Hey there ^-^! So as a quick little interval from my other story "Awakening" (Which I personally really like... :]) I decided to write "Jedi Mind Trick". Now I have a very vauge image of the timeline of Tara and Willow's relationship, so if it doesn't fit with the show's story time line, don't worry about it. Another note... I'll recap what's going on:
Willow and Tara have been friends for three months and Willow has been having immense conflicting feelings for her. She believes it's outrageous to like a girl and that Tara is absolutely, 100% straight. Having met on a quick coffee run for the Scooby gang, Willow is distraught when Tara leaves after thinking she'd pushed too hard on trying to create a relationship. After talking to Buffy, confronting Tara, although stressful, seems to be her only option left.
Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In all honesty, I'd rather own Willow/ Tara anyway XD You can have the show Joss... XDDD
"H-hi, Willow." Tara greeted her newest and pretty much only friend.
"Tara!" Willow smiled genuinely.
Willow moved into the open space behind Tara at the Espresso Pump's line up, giving her an excuse to move closer to her in the process.
"H-here for some c-coffee?"
"Yep. Taking a coffee run for the Scoobies. They're gettin' all tuckered out just by talking. That tends to happen to me the most though..."
"O-oh, cool. Hey, I f-forgot to let you know t-that I f-found this really awesome crystal i-in one of my boxes."
"Boxes?"
"L-like storage space? I have t-to many books a-and herbs a-and stuff that I just don't have enough sp-space."
Willow winced internally. Tara's stutter, although extremely cute, showed her that even after being friends for almost three and a half months, she was still struggling to find a comfort zone.
Not that she was counting or anything.
"You could leave some things in my dorm; I have plenty of room. I mean, the same as everyone else who lives in a dorm of course, but, like, I don't have that many things. B-but I'm not, like, poor or anything, even though-"
"Will, I get it. B-but, it's okay, I-I don't want to be a b-bother..."
"Bother? Why would you be a bother? Tara you are bother-free. Promise."
"O-okay."
"Do you trust me? Is that it? I-I'll try to be a more trusti-"
"I said okay, silly," Tara offered a sweet lopsided grin. "A-and I-I-I do trust y-you."
Before Willow could continue, the server behind the counter called to them.
"Can I take your order?"
"T-two, um, l-lattes?"
Willow nodded in agreement.
"What size?"
"M-med-"
"Large," Willow smiled "Two large lattes."
Tara nodded towards the clerk who proceeded to fulfil their order.
"O-oh, hey Willow, what about the sc-scoobies?"
"They'll understand."
"I-I thought they didn't know about m-me" A hint of disappointment leaked from Tara's voice.
"They don't, but I'll just say the line was long or something."
"W-willow, I-I don't w-w-want you lying t-to your f-friends. I-I have to get g-going, anyway."
"Here you are," The clerk interrupted.
"T-thank you. Bye W-willow." Tara's hair fell in front of her face, creating a very enclosed curtain of blonde.
"Tara- I" Willow took her coffee and ran after her.
"Tara wait."
"I-I have t-to go." Tara sprinted up without looking back.
Willow felt like crying. The feeling of yet another unrequited crush hurt.
She was confused all the time, lately.
At first the thought liking a girl was bad; not right; not her.
She was supposed to be born the perfect child; good, smart, and Jewish. Or at least that's how her parents expected her to be and all of that was quickly being flushed down the drain.
She was studying Witch Craft now and what hurt her the most was that her parents silently resented her for it. Her parents, thinking it was just a phase, were soon mistaken and began to push their daughter out of their lives. She recieved a few calls every once in a while, mainly asking how her Jewish studies were coming along and how 'Bunny' was doing. The conversations usually ended with a stern 'You know being a Wiccan is how I want to live, and if you can't accept that, then bye. Her name is BUFFY, by the way', then hanging up in a huff of frustration.
Then there was the whole Tara thing, if it could even be called a 'thing'. It was just all too confusing.
Willow, feeling defeated, went back inside and took a seat by the window.
A few hours passed, sipping away at her latte unconsiously.
"Willow? Willow? Will! There you are!" Buffy exclaimed as she entered the Espresso Pump.
"Oh, hey Buff." Willow responded, slightly distracted.
"Don't you 'Hey Buff' me! We've been freaking out for, like, an hour!"
"Sorry," she replied, still clearly not taking full notice of Buffy's presence.
Buffy stopped as she noticed that Willow was too distracted to be paying any attention.
"Hey," Buffy started softly. "What's got you so distraced, Missy?"
"Oh... nothing."
"It's not noth-"
"Buff," Willow hastily interrupted. "Hypothetically, what do you think of gay people?"
"They're fine. I think I only knew one. Remember Larry? Oh, he was awesome when he became gay... wait, why?"
"No reason, just a hypothetical question. Hypothetical as in 'not real' as in, like, not actually pertaining to anyone. Certainly not myself, that's for sure. Nope. No gayness on Willow street. Not at all..."
Willow's voice trailed off as she realized she may have just babbled something she shouldn't have.
"Okay, spill."
"It- I... I don't know where to start."
"From where ever you feel comfortable." Buffy grasped one of Willow's hands gently.
"There's something- someone rather, that I've been hiding from you..."
"D-do you have a girlfriend?" Trying to put the puzzle peices together from the bits of information she'd already recieved.
