"Good thing about Friday's," Willow said as she dropped her laptop on her bed and flopped down beside it, "Classes end early."
"Why is that?" Tara asked, putting her own laptop down as well.
She only carried it around for appearances sake really since she was still completely bewildered on how to use it. Willow had attempted to teach her a couple of times, but they always ended up taking silly photographs or messing on facebook instead. Tara knew she had to learn to use it soon though, or she'd never get through the academic year.
"Games are on Friday afternoons," Willow explained, stretching out on her bed, "Hey, I should have asked you if you wanted to try out for anything, I just assumed, I'm sorry. Try-outs start today so if you wanted to, we could go to the coach or whatever. Most of the girls play hockey but there's basketball and um, I think badminton."
Tara laughed and shook her head.
"No, I don't have the coordination for basketball or badminton. And I'm, um, not really one for the stick sports."
Willow raised her head and looked at her straight-faced roommate, wide-eyed for a moment until they both burst out laughing.
"Where's that shy stuttering girl I met five days ago?" Willow asked, shaking her head, "I can't believe it's only been five days. I feel like we've been friends for like, ever."
Tara smiled, she felt the same way. In truth, she felt like an entirely different person from the girl who had first walked through the doors of their room. She felt liked, as s friend and a person for the first time ever and hadn't stuttered in front of Willow since that first night. She might not have been able to follow her classes on her laptop – yet – but Willow transferred her notes to her every night and she was following the curriculum quite easily. And except for the occasional passing taunt from Stacy and her gaggle of friends in the hallway, both of them had been left pretty much alone by their fellow students.
Willow had seemed quite pleased at this and wasn't sure whether it was just because everyone was a little older and realised they were being immature or whether she just seemed like less of a target now that she wasn't wandering the hallways by herself. Either way, the lack of teasing and the presence of Tara in general were making her quite happy in herself.
"Hey, Willow?" Tara asked when the laughter had subsided, wanting to ask something she'd been wondering, "Do your parents know? You know that you're-"
"Not into stick sports?" Willow grinned and Tara grinned back, nodding, "Well I never told them. So I dunno, I guess they don't. They don't really factor high enough in the people I care about to tell. Do, um...do yours?"
Willow was unsure whether she should've asked the question, Tara's family hadn't been mentioned since that first night.
"Um...well..." Tara struggled to answer, "My Dad...kind of...well he knew I...my family aren't the kind of people who would accept it. He caught me...he...there's not..."
"Hey, it's okay," Willow replied quickly, "Complicated, that's cool. I'm a master of complicated families. You don't have to explain."
Tara nodded gratefully and decided to change the subject.
"So what happens here at weekends?"
"Oh well some of the girls pay for Daddy to fly them home on their private jet," Willow replied with a roll of her eyes, "But the rest of us...ah, nothing exciting really, I usually just hang around campus. But hey, senior now so that means we're allowed get the bus into the local town. We can go after lunch and have to be back by dinner, but it's something different I guess. You wanna maybe head out there tomorrow? I dunno what's there but we could just look around. If you wanted."
"I'm in," Tara nodded, "I don't mind what we do as long as it's with you."
Willow smiled and blushed slightly. She wasn't sure exactly what to make of her friendship with Tara. Her lack of experience with anything other than online friends certainly didn't help with her confusion, so she didn't know whether the...well, she figured there was no other word for it, flirty interaction they had was just normal friend stuff or whether there was actually something more to it.
She knew there was definitely something more coming from herself; her non-friendship feelings for the brunette had grown every day since they'd met, especially as they spent most of their time together. She'd been attracted to Tara from the moment she'd set eyes on her, but that wasn't it. There was something deep happening between them, she knew. Or at least she knew what she was feeling. Tara on the other hand, she had no idea. And she was too scared to broach the subject in case it ruined their friendship.
"Great," Willow said eventually, looking forward to the following day, "So, we've got the afternoon to ourselves. Whaddya say I give you a proper computer lesson. And no distractions this time!"
Willow hazily opened her eyes at the sound of something in the room. She remembered spending the afternoon actually teaching Tara the basic workings of her laptop and how to access the coursework already loaded onto it, then they'd just played music and talked for the evening. They'd both gone to bed with happy smiles on their faces but as Willow sat up fully in the bed, she saw that Tara clearly hadn't stayed that way.
The brunette was thrashing about in her bed and calling out softly.
