SAME DISCLAIMERS
Chapter Five
Tara had been trying for the last forty-five minutes to figure out what she was going to wear for her date with Willow…..Wow!…her date with Willow – that sounded so right. She wondered what Willow had planned for them tonight. She had said not to worry, that she would take care of everything….
I wonder what ‘everything’ entails….
“Knock, knock, knock!”
She’s here….oh goddess! She’s early!!! I’m not ready!!!
“Just a minute!”
Tara scrambled around the room, grabbing the last outfit she had tried on, pulling on the skirt, and throwing the cobalt blue dyed peasant top over her head. She smoothed out her hair, tucking her long blonde tresses neatly behind her right ear, the left side falling gracefully across her face ever so seductively.
Composure, Maclay! You can do this! Slowly, she opened the door. She wasn’t prepared for the vision that awaited her on the other side. What she saw standing before her literally took her breath away. Willow, her Willow. The emerald hued form-fitting cashmere sweater accentuated the jewels of green in her beautiful eyes. It clung to her as though it had been painted onto her skin itself. It seemed to melt right into the long black skirt, slit ever so slightly up the back. Goddess, could she be any more beautiful?
“H-hi.” Tara said, blushing at the thoughts that were already running through her mind.
Willow was equally as taken by Tara’s appearance.
Goddess…she has got to be the most beautiful creature in the universe! And she’s with me! I just want to touch her…to feel her lips against mine…to feel the heat coming off of her body when we embrace… Ok! Allright already! Snap out of it, Rosenberg! This has to be perfect tonight!!!
“Miss Maclay, would you do me the honor of joining me for dinner and ‘entertainment’ on this fine evening?” Willow said, presenting her arm to escort Tara.
Tara smiled and slipped her arm under Willow’s.
”I would be delighted to, Miss Rosenberg!”
Willow walked Tara down to the taxi that was waiting at the dorm entrance and opened the door for her.
“Willow! You really didn’t have to do all of this…we could have just gone to the malt shop or something…”
Willow smiled…beautiful, intelligent, and thoughtful too….Wow!
“I want to make this a night that you’ll remember for years to come…our official ‘first date’…you know – it has to be special!” Willow-grin…
Tara took Willow’s small hand in hers and looked into those emerald eyes …
“Willow, any time that we have together is special…it’s magick…” Tara leaned in and gently nibbled Willow’s lower lip. Willow was surprised, but very receptive. She felt that same rush of heat and energy flowing through her entire body, warming her from the very core of her soul. There was no place in the universe that she would rather be. Just here…with her Tara…her always.
Goddess…this feels so good, I don’t want it to ever stop!
Willow-hand slowly moved across Tara’s thigh, making little circles along the way. A muffled groan escaped from Tara’s lips as she felt the soft hand move up to her stomach, under her blouse….
Suddenly the taxi came to an abrupt stop. The cab driver slammed the gear into Park.
“Ok, this is it…Delissandro’s Restaurante…”
Willow was more than a little peeved at the interruption. Tara giggled. The red head was so cute when she got flustered!
“That’ll be $14.85” the driver said, sticking out his hand.
Willow handed him three five-dollar bills.
“Gee, thanks for the big, tip, Lady!”
Willow shot him one of her patented ‘if looks were daggers, you’d be dead right now’ looks. But her mood quickly changed as Tara took her hand.
Walking away, Tara thought she heard willow say something….
“Circulus deflato!” Willow whispered.
Pop! Hisssssssssssssssss! The back left tire on the taxi popped and quickly deflated – much to the chagrin of the driver.
“Goddamnit! Son-of-a-bitch!”
A look of satisfaction spread across Willow’s face as she opened the door of the restaurant for Tara.
“Rosenberg, party of two, non-smoking, please.” Willow said, rather officially.
“Ah yes, Miss Rosenberg, we’ve been waiting for you! Everything is all ready, please follow me, ladies.”
The maitredee escorted them to a secluded table towards the back of the restaurant. Tara had never been in such a nice restaurant. The table was dressed in fine linen tablecloth with a silken runner and matching linen napkins. The maitredee leaned forward, lighting the candles in the centerpiece. The silverware! There were so many forks, Tara didn’t know how she could possibly eat enough to use all of them!
“We have several wonderful dishes prepared tonight, our specials are Chicken Marsala, Fettucini Alfredo, and Shrimp Scampi.”
“Oooh! Shrimp Scampi! That is sooo yummy! It’s one of my favorites!” Willow squealed.
Tara’s head dropped…”I’m allergic t-to shrimp” she said, sheepishly.
“Did I say, Shrimp? I meant, Ooooh! Chicken Marsala, it’s definitely my favorite! Scampi is too garlicky…can’t have that! Not tonight – cause I want my smoochies…and shrimpy-garlic breath is just unpleasant!” She said to Tara with a wink.
