CHAPTER RATING: NC-17
NOTE: Warning for rating change ^
Chapter 38
Nepal
(Part 1)
’Cause You Make Me Feel Wild
You Touch My Inner Smile
“Tara.”
Willow poked Tara’s sleeping face again as she stood on the ladder between the bunks so she could reach Tara on top.
“Tara,” she whispered into the quiet room, tapping Tara’s nose repeatedly.
Tara batted Willow’s hand away.
“Stop it,” she whispered back grumpily, cracking an eye open to see the room was still in darkness, “What is it?”
Willow held up a red rose and twirled it.
“Happy Valentine’s Day.”
“Can you two lesbos quit your bloody ear-bashing at this hour?” an Australian roommate barked out from across the room.
Willow made a mocking face over her shoulder but was all earnest smiles again when she turned back to Tara.
Tara lifted her blanket, which Willow scrambled under quickly and pulled it over their heads. They’d gotten pretty good at learning to utilize mediocre-at-best bed linen to create a little vacuum they could whisper to each other in if they wanted a little privacy.
They had to huddle close together, of course, but it was a sacrifice they were both willing to make.
Willow twirled the rose under Tara’s nose, smiling when Tara visibly withheld a ticklish giggle.
“I had to go out early to pick it out for you.”
Tara closed her hand over Willow’s on the stem and smiled.
“You picked it?”
“Well…I picked it from the florist at the early morning market,” Willow admitted sheepishly “I don’t think there’s a plant left unpruned out there. I wasn’t sure if today would be as commercialized over here but…I guess cupid’s arrow shoots in all jurisdictions.”
Tara leaned in and kissed Willow softly.
“I love it,” she whispered against Willow’s lips, “I love you.”
Willow brushed the petals of the rose against Tara’s cheek.
“You told me you loved not long after Valentine’s Day last year.”
She blushed and sighed softly.
“I wish I’d said it back. I felt it.”
“It’s okay,” Tara replied with an easy, sleepy smile, “I felt it for a long time before I said it too.”
Willow touched her fingertips to Tara’s cheek where the petals had danced. Tara always made everything so easy, even when she didn’t think she deserved it. Her fingers fell to Tara’s lips and ran over them softly.
“…remember what else we did for the first time right after Valentine’s Day?”
Her hand fell away from Tara’s mouth and down to her waist where she pressed it against the seam between Tara’s legs.
Tara’s eyes fluttered closed and Willow brought her hand under Tara’s pajama bottoms. She wasn’t wearing underwear.
Willow dipped her fingers between Tara’s lips and found her clit. She wasn’t tentative like that first time; she knew the exact pressure and movement that made Tara—
A hand closed around her wrist and pulled her away.
“Not with other people in the room,” Tara whispered in a shaken breath, “That’s all I can take without making any noise.”
Willow curled her hand around Tara’s hip instead and gently brushed against the skin above her waistband.
Tara snaked her arm around Willow’s waist and cuddled closer.
“Let’s sleep some more.”
Willow agreed silently by tucking herself under Tara’s chin and closing her eyes.
The rose stayed floating above the interlocking curves of their bodies with the petals falling off in their never-ending quest to get closer.
“This is not the romantic Valentine’s meal I hoped for.”
Willow winced at the scratching sound of chair legs on the tile floor of the hostel kitchen. Her fellow travelers had little concern for any misophonia one might possess, it seemed, as another scraped a spoon against a pan and a third loudly smacked their lips together between each bite of the fish they’d courteously heated up in the microwave.
“It’s really good though,” Tara replied, briefly sticking her thumb between her lips to remove a little piece of cheese that had gotten stuck, “You do great nachos.”
“No one melts cheese on chips like me,” Willow quipped unenthusiastically, “I don’t know what I anticipated…it’s not like filet mignon or oysters are in my repertoire…or our budget.”
She noticed a little piece of guac dabbed on Tara’s nose and smiled. She leaned in and kissed Tara’s nose, then her lips for a chaste moment and finally, settled back.
“On second thought, this is perfect.”
Tara blushed and wiped at her nose.
“It’s not first date food.”
Willow scooped some sour cream up with a chip and stuffed into her gob unceremoniously.
“I don’t plan on going on any more of those.”
Tara ducked her head and smiled, dragging her upper teeth over her bottom lip shyly.
Willow’s eyes were drawn there but she made a point of lifting them to meet Tara’s gaze.
“Do you still want to head to this party on the beach tonight?”
Tara nodded.
“I think it looks fun,” she said, then added in an undeniably sultry tone, “Dancing under the moon.”
The crooked smile made Willow feel a way that was only safe to feel when they were very much alone and could act on it.
“You know I’m down for anything with glow sticks,” she replied as a distraction, then her nose scrunched up, “Well, maybe not
anything.”
Tara laughed.
“Where’s your sense of adventure?”
“I can be adventurous,” Willow defended, placing a hand on Tara’s knee and pushing it up her thigh, “Well…if you want me to.”
Her body leaned forward, meaning to engage in some brief but intentful osculation but they were interrupted by a table of guys, a couple of them their roommates, a few feet away sniggering and shooting wolf whistles in their direction.
Willow blew out a frustrated breath and started to stand.
“Go get ready?”
Tara just nodded and they cleaned up the remains of their dinner silently, avoiding the teasing from the table of guys.
“Dudes like that really make me consider single-sex dorms,” Willow said as they walked back to their room, “Except knowing our luck we’d be in with a group of girls who think lesbians only want to ogle or turn them.”
“And then get offended when you say you’re not,” Tara replied, frowning.
Willow’s lips pulled into a small grin.
“Do you remember that German girl in Osaka?”
“The one who told you to keep your eyes to yourself and then went out of her way to try and get undressed in front of you?” Tara asked with an arched eyebrow.
Willow shook her head to herself.
“I still don’t know if she wanted the flattery or the drama of ‘catching’ me out.”
Tara’s hand brushed past Willow’s and she curled her pinky finger around Willow’s pinkie.
“Lucky you only have eyes for me.”
Willow looked sidelong at Tara and smiled softly.
“The luckiest.”
Tara blushed lightly and was silent for a moment before meeting Willow’s gaze.
“I’m glad you’re…” she stopped to consider her words, “I’m glad you’re okay. After Dubai. I could see you were…you were really scared. I’m proud of you for recognizing it and letting me help.”
“Like I said…I won’t go back there,” Willow replied solemnly, “I’ve been doing the gratitude journaling too. It helps. Even recognizing that I got to have a good breakfast. Like this afternoon I was trying to remember what I had. I thought it was a bagel, but maybe that was yesterday. You had two eggs sunny-side-up. I remember 'cause they were wiggling at me like little boobs.”
“Sassy eggs,” Tara grinned and Willow returned it.
“Anyway, I wanted to note it. A lot of people don’t even get that, a regular breakfast. I figured life goes by so fast if you don't write stuff down it just gets… lost. And I wanna remember.”
“Down to every last bagel,” Tara replied with a nod and sly wink.
Willow linked the rest of her fingers with Tara’s and squeezed.
“Down to every last everything I do with you.”
Tara looked at Willow for a long moment and wondered how she couldn’t love herself as much as Tara loved her.
They got to the room and went over to their corner bunk bed to pick out clothes.
“I saw you doodling in it yesterday,” Tara commented curiously as she decided between shorts or a dress, “Your journal.”
“I do doodle,” Willow admitted, “Sometimes. It helps too.”
Tara nodded.
“My mom always said art therapy was a favorite in the home to supervise. The clients would draw all kinds of things and sometimes even the ones with dementia would remember childhood memories.”
Willow stopped and considered that.
“Yeah, I guess it kinda is like art therapy when I doodle,” she reasoned eventually, “My parents were always too academic to ever talk about practical therapies. Is that what music is like for you?”
“I think that’s what music is like for everyone,” Tara replied, pulling a yellow dress on over her clothes and stealthily undressing beneath it, “In different ways.”
Willow nodded to herself, slowly.
“Huh.”
She absent-mindedly laid out a pair of cargo shorts and a t-shirt. It was just about warm enough to get away with those kinds of clothes, especially if they were going to be dancing.
She smiled.
