Tara smiled to herself as she walked down the hallway toward the apartment near the end of the corridor. In her hand was a bouquet of fresh white lilies, which was releasing a pleasant floral fragrance in the air. Her silly smile widened with each inhale of the sweet-smelling oxygen. She stopped a couple of steps away from the door labelled "J" and promptly looked down to check on her outfit, smoothing out every noticeable crease. When she was satisfied with her appearance, Tara blew out a long breath to settle her nerves. Hiding the bouquet behind her back, Tara nervously knocked on the door.
"Hold on!" Willow shouted from inside her apartment.
Shifting from one foot to the other, Tara waited anxiously for her date to answer the door. She hadn’t seen her since she was laughingly chased out from the apartment earlier in the morning. She could barely contain her excitement amid the pterodactyl size butterflies flapping their wings inside her stomach. A few agonizing moments later, the door flew open and the sight before her was literally breath-taking. Tara swore, right then and there, that she would give every breath she had left just so she could continue to stare at the extraordinarily beautiful woman before her.
Willow stood at the threshold of her apartment, brandishing a smile so bright it could rival Christmas lights. She was wearing a figure-hugging black evening dress and her vibrant auburn hair was tumbling freely over her silky-smooth bare shoulders.
"Wow," Tara breathed out as her heart palpitated in her chest. She had a series of fantastically worded phrases to comment on how gorgeous Willow was, but all of them meshed into one simple word once they came out of her mouth. She stared agape at the redhead, struggling to mold herself back in shape after having been melted by the intense glow of the medical examiners beauty.
Willow lowered her head to hide her flushed cheeks, gingerly tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear. Her lips were stretched to their limits as she grinned from ear-to-ear at the flattering response she received from Tara, secretly pleased that the past few hours she spent on herself hadn’t been a complete waste.
"You clean up pretty nicely yourself," Willow said in a phony nonchalant manner as she looked up at the detective, just as taken by the stunning brunette standing at her door.
Tara was clad in a charcoal gray pair of dress pants and a form fitting white button down shirt, the neckline plunging down to the swell of her breast. Her lustrous brown hair was brought forward to cover parts of exposed tanned skin, tortuously teasing her. The thing Willow loved most about Tara’s attire was how everything seemed to compliment her dazzling azure eyes, which were twinkling with adoration as they set on her.
"Seriously?" Tara asked incredulously, her facial expression turning from one of admiration into one of feigned annoyance. "That’s what you have to say to me about how I look? I clean up well?"
"It’s a compliment!" Willow defended; chuckling when she saw the look of uncertainty she was given.
"You could have phrased it better. That sounded as if I’m a spruced up beggar who had been dragged out of the gutter," Tara replied, twisting her mouth to one side.
"Hmm, you would make a good-looking beggar," Willow said, smiling innocently as she cocked her head to the side, casting an approving glance up and down Tara’s body. She earned herself a playful roll of the eyes in response. "What are you holding behind your back?" she continued, having just noticed that Tara appeared to be hiding something from her with the way her arm was awkwardly bent behind her back.
"These are for you," Tara said quickly as she revealed the bouquet of white lilies, enthusiastically thrusting them forward toward Willow. "It was just lying in the dumpster so I thought, why not?" She smiled in part contentment and part self-satisfaction when Willow’s face brightened up at the sight of her favorite flowers.
"Tara … they’re beautiful," Willow said as she took the bouquet into her hands, putting her nose close to the flowers and inhaling deeply, savoring the aromatic floral scent. Pulling her face back from the flowers, she peered up through lidded eyes at the detective, "And so are you."
Tara stared into the sparkling green eyes when they looked up into hers in amazement, finding herself lost within their depths. Unconsciously, Tara began to lean in toward Willow. Just as their lips were about to touch, a hand was brought up at the last minute to act as a barrier.
"Uh-uh, no kissing before the date’s over," Willow said as she firmly shook her head, her eyes closing as she internally sighed in relief that she managed to catch herself in time.
"What? Why not?" Tara exclamation of dismay came out muffled as Willow’s fingers pressed against her mouth.
"Don’t you know? It’s a rule for first dates," Willow answered, biting down on her smile at Tara’s horrified yet adorable expression. She slid her hand down, off of Tara’s chest in order to hug the bouquet closer to her chest with both arms.
