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Okay, it took me an extra week to get the update up, but you can blame the evil Blue Screen o' Death for that. I lost my entire second draft and that completely writer's blocked me for awhile. Ugh! *whaps her computer* But, I'm still very very sorry. You may all whip me with soggy noodles for my retribution. Ooh, more comments! I love comments. They make me feel all warm and cuddly inside. Incitatua 8: I'm glad you didn't get scared away by my warning that I sometimes don't finish stories! I've been trying my hardest to update as soon as I possibly can, but life keeps getting in the way. But thankfully these are all kinda stand alone stories, so I don't have to worry about leaving you guys on a cliff-hanger. Thanks for reading, and I'm glad you like the stories. lipkandy: Wow, the stories reminded you of songs? And cute, smiling inducing songs, no less. Awesome! That makes me feel really good, 'cause whenever something reminds me of music or a song, I know it's touched me. I'm gonna have to go and look into the songs you mentioned, 'cause they sound great! And sheesh, how many times can I use the word 'song' in a paragraph. Oi... Thank you so much for you kind words. I'm really glad that you enjoyed the stories. Ooh, and being mentioned in the same sentence as the wonderful Sassette! *swoons!* I could only hope to achieve her skill in writing our girls. Btw, other good vignettes are the ones by jixer and... d'oh, I can't remember! Anyway, there are lotsa great Kitten writers out there that write great vignettes and other types of stories. I could plug all my favorites, but then I'll just get all distracted... Oops, I'm already distracted and babbling! Arghh! Anyway, thanks! Draco119: Thank you so much for your sweet comments. Yeah, Willow and Tara are so adorable as both kids and adults. I love writing them as both. Thanks for reading! +++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Title: Growing Together, Part 1: Sleepover Author: Mandy AKA SuperMandy13 Rating: G Disclaimer: Willow and Tara belong to ME and Joss Whedon, sadly. Notes: Read this note to understand the chapter: * This one’s a little different from the others I’ve written so far. No tiny Will and Tara, sadly, and no grown up girls, either. This is the first part of the ‘Growing Together’ section, as I’m calling it, which deals with... well, them “growing together”. Hehehe... simplicity rocks. There are gonna be a few of these chapters, and they all are dealing with the baby steps that influence our girls getting together. I ask y’all to bear with me during this whole thing, ‘cause the entire ‘getting together’ process is going to be SLOW. Very, tediously slow. ‘Cause that’s the only way I can see them getting together. Going from best friends to girlfriends is HUGE, and I didn’t want to miss any of the angsty moments. Well, okay, I don’t really do angst well, so there won’t be lots of angst, but there will be lots of the no fun questioning of themselves and stuff. * I’m gonna try and intersperse these chapters with chapters of Little Tara and Wee Willow, so I won’t deprive all of you guys of the cuteness. So, no worries. Hope you enjoy this update! If not, well... go ahead and tell me and I’ll try and make the next one better. * Btw, I swear, I probably gagged more than you all will during the teenie-bopper scenes. It pained me greatly to try and write as a boy-crazy teenager. * Also, if you don't know, italics signifies thinking.
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Flashback – 5th grade
“Oh, my god! He is like, SO dreamy!”
A chorus of girly squeals and giggles erupted from the group of pre-teens huddled together in the middle of the room. Sprawled half on top of each other and half on the layers of sleeping bags scattered across the floor, the cluster of little girls seemed at home surrounded by the seemingly endless supply of junk food, teen magazines, and mini-makeup kits. They primped and toyed with each other’s hair and nails, gossiping and chattering away, while the radio blasted out the latest pop songs of the week in the background.
Slightly apart from the group, Willow and Tara sat quietly, watching the odd bonding rituals of their peers. Wincing at the high-pitched shrieks, blue and green eyes met as they flashed each other baffled, yet amused, glances. A blonde eyebrow arched in question, only to be met with a shrug in reply. When they had cheerfully accepted the invitation from Karen, their friendly classmate, they hadn’t expected the party to be quite like this. Usually, the two equated slumber parties with all you can eat pizza, candy, and chocolate, followed by watching movies tripped out on huge sugar highs, and finally crashing late at night, tangled up together with their flashlights smushed against their cheeks.
Well, there is pizza and ice cream... Tara shrugged as she refocused her attention back on her best friend’s hair. Earlier in the evening, she had slid behind the redhead and began to gently play with the other girl’s soft locks. But since that was all they had been doing for awhile, after an hour or two of constant braiding, Willow now sported a head full of dreadlocks. The redhead didn’t seem to mind, though, and relaxed comfortably against her friend as she watched the antics of their classmates.
The blonde smiled to herself as she ran her hands over the multitude of braids covering her friend’s hair. I guess this isn’t too bad. It may not be getting to rewatch ‘Jurassic Park’ for the billionth time, but this is still kinda fun. It wasn’t like Willow and Tara never engaged in their own silly girl talk and hair styling sessions. It was just... well... The blonde peeked up to glance at the other still giggling girls. She grimaced as another loud series of shrieks filled the air. Well, we’re never so... shrill... are we?
