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Disclaimer: Yada yada yada. Same old thing about characters and dialogue. There is some dialogue in this chapter that is from "Anne of Avonlea", which is the property of the great L. M. Montgomery. The title today belongs to Richard and Robert Sherman, who wrote the song "Tell Him Anything" for their take on the Cinderella story called The Slipper and the Rose. By the way, Delon is mine! All mine!! He he he....
Chapter 4
Tell Him Anything (But Not That I Love Him)
"Sarah, Sarah! Wake up!" Toby was shaking Sarah's shoulder, trying to rouse her from her nap on the couch.
"Hm? Jareth?" she asked, yawning.
"Uhhh...no. It's me, silly. Who's Jareth?" Sarah opened her eyes to see Toby grinning at her.
"Ahh, just someone from work. What's up, kiddo?" She sat up and stretched. Toby scrambled to sit on the section of couch that Sarah had just risen from.
"Mom and Dad want to know where you want to go to eat tonight. They said that dinner has to be special since it is you last one here. Do you have to go back tomorrow, Sarah? You only just got here. It won't be any fun after you leave."
"I'm sorry, Toby. Even though I got to be a kid again this past week, I still am an adult with a lot of responsibility at my job. I will come again as soon as I can."
" I know. But you are so cool."
Sarah chuckled, "Thanks. I'll try and remember that. Tell you what, why don't you pick where we go to eat tonight?"
"Oh really? I know just the place!" Toby hopped off the couch and ran towards the kitchen, "Mom! Sarah said I could pick where we eat! She was talking about Jareth again!"
"Oh boy." Sarah groaned at Toby's last sentence. She stood up from the couch and headed up the stairs and into her room. She picked out an outfit to change into and turned towards the bed to get dressed. A small white envelope with her name on it was propped up on her pillow. Sarah picked up the envelope and tore it open. The note inside was written in Jareth's familiar scrawl.
Sarah Love,
I'm sorry I couldn't stay until you woke. I hope that your last night at home is pleasant and that you have a good time at dinner with your family. I will be thinking of you.
J
Sarah sighed as she folded the note up and stuck it in her purse. She silently changed clothes and headed down the stairs.
* * * * * * * *
Sarah went to her room to pack after returning from dinner. Toby had talked nonstop the entire meal, and had brought up Jareth three times, right in front of their parents. A few raised eyebrows from her father were ignored, as well as Karen's elbow jabs. She was always sad to leave her family, but her week had come to an end, and her boss was already flooding her inbox with wordy emails. As much as she hated the thought of returning, her mind began to formulate a checklist of things that she needed to do when she got back to her apartment. As she opened her bedroom door, she was trying to remember if she had left a carton of milk in her refrigerator, so she was not prepared for the visitor that was sitting on her windowsill.
"Jareth!"
"I thought that you might need help packing. I know that you haven't started yet, and that you leave tomorrow. And probably early too, since that seems to be the human way to do things."
"That is very kind of you to offer, but it is a depressing task enough without someone helping. Shouldn't you be off granting wished or kicking a goblin?"
"Actually, the Aboveground has been relatively quiet as of late. I think that you humans are beginning to get along better. Nobody wishing anyone else away, nobody calling on me for help. Even the goblins seem to have started growing a few brain cells apiece and have kept out from under foot. It's quite remarkable how quiet my life had been." Jareth's tone was friendly, but wanting, as if he was feeling much more than he would allow himself to say. Sarah immediately picked up on this.
"Why are you really here, Jareth? I know that if I wanted you to, you could have my suitcase packed with a snap of your fingers. What is it that you want?" Sarah was almost afraid to add that last bit, because she knew what was coming.
Jareth stood up from the window and stepped in front of Sarah. He raised his hands to frame her face and replied softly, "You know why I am here. Are you going to keep me waiting forever? If that is what it takes, then I am prepared. We belong together. We are soul mates. You must feel something for me, or else I wouldn't hear you call me."
"Jareth, we have discussed this so many times. For five years you have asked me to leave everything behind and be with you and my answer has remained the same each time. Why are you so determined to have me, when you could have half a dozen other females who would jump at the chance. Or is it just because you enjoy a challenge?
"Sarah, that is not fair. I was only doing what you asked me to do. I had to make it challenging for you. My intent was not to harm you, but to show you how much strength you have. As for the supposed half a dozen other females that I could have, none of them would place a well-heeled foot in my kingdom. Not that they would suffice. I could not be happy with one who pales in comparison to you. Why would I settle for them when I could have one who is my equal in strength and in will?"
"But we would end up fighting all of the time, making each other miserable. I'm too independent to ever find someone to share my life with."
"Please say yes."
"I can't."
With that, Jareth disappeared in a cloud of glitter.
"Damn! Why can't I make him see? Why do I have to be such a fool about it?" Sarah stormed to the closet, yanked out her suitcase, and threw it on the bed.
"A fool about what, Dear?" Karen cracked open Sarah's door.
"Oh, nothing." Sarah stammered, "I was just reciting some dialogue from a movie." She hoped the lie would be good enough.
"Oh. Well, I just came up to see if you needed any help. Mind if I come in?"