"Says who? There are plenty of people who kiss before their dates are over. There’s no such rule," Tara contended, trying to argue her way to a kiss.
"Says me. And if there isn’t one, I’m making it up right now," Willow replied defiantly. "Besides, if we kissed, we probably won’t make our dinner reservation."
As soon as those words left her mouth, she felt her cheeks began to burn at the implication.
"Well, I prefer staying in anyway," Tara smirked, knowing without a doubt that they could be doing something so much more enjoyable.
"Come on, Tara. It’s our first date. I’ve been waiting for this ever since we made up, just go along with me," Willow pleaded, taking Tara’s hand into her own before swinging their joined hands from side to side.
Tara narrowed her eyes at Willow playfully. "Fine, I will not kiss you until the date’s over," she said, not able to resist giving in to the redhead. Tara contemplated stealing a peck, but decided against it as she figured it would be worth the wait.
"So, are you ready to go?" Tara asked with a charming smile.
"Definitely," Willow replied back breathlessly.
888
Willow gazed out the window of Tara’s yellow Wrangler, watching the bright orange lights on the streets and colorfully illuminated buildings zoomed past. She could see the brilliant white lights emitting from the majestic dome of the Los Angeles City Hall not far away.
"Where are you taking me?" Willow asked as she turned in her seat to look at the brunette.
"Someplace interesting," Tara answered in an enigmatic manner, smiling cheekily as she focused her attention on the road ahead.
Willow raised an amused eyebrow. She couldn’t deny that the way Tara was being so reserved about their destination was making her heart flutter with anticipation.
"We’re here," Tara announced excitedly, driving her car into an empty parking space by the road.
Willow ducked down a little in her seat to take a peek out the driver side window. "Indigo Restaurant? That’s what you’re so secretive about?"
"Of course not. It’s what’s below it," Tara said, flashing a grin at Willow as she unbuckled her seat-belt. She quickly exited the car and walked briskly around the front of the vehicle. When she reached the passenger side, Tara chivalrously opened the door for Willow to step out and held out one of her hands for her to take.
"Thanks," Willow responded as she took Tara’s outstretched hand, smiling gratefully.
Once Tara had closed the door and locked up the car, they walked hand-in-hand toward Indigo Restaurant with their sides pressed close to each other’s’.
"So, what’s below it?" Willow asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.
"You’ll find out soon enough," Tara replied in the same mysterious style as before.
When they entered the restaurant , Tara led Willow to a stairway with a life-sized banner hanging up on the opposite window panel that wrote ‘opaque – dining in the dark’.
Ever since that unforgettable moment in the basement of the college gymnasium, Tara had been struggling with the dark both in the literal sense and in her sleep. For the first few nights, while housed up by Willow's hospital bed, the brunette would find herself jerking awake, beads of sweat running down her forehead as her heart hammered in her chest. The dreams were always the same, Chandler always got the best of her and Willow slowly bled out as she watched.
After the forth consecutive night, and Julian's persuasive insistence, the detective requested assistance from Crisis Intervention, a unit designed to help Officer's cope with mental trauma they sustained on the job. Begrudgingly, the brunette opened up to her therapist, describing in vivid details her encounter with Chandler, blaming herself for shooting Willow, and the reoccurring nightmares.
The therapist had diagnosed the brunette with PTSD almost immediately, empathizing with her over her traumatic experience and the reason why she was having panic attacks. When the therapist offered up a solution to gain control over her fear by spending time in the dark with Willow, Tara had initially laughed. The thought sounded absurd. She was a seasoned detective who's been in worse situations. But the more they spoke about it, Tara realized an evening spent in the dark with her girlfriend, in a controlled, safe environment, didn't seem like a bad idea. Especially if it meant the nightmares and panic attacks would subside.
Not breaking stride, Tara immediately turned to face her date, wanting to get the first look at her reaction.
Willow had her eyebrows turned up in surprise.
"We’re gonna eat in the dark? Doesn’t that mean I won’t be able to see you?" She questioned tentatively, her eyebrows slowly moving downwards into a small frown. As fascinating as the idea was, the thought of not seeing Tara throughout the whole dinner didn’t seem appealing.
"That’s why it’s gonna be so much fun," Tara responded as she pulled on Willow’s hand, gently guiding her down the flight of stairs.
