"Hey, I was listening to that!"
Tara resisted the urge to break the CD she had just ejected from the car's CD player in half and as calmly as she could placed it back in its case.
"Willow, no matter how amazing a band they are, there's only so much Earth, Wind and Fire a girl can take."
"What're you talking about? I only put on that CD..." Willow trailed off as she looked at the clock on her dashboard, "Three hours ago. Wow, you really must love me to only snap now."
"I really must," Tara replied, trying to sound indignant, but failing as a small smile tugged on the corner of her lips, "It wouldn't have been as bad if you didn't have 'September' and 'Let's Groove' on a permanent loop. We must have listened to each at least thirty times."
"I'm sorry," Willow said sheepishly, "You know I get lost in their magical funk sounds."
Tara snorted and the redhead knew she was forgiven.
"I'm very tempted to play Enya for the rest of the trip just to get back at you."
"I don't think we have any Enya CDs," Willow frowned as she indicated to turn onto another road, the GPS system in the car guiding her on her route, "Besides, you'd give in way sooner than I would. I have a much higher tolerance for noise. I think it came from living with Becky in college. She got noise complaints consistently throughout that first year for playing music too loudly. Then my patience only increased by sharing a dorm with Buffy in Quantico. That girl could talk as an Olympic sport."
Tara was going to argue but let out a low laugh instead.
"You know, you're probably right."
"And it only took you five years of a relationship and us getting married to figure it out," Willow replied, her eyes sparkling, "You'd want to remember that for the future, by the way. It'll save us getting into fights if you just accept that I'm always right."
"Don't push it, honey," Tara said lightly, before her stomach rumbled loudly.
Willow grinned at the blonde, who was starting to blush as she turned onto a side street.
"I'm kinda hungry too. Wanna stop for lunch? I saw a sign a little while back for a diner or something coming up. We should get food before we get back on the highway."
Just as she said it, a large barn-shaped building came into view, a big sign saying 'Harley Hog's Tavern' over it. As they drove closer, it was obvious there was a large amount of motorcycles parked out front.
"That sounds good," Tara eventually replied, before offering kindly, "And I'll drive the rest of the way after we have lunch."
Willow pulled into the carpark of the establishment and turned the engine of the car off.
"That's okay, honey. I said I'd drive, remember?"
"Yea," Tara replied as they both got out of the vehicle, "But eight hours is a long drive for anyone. If we both do four, then one of us won't be exhausted tonight..."
The redhead caught on to the blonde's meaning and jumped up and down on the balls of her feet excitedly.
"Well I can't argue with that logic."
Tara smirked and opened the heavy door of the bar, loud music and voices bellowing through, holding it open as Willow walked through, stepping in after her, looking at the layout of the place and the numerous Harley Davidson and biking memorabilia with a large jukebox in the corner and a pool table in the middle of the bar. The whole place was darkly lit, with dim lights hanging from the ceiling.
As soon as the door closed behind them, all the voices stopped as the patrons of the bar – all men – turned towards them. Tara averted her gaze at the attention, but Willow seemed unfazed and continued walking up to the bar, jumping up on a stool and nodding at her to follow, as the other patrons turned back to their own devices.
"Afternoon, ladies," the bartender, a heavy man with a full beard walked up to them, drying a beer mug with a dish towel, walked up to them, "What can I get for you this fine day?"
"You have any menus?" Willow asked.
The man pointed to the side to a small chalkboard positioned on top of the bar with a selection of foods written on it.
"I'll have the Good Eats Burger," Willow said after a moment, "With extra pickle."
"And I'll have the chicken," Tara spoke up, choosing the least-greasiest item on the menu, wary they still had an extensive car journey ahead of them, "Please."
"You want beers with that?"
Tara shook her head but Willow surprised her by saying 'sure', so she turned and gaped at her wife.
"Willow, it's not even one in the afternoon!"
"You said you were gonna drive!" Willow replied defensively, but relented off the pointed look her wife was giving her. She turned to the bartender with a sigh and shook her head as well, "My old lady. Guess I'll just have a coke."
The bartender went off to fill their orders and Tara turned in her seat, incredulous.
"Did you just call me your 'old lady'?"
"Tara," Willow replied in a half-serious, half-joking tone, "In case the hundreds of bikes outside and the scruffy men in leather jackets in here didn't give it away, we're in a biker bar. I'm just trying to fit in."
Tara resisted the urge to start laughing deciding it would be more fun to mess with her redheaded girl instead.
"You wanna fit in by drinking when it's practically still morning and referring to me in a derogatory manner?"
She expected Willow to start fumbling over her words, her hands making grand gestures as she did so, but was once again surprised when the smaller girl just shrugged and grinned.
"Yep. I'm pretty good at adapting to situations as required."
"Oh really?"
Tara raised an eyebrow and held the other girl's gaze until Willow's nose scrunched up and she gave out a soft giggle.
"No. I dunno. Maybe. But I am getting good at figuring out when you're just playing me. And I'm pretty sure you loved it when I called you my old lady. Know why?"
"Enlighten me," Tara replied, a small smirk playing on her lips.
"'Cause I said you were my old lady. Mine. And I know whenever I hear you call me yours, my heart feels like it's about to burst outta my chest. And I'm pretty sure it's the same for you."
Tara smiled and took one of the redhead's hands between their seats.
"You know me better than I know myself sometimes."
"Well you're the most wonderful and exciting thing I've ever studied."
Tara blushed at the compliment and squeezed the hand in hers.
"You know I don't really mind if you wanna have a beer or not. It's not like I'm your keeper or something."
"Nah, I wouldn't have drunk it anyway. I wanna be as lucid as possible for later," Willow replied, moving her hand to the blonde's knee, "You know, for all those things we don't want to be exhausted for..."
"Oh of course," Tara responded, a grin on her face, "We can't have you tipsy...we need your hands to be nice and steady..."
Willow felt her body begin to heat up and licked her lips.
"Yea?"
Tara fixed the redhead with a steady gaze and nodded slowly.
"Oh yea. Definitely. I'm gonna need those hands later."
Willow leaned in closer, her eyes beginning to glaze over.
"Uh huh?"
"Yep. All those boxes need lifting and unpacking and I really don't want you dropping anything fragile."
Willow looked like she'd been slapped in the face and spluttered for a moment as the blonde grinned.
"Looks like I can still play you," Tara said, her grin getting wider, "You shouldn't be so cocky next time, Rosenberg."
"Rosenberg-Maclay," Willow corrected automatically, and the thought snapped her out of her stupor, "Well played, baby. I admit defeat on that one."
"Don't worry though," Tara replied, lowering her voice to a seductive tone, "I want them steady for when you're screwing me senseless later too."
Willow's eyes went wide and she barely registered their food being placed in front of them until she noticed that Tara's lips, where her gaze had been fixed, were moving as she started to consume her chicken.
"Eat up, Will. You're gonna need your strength."
Willow blinked a couple of times to regain focus and picked up the burger from her plate, taking a bite as she continued to watch Tara, sitting there with an innocent look on her face, but with a small smirk that let Willow know her thoughts were anything but. She put her burger down for a moment before giving the blonde's leg a quick squeeze and smiling at her wife briefly before going back to eating, ideas starting to form in her head.
Oh I'll get you back for that one, Tara. I will definitely get you back.