"It's a marvelous night for a Moondance, with the stars up above in your eyes…"
Jareth laughed heartily and sat back in his chair. Think of that, he thought to himself, she's actually quite charming. Sarah sat across from him, also laughing. Her smile was wide and her laugh was infectious. Jareth was once again thrown by the amount of maturing she'd done since he'd last seen her. She'd grown up to be a strikingly beautiful and sharp-witted young woman. He smiled inwardly, thinking about how much of an effect she had on him. She'd been able to turn a cold-hearted Goblin King into a goofy schoolboy again. Not exactly the most dignified transition for a great ruler but strangely enough, Jareth appreciated it.
Both of them stopped laughing as their waiter brought them their food. Jareth savored a mouthful of steak and Sarah cut into her eggplant Parmesan.
"You seem to lead a very…adventurous life," Jareth commented.
"When there's time. Life's a little crazy at present," she replied.
Jareth nodded. "What would you say was your greatest adventure?"
Sarah met his eyes and grinned. "I could tell you," she said, "but then I'd have to kill you."
"Sounds mysterious. Intriguing. Illegal, maybe?"
Sarah laughed. "Illegal, no. And not mysterious either, really…just…surreal. You wouldn't believe me if I told you."
"Says who?"
"Trust me."
"Guilty conscience."
"Is not." Sarah narrowed her eyes at her date jokingly.
"So tell me."
"You don't give up, do you?"
"Not without a consolation prize."
At this Sarah's face softened. "In the form of what?"
"It's up to you."
Sarah smiled slyly and, raising herself a bit off her seat, leaned forward until she was less than an inch away from Jareth's face. Jareth's heart raced and his face flushed as he thought about the feeling of her lips on his. A split second before Jareth was about to lean in and kiss her, Sarah picked up Jareth's napkin from the table, dabbed the corner of his mouth with it and sat back down. Jareth blinked several times in rapid succession as Sarah smiled wryly.
"What was that?" Jareth asked her, laughing.
"Your consolation prize," Sarah replied. "I saved you the embarrassment of spending the rest of the evening with A-l sauce on your lip."
"Smart ass," Jareth said and both laughed harder.
The rest of the meal went by with ease. As they left the restaurant and went back to Jareth's car, it took all of Jareth's strength not to put his arms around her and deliver her kiss after passionate kiss right there in the parking lot. But he restrained himself in an agonizing attempt to be a gentleman.
"So where are we going now?" Sarah asked.
"I was thinking about a dance," Jareth said, truthfully.
Sarah said nothing but smiled, so Jareth pulled out of the parking lot and drove them for a few miles up to the top of the hill that overlooked the town. He parked the car and led Sarah out to a crest in the hill that gave them a wonderful view of the city below.
"You want to dance here?" Sarah asked.
"That was the plan, yes. But, unfortunately, we don't have any music."
Sarah smiled. "What are you suggesting?"
"Frankly? I was suggesting that you sing."
"Sing what?" Sarah asked, not showing the slightest sign of the usual annoying modesty or embarrassment at the proposal.
"The most romantic song you know," Jareth said, and pulled her closer into a fluid dance.
Sarah began to sing:
"There's such a sad love,
Deep in your eyes,
A kind of pale jewel
Opened and closed within your eyes.
I'll place the skies within your eyes…"
Jareth's heart caught in his throat and he fought back a tear. The representation of his first attempt at winning Sarah's heart (when even he still believed that it was all a ruse to come out the victor in the end) and Sarah picks it as the perfect song for a moonlight dance with someone she barely knew. What a bittersweet moment.
"Shall I take you home, then?" Luke asked Sarah when they were both inside the car.
Sara yawned. "I think so. For a first date, this has been more than splendid. But it's been a long couple of days."
Luke smiled. "Of course."
When they pulled up in front of Jeanie's house, Sarah hugged Luke as he sat in the driver's seat. "Thank you so much for dinner, and even more for the dance. I had a wonderful time."
"As did I," Luke replied with a smile as he brushed the hair from her face. Sarah embraced him again and lighted a kiss on his temple. With that and a smile, she disappeared into the house. She went inside and watched from the window as he drove away.
Grinning, she followed the only light in the house into the kitchen, where Jeanie sat in her gaudy bathrobe and a cup of tea dying to hear how the evening went.
Sarah recounted the night in detail, all the time her face being taken over by an ear-to-ear grin. And somehow she knew that a similar grin was lighting up Luke's face as he drove through the warm, sweet darkness to his hotel room, on his way to a lovely sleep with her in his dreams.