Her original intention bringing Willow there was to replace the awful memory of that fateful day when they were both in the dark with Chandler Bolton, but now, the intention had become a mere undertone. Willow shook her head and chuckled at the eagerness that Tara was showing. She couldn’t help but be swept along with the enthusiasm.
Before they could enter the dining area, they had to turn off their phones and hand over their purses to the hostess at the lounge for safekeeping. When they had finished placing their orders for each of their three courses of the prefixed meal, the two of them were guided into the pitch-black dining room.
Willow held onto Tara’s hand tightly as they made their way into the dining area, surrounded by nothing other than darkness.
Blinded by the dark, their other senses were considerably heightened. The wonderful mixture of different aromas from the food in the room hit their noses instantly and the excited chatting of other patrons rang in their ears.
They were led to a booth after a seemingly endless walk.
Willow bent down with her hand stretched out to feel for the cushioned seat. She sat down and scooted in quickly once her hand came in contact with smooth furry material, pulling Tara along with her.
"You doing okay?" Tara asked, her head turned in the direction where she assumed Willow was. The question, although aimed at Willow, was also a reminder to herself that everything would be okay. Prior to picking Willow up for the date, she had had some apprehension, wondering if she was making the right decision as she didn't want to go into a full blown panic attack in front of the pathologist over something as silly as sitting in the dark. But the feeling of the slender woman's hand in her own erased all the fear and doubts she may have had.
"Yeah, but it feels kind of scary," Willow whispered with a slight tremble in her voice. On top of not having the ability to see, she was finding it difficult to make out Tara’s voice among so many others around them.
"Why are you whispering?" Tara asked, laughing at the amusing behavior of her date. Yes, all her fears and doubts were quickly erasing. She made a mental note to stop by her therapist office and apologize for laughing at his idea. She had to give it to the tweed clad man, he was right, she needed to face her fears head on.
Willow was glad for the darkness at that moment as it was hiding her reddened cheeks. Despite merely reacting naturally to being in a darkened environment by lowering her voice, she was still rather embarrassed that Tara had caught her out.
"I feel like we’re doing something sneaky being in the dark," Willow replied, her voice rising back to her normal volume.
"We’re not …. But we could be," Tara responded cheekily. This time, it was her who had her voice lowered.
"Tara! We’re in public," Willow chastised. She felt her reddened cheeks burn even further upon hearing the playful, flirtatious, suggestion.
"It’s not like anyone can see us," Tara teased, softly bumping her shoulder into Willow’s.
Willow bit down on her lower lip, smiling broadly at the same time as she thought about how right Tara was when she had said this was going to be so much fun. It had taken her a while to reach a comfortable level in the dark, but she was starting to become more attuned to her surroundings or more specifically, to Tara. She was starting to regret making the rule that they couldn't kiss before the date was over.
The warmth emitting from Tara beside her was heartening, the distinct vanilla scent she emanated was intoxicating and the feel of her smooth, slender arm grazing against her own was stimulating. She could hardly wait till she was able to once again lay her eyes on the brunette.
One of the trained waiters of the restaurant interrupted their frolicsome moment by serving up their appetizers. It was pretty challenging for the two of them to eat in the dark, considering the fact that they couldn’t even find their utensils. After a couple of minutes of blind searching and amused giggling, they found their cutlery and began to dig into their food.
The whole dining experience was one of a kind. They were able to identify each ingredient and taste each explosion of spice as it touched their palates, stirring their senses in an almost intimidating way.
Being in a playful mood, they attempted to feed each other with disastrous yet comical results. Once they had finished fooling around and were done with their meals, they were led out of the pitch-black dining area into the mood-lighting lit lounge.
"Hi," Tara greeted with a smile, fighting the urge to pull the redhead into a fiery lip-lock.
"Hi back," Willow said, smiling brightly. She too, was trying to resist closing the distance between them.
"Come on, let’s take you home," Tara spoke in a whisper as she moved toward Willow to interlace their fingers. As they were close to the end of their first date, the brunette was hoping she would be able to get her kiss at last.
Any maybe something more.
_________________ Alyson, oh, Alyson why don´t you join my band? So you could play the flute like this one time in band camp. I Am Forever / A Special Christmas of Sorts / Maybe It's Just Me / Honeysuckle Rose / Blackouts and Breakthroughs / When Love Arrives
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