GKnI Ch.1: A Spontaneous Waltz

The Goblin King and I Chapter One: A Spontaneous Waltz


Author's Note: Hello all! My name is Wren, and I am here to tell you my story of what happens when wishes go wrong. And then work out better than expected.

No, you did not misread my name. It's Wren. Not Sarah. I know she has a following, and that's great and all, but to all the Sarah fans out there, so sorry chums. It ain't happenin'. SHE HAD HER CHANCE! NOW IT'S MY TURN! MUAHAHAHAHA!

Ahem. Anyway, I hope you give my tale a chance, and enjoy it all the same. Or, hey, you're also welcome to point and laugh, if you'd like. It's all good.

Enjoy!




Staring at a computer screen is not fun. Well, I suppose it can be, but when you do it all day long, no, it is not very fun. You get this glazed look on your face and your eyes kinda burn after awhile.

I looked away from the accursed screen and stared out the window of my office. Not too many people were in today. A couple of people were in training classes and another had a doctor's appointment, so all in all the office was very quiet and, consequently, making me sleepy.

Eh, back to the drawing board. I rubbed my eyes a little and went back to my work… then realized that I had finished the stack of documents I had been working on and needed to print out more.

Uh, what do I do, you ask? I work in the financial department of a small college. I'll be nice, and not say which one. I process financial aid vouchers that are received via email. Not the most glamorous of jobs, but it certainly beats being on the phone all day, or, you know, working fast food. Plus, working for a college is great, as it means free tuition, and with a large family like mine, free tuition is pretty much the only way I can afford a higher education.

So, anyhoo, I went back to that special inbox for the vouchers that students send in and printed out the remainder – since my department had hired two more people to do the same thing that I do, had been been slow in the office, and the three of us have been able to keep up with the workload (was it only a few months ago that I, all alone, had been backed up to almost 700 emails?). But there were five new ones. I flagged them blue so my teammates wouldn't work the same ones and printed them out.

With a sigh, and a silent wish for a little excitement in a day that was, so far, looking up to be dully and terribly mind numbing, I made my way over to the printer.

See, my team works in a relatively private section of a large building. We almost have a whole room with these lovely bright windows all to ourselves. A few people pass through our area to get to other rooms, but for the most part, we're solitary. My whole team, except my manager, work in short cubicles… that means our desks are divided by walls, but the walls only go about 15 inches over the desk level, so we can all see each other. We have two printers, one close and in the middle of our small cubes, only a few feet from where I sit, and the other is over on the other side of the room, by the door.

I like the far printer. For one, I get more exercise traveling to that one, but also there is a line of empty tall cubicles, that reach way over my head, between where my team sits and the printer. My manager has one, but it's on the side that faces my team.

So, when I go over there, I have a moment to myself. And, those cubes are empty, so I can hide in one when I need to.
…not that I need to hide at work, but don't you ever have those days when you want to be alone, even if only for five minutes?

So I passed the small cubes, and moved on past the big ones, and there's the printer on a counter top, just to the right of the door.

And wouldn't you know it, someone else had printed something off. Dang it.

"Great," I muttered, taking the stack of papers from the printer, "Now I need to sift through these for mine…"

But, as I started to sit them out on the counter, someone grabbed me from behind, whirling me around – and, I might add, scaring the crap out of me.

He was wearing his formal outfit – the one that drives me mental, it's so refined– and his hair had streaks of blue in it… oh, so hot! His mismatched eyes, while they had startled me, sparkled at me, filled with mischief.

"Jareth!" I hissed at him, "What are you doing-"

He touched a gloved finger to his lips, indicating that I should be quiet.

I was quiet. But… still… "I told you… what if someone sees you…"

He raised a haughty eyebrow at me and whispered, "Coward."

I glared at him. He grinned back. Urgh, he was so infuriating sometimes!

But before I could really start to argue with him, he took me in his arms and started waltzing with me… huh? What? What was he thinking?

"What in heaven's name are you doing?" I hissed, "You shouldn't be here, at my work, where anyone could come in and see you. And what's with the dancing?" I mean, there was not much room back there to waltz. We'd almost hit the counter, a metal filing cabinet (empty, but would ring out loudly if bumped), a cube wall and a cork board.

He spun me dreamily, his face still very haughty and aloof, moved so his mouth was just next to my ear and said softly, his gorgeous accent clouding my senses, "I'm giving you a little excitement in your dull day." His voice sent chills down my spine.

And with that, he twirled me into the farthest tall cube. Technically, it's in the corner, farthest from the printer, the small cubes, and even the door. No one goes in there, except me when I'm hiding… problem is, there isn't room in it for me to 'waltz', either.

I was all ready to smack into the empty desktop, but I blinked and staggered instead.

The cube was gone, and we were in a ballroom. It was impossible, as the ballroom technically stretched past where me and my team's cubes were. I looked back as Jareth entered and I could still see my office behind him. I was confused… but hey, now there was room to waltz. I wasn't about to complain.

He may be infuriating at time, but he can also be equally romantic. Magic so rules.

Quickly, he took me in his arms and we began waltzing around the floor, neither saying anything, but instead just watching each other and listening to the tinkling music in the room. I was still in my work clothes, so I'm sure we looked crazy together, but I suppose it didn't matter, as it was just us.

I love dancing, and love it even more when it's with him. On my own, you see, I can't dance worth a squat, but Jareth is fabulous! He is so good, he makes me look good – and that really says something, trust me. So we waltzed quickly around the room, he dipped me a few times, spun me out, pulled me back in so that my back was against his chest… I could smell him... man, he smells good...

He wrapped his arms around me, breaking the waltz, hugging me tenderly from behind for just a moment (which was a little awkward, since he was a good six inches taller than me, and therefore had to watch where his hands went… hee…), before he quickly turned me around – or had he come around to the other side of me? I couldn't tell – and took my face in both his hands and kissed me.

Oh heavens…

Weeee! I wanted to giggle and squeal – but doing so would mean breaking the kiss. Pfft, wasn't about to do that. I felt like I was flying…

I gasped and pulled back, hearing him laugh deviously…

And he was gone. I stood alone in the back cube, all evidences of any kind of ballroom gone, slightly breathless and hearing his laughter fading away in my ears.

And now we were back to infuriating. Friggin' Goblin King! I'd deal with him when I got off work…

I peeked around the corner to see if anyone was at the printer. Once I made sure the coast was clear, I returned to my place at the printer to continue sorting out which papers were mine…

I blinked in surprise. As crazy and haughty and infuriating and snobbish and mischievous and frustrating as Jareth may be, he did have a heart. He'd sorted out my papers for me.

I put the ones that weren't mine back on the printer, ran a hand through my hair to make sure it wasn't mussed before skipping back to my desk, feeling much better and grinning like an idiot.