Dancing with Tara had become her favorite thing for nightlife in each new city they visited. The rush; the freedom was like nothing else.
Especially as they liked to frequent at least one gay bar and absorb the culture from the local establishments. It was a crash course in living as part of the gay community Willow could have experienced no other way. It often made her euphoric as she spun in Tara’s shadow under flashing disco lights.
The full moon tonight would be a change but it didn’t matter what acted as their mirror ball, as long as it was Tara’s arms she was dancing into beneath it.
She lifted her head to ask Tara about the clothes she picked out and realized she was alone in the room again. Tara’s toiletry bag was gone but Willow hadn’t even heard her go. She blushed at getting so stuck in her own thoughts and began wondering some more about using artistic expression to clear your head and how music worked for her vs. how it worked for Tara. It was an interesting discussion to have with herself.
When Tara returned, make-up applied and hair brushed straight, Willow was going to ask Tara’s opinion on it all, but she was too busy being blown away by her girlfriend looking so effortlessly sexy.
“Wow, baby.”
“Do I look okay?” Tara asked, so unsure every time and Willow wondered how Tara couldn’t see herself the way Willow saw her.
Neither realized the other felt the same way.
“You look stunning,” Willow answered, reaching out to run a hand down Tara’s bare arm where a light tan was holding out from the Indian sun.
Tara blushed and smiled.
“Thanks.”
Willow’s hand fell away from Tara’s arm and back to her side.
“I got lost in Willow-brain. I’ll be ready soon.”
“Take your time,” Tara replied easily, “It’s just getting dark anyway. Do you need some help?”
Willow nodded quickly.
“Yes. Always. Especially from you.”
She turned back toward the clothes she had laid out and made a face. She looked to Tara for help.
They looked through the options and eventually swapped the cargo shorts for jean shorts and the tee for a yellow smiley-face tank top that matched Tara’s dress in color.
Willow patted the front of her abdomen when she finished getting dressed, satisfied with the selection.
“Hey, clothes.”
Tara pursed her lips and looked Willow up and down as her mouth quirked up on one side. The only thing better than the denim hugging her thighs or the small bulge of her braless breasts in that tank would be nothing at all.
“Better not get used to ‘em.”
Willow was still getting used to hearing Tara talk about her like that but her standard reaction had shifted from embarrassment to thrill.
“Mmm, yes, ma’am,” she agreed and reached out to tug Tara toward her by the waist.
She loved that Tara towered over her just slightly so their noses angled opposite each other and nuzzled as they kissed. It was little moments like that she’d really grown to appreciate now that she took the time to enjoy a kiss and not just swallow it whole like she was starving and stealing from the back of the pantry; always on edge that she was about to get caught.
“Love you,” she said, pressing her lips briefly to Tara’s cheek before pulling away, “I’ll just be another few minutes.”
Tara nodded and caught herself looking over her shoulder as Willow left the room. Those shorts were really something.
She looked in the mirror to fix her hair again but when their roommates returned from dinner and instantly began hollering and leering, Tara quickly made herself scarce and found Willow in the bathroom over-applying some blush.
“Let me,” Tara said, taking the brush and dabbing some tissue in water, “You have beautiful, rosy cheeks. They don’t need help.”
She tamed the color and stood back, smiling adoringly.
“You don’t need help at all but you do look very pretty tonight.”
Willow kept Tara’s gaze, her pupils wide and eyes glassy.
“I don’t always feel pretty, but I do every time I look at you looking at me.”
Tara started to reach out but they were disturbed by a toilet in a nearby cubicle flushing and they were brought squarely back to their surroundings. Willow turned to the mirror to do one last once-over and then did a little twirl when she noticed Tara looking out of the corner of her eye.
Tara didn’t try to hide her smile and just put her arm around Willow’s shoulders. She kissed the top of her head.
They walked out like that with Tara’s arm dropping so they could hold hands with a light swing between them.
“I’m glad I picked shorts. It’s pretty warm,” Willow said, though she wouldn’t let a bit of sweat let her hand part from Tara’s.
“Look at that moon though,” Tara replied with a sloped smile, her head angled up to the bright sphere beaming down at them in the sky.
“Well, it
is a full moon party,” Willow reasoned sagely, “Although I’m not entirely sure what makes it much different from, say, a quarter-moon party. Maybe it’s just marketing? Like howl at the moon stuff?”
“Maybe,” Tara nodded, “I heard people talking about it in Thailand but I never really thought to ask. We haven’t really gone to any parties.”
“We’ve gone to club nights,” Willow replied helpfully, “I like going to those. I feel safe. But it’ll be nice to just sit on the beach if we get tired and not have to fight for a trendy stool that has no business purporting itself to be an object for sitting comfortably.”
Tara just smiled and bumped Willow’s shoulder playfully.
They walked through the city streets and something was different than when they’d walked downtown before. They had to step over more broken bottles and look away from more flickering fluorescent lights as bar signage seemed turned up to eleven, having the opposite effect of its intention to draw people in.
People were falling about, already inebriated and while most were just merry and not aggressive, the whole area was thronged. It was like weaving through the crowd at a concert.
They soon found out why as they crossed from street to sand and looked on at the absolutely packed beach. Everyone was drowning in UV light and wearing enough neon to seem like one giant, moving glow stick. People were screaming and bellowing and it was utter chaos. Everyone was even more utterly intoxicated than they had been at the bars walking down and it was still early.
Willow actually had to stop and catch her breath.
“Holy…”
“Crap,” Tara finished with a squeak and they looked at each other as if to ask was the other okay with continuing on.
There was some trepidation but also curious anticipation and they walked into the crowd without their hands breaking contact.
They found multiple DJs playing different styles of the same thumping music and the party-goers melding between groups as they danced with little discrimination.
They saw people sipping from huge straws coming out of what looked like a kid’s bucket for building sandcastles while others were chugging straight from it to encouraging shrieks from the crowds surrounding them.
Willow approached the bar to investigate and brought back two bright blue buckets, grinning.
Tara took the one offered to her and looked inside at the bright orange liquid, filled almost to the brim, dubiously.
“This is like a…a bucket of booze,” she yelled over the music, “I don’t know if I want to get that drunk out here.”
She took a cautious sip and had to admit it tasted pretty inviting.
“Don’t worry, at this price it’s probably 1 part cheap spirits, 20 parts cheaper mixer,” Willow replied, her eyelids flickered as sweetness exploded across her tongue, “We’re more at risk of our teeth falling out of our heads than actually getting wasted.”
Willow was very, very, very wrong and they were three buckets in before they even realized it. Willow left Tara sitting on an upturned crate, mesmerized and fixated on people skipping over a flaming jump rope, to skip up to the bar and get another bucket of deliciousness.
Everything was floating so nicely, like her whole body was a squeeze of honey rolling off the back of a spoon.
As she bopped in place waiting for her order, a young guy with silver slicked-back hair and a fade on both sides approached. He mimicked her moves in the exact opposite of what a mating ritual might look like. He made a quick order, keeping his body turned toward Willow, then faced her with a similar set of glassy eyes.
“I love your shirt!” he exclaimed loudly in a London accent, throwing his hands up indicatively, “Such vintage Woodstock realness!”
“Thanks!” Willow yelled back, pulling the ends of her yellow shirt down to display it without wrinkles.
“Is it Stüssy?” her new friend asked and Willow shrugged both shoulders.
“I think it’s J. C. Penney.”
“Oh I haven’t heard of him!” the guy replied cluelessly, scrunching his lips up in a pout, “I’m Kale!”
“I’m Willow!” Willow introduced herself giddily, “Isn’t this cool? My friends at home would never think I’m doing something this cool!”
Kale threw his head back and laughed like this was the funniest thing he ever heard.
“Is this your first time?”
“Here? Yeah!” Willow nodded eagerly, gratefully accepting the refill of her buckets as they were returned to her, “Have you tried one of these buckets? They’re like lifesavers you can drown in! Get it? You can drown but they’re lifesavers? Like the candy? But they’re lifesavers? Like the jacket? Because you’re drowning?”
Kale laughed some more and poked Willow’s shoulder.
“You’re funny!” he said and stepped toward her conspiringly, “You met Molly yet tonight?”
