"Do you walk the park paths much?" Sarah inquired. Then she chided herself and stood up. "I am Sarah," she offered, a bit reproachfully, and extended her hand. He took it in his own grasp firmly.
"Ben," he replied. Then, "Actually, Benjamin Friedrich Stanton III. I much prefer Ben."
"I can see why," Sarah laughed. She definitely liked this man. "So you are here on campus?" She asked casually. She didn't want to end this conversation just yet.
"No, I'm a fourth year, and I live in an apartment with a college buddy."
"I'm still stuck in the dorms; I'm a sophomore."
"Ah, those were the years," Ben said dreamily, jokingly. "Easy classes, frat parties..."
"You lived in a fraternity? How come you don't any more?" Sarah was shocked. For one; she hadn't expected a guy like Ben (as if she'd known him for years,) to be a frat boy, and two; he didn't seem like a guy to be kicked out of a fraternity...or party.
"No, I never belonged to a frat," he answered with a spark in his eyes. "I've never actually been to a frat party, either. The whole jip I said about easy classes was bollox. I was always boggled down with studying." He grinned.
"Ugh, I know that feeling," Sarah replied, recalling her nightly routine of sleep deprivation.
Ben casually looked down at his watch. "Hey, I have a class in fifteen," he said. Sarah's heart melted. Then, he looked back at her and said, "Would you like to catch dinner some time?" Sarah's heart jumped in her throat.
"Y-yes," she managed. thud. thud. thud.
"Great!" He said enthusiastically. "When?"
"Uhm...uhm..." she fumbled. When was she free? Her nights were never free! Screw that, I'll make time! "Tomorrow night?"
"Done!"
Sarah's heart skipped like, seven beats. A date! A date a date a date a date! "Done." she managed.
"I'll meet you here," he said, and bid her adieu. Sarah was left to stand on her grassy knoll, staring after the first guy who had given notice to her in like...forever. She raced home gleefully and plopped on her bed. Fidgetting for her inactivity, she searched around for something to do. "Ah, heck," she said to herself, "why not take advantage of this energy and actually do some studying?" Not that she would sleep tonight, anyway, but she'd deal with that as it came to her.
Jareth seethed with anger and threw his crystal away from him, wishing ever so much that it would crash on the floor and shatter into millions of tiny shards. Instead, it dissipated into the air before contacting the ground. He growled and stood up from his throne, needed to find a way to release is frustration.
He had been gazing upon Sarah as she rested upon the grass when that {i]man approached her and actually asked her OUT! As if she belonged to him! He wanted to reach through his crystal ball and place his shaking hands around that man's neck and suffocate him.
Jareth strode around the thrown room, almost wishing that he had some goblins to kick around. It would be a way of venting his frustration.
If only I could go to the mortal world and deal with this myself! he thought. The he stopped in his tracks. What was keeping him from going to the mortal world? Had anyone ever tried to reach it physically? Jareth could not recall anyone in the entire history of the underworld that had even attempted going to the mortal world. If mortals could venture to the underworld, why could not he venture to the mortal world?