Hello! your friend Tianimalz here! let me just say -clears throat- WE DO NOT OWN ANY CD NAMES OR ARTISTS MENTIONED IN THIS CHAPTER! OR ANY OTHER CRAP YOU REGONIZE!

That is all please read on!

CHAPTER 5

"Thanks, you too" Gar took the tray of food over to the seat Tara had picked.

Tara looked up as Gar came over. She had been watching other people laugh and talk. She smiled when she saw Gar again. It was like an instant reaction. She stared a moment before looking away, a little embarrassedly, though still smiling.

Gar set the tray in the middle of the table and sat down in the empty seat across from Tara. "Hey Tara, you dropped something" He smiled then pulled out the ten and set it in front of Tara.

Gar set the trey in the middle of the table and sat down in the empty seat across from Tara. "Hey Tara, you dropped something" He smiled then pulled out the ten and set it in front of Tara.

Tara's mouth dropped a bit in mock anger. "Garfield!" she half whined. "Don't tell me you paid for all that yourself," she reached over and punched him in the shoulder lightly, in a playful way.

Gar laughed "Okay, I won't tell you" He grinned, shrugging off the play punch. He didn't really pay for it; the Titans got free pizza all the time.

Tara jokingly glared at him. "Fine, be that way. But next time I'm paying!" she told him. She hadn't realized it, but she'd basically just told him that she wanted to do this again sometime. If she had realized it, she wouldn't have told him.

He laughed again "Really? Next time eh? When will that be?" Gar smiled then took a slice of pizza. He was now basically saying he wanted to do this again.

Tara looked up, a slightly confused look on her face. She thought about what she had said and blushed a little. Whoops. She smiled back and shrugged. "I dunno. Whenever I guess." She was surprised he'd agreed.

Gar was smiling, even as he stuffed the pizza in his mouth and had it swallowed in mere minutes. Almost as if he hadn't chewed at all. He reached over and grabbed his plastic cup filled with root bear and sipped on the straw. "So..." He started, lowering the cup from his lips. He was leaning back in his seat with his spare arm perched over the back of the chair and a care free smile on his face.

Tara finished her pizza in just a few minutes as well. She took a drink of her sprite and looked up at Gar. She really didn't know what to say. "So…" she repeated. She also found herself unable to look away from him, a small smile on her face.

"Where are you living?" He asked, trying to start a conversation, his eyes stayed lock in hers.

"Oh, about a five minute drive from the school. I'm staying with my friend," Tara told him, never looking away. Even when she took a drink she never let her eyes stray from him.

"Sounds way out" Gar said, the way his voice was dull in a way you could tell he was paying more attention on looking into Tara's big blue eyes. "What kind of movies do you like?" He asked, still in a dull type of way.

"Oh… umm…" Tara thought for a moment. "Well, I like different types," she told him, leaning forward slightly to rest her chin on her hand as she talked. "I don't really just like one specific type. I like a variation." She stared into his eyes as she spoke, still finding it impossible to look away.

"Like, a comedy action or something?" He asked. He was too caught up to even blush, and strangely, it felt ... good.

Tara took a sip of sprite, then looked back up. "Well, I like comedy, and action. Horror movies too. What about you?"

"I like just about all of them" Gar managed to tear his gaze away for a minute, but like a magnet his dark blue eyes returned back to hers. "Horror is fun, comedy rocks, action is okay. I can deal with sci fi and as for romance... eh, like most guys I'm edgy on it." He joked before taking a loud sip of his root beer.

Tara laughed. "I guess some romance are okay," she half forced herself to say. Terra would never say that about a romance movie. But that's exactly why Tara had said it. She glanced down at the sprite as she took another sip.

Gar's eyes scanned Tara's face. The thought about how much she had changed crossed into his mind again. He made himself push the thought away and smile. "So, was there any movie you might be interested in?" He asked. Wondering if he was making it too obvious about where he might like to go next time they went out... well if there was a next time. He hoped so.

Tara smiled in thought. "Well…" she thought a bit longer. She laughed a little as she said, "Not a clue," she took another sip of sprite. "I'll think about it though."