Willow frowned.
“I don’t think so!”
Kale arched an eyebrow.
“You wanna?”
“Sure!” Willow replied enthusiastically, but then her eyes narrowed a bit, “But I have a girlfriend!”
Kale laughed over the music once again.
“Oh, I should have known you were family with those shoes.”
Willow looked down at her sandals in confusion. Kale reached into his pocket and looked down at a few little baggies in his palm.
“Better start you off a little light. I have some little twinnies of you. Family goes free first time!”
There was some hollering and Kale looked over his shoulder at a group of guys in various flamboyant colors and tight clothing.
“My friends are calling,” he said, pressing two round chalky pieces into Willow’s hand, “Don’t take both. Sharing is caring, darling! Find us in Fire if you want more!”
Willow looked down at the objects in her palm for a long moment.
“Oh. I. Uh. Um. Thanks? Uh…” she started but when she looked up again, Kale was already halfway up the beach, “Wait, where’s Molly?”
“Next time!” Kale called back with a retreating smile.
Willow shoved the little round things in her pocket, retrieved the buckets and carried them back to Tara without much care as to splashing.
The shift in weight as she sat on the crate drew Tara’s attention to her and Willow instantly started regaling her in the joke she’d made before.
“That’s so funny because they’re lifesavers, like the candy!” Tara giggled uncontrollably as her body fell into Willow’s lap and she looked up at the sky sadly, “Now I want some candy.”
Willow frowned too then her eyes lit up. She shoved her hand in her pocket and produced the contents.
“I got these!”
Tara ran a finger around the edge of one.
“Smiley little things,” she commented, cocking her head to one side, “What are they?”
Willow bit the corner of her lip unsurely.
“Candies! He must have run out of love heart one.”
“Who?” Tara asked, frowning.
“Molly’s friend,” Willow answered as if it was obvious, “Everyone probably wanted one since it’s Valentine’s Day.”
Tara picked one up and held it to Willow’s mouth. Willow stuck her tongue out and Tara pressed it on. She then caught the second between her thumb and forefinger and let it fall down her throat.
“They aren’t very tasty,” Willow complained.
Tara sat up and kept her face close to Willow’s seductively.
“I can show you tasty.”
Willow’s pupils started to blow as Tara’s mouth drenched her lips with kisses. Tara pulled away with a pop and electricity buzzing between them.
With a loose dress strap falling off her shoulder and a kick to free herself of her flip flops, she backed out onto the stand and held her arms out for Willow to follow.
Tara’s eyelids felt like they were weighted down with stones as she fought an internal conflict about whether to open them at all.
Her body ached like the morning after she’d done a double shift at Honkerburger and cycled home and her teeth felt sticky and gritty.
As her awareness moved from her head down she realized there was an actual body weight strewn over her. It very quickly made the decision easy for her about whether to open her eyes or not.
She was grateful to see a mop of red hair over her chest. She knew that head, at least.
She exhaled and grimaced at her sticky mouth as her hand pressed against Willow’s back and her fingers naturally found the protuberance of her muscles.
It took more than a second for her to process that she was caressing naked skin. That meant Willow was naked. And that she could feel that naked skin against her own naked skin.
Eyes now wide, she craned her neck to look down and confirm they were as nude as she thought.
In fact, they were even nuder than she thought. Willow’s butt lay pert and perky over Tara’s legs on full view for anyone who wished to look over. The only piece of her covered was a towel hanging off her ankle like she was complying with some kind of reverse-Victorian dress code.
Tara started to poke Willow repeatedly in the arm, who eventually stirred with a groan.
“Ow, what?!”
“Shush!” Tara replied in a hushed but frantic tone, “Willow, we’re naked!”
Willow raised her head slowly, smacking her lips together and barely opening her eyes.
“Huh?”
“We’re naked!” Tara repeated erratically, blindly gesturing with her hands.
Willow looked over her shoulder, spotted her own butt and looked back at Tara wide-eyed. She started looking around for something to cover them with and in the process realized she hadn’t the faintest clue where they were.
“Tara…” she said quietly, slowly, “This isn’t our room.”
Tara’s head shot to the side, for the first time realizing they were not where they had left the night before.
She didn’t recognize the room. Or the beds. Or the people sleeping.
Her eyes landed back on Willow, voice shaken and stunned.
“Where are we?”
“I have no idea,” Willow replied, gulping audibly, “But we should get out of here.”
“Where are our clothes?” Tara asked, covering her chest with her arm as Willow extracted herself from her.
“Where’s my phone?!” Willow asked with even more horror in her voice.
Willow quietly creaked off the end of the bed, crouching to hide her body in case anyone woke up. The towel that had been on her foot was on the floor with another towel and was absolutely drenched when she picked it up. She promptly dropped again. Her eyes darted around until she saw an old basketball jersey and board shorts abandoned on the floor. She snatched them up.
She offered them, quite chivalrously she thought, to Tara who looked at Willow as if she had three heads.
“These aren’t our clothes.”
“They’re clothes which is a distinct step up from the nothingness we have on now!” Willow replied in a strong whisper.
“I’m not wearing those!” Tara replied with a resolute shake of her head.
A minute or two of quiet creeping later, they tiptoed out of the room with Willow looking like Brian Scalabrine’s baby sister and Tara doing her best impression of an ancient Roman with the bedsheet wrapped around her body.
“Wouldn’t wear someone else’s clothes but you’ll wear someone else’s sheet,” Willow muttered, though Tara clearly heard.
“We already slept in them, what’s the worst that can happen?”
“Crabs?” Willow suggested facetiously and Tara just shot her an unamused look.
They paused in the silent hallway for a moment until Tara put a hand up against her forehead where a headache was starting to form.
“W-we need to find the front desk. We just crashed in this room, we have to go pay for it.”
“We can’t!” Willow hissed, “These hostels have internal blacklists. If you get put on it you’ll have trouble ever finding a room again.”
“That sounds like a conspiracy theory,” Tara replied unsurely.
“It’s true!” Willow protested, “Manpreet in India told me when we talked about him kicking out that creep! Manpreet wouldn’t lie.”
Tara began to gnaw on the skin around her thumb.
“So then what do we do?”
“We gotta sneak out,” Willow said with a definitive nod.
“We’re on the second floor,” Tara replied tersely, indicating the stairs just off to their right.
“Then we gotta sneak down and then out!” Willow retorted, throwing her arms up.
Tara’s face dropped into her hands and she did the only thing she could; follow Willow down the stairs. On the second landing, Willow suddenly dived toward a pot plant.
“I think that’s my phone!” she squealed, picking it up and wiping off some dirt, then holding her hands in a prayer pose when she pressed a button and it lit up, “Todah rabah rabah rabah!”
She held it to her chest as she straightened up again.
“Do you have yours?”
“I didn’t bring it with me,” Tara replied, then frowned, “I don’t think. What the hell happened last night?”
“Fleeing first, figuring out later,” Willow said snippily and grabbed Tara’s hand to continue to pull her down the stairs.
At the base of the stairs, they suddenly froze when a group of partiers passed them.
But the group paid them no mind and just continued on their way to collapse into their beds looking drunk and strung out — likely both.
They glanced at each other and breathed again, but both looked from side to side unsurely.
“How do we bypass the front desk?” Tara whispered.
“Go out the back?” Willow whispered back.
Tara threw her hands up helplessly.
“How do we know where the back is??”
Willow looked pained for a moment as she looked down two hallways filled with doors and no indication as to where either led. She chewed on her lip as she tried to think, then suddenly jumped on the spot.
“Wait!” she exclaimed, wiping her phone screen rid of some dirt and pulling her translation app. She held it up to the sign on the door to see if it registered, “Yes! Cleaning!”
She scurried down the hallway and held it up to the next one.
“Office!”
Tara quickly hurried after Willow as they darted down the hallway, catching up with her just in time to see the translation pop up at the very last door.
“Exit, it says exit!” Willow broke her hushed tone to yell, grabbing Tara’s hand again and pulling her through to the other side.
With adrenaline and fear they continued to run until they were at a safe distance and back on the beach. It was barely dawn and other partiers like the ones they’d met at the stairs were dragging themselves home or had just flat out passed out in the sand.
