Hey! Thanks everyone for reading and for all the comments… You’re all great!
Bug23: You really think that? Thanks a lot! And you won’t have to wait long, ‘cause here is the next part.
VixenyTarasHot: No…don’t smack yourself =P You always leave me feedback and it’s always good…so, thanks! Hehe…. Oh, and thank you for saying you like it completely, you just made my day
And you’re right, they need some fun…so I hope you like this next part.
Krokador: Oh...thank you so much for the lovely feedback! I’m glad you like this and don’t think it’s too bad
And I promise you won’t have to wait too long, ‘cause they’ll be together soon…really
Oh, and I get what you said about this being fitted in present day…but see, there’re a lot of things and even parts of the road that don’t exist anymore… Besides, it was at that time that the road was famous and stuff…you know? So…that’s it. =P Hehe…hope you enjoy this next part.
Tank: Thank you so much! I’m really glad you like this
And yeah, I wanted to tell it from one’s point of view, to make it a little different from the other fics, you know? So…thanks for saying you like it!
And as for this film noir element, well…I haven’t really noticed it…hehe =P But…thanks anyway!
***
Title: 66 - The road of dreams
Author: onlykaren
Feedback: Yes please, if you want to.
Disclaimer: I don’t own any of Buffy the Vampire Slayer characters.
Summary: AU. A road trip across US.
Rating: PG through to R, maybe a little NC-17.
Pairing: W/T eventually.
Note: This is my first attempt at a fic and English is my second language, so I apologize for any misspelling or grammatical errors.
Note2: All the information about Route 66 I got from the Internet, so if there’s anything wrong, I apologize.
***
Part 13
We drove for a few more miles. The road was getting more and more crowded as we neared the park. There were a lot of cars, with whole families, and buoys, hats, sunglasses…well, a genuine family day in the pool.
The sun was shining brightly in the sky, just like any-other summer hot day. Buffy pulled the car into the driveway and parked it in the almost full parking lot.
We opened our bags and searched for bathing suits. I didn’t remember bringing one, but I must have grabbed it in the hurry to pack, ‘cause luckily I found the one.
Having put on sunscreen, which Willow had, for our luck, brought with her stuff…well, what can I say, the redhead was very thoughtful…anyway, we put our swimming suits, in Buffy’s case, a bikini, all inside one bag and got out of the car, making our way to the entrance.
***
“It’s 13 dollars a person.” The ticket man informed.
Buffy turned to face us. As she opened her mouth to speak though, Willow spoke first. “I know Buffy, 52 dollars is a lot…but remember what we said before, in the next city, we can earn more money, okay?”
Buffy conceded. “Ok, I know…” She opened the wallet and paid the man.
Finally we entered the park. I think till that moment, I’d never seen so many people gathered at one place… Children and teenagers were swimming and playing in the cool waters of the pond, as families enjoyed the picnic tables, concessions, and boats provided at the park. It was really full.
“Wow…there is a lot of people in here.” Buffy commented, voicing my thoughts.
“Guys, look!” Dawn exclaimed, pointing to a slide in the side of a giant blue whale. “The blue whale…we have to try it!” She ventured excitedly.
“Yeah…let’s change clothes first.”
We rushed towards the restroom and changed clothes quickly. I was the first one to finish. Standing next to the sinks, I waited for the girls to come out. Soon, Willow and Dawn stepped out of their stalls. I gulped as I raked my eyes over the redhead’s full figure, my mouth suddenly dry. I’d never thought Willow looked so sexy as she was in that skin-tight bathing suit…exposing her long, smooth legs and showing perfectly the outline of her beautiful small breasts…I could practically see her nipples pointing out through the material and…
“…yet?” I looked away quickly as I registered Dawn’s voice. Oh no… Could I be any more obvious?
“S-sorry?” I asked, biting my lower lip and lowering my head as I felt my cheeks burn.
“Buffy…has she come out yet?” Dawn repeated, as she looked around, oblivious to my demeanor.
“N-no…I haven’t seen her.” I replied, trying to compose myself. I cast a glance over at Willow and noticed she was looking quizzically at me.
“She isn’t in here also,” Dawn continued. “All the stalls are empty.”
The redhead shifted her gaze to Dawn, “She’s probably outside.” She pointed out. “You guys go look for her, ‘cause I’m gonna put the bag in a locker”. She said and turned to go.
“Willow, w-wait.” She looked back at me and I held up my clothes.
“Oh,” The redhead said sheepishly. “Here”. She took the clothes and put them inside the bag. With one last smile, Willow left.
“Come on, Dawn.”
We headed off to look for Buffy.
***
In spite of the place being full of people, soon we spotted Buffy. As we walked towards her though, we noticed she was talking to this black-haired, blue-eyed, tall guy.
Dawn and I shared a look as we approached them.