“I’ll have the Chicken, too – please.” Tara said without a stutter. She was definitely getting more comfortable with Willow, knowing now that she felt the same way that Tara felt about her…
The two enjoyed a wonderful dinner, and although few words were said during the meal, their eyes spoke volumes…
“Willow, this has been the best night of my life…”
Willow smiled, “Ah, but it’s not over yet, m’lady! Shall we?” She said, rising from the table and extending her hand to Tara…”Your carriage awaits.”
Tara’s eyes lit up as they walked out the restaurant. There waiting was the most beautiful white and gilded carriage, complete with driver and a team of two of the most beautiful steeds that Tara had ever seen. Tears began to well up in her eyes as the attendant helped them into the carriage. Willow took the blanket that was sitting on the seat and draped it gallantly around Tara’s shoulders.
“Can’t have you catching a cold, now, can we?” She said with a smile.
Tara had never felt so cared for, so cherished, so loved? She was scared to even think it – for fear that she would jinx something…everything was going so perfectly….
The two held hands and snuggled for a beautiful ride around the park. It was unusual for Willow to actually be able to go out in Sunnydale after dark and not be worried about the vamps or demons coming out and needing to be staked…but tonight was different. She had made Buffy promise to keep an eye out for them, so they could enjoy a ‘big bad – free night’.
The carriage came to a stop outside of the amphitheater in the hills. Willow hopped out of the carriage first, and helped Tara climb down.
“There’s more?” Tara couldn’t believe that someone would do all of this just for her. She was nothing special. Why was Willow doing all of this? Just relax, Maclay, enjoy the evening…
Willow took her by the hand and led her to a blanket laid out on the lawn area of the amphitheater. There was a bucket with iced champagne, strawberries, apple slices, mangos, and chocolate and whipped cream to dip them all in. Laying in the center of the blanket were three roses, one white, one pink, and one red...
"These are for you, Tara. The white is for the friendship that blossomed that first day that we met in the Wicca Group meeting, the pink is for the night that our friendship turned into something more, something wonderful... and the red, the red is for our future...where I hope our future will lead us..."
Tara was speechless. This was what she wanted more than anything in the world...her Willow.
"Thank you." she said, tears welling up...
Inside the amphitheater, the orchestra was just warming up. Was that….Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini?
“Oh Willow, this is one of my favorite pieces! How did you know?”
“You know the other night, when we were talking, and you got up to go to the bathroom….well, I kinda got all ‘snoopy’ and I opened your music box, and noticed that it was playing this tune…and I couldn’t remember where I had heard it before…but then I remembered that it was in the movie ‘Somewhere In Time’… so I went to the library and looked up the soundtrack…and found out what the name of it was….and the Librarian said that if I liked the piece I should come to the orchestra concert tonight…so here we are….” Willow-smile… she’s happy! I do love her… did I just think that? I love her? Do I? Willow babbled to herself inside her head… holy moly! I DO love her! I love Tara Maclay! Willow felt like she was going to burst…she just had to kiss her…       
Willow gently pulled Tara into her, intending to romantically ease her down onto the blanket and smother her with kisses….
THUD!
“Ooops! Oh goddess, Tara? Are you okay?”
Willow had underestimated how difficult it would be to ease Tara down onto the blanket, and she landed with a thud…
Tara just smiled and pulled Willow to her…
“I am now.” She purred.
The rest of the concert was a bit of a blur…and before they knew it, everyone was leaving the amphitheater.
“Looks like the concert is over….”
“Um…yeah, guess we were a little pre-occupied…” Willow said with a grin, leaning forward and licking off the bit of whipped cream that had attached itself ever so seductively to Tara’s luscious bottom lip…
“I’ll walk you back to your room.” Willow said, gathering all of the remnants of their rendezvous up in the wicker picnic basket. She didn’t want this night to end. But she didn’t know if she wanted it to go any further, either. Things had gotten pretty hot and heavy during the concert, and, well, she was kind of afraid of what might happen if they continued this back at Tara’s room…she wasn’t sure she was ready for that…
Ok, don’t blow this Rosenberg…kissing is one thing…petting, yeah, okay…nothing too difficult there… but beyond that? You need to think about this… Being with Oz, well, that was pretty easy and all, I mean, how difficult is it to please a guy? But Tara? I want everything to be perfect for her, for us…
The two of them barely said a word walking the three blocks to Tara’s dorm room.
“Well, h-here we are.”
“Yep…here we are…”
Don’t blow it, Rosenberg…not now…
“Well, I should probably get going…”
“Willow?”
“Hmm?”
“I had the b-best time of my life tonight. Thank you so much…” Tara leaned forward, kissing her once more…
“Me too…the best! Better than anything…you…you’re better than anything…”
They stood motionless, suspended in time…Emerald gazing into Sapphire, Sapphire into Emerald.
“Willow?”
“What, baby?”
“Stay…”
To Be Continued….
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