"No, not at all." Sarah shuffled the suitcase around to make room. Karen sat down on the cleared spot.
"I hope that the past week has done you some good. It's always a pleasure to see you, and I know that Toby loves every minute that you are here. He loves you so much, as your father and I do. We hate to see you leave. But, you no doubt have things that need your attention back at your job. And of course, there's always Jareth to think about."
"What do you mean?"
"What do you mean, what do I mean? You two are obviously engaged, why else would you get so flustered every time he comes up in a conversation? Honestly, Sarah, I should be furious at you for keeping us in the dark about the whole thing, but actually, I couldn't be happier. When were you planning on telling us?"
Karen's banter had turned Sarah's cheeks red. So, everyone thought that she and Jareth were on the brink of marriage.
"Karen, I don't quite know what you're getting at. You honestly think that we are engaged?"
"Of course, silly! Nobody talks that much about a man if she isn't attached to him in some serious way."
"But we talked about him once right after I got here. That's hardly a lot." Sarah looked astonished.
"Sarah, for as long as I have known you, you have talked in your sleep. Every night since you came back you have mentioned his name at least once while you were asleep. You two must be so in love." Karen was positively beaming at the awe-struck Sarah, who stood as if she were rooted to the spot.
"Karen, we are not engaged."
"Well, you certainly could have fooled me. He must be on the brink of asking you, then. I'll bet he has some big romantic even planned for when you get back."
"Karen!"
"Okay, Okay! I'm sorry I brought it up." Karen looked around the bedroom and her eyes fell upon the sky crystal, "Where did you get this? It's exquisite!"
"Jar...I mean a friend gave it to me."
Sarah started to pack, unhanging and folding clothes, putting them into her suitcase, and taking others out of drawers. The silence that had fallen between her and Karen was awkward, so Sarah did her best to ignore it. After five minutes of watching Sarah pack, Karen suddenly got up and walked over to the open door. Before going through it, she turned and looked straight at Sarah.
"I hate to say this to you, but you are a fool if you think that you don't love Jareth as much as he loves you. He is obviously head-over-heels in love with you. By reading between the lines that you have been feeding me, it sounds as if you have given him the brush off more than once. Don't push love away, Sarah. It doesn't come that often." Karen turned and shut the door behind her.
Sarah sat dejectedly on her bed. She looked at the crystal and saw its stars blinking within and the sky remaining its inky color. She picked it up and rolled it between her hands.
"I've brought you a gift."
"What is it?"
"It's a crystal. Nothing more. But if you turn it this way and look into it, it will show you your dreams. But this is not a gift for an ordinary girl who takes care of a screaming baby."
Sarah had begun to cry without realizing it. She set the crystal back in its stand and crossed the room to her vanity table. She sat and stared at her reflection in the mirror. Sarah remembered back to her mother and one of the few things she had taught Sarah.
"A good way to tell how you really feel about someone is to let your heart tell you. Close yours eyes and forget all that you see. What is it that you feel?"
Sarah closed her eyes and kept her mind blank. She let her senses become aware of everything around her, except for her eyesight. Once she was relaxed, Sarah focused on one word.
"Jareth"
As she spoke out loud, her body began to tingle all over. Her heart felt as if it would leap out of her chest. She wanted to get up and run ten miles, she wanted to write, to paint, to do anything to express what she was feeling. When she did open her eyes again, they were brimming with tears. She put her head in her hands, and through her choked sobs she her herself say it.
" I love him."
* * * * * * * *
Jareth appeared in his throne room after leaving Sarah's bedroom. The hurt and anger that were welling up inside of him were more than he could bear, so he began to pace the length of the room, muttering to himself.
"Can't she see that I love her...all I offer and more if she wanted...still stubborn...not willing to even acknowledge...what more can I possible do..
"Hello, Jareth." A voice from behind him said.
Jareth turned to face the one who dare interrupt his thoughts, and was met with a sight that he had hoped that he would never see. A tall, well built man was standing in the doorway, arms crossed over his chest. He was dressed in head to toe black, the only color on him coming from his yellow eyes. His skin was dark, as if he had been out in the sun too long. His long, thin black hair was pulled back at the nape of his neck, looking like it had never been washed. Contempt boiled up inside the pit of Jareth's stomach as he forced himself to smirk at his guest and acknowledge his presence.
"Hello Delon. I didn't expect to see you."
"Come now, cousin. Is that the best you can do? We used to be the best of friends, you and I." Delon exclaimed with mock surprise.
"Yes, well I am very busy. So if you will just excuse me..."
"No, I'm afraid it won't be that easy. I've come to take your kingdom away from you, as it has been rightfully mine for sometime."
"What?" Jareth stared at his cousin in disbelief.
"Don't open your mouth too wide, Cousin dear. It is so unbecoming. Now, where was I? Oh yes! Your kingdom. I think we should get a little more comfortable, don't you?" With a snap of Delon's fingers, Jareth's throne room started to spin. Jareth was pushed backward and was forced to sit in a chair that appeared behind him. One the room stopped spinning, he could see that his arms and legs had been bound to the chair.
"Comfy?" Delon's face popped before his, "Good. Now, let's talk."