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3,
LadyTari
22
Intensely aware of the exchange between Sarah and Adam, Jareth almost went off-count.
He felt himself go white-hot with fury at Adam's obvious come-on. How dare he do that to her? How dare he touch her that way? How dare he force her to himself!
Even in the crystal ballroom, when he had held Sarah close, when he had wanted to hold her to him more than anything he had ever wanted in his ageless life, he had let go when he felt her struggle against him.
He could easily have made her stay... He smiled at the thought.
But he hadn't forced her to. She was not to be forced.
He wished he could help her, throw Adam off of her, release her from his unwanted "attention" - but he had to keep his composure now. The boy wouldn't do anything too forward in public, and he had a plan to follow.
Jareth had to keep his body moving to the count, but his attention wavered now, no longer as concentrated on his partner as before. He tried to channel his anger.
The Rhumba got sharper, the motions coming more suddenly, with less preparation than they had before. Jenny kept up only because Jareth's body and hands made her.
If she was too late coming into a step, his body weight would shove her there, ready or no. If she didn't make a turn in time, she felt his hands whip her around, until she was dizzy with the countless sharp head changes. If she lost her balance, the hand beneath her shoulder blade would jolt her back onto her foot, the heat of it and the nearness of this stranger she was dancing with not making it any easier to concentrate. She felt like a marionette; as though, were her partner to stop his movement, she would collapse on the floor in a heap of arms and legs, twisted and bent at wrong angles.
His attention split between his two tasks, Jareth continued to watch Sarah struggle. He saw that she had formulated a plan, but couldn't tell what it was yet.
Mindlessly, he led Jenny into the "sliding doors" step, switching his his hips as he led her first to one side of his arching body, then over to the other, making a show of fixing his gaze on another girl in front of him.
He watched Adam's expression turn bitterly angry, as he looked up at the dance floor. His next words brought a smile curving its way up his face. "... bet they're all wondering what he's like in bed..." the boy had spat ruefully.
Yes. They were indeed wondering about that, he acquiesced, pushing Jenny into a "rope-spin" and pulling her around him only to turn her again, sharply, to end up face-to-face.
In fact, their mind was pretty much made up on the subject.
And then he just plain stopped, when he heard Sarah's retort. He couldn't believe he had just heard her pretty pouting mouth utter that.
It took almost everything he had to not drop his disguise and take her to the Underground right then and there. And the rest of it to stop himself from grinning like a Cheshire cat at her words.
Jenny felt the dictating rhythm of his hips halt mid-step. She managed to settle on her left hip and froze there, feeling suddenly unsure of herself. Without his lead to guide her, she didn't know what else she could do. She didn't know what count she was on, what move they had been doing, or where she even was on the floor, for that matter.
The bubble they had been moving in with slow, deliberate, entrancing steps, had shattered into a thousand water droplets, and she suddenly felt naked in front of the watching class.