As if Evelyn’s hazel gaze wasn’t captivating enough, her words alone sufficed to stun Jareth completely. His altered mind trudged through what she had just said, dissecting it piece by piece, as if that would make it easier to fathom. A game - a three part challenge - with the final reward being… being hers tonight? Talking to her at all, let alone for as long as Jareth already had been, was astounding. The fact that she had just offered even a glimmer of hope at sleeping with her nearly left him slack-jawed. Of course, he wasn’t about to let this opportunity slip away like the sand beneath their feet. After Jade, well, let’s just say it has been a while… not counting the rebounding shit he and Ely did right after the break up. It was possible that he was reading between the lines a little too much here, but hell, it was worth playing her game just to find out.
“All right, then. Game on.” Jar said with his signature grin - a half smile that raised one cheek high enough to squint his right eye slightly. He hooked both of his thumbs in the pockets of his skinny jeans - though they were not as painfully skinny as usual, allowing room for swim trunks underneath - as he eagerly awaited the first of her three challenges.
With a rise of her lips, Eve surveyed his every move in chilling silence. He was a lucky one tonight. If the raven gave anyone more than two minutes of her time, that meant she had a reason. As he stood there with the stereotypical stance of his “type”, the wind blew strands of hair in front of and to the side of her face, causing her to brush those strands behind her ears, she softly teased, “Are you sure?” Tempting as she was, she wanted him to be fully positive he knew what he was getting himself into. A night with Eve was a dangerous thing. Oh, and maybe she was testing the waters to see how passionate he was to do three dares to get close with her. Her eyes trailed from him back to the party, taking note of the dance floor having a circle of people - that was now dispersing. Oh, lovely. A fight had just taken placed. How unfortunate she missed it.
Once again, Eve settled that rather unsettling gaze on him. There were very few people in Beverly Hills High that Jareth would describe as intimidatingly gorgeous, and Evelyn Harding was definitely one of them. Worse yet, she seemed to be fully aware of the effect she had. She was toying with him, but a scuffle near the dancefloor had distracted her momentarily. When she looked back to him, he did his best to cover his nerves and gave her a silent, yet confident, nod.
Bringing her attention back to the emo kid, the songstress gently bit her bottom lip in excitement before bringing up her first challenge (or at least trying to), “Why don’t you go over there and--”
“Of all people I would catch chatting, you are two people I never thought would be together.”
Growing silent, since she was rudely interrupted, Evelyn glanced at one of her fans, her expression unenthused and apathetic. That girl had more pricks than a second hand dartboard. Jade was becoming more and more insufferable as the days went on. This is why you do not befriend loyal fans. They forget their place and think they have the right to approach you every chance they get. What a cheap slut. Glancing at Jareth, then to Jade, then back to him again, the raven warmly smiled, “Looks like we’ll have to reschedule.”
Her voice shifted from sweet to stern, like a parent scolding a child, as she brought her attention back to Jade, “It wasn’t like we were talking or anything.” Unfortunate circumstances for Jareth when his needy... friend? Girlfriend? Ex?... Didn’t want him to get laid.
Before she dismissed herself, she seductively whispered into Jar’s ear, “That’s too bad… we could have had fun.” Pulling away, she said her goodbyes, “Maybe you’ll get what you want from ‘your friend’.” With that, the dark haired beauty walked away.
Of all people. Of all people. Did Jade really have to come over here, right now, at this very instant? Without even consciously doing so, Jareth froze at the very sound of her voice. There wasn’t enough weed in the world to cover up the turbulent way that she made him feel these days. Jareth knows, he tested the theory, thoroughly. Not only that, but her very presence had driven Evelyn away. "That’s too bad… we could have had fun." The whisper still hung on his ear, threatening to send chills down his spine. Yeah, ‘too bad’ was right.
“You are an insufferable, wretched bitch.” Jareth said coldly, once he gained the composure lock his eyes with Jade in a harsh glare. Instead of reacting like the broken person he truly was, he fell back on old habits. Sadness was easily replaced by anger, it always had been. And right now, he was seething.
“Nice seeing you too, Eve!” Jade would say with a smile to the now departing rockstar, but that smile was gone as she heard Jar speak “What’s your deal, Wells? Seems to me you were losing that battle. It’s not like she’s out of your league or anything, right?” In that moment, Jade’s smile was back, if not slightly teasing towards Jareth.