"No, don't...please don't..."
Willow's initial thought was that someone else was in the room and she grabbed her flashlight, turning it on and shining it over at her friend's bed, seeing that no one else was there but that Tara was clearly having a bad dream, a very bad dream.
Shit, what do I do? Can you like kill someone by waking them from a nightmare? No that's sleepwalking and I don't even think it's true. Go, help her!
Willow jumped out of bed and knelt beside Tara's, trying to grab a hold of her flailing hands.
"Tara, shush it's okay," she whispered loudly, hoping the taller girl would hear, "Tara, it's okay, it's just a dream."
Tara kept thrashing and started crying out louder.
"No, no, don't, please, don't!"
Willow's bedside reassurances didn't seem to be working as the brunette got more and more distressed so she did the only thing she could think of and got into the bed beside her friend and wrapped one arm around her waist, the other stroking her hair as she held Tara's jerking body.
"Tara, it's okay, it's okay. Wake up, honey, you're having a bad dream. It's okay, Tara, it's okay..."
Willow kept soothing her as Tara started to calm until she was still and her eyes fluttered opened.
"Willow?" she asked in a scared voice, unsure whether she was still receiving the beating from her father that had been happening in her dreamscape.
"Oh shush, I got you," Willow replied, tightening her hold and lowering her head to whisper in the brunette's ear, "I got you, baby, I got you. You're safe, I promise. It was just a dream."
Willow pulled back to look in the taller girl's eyes, wanting to reassure her as much as she could, both able to just see each other in the moonlight shining in from the window. She opened her mouth to speak, but Tara got there first.
"You called me baby."
Tara's voice came out in a quiet whisper and Willow was stunned into silence, her mouth opening and closing in shock.
"I, uh...I just...I..."
Tara watched the redhead struggle and with a sudden burst of courage she leant forward and let her lips press against Willow's. When the smaller girl just stayed rigid and shocked after a couple of seconds, Tara pulled back, convinced she'd clearly gotten the completely wrong end of the stick and looked down.
"S-s-sorry."
"Hey, don't stutter," Willow said suddenly, snapped to attention by Tara's obvious anguish and cupping the brunette's cheek, "Not with me. And, and...don't be sorry. Please don't be sorry 'cause that means you regret kissing me and I really don't want that to be true."
"You don't?" Tara asked, hopeful, "But you..."
"I was a spaz and didn't realise you were kissing me until you stopped. But I'd really like to kiss you again. Properly this time."
Tara's face lit up and she nodded, not able to form words.
"Yea?" Willow asked, leaning her head forwards slightly, "You're sure? I don't want a friendship kiss here, Tara. I like you, like, really like you. If that's not what you want, it's fine, I can go back to my own bed and we can pretend this never-"
She was cut off as she felt soft lips touch her own, for the second time that night but not being one to make the same mistake twice, instantly responded, moving her lips gently against the brunette's, wondering if heaven could be poured into a single kiss, because if it could, it was happening right then.
Tara's lips were soft and sweet and unlike anything she'd ever felt before, which wasn't hard considering her withdrawn state of existence up until the past week meant she'd never been kissed before. Xander had tried to kiss her once when they were in the 6th grade but she quickly rebuffed him and hadn't had any offers since. Still, she was quite happy to have had to wait her almost 18 years if this was the kiss she got as her first, because it was so magnificent.
Tara was having a similar train of thought as Willow sucked lightly on her bottom lip before going back to just the gentle motion of lips on lips. She couldn't quite believe it; this gorgeous, funny, kind, all-round beautiful inside and out girl was kissing her. Her nightmare was completely forgotten as all she felt was soft lips and the light stroking of Willow's thumb on her cheek.
They started to pull away to breathe properly for a moment but their lips hadn't even fully separated before they were attached again, neither willing to break the kiss yet. Tara moved her hand to rest on the back of the smaller girl's head as their bodies naturally shifted so there wasn't an inch between them as they kissed for an indeterminate amount of time until they actually did pull back and both started giggling straight away.
"So that means you're sure, right?" Willow asked through her giggles, smiling down at the brunette.
"I've been sure since the moment I saw you," Tara replied with a blush, though it was hidden in the darkness, "Does, um...does this mean...?"
Willow stroked Tara's cheek again.
"Do you want it to mean...?"