Abandoned glow sticks littered the beach and the empty DJ booths and bars looked so out of place in the sun’s harsh light. They couldn’t seem to go more than five seconds without hearing someone retching or seagulls squawking as they foraged for abandoned food from the night before.
“Look at all of this. It’s disgusting,” Tara said, shaking her head, “It’s like a trash barge exploded at the bay. Some of this stuff will get into the ocean. We have to help clean up.”
Willow looked pained but it only grew as she looked along the beachfront.
“Yeah, okay. We’ll come back.”
After walking for a moment, Willow started to snicker.
“You’re rocking that sheet. You could start a toga line and sell it on eBay.”
Tara was not in the mood and glanced at Willow in annoyance.
“At least I’m not going commando in something some guy’s junk has been in.”
“Ew!” Willow exclaimed with maximum grossness and suddenly dropped the shorts and kicked them away with the rest of the lost clothing on the beach.
Theirs must have been lost in there somewhere too, never to be seen again.
Willow pulled the end of the jersey down toward her knees to hide herself and continued to speak defiantly.
“It’s long enough to be a dress anyway.”
Except now the neckline was the barest gust away from her flashing the whole beach. She had to hold the chest and the hem in place as she kept walking.
Tara remained glum-faced as her eyes stayed on the ground to spot any glass or needles or anything else ready to rip their bare feet to pieces. Her head felt like there was a chainsaw going off inside it.
Flashes went from behind her eyes as they passed by the remnants of the last before, but nothing stuck.
“I can’t remember anything after…” she started, sighing painfully, “I can’t remember anything. What was in those buckets? Illegal Russian vodka?”
Willow rubbed her temple vigorously.
“I remember that guy giving me candy and then…poof.”
Tara stopped in her tracks.
“Wait. Who? What?”
Willow shrugged one shoulder.
“I don’t know, his name was Lettuce or something,” she replied fuzzily, “He gave us the little smiley face candy, remember? Because he ran out of love hearts?”
Realization slowly dawned across Tara’s face as her memories came through for whole seconds at a time. She suddenly clutched Willow’s jersey straps with her fist.
“Willow, those were drugs! We took ecstasy!”
Willow’s mouth dropped open in shock.
“I didn’t know!”
She suddenly reeled back, looking at Tara.
“Wait… did you know?”
Tara pressed her palm against the side of her head.
“No! I don’t think?” she replied unsurely, “I thought…I don’t know, I can’t remember!”
They started to walk again, but not consciously, just to move as they processed the information.
“I can’t believe I did drugs,” Willow said, her voice echoing around her in shock.
“I can’t believe I—” Tara stopped short and paled as she had visions of herself spinning around the way her head was right then, “…did I dance naked on the beach?”
Light bulbs went off in Willow’s eyes and she pulled her phone up again, navigating to the gallery where a video started playing as soon as she’d opened the app.
Techno music played in the background and in the foreground people whooped and hollered as the screen wobbled but clearly showed Tara throwing her hands up in the air as she shed the last bit of her clothing and yelled out names of goddesses she didn’t even know she knew.
Tara was near shaking with horror and Willow could only stare, dumbfounded.
“Your mom will be proud,” she said lamely, and Tara didn’t even have the wherewithal to give her a dirty look.
Willow suddenly gasped.
“Oh no!”
“What?” Tara asked in a frightened whisper.
Willow started stabbing at her phone.
“Did I send it to her? Would I do that?” she asked in a rush before the phone beeped and went black.
Willow looked up at Tara, pained.
“Battery’s dead.”
“Willow!” Tara exclaimed, her hands smacking her own cheeks.
“I’m sorry!” Willow replied, stroking a hand back through her messy hair, “I’m so sorry.”
Tara shrunk into herself and leaned back against a tree.
“There was a time where I could say with certainty you were the only person who had seen me naked. I miss that time. Oh my god, what did we do?”
Willow felt the jersey material rub against her butt and felt a warm burning sensation.
“I think I got sunburned,” she said, rubbing the spot but pulling away quickly when it made her wince.
“At night?” Tara asked dubiously and sighed, “Willow, do we even know where we are?”
“If you brought your phone, we’d have your maps,” Willow replied a little tetchily, but immediately regretted it.
“If I brought my phone it would probably be somewhere on the bottom of the ocean or offered as a sacrifice to Mother Gaia,” Tara replied sarcastically.
“I’m sorry, baby,” Willow replied softly, reaching out to rub Tara’s arm, “Look, we’re on the beach…just the far end. We just have to get to the other side and then we’ll know how to get back to our actual hostel.”
Tara just nodded and they set off again for the long walk home. After a few minutes, Willow piped up again.
“Do you think we had sex—”
“I think we need to adopt a Don’t Ask; Don’t Tell policy about last night,” Tara interrupted, frowning, “We’re never doing drugs again.”
Willow linked arms with Tara and rested her head on Tara’s shoulder for a moment.
“Your love is my drug.”
Tara glanced at Willow sidelong but held Willow’s arm where they were linked.
“You better not have sent that video to my mom.”
Finally, they arrived back at their hostel with bruised egos and likely bruised feet. Mother Gaia must have appreciated the show because their room was empty of the lugheads that also inhabited it and was blissfully silent.
Willow got a pair of PJ bottoms and tugged them on under the jersey, which she then stripped off with zero modesty— it wasn’t like it was the first time in the last 24 hours. She pulled on a happy zebra tee and patted where it bared its teeth in a huge grin.
She’d miss her smiley tank top. It had always served her well in her ‘fake it ‘til you make it’ approach.
She glanced over at Tara who was trying to shimmy into her own clothes without dropping the toga-sheet.
She smiled.
She didn’t have to fake it anymore.
She rolled onto her bed which felt like a luxurious cloud even with its starchy bedding and worn out pillow.
Tara finally got that old sheet off of her body and kicked it under the bed, where it would reside with the dirty jersey unless and until someone else found it there.
She wanted to bathe, she wanted a decontamination shower in fact, but the thought of dragging her body into what, at best, was adequate facilities felt like asking her to walk through the gates of hell.
The only possible thing that could be worse was the ladder. She stared at that ladder that separated Willow’s bunk from hers and felt physically sick at the thoughts of putting her poor feet on any of those rungs or trying to swing herself over onto the mattress.
She perched on the side of Willow’s bed and pushed her gently.
“Move over.”
“Huh?” Willow asked without opening her eyes.
“I’m not getting up on that ladder,” Tara clarified gruffly, “Move over.”
Willow obliged wordlessly and scooted back until her butt touched the wall. She winced again but didn’t verbalize it.
Tara lay down facing Willow, their heads and bodies naturally curling together.
Their eyes were closed for an entire forty seconds before their roommates opted to return from breakfast, or the night before, or from their class on how to make their voices sound like foghorns because that was exactly how they sounded as they scurried in.
Willow and Tara’s eyes opened at the same time and they only had to look at each other for a second before a silent agreement was made.
“I’ll get the room,” Willow said sluggishly, sitting up to move off the end of the bed.
“I’ll get the bags,” Tara answered with a jaded sigh, turning her back completely to the new arrivals so she could throw their few things into their bags.
For once, the guys' general loutishness paid off as none of them offered to help and she escaped quickly. Willow was approaching her with a new key and led them upstairs where the private room was. She let them in and gravitated right to the gorgeous, big, soft double bed; falling onto it on her stomach. Tara put the bags in a corner and joined Willow with a soft sigh.
“C’mere,” she said and reached out to pull Willow closer by the ass, feeling like engaging in some cuddle therapy now they had the freedom to.
“Ow!” Willow yelped, squirming out of Tara’s touch.
“What is up with your butt?” Tara exclaimed as her hand rose a foot off the bed in response to Willow’s shriek.
“Hey, you like my butt,” Willow frowned sadly.
“I do, that’s why I want to know what’s wrong,” Tara replied, “Show me.”
Willow yanked down her PJ bottoms and Tara brushed the green material of her panties up to get a full cheek view.
Her eyes immediately widened.
“…I don’t think you got sunburned.”
Willow groaned and jumped back out of bed.