Jar looked down at the sandy beach and laughed. Not a genuine laugh, no, the kind of laugh you do when you are in complete and utter disbelief that someone could actually do what they just did. Yeah, that’s the one. The breathy chuckle was cut short as he pulled his lip ring in with his front teeth and looked back up at her. He wanted to say a lot of things. He wanted to punch her lights out. He wanted to kiss her.
“What.. the.. fuck? What is this, Jade?” Jareth said in a raised tone. Generally, when he wasn’t fronting the band, Jar was quite soft spoken. He certainly wasn’t right now, though. “It has been weeks. WEEKS! You haven’t said a word to me. Why come over to me now? … are you fucking jealous?” he asked incredulously.
She wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of confirming or denying whether or not she was jealous of Eve, because if she was going to speak honestly, Jade was confident that he would think she was jealous. Like, come on! It’s Evelyn Harding. Anyone who was anyone, even someone who was at the bottom of the food chain, knew who she was. Adding to that, she was fucking hot. So, maybe there was some jealousy there, but that wasn’t what Jade was feeling right now. No, it surely wasn’t jealousy.
“Take a step back there, emo boy. You automatically assume that I give two shits who you decide to shack up with but I am a bit surprised that you would go for someone that high up on the food chain. I know you’re a glutton for punishment, but I didn’t know you were suicidal too.” Jade couldn’t help but laugh. There was not much else she could do at the current present.
“What?!” Despite being a poetic song writer, he was at a loss for words. Perhaps it was the blatant suicide reference, to the kid whose best friend in the whole world had actually tried to kill himself, yeah… she was always such a classy girl. For a moment, he wondered what exactly it was that he ever saw in her. Of course, what he saw in her was standing right there in front of him, all eight miles of those fine legs peeking out from under a skimpy tie dye cover-up. Before he could let those thoughts consume him, he looked away, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration. She could be the hottest girl at this party, she wasn’t, but if she was, he still wouldn’t take that bait. She was dead to him.
“You know what, Jade? Evelyn might be ‘out of my league’, but she’d never be what you were.” he let the statement hang there. Partially to be dramatic, partially because he was nutting up to actually say the next part. “A mistake. A huge, regrettable mistake. Fuck off, Jade.” he said, turning on his heel to leave her behind. Hopefully forever, if the world could ever be so merciful.
Jade wasn’t going to lie. That stung. It more than stung, it actually hurt. No, he didn’t hurt her feelings, not really, anyways. No, the fact that he said she was worse than Eve was a bold-faced lie. But of course, Jareth doesn’t know what Miss Harding did to her cousin, did he? No, not Jay. God-forbid Jay get on Eve’s radar, but Jackson. That impulsive, dense, half-witted assclown, who had nothing but affection for Eve, got entirely crushed. Now, Jade was originally going to thank Eve for what she did to Jackson, only if to thank her for knocking him down a peg or two, and bringing his obnoxious levels to surface level, but seeing as how she left, and Jareth was using the low road, the game was on.
“Oh that’s funny, Jareth” The way she said his name was meant to be taken as negative as humanly possible.”Shall I tell you a little story about Eve, hm? You might enjoy it.” Jade left her ex with that thought as he attempted to walk away.
Jareth had expected a witty retort. Their entire relationship had been made up of equal parts sex, and verbal sparring matches. So, when she spat his name in two venomous syllables, he react by holding up a middle finger behind him as he walked away, not even stopping to respond. “Tell it to someone who gives a shit, doll.” Right now, he wasn’t that someone. At least, he was really trying not to be. His buzz was officially killed, and the night looked to have no real prospects anymore. He was out of here.
Jade might’ve not been the kind of person who cared if he didn’t care about what she had to say, but it really ticked her off to no end that he couldn’t even say that to her face like a man. So, in a fit of rage(and partial offense), Jade stepped forward in a run, and brought her arms in front of her. Both palms were out, and she, quite literally, shoved Jareth’s back. “If you’re going to insult me, at least say it to my face, not as you’re walking away. Or maybe you can’t even face me LIKE A MAN” she said harshly, continuing to shove him until he turned around.
