatre, "Oh, Henrique we must!" I found a place to drop my plate and took his arm, "It's theatre on a boat! That's a thing!"

He gave me a look of mild concern at my enthusiasm, but led me either way, "You didn't know this existed?" He laughed.

"Why of course not!" I looked down the hall with excitement in my eyes, "It's absolutely magical!"

Following the signs we were quick to find the theatre room, a large enough room with many tightly packed seats facing a stage. Half the seats were taken already, but we found a pair and sat opposite the velvety curtain.

I hated that colour. That red. The symbolism behind it my mind made it impossible for me not to see. I felt like a bull.

Thankfully, it did not last long as the man which we had seen before stepped out from beyond it, addressing the crowd. I settled into my seat and the thoughts quickly left my mind. I loved the theatre.