Gar smiled at her laugh again "Well, make sure to let me know when you do get a clue." He had been too busy flirting he had forgotten to eat more pizza. When his stomach reminded him that it needed something in it Gar reached over and grabbed another slice and slowly nibbled the start of the triangle shape pizza slice.

Tara smiled. "Will do," she said. She also reached for another slice and bit the end off. She chewed slowly as if deep in thought. And she was. She was thinking about Gar. Surprise there. She liked everything about him. The way he talked, the way he laughed, the way he smiled, everything. The only thing she couldn't get over was how much he reminded her of Beast Boy. From the way he looked talked, the he laughed, and even the way he smiled. He reminded Tara of a part of her she wanted to forget. A part of her she was trying to forget. But… if she wanted to forget Beast Boy so badly, why did she like someone this much who reminded her so much of Beast Boy. She averted her eyes to the table as she thought about this, but quickly found it was still impossible to keep her gaze off of Gar for too long.

Gar was doing his best to get the best of the stubborn cheese. It insisted on falling off the pizza from the over load and getting wasted. Gar however was trying to eat it all before it fell off. "Too...much...cheese" He said in between bites.

Tara snapped out of her thoughts. "Huh? Oh, yeah, way too much," she took a bite, pulling both her head and the pizza back in an attempt to break the stringy cheese that just kept stretching, and stretching. She had pulled back as far as she could, and still the cheese stretched.

Gar had been watching Tara from the corner of his eye "What were you doing? Day dreaming?" He joked. Then finally was able to snap the rest of the gooey cheese off his pizza. Now he just had a triangle shaped breadstick with tomato sauce all over it.

Tara ripped the one piece of cheese off. She threw it aside then looked up at Gar. "Oh…uhh… kinda. You know… just thinking." She took another bite, this time no stringy cheese coming off.

Gar took a monster size bite of his food, took about five chews then swallowed before asking "Oh, about what? Is there another test coming up or something?"

Tara glanced around. "Uhh… no… thank God, too. I hate tests," Tara made a pathetic attempt to change the subject.

"Yeah, tests stink. I freak on them." Gar in just two more monster sized bites and a few chews later had his pizza gone. After looking over his hands to make sure they were clean of pizza sauce and cheese he returned his eye lock on Tara. He noticed she was changing the subject, but didn't pressure her on it.

"Yeah. Same here. I do okay in class, but then tests come. It looks like I'm a sixth or seventh grader in a ninth grade class," Tara told him, finishing off her own slice of pizza.

"Ouch" He said, not feeling up to another slice of pizza so he merely just sipped the root beer. "So, what are you up for now?" He asked. "I picked the last means of amusement, your turn."

"Well… we could…" Tara thought for a moment, taking another sip of her one soda. "Check out the music shop?" she suggested.

"Sure! What kind of music are you into?" Gar asked, taking one more gulp of his pop before standing up.

Tara glanced down at the table, sipping on her sprite. The part of her that was still Terra was protesting like mad. I do NOT like rap, country, Pop, R&B, Jazz, nothing but Rock! Nothing, nothing, nothing! You can't change that! Tara looked back up. "Rock." No matter if she was Terra, or Tara, she couldn't stand anything but Rock. Okay, some other stuff was okay… but Rock was still best. She stood up as well, finishing up her soda.

"Awesome, me too. I like dance and hard rock and punk rock. Those are the top choices on my list" Gar was trying to start some type of conversation. His eyes darted behind Tara when he caught glimpse of familiar figures.

"Maybe we should get a puppy, that way you can be with your own kind" Cyborg laughed and poked Robin on the shoulder. Starfire was giggling; she found this rather amusing despite herself.

Tara nodded. "Dance is okay. I mainly like rock though. Almost any kind of rock." She started walking to where she knew the music store to be.

Raven sighed, completely blocking them out. Or trying to at least.

"I am not a puppy! I am not a puppy or dog of any kind!" Robin protested in an annoyed snap.

