Willow woke up the next morning and smiled when she remembered how wonderful last night had been. She and Tara ended up drifting off to sleep under the stars while holding hands in a very comfortable silence. Willow couldn't remember a night she had enjoyed so much since… well, ever. There was something so great about spending time with Tara. It seemed a little weird to her though, having a crush on a girl. Lesbian relationships weren't something you saw too often in Sunnydale. She was pretty sure it wasn't something her parents would approve of, but it's not like they were around often enough to ever even find out about it.

The redhead peered over at the blonde next to her, smiling when she saw her eyes were open.

"Good morning," Tara said softly.

"Morning. Did you have nice dreams?" Willow asked as she began rolling up her sleeping bag.

"I had this amazing dream where I was laying under the stars and this adorable redhead was with me and we were holding hands," the blonde answered shyly.

Willow giggled.

"That wasn't a dream, silly. That was real."

She locked eyes with Tara for a moment before reaching out and giving her hand a gentle squeeze.

"Last night was great. I can't remember the last time I had that much fun. I really like spending time with you, Tara."

The blonde felt her cheeks flush at the compliment.

"I like spending time with you too, Willow. You're the best. I should probably get home though or my parents will worry."

"Right. Of course," Willow nodded. "Do you maybe want to hang out later? Or tomorrow?"

She didn't want to seem pushy or anything but she felt like she needed to be around Tara. Even when they weren't together the blonde was on her mind.

"I don't think my parents are going to let me hang out again today as much as I'd love to. I'll call you tonight though if that's okay," Tara said, her now familiar half smile playing across her lips.

"I'd love that. Do you want me to walk you home?" She asked.

Tara hesitated.

She did want to maximize her time with Willow and a walk would be nice, but she didn't want to risk her parents seeing her new friend. They would want to meet her and she knew her father wouldn't allow her to see the redhead anymore once he found out she went to public school. For some reason he thought the world would come to an end if Tara fraternized with people outside of her little private Catholic school.

"I don't know if that's the best idea," she replied softly.

She saw Willow's face fall in disappointment and instantly felt terrible.

"It's not that I don't want you to," she explained. "I would really like you to walk me home, but I'm just worried that my parents will see you and want to meet you. My father can be a little… crazy. I don't want you to have to deal with him."

"You don't think your parents would like me?" Willow asked meekly.

Tara sighed and enveloped Willow's hand with her own.

"My parents… my father, more specifically, well he doesn't like anyone. He barely even likes me most of the time…"

"Tara, I'm sure that's not true. You're his daughter and he's lucky to have you. You're absolutely wonderful. I mean it," Willow said as she slowly reached her hand up to stroke the soft pale skin of Tara's cheek.

The blonde diverted her gaze downward and felt her cheeks flushing yet again.

"Pretty soon I'm just going to be permanently blushing around you," Tara mumbled.

"You're cute when you blush so that's okay," Willow smirked.

She wanted to lean forward and kiss Tara so badly, but she was scared. What if she had been interpreting things all wrong? What if the hand holding last night was simply two friends comforting each other? There were too many variables. Hell, she hardly even understood why she was having these feelings.

While Willow was weighing out the positives and negatives of kissing Tara, an awkward silence fell between them.

"I should get going…" Tara said softly after a few moments. "I'll definitely call tonight."

"I'll be looking forward to it," the redhead responded while walking Tara to the door. "Bye Tara."

"Goodbye!" The blonde called over her shoulder.

She sighed. This attraction to women had always existed for her, but she had never found a girl that she actually liked and wanted to be with. She wanted to be able to call herself Willow's girlfriend so badly, but at the same time she was scared out of her mind.

Willow jumped up the second the phone began to ring. She had been waiting anxiously for Tara's call all night.

"Hello?" She answered.

"Hi Willow," Tara replied. "How are you?"

"I'm good. Happy to hear from you. What have you been up to?"

"Oh, nothing exciting. I just did my chores and my homework. What about you? Wait, let me guess," she said, a half smile coming to her face. "You read all day."

"You know me so well already," Willow giggled.

"I'd like to get to know you even better," Tara said boldly.

By now Willow was grinning from ear to ear. Every time Tara said anything even remotely flirtatious to her she got crazy butterflies in her stomach.

"I wanna get to know you better too, Tara. The more I learn about you, the more I like you. You're incredible."

The blonde was blushing fiercely on the other end of the phone, unable to even form words at this point.

"Are you still there?" Willow asked after a few moments.

"Y-yeah, yeah I'm here," Tara confirmed. "I think you're incredible too. I love spending time with you and talking to you so much."

"I feel the same way. I really wanted to kiss you last night," the redhead blurted out, covering her mouth immediately afterward. "Oh my god. I can't believe I just said that."

Tara's heart practically leapt out of her chest. She hadn't been expecting that confession not to mention the fact that it made it increasingly difficult for her to hide from and deny her feelings for her new friend.

"Look Willow, I have to go… I'm really sorry," she said abruptly before clicking the phone off.

She put her face in her hands afterwards, feeling awful. She knew she shouldn't have hung up on Willow like she did, but she panicked. Facing her feelings head on like that had been terrifying.

Willow wasn't feeling much better. She was in tears not only because she felt rejected, but she also felt like she ruined the only friendship she'd had in a very long time. She knew her babbling would bite her in the ass one day.

"Do you want to watch TV for a little bit?" Willow's babysitter, Ingrid, asked when she walked in the room and saw how distraught the girl was.

Willow shook her head immediately and stood up.

"No, thank you. I'm just going to go to bed."

She quickly ran up the stairs and closed her door behind her. After changing into her pajamas and brushing her teeth she climbed into bed, holding her teddy bear very close to her.

She couldn't even remember the last time she felt this terrible. What if Tara never talked to her again? She couldn't blame her. She was probably disgusted.

"I'll miss her so much if she stops talking to me, Mr. Teddy," Willow whispered to her bear before shutting her eyes tightly and forcing herself to sleep.