Chapter 8

The Pool

April 14th, 1912

Sometime around Noon.

Noah waited patiently outside her bathroom door, admiring everything in the room, and he occasionally walked around to admire pictures she had painted, or photographs that had been taken of them. Of course, he wished they were able to print them in color so that he could admire every bit of Aly Hamilton's beauty, but at that time in history, it was only black and white photographs. So far, Calhoun was having one of the best experiences in his life, being able to help a pretty girl, swim with a pretty girl, and just being able to talk to her. Wait until he told Fin and his pals about this, in fact he hadn't seen much of them throughout the trip. He was probably flirting with the lasses in 2nd or 3rd class for all Mr. Calhoun knew. He shoved his hands into his pockets' and followed her down towards the pool; a place where he had passed numerous of times, but never actually been in.

He was astounded by the beauty of the room. Every little detail was perfect from the nicely painted walls, to the portraits on the walls done by excellent artists that he had even heard of such as Picasso and duplicates of Michelangelo's and Leonardo Da Vinci's work. The nicely framed room, included a patio that wrapped around the outside, including port holes, and a private suite if they indeed wanted to eat outside in private, instead of the public places. Noah didn't even want to imagine how much it costs for simply one room.

"You look quite pretty," he complimented her quietly, his eyes lighting up a tad as he scanned her.

About 15 minutes later, Aly came out of the bathroom with her pink sweater folded neatly on her arm, and with her swim suit on. A silk bath robe covered her swim suit, and some of her strawberry blonde hair was put up in a peach bonnet that even looked quite pretty on her, even if it made her age look 2-3 years younger than she actually was. Shyly, she gave him a slight nod and grin as if to signal to head downstairs, and within minutes they were approaching the room with the Olympic-sized pool and heated-water tubs.

Noah took off his shirt and stripped down to his swim suit, not caring if a couple of the people in the room were staring or not. He wasn't that shy about his appearance, he had strong muscles all over, and could easily carry a girl for a couple hours straight if he wanted to. Allison raised her eyebrows, not in an insulting way, but was surprised by how surprisingly thick muscles he had. She smiled at him encouragingly, and dropped her bath robe folding it neatly on one of the deck chairs by the edge of the pool.

"Now, could you help me decide if I should get in the water or not?" she asked him with a slight grimace. The water looked pretty cold, since this specific one wasn't entirely heated.

"Get in the water!" Noah shouted not intending his echo to be as loud and strong as it was, and hoped not to frighten her. But knowing Aly this well already, he didn't figure it would. He, who had already dived into the water several times by this point, climbed out of the pool dripping wet, and headed over to where she was. "I swear by golly, I'll throw you in!" He laughed, pointing a finger at her as if threatening her.

As there weren't many people to make a fool of themselves into, she shook her head reluctantly and threw her head back as if completing the stage of being stubborn and reluctant.

"Alright, here it goes," Noah warned his smirk showing by now as he went up behind her, and swept her into his arms and started to walk to the pool, making each step slow, so she could get the picture.

Surprisingly, Aly felt safe in his arm, and didn't really struggle to get out, until he actually tossed her into the deeper end of the water which turned out to be pretty cold. Allison screamed, with a little bit of laugh in her scream, until she figured out she didn't yet know how to tread water. Noah wasn't aware of this, she remembered her eyes widening as she started to sink kicking with all her might.

Noah wasn't aware that she was panicking at first, and started to laugh a deep, and hollow laugh. A couple minutes later, he realized he hadn't asked her if she knew how to swim or not, and dove in unthinkingly. Allison was already underwater and struggling to get herself afloat. Within a minute or so, Noah had grabbed her by the waist and pulled her above the surface carefully.

"Are you alright, Aly?" He asked cautiously, hoping she didn't start yelling at him, or something.

"You stupid fool, Noah…" She shrieked, turning it into a laugh, and smiled. "I could just kiss you, even if I didn't want to. And I don't know if I want to or not."

Noah folded his arm across his chest. "Oh, you want to," he said smartly, then leaned over, embraced her, and kissed her. He was surprised when… she indeed, kissed him back…..not at all caring if people all around were pointing and staring at this public display of affection.

Aly lifted her chin up, and looked into his dark eyes and put a soft, thin hand through his hair. "Oh, Mr. Calhoun, I think it would be nice to be in a more private place…maybe my room, would you mind?" Noah smiled, still elated from the kiss and not really thinking anything besides it. "Oh, Miss Hamilton, I wouldn't mind one bit."