Ch. 9

Sarah slowly opened her eyes, squinting against the bright sunshine that flowed in from her window. She'd forgotten to close the blinds last night.

Suddenly she sat straight up in bed. Last night…the bar…Jareth…in her apartment.

All the previous nights events came flooding back to her. She listened intently for a moment, trying to tell if Jareth was awake yet. She heard no sounds coming from her living room…except for a light snore.

She giggled at that. Somehow, it made Jareth seem more real to her, to know that the King of the Goblins snored.

She pushed away the covers and quietly made her way to the bathroom, where she took a long, hot shower. She spent a long time thinking about how she was going to mend things with Jareth. She hated knowing that yet again, she had hurt him.

She finally got out when the water started to cool down. She stepped out of the shower and reached for her towel. Instead of her towel, she felt something else.

"Jareth!" she shrieked as she yanked the shower curtain around her. "What the hell are you doing? I'm trying to take a shower!" She was very conscious of her nakedness, and she felt a flush creeping up her face as she stared at Jareth.

He was very conscious of her nakedness, as well, and he was trying not to show it.

"I apologize Sarah, I didn't realize you were in here, I just had to use the restroom," he said, his gaze on her curtain-wrapped body.

"You mean you didn't hear the water running?" she asked, growing more uncomfortable under his stare.

"No, I-I'm sorry, I didn't realize what it was…" he couldn't take his eyes off of her, she looked so beautiful with her wet, tangled hair tumbling down her shoulders, her face freshly scrubbed and shiny. He suddenly realized that he was ogling her, and it was his turn to flush. "I'm sorry, I'll leave and let you finish." He turned and almost ran out of the bathroom.

She cautiously unwrapped herself from her shower curtain and grabbed her towel. She wished she had brought her clothes into the bathroom with her. She just hoped Jareth wasn't waiting right outside the door. She made a mad dash for her bedroom and slammed the door shut.

Jareth heard the door slam and groaned to himself. That was not a good way to start the day, not when he had so many hopes for today. He was aware that he continuously embarrassed Sarah, and he felt bad about that. He vowed to turn the day around, and make things right between them.

He heard Sarah come out of her bedroom, simply dressed in jeans and a T-shirt. He glanced down at his own sleep-rumpled clothing and waved his hand. He was instantly wearing fresh clothes, and not those awful blue jeans he wore last night to fit in. He was back in his usual attire of tight pants, boots, and a ruffly shirt.

Sarah stopped when she saw him. She hadn't realized until she saw him in his natural form how, well, normal he had looked last night. She decided that she liked him better this way, somehow his clothing made him look even more handsome.

He caught the way she was looking at him. "Like what you see?" he asked teasingly, hoping she wasn't upset about the bathroom incident.

"Yes," Sarah smiled.

Jareth hadn't expected that, and Sarah had to laugh at his expression.

"Why lie? I like what I see," she said as she walked into the kitchen, hoping to find something for breakfast.

He smiled, glad she wasn't angry with him. He decided not to mention the shower incident, hoping she would just forget it.

Sarah had already decided to forget it. In her mind, they were even now, so they could truly start fresh.

"I really need to go to the grocery store," Sarah mumbled to herself as she rummaged through her fridge. "Well, our choices for breakfast are old yogurt, an orange, or a few slices of lunch meat," she said, wrinkling her nose.

Jareth also wrinkled his nose, and without a word, he produced a crystal and tossed it onto the table. A breakfast feast magically appeared, and it looked and smelled delicious.

Sarah smiled at Jareth. "Thank you, it looks wonderful. Much better than anything I could have prepared."

"Yes, well, magic does have its moments," Jareth told her, liking the way she was smiling at him.

She was glad to see he was in a good mood. "So, I know we were supposed to talk about a lot of things last night, and it didn't exactly work out. I just want to tell you again that I'm sorry for everything, and I hope we can start again as friends."

He stared at her. Friends? She wanted to be friends? Had she forgotten everything he'd told her last night? He decided not to get mad, and instead told her the truth.

"I'm not willing to be just friends," he informed her, looking deep into her eyes. He saw something flicker in her eyes before she turned away. Was that relief he had seen? He decided to believe it was.

"I made it very clear what my feelings are towards you, and I'll accept nothing less than the same in return," he said as he dug into his breakfast.

"So you just expect me to return your feelings?" she asked with a warning note in her voice.

Ah, there was his old fiery Sarah, she wasn't gone she was just transformed into something more.

"No, that's not what I mean, I just want you to be able to make your feelings clear about me, as well." He was trying not to push her, but it was frustrating to know that she cared about him but not hear her say it.

Sarah looked at him for a minute, then pushed her plate away. "All right, Jareth, I'll make it perfectly clear how I feel," she said as she leaned towards him.

She held his face in her hands, and she started leaning towards his mouth, slowly, as if she was having second thoughts. Her mouth was moving closer…closer…until he could feel her lips.

"Hey guys, what smells so good?" Julie, with Bayron right behind her, burst into the apartment without knocking, as usual.

Jareth silently cursed Julie's bad timing…again.

A/N: thanks so much for reading! Please let me know what you think!