Startling her out of her thoughts, Tara suddenly found herself with a magazine thrust in her face, causing her to jump and accidentally tug on a braid of red hair. Willow gave a little yelp as her head was pulled back, and winced as she moved one hand up to rub at her scalp. “Owie!!!”
One of the louder girls had shuffled next to them and had excitedly shoved a magazine with the latest hunky celebrity on it in their faces. “Isn’t he just the most GORGEOUS male that ever existed?” Willow and Tara just stared at the girl incredulously as they tried to recover from their surprise.
Shaking off her shock, Willow leaned over and took the magazine into her hands, closely examining the picture of the muscular man who seemed to be lacking his shirt. “Well... he’s very bumpy. Is he supposed to be bumpy like that?”
Tara propped her chin on the redhead’s shoulder, her brow furrowing as she peered down at the picture. “I think that’s his muscles, Will. He’s very buff.”
“I dunno... He looks kinda scary.”
The magazine was ripped from the redhead’s grasp and Willow couldn’t help but wince at the intense look of fury that filled the excited girl’s eyes.
“Ughh!! You guys don’t know anything! He’s absolutely GORGEOUS!” The over-enthusiastic teenager then gave her magazine a kiss directly on the shirtless guy’s mouth.
Tara stuck out her tongue in distaste. “Eww... you don’t know what kind of germs are lurking on that thing, y’know. Who knows who’s been touching it.”
She only received a huff in response, and Willow and Tara could only shrug and roll their eyes again. Oh yeah, I really hope we’re never ever this insane...
Before the pre-teens could break out into another discussion of the cute boys in their magazines, a light rapping against the doorway silenced all the girls. Karen’s mother smiled as she poked her head inside the room. “All right, girls. It’s time for lights out.”
The older woman was met with a chorus of groans and she chuckled softly. “Don’t stay awake too late, okay?”
All of the teenagers chorused a ‘good night’ to Karen’s mom and slipped into their sleeping bags. As soon as the older woman had left, the room was filled with loud scuffling as everybody scooted their sleeping bags around to face each other in a circle. A tall, auburn-haired girl immediately piped up in a hushed voice, “Hey! Let’s play a game. Like, Truth or Dare or something.”
A tiny girl with short, blonde curls made a face at the suggestion. “That game’s stupid. You made me call Brian that one time and tell him he was cute. Uck!”
“Hey, how ‘bout we play that game where we describe our perfect boyfriend using parts of the guys from our class. Like... so-and-so’s eyes with so-and-so’s body, etc. We played that at Tina’s party last year and it was really fun!”
All the girls seemed to voice their agreement to the game as Willow and Tara flashed each other baffled looks. Perfect boyfriend...?
The excited girl who was obsessed about the shirtless magazine guy raised her hand and volunteered to go first. “Umm... okay, my perfect boyfriend would have... David’s eyes, Michael’s arms and shoulders, Ron’s body, and Kevin’s personality.”
“Oh my god, Ron is so fat! How could you pick him??”
“Shut up! He is not fat! He’s... buff!”
Squeals and laughter followed the girl’s answer as the other girls heckled her about her choices. A huge blush formed on the pre-teen’s face and giggles filled the air as she tried to duck under her pillow in embarrassment.
The game continued, moving around the circle to each person, and as other girls piped up to voice their opinions during their turns, Tara sat back and let her mind drift as she pondered the game.
Perfect boyfriend? Why would I want a boyfriend...? I mean, aren’t we kinda... I dunno... young or something to be thinking about stuff like this? It’s so weird. Well, we did have Sex Ed and all, but that was all about B.O. and periods and... okay, let’s not think about that. Eww...
Tara glanced over at Willow, who also seemed to be lost in her own thoughts.
I wonder what Willow’s ideal boyfriend would be like... Tall? Dark? Handsome? For some reason, the idea caused her to grimace slightly. She couldn’t picture her friend with a guy. She couldn’t even picture herself with a guy. Tara’s eyebrows furrowed as she rested her chin against her knees, which were hugged against her chest. Her blue eyes glanced up briefly to study the other girls who seemed to so readily come up with descriptions of the cute boys they would want to date. This sucks... Is this supposed to be this hard? Sheesh... Just ‘cause I don’t drool over the guys in those magazines and I don’t notice the ‘cuteness’ of the stupid boys in our class, doesn’t mean I’m weird or anything. ...right?
Sighing, Tara redoubled her efforts to mentally examine the boys in her grade. Well... Kevin’s nice. I guess that’s points for him? Umm... Ron pushed me that one time in first grade... He’s not very nice. Michael has nice green eyes. But they’re the wrong shade...
“Hey, Tara!”
Before she could examine her thoughts, Tara was abruptly snapped back to attention. Finding the gazes of the other girls focused on her, she immediately blushed hotly and ducked her head to cover her eyes with her hair. “Uh... y-yes?” She winced at the stammering coming from her lips.
One girl rolled her eyes and huffed snottily. “Well... what’s your answer?”
