4
What life had in store was…well… a tango.
"The most important part of the tango" the old teacher said after teaching the solo steps to the guys and girls of the class, as they stood facing each other – two armies on a battlefield, executing drills, readying for hand-to-hand combat, "is to remember that the man… is the PREDATOR - "
Sarah felt her stomach plummet down, down into a dark and terrible oubliette…
The predator, eh?
Gee, that didn't sound at all familiar. No, no flashbacks to fifteen or anything… of what speaketh thou?
"- and the woman – the fleeing PREY."
The class grinned from ear to ear, some in acknowledgement of this Fact of Life, some in frustration that it didn't always work out this way, and some in mere embarrassment.
Among the last group was Sarah, who was slowly loosing the wish to be alive today.
This was a little too much for her face up to. Not that she hadn't done it before.
"So now, ladies – choose a partner."
Swallowing was rather hard. Rather impossible, actually.
But, the ranks of her army moved out, though a bit tentatively, to conquer the enemy, and Sarah had to move out with it, or face further embarrassment.
"Choosing" didn't happen this time.
By the time she had attempted to unglue her eyes from the ground, on which they had been dutifully concentrating, most of the partners around her were taken. Hesitantly, she glanced up along the wall. Sure enough – there they were, the 2 untaken – trying to escape notice just as hard as she was.
Wallflowers anonymous, anyone?
But as they were guys, it was less likely to happen. As in any dance class, the dragged- in and threatened-in "gentlemen" were dominated hands-down by the herd of "ladies" eager to dance.
Watching the TAs demonstrate the tango step they were about to learn, Sarah felt herself shiver.
Was it just her, or were the TAs indecently close? Maybe those two were just a couple, though, unable to keep hands AND legs off of each other… but then, the others were doing the same thing… and how could she do the steps with someone in the way like that?
And what with the whole predator/prey thing, Sarah felt very uncomfortable about this dance. Even about watching it.
"EVERYONE IN DANCE POSITION!"
Assuming dance position with her partner, Sarah shifted gingerly from foot to foot.
Two feet away, her tango partner coughed, trying and failing to look professional.
"Ok, everyone, on my count – guys forward with your left, ladies, back with your right – FORWARD, FORWARD… FORWARD, SIDE, TOGETHER."
The class, paired up, made their first set of clumsy steps together with their partners.
Some tripped over each other, some went the wrong way, some did fairly well, some missed the count altogether.
This time, Sarah and her meek dance partner ended up better than most. They went the right way, Sarah avoided getting stepped on, and no one ran into them.
Jareth took a deep breath, trying to tell himself to enjoy this experience.
Sarah was obviously uncomfortable, and her partner just as much so. At least he wasn't taking advantage of the situation. It was all really rather funny. Except one thing was very definitely off…
But Jareth liked it much better this way. Hopefully no one would take notice.
He would correct her tango position later.
Himself.
"SLOW, SLOW, QUICK-QUICK, together!"- the teacher counted again, and the class moved out further yet. After the fifth or so time of this, most had caught on.
Sarah was pretty damn well pleased with herself. Dancing the tango, no fear, no sweat. Look at her – she knew the basic step, the promenade, - though her partner couldn't turn without tripping over himself – and even that dipping thing… Well, sort of…
She lifted up her head and her eyes flashed out with queenly air, as she executed the drills with certain a snappiness she had so often admired in the professional dancers from her motley assortment of youtube videos.
She was rather enjoying this, Jareth noticed.
Well, who'd have thought?
His little Sarah actually liking a dance as erotic as the tango.
She certainly looked gorgeous, especially now that she had gained some confidence. Sureness and beauty flashed in her every movement – she was obviously enjoying each step she took.
Her partner would need to be different, of course… and her attire as well.
Perhaps - a sleek red ball gown. Slitted, naturally… Her dark hair lifted up into a loose knot at the nape of that delicate neck … loose wisps of it flying up with every turn… a single red rose flashing in the candlelight… lights shining in the depths of those strikingly green, deer-like eyes… the velvet of her pupils deepening, closer and closer… until her lashes fluttered down over them in surrender to his lead…
Wrapped up in his fantasy-vision of Sarah, the Goblin King didn't notice her wildly careening and overly-inflated level of confidence.
It had always gotten her into trouble, hadn't it?
"I think I'm getting better…" she exclaimed, cocky now. "I could never do this before…"
"It's a piece of cake!"
Jareth snapped to attention, coming out of his reverie in disbelief. Hadn't that girl learned anything in the Underground?
Oh dear.
Sarah might have said those words to her silent dance partner, for lack of anyone else to share her newfound confidence with, but the air around her stopped to take in the long-forgotten vibration of their sound…
"So the tango's a piece of cake, is it…?" it seemed to ask. "Lets see how you deal with this little slice…"
Jareth dropped his head in his hands.
"Would you like to dance?" came Adams voice behind Sarah.
She spun around to face the tall and heavy TA. This one could definitely dance. It was him she had watched during the tango demonstration. She had been rather disturbed by how close he got to his partner.
And now he was asking her.
Fighting her fear, Sarah gave him her hand. It was strictly against class rules to refuse an invitation – something about "fostering a safe learning environment" and all that jazz... Personally, Sarah thought that it was put in place to ensure that the class wouldn't get clique-y. Not that a harmless little class policy could put a stop to that.
But with Adam, she wouldn't have dared refuse anyway. There was something overbearing in his manner. Not compelling, per se – but he was not someone who was easy to refuse, once his attention had been caught.
Adam led her away from The Herd of other girls, and Sarah felt more and more uncomfortable with each step. The Herd called, and she wanted badly to be amongst them, to lose herself and be indistinguishable in their moving and giggling ranks.
Apparently, there was a first time for everything.
"You will never be indistinguishable, Love." Jareth sighed, trying to keep the crystal in his hand from twitching with the combination of pity, anger and jealous rage.
He wasn't scoring very high in the fields of patience, calm and sanity at the moment.
He knew what was about to happen.
Sarah, who did not know, wanted to disappear.
Not only had they stopped in the center, away from everyone else, they were one of only three pairs. She felt like she was going to be offered up as a sacrifice to the dancing gods. The rest of the class, male and female, were on the sidelines, watching.
Watching them. Her.
"We'll now be reviewing the step called media-corte, the one with the dip. You're having some trouble with this one, I think."
Sarah closed her eyes, trying to breathe.
Adam grinned.
"GET IN DANCE POSITION!"
Jareth winced, biting his lips, as his teeth drew blood.
A nice fat juicy chapter for you! what did you think of the tango?