Tara found Willow's house without a problem. It was a fairly large brick house right up the street from her place. She gently knocked on the door and waited patiently for someone to open it. She didn't have to wait long because Willow rushed to the door as soon as she heard the knock.
"Hey! It's good to see you again," the redhead greeted her newest and only friend with a gleaming smile.
"It's good to see you too, Willow," Tara said in her soft, sweet voice. "Thanks for having me over."
"Not a problem. Come on in," Willow waved her inside the house. "So it's only like six. We still have some time before the sun goes down. Let's go outside and pitch the tent while it's still light out. Then we can jump on my trampoline!" She said excitedly, her emerald eyes glistening.
Tara gave Willow her signature half smile, happy to see how enthusiastic the redhead was about their sleepover.
"Sounds great," the blonde spoke softly before following Willow who was practically skipping out to her backyard.
Tara saw the tent lying in pieces on the grass and looked to Willow nervously.
"Uh, do you know how to pitch a tent? Because I definitely don't."
Willow nodded tentatively. "Yeah I know how to do it," she said with forced confidence in her voice. "Kinda... I mean I looked it up on the Internet last night," she finally admitted.
She is so adorable. Tara thought.
"Well you're really smart so I'm sure it won't be a problem. Just tell me what you wanted me to do and I'll help out as much as I can."
Half an hour later the tent was fully constructed and both girls were immensely pleased with it.
"It looks good," Tara commented.
Willow nodded, in full agreement with her friend.
"We make a great team," the redhead asserted, gazing at Tara with a goofy grin on her face.
How did I become friends with this gorgeous girl? She wondered to herself.
"We do make quite the pair, don't we?" The blonde agreed, looking over at Willow.
She blushed and diverted her gaze when her sapphire eyes momentarily locked with Willow's green ones. There was a moment of silence between them. Tara's face was flushed bright red and Willow was nervously fidgeting.
"Sooo, uh, wanna jump on the trampoline?" The redhead asked, feeling the need to break the silence between them.
"Sure," Tara replied shyly.
They walked across the yard together and when they reached the trampoline Willow did her much practiced jump-roll combo to get on top of it. Tara tried to hop on in one swift movement as well, but she wasn't having much luck.
"Need some help?" Willow asked, extending her hand out to the blonde.
Tara took the proffered hand, feeling a quick spark fly between them at the brief contact. Once she was safely on the trampoline she immediately released Willow's hand. That spark had terrified her. She had always felt herself gravitate towards women. She was just genuinely attracted to them. However, she felt as though that was something that her very strict, very Christian family would not approve of. She had never had feelings for anyone before that went beyond a simple attraction. The idea of having real feelings for someone scared her more than she could express.
"Thanks," she practically whispered as she got to her feet and began to bounce lightly on the trampoline.
Willow had other methods of jumping in mind though. Rather than bouncing up and down gently like Tara was doing, she jumped as high as she could. The redhead flew high into the air, but when she landed it was Tara's turn to shoot into the sky.
When the blonde landed, there was a horrified look on her face.
"Willow! That's scary! And very dangerous!"
Willow nervously chewed on her bottom lip, feeling awful for scaring Tara. She hadn't meant to though. She was so used to spending time on the trampoline that she hadn't even thought twice about it.
She sat down next to her upset friend and gently placed her hand on her shoulder.
"Tara, I'm really sorry. I don't know that would scare you or I wouldn't have done it," she apologized. "And besides, it's not that dangerous," she said with a sinful smile.
"It's actually quite dangerous," Tara retorted, still shaken after being unexpectedly shot into the air.
"Tara, the trampoline is completely enclosed with netting," the redhead pointed out. "You wouldn't have fallen off. But I am very sorry for scaring you. Forgive me?"
The blonde turned her head to look Willow, their eyes locking once again, but this time she didn't look away,
"Of course I forgive you, but don't ever scare me like that again!" She exclaimed, playfully punching Willow's arm.
"Oh, so you're punching me? Who's the dangerous one now, Ms. Maclay?" Willow teased before beginning a tickle fight with her friend.
Tara couldn't stop giggling when Willow started tickling her. Not only was she giggling, but she also felt like butterflies were attacking her stomach because of her close proximity to the adorable redhead.
The blonde decided to counter Willow's tickling attack with an attack of her own. She flipped the two of them over so Willow was now the one lying on the trampoline and she was the one hovering over her, tickling her mercilessly.