“Ummm....” It took the blonde a moment to remember what they were doing. “Uh... oh! W-well... I guess, what.... Allison s-said, but with, umm... Michael’s eyes?” She couldn’t remember what Allison had said, but she hoped that the girl hadn’t described someone horrible.
The other girls, apparently satisfied with Tara’s answer, moved on to Willow, who was also still deep in her thoughts. “Wha..? Oh! Umm... what were we doing again?”
All the other girls groaned and threw their pillows at the distracted girl. “Come on, pay attention, ya dorks!”
“Hey!” Annoyed at the assault, Willow immediately retaliated with a pillow barrage of her own, nailing one of their classmates directly on the forehead. At this action, everybody in the room could practically hear the battle horns sounding as all available pillows were grabbed and flung through the air. Random girls were tackled and pummeled with the fluffy weapons, and Willow and Tara fought valiantly as they guarded each other’s backs while cutting a swath through the mob of pre-teens.
Needless to say, the previous game was instantly forgotten as pillows and shrieks of laughter filled the air...
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It took awhile to break up the brawl, but after being scolded by Karen’s mom, the girls all settled down and most nodded off, worn out by the fight. Scooting closer to Tara, Willow slid over until she was practically laying in the blonde’s sleeping bag instead of her own. “Hey... you still awake?”
The blonde turned so that she was laying comfortably facing Willow, her head only inches away from the other girl’s. “Yeah.”
Snuggling against her friend, Willow then surprised the blonde with a poke to the ribs. Tara squeaked and gave her friend an indignant look. “Hey! What was that for??”
The redhead gave her best friend an odd look. “Do you really think that David’s cute?”
Tara blinked at Willow in confusion. “What?? Where’d you get that from?”
Willow fidgeted with a loose thread on Tara’s pajama top. “Well, you did say that you agreed with Allison, and she basically said that she likes all of David.” The redhead rolled her eyes, remembering the dreamy look that the girl had had while extolling the boy’s virtues.
The blonde blinked again, before finally realizing what her friend was talking about. “Ohhh... well, I wasn’t really paying attention to the game and didn’t know what to say. So, I just picked her to agree with and added a slight modification so they wouldn’t notice.”
Willow glanced up at the blonde, feeling shy all of a sudden, for some reason. “Ohh... okay, well, I just was wondering. ‘Cause... you never mentioned anything like that before...”
It was Tara’s turn to give her best friend a playful poke. “Neither have you.” A question popped into her mind and she suddenly grew uncomfortable, but couldn’t figure out why. “Umm... well, what’s your ideal guy like? You never got to answer.”
Willow flashed the other girl a wry smile. “Well... I don’t really know either. I’m glad I didn’t have to answer, ‘cause I wouldn’t have known what to say.”
The two laid in silence for a few minutes, listening to the soft snores of their classmates. “Um... Willow? Do you think it’s... I dunno... weird that we never talk about this stuff? ‘Cause, all the other girls seem to never shut up about it, and we never really even think about it.”
Willow distractedly scratched at her nose as she thought about the question. “Hmm... I dunno. I mean, we are kinda different, ‘cause they are all crazy about those stupid magazines while we like stuff that’s more fun, like video games and stuff. But... maybe that’s it. We just have other things we like?” The redhead’s brow furrowed as she tried to puzzle out the situation.
The blonde closed her eyes and sighed, the teenage draw towards wanting to conform eating at her sense of self. “Do you think we should be thinking about this stuff more?”
“Well, I dunno... it looks kinda tiring being so perky and boy-crazy,” the redhead joked. Seeing the serious expression on her friend’s face, Willow sighed and leaned over to rest her forehead against the blonde’s. “I’m trying not to think too hard about all this, ‘cause it’s so confusing... but I’m guessing that all this stuff will hit us when it hits us. When we find guys that aren’t all icky like the one’s in our class, then maybe we’ll start seeing what all these other girls are seeing.”
Tara smiled softly as she relaxed against her friend. “Yeah, okay... But, you will tell me when you finally find someone you get a c-crush on, right?”
Giggling, the redhead playfully poked her tongue out. “Sure! I’ll need you to help me and whap me if I get too insane. Of course, you’ll have to tell me if you find someone you like, too.” Willow’s grin fell slightly as she tried to ignore the odd churning that suddenly erupted in her belly.
The two friends smiled at each other, feeling better now that they had talked everything over with each other. Yet, there was still this lingering bit of... something that niggled at the back of their minds. But as they found themselves covering their mouths to try and suppress sleepy yawns, they both silently decided that such matters could wait for another day.
Shifting back to their respective sleeping spots, they both settled comfortably into their sleeping bags and bid each other a quiet goodnight. As they drifted off to sleep, their thoughts unconsciously strayed back to each other, and they found their dreams filled with odd feelings that they weren’t used to and didn’t understand...
End notes: Yes, the evil ‘perfect boyfriend’ game does exist. I had to endure it while growing up with my very boy-crazy friends. *shudders* And yes, I did use the same tactic that Tara used.
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