ok, so my muse doesn't seem to care i have to work, or taht i have to pack, or that i have to do other things other than writing. but she decided she wanted you kittens to have a little present so here ya go... Hope you like... ps- we stole a lot from Restless this time around...
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CHAPTER 21
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The raid on cabin five with all the cute boys hadn’t happened as planned. It hadn’t happened at all actually. The strategy had been to raid them the night after Outward Bounds when all the boys tended to be pooped out from their playful overexertion in the wilderness during their own separate hike and sleep over. But, after a Thursday filled with fun in the sun and water sports in a nearby lake, what transpired was that the girls of cabin seven ended up way more exhausted instead. So exhausted they never woke up during cabin five’s raid on them.
They awoke that Friday morning to a shaving cream filled cabin with confetti poured all over the floors as well. After spending one and a half hours after breakfast cleaning up the mess, Miss Post came by to inform them that they would be allowed to send out their laundry early instead of having to wait until Monday when the rest of the camp was scheduled to send it out.
As the girls scrambled to save certain articles of clothing that were spared from the foamy white substance Buffy and Willow huddled in their corner to clear out their own soiled clothes.
“Are those new?” Buffy asked curiously. Having been through laundry day already three times with Willow she thought she’d seen all of her plain white underwear. These particular orange colored ones with red hearts were not any she’d seen before. Had she and Tara gone shopping on her day off? Willow… without her mom… at somewhere other than Sears?
“What?” Willow questioned as she blindly shoved another handful of shaving creamed t-shirts in her crochet laundry bag.
“Those.” Buffy pointed to the corner of the see though laundry bag.
Willow’s eyes quickly darted to the area Buffy was pointing at and widened when she recognized them. They were Tara’s. “Oh.” she replied, a blush coming on full force that topped her already mildly sun burnt skin. She must have packed those in the rush to get back to Camp Flutie on time. “Oops,” she smiled nervously, “I must have accidentally grabbed hers instead.”
Buffy knew exactly who ‘her’ was. “Riiight.” She grinned. After watching Willow huff and puff at the insinuation but with no words coming out of her agape mouth, Buffy couldn’t help but laugh.
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After lunch, Willow had to pass by the auditorium to help build the props and set for the end of the session production with Buffy instead of running off to the stables to be with Tara like she wanted to. She hadn’t seen the blonde since Tuesday and she was beginning to get restless.
As they entered the auditorium she was amazed at the whirl of activity. It wasn’t that the staff was actually already working on their individual tasks at hand, no, they were simply hanging around… joking, talking… it felt like the nightly bonfire without the bonfire. And, it was daytime too.
Pretty much everyone was waiting for the director to show up, and a few seconds later she arrived in all her pretentious glory. “Hello, my people!” Harmony smiled as she rushed in the auditorium with a couple of girls from the clique trailing behind her. She clapped her loose leaf filled hands, clearly in charge of this production, and addressed the scattered staff. “Everyone gather around! We have a lot to do today.”
Slowly the staff walked over to the circle of chairs and began to sit down.
“Isn't this exciting? Our first production!” Harmony squeaked in glee as she settled herself in her chair. It was one of those fabric chairs directors used and Willow had no idea where she’d gotten it from.
“Hello, we have one every year.” Devon reminded her. A couple of the gathered chuckled at the wry observation.
Harmony rolled her eyes at him and continued to talk like he hadn’t said a word. “All right, everyone, pay attention. In just a few moments we’re going to start rehearsing the steps and going over everything we’ve already started. Costumes. Sets. The things, you know, things, you touch them and hold them –“ She couldn’t seem to remember the word she was looking for.
“Props?” Willow suggested.
Harmony shook her head. “No…” She looked like she was still searching for the right word even though Willow was correct.
Buffy simply sighed and repeated, “Props.” a little louder.
Harmony’s face lit up, “Yes!” But, once she registered who had spoken, she looked down at her notes and continued to talk.
Willow and Buffy shared a look, it was going to be a long lunch break.
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A few minutes after Harmony’s monologue Willow and a couple other stagehands were at the back of the stage working on the colorful backdrop for the play. They needed to create a forest like setting and Willow secretly snickered at the fact she’d had enough problems with forests and trees to last her all summer. All year even. But, at least she could use those haply adventures to paint a realistic forest now.
The redhead grew bored while stirring the can of green paint and, as woodsy thoughts turned to Tara filled ones, she quietly wished the blonde would pass by and visit her like she had once before.
“Willow?” Tara’s voice softly rang out from behind her.
Willow quickly turned around and brightly smiled, “I wish for a million dollars.” Off Tara’s inquisitive look Willow quickly replied, “Just checking.”
Tara giggled softly and moved to hug her love hello.
Willow relished being in between Tara’s loving arms, smelling her, touching her, hugging her… but the pain coming from her burnt shoulders was overpowering. “Owie.” She silently voiced.
Tara looked over at her, “What’s wrong?” She suddenly noticed the red cheeks and figured out the rest. “Are you sun burnt?” she asked, tenderly.
Willow gently nodded. “A bit. We went to a lake yesterday.”
Tara reached out, ready to delicately caress the redhead’s cheek, but realized they were other staff members around. She quickly lowered her arms and, not knowing what to do with them, she folded them across her chest.
Willow knew this as the ‘I’m uncomfortable now’ Tara pose and struggled to assuage her concern. “Come with me.” She said as she unlocked Tara’s arms and grabbed her hand. Tara followed her lead.
At the front of the stage was an enormous red curtain that separated the platform from where the audience would be sitting. Earlier, Willow had realized there were actually two red curtains about two feet apart that separated the stage from the audience. Knowing this, she and Tara journeyed into the intimate space. Midway from where she thought stage left began, Willow stopped and turned over to Tara. She spoke in a low voice, “Hi,” she grinned as her fingers caressed Tara's hand.
Tara smiled back. “Hey.”
Willow’s lips lightly joined hers while her hands reached to cup the blonde’s soft cheeks. As the kiss grew deeper the girls moved closer to each other and hands roamed over bodies. Fingers got lost in hair, mouths pressed against skin, legs tangled up, arms wrapped around each other. She was holding Tara and Tara was holding her.
Willow felt like she was going to burst. How was it Tara kisses always made her feel like this? Like she was floating. Floating on air.
Willow suddenly realized that she couldn’t feel the ground beneath her feet anymore and quickly opened her eyes. The ground was certainly not beneath her feet anymore, it was about two feet below her actually. Below the both of them.
Willow eye’s enlarged as soon as all this registered and looked to Tara for answers. “What the…”
Tara lips pressed against her mouth and quieted her, “Shhh. It’s ok.”
Willow knew it was ok. It was always ok with Tara. Even better than ok. It was perfect. It was magic. Always. Forever.
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TBC....
"She has magic fingers." Then, as though the words had just echoed back to her and sounded not at all right, she perked up and glanced around at the others. "On the keyboard." Tara, The Wisdom Of War...