“Hey, Buffy…” Dawn spoke first. “We were looking for you.”
“Sorry…you guys were taking too long, so I decided to check out the place.” Buffy replied, smiling brightly.
“Hum-hum.” The stranger guy spoke.
“Oh!” Buffy turned towards him. “Brian, these are my friend Tara and my sister Dawn.” She turned back to us. “Tara, Dawn…this is Brian.”
“Nice to meet you.” Brian stepped forward and took my hand to shake, running his eyes right down my body, staring deeply at me. I didn’t like it.
Pulling my hand away from his, I stepped backwards. “Y-you too.”
“I’m Dawn.” Dawn said as she stepped in my front and shook hands with him. Brian’s eyes never left me though.
“Uh, B-buffy.” I turned to face the blonde, feeling uncomfortable at the way this guy was looking at me. “I-I’m g-gonna look for Willow, t-tell her we’ve f-found you, o-okay?” I stammered, cursing my stutter as I swallowed hard.
“Okay,” Buffy responded. “I’ll be right there.”
“N-nice m-meeting you, Brian.” I said, turning to go.
“My pleasure”. He replied, smiling mischievously.
As I moved to go, Dawn grabbed my hand. “I’m going with you.”
“O-okay.”
***
As we looked for the redhead, I couldn’t stop thinking about what had just happened. This Brian guy, he was kind of cute…and he was checking me out, right? So why had I felt uncomfortable? I knew for sure that if that had happened a few months ago, I’d have probably felt all giddy to have a guy, a cute guy, checking me out. So why had I reacted that way? I sighed. I’d definitely changed those last few days.
Looking up, I saw Willow approaching us, her cheeks curved in a beautiful smile. I felt like I was going to melt at the sight… Yep, definitely changed.
“Hey, Will!” Dawn blurted. “Guess what?”
“What?” The redhead asked curiously.
“Tara has a new boyfriend!” Dawn let out, grinning.
“What?” The redhead asked again, eyes wide open.
“What?” I asked the same question. “Dawn, h-he is not my b-b-b-b…” I couldn’t finish the word, my stuttering making it impossible.
“He isn’t now,” Dawn interrupted. “But Will, you had to see the way Brian was looking at Tara…it was like love at first sight!”
As I opened my mouth to protest, Buffy showed up and cut me off. “Tara, you couldn’t let me have him, huh?” She said playfully. “I mean, with all these other cute guys here, why did you have to make the one I liked fall for you?”
“B-buffy, what are you t-talking about, fall?” I asked, slightly frustrated with the way things were going.
“You know exactly what I’m talking about…” Buffy replied, smiling teasingly, “When you guys left, Brian wouldn’t stop asking questions about you!”
“Yeah Tara…” Willow interceded coldly. “Looks like you’ve got yourself a boyfriend.”
What? No! “N-no Will…h-he is not m-m-m…” I frowned, sighing deeply. Why did I have to stutter right when I most shouldn’t?
“You don’t have to explain it, Tara.” The redhead interrupted. “I’m gonna take a look around…see you guys later.” She didn’t wait for a reply and walked away.
“Will!” I called out her, but the redhead didn’t look back. I turned to face Buffy and Dawn. “See w-what you guys have d-done?” I sighed, rubbing my neck in frustration. “I’ll go after h-her.”
Walking away from them, I heard Dawn singing. “Brian and Tara…sitting in a tree…k-i-s-s-i-n-g…” I sighed again, but decided to let it go. I had to go after Willow. Why had she left like that anyway? The girls were just fooling around. Besides, of all people, I was the one who should be angry with them, not her. It was almost like she was…what? Jealous?
I ceased walking abruptly as the thought sank in. Could it be it? Could Willow be jealous? Well, that explained a lot why she had reacted that way. But if the redhead were jealous, it’d probably mean she had feelings for me, right? No…I shook my head, not quite believing the thought. Maybe she was jealous in a friendly kind of way? I mean, we had never had boyfriends before, so it must be difficult to deal with the idea, even if it weren’t true. That didn’t make sense though…we had had crushes and Willow had never reacted that way. I sighed. I had to stop analyzing things so much.
A few minutes later, I spotted Willow sitting on the edge of the pond, her feet dangling in the water. Noticing she had her head down, I slowly approached the redhead, moving to sit down next to her.
“H-hey”. I ventured before biting my lip.
Willow looked up at me. “What are you doing here?” The redhead asked harshly. “Go back to Brian, he must be looking for you…” She lowered her head again.
“Will…” I took a deep breath, trying to be as calm as possible. I did not want to stutter again. “Brian’s not my b-boyfriend…and never will be.” Seeing Willow slowly lift her face again, I continued. “Buffy and Dawn were just t-teasing me because of the way he was l-looking at me. To be honest, I don’t even like h-him.” I flashed her my lopsided smile.
