Ch. 19
"Yes," he said, pointing to a blonde in the front row. She was one of the newer Tas, he remembered.
"We did waltz and foxtrot with Eric," she said in a voice that betrayed her boredom with all three. "But can we do a Latin dance today? A Rhumba or a ChaCha or something with some hip action? Pretty please?" He could hear the open flirtation in the "please", as she looked at him with pouting eyes. In the back, he heard Sarah sigh. She had obviously heard it too. She sounded slightly disgusted... or could that possibly be jealousy he was hearing?
Suddenly, a new thought occurred to Jareth. He focused his gaze on the blonde girl in front of him, who was mentally undressing him again. He angled his body to her, without looking away. With a smirk, he noticed her breath catch in her throat, when she realized that he was looking directly at her, not breaking the eye-contact.
As the girl's heart fluttered and her breath quickened, bringing a blush to her cheeks, Jareth noticed smugly that it had not escaped Sarah's attention. She stood, leaning against the wall, her hands crossed in front of her chest, pretending to be bored with the scene. But he could tell that she was watching.
"Well, I suppose I could teach a Rhumba..." Jareth purred, lacing his words with as much sensuality as he could without dropping into obscenity. The rest of the class looked on, interested. Even the boys couldn't help themselves.
"And you will help me." Jareth told the girl, smiling wickedly. It was not a question, and there was no escape. "What is your name?"
"Uh... Jenny.." the girl was obviously uncomfortable now, he saw. The mental undressing had definitely ceased.
Another swift glance at Sarah revealed more discomfort. Her eyes had narrowed and her posture had become stiff. She watched the exchange closely.
"Now, before we begin, I would like to show you what a Rhumba should look like." Jareth said. "As you may have already heard, the Rhumba is 'a vertical expression of a horizontal desire, legalized by music...' ".
He paused, letting the thought sink in and watching the different reactions.
Sarah looked puzzled for a second, then reddened beautifully, realizing what the words had implied. Adam grinned. Jareth was sure he had already known this quote. And Jenny, the curvy blonde girl who was so desirous of him a minute ago, pulled nervously on her dress, trying to make the overly-short skirt and belly-baring tank top cover as much of her as possible. It was an exercise in futility. He gave her another one of his wicked half-smiles, making her freeze and mid-gesture.
"Can anyone tell me," he asked after a minute. "What the most important piece of information is in this quote?"
The class looked down in unison, as awkward silence shrouded the room.
"Well, duh!" Adam said, sounding bored. "The horizontal desire, of course! I mean, have you seen the pros do Rhumba? It's like watching them do it on the dance floor!"
"Wrong."
Jareth wanted to dunk the miserable excuse for a male into the bog and hang him by his...
But he needed his self control, as much fun as it would be to cater to his whims.
"Wrong, young man. The most important, most vital part of both the quote and the dance is the music." he said.
Adam looked disappointed, but not upset or chagrined – Jareth noticed, feeling his anger rising again.
"It is the music" he continued, shoving it down again, "that allows us to express our desires," he paused to throw Jenny another look, while actually watching Sarah. "Its the music that gives us a rhythm, that gives the dance its life, that lets the leader enchant the follower, bending her to his will while, at the same time, letting her express herself through the dance. It is through music that we weave our Magic."
Another look stolen at Sarah showed him that she was not really as indifferent as she pretended to be. His words preyed on her thoughts, awakening her emotions. He saw her fight them, trying to keep herself free of their web, but he also saw that she was drawn to the words, to the meaning, to him. At the word "Magic", he could swear he saw her give a start, trying to stifle a gasp. She looked up at him then, and he met her glance for a second, before looking away.
"And now, please give us some space," Jareth commanded.
Jenny looked like she was thinking about bolting.
"Oh, and could someone please shut the door?" he said offhandedly. "There's a bit of a draft."
Jenny looked down, caught.
He drew a small memory stick from his pocket and looked around again, this time searching for Jake. He found him on the right side of the room, standing in a very similar posture to Sarah's – eye's narrowed, teeth clenched, body stiff. His heart was also racing, Jareth heard, surprised. What was with that mortal? he wondered, mentally shaking his head. He needed the boy functional enough to run the music.
He motioned Jake over and told him something quietly, handing him the memory stick, after which the latter gave a quivering sigh and disappeared into the small closet that served as the music room. Jareth sincerely hoped he wouldn't collapse right there and then – he needed the timing to be perfect.
"First, Jenny and I will demonstrate for you..." he stressed the name, delighting in both the shiver than ran through the Blonde's body, and at Sarah's reaction to the scene.
He took three sinuous steps forward, allowing his hips to move and pause one by one by one, in synch with his shoulders – like a jaguar's slinky yet graceful movements. Watching Sarah in his peripheral vision, he made a grand show of concentrating only on the Blonde.