Checked for continuity, grammar, and spelling: May 3, 2011.
Chapter Eighteen: Sunday In the Park
It was a perfect spring day. The sun was shining brightly and fluffy clouds meandered across the sky casting their misshapen shadows upon the ground. The remainder of their picnic lunch was spread out on the blue and white checked cloth. Jareth lay on his side, propped up on one elbow. He lounged elegantly, exuding power and control while simultaneously appearing to be almost completely relaxed. Except, Sarah noted, for a small wrinkle that had appeared in the middle of his forehead as he furrowed his brow in concentration. For once, however, he was not focusing on Sarah. She in turn was taking full advantage of his inattention and the opportunity to simply study his character and countenance in person. Leaning against a tree, her eyes were half lidded and a smile played gently on her lips.
Though her gaze drifted all across him, her eyes were constantly drawn to his hands. Between his gloved fingers dangled Sarah's keys. He had commandeered them shortly after they had finished eating and fell silent as he contemplated the six multi-colored sides of her Rubik's Cube. It did not take long before he set himself to twisting and turning it.
When he began, Sarah assumed it would not take long before the puzzle was solved. In truth, when she had finally looked at it Monday evening she had been genuinely surprised that it had not been solved in the short time he had held it. Yet here he was, growing frustration slowly marring his features. He had seemed to be doing well enough with it at first, the colors swiftly slotting into place with an ease of which she had a difficult time not being envious. Yet at some point, he appeared to have got stuck.
From what she could tell, he was only a few squares away from completion. But every time he would get one of those squares on the correct side, he would turn the cube and a new square would be misplaced. She guessed that there was an easy solution to the problem, but that the more frustrated he became the more difficult it would be to see that solution. Wondering how long it would actually take him to figure it out, Sarah's smile grew.
Feeling strangely content, Sarah looked over the park to see who else was around. A large family on the other side was having a picnic as well. Snatches of 'Here Comes the Sun' could be picked up across the distance from where it played on their portable stereo. There were a bunch of kids on the swings, parents, elder siblings, and babysitters clustered around the picnic tables near the jungle gym. Taking up most of the field itself were five young men tossing a football around.
She recognized all of them, having gone to college with the lot. Edmund, the only one she had ever had direct contact with on a regular basis on account of Agnes, was the only one still attending as he was taking a fifth year to finish his degree as well. Three of the others, Rex, Nathan, and Herb, had graduated the previous year with Agnes. The fifth, Clark, had graduated her freshman year. However, the recognition acknowledged in the back of her mind, she brushed their presence aside in favor of continuing to enjoy the sight of Jareth, telling herself it was merely amusement at seeing him not having an immediate answer or solution to a problem that drew her constant attention. She did admit, however begrudgingly, that when he was not throwing her completely off her guard, he was rather adorable.
"Dude, check it out." One of the young men playing football threw it to another and pointed off to some point in the distance. "Isn't that chick over there the friend of that one girl you're into?"
Edmund glanced over his shoulder as he flipped the football in his hands. Sarah was leaning against a tree next to some blonde guy who was lying on the ground. "Yeah, looks like it. I wonder who she's with. Doesn't look like anyone I know, but then I can't actually see his face." The five young men gathered together in a mock-huddle. Though for all appearances they may have seemed to be discussing football strategy, the focus was less on the ball than it was on the couple in the distance.
"Sarah Williams, right?" mused the first. At Edmund's nod, he continued. "I bet that makes the guy this Mystery Man everyone's been buzzing over on campus."
"How did you know about that, Clark? You hardly ever turn up on campus since you graduated, and even when you do it is only for home football games."
"Shelby told me. Her younger sister, Kara, lives in the halls and told her the whole thing, including how he took her to Clancy's on their first date. I then got the story from Shel, along with a commentary on how romantic it all is."
"Oh, man, she's hinting. Better get her flowers or something," advised Herb.
Clark shook his head. "Nah, flowers wouldn't work since they won't be 'of the finest crystal ever seen'."
"Oh that guy," threw in Rex, accompanied by nods from the other two. Though the three had graduated already as well, they still had friends enough who attended to keep them abreast of any interesting news. "He has made life difficult for any guy who attempts to do something sweet in order to get a girl's attention."
Edmund snorted. "Obviously won't affect you any, Rex."
"Hey, it might!" he said defensively, his indignant expression growing as the other four laughed. "Shut up. Anyway, whatever the case, what are we going to do to him?"
"Do?" asked Clark, giving Rex a sideways look. "Just because he's apparently more romantic than nearly every male in the mortal world put together, why should we do anything to him?"
"No, no. Because he's putting the moves on Williams. She wasn't the most social butterfly when I was at school, far too busy studying than could possibly be healthy, but she always seemed like a nice girl. Gave everyone the time of day whether she had the time for it or not. And, according to Ed's missus-"
"Agnes isn't my missus."
"Whatever, Ed. We all know you're whipped, and she isn't even your girlfriend yet. Fool boy. As I was saying, according to Ed's missus, she deserves a 'prince among men' not 'some two-bit hack who wouldn't know what to do with a real woman if presented with one on a silver platter'."
