Titanic

{Chapter Twenty}

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 The stars blazed overhead, so bright and clear that they could see the Milky Way. Rose and Jack walked on the deck, along a row of lifeboats. Still giddy, they were singing a popular song of the time, "Come Josephine in my Flying Machine."

Come Josephine in my flying machine

Going up she goes! Up she goes!

Balance yourself like a bird on a beam

In the air she goes! There she goes!

Up, up, a little bit higher

Oh! My! The moon is on fire...

They fumbled the words and broke down laughing. The First Class Entrance approached them, but they didn't go in, not wanting the evening to end. Through the doors, the sound of the ship's orchestra wafted gently.

Rose shrugged off the coat Jack had lent to her from her shoulders and handed it to him.

"Here we are." She dragged on her sentence, dreadfully.

"Yeah." Jack was as disappointed as her.

"I don't want to go back." Rose grabbed a davit and leaned back, staring at the cosmos looming overhead. "Look...isn't it magnificent?"

"Yeah..." Jack felt his breath get taken away as he saw the stars shimmering above. It was one of the most beautiful things he had seen. One of them.

"So vast and endless." She went to the rail and leaned on it. "They're such small people, Jack...my crowd. They think they're giants on earth, but they're not even dust in God's eye. They live inside this tiny champagne bubble...and someday, that bubble's going to burst."

He leaned at the rail next to her, his hand just touching hers. It was the slightest contact imaginable, and all either of them could feel was that square inch of skin where their hands met.

"You're not one of them. There's been a mistake."

"A mistake?"

"Uh-huh. You got mailed to the wrong address."

Rose laughed. "I did, didn't I?" She pointed suddenly. "Look! A shooting star!"

Overhead, a lone star sheared through the masses of others, glowing brightly. Jack, deep down, knew that it symbolized Rose. She would be the lone star break through. She would shine brightly out of the billions off dull specks around her. She would soar. He could feel it.

"That was a long one. You know, my pops used to tell me that every time you saw one, it was a soul going to Heaven."

"I like that. Aren't we supposed to wish on it?"

Jack looked at her, and found that they were suddenly very close together. It would be so easy to move another couple of inches...to kiss her. Rose seemed to be thinking the same thing.

"Why? What would you wish for?" Jack asked her.

Rose diverted her eyes from his crystal blue orbs, to his lips, then back to his eyes again. After a moment, she pulled back. "Something I can't have." She smiled sadly. "Good night, Jack. And thank you." She left the rail and hurried through the First Class Entrance.

"Rose!"

But the doors banged shut, and she was gone...back to her world.

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Use of a deleted scene.

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