Gar watched them for a minute, almost laughing. Half of him wanted to run on over with the others and join in the teasing of poor Robin. But his other half wanted to hang out with Tara. And that half won. He turned around and started after Tara. "So do you dance?" He asked.

"Oh I'm sorry; I forgot you're a bird. Love dove" Cyborg laughed again.

"Uhh…" Tara smiled a bit sheepishly. "Only when I'm alone. Mostly anyways. I hardly ever dance in front of people. You?" she replied, with a half embarrassed laugh.

"I am not a love dove!" Robin nearly yelled. "I am nothing that has to do with the word 'love'" he found himself blushing a deeper red every time he said 'love'.

Gar glanced over at Tara with a half smile plastered on his face. "I dance when I'm the only one home or at a party. But then I also dance if I beat a record of the Gamestation" He chuckled. It was true; in fact, he and Cyborg both did that crazy winning dance.

"Okay sure Robin. I want you too say that after you got kids, then I can laugh some more" Cyborg nearly doubled over in laughter, he was having a little too much fun with this.

Starfire looked over at Robin "Robin, you are turning of the colors, are you feeling well?" She asked.

Robin stopped dead in his tracks, causing Raven who was walking behind him to crash into him. She shook her head and looked over at him. "Jeez, give a person some warning next time."

Robin completely ignored her. "Kids?" he asked Cyborg in a truly shocked voice with wide eyes. "Kids? I'M FIFTEEN!" he shook his head violently. "Sixteen! I meant sixteen! I am sixteen! Me? Kids? No! Never!" His face, if possible, was even redder. His face burned with a blush at the very thought.

Tara laughed a little. "You have a Gamestation? That's cool," she said. Melody didn't own any type of gaming system. Kind of a bummer. But they did have a kick butt stereo.

Cyborg just kept laughing as he walked. This was so amusing in a weird and mean way! Robin was just the type that was fun to pick on. "Hey Robin, you know that people are looking at you right?" He laughed. And it was true; people were looking at the boy wonder like he had gone mad.

"No, but I know someone who does" Gar said that was half way true. Cyborg was playing that thing so much that it was more of his then anyone else's.

Raven had just kept walking, not stopping to stare at Robin.

Robin looked around at the people staring, still blushing. "Uhh… Cyborg!" he ran after Cyborg. "It's your fault their staring! If you would just quit picking on me, then they wouldn't have been staring in the first place!"

"Oh," Tara said. "That's still cool though. I don't know anyone who does." Wait… she did know someone who did. "Well, I used to someone who did."

"Yo man, not my fault you're so much fun to pick on" Cyborg grinned down at his masked friend, leader, and the guy who he loved to tease.

"Oh, really? Who? Friend, family?" Gar asked, though he had a good idea who she meant. He looked up at the sign that in bright colors stated this was the music store.

With some hesitation, Tara said, "Oh… no one." She too looked up at the sign of the music store and walked in. She knew that didn't make sense. She said she knew someone who owned one, he asked who, and then she answered no one. That made no sense. She couldn't answer though.

Robin glared up at his friend. He shook his head threateningly. "Someday. Someday when I have good reason to pick on you- if you ever get a girlfriend, I swear, I'm gonna make fun of the both of you until the world's end."

Gar thought to pester her about it, just to be a pain. "No one? Is that a name now and days?" He laughed, fallowing her into the store.

"Well Robbie poo, you don't have to worry about that because I am in love with my car. And try to tease me about that and people are gonna think your nuts." Cyborg laughed once more.

At the name 'Robbie Poo' Robin once again stopped dead in his tracks. His eye twitched at the remembrance of that name. Kitten. "Don't. EVER! Call me that. Again," he said very slowly and very clearly.

Tara chuckled a little. "No. Not exactly," she answered as she looked around the store.

"Okay, okay." Cyborg held his arms out as if defending an on coming attacker. "Anyone hungry?" He asked, letting his arms fall back to his side.

"I believe I am" Starfire said, taking an extra step from Robin, he looked ready to blow at any given moment. Not that she totally blamed him; he was getting teased by the master of teasing.

Robin merely nodded his head. He didn't know if he should open his mouth to speak. Probably a good choice.

