"Hey, baby, look at this!"
Tara peered over the redhead's shoulder at the poster she was pointing at, stapled to a tree, advertising a travelling American carnival that was coming to town that week.
"People really shouldn't staple things to trees," she said with a frown, "It's a living thing, too."
"Well, here, let's fix it," Willow replied, tearing down the poster. Seeing the staples were still lodged in the bark, she reached behind her head and took the hair clip that was in there, then put the thin edges beneath the staples and used it as leverage to pull them out, "Now. All better."
Tara got a huge smile on her face at the gesture as the redhead pointed excitedly at the poster in her hands.
"Look, it starts next Saturday! Your birthday's Friday and mine's Sunday, we could like, combine them and celebrate on the Saturday! Whaddya say?"
"It sounds fun," Tara agreed, then saw the times listed on the paper, "But it's all happening in the evening."
"We can get special leave. We'll have to be back before dark, but still," Willow replied, understanding what her girlfriend meant, "You have to like put it in writing to the headmistress in advance, but I don't see why she wouldn't say yes. We're good students and we've never gotten in trouble."
"We would if she knew you kissed me senseless every night."
"Well lucky she doesn't," Willow grinned, taking the brunette's hand as they walked around the park, a weekly occurrence for them since that first weekend, "You know what else next Saturday is? Our six week anniversary."
"So it is," Tara beamed, "Six weeks like no other."
Willow could only nod in agreement at that; the six weeks that they'd officially been girlfriends had gotten better and better as each day progressed. No one in the school, or at least not the people that mattered, suspected their relationship to be anything other than friendship and the girls were careful not to draw any attention to themselves outside of their room so it stayed that way.
Online chatting had become a regular fixture in both their lives as Tara easily meshed into friendships with Willow's internet buddies and when they weren't in class, doing homework, messing online or at meals, their time was spent just talking and kissing, enabling them to become closer each day.
Definitely a six weeks like no other.
Willow smiled at the thought before glancing down at her watch.
"Almost time to head back, beautiful."
Tara resisted the urge to duck her head; she still couldn't get used to Willow calling her that, or any variant of it. Still, she knew her girlfriend meant it so she figured the least she could do was accept it.
"Don't wanna miss the bus," she replied with a small smile, "So what do you want to do tonight?"
Willow got a mischievous smile on her face before exclaiming loudly.
"The same thing we do every night, Pinky—try to take over the world!"
"Ooh, House of Mirrors. You wanna go in here, baby?"
Tara nodded, happy to go wherever the redhead wanted to. They'd only been at the carnival a few minutes, having gotten special leave from the headmistresses easily but Tara was already blown away by the sheer magnitude of everything; the lights, the sounds, Willow's excitement.
There had been a few passing funfairs in the town near to where she lived in Alabama but she'd never been permitted to go, so this was a whole new experience for her.
"Heh, look Tare, my head is huge!"
Tara was pulled from her thoughts as she realised Willow had pulled them into the tent and they were now surrounded by a variety of differently angled mirrors, the one in front of them making their heads look quite disproportionately large compared to their bodies. She giggled along with her girlfriend as they walked on, going from insanely skinny to insanely big and every variant in between.
They reached the end of the tent and Tara was going to walk out, but Willow was stuck to the spot, her focus completely on the mirror in front of them. The brunette frowned in confusion at her girlfriend before glancing at the mirror and blushing bright red when she realised that particular optical illusion made their top halves considerably bigger than their bottom halves, thus making Tara's breasts look enormous.
"Um...Willow?" Tara tried after a moment, glancing behind her and seeing there was a crowd of people making their way through the tent, some waiting for them to move so they could continue, "Sweetie, there's a line."
Willow snapped herself to attention and looked behind at the others, then at Tara, clearing her throat when she realised what she'd been doing.
"Right. We should, uh...move on so."
"Uh huh."
They walked out of the tent and back into the flurry of lights and commotion, neither saying anything until Tara broke the silence with a cheeky smile.
"So...you're a breast-gal huh?"
Willow groaned and dropped her head for a moment, before turning to Tara, blushing.
"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to be all pervy but, you know, they were just...there...and huge."
Tara looked down at her chest, covered by her t-shirt and frowned.
"You know they're not that big in real life, right?"
"Oh they're plenty big," Willow chuckled before gulping and backtracking at the look she got, "Not that I've looked! At least not when you're changing or anything, but you do that in the bathroom anyway...I just meant that it was a possibility that perhaps my gaze may have been – momentarily – drawn downwards on a couple of occasions when you were bending over. Once or twice. Okay, anytime I have the chance but baby I can't help it, you're gorgeous and well, I like boobs!"
Willow said her last statement quite loudly, which attracted a few stares and Tara pulled them around a corner to another part of the carnival, away from the prying eyes.
"Sweetheart, can you keep your voice down please?" she asked, blushing fiercely, before her voice got quieter, "And I was just teasing. You're allowed look, you know. I have no idea why you'd want to, but you are allowed."
"Really?" Willow asked, her face lighting up.
Tara cast her face down, but her eyes looked up as she kicked a stone near her foot.
"Yea. And, I, um...I kinda check out your butt whenever I can."
"You do?" Willow asked with a giddy smile, before looking behind herself and frowning, "But I don't even have an ass. I'm shaped like a little boy."
Tara got a smile on her face and shook her head.
"You're shaped like the most beautiful girl I've ever seen. And you definitely have an ass."
Willow blushed but had a pleased smile on her face too.
"Well I'll have to start wearing tighter jeans just for you," she said with a joke in her voice before spotting something up ahead, "Bumper cars!"