“Don’t tell me that stupid flaming jump rope actually burned me,” she said as she stepped out of her PJs and backed up to the mirror to get a better look. Her breath caught on the next inhale as her eyes settled over the mark causing her so much discomfort, “Tara.”
Her head spun around, eyes wild.
“Tara, is that a TATTOO?!”
She tried to rub it off but only received more pain to indicate it was indeed imprinted into her skin.
“OW!”
She stared back in the mirror, twisting her butt around to try and make out the mark.
“Why didn’t you say something earlier??”
“I didn’t notice until now,” Tara replied with a gulp, “It’s close to your skin tone and I was kind of focused on finding clothes.”
Willow let out a pained whine.
“What does it say?”
Tara slunk off the end of the bed and hunkered down to get a close look.
“It’s not English,” she said, careful not to touch the light markings against Willow’s normally creamy white but now pinkish surrounding skin, “It could be Nepalese.”
Willow clutched her hair with both hands in a panic.
“The app, the app. Use the translator app.”
“Did you plug your phone in?” Tara asked, looking around for a socket.
“USE YOURS!” Willow yelled and Tara frowned. Silently, given the circumstances.
She fetched her own phone from a pocket in her bag and pulled up the app.
“I don’t know if it will work on skin.”
“Well, try it!” Willow insisted, thrusting her butt in Tara’s direction.
Tara held the phone landscape and zoomed in on the words printed on Willow’s skin. It couldn’t isolate the image so Tara took a picture to make it steadier.
“Your butt looks really good in this,” she said a little under her breath but Willow heard and glared over her shoulder.
Tara quickly loaded the image to be read and it came up on the screen and started to analyze.
“Oh, the language is actually called Nepali,” she read as the app recognized the language and began to populate the translation, “I didn’t know that.”
“TARA!” Willow screeched, just short of stamping her foot.
Tara’s lips pursed together as finally, a translation popped up on the screen. She hid the phone in her palm and tried to smile calmly.
“Wouldn’t it be cool if you never knew what it said? Like a little mystery?”
“Show me that,” Willow replied curtly, snatching the phone from Tara’s hands.
She flicked the screen into view and slowly felt her stomach drop right out of her. Her eyes lifted to Tara, wide as saucers.
“TUNA AND APPLE SAUCE!?”
“That’s my favorite lunch,” Tara offered meekly.
“This is YOUR fault!” Willow exclaimed accusingly before almost stumbling over herself when she was hit with a strong memory, “Wait.”
She was lying on a tattooist’s chair in a bright shop, the same towel she’d dumped earlier covering one side of her ass as she cackled to a bearded guy holding a tattoo gun.
“Now she can snack on me!”Willow’s jaw tensed.
“Okay, this is primarily my fault,” she admitted with a gulp, “Oh my god, oh my god. Why the heck would I do this?”
“Because we were rolling,” Tara replied plainly, “I don’t even get changed in rooms with others but I stripped off in front of hundreds of people. We weren’t in our right minds.”
Willow paced back and forth, trying to jolt her memory.
“Wait, I remember. We were dancing and you said you could feel the spirits and charms in the air. You were singing me a song. And I wanted to sing you a song but I couldn’t so I—”
“Got a tattoo instead,” Tara replied, her eyes blinking closed for a moment.
She got a flash of feeling; like she couldn’t get close enough to Willow; like she just wanted them to be fused together.
Willow was apparently remembering similarly.
“…and then we asked for Aphrodite’s blessing and buried my phone with all the evidence to seal our love to the earth. I remember it all.”
She shook her head.
“There’s an excuse. Aphrodite made me do it,” she said, dropping onto the bed and wincing at the painful reminder, “At least I didn’t bury my phone in the sand. And also that means I didn’t send the video to your mom. I didn’t have a chance.”
She sighed.
“But we can delete your mistakes. Mine is stuck on my ass forever.”
Tara felt guilty and sat with Willow, taking her hand in her lap.
“You can say it means something else,” she comforted softly, “Anyway, It’s small. No one will ever see it there.”
“You’ll see it,” Willow replied with a downward look.
“I think it’s cool,” Tara replied sincerely.
Willow looked up suspiciously.
“Cool?”
“It’s like a joke between us,” Tara replied kindly and inhaled softly on her next breath, “Actually—”
Willow suddenly stood up.
“I can’t sit on it; it hurts too much.”
“You need to cover it,” Tara advising, deflating for a moment before standing, “Lie on your stomach.”
Willow complied and returned to the bed in the appropriate position. Tara sorted through her toiletry things and came back with a tub of something.
“It might hurt for a second, but I’ll be gentle.”
Willow couldn’t help grin over her shoulder and Tara smiled back softly.
“Is that the stuff you use for boob sweat?” Willow asked as she watched Tara unscrew the jar and reach in.
“Coconut oil has many uses,” Tara answered as she gently rubbed the oil between her fingers to liquefy it before rubbing it into the spot, “You’ll have to sleep like this for a few days.”
“Figured,” Willow replied sleepily, feeling the comedown begin to hit her quite harshly.
Tara wiped her hands free of anything that lingered and used the single sink in the room clean them and then brush her teeth.
She joined Willow back on the bed and snuggled up.
“Hey,” she whispered as she leaned in close and bumped their noses together, “You’re not stupid. I love you.”
Willow pecked Tara’s lips.
“Night…morning…whatever.”
Tara’s lips pursed closed but a crooked grin escaped after a moment.
“Night tuna butt.”
Willow’s brow furrowed deeply.
“Tara.”
“Too soon?” Tara asked and Willow smiled despite herself.
She reached out and touched Tara’s hair.
“Do you think she blessed us at least?”
Tara returned the affectionate gesture.
“I’ve been blessed since I was four years old.”
Tara woke for the second time that day in an almost identical position but a lot more comfortable in it.
At least, she was comfortable in the knowledge that they were safe in their own room and that Willow’s green panties riding up her butt was only there for her to see.
Willow was strewn into her side and still sleeping peacefully.
She turned her head to have a better look at the slightly swollen but clean looking ink on Willow’s skin. At least Willow seemed to have gone somewhere safe, if with questionable policies on the inebriation levels of their clientele.
Though she could only say the same of her own tattoo experience; she wasn’t exactly stone-cold sober sitting in the chair.
She hovered her hand above Willow’s tattoo, resisting touching it.
The script was pretty and ambiguous as to its language. Willow could definitely pass it off as whatever she wanted if anybody ever asked about it. Tara moved her hand away and let it rest over her own ribs. She pushed her top up and allowed her finger to follow the notes on the staff printed onto her skin.
Willow started to stir with the movement and Tara quickly pressed her palm flat again.
Willow looked up blearily then dropped her head promptly back down on Tara’s breast. Tara got a jolt but could only smile and started to play with Willow’s hair.
“Hey, you.”
Willow groaned and Tara could feel her nipple harden through her shirt as the low vibration hummed near her skin. It was the first pleasant sensation she’d felt all day.
“I had weird dreams,” Willow mumbled, still fighting to keep her eyes closed.
Tara curled the ends of Willow’s hair around her finger, enjoying how the silky strands slipped through.
“What happened?”
Willow brow furrowed deeply. She turned her head to look up at Tara.
“We were,” she paused for a moment, looking uncomfortable, “Doing stuff. But when I opened your legs it was a waterfall of SpaghettiOs.”
Tara’s eyes widened in slight alarm.
“I think you’re still high.”
Willow groaned quietly again and buried her head in Tara’s neck.
“I don’t think I’m high but I’m…something. Weird.”
Tara wrapped her arm under Willow’s shoulders and rubbed her upper arm.
“It’s called hungover, honey.”
Willow shook her head; her hair tickling Tara’s skin.
“But like a hangover on…” she stopped for a moment, “Oh. Right. Drugs.”
She frowned.
“Buckets are only for building sandcastles from now on.”
“I think if I saw one I’d throw up,” Tara replied with a quiet shudder.
“Well that would be convenient,” Willow said with a small chuckling smirk, “Hey, do we have snacks? I’m starving but nothing could make me leave this bed.”
“Yeah, I think so,” Tara replied and took her arm back to push herself up.
Willow whined and slapped her hands aimlessly.
“I didn’t want you to leave the bed either.”