Raven looked over at Starfire, then at Cyborg. "Yeah, I'm hungry too."

Gar dropped the subject and looked around at the CD's rack, then let his eyes wonder over to the instruments. But he was by far more interested in the CD's. Those required no work to play music. So he walked over to the wall completely covered in CD's of all types of music and artists. "Sweetness" He awed.

Tara grinned at the word 'sweetness'. That was a cool word. She also walked over to the wall of music, and started going through the many CD's. She pulled down a CD and ran it under one of the scanner things to listen to it. She only put the head phones around her neck and blasted it so she could still hear Gar if he was talking. There were numerous TVs hanging around the room, showing random music videos. She turned the music around her neck down so she could look up at the screen of the closest one. It was playing 'Iris' by the Goo Goo Dolls.

Gar was reading a Green Day Cd. Not bad, He put it back then grabbed another CD that was near random. But he liked this guy, Weird Al. "cool" He hummed as he read the back of it; he liked most of these songs. His eyes glanced over at Tara before returning back to the Cd back. He put it on the shelf then looked over the wall once more. He had lots of CD's already, but one can never have too many! Right?

Tara liked this song. It kind of made her sad though. She went back to looking for a CD to look at. She pulled a random rock CD down and ran it under the scanner. A hard rock song came on. When she turned it down to listen to the song that was on the little TV, she heard the song "I'll be" on. She watched the TV for a moment, humming along to the song. She turned back to the CD rack, still humming along with "I'll Be" and, without meaning to, she thought of Gar. But, as she thought of Gar, and image of Beast Boy, not Gar, Beast Boy, flashed in her mind. It last only a split second, but it was enough to make Tara look up, a little wide eyed as if she was confused. She pulled the head phones over her head and turned the hard rock song up louder. Okay… that was weird. Tara closed her eyes and shook her head. She opened her eyes again, going through CDs again.

Gar looked over at Tara and watched her mess around with the music "You okay?" He asked, not knowing if she could even hear him.

Tara barely heard Gar. She looked over at him and pulled one side of the head phones off. "What?" she asked, glancing back at the CD's.

"I said, are you okay? You got a little wide eyed there for a minute." Gar said, accidentally confessing he had been watching her.

"Oh… yeah, fine," Tara lied. She smiled at the thought that he'd noticed this, though she said nothing.

Gar shrugged then looked back at the wall of CDs. He had a few bucks in his pocket so he decided to pick one. "Hey Tara, I'm having troubles. See any CD's you like? I can't decide what I like." He laughed.

"Well," Tara said looking over at the selection of CDs. "I like a lot of them." She started pulling random CDs down. "I like just about all of these guys," she laughed at her indecisiveness.

"Ah, is there like any you don't got?" He almost laughed again, looking around the CD's then down at the ones Tara held.

Tara was about to name one when she stopped herself. "Why?" she asked. Melody had given her a lot of CDs she didn't like anymore. Melody had, as she said, grown out of rock and the music Tara liked, so she had given Tara all her CDs and started a new collection.

Gar shrugged "Just wondering" He grinned up at her.

Tara pulled one out of the pile. It was a mixed CD. It had a lot of different artists on it, and Tara knew every song, and liked every one. She held it up with a grin. "I don't have this one," she said. She read the back again.

Gar looked over at the Cd as she read it "Cool! Looks awesome" He said.

"Yeah, it does," Tara smiled. "It's on sale too, score!" she laughed, tapping the sticker in the corner that said it was half off.

Gar walked over so he was standing behind Tara and looking over her shoulder at the price "Awesome again!" He grinned. "Are you getting it?"

"Nah," Tara said. "I want to, but I have this thing about buying stuff. I mean… what if I find something else I want more?" she laughed a little. "I didn't bring much money. Then again, I don't have much money," she half joked.

"Oh, I know how that is" He laughed. Gar thought to himself, she wanted it, he had enough money. It would be a cute surprise present right? He was now smiling to himself at his plan. Gar back off from Tara so he wasn't right over her shoulder anymore, His eyes looked around the store once more.