Tara giggled, secretly hoping her girlfriend wasn't just joking about those tight jeans, as she got pulled towards the large ring filled with the small electric cars. Willow quickly paid the operator and got two tokens, handing one to the brunette, who frowned slightly.
"Tara, it's our birthday celebration," Willow said quietly, taking both of her girlfriend's hands, "We're having fun, so no money worries. I don't even want the money I have if I can't share it with you. Okay?"
Tara got a small smile on her face and nodded which made Willow beam and place a warm kiss on her lips for a moment.
"So how do these things work?" Tara asked when they pulled apart.
"You've never been in a bumper car before?" Willow asked in disbelief, "They're so much fun. Okay, so you just strap yourself in and...you know what, let's just share a car."
Tara nodded, her eyes bright.
"Sounds good."
Willow pulled them into the ring and towards a bright pink car. She stepped in the driver's side while Tara got in beside her and both pulled the straps over their shoulders.
"You ready?" Willow asked, putting the token in the slot near the wheel, "There's gonna be a lot of bumping."
Tara laughed.
"I'm ready."
"Good," Willow grinned as the ring lit up and the other cars started to move, "'Cause we're moving."
The redhead slammed her foot down on the accelerator and the car jerked forwards as Willow spun the wheel around beneath her hands. Both girls started giggling loudly as they drove around the track and crashed recklessly into the other drivers until the ride stopped.
"Wanna go again?" Willow asked excitedly, "You wanna drive this time? Here, take this token, I'll go get another one and we can ride against each other."
"Okay," Tara smiled, slipping into the driver's seat as Willow stood up, "I'm gonna kick your ass."
"Oh don't be so cocky, Maclay. I'm a master of the bumper cars."
Tara watched as Willow ran up to the operator, then got into a blue car across from her before sticking out her tongue. Tara just discreetly blew her a kiss and the same time as the ride started again, which distracted the redhead enough that the taller girl was able to ram into her straight away.
Tara laughed at the shocked look on her girlfriend's face before quickly driving in the opposite direction as the look changed to one of fierce determination. She glanced over her shoulder and frowned when she didn't see Willow, then jumped in surprise when she felt a strong bang from the side.
She turned her head to see the redhead laughing wildly and had to laugh back as she reversed the car and they continued to chase each other until the ride stopped again and they stepped out of their cars, giggling as they walked towards each other and clasped hands.
"That was so much fun," Willow gushed as they stepped off the track and started walking back around the carnival, "Hey, look, games! Do you want a teddy bear? I can win you a teddy bear!"
Tara didn't have a chance to respond as Willow pulled her towards a man in a stripy shirt, standing next to a large stand that had a platform at the end with a ball attached and a bell on top, a mallet lying alongside it.
"Ring the bell, win a prize! Would you like a try little lady?"
Willow nodded enthusiastically and gave the man a dollar for three go's before picking up the mallet and holding it over her shoulder, then bringing it down as hard as she could, frowning when the ball only reached half-way up the stand. She adjusted her stance and took a deep breath before swinging the mallet again, a flash of anger crossing her features when the ball reached below where she'd gotten it before.
"Can I try?" Tara asked softly from behind the redhead, seeing her girlfriend was getting mad at herself.
Willow pouted and handed the mallet over, watching in surprise and awe as the brunette managed to slam the mallet against the platform, the ball rising in seconds and loudly ringing the bell.
"Well done, ma'am," the man in the stripy shirt said with a smile, "Choose your prise."
Tara pointed at a string necklace with a butterfly, about the size of a penny, made of beads at the end that was hanging on the stall behind the man and he picked it up and handed it to her. She then walked back to Willow who was gaping at her.
"How the hell did you manage that?!"
Tara shrugged bashfully.
"I grew up on a farm. Lots of lifting. Just have strong arms I guess. This is for you."
She held out the necklace shyly and Willow took it gently, running her finger along the outline of the butterfly, then fastening it around her neck.
"I'm never gonna take it off," she said quietly, smiling at her girlfriend, "Thank you."
The redhead hooked her thumbs into Tara's jeans and pulled her towards her, kissing her softly. She pulled back after a few seconds, quite aware they were in a very public place and pulled Tara towards another one of the booths, where you threw darts and tried to burst balloons.
"You may have the strong arms in this relationship, but I bet I have the steadiest," she said with a grin, handing another dollar over to the counter to a young woman this time, and lowering her voice so Tara couldn't hear, "I'm going for that heart-shaped toy, what do I need to burst to get that?"
The young woman smiled and glanced at Tara, then back at Willow.
"Three red."
Willow nodded and smiled back at Tara for a moment before picking up the first dart and after a moment of judging the distance with her eyes, threw it, bursting a red balloon. She heard the brunette clap behind her and threw the next two darts in quick succession, two more red balloons popping as they were burst by the sharp edge. The woman behind the stall handed the heart-shaped plush toy, which had arms and legs hanging from it and a smiley face on its body to Willow, who in turn spun around and handed it to Tara.
"For my lady."
Tara held the toy to her chest and smiled sweetly.
"Thank you. Where did you learn to throw darts?"
"I had a dart-board with Cordelia's face on it in my bedroom at home," Willow answered as she took the brunette's hand and started walking around again, "Throwing darts kind of became a nightly ritual. I know, I know, not healthy to harbour so much hate towards someone, but, hey, if she hadn't been so mean to me, I wouldn't have done that thing at the dance and got sent here or met you, so...thank you Cordy for being the mega-bitch you are!"
Tara smiled but was stopped from responding as Willow suddenly started jumping up and down excitedly, pointing ahead.
"Hey, baby, rollercoaster! We have to go on the rollercoaster!"
