"Taboo"
Chapter 2: CONFESSION
After the Goblin King left - or rather walked away, like some human - Sarah did a happy dance right there in front of Mr. Pearson's driveway.
The Goblin King had returned for her, and he was coming to her house!
She covered her cheeks. "Oh my gosh, I don't have any sexy nighties!" In a panic, she snatched up her shovel and hurried home, where she changed before heading out to the local shopping mall, only to return red-faced and empty-handed an hour later.
Everyone else may have known Victoria's secret, but she sure hadn't.
But this t-shirt should be plenty revealing, right? Lots of leg. And that tiny hole above her left breast from a misdirected pen? Super seductive.
Sarah was shoving the last of her books in her suitcase when there was a knock on her bedroom door.
A knock.
What the heck?
"I'm going glitter-free these days," the Goblin King answered her unimpressed stare. He frowned at her t-shirt. "Sarah, did you visit the hospital?"
"Yes. Did you know in America, you can be diagnosed with face-palm?"
"What?"
"Goblin King. WHERE ARE THE SINFUL PANTS?"
"Here." He tossed them on her bed. They bounced, considering they had been rolled into a tiny bundle. Sarah looked between them and the skinny jeans he was wearing before shutting her eyes.
"It's okay. I can salvage this," she muttered before taking a deep breath, walking to the wall, and pressing her back up against it.
She schooled a defiant expression. "Okay, I'm ready."
"For...?"
"Well I mean, I'm not really distraught, but my growing levels of frustration should count for something, so yeah."
The Goblin King stared.
"Um, don't you have something to say to me?" Sarah ventured, growing pinker by the second. At the Goblin King's apparent confusion, and the way his eyes kept flickering to her bare legs, Sarah cracked. "This is the part where you pin me to the wall and pour out your confession."
"I'm quite comfortable talking like this," the Goblin King replied, mouth quirking, "unless this is another one of your fantasies, Sarah?"
"Talking is fine by me," she squeaked, springing from the wall to hastily finish packing. Her nose started dripping again. Stupid me. Stupid Goblin King. Stupid zipper!
She was wrenching violently at the latter contraption when a long fingered hand covered her own.
"I'm afraid I'm rusty in wall-pinning," the Goblin King said carefully, "but to confess is actually one of my fantasies as well."
Astonishment filled Sarah. What was he saying? Her breath caught when the king gently drew her to stand before him.
Oh my gosh, is this it? The moment when my 1,000 role-plays with Sir Lancelot comes to life?
"Sarah Williams," the Goblin King began. His brow crumpled as if pained. "I confess... when I threw you into the Bog, I cheated."
...
...
"Huh?"
"The Bog is technically a sanitation sector that's separate from the Labyrinth, so runners can't normally enter it. But Higgle had been getting the Fairy Union reps on my case for weeks, and it seemed like a good opportunity at the time, two Nipper Sticks in one throw and all that."
A beat of silence.
"Ah."
Another beat.
As calmly as she could, Sarah extracted herself from the king's hold and walked back to the wall.
"Sarah?"
The bedroom was soon filled with rhythmic thumps of the young woman beating her head.
Blargh!