Now it was Willow's turn to have a giggle fit. Little did Tara know, Willow also had butterflies swarming her stomach as a side effect of being touched by Tara.
"Stop! Stop! I surrender!" Willow shouted when she couldn't handle the tickling anymore.
Tara, however, was relentless. She continued tickling the girl for a few seconds longer.
"Say that Tara's the best," she told Willow with her usual crooked smile.
"Tara is the absolute best," Willow said quickly, breathing a sigh of relief when she was finally able to stop giggling.
"I'm not just saying that either," the redhead confessed once she had recovered from the playful attack. "You really are the best."
Tara blushed furiously once again, feeling as though her face would become permanently red if she continued spending time with Willow.
"You're pretty wonderful yourself."
Willow shook her head. "I'm nothing special."
"No, you are," Tara argued back adamantly.
Anyone that could make her feel all the things she had been feeling lately was pretty incredible in her book. Willow didn't argue back, she just sat there quietly enjoying the company of the amazing girl beside her and Tara did the same. No words needed to be spoken.
Soon after that the sky became dark and Willow noticed the stars were gradually becoming visible.
"You wait here for a minute. I'm going to get the sleeping bags so we can stargaze in the grass without getting all dirty. I'll be right back," she promised before hopping off the trampoline and sprinting into her house.
A few minutes later the redhead returned to the backyard, but Tara couldn't even see her face because she was carting around so many fluffy pillows, blankets, and sleeping bags
She leaped off the trampoline to help Willow carry some of the stuff.
"Thanks," Willow said with a nervous giggle, making her way over to the tent with Tara close behind her.
The two girls tossed everything they had been carrying onto the ground right in front of the tent before evenly dividing the pillows and blankets between themselves and making their "beds" for the night. They placed their sleeping bags right next to each other so they'd be able to chat easily during the stargazing.
"Well, this is nice," Tara said once the two of them were comfortable and the stars were starting to become visible.
"It is. I'm really glad we decided to do this. Do you know like constellations and stuff?" Willow asked curiously.
Tara couldn't help but to giggle at the question.
"I don't know the real constellations," she explained to a confused-looking Willow. "But when I was really little my mother would point out certain shapes to me while we were looking up at the stars. Like I call that one the Big Pineapple," she told her as she outlined those stars with her index finger.
Willow was very amused at this point. She had never thought to make up her own constellations. She liked the idea though.
"That one looks like a moose," she said, outlining the stars she was referring to.
A half smile broke out on Tara's face when Willow joined in. She was a little worried that Willow would think her constellations were dumb.
"It does look like a moose. It actually looks like the moose is getting a sponge bath."
Willow chuckled, but she couldn't deny it. It really did look like a moose in a sponge bath. She could hardly believe what a great time she was having just lying there reveling in the company of the girl next to her. From the moment she had first seen her she knew there was something more than just a desire for friendship drawing her to the blonde. The more time she spent with her though, the more she realized that she had a crush on Tara. She wasn't about to tell Tara that though. It would probably scare her off and there was no way she was going to scare off her first friend.
"You have a nice laugh," Tara murmured softly when Willow's laughter began to fade away.
The redhead couldn't stop the smile that was played across her lips.
"Thanks. No one's ever commented on my laugh before. You know what I like most about you?"
"What's that?" Tara asked curiously.
"The way you smile. It's not a regular smile. It always starts out as this little half smile, which is adorable. Then if something's really good, it turns into a full-blown smile but it always starts with the half smile."
"Wow. I never even knew that about myself. I thought my smile was normal. I shouldn't be surprised though. Not much about me is normal…" she trailed off, her thoughts wrapped up in things other than her smile now.
"Nope, you're not normal," Willow said matter-of-factly. "You're better than normal. You're extraordinary."
Tara reached over and placed her hand on top of Willow's, squeezing it gently. She felt she was being forward in doing so, but she couldn't help it. She felt a strong pull to the redhead and just wanted to have some kind of physical contact with her no matter how small.
Willow had to bite down on her lip to stop a squeal from her escaping her lips at the contact. There were butterflies fluttering around in her stomach and she felt like the blood running through her hand was laced with electricity. Touching Tara felt like some kind of drug and she couldn't get enough of it. She gave the blonde's hand a little squeeze back to let her know the contact was appreciated.
"Thanks," she said in an almost whisper.
"For what?" Tara asked curiously.
"Just for being here. And being you."