The force of her palms was enough to knock the wind out of him. Had this whole experience not been so sobering, he might have actually fallen instead of just stumbling forward. Deep down, he could have expected this kind of behavior from her, but it didn’t make it any less enraging. Spinning quickly on his feet, his glare shot daggers at her. He even dared to square up, toe-to-toe with her, so that he was not just to her face, but in her face. “Say what to your face, exactly?” his voice was louder than before. Not enough to cut above the music, but enough to perhaps turn the few nearby heads. “You’re a cunt, Jade Riley. And it was you who dumped me, remember? So why are you still talking? We’re done. I’m done. I don’t care about you, or whether or not you think I’m a man.” Jar stepped back so that he wasn’t quite so close to her, and raised both hands to flip her off this time. “To your face.” he quipped saltily.
Well, at least he finally told it to her face. At least he finally manned up, and told her exactly what he thought about her right to her face. If Jade weren’t wanting to give him any satisfaction through a verbal or facial response, she would give him exactly that. Seeing as how that wasn’t going to happen, a lightbulb went off in her head. Yeah, that could work. Jade smiled as wide as she could without giving anything away.
“You’re right, Jar-bear, I did dump you. I was the one who ended things, and yet,” Jade took a step forward to close the gap between them. “Despite your rhetoric, despite saying how done you are with me, you’re still here. You could have just as easily walked away, and left me alone here, but you didn’t.” Jade’s left arm began to stroke Jar’s slowly, “you can easily save both of us a lot of wasted time and admit you’re still into me.” Jade’s other arm came around Jar’s waist, her head arching back so her eyes met his.
Jareth would be lying if he said that he didn’t like how this felt. For nights after the break-up, he had sleeplessly stared up at the ceiling, wishing for a moment like this, like a lovesick puppy. To be holding her, to be held by her, to feel loved. Too bad Jade kicked puppies. He could let this happen, whatever this was. A part of him - a larger part than he cared to admit - wanted to let this happen. He was weak, and he always had been. He always would be. But… even the slightest prospect of having something better than the heartache Jade had to offer, was enough to sober him. Jareth lifted his hands and ran them up her arms, softly at first before gripping just below her shoulders and urging her away “Please. Don’t do this.” he said, the fire in his voice was gone now. For the first time tonight, she was hearing him for what he was: wounded.
Oh what to do? Jade thought about that for a moment. Even as she caught wind of something giving in with Jar, she didn’t do anything…yet. She wanted to take in his face, how he was failing to resist her, and just everything that was happening in the span of the last couple of seconds.
When the time came for her to act, Jade would do it in silence. No words, nothing resembling even half of a word. Utter, and complete silence as she raised her body up by her tippy-toes, and gave Jar a rather steamy kiss on his lips. It would only last a few seconds.
As she went back down on her feet, Jade smiled, looking around. “Oh look, there’s Jay. I gotta catch up with him. See ya around, Jar!~” Jade shot Jareth a wink, and ran off towards where Jay and Sierra were at.
The kiss had only lasted for a few seconds, but that was all it took. The weeks spent gluing the broken pieces back together was undone in just a few, devastating seconds. Jade’s final words didn’t even register, the only thing that did was that she was gone now. Jareth was left alone to be consumed by his own fragility, which he was. It was hard to breathe. The tremors started first in his hands, like they always did, travelling upwards until they became full-on shakes. His mind whirled faster than one of those rides at the fair that leave you feeling nauseas. He couldn’t settle it on any one thing, so instead it spun through everything. Jareth ran his hands over his face and knotted his fingers in the hair near his temples as he tried to focus on anything to anchor him back to the present. A sight, a sound, a smell. Jesus fucking Christ, it was hard to breathe!
It had been a long while since his anxiety had gotten the best of him, as his most recent dosage adjustment had been working. Once the worst of the attack had passed, Jareth decided that it was time to drown the rest of his feelings in alcohol. Jar trudged through the sand until he found himself back at the drinks table. Coincidentally, Ari was also there - alive, but no longer standing. Jar glanced at his friend, his own expression a mixture of distress and silent rage, before he poured himself three consecutive shots of tequila. It tasted like ball sweat, but it would do the trick.
Jareth looked back to his friend now. He looked grumpy, but Ari always looked a little bit grumpy. Jar considered the fact that he had essentially ditched him earlier, but struggled to form the words for a proper apology. Honestly, he really wished he hadn’t left him at all in the first place. Nothing good had come out of it, which must have been evident on his face. “You should try guys.” Ari said rather matter-of-factly.
The slight bitterness in his best friend’s tone went over his head, as did the not-so-subtle implication. Jareth chuckled quietly. “Yeah…” he said and then looked away, distracted by a thought. “One day... women will all become monsters.” Jareth mused and then slumped down defeatedly into the sand beside his buddy.