Authors Note:
Just a quick filler I jotted down because the dialogue came to mind. Actual chapter should be up tomorrow. Sorry!
"Sarah! Sarah open the door."
"No!"
"Why not?"
"I'm naked!"
"I have the key!"
"Then by all means, invade my privacy!"
"Only with your permission," said Jareth, and unlocked the door.
The scene inside the apartment was quite picturesque. Sarah, in a pair of sweats and a sports bra, was contorted in some insane pose on the floor, surrounded by a myriad of flickering candles. A soothing tune played in the background, and something smelled faintly of vanilla.
Raising an eyebrow, he gave Sarah thorough once over, "You're wearing clothes. Witch craft?"
"No. Yoga," said the actress, glaring up at Jareth from her pose.
"Such a pity. Anyhow. Since the electricity is out, I figured I'd bring over a deck of cards and Connect Four, see what we can do with that."
Sarah straightened out and sighed. "Connect Four. Don't you have any friends?"
"One, if she even constitutes as a friend. But she's married and lives on the other side of town."
"Anne?"
"No, Morgan. She teaches one of the other kindergarten classes."
"Ooh... Morgan! Are you two having a passionate yet secretive love affair in between story time?"
"Stop."
"Do you serenade her with the alphabet?"
"You have no power over me!"
"I bet The Very Hungry Caterpillar is just great at setting the scene..."
"She's married. And I, against all of your suspicions, am a decent man."
"But is she a decent woman?"
This took Jareth a couple of seconds. Finally, he came up with the answer: "No, no she really isn't."
"And why is that?"
"She's friends with the Pack."
"Why does that word sound capitalized?"
"Because it is."
"You're not involved with the mafia, are you?"
"Not anymore."
"That's reassuring."
"It's meant to be."
"It really isn't. Anyways, what is this Pack?"
"Five woman, early forties, insanely rich, insanely single, and with at least one kid each. And she set them on me!"
"Set them on you?"
"Long story short, I spilled juice on her on my first day. She got pissed off and told the Pack all about how pretty and good with children I was. One of them offered to pay me, but..."
"You're not a hooker."
"There's some situations where you just have to draw the line. Also, there's no way I'm that cheep. That... Pack... Is the reason I had to invent a girlfriend in the first place, really. Well, them and Anna. And Morgan. Though the latter turned out to be quite a decent person when presented with a peace offering of sushi... Which still didn't get rid of the Pack."
Sarah gave him a sympathetic pat on the shoulder, "That's very nice, but you still haven't set up the game."
"Right. Better do that. Red or black?"
"Red."
"The blood of angry men?"
"Jokes on you, despair."