Ch 2 Be careful what you daydream about

10 years later

Sarah breathed a sigh of relief as she looked at the clock. 5:04, time to go home. She had never been so happy it was Friday. It had been an extremely taxing week.

She gathered up the materials she would need over the weekend, and then navigated her way through the maze of cubicles that made up the office where she worked.

She stopped at her friend Julie's cube on her way. "Are we still on for tonight?" Sarah asked.

"Sure thing girly, I'll pick you up at 8," Julie smiled at her as she rummaged around the drawers in her desk. "I'm not gonna get out of here for at least another hour or so, Lame-o Waimo decided to dump a bunch of extra work on me at the last minute."

Sarah giggled at the use of their nickname for James Waimo, their tyrant of a boss. The nickname was immature, sure, but they still got a kick out of making fun of him. It made working for him bearable if they could laugh at him.

"All right, I'll see you later. I'm gonna go home and beautify myself," Sarah said with a smile.

"Yeah, like you need it, you know you're totally gorgeous," Julie replied distractedly; she was already engrossed in something on her computer screen.

"Bye Jules," Sarah said as she made a beeline for the exit.

At home, Sarah took a long hot shower, marveling at how good the water felt against her skin. She hadn't realized how tired she was until she got into the shower and let the warm spray revive her.

After drying her hair, she rummaged through her closet for something to wear, cursing her tendency to forget to do the laundry. Everything she wanted to wear was either dirty or crumpled in the bottom of her closet, which was basically the same thing.

She finally settled on hip-hugging blue jeans and a simple black tank top. She had natural good looks, so she only used a bit of eyeliner on her eyes and a touch of mascara, and she was ready.

She glanced at the clock; not even 7:30. Julie was notorious for being late, so Sarah figured she had a good hour before Jules came to pick her up. They had had plans all week to go to a restaurant/bar that had just opened, and Sarah was looking forward to it. She had been working a lot lately, and hadn't been out much.

She flopped down on her couch and flipped on the TV to pass the time. A commercial came on featuring a gorgeous blond man, who bore a striking resemblance to her latest boyfriend. Or make that ex-boyfriend, after he cheated on her. Thinking about him made her think back to all of her dating disasters.

She had never been lucky in love. Every time a guy seemed too good to be true, he was. Somehow, she didn't attract the "right" kind of men, only the ones who wanted to use her. She sometimes wondered fleetingly if it was something wrong with her, not the guys she went out with. Even with the nicest of men, she always felt like something was missing, although she couldn't explain what it was. It was like a small part of her heart had been claimed by a man, and she had yet to find that man to make her heart complete. She realized that she always held back in relationships, not wanting to delve too deeply into what she may or may not feel. Sometimes she wondered if she would ever meet someone who could make her feel complete.

"But you did, and you let it go," she whispered to herself. Try as she might, he was always in the back of her mind. True to her word, she had done her best to put Jareth out of her mind. But not surprisingly, she didn't succeed. Although it had been ten years, she could close her eyes and still picture him as clear as if he was right beside her. She could see his fluffy mane of blond hair, his beautiful mismatched eyes, and in all her daydreams he wanted her as much as she wanted him.

The mood shifted in the room. Suddenly Sarah was terrified; without opening her eyes she just knew someone was in her apartment with her. She sensed it. Her heart beating wildly, she slowly opened her eyes…and nearly fell off the couch.

Julie stared down at Sarah with an amused grin on her face. She couldn't help laughing at the look on Sarah's face.

"God Julie, you scared me, don't you ever knock?" Sarah asked, feeling her heart beat wildly. As unreasonable as it seemed, she was slightly disappointed that it was only Julie in her home.

'Get real Sarah, do you really think he's just waiting around for you to want him, and that he'll show up just because you think about him?' she asked herself. 'Most likely not. So I'm just gonna have a good night and put him out of my head.'

Sarah grabbed her purse and headed out the door with Julie.

When they arrived at the new nightclub Gemstone, Julie pulled Sarah immediately towards the bar. "Two rum and cokes," Julie said to the bartender. "I'll buy the first round," she told Sarah.

"Okay, thanks," Sarah replied, looking around her. She immediately felt out of place. It seemed like everyone here was a teenager, although you needed to be 21 to get in. It didn't seem like that stopped a lot of people though, judging by the overly-made up young faces around her.

It made Sarah smile, when she realized that while she had spent her teenage years immersed in fantasy worlds, nowadays these kids hung out in bars.

Julie was also checking out the crowd with a disappointed look on her face. "I didn't think it would be all young people," she said with a frown. "Who are we supposed to talk to?"

Sarah laughed at her friend, saying "You mean I'm not enough to talk to? Fine, I'll leave you alone with the kiddies!"

Julie smiled and hit her arm. "No you know that's not what I mean. I was just hoping to, you know, meet someone…it's been forever since I had a date," she said with a scowl.

"Oh, a week is forever?" Sarah teased, remembering Julie telling her about a disastrous date just last weekend.

"For me it is. I get bored easily," Julie replied. She glanced around again and sighed. "Okay, maybe this wasn't the best idea. Let's finish our drinks and find somewhere else…" her voice trailed off as she spotted something behind Sarah.

"What's wrong?" Sarah asked, craning her neck to try to see what Julie was staring at. She couldn't see anyone worth goggling over. "What are you looking at?"

"Only the best-looking men I've seen in years," Julie said, her eyes wide.

Sarah turned around again. "Where? I don't see any…." Her jaw dropped in shock. It wasn't possible. There was no way that he was here, in this teenagers' bar, it just couldn't happen. Sarah blinked, thinking it was just a man who looked a lot like him. But no, as he got closer, she could tell by the wild hair and mismatched eyes that it was the one and only Goblin King making his way towards her.