Tara resisted the urge to scream 'yes!' at the top of her lungs so Willow would understanding just how much she wanted this, how much she wanted them but instead just gave a small nod.
"I want...if you want..."
Willow let out a small chuckle.
"I think we need to start speaking in full sentences."
Tara giggled and closed her eyes for a moment, before opening them and deciding to be the brave person she felt like she was around the redhead.
"Can we be girlfriends?"
Willow moved her hand up and stroked it down Tara's hair.
"I like you being direct. It's good, especially since I normally go straight into babble mode, so you just getting straight to the point is definitely of the good," Willow replied cheerily before realising Tara was looking at her, expectant and somewhat scared, "Oh jeez, baby, yes, yes, definitely, I want to be girlfriends. I want to be your girlfriend more than anything. And I want you to be mine."
"You called me baby again," Tara replied, biting her lip excitedly.
"Well now I'm not afraid to," Willow said with a grin, "I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but I'm really glad you had a nightmare. Hey, um, what was it about?"
Tara just shook her head.
"It doesn't matter. But thank you for being there. And for comforting me. I could feel you, you know. In my dream, it was dark and scary but then I felt like you were there and it wasn't scary anymore."
"I'll always be there," Willow whispered, leaning forwards to place a gentle kiss on the brunette's lips, "Always."
They started kissing softly again until Tara pulled away, giggling.
"What?" Willow asked in fear, "Did I do something wrong? I've never, um...this is my first...did I do something wrong?"
"No," Tara giggled, "It's just...we've only been dating a few minutes and I already have you in my bed."
Willow gaped at her new girlfriend in shock.
"Tara!"
Tara blushed; she had no idea what prompted her to be so bold with the redhead, both before they'd admitted their feelings and now that they had. It was only with Willow she felt like that, like a transformed person. As soon as a teacher or another student opened their mouths to her, her stutter came out in full force and her gaze found its way to the familiar sight of the floor, but not with Willow. She was about to apologise when the smaller girl started giggling as well.
"Come here you little vixen," Willow grinned, bringing their lips together again.
Tara smiled into the kiss, happy that the redhead seemed to like her newfound confidence streak. They kissed gently and the brunette was toying with the idea of maybe even trying to deepen it when they both heard a small rustling off to the side. Willow looked over her shoulder in confusion for a second before she realised what was happening and dived out of the bed and onto the floor, just as one of the teachers of the school walked in the room, doing her nightly checks, done on the hour at that particular school. She turned on her flashlight when she saw that there was a body-shaped heap on the floor.
"Willow?" she asked, in an English accent, seeing who it was, "Why are you on the floor?"
"I, um, fell out of the bed," Willow lied, standing up and wiping her hands against her pyjama bottoms, "I was having a weird dream."
The teacher frowned and cast the flashlight over at Tara, who gulped.
"And why are you awake?"
"I-I-I woke u-up f-f-from the b-b-bang. W-when W-Willow f-fell."
"Right," the teacher sighed, "Well get back to sleep."
"Will do, Miss," Willow replied, getting back into her own bed as the teacher turned and left, the door closing behind her, "That was close."
"Yea," Tara replied, her heart beating furiously from them nearly getting caught, "Close."
Willow frowned at the brunette's tone of voice.
"Tara?" she asked in a quiet voice, "You don't regret-"
"Not for a second," Tara cut her off in a whisper, "I'm just sad she cut into our smooching time."
Willow giggled and quickly jumped out of bed, kneeling beside Tara's bed.
"Goodnight kiss?"
"You don't need an occasion to ask for a kiss," Tara replied softly, leaning forwards so their lips met.
Willow kissed her girlfriend gently for a couple of long minutes before pulling back and placing another quick peck on her lips.
"I'm really happy you're my girlfriend," she said, dropping her gaze for a moment, "I promise I'll try and be the best girlfriend I can."
"I just want you to be you," Tara replied, before getting a cheeky smile on her face, "And stop dropping your head. That's my thing."
Willow raised her head and gave her girlfriend a winning smile.
"So tomorrow, going into town...our first date, yea?"
"Yea," Tara nodded with a beaming smile, "Our first date."
"Great. Well I better get back to bed before we get almost caught again."
"Good idea," Tara nodded, and gave the redhead a quick kiss, "Goodnight, sweetie."
Willow leant forwards for a final kiss, before scurrying back to her bed.
"'Night baby."