Tara read through it once more, then placed it back on the rack. "Oh well," she shrugged. "Next time, I guess." She went back to looking for other CDs to test and listen to.

Gar watched her look for other CDs, he grinned then grabbed the CD, it was replaced by others just like it so she wouldn't notice. "Hey, I'm gonna go check some other stuff out" He told Tara before walking over to the cashier as casually as he could.
A few minutes later he had bought the Cd and it was now in his backpack which was once more strapped tightly to him.

"Alright," Tara said, still browsing through CDs. She finally decided she had looked enough. She spent a lot of time in this section. She put the CD she was holding back, and set the head phones down again.

Gar walked back over to where Tara was, acting as if he was disappointed at not finding what he was looking for. "Boo!" Gar half laughed as he came up behind Tara and was soon standing next to her.

"AH!" Terra screamed a small but startled scream. When she saw it was Gar, she couldn't help but laugh a little and push him playfully. "Jeez, freak me out why don't you!" she joked.

"I just did." Gar laughed, pushing her back slightly. "Sorry, most people like me just sneaking up on them." He joked.

"Ha, ha," Tara laughed sarcastically, and pushed him back with a laugh. "I'm sure they do. I'm sure they just love it," she half joked along.

"Oh yes, they find it charming. Especially the girls." He joked, again shoving her with his shoulder.

"Ha, ha, I'm sure they do," she repeated, this time with a hint of jealousy. Not that I blame them, she thought with a small grin.

"Oh ho-ho! Do I sense jealousy in your voice my dear?" Gar was joking; He hadn't really caught her tone, but was merely playing around.

Tara blushed a little, but tried to stop it. "No! Ha, jealousy? Right," she said sarcastically, and laughing a bit. "You only wish," she shot back with a joking smile.

Gar laughed, though it made him blush slightly. "Aww admit it! You think I'm cute! You think I'm funny! You like me." He went on in a sing song voice though then laughed again. "C'mon Tar; I'm just messing with you"

Tara grinned guiltily. "Yeah… I know," she said with a shrug of her shoulders, though still blushing slightly. Everything he had said was true. But she wasn't about to admit it. Not now. Not yet.

Gar had a laughing face on now. This was so great! To finally be able to hang on with her again. Even if this was Tara, he knew he would get Terra back. Somehow, some way. What time was it? He looked down at his watch, uh oops. It didn't tell time. It just kept him the way he was. Gar lifted his head up and looked around for a clock.

Tara rubbed held her right arm with her left hand as she often seemed to do. She didn't know what to say anymore. She was smiling though. She really did like Gar. A lot. She finally looked up at him again. "So… what do we do now?" she asked.

"It's getting kinda late" Gar said in a disappointed tone when he looked back down at Tara. "What time do you have to be home?"

Tara looked up at the clock. "Oh… wow. Time flies when you're having fun," she said, quieter then usual. Mainly because she half wanted him to hear her, and half didn't. "Home? Umm… I wasn't told what time. Probably… before ten."

"Yeah tell me about it" Gar nodded, he had been having a lot of fun. But had already been away from the others all day. And in a way missed them. "Ten? We still have time to go around some more if you want, or head home. Which ever you want." Gar shrugged, mainly to loosen the feel of the backpack.

Tara looked back at the clock. She grinned. "There are some fountains outside. There a small walk away from here, but not far. More like just out back of the mall. We can hang out there for awhile if you want," she suggested. That sounded fun to her.

"Okay!" Gar smiled at Tara. "Sounds awesome!" His arms swept out towards the entrance as he did a little bow "lead the way."

Tara laughed before doing just that, leading the way. She walked through the mall, out the opposite door they had come in from. She led him around the corner, and in a bit open space was an area that had a few fountains, kind of like a mini water park. She watched water shoot up from the ground. Kids ran through the fountains, laughing, and screaming. Tara laughed a little too.

Gar fallowed Tara, a few times he was right behind her and others he was right beside her. Again it deepened on how many people were there. Just like at school.
When they came to the water park Gar looked around, it was just a little while before sun set. He watched the little kids run around in the water, pushing each other then running from each other in laughter. That gave him an idea; a wicked little grin went up his face before Gar reached over and shoved Tara into one of the water fountains.

