Return to The Mendacity of Tara Maclay Chapter Two



The Mendacity of Tara Maclay
CHAPTER THREE: RESTITUTIONS

Author: Tinna Karen
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: All characters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer belong to Fox, Mutant Enemy and Joss Whedon. Some dialogue has been borrowed from BtVS scripts.


Willow knocked on Tara's door to the beat of the theme song of their favorite show. Tara, who was sitting on her bed watching TV with Beth, knew immediately who it was and jumped out of bed, grabbing her cousin's wrist and dragging her with her.

She went to the door and opened it quickly. "Bye Beth," she said to her cousin as she pushed her out the door. "Hey Willow," she said to the redhead standing in her hallway as she grabbed her hand and pulled her in.

Beth stumbled forwards and turned around to the sight of the door closing. "But..." she walked to the door and knocked loudly.

Tara opened the door. "What?"

"I need my jacket," Beth said. Tara glared at her and closed the door in her face. A few seconds later it opened and Tara tossed Beth's jacket at her. "Bye!" The door closed again.

Beth smiled and knocked again.

"What?" Tara said with a fake smile when she opened the door again.

"I need the keys to the car."

"One moment." The door closed again. The keys were in Beth's hand a few seconds later. She looked up at the closed door yet again and laughed. She knocked.

"What the hell Beth!" Tara exclaimed when she opened the door again.

Beth sidestepped Tara and peered into the room. Willow was sitting on Tara's bed, an amused smile on her lips. "Hey Willow... I'm really sorry about today. It was a stupid joke and Tara had nothing to do with it. Please forgive her, she really likes you, you know..."

"Okay, goodbye Beth!" Tara pushed Beth out the door again and closed the door and locked it. She heard her cousin yell "good luck" before she turned around and faced Willow.

"Sorry," she said. "That was my cousin Beth, as you already know, and she's an ass."

Willow laughed and nodded her head in agreement. "She's exactly like I pictured her."

Tara smiled, relieved, and made her way to the bed. "I really am sorry Willow. I never wanted to lie to you, or deceive you, or do anything remotely hurtful and..."

"Tara, it's okay... I'm not mad."

"You're not?"

Willow shook her head, "Nope."

Tara raised her eyebrow skeptically, "Are you sure?"

"Yup."

"Really, really sure?"

Willow grinned and nodded her emphatically, "Really, really." This reminded her of so many conversations they had had online, and it was comforting to know they could be themselves around one another despite their recent meeting. Speaking of meeting... "So what did happen today... why didn't you show up? Were you late or something?"

"Oh." Tara ducked her head, and fiddled with the comforter they sat on. "No, I wasn't late... I was in the car... watching you... for probably... um 15 minutes," she finished quietly but Willow heard her. "15 minutes?"

Tara nodded and lay down on her bed, resting on her side. She propped herself up on an elbow and rested her head in her hand. "See... the thing is..."

Willow lay down in front of Tara, mirroring her position. "Yes?"

"I was... just... scared, I guess."

"Why scared?"

Tara shrugged one shoulder and looked down on her bed. She traced the patterns of her comforter with her index finger, giving Willow shy glances now and then.

Willow had never been in this situation before. She liked Tara, and apparently Tara liked her as well, but she wasn't sure what to do now. Tara looked so vulnerable right now, and Willow wanted to hug her and... kiss her senseless, she admitted to herself and smiled. But before that could happen she needed to know what Tara wanted.

Willow brought up her hand and enclosed it over Tara's, stilling her movements. Tara looked at their clasped hands, the warmth from Willow's palm sending a tingling sensation up her arm. She finally met Willow's eyes and smiled shyly, not at all surprised at her reaction.

"Tell me..." Willow pleaded and gave her hand a light squeeze. Tara saw everything she had ever wanted being offered to her when she looked in Willow's eyes, and she nodded slightly. Take a chance... Tara took a deep breath and did just that.

"I like you Willow... I mean, really like you and I want to um... be... with you, in a with you with you sorta way... but I was just afraid that... that you'd... I don't know... run away or something... when you saw me. And I know it's really stupid... who runs away these days... usually people just laugh in your face and tell you to fuck off..."

Willow was a little hurt Tara would think that of her and she told her so. "You think I'd do that?"

Tara shook her head quickly, "No... not at all. I know you wouldn't... it was just me... me and my stupid insecurities. I was just afraid that when you really saw me, you wouldn't wanna be anywhere near me."

"See, that's where you're a dummy... I was already head over feet when we were talking online... then when I saw you... I thought you were the most beautiful person I had ever seen."

"Really? But you're the beautiful one... I mean, I was looking at you and you looked so cute, all nervous and fidgety standing there... you're definitely the beautiful one."

"Nah huh."

"Yah huh."

"Nah huh."

"Yah-" A pair of strawberry lips prevented Tara from continuing.

Tara was completely still at first, her eyes wide open in shock. Willow caressed her cheek with her hand, running her thumb up and down, and increased the pressure of her lips. When the blonde finally realized Willow was kissing her, she grabbed the back of Willow's head, pulling her closer and kissed her back.

They parted a minute later, breathless and dizzy. Tara was the first one to catch her breath and giggled happily. "You know, if you had told me yesterday that I'd be kissing you today I would have called you a big fat liar."

Willow giggled back then mock-frowned a second later. "Wait... are you calling me fat?"

Tara laughed out loud and poked Willow in the stomach. "No, you doofus."

"Dummy."

"Goof."

"Loon."

Tara rolled her eyes and poked Willow in the stomach again. "You know what's even better than calling you names?"

"What?"

Tara kissed Willow in answer to her question.

"Oh, yes... that's much better." Willow agreed afterwards. "We should make a pact. Whenever we feel like calling each other names, we should just kiss instead."

Tara giggled and nodded her head. She brought up her right hand. "Deal." Willow smiled and shook her hand, "deal." Then she leaned in and kissed Tara. "That was for when I called you dummy earlier."

"Oh..." Tara leaned in and kissed Willow back. "I just had this urge to call you cutie."

Willow grinned. "You know... I strongly urge you to call me cutie again."

Tara smiled and did just that.


Continue to The Mendacity of Tara Maclay Epilogue


Return to Story Archive
Return to Main Page