The corners of the redhead’s mouth also quirked up into a smile. “Really?” She asked softly, in a childlike voice. Willow was so adorable.
“Really”. I reached out to take her hand. “Now…let’s have some fun?”
“And some water too?” She said, still smiling. I giggled. So adorable.
“Yeah.” I stood up and hold out a hand to her.
She looked up at me. “Whale?”
I nodded smiling and we rushed off towards the giant blue whale. Soon, we found Buffy and Dawn, and joined them to slide down the large whale into the cool waters of the pond. We did that so many times that I even lost count. It felt so good to just have fun and not care about problems such as money, hurricanes, death, new-confusing feelings for your best friend…Ok, this last one was only mine. But even so, it felt good to just act like nothing else mattered…as if we were children again.
***
“Buffy, can we have ice cream?” Dawn asked as we were lying down on chairs, sunbathing.
Buffy sat up, shading her eyes with her hand as she looked around. “Yeah…” She stood up. Willow and I did the same.
Dawn turned to face the redhead. “Will…wanna race me to the snack bar?” She asked, smiling amusingly.
Buffy rolled her eyes. “Dawn, it’s time to grow up, don’t you think? You should…”
“Okay”. Willow replied, cutting Buffy off. I laughed at the surprised look on the blonde’s face.
“Ready?” Dawn asked. “1…2…3!” And they took off running.
Buffy looked at me and shrugged. “I guess we’re the grown ups here. Let’s go?”
“No, you go ahead,” I offered. “I wanna go to the bathroom first.”
“Okay…” Buffy replied. “See you later.” She headed off.
As I started to make my way to the restrooms, I slammed into someone, almost losing my balance. “S-sorry.”
“No problem.”
Looking up at the voice, I suddenly felt like disappearing. “B-brian”. I choked out, dropping my eyes to the ground again.
“Hey, Tara”. Brian replied, smiling smugly. “Alone here?”
“I w-was just going to the b-bathroom.” I explained.
“Oh,” he let out. “Maybe you could make me some company and go to the bathroom later? I’m also alone here.” He reached out to take my hand.
“I d-don’t think so…” I stepped backwards, pulling his hand away. “W-weren’t you with Buffy?”
“Why?” He smiled mischievously. “Are you jealous?”
“Of c-course not.” I replied annoyed. Who did this guy think he was? “I…I have to go.” I turned to walk, but Brian moved to stand in the way.
“So soon?” He asked, grabbing my hand again.
“Yeah B-brian…just let me go.” I pulled my hand away from his grip. Where was Willow when I most needed her?
“Look,” Brian stared deeply at my eyes. “I won’t try anything with you…not if you don’t want to.”
“Ok,” I replied quickly. “I don’t w-want to.”
“Fine,” he backed away from me. “Just…if you change your mind, I live in Chandler, a small town between Tulsa and Oklahoma City. You could visit me and…”
“I’ll t-think about it.” I interrupted, forcing a smile to my lips. I’d do anything to get away from him. “N-now, I really h-have to go…bye.” I turned and walked away quickly, hearing Brian’s faint reply, “Bye Tara!”
Letting out a huge sigh of relief, I finally made my way to the bathroom.
***
Walking over to the snack bar, I noticed only Willow and Dawn were sitting there. Why did Buffy always disappear?
“Tar…” The redhead let out as she saw me approach. “What took you so long?”
“Oh…t-there w-was a small line to the bathroom.” I replied, kicking myself internally for not being honest…I just shouldn’t tell her I’d run into Brian, right? “Uh, w-where’s Buffy?” I decided to change the topic quickly.
“She went talk to some guy while we were waiting here for you.” Willow replied, grabbing a stool for me to seat. “So…” The redhead continued after I sat next to her. “Choose whatever you want.”
What? “Huh?” I asked, furrowing my brows in confusion. What had Willow meant by that?
Dawn giggled at me. “The flavors, Tara.” She explained amusingly. “Ice cream, remember?”
“Oh,” I replied sheepishly. “Yeah, of c-course.” I glanced over at Willow and noticed she was smiling teasingly. Had she done that on purpose?
“So?” the redhead asked, still smiling.
I playfully stuck my tongue out at her, “I think I’ll only have a coke.”
“Okay,” Willow smiled and turned to call the bartender.
“And what about you?” I asked as I noticed Willow had only ordered the coke.
“We’ve already eaten,” Dawn answered. “Sorry, but you were taking too long, and I was kind of hungry and…”
I smiled reassuringly. “That’s fine, Dawnie. I don’t care, okay?”
Dawn nodded, also smiling, as the bartender came back with the coke. Willow paid him and handed me the bottle.
“Thanks.” I gave her my lopsided smile. The redhead chuckled, offering her own smile in return and causing me to melt at the same time. So cute.