Tara looked over her shoulder.
“Have you mastered telekinesis?”
“No,” Willow replied grumpily.
“Then one of us has to get up,” Tara returned with an obliging smile.
Willow rolled onto her back and Tara reached over to drag her luggage over between her legs. Sometimes a cramped room had its benefits as Willow discovered when Tara stayed close enough for her to draw circles on her spine.
Tara smiled at the gentle tickle and opened the top compartment to look through her bag. Her tolerance for any kind of effort was still zero and she ended up just upturning it so everything fell onto the floor. That would be a later problem.
“Granola bars, ramen, crackers…” she said as her hand swiped through the contents on the lookout for food, “Jackpot.”
“What?” Willow asked, her chin lifted and interest piqued.
Tara held up an old packet of Pop-Tarts that must have been stuck at the end of her bag for a few months. Willow’s breath caught in her throat.
“I’ve never been more in love with you.”
Tara scooted back and handed the foil packet over to Willow, who ripped into it. It was crumbling and all fell into her lap a bit but she didn’t care and just picked up chunks of the brown-frosted pastry.
She giggled happily as it melted on her tongue and threw a sloppy kiss toward Tara’s cheek.
“I love you s’more and s’more and s’more.”
“Stop…” Tara resisted unconvincingly, “You’re getting the crumbs everywhere.”
Willow held a piece up to Tara’s mouth, who nibbled it and Willow’s fingers a bit at the end.
Willow felt her stomach do a few turns and took her hand back with a light blush.
“We’re lucky all we have is a hangover. I saw cops there last night. Getting arrested once was waaaaay more than enough, thank you very much.”
Tara’s brow creased and she suddenly scooted lower and lower on the bed until the blanket was hiding her head in shame.
“Willow, I think we ran away from them,” she said, poking her head back out with a pained look of recollection on her face, “We stole towels from the beach and ran away into the crowd.”
Willow snapped her fingers.
“That’s when I got the tattoo! We ran in different directions. I went back to the strip and was seduced by the artist’s collection of different colored inks.”
She covered her eyes with her hand and after a moment, peeked through.
“Oh god. I asked for an actual tuna eating an actual tub of applesauce. I tried to explain it to him on the app! Thank GOD that got lost in translation.”
She paused with a small pout and glanced over her shoulder at her behind.
“I think.”
“I don’t remember being on the strip at all,” Tara replied, running her hand back through her hair, “For some reason I have Singing In The Rain stuck in my head.”
“Yes!” Willow replied enthusiastically, “I went to look for you on the beach when I was finished. You were splashing in the water and singing that song and luring me in like a siren.”
Tara closed her eyes and shook her head.
“I could have drowned.”
Willow suddenly got a somber look on her face.
“This is why I don’t go wild. Never again.”
Tara rubbed Willow’s back comfortingly and leaned over to kiss her shoulder.
“Don’t speak
so soon,” she teased gently, coaxing a smile from Willow, “I like when you go wild in private.”
Willow sighed softly as she experienced
her first pleasant sensation of the day. It tugged below her stomach and was just so welcomingly warm.
She looked over at Tara and arched an eyebrow.
“Oh yeah?”
Tara recognized the silent question and let her hand fall away from Willow with a coy smile.
“Aren’t you afraid of the SpaghettiOs?”
Willow watched that inviting quirk of Tara’s lips curl up on one side and began to slink her body over Tara’s under the sheet.
“I’m working on a little O of my own.”
She kissed Tara’s chest where it was bare from the round neck of her tank, then looked up to correct herself.
“Big O.”
Tara smirked and rested her head back against the pillows.
Willow kissed the spot just above Tara’s cleavage again and over to the swell of her breast. She pulled the material of Tara’s tank top down over it and felt her stomach start to squirm when an already engorged nipple popped out.
Willow ran her fingertips over the pebbling skin and slid the nipple between two fingers before leaning down to take it in her mouth. It felt hot, almost as hot as Tara’s moan floating down to her ears. Her tongue ran in quick circles, matching Tara’s ragged breath.
Willow reached up to tug the strap of Tara’s top off her shoulders and then tugged the fabric down over her chest to sit around her shorts. Willow angled herself better over Tara’s chest and moved her mouth across to the other side with wet kisses to her skin along the way.
Her hand molded Tara’s other breast; thumb pressing against her nipple and rolling it for constant pressure. She felt Tara’s little jolts beneath her and began pressing their clothed hips together. Tara only had to pull on her once for Willow to drop her hand and pull the shorts and wound-around shirt away from Tara’s waist.
Willow sat back, kneeling between Tara’s legs for a moment to look at her.
Tara took the opportunity to strip Willow of what she had on. The happy zebra’s face crumpled unrecognizably on the floor with a flick of Tara’s hand. Then with another easy hand movement, Willow’s panties dropped and bunched between them, waiting to join its comrades below when their moving bodies would jostle it off the bed.
“Oh god,” Willow breathed as her eyes traveled up Tara’s body.
It felt an age since she’d seen her like this, though admittedly it had only technically been this morning. Somehow, having to retrace your steps after ecstasy-induced amnesia didn’t bring the same thrill of nudity that looking at someone baring themselves open for you in the knowledge you’ll keep them safe did.
“You’re so beautiful.”
Tara reached up and splayed her fingers out behind Willow’s neck, pulling her back down so their bodies and then their mouths connected. She swore she heard an actual sizzle as Willow’s hips slid between her open legs and their lips glided for one sweet moment, but it was probably just the sound of their combined moans.
Tara’s hands slid down Willow’s sides and cupped the ink-free cheek to pull her in closer. The press of Willow’s skin electrified her and she had a flash of being high and feeling her blood rushing through her but it was nothing like this rush where it felt like Willow was everywhere at once.
A low groan passed her lips and she tugged on Willow’s butt again.
Almost everywhere.“Get in me,” she almost-whined in an unusually needy tone.
Willow didn’t seem to mind; in fact, she was quite eager to please and was quick to pull Tara’s knee over her hip and drop her hand to where Tara was begging for it to be. She spent a moment pulling some jerky movements from Tara by playing with her clit but it was clear from the overwhelming gush coming from below that Tara wasn’t in need of teasing.
Two fingers slipped down and curled inside, making Tara’s body rigid for a moment before it arched in a wave down to her hips. Her insides squeezed desperately to keep Willow in.
Willow let out a shaken breath as her own inner muscles squeezed in response. She had to tense and release for a moment to keep her mind focused. The sweet heat engulfing her was a quick reminder of where her attention lay and she did a few quick thrusts to get back in the moment.
She watched Tara’s face for the little details she loved; her neck rolling, her nostrils flaring, how her upper teeth dug into her lower lip and then popped off to release a cry when Willow hit that sweet spot inside.
“Oh Willow,” Tara released on a low moan, the nails on one hand ripping up the sheet beneath it.
Her body started to flush and encouraged Willow who was hyper-focused on every little movement Tara’s body made as she hurtled toward orgasm. She felt Tara get impossibly hotter inside and then heard a hitched breath as she curled her fingers at the perfect angle.
Tara came with a prolonged groan; her hips lifting off the bed and her hands trying to claw as deep as possible into it.
Willow’s heart pounded as Tara’s heartbeat pulsed so intensely around her. She gently eased off her motions until Tara was still and let her fingers fall out of her. She turned her glistening hand around slowly and brought it closer to her face.
“I can’t believe I used to wipe you off me.”
Tara’s leg fell back down to the bed and she brought her knees together to give a satisfying squeeze between her thighs. She spent a minute catching her breath and watching Willow pop the top of her finger into her mouth before reaching up lazily to brush fingertips against Willow’s hip.
“Let me see you.”
Willow slid her knees up either side of Tara’s hips and sat back on her heels. Her palms lay flat on Tara’s stomach and gently slid up to cup her breasts.
Tara rested her hands over Willow’s hips and let her two index fingers come in from each side to meet at her bellybutton.
“You,” she breathed, her fingers sliding down and off right where the patch of red hair began.
She looked up and met Willow’s lusty gaze.
“Just you.”
Willow let her legs slide open a little more, unabashed and brought her hands back up to fold behind her head. Tara’s eyes glazed over and her hands rose to Willow’s breasts and cupped them fully.