"AH!" Tara screamed as she was hit by a blast of cold water. She glared at Gar, a joking glare of course. "You little-" she got out of the water, nearly soaked. She went back over to him, and shoved him back.

Gar was pointing at the now soaked Tara and laughing his butt off. When he saw her start over to where he was he set the backpack down so it didn't get wet. Yeah, he saw her move coming. Not trying to resist the push he was thrown into a water stream that short upward. "COLD!" He yelped, jumping out of it.

"Now you know how I feel!" She yelled in a joking voice. She walked over, actually not caring if she was pushed in again. A grin went up her face, but not just any grin, a flirty grin, as she walked up to him.

Gar looked at Tara, He saw her flirty grin, and gave her one of his own. One eye brow slightly raised and half his mouth slit open to just barely show his teeth. He just stood there and let Tara come closer until she was close enough that he could grab her. Gar grabbed Tara's wrist and held her back in front of him in one swift motion. And held her in as the water streamed upward once more and soaked the blonde. "Aha! Garfield comes back with vengeance!" He laughed before pulling her out of the water though not letting go.

Tara had been busy staring into his eyes and looking over the flirty smile and was surprised by the sudden, swift move he'd pulled. She tried to dig her heels into the ground as he pushed her to the fountain in an attempt to stop him. "AHHH! COLD!" Tara screamed and struggled against his grasp, though really enjoying it, as Gar held her in the water. He was stronger then she was and she couldn't break loose, giving her no choice but to get soaked. She was laughing as her soaking, dripping wet hair fell in her face, water dripping off of her. She noticed he was still holding her, but she didn't care. To be honest, she liked it. Not much of a surprise there. She turned her head to look at him, still smiling and laughing.

Gar looked at Tara when she turned her head to look at him. He found himself smiling again, not like he could help it. Her smile wanted him to just spit out who he really was; he wanted to be who he was instead of someone else. But he knew he couldn't, not yet. "Oh, like that did you?" He almost whispered in a joking way. His eyes where locked into Tara's again. It was like he couldn't keep them out. Gar leaned his head a little closer to Tara's as if he was going to kiss her or something, before letting go of her and giving the blonde a push into the next water stream.

Tara couldn't stop smiling for the life of her. She stared straight into Gar's eyes, unable to look away, it was impossible once again. She watched as he leaned closer, doing nothing about it. Though, when he pushed her again, she screamed, and grabbed onto his wrist to keep balance, though that didn't help any. Instead they both fell into the water fountain, Tara landing on her back in between two of the fountains in the ground. She jammed her eyes shut as she fell out of reaction, it felt like it was raining, the way the water shot up from the ground, and came back down.

Gar was taken by surprise when Tara grabbed his wrist and yelped. He was pulled down since his balance had been thrown off by his surprise. "Oof!" he grunted when landing. He had his eyes closed from reaction of the fall, and when he opened them his cheeks turned bright red.
Gar was on top of Tara. His arms on each side of her thin body, well that was going to be a bit embarrassing. Though he failed to jump back up and quickly apologize, he just stared at her with eyes the size of car tires.

Tara opened her eyes, and her cheeks immediately burned with embarrassment again as she saw him on top of her. She did nothing about it though, she couldn't do anything. She couldn't find her voice to talk and snap him out of it. Heck, she needed to be snapped out of it. All she found she could do was stare into his eyes, no longer smiling, but not frowning. Her eyes had grown slightly wider, but she found no way to look away from Gar's eyes.

Weird, ending, weird beginning, you know the drill XD I LOVE THIS PART THOUGH! sits back with popcorn Oh yeah, R&R and we'll update ASAP. Working on chapter 6 as we speak. And it doesnt start weird! Is the word weird starting to sound weird to you? Maybe it's just me. I think I'm a little hyper. Again. Which is weird. Cause the only reason I'm sitting here typing this now, and not at school is cause I'm sick. But hyper. See? Weird. Greaser out. Again. Ha, I love saying that!