That earned him a variety of looks from the others. After a moment of silence, Nathan voiced the question they all wanted the answer to. "Um, when did Agnes ever say that?"
Rex shrugged. "For a laugh, I tried to get her to put in a good word for me with Williams once and she nearly ripped my head off."
"When was this?" asked Edmund.
"Back in sophomore year. Shortly before she started seeing Sammuel, actually."
Edmund's face darkened. "Huh. She should have taken you seriously. Then maybe Sarah wouldn't have gotten involved with that ba-"
"Hang on," interrupted Clark, not really wanting to hear the litany of insults about to roll of Edmund's tongue. "This still doesn't explain why we should be doing something to him. He hasn't done anything swanky, just, well, showered her with gifts, took her to dinner, and appears to be having a picnic with her."
"Aren't all those flowers and things swanky enough? Probably only wants one thing." When he only received more incredulous looks, Rex sighed. "Ok, fine. But everyone knows what a hard time Sammuel gave her after their break-up, right?" The others nodded, Edmund more vehemently than the others. "Deserves better than that. Like I said before, she seems like a nice girl. Agnes is her best friend and is highly protective of her. Since Ed might as well be Agnes' boyfriend, and we're all Ed's crew, by default we are supposed to be equally protective of her. We should in the very least go check him out and make sure he isn't going to turn out to be another Sammuel, or isn't taking advantage of Williams' vulnerable state of rebound or something."
"That's one of the dumbest reasons I've ever heard for interfering with a date between two people you hardly know," stated Clark.
"Besides," Edmund added, "Agnes wouldn't agree with the reasoning."
"You're right. He's whipped," commented Herb.
"Well, I guess in the very least we could go say hi, offer to see if he wants to play a round with us, that sort of thing," suggested Nathan, scratching his head. "It would be the friendly thing to do since Ed here knows Sarah."
Clark rolled his eyes. "You're as bad as him." He gestured with his thumb toward Rex. "Just leave them alone. If you offer to play and he says yes then he'll be rude for leaving Sarah. And if he says no then-"
"Then he's probably a pansy and shouldn't be dating Sarah in the first place," finished Herb.
"Oh, there's no question about that. Any guy who pulls off romantic gestures like those flowers has to be a pansy to come up with it in the first place." Edmund and Clark groaned. "So, three against two, here's what we'll do." After Rex finished explaining his plan, they broke apart and took their positions.
"I can't believe I'm actually going along with this," Clark muttered to Edmund.
"You're telling me" came the reply. "Agnes is going to kill me."
"Eddie-boy, go long!" The shout from the field drew Sarah's attention. Looking up, she could see that the friendly game of catch had turned into something a bit more rambunctious. Edmund was running toward them, though he was looking over his shoulder at Rex. Rex, on the other hand, had just thrown the ball. As Edmund watched the ball fly up and over his head, one of the other boys yelled, "HEADS UP!"
Jareth was completely wrapped up in the puzzle. He knew he should have been engaging with Sarah and not her keychain, but the temptation of a puzzle waiting to be solved was too great a temptation to be resisted. Besides, when he picked it up to examine it, he did not think it would take him long. Much to his chagrin, it was taking much longer than he intended. As frustrating as such a realization was, he also found himself reluctant to actually solve it. On the edge of his awareness, he could feel Sarah's eyes on him, as well as her peaceful mood. Not wanting to spoil that, he resigned himself to continuing his current plan of attack on the puzzle, futile though it was.
Abruptly, the calm emanating from Sarah was replaced by surprise, and then fear. Instantly on his guard, he raised his eyes to her face, extending his senses further to encompass a wider area. Sarah's eyes had grown wide and she appeared to be frozen in place. Cringing, she was flattening herself against the tree. Her safety at the forefront of his mind, Jareth simply acted.
For Sarah, time seemed to slow once again as she watched the ball come hurtling directly toward her at great speed. She felt like a deer caught in headlights and tried to will her body to throw itself out of the way. At its reluctance to obey, she did the only other thing she could think of and closed her eyes, turning her head away and bracing herself for impact.
It never came. Instead, she felt herself being torn away from the tree and heard a soft, "phump." With it came the sound of people running over and skidding to a halt and a collective "Whoa." Reminding herself to breathe, she cracked an eye to see what had happened.
The five friends stood in shock, unsure what they had seen. The plan was for Edmund to run after the football and 'trip' onto the couple under the tree. Unexpectedly, Rex miscalculated and over threw the ball. As it spun through the air directly toward Sarah, Clark had yelled a warning, but it seemed she was unable to react. They all pelted toward her, knowing they would not reach her in time. The guy she was with had yet to move.
Then, at the last possible moment, it happened. None of them would have believed it possible for anyone to move that fast. With the fluidity and agility of a cat, he sprang from the ground and snatched Sarah away from the tree with one arm, cradling her to his chest in a protective gesture. The look in his eyes as he scanned the area for danger was nearly feral, daring anyone to come after that which he held. But what had impressed the five most of all was that, even having removed Sarah from the path of harm, he still had reached out one hand to pluck the football from the air with the nonchalant ease of an afterthought.