Willow’s head fell back and she moaned. Her skin was flush and buzzing from touching Tara and the brush of fingers against her nipples made her shiver.
“Touch me,” she panted softly, “Touch me. I want to feel your body.”
Tara squeezed Willow’s breasts again before letting her fingertips fall over Willow’s abs and down to tickle her thighs. Willow almost giggled but Tara’s palms replaced her fingers and she felt a sudden gush as they crept between her legs.
“Like this…?” Tara asked innocently as if she didn’t know each light touch was torturous.
“More,” Willow moaned, thrusting her hips forward.
Tara watched Willow’s lips glisten; the dim light of the cheap fixture overhead not impeding the visual in the slightest. She loved seeing Willow all open like this; loved when Willow allowed herself to be vulnerable and so, so sexy in the process.
She dipped her middle finger there and let it glide up to Willow’s clit, rolling the pad over it. She felt, and then saw, Willow twitch in response and increased her speed to really see those thighs move.
Willow almost immediately began seeking more and Tara gradually increased her pace until it was almost impossible to keep her fingers from sliding right down through Willow’s arousal to tease her opening.
Willow eagerly thrust down and Tara thrust up at the perfect moment to fill her and to make Willow throw her head back and cry out a note of pleasure.
Tara liked that very much and rounded her thumb upward so she could pleasure Willow inside and out simultaneously.
Willow began grinding mercilessly onto Tara’s hand, her head rocking from side to side as her eyes shut tight. Everything was hot and clenching and tight and she could feel it building and building as it burst through every nerve in her body. She swung forward and curved her hands over Tara’s shoulders, needing something to steady her lest she take off like a rocket.
“Tara…” she moaned almost painfully as her hips burrowed into Tara so hard she might screw them both into the bed.
Sweat started to form on Willow’s brow as every muscle tensed in anticipation of her climax. Her nails started to dig lightly into Tara’s shoulders and her teeth bit her lip so hard it went white.
“Tara…!” she said again, the note higher and keener and so desperately on edge.
Tara reached up and tilted Willow’s chin down.
Willow opened her eyes at the contact and as soon as she saw Tara looking back up at her it all broke in one shattering convulsion that left her still and gasping for breath.
Tara cupped Willow’s cheek which seemed to be the impetus for her to take in a full lungful and finally she started to relax.
Tara remained where she was and let Willow remove herself after a few moments. Willow slowly fell against Tara’s side and nuzzled into the crook of her neck.
“I feel sooooo much better,” she espoused lazily with a satisfied grin on her face, “Thanks for not grabbing my butt.”
“It was a challenge,” Tara replied, throwing her arm above their heads to stretch it out after Willow gave it a workout, “You’re very irresistible.”
“Stop,” Willow replied shyly, burying her head into Tara’s shoulder for a moment.
Tara just smiled and sighed contentedly.
“I really want to keep this room for a couple of days. I need your closeness.”
“Done,” Willow replied without question, letting her cheek rest on Tara’s collarbone, “We should have just celebrated Valentine’s Day like this.”
“Let’s make a deal to do it like this from now on,” Tara suggested, wiggling her fingers and smiling to herself as she felt the evidence still sticking to her,
“I’m in,” Willow agreed with an easy smile, “You, me and a bed. Everything I need.”
They stayed like that for a few minutes of enjoyable silence until something started beeping from the pile of Tara’s belongings on the floor. Tara began to move toward it and Willow let out a grumpy whimper.
“I thought we talked about this ‘you leaving the bed’ thing.”
“It’s the Skype notification,” Tara replied, tiredly sorting through her things, “It’s probably my mom.”
Willow glanced around. She had no idea what time it was but she could see it was dark outside the small window up high on the wall.
“It’s too early to be your mom,” she said after some guestimation and mental math.
“Not if she’s calling before work,” Tara reasoned and lay back with her iPad in hand when she finally found it. She opened the app and checked the message, “She wants to video chat.”
Willow tossed her head back against the pillows, then over at Tara obligingly.
“Clothes?”
“Clothes,” Tara confirmed and linked her fingers with Willow’s between them for a moment, “We can probably get away with shirts.”
Willow smiled and Tara lifted her hand to smooth some of Willow’s wild mane.
“…and a hairbrush.”
Her hands came round to cup Willow’s face and kiss her softly. Willow smiled into the kiss and continued to smile when Tara parted to get a brush and clothing for them.
Willow gingerly placed a pillow beneath her as she sat up against the wall, feeling the burden of her bad decisions as her weight settled on her rear. Tara threw her the happy zebra top back and Willow smoothed out the wrinkled tail while she waited.
“I can’t remember the last time I ironed…anything.”
“You ironed my black jeans for me in Goa,” Tara replied, checking her hair in the mirror on the back of the door, “When we went to that nice restaurant.”
Willow nodded at the memory.
“Right. We borrowed a travel-sized one from that girl from Finland. I speed-ironed my whole suitcase.”
Tara returned to the bed with a fond smile.
“You were so cute zipping away at it. Like…”
She imitated Willow ironing jollily and Willow gently pushed her, grinning.
“Stop. You weren’t complaining when you looked so sharp with those creases,” she teased, then scrunched up her nose, “Actually I was the one not complaining.”
Tara wrapped her hand under Willow’s chin and leaned in to kiss her.
“No complaints here either,” she murmured as their noses brushed off each other.
The iPad pinged with a new notification and Tara sighed softly as she pulled away.
She turned the screen over and held it between them so the camera angled at their faces. She pressed the call button near her mother’s name and they both grimaced when the camera activated and their faces filled the screen. They still looked a little rough.
Thankfully it was only for a moment before Kimberly’s face took up the space, looking a lot chirpier than they were.
“Good morning you two,” Kimberly greeted warmly, “I guess it’s afternoon for you.”
“Evening,” Willow clarified, dropping her head onto Tara’s shoulder sleepy, “We just had dessert.”
Her eyes suddenly widened and her head shot up, very much alert.
“Dinner! We just had dinner!” she said in a rush, clenching her teeth tight as if it might control her blush, “Um, so what’s up in good ole Sunnydale?”
Tara shot her a side-eyed glare but tried to keep her face neutral. Kimberly, to her credit, continued on without reacting.
“Well nothing as exotic as you, I’m sure,” she replied with that almost-unnoticeable hint of tease in her tone that Willow only recognized because Tara did the exact same thing, “They opened a new restaurant near the university campus. The Razorbacks are playing some big game this weekend, or so Donny tells me. And Joyce’s gallery has been loaned a Georgia O'Keeffe, which is very exciting. I’m going to the unveiling tonight.”
“That explains Buffy telling me her mom was all excited about some weird coochie flower painting,” Willow said to Tara.
“Canvass of a lady garden,” Tara grinned.
Willow giggled and Kimberly rolled her eyes.
“Tara. I taught you to have a better appreciation of art than that.”
Willow’s lips pursed closed to stop from laughing and she looked at Tara, her eyes teasing her with a silent ‘you just got scolded’ with overt overtones of ‘na na na na na’.
Tara lifted her hand to poke Willow’s nose but Willow anticipated it and slapped her away before it happened.
“Girls, really,” Kimberly interrupted like they were six years old again and caught filling Donny’s sneakers with mud.
“Sorry mom,” Tara replied contritely.
“Sorry Ms. Maclay,” Willow echoed, though not without sharing a sneaky, defiant smile with Tara.
The corners of Tara’s lips began to tug upward and she quickly diverted the conversation.
“So, mom, how have you been? Um, how’s…how’s Donny?”
Willow linked her arm through Tara’s and silently linked their fingers together. Tara smiled softly at the sign of support and squeezed Willow’s palm as her mother started filling her in on the goings-on in her life.
Kimberly seemed in good spirits; enjoying a renewed social life with Joyce and getting on well at work. Donny was keeping his head down, working and playing on his new bike and not at any bars. He was moving into his new studio downtown in a couple of weeks.
She hadn’t really seen the Rosenbergs but they were just home after an extended trip and had waved to them in the street.
“Yeah, my mom is home for Spring break season. My dad said he’s been taking a step back from all the travel lately too. Enjoying the peace and quiet at home I think.”
