"I'm gonna miss you."
Willow murmured a silent response as she continued to hungrily devour Tara's lips, both of them lying alongside each other on her bed.
"What day's your flight again?"
Willow sighed as Tara interrupted their kissing again to ask a question she didn't want to answer and had avoided doing so on all instances previous when the brunette had asked it.
"Baby, it's smoochie time. Shush."
Tara felt the redhead capture her lips again and responded for a moment before pulling away.
"I just wanna know when you're going so I know how long I have left with you. School finishes up on Friday, are you leaving that night or over the weekend?"
Willow sighed again and averted her eyes before looking back up at her girlfriend.
"Okay, before I tell you this, you have to know that my mind's made up and I've made all the arrangements so there's no changing things okay?"
Tara frowned.
"Willow, what are you talking about?"
Willow exhaled slowly for a moment before speaking.
"I'm not going home for winter break. I'm staying here with you."
Tara's eyes widened in shock.
"What?"
"I'm staying here with you," Willow replied calmly, "It's not right that you were gonna be alone for the holidays, especially in this place and I knew you wouldn't accept me buying you a ticket to spend them in California in my house, even though you would've been more than welcome, so I'm staying here."
Tara's mouth hung open in shock for a moment before she shook her head.
"Willow, you can't stay here for me. That's not fair on you. Just because my family don't want me home for the holidays doesn't mean-"
"My parents aren't even gonna be there," Willow cut her girlfriend off, "They're gone to Australia for the month. Which means I would be sitting at home, all alone, wishing I was with you. Baby, I would've told you sooner but I knew you were gonna feel bad about it. But please don't, okay? This was my decision, you in no way made me feel obligated to stay, I'm just staying because you're supposed to spend the holidays with the people you love and well, you're the people I love. Or person. Whatever. Anyway, Hanukkah's been and gone, so even if my parents were there, we wouldn't be celebrating."
"Why didn't you tell when it was Hanukkah?" Tara asked softly, "I would've celebrated with you. If you wanted."
Willow gave a small smile.
"That's sweet. But we don't even really celebrate at home. We never go to synagogue or anything. I guess I never really thought about it. But, um, are we okay? 'Cause there was smooching..."
Tara bit her lip in contemplation for a moment as she mulled over everything her girlfriend has said.
"Are you sure you want to stay here? Stuck with the school rules and bedtimes and set meals when you could be at home doing whatever you want?"
Willow smiled and let out a low chuckle.
"Tara, the last three months have been the best of my life with all the boring rules, because you've been there. Anywhere I am is magical as long as you're with me."
Tara got a shy smile on her face, her eyes lighting up.
"I really don't have to say goodbye to you?"
"Nope," Willow shook her head, "Never."
Tara managed a smile, though her first thought was that their 'goodbye' was just delayed. She was still opting not to think about the end of the school year though, so closed her eyes for a split second before reopening them with a grin.
"Sneaky vixen," she said, throwing her arm over her girlfriend's body to bring their bodies closer together, "C'mere."
Willow felt Tara's lips touch her own and the familiar electric feeling shot through her, but her mind was more focused on the fact that when the brunette had thrown her arm over her body, her hand had landed on her ass and was still resting there. They hadn't gone any further than passionate kissing so this was a new experience.
Tara noticed that her girlfriend wasn't responding quite as enthusiastically to the kiss as she might've hoped and pulled back, concern etched in her features.
"What's up, love?"
Willow could only gulp and glance down at Tara's hand. The brunette followed her eyeline and gasped, quickly pulling her hand back.
"I'm so sorry, sweetie. I didn't mean...I didn't realise I was touching...I'm sorry."
Willow bit her lip before speaking quietly.
"It's okay."
"I'm still really sor-"
"No, Tara," Willow cut the brunette off with a shy smile, "I mean it's okay. You know, if you want to touch. It's okay."
It was Tara's turn to gulp this time as her eyes widened slightly.
"Really?"
Willow blushed.
"If you want."
Tara bit her lip and shuffled her body closer to the redhead's, her hand hovering above them uncertainly for a few moments before she brought it down and let it rest over Willow's jean-covered ass again before giving it a curious squeeze.