"No, no girlfriend. A friend, who's a girl. Her name is Tara and I met her at the Wicca Group meeting. She was... different and we started talking and then there was the whole gentlemen thing and I'm not really sure what that meant and then-"
"Willow, breathe. You're tiring me out here." Buffy smirked.
"Sorry. Anyway, we'd met because of the gentlemen... we were being chased and then... just like magick, we started hanging out a lot. She's a real witch, just like me, Buff. We do spells together and we hang out... and she's just so amazing."
"How come you never told me about her before?"
"Well at first, it was because of Riley. You two would always hang out and then... I'd never see you... so when I met Tara, I had the chance to make a new friendship and keep myself occupied. Then that's when things became complicated..."
"Like... how complicated?"
"I began to... to..."
"To actually like, like her?"
Willow nodded, looking away.
"Will... I... I..."
"You don't have to say anything, it was a stupid thought."
"No." Buffy stated firmly. "That is never a stupid concept. I was going to say that I am... just so glad that you trust me with this and that... I didn't mean to ditch you. Riley... he and I are dating, but that doesn't mean I have to give you up."
Willow started to tear up.
"I-I've been so confused and I obviously couldn't have talked to Tara about it and then you... well at least you know now..."
"So... how long have you known... Terry? No! Tara! That's it!" Buffy smiled, clearly proud she'd remembered the name.
Willow smiled.
"For about three and a half months."
"Cool." Buffy smiled as well.
"But..."
"But?"
"But then there's the whole me coming on too strong. I think I freaked Tara out and now she won't even look at me."
"So you think she's straight then?"
"I think so... but I hope not."
"Want my opinion?"
"Please! Advise me, oh great slayer!" Willow emphasized dramatically.
"Talk to her."
"What? Well... that was kind of a let down.. I thought you woulda' had some elaborate slayery type scheme," Willow sighed. "But you're right."
"Well? What are you waiting for? Leave!"
Willow smiled and put her coffee cup in the trash before heading to Tara's.
The only thing she could think of was how to ease the heart ache after her future rejection.
Willow entered the hallway to Tara's dorm apprehensively.
As soon as she reached Tara's dorm, she was tempted to leave. Leave these thoughts behind and just move on. She could live without having to be confused all the time and go straight back to liking boys.
The thing that stopped her?
She knew she could never go back, that would be all too easy and easy was never in Willow's book of relationships.
Lifting a tightly clenched fist to the door, she proceeded to knock.
"One second, Jamie." Was the voice from the other side of the door.
Jamie? Who's Jamie?
The door began to open, revealing Tara's surprised face.
"W-willow, uh, hey..."
"Hey. I guess you're expecting someone, so I'll just be heading-"
"Here ya go Tara, you left it in the classroom." The brown haired boy gently handed Tara a thick book; 'Art History 101'.
"T-thanks Jamie. I owe you one." Jamie smiled and headed back to the end of the hallway, opening up his dorm.
"W-Willow... I didn't have anyone over... that was just Jamie. He's my friend from Art Class, k-kind of a n-nerd really, but I can relate." Tara smiled sheepishly.
"May I come in?" Willow asked tentatively.
"S-sure, o-of course."
Tara stepped aside to allow Willow access to a more open, comfortable environment.
"Tara, I need to talk to you."
"O-okay, of c-couse. You can always talk to m-me."
"Good, because what I'm about to say, you may not like."
Willow watched as Tara swallowed hard.
"I-I don't care, I'm here always."
"I hope so..." Willow mumbled to herself.
"Tara, I didn't mean to come on to you so strongly today. When I offered to stay with you at the Espresso Pump for a longer period of time, I didn't think about what you were feeling. I know that I am so confused whenever I look at you or think about you. I was just hoping for a chance. I didn't mean to freak you out in anyway, and I sure as heck don't want to lose a great friendship over me liking you-" Willow's hand shot to her mouth.
She didn't mean to say all of that, especially in one amount of time.
Tara's hair once again created a blonde, flowing curtain around her face.
"T-Tara? I... I didn't mean to say that! I just... it was an accident! A slip of the tounge! That's all!"
"T-that's it?" Tara asked.
"I swear. I didn't mean-"
"Stop."
Willow was surprised by the sterness of Tara's voice.
"Willow, I... do you like me? Thats a-all I want to know."
Willow turned her head, ashamed and nodded.
Tara slowly walked up to Willow and pulled her face to meet her own.
"Good."
Tara placed a small kiss to Willow's mouth. It was short, sweet, and nothing short of electrifying.
Willow took a step back.
"Where did you get that boost of courage all of a sudden?" Willow asked, clearly stunned.
"From you. L-look Willow, I'm not good with words... or s-sentences. I always stutter and I n-never make much sense, but no matter what, you always g-get what I'm saying. I'm gay. I've always been gay a-and no one knew except my mother. Now you do too... and w-what you just said... it made me feel like we really do have a kind of c-connection. I want to try u-us out. Do you u-understand what I'm saying?"
"I think so." Willow smiled. "So you like me too, then?"
"D-definitely."
Willow and Tara clasped hands as Tara bent down to place her forehead to Willow's.
"Y-you want to do a spell later? After our date?"
"We have a date? When was this decided?" Willow grinned cheekily.
"S-sorry," Tara blushed. "I think- I think I've seen Star Wars so many times w-with my mother, that I've started to use the Jedi mind trick a little."
"Don't worry, it worked." Willow ensured.
"R-really?"
"Really."