Tara smiled softly and Willow returned it.
“What did you two get up to for Valentine’s Day?” Kimberly asked, not interrupting but filling a natural silence.
The smiles turned to silent, communicative looks and Tara jumped in quickly.
“…we hung out on the beach.”
“Yeah, we did,” Willow nodded honestly, “We…hung out on the beach. It was pretty chill.”
Kimberly nodded, unsuspicious.
“Did you have a nice time?”
“A swell time by all accounts,” Willow answered and held in a squeak when Tara nudged her, “What about you, Ms. Maclay, did you get hit with cupid’s arrow last night?”
Tara was about to roll her eyes at Willow but Kimberly surprised her with an answer.
“Well…I did go out actually, yes.”
Tara’s head reeled a little in surprise.
“Wait. Really?”
Kimberly nodded bashfully.
“I did.”
“With who?” Tara asked, running her fingers through the hair falling by her ear.
Kimberly smiled coyly but her eyes were bright.
“A man that I’ve been seeing.”
“A ‘man that you’ve been seeing’?” Tara repeated with a small furrow of her brow, “I didn’t know you were seeing anyone.”
Kimberly rested her chin on her fist.
“It’s thanks to you actually,” she said to Tara with her smile widening on her face, “I met him when I paid a visit to that store you recommended. The Wiccan one. He owns it.”
Tara’s eyes widened.
“You’re going out with Mr. Bogarty?”
Kimberly laughed.
“Yes, but not the one you’re thinking of. His son. Jeff.”
Tara exhaled a slow breath.
“Oh.”
“He’s taking it over,” Kimberly continued, “Modernizing it a bit. He practices and wants to shed the stereotypical image.”
She paused unsurely for a moment.
“I hope you don’t mind Tara, but I even suggested your name and he seems like he really likes it. I think he might officially rename it The Magic Box.”
Willow smiled at Tara, eyes wide with wonder.
“Baby, that’s amazing. You named a whole store.”
“So is he your boyfriend now?” Tara cut in.
Kimberly sat back and tucked some hair behind her ear.
“We’re just enjoying each other’s company.”
“Okay,” Tara replied, swallowing before quickly nodding, “That’s good. That’s great. I’m glad.”
Kimberly smiled softly, relieved and looked off to the side for a moment before back at the screen.
“Girls, I better go. I’m getting to work early so I can leave early for Joyce’s show. She’s been getting such bad headaches with all the stress, so I want to be there for her tonight.”
“She’s lucky to have you as a friend Ms. M,” Willow interjected, her hand now on Tara’s back where she was rubbing slightly.
“Bye mom,” Tara added, “Thanks for calling. We’ll, um, check-in when we move on again.”
Kimberly waved at the screen.
“Bye girls. Nice to talk to you.”
They both waved until the image popped off-screen again.
“…you okay?” Willow asked when Tara didn’t say anything for a moment.
“Yeah,” Tara replied, slightly dazed, “Yeah. I just need to use the bathroom.”
“Okay,” Willow replied and slid the iPad over to pick it up while Tara got some pants on to go out to the bathroom.
When she returned, Willow looked up from the screen.
“I think I found him.”
Tara raised her eyebrows.
“Are you snooping?”
Willow hesitated, then nodded unsurely.
“Yeah?”
A grin tugged at Tara’s lips.
“Let me see.”
She sat onto the bed with a bounce and peered over at the page Willow had brought up.
“Jeffrey Bogarty,” she read and checked out the picture of a good looking man in his late thirties or early forties with brown hair and some silver stubble, “How do you know it's the right one?”
“It’s the right name, right town,” Willow replied, using the cursor to highlight the biography section, “Plus he posted on her page last night.”
Willow pulled up the post and showed it to Tara.
“I’m glad he had fun with ‘Kimmy’,” Tara said with a tense tone after reading it for the fifth time.
Willow turned her head at Tara, eyes narrowed and lips smiling teasingly.
“Tara, are you jealous?”
“Of Jeff?!” Tara asked incredulously.
“Not like
that,” Willow replied, placing a hand on Tara’s shoulder warmly, “But you never really had to share your mom like this before…”
“Share her?” Tara questioned defensively, “I’m the one who wanted her to get out there, start dating.”
Willow nodded slowly.
“Yeah, but…now it’s really happening.”
Tara swallowed again and looked down, dropping her wall.
“It’s a little weird, I guess,” she admitted, looking up at Willow sheepishly, “Probably less weird than when she found out about you and me.”
Willow rubbed her thumb over Tara’s collarbone and slowly slid it up to cup her cheek.
“Well, I want her to be as happy as you make me. She deserves it.”
Tara smiled softly and leaned in for a peck.
“I want her to be as happy as you make me too.”
Willow rested her forehead on Tara’s and bumped her nose playfully. She tried to shuffle closer but whimpered when her sensitive skin reminded her it was there.
“Let me clean your tattoo again,” Tara said as they parted, “You have to take care of it.”
Willow lay down properly on her stomach and looked over her shoulder at her once unblemished skin.
“
You taking care of it is the only good thing to come out of this.”
Her mouth scrunched up distastefully.
“I wonder how bad laser treatment really is?”
“Bad, I’ve heard,” Tara replied as she sat back beside Willow with the cleaning supplies.
Willow sighed.
“Maybe that’s just scaremongering to stop people getting one in the first—ah!”
“Sorry,” Tara apologized, easing off on rubbing in the coconut oil, “But that was just my hand. Imagine a big laser beam.”
“I know, you’re right,” Willow replied, pouting, “At least I have a permanent reminder not to do drugs again. I’m a walking afterschool special.”
Tara carefully spread some Vaseline over the tattoo and sighed to herself.
“We should actually eat some dinner instead of just saying we did,” she said as she finished up and stood to wipe her hands clean, “I’ll go get us something and bring it back. I could get some dal and roti or pick up some momo maybe?”
Willow looked over at Tara with a less-than-innocent look on her face.
“The KFC on the corner delivers…”
Tara smirked.
“You want to get KFC in a city with some of the most authentic local cuisines on offer AND have them deliver it from a hundred feet away?”
Willow nodded.
“Kinda, yeah.”
Tara’s eyes creased with an affectionate smile.
“I’m in. Sometimes it’s good to be bad.”
She winked and Willow buried her face in the pillow to hide her blush. She pulled the iPad up to her to sign out of her Facebook account and get the info to order their food.
“Share a bucket?” she asked as Tara lay back down beside her.
“Ask for extra wet naps,” Tara replied by way of an affirmative response.
Their food was delivered promptly which Tara collected in the lobby so Willow didn’t have to go through the horrific ordeal of putting on pants to answer the door.
They ate on the bed watching funny videos on the iPad and laughing with each other.
They ended up lying side by side again after changing into fresh pajamas and brushing their teeth, both feeling a lot more human as they readied themselves for sleep for the third time that day.
Willow played with Tara’s hair, curling a front strand around her index finger and releasing it to let it bounce.
“How is it than I can be in the most far-flung places in the world with the most incredible sites and beauty and endless things to see and do but just lying around with you is better than all of it?”
Tara smiled softly.
“You’re definitely still high.”
Willow poked Tara in the shoulder.
“Am not. Shut up.”
“Make me,” Tara challenged and Willow rose to it.
After kissing until they’d put each other into a sleepy stupor, Willow idly toyed with the strap on Tara’s top.
“I do want to capitalize on our time here…the people are so nice. I feel so comfortable. You were so right to bring us here.”
“Tomorrow,” Tara agreed, kissing the corner of Willow’s mouth again, “Tonight…want to capitalize on some snuggles?”
“I’ll underwrite that proposal,” Willow agreed with a lazy grin and looked down between them for a moment, “Guess I’m the big spoon for a while.”
“I’m okay with that,” Tara replied softly and turned herself over for her body to be curled into.
Willow did just that and inhaled from Tara’s neck, drinking her in like lavender soothing her to sleep.
“I love you, Tara.”
Tara felt Willow’s hand slide over her waist to rest on her stomach and she placed her hand there, holding her, and them, in the harmonious lock.
“I love you too, Willow.”