"Hey, that's cheating!"

Garfield laughed as Tara pushed him away with her elbow, mashing the buttons on her controller. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders as he continued to assault his own controller. Tara squealed and leaned back into him.

"No no no no no no no!" she chanted through her smile.

"Booyah! I win!"

Tara laughed anyway, saying, "First time for everything."

"I'm looking forward to a lot of firsts with you," Garfield chuckled.

He nuzzled into Tara's hair. She flinched then relaxed into his chest.

"What does that mean?" she asked.

"Huh?"

"What kind of firsts?"

Garfield hummed and picked up his controller.

"Well, you're already my first girlfriend. Am I your first boyfriend?"

She fidgeted again and said, "Second."

"Oh?"

"I was… a different person then," she said. "He dumped me when I stopped pretending for him."

"So he was a fake boyfriend?"

"I guess."

"That makes me your first real boyfriend, then," said Garfield. "I can deal with that."

"You said a lot of firsts, Gar. What else?"

"Did your fake boyfriend kiss you?"

"On the cheek once, between classes."

Garfield chuckled again, "Fake kiss from a fake boyfriend."

"It was still a kiss!"

"Not a real one."

"Are you just coping with not being my first kiss?"

"I'm gonna be your first kiss."

"Oh, you think you're that special?" Tara said, smirking.

"I think I'm worth your full attention."

Tara took his controller from him and twisted in his lap.

"Well, you have it."

Garfield's eyes widened.

"Oh, shit. Really?"

"Yeah. I want you to kiss me."

Garfield tapped his forehead to hers. A hand cradled her cheek, and she covered it with her own.

"Close your eyes," he whispered.

She did. Garfield tilted his head and brushed her lips with his. She shivered in his hands, so he did it again, pressing a chaste kiss to her puckered mouth. Then he repeated it once more for good measure before pulling away.

"Whoa," breathed Tara.

"Yeah."

"Do it again?"

Garfield laughed and tugged her closer, careful to keep his hands above the shoulders. Despite the hormones, it felt too soon for anything too involved. Tara seemed to silently agree, keeping one hand at the nape of his neck and the other laying across her lap. For a minute, maybe longer, the pair just shared lazy kisses in the living room. A perfect Saturday afternoon.

Then a throat cleared behind him.

Garfield looked over his shoulder, blushing.

"Sorry, Miss Logan," Tara said with a laugh.

"It's fine. I just felt the need to remind you I'm here."

"Thanks, Mom."

Miss Logan sighed and said, "Will you be coming over again next week, or can your parents-?"

"No!" Tara blurted. "I- I'm sorry, I-."

Garfield squeezed her hand.

"Her dad is real protective, Mom."

Logan's eyes narrowed.

"Is that so?" She asked softly.

Tara shrank off Garfield's lap and rubbed her neck. Garfield kept his fingers twisted in hers as his thumb drew gentle circles on her wrist.

"He's… strict. I'm expected to be a certain way at home. Saturdays are the only time I get to myself, to be myself," she said. "If that makes any sense."

Logan nodded and said, "This is a safe place, Tara. If you ever need to talk about it-."

"It's fine. I'm fine! Really. He's not, like, a helicopter parent or anything. He's just… He wants what's best for me, and we disagree on what that is."

"He doesn't hit you," asked Garfield, cluing into what his mom was suggesting for once, "does he?"

"No, never! Besides, I could hit him back, if he did," Tara assured them. "He won't hurt me."

Garfield leaned on her shoulder and squeezed her hand again. This time, she pulled it away.

"I should go," she whispered.

"Can't we do one more game?"

Tara huffed, "I'm not really in the mood anymore."

She pushed him back and stood up. Garfield pouted and whined, but she ignored it if she heard it at all. He glanced to his mom. She only shrugged, though if she was unaffected or simply unsure, he couldn't tell this time.

"Do you need a ride?" she asked Tara.

"I have a metro pass. I'll be fine."

"I can drive-."

"Please," Tara said firmly, finally looking at them both again. "I need to think. I… I need to be alone. Just for a while."

Garfield pouted again but nodded. Time was… hard. But Tara's hand kept twitching, nails digging into the meat of her palm over and over.

"Okay," he said quietly. "You just need space."

"Yeah. Space."

"Talk to you later?"

Tara paused before she nodded.

"Later."

"Why hasn't she called back?" Garfield asked over the hum of Raven's sewing machine.

Raven sighed again.

"I don't know, Gar," she said softly. "Maybe she's scared?"

"Scared of what?"

"How the hell would I know?"

Garfield groaned and rolled onto his stomach. Raven's bed was soft, comfortable. He hugged a massive, stuffed squid. Vladimir, if he remembered correctly. Raven stayed focused on her work.

"It's been days," Garfield whined.

"I can't make her call you."

"Should I call her?"

"You promised her space."

"I gave her space."

"Your girlfriend, your choice. Just don't blame me when it bites you in the ass."

Garfield sighed dramatically again. "Maybe I'm just a bad kisser."

Raven's machine stopped dead. She sighed and pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes.

"Oh. My god. Get out of my room."

"What'd I do?"

"You're my friend, and I care about you," she said, getting up, "but I'm not talking about your kissing abilities. Get out."

"Fine. Jerk."

Garfield slunk from the room and fished his phone from his pocket. Crossing the hall to his own bed, he clicked Tara's number and pressed the cell to his ear. It rang.

And it rang.

And then it cut off. No voicemail. No answer. He switched to message her a quick "you ok?"

Undelivered.

"What?" breathed Garfield, tapping out another message.

Undelivered.

With a pout and a growl, Garfield opened his internet and searched why his texts might be undelivered.

He was immediately inundated with articles on break-ups. The entire page, nothing but how to cope with a break-up and one reddit post asking the same question. He clicked it.

Are you sure she didn't ghost you, man?

Ouch, bro. Girl blocked you.

? ghosted ?

The screen blurred too much to see. Garfield wiped his eyes. Blocked? Why? He didn't do anything wrong.

Did he?