Sarah walked slowly up the steps. She was deep in thought. Everything had started happening so fast, already he was lavishing her with gifts and making advances. She wondered if she should have let Jareth kiss her. Sarah stomped on those thoughts immediately. She was just here because of her friends, and no other reason. She had to remind herself of this often. Especially when Jareth paid extra attention to her. It was hard for her to peel her gaze away from him at times.
Sarah shook her head at these thoughts. She shouldn't think of him this way. An enemy, and a threat, yes, a pawn, perhaps, any sort of love interest? Absolutely not! The very thought was grotesque, he was so much older than her, he was a grown man when she was barely a teenager. He may not have looked like he had aged but there was no denying that he was much older than her.
Her thoughts turned to the idea that had been creeping in the back of her mind since she even thought of coming to the labyrinth. If she could usurp Jareth, she could use the magic to her advantage at home; she wouldn't have to rely on his kindness to see her friends or to return to the labyrinth. She could even use it to make some situations at home better. It wouldn't be that hard if she got the help of some goblins that disliked Jareth. Sarah was sure there had to be a good number of those. She looked at Jareth's back quizzically. Maybe, just maybe, she could, it could be easy if she did it right. Perhaps she shouldn't be so cold to him, so as to put up a façade, maybe he wouldn't even suspect her plan if she pretended to not hate him.
No, it wasn't a good idea. She shouldn't jeopardize her situation here. Jareth would surely throw her into the deepest, darkest oubliette he could find. Unless… no, these speculations and plots were useless. There was no way that Sarah could match Jareth in strength. Not only physically, but mentally, and magically, not to mention that his army would be far bigger than anything she could ever come up with. She had beaten him once, but that didn't mean she could do it again.
But, supposing that she was able to fool him into thinking she had feelings back, she could hurt him enough that if he did beat her, she would be let free because she had broken his heart and he was too weak to hurt her too. It could work, she could have Sir Didymus and Hoggle spread the information and have secret meetings right here, under his nose, after all, she could keep him out if she wanted.
But how would she fool Jareth? She contemplated this as they reached the top of the island-hill and she sat down on a bench. Jareth began to instruct her in how to move things. Sarah only half-listened, absorbed mostly in her own thoughts, so her attempts at moving rocks failed miserably.
Jareth looked at her with his eerily lovely, mismatched eyes, "Sarah, are you even trying? You've got to want to do this," he said in disappointment as she failed another time to move a rock.
'It's now or never,' Sarah thought to herself as she got up from her seat, "I- I know, I do want to learn, I really do, but I can't concentrate, I keep thinking," Sarah said taking a step towards Jareth.
"You have to clear your mind then, if your thoughts are so distracting," Jareth said with no visible change of emotion.
"I can't, I keep thinking of you," Sarah said as she drew herself closer to Jareth.
Sarah began to feel bad that she had started this as she saw his face light up. It was subtle but still there. How could she be doing this, toying with his feelings, fully knowing that he cared for her so much? But it was too late to go back now, Sarah had to continue.
"Have you really Sarah? Have you finally gotten past your distrust of me?" Jareth said placing his hand gently on her cheek and looking into her eyes.
Sarah tried to tell herself to tell the truth, to get out of this. But his eyes pulled her in, they were so eerily beautiful she couldn't stop herself from saying yes.
As before, Jareth leaned in towards Sarah, for a kiss. But this time Sarah didn't move, instead she moved to meet his lips.
It wasn't like any kiss Sarah had every experienced, and she had kissed her fair share of men. It sent chills up and down her spine. The world seemed to disappear and all that Sarah was aware of was him and his kiss. She felt herself melt into his arms as the kiss continued.
Slowly after what seemed like a lifetime they ended their kiss. Sarah mentally shook her head to clear it. Her thoughts were fuzzy and for a second she thought she could actually be returning Jareth's feelings. This very idea was of course ridiculous, but yet she had been having this feeling so often. Sarah smiled at Jareth to keep the charade going. "I think I can pay attention to those magic lessons now," she said shyly.
As they went back to the magic lessons Sarah began to feel guilty. But filled with warmth after the kiss, although she convinced herself it was from something entirely different.
