𝐌𝐑. 𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐆𝐄𝐓𝐓𝐀𝐁𝐋𝐄 - 𝐉𝐀𝐂𝐊 𝐃𝐀𝐖𝐒𝐎𝐍

THREE || DINNER PARTY

y/n l/n

When I came back into my room after being dropped off by Jack, Victoria was the only one still up. Both of who I assumed to be her girlfriend she mentioned the day before, Anna, and a boy I hadn't seen before were asleep (Anna in the upper bunk and the boy in the lower bunk).

"Hi," I said quietly.

"What kept you?" she asked immediately. "I thought you were going to be back earlier?"

"Oh, you know..." I trailed off, not sure whether I should tell her and risk alarming her. "...things."

- - - - - - - - - -

the next day...

rose dewitt bukater

"Well, my parents died when I was thirteen, but we've basically been all on our own since we were fifteen, except for Aunt Lily, of course, who was one of my mom's closest friends before she died, and a few friends, since Jack's folks died." Mr. L/N shoved his hands in his pants pocket as we continued to walk along the deck. "And Jack had no brothers or sisters or close kin in that part of the country, so we both lit on out of there and haven't been back since. I sometimes call Elizabeth and Aunt Lily to check up on 'em, see how they're doing..."

"You could just call us tumbleweeds blowing in the wind!" Jack cheerfully finished.

"Yeah. Right. Let's go with that." Mr. L/N half-smiled and nudged Jack, who chuckled and nudged him back before turning to me.

"Well, Rose, we've walked about a mile around this boat deck and chewed over how great the weather's been and how Y/N and I grew up, but I reckon that's not why you came to talk to us, is it?"

I sighed, for he was absolutely right. "Mr. Dawson, Mr. L/N, I—"

"Call us by our first names," Mr. L/N interrupted. "The 'Mr.' stuff is too fancy for us."

"Right," I said quickly. "Jack, Y/N, I want to thank you both for what you did. Not just for pulling me back, but for your discretion."

"You're welcome," said Y/N kindly.

"Look, I know what you must be thinking. 'Poor little rich girl. What does she know about misery?'"

"No." Jack shook his head. "No, that's not what we were thinking. Talked about it last night, actually. What we were both thinking was, what could have happened to this girl to make her think she had no way out?"

"Well, I...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 outstretched a hand, letting the two boys look at the engagement ring Cal had gotten for me.

"God, look at the size of that thing!" Jack glanced back up at me. "You would have gone straight to the bottom."

I hesitated before explaining further, "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."

"Do you love your fiance? What was it...Cal, I think his name was?" Y/N said slowly.

"Pardon me?"

"Do you love him?"

I glared at Y/N and looked over his shoulder at Jack. "Jack, you should tell Y/N that he is being very rude right now and he shouldn't be asking me this."

"Well, it's a very simple question. Do you love the guy or not? If you don't love him then why are you marrying him? It's strange, if you ask me."

I scoffed and looked away. "This is not a suitable conversation!"