Willow giggled and Tara worried she'd done something wrong but the smaller girl was quick to reassure.
"Good giggle, baby. It's just, you're groping me. My girlfriend is groping me."
Tara still didn't quite see the humour but was enjoying the touching so decided not to question it.
"Willow?" she said after a moment, her eyes looking down for a moment before she glanced back up, "You can touch too. If you want."
Willow's giggling stopped and her eyes widened before she gulped.
"I can?"
Tara took a quiet, deep breath and removed her hand from the redhead's butt to take her girlfriend's hand and place it on her breast, through her shirt before trailing her fingers back down the smaller girl's side and re-cupping her ass.
Willow could only stare at her own hand in amazement, her breath having become somewhat laboured until she brought her gaze up to meet Tara's. Both of their eyes were glazed over as they stared at each other for a moment before their lips were crashing together hungrily, their hands squeezing the respective pieces of flesh beneath them.
Willow groaned as she felt Tara's nipple harden under her shirt, astounded by the feeling of touching the brunette and being touched in return; even with all of their clothes on, it was unlike anything she'd ever experienced before.
"I love you," she gasped between kisses as they rolled around on the small bed, both clumsily fondling each other as they basked in the new experience they were sharing.
"Mmhh, love you too," Tara gasped back, biting back a moan as she felt her nipple harden even further before suddenly getting embarrassed by her own body's reaction and pulling away from the embrace completely.
Willow stayed locked in her position; eyes closed, mouth half-open and her hand in a claw-like shape for a moment before she realised that there was no body on the other side of her affections and her eyes fluttered open. She saw Tara lying a foot away from her, as far away as she could be without falling off the bed, her face cast down but still obviously bright red.
"Tara?" she asked softly, unsure of what was wrong, "Are you okay? Was I too rough?"
Tara shook her head but still didn't look up.
"Um...if that was too much, we can hold off a while," Willow tried again, wanting to reach a hand out to comfort her girlfriend but unsure of how that would've been received, "I didn't mean to rush anything. Please talk to me, Tare-bear."
Tara looked up at the affectionate nickname and saw Willow giving her a small smile.
"You didn't rush," she whispered quietly, "I liked it."
"Okay..." Willow replied, chancing putting her hand out and placing it on the brunette's shoulder, "Then what's wrong?"
Tara just blushed harder and Willow saw that her girlfriend had gone into complete reclusive-shy mode over something and wasn't going to tell her anytime soon.
"It's alright, baby," she soothed, shuffling her body closer to the taller girl's, "You're clearly embarrassed about something. You didn't do anything wrong if that's what you're worried about. I liked you touching me. I liked it a lot. What's embarrassed you, honey?"
Tara glanced downwards without meaning to but Willow saw and followed her eyeline, suddenly realising why the brunette had retreated so quickly.
"Oh. You're embarrassed because you liked it. Baby, don't be shy about that, look..." Willow gently took Tara's hand and placed it against her own breast, "See? I liked it too."
Tara gulped as she felt Willow's breast beneath her hand and more specifically, the feel of her hardened nipple against her palm.
"It's natural, Tara," Willow continued, her voice slightly throaty as she felt Tara touch her, "You arouse me, okay? And I'm not embarrassed to say that. I mean, I'm not gonna go up and tell every person in the street, but I'll tell you no problem. You don't need to get all blush-y about it, not around me. 'Cause I'm feeling the same things as you. And I'm, um...I'm kinda proud that I can make you feel the same way you make me feel."
Tara felt her embarrassment start to flitter away, being replaced with an odd mixture of calmness in her heart and excitement in her lower stomach.
"Sorry," she said, finally smiling and making no effort to remove her hand, "Had a silly moment."
"Well that's okay, I have a lot of those," Willow smiled back, "You okay now?"
"Yea," Tara nodded, "Thanks to you. How do you always know just what to say to me? I mean, even...even at my worst...you make me feel special. How do you do that?"
Willow tucked a piece of hair behind the brunette's ear, a sweet smile never leaving her face.
"Magic. And it's easy, because you are special. The most special girl in the world. My girl."