“Come on, Tara.” Dawn urged, snapping me out of my reverie. “I still wanna slide down the whale before the park closes.”
“Okay, okay…” I replied and drank the coke quickly. I had to stop doing that, I told myself. It was so easy to get lost in Willow’s gaze, in her beauty. I still didn’t know how come no one had noticed it yet. Or maybe they had, but decided not to tell me?
Well, I’d just have to stop doing it anyway. Or…at least I could try. Yeah, right.
“I think we should go look for Buffy,” Willow suggested after I finished with the coke.
“Again?” Dawn complained. “Why do we always have to look for her?”
“Dawn, I don’t like it either.” The redhead replied. “But I don’t think she should be alone here.”
“Yeah, Dawnie.” I agreed.
“But Buffy isn’t alone, you guys.” Dawn remarked. “She is with that guy, Kevin?”
Wow. I knew Buffy was the most experienced of us. She even had a boyfriend once. But I never knew she liked guys that much…or maybe this was normal and I was the one that never really liked boys? Well, it kind of made sense now. I shrugged at the thought.
“It’ll be quick…” The redhead said. “Come on.”
We stood and went look for Buffy once more.
***
This time, the petite blonde was sitting under a tree, talking to another black-haired, blue-eyed, tall guy. Huh, Buffy must really like this type of guys.
Nearing the happy couple, we realized they were holding hands. Willow looked at me and smiled. I didn’t know why she’d done that, but I smiled back at her. Maybe she was happy for Buffy?
“Hey, Buff”. The redhead spoke shyly. “Sorry to interrupt, but we’re going to swim and thought maybe you wanted to come with us?” Willow offered nervously and not waiting for Buffy to reply, she continued. “I know you’re here with him…hi again, by the way…but I thought we should ask you in case you wanted to come and…”
We all laughed at the redhead’s babbling. “Sorry”. Willow said sheepishly and ducked her head, blushing furiously. I chuckled and reached out to squeeze the redhead’s hand, finding her utterly adorable.
“Thanks, Will”. Buffy replied, still giggling. “But I think I’ll stay here with Kevin.”
Sighing, Dawn let out harshly. “I told you.”
“Dawn,” I said gently. “Buffy will meet us later, right Buffy?”
“Right,” Buffy confirmed. “I promise you guys I won’t take too long.”
“Okay,” Willow nodded, moving to go. “Nice meeting you again, Kevin.”
“You too, girls.” Kevin replied gently. I smiled at that. He seemed to be a lot nicer than Brian.
With a last smile, we headed off to the pond again.
***
“I don’t know why Buffy prefers being with a guy to swimming,” Dawn said innocently as we walked through the park. “You guys aren’t like that.”
Hearing Dawn’s innocent comment, I glanced over at Willow and we shared a quick look before she spoke again. “I mean,” Dawn continued. “Like you and Brian, Tara. He obviously liked you, and you…”
“T-that was different, Dawn.” I interjected.
“Why different?” Dawn asked intrigued.
Willow rolled her eyes. “Because Tara didn’t like Brian back.” She explained, slightly exasperated.
“So why did he like her?” Dawn tacked on.
“I don’t think…m-maybe…” I trailed off, not knowing what to say.
“‘Cause Tara is very likeable.” Willow blurted out, before ducking her head bashfully. My cheeks immediately flushed and I looked down, not really believing those words. Willow thought I was likeable?
“And…and that’s probably why Brian liked her.” The redhead hastily added, a deep blush settled on her cheeks.
“Okay,” Dawn replied absently as she looked ahead at the giant whale. “I wanna slide down the slide again…come on!” She said, before taking off running.
Willow looked up at me, her cheeks still flushed. Seeing the embarrassed look on the girl’s face, I suddenly felt this overwhelming desire to take her in my arms and let her know she had nothing to worry about; that she was also very very likeable, cared for deeply in fact.
As I opened my mouth to speak however, no words came out, my shyness getting the better of me. Instead, I simply smiled at the redhead, silently reassuring her.
Willow smiled back adoringly, the embarrassment gone. She reached for my hand and intertwined our fingers. “Let’s go.” She said softly, tugging at my arm.
***
We rushed towards the whale again. Willow smirked at me and holding my hand tight, she pulled me closer to her and we slid it down together, giggling all the way.
“Yay!” Willow let out happily after we fell in the water, twirling around like a child.
I laughed at the redhead’s goofiness and sneaking up behind her, I scooped up some water, playfully throwing it at her. Turning around, Willow giggled and threw water back at me.
“War?” I asked giggling.
The redhead didn’t respond and laughing, she scooped up more water to throw at me. I smiled. The war had begun.
A short time later, Dawn appeared and joined us in our water fight. The three of us stayed there for a few hours, swimming and having fun until we became too worn out.
Deciding it was time to go, we got slowly out of the water and headed off to look for Buffy once more.
***