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Title: Songs For A Mix Tape
Rating: PG - PG13ish?
Disclaimer: I don’t own the characters from ME.
Feedback: Yes please
Track 24: Songs Remain by H2O
Part D
After a long, fairly provocative shower together, Willow and Tara barely had time to get ready before they needed to leave for the record store. On the way out the door Tara called Adam at Penny Lane to ask if he could have juice and bagels with hummus ready for them to pick up on the way so she and Willow wouldn’t be forced to go hungry for half of the day. He was more than happy to oblige.
By the time the two women had stopped to pick up the band’s equipment trailer and finally made it to Down On Margo, Kim was already inside, rushing about in an obvious attempt to make everything look absolutely perfect despite the fact that the store already looked impeccable. When she saw Tara walk through the door, she practically shouted, “Dude! You were supposed to be here five minutes ago!” She was panicking and she looked like she might throw up.
Tara hurried to her friend’s side and put a hand on her arm. “Whoa, what’s wrong? Why the freak out?”
Willow hung back, pretending to browse a shelf so the two friends could have a moment.
“What if everyone hates it and nobody buys anything and we go out of business and I end up on the street starving to death?” Kim rambled in her worked-up state.
Immediately Tara pulled Kim into a hug. “Okay, first,” she murmured into Kim’s hair, “No matter what, I will never let you end up starving on the street.” She pulled back and looked her friend in the eye. Then with a smirk she added, “And second, this is our store. In what universe is something we brought together not awesome? There’s no way it can fail.” She continued gazing at Kim, trying to reassure her.
“But how can you know that?”
“I just do.”
“But what if--”
“Trust me. It’s going to be fine.”
Kim began to visibly relax under Tara’s comforting stare.
“You okay now?” the blonde asked gently.
Kim nodded. “I think so.” She glanced in Willow’s direction then looked back to Tara. “You guys want to help me check on everything out back before the crew shows up?”
Willow joined the other two, looking like she was ready for action. “Aye aye, cap’n!” she joked, trying to help further ease Kim’s tension.
The group headed out the back door to the open lot behind the building. At the farthest end of the lot a temporary stage had been erected the morning prior, and against the back wall of the building stood a platform that would hold the sound mixing board and some camera equipment Willow planned on setting up to record the show for the bands as well as the website she and Kim had setup for their Eight Reales label.
Just as they finished inspecting everything to make sure it was as it should be, Ross and Hiroya walked through the gate separating the lot from the sidewalk outside. Jeremy and two of his coworkers from Elemental Music, Jack and Bobby, followed them a few minutes later.
“Ready to unload?” Jeremy asked Kim and Tara, motioning to a large van that was parked just outside the fence.
The two nodded and everyone moved as a unit to start unpacking sound equipment from the van to the lot. With everyone helping out, it seemed to take no time at all to get all the cables ran and the sound system in place. With everything connected and plugged in, Jack and Bobby went about firing everything up to start testing things out, while the band members headed to their trailer to unload their gear and Willow began prepping her own equipment.
By this time Anya finally showed up, earning a sarcastic “Glad you could finally join us,” from Tara.
“Heavy lifting is for boys,” Anya said, placing the purse she carried against the wall of the building.
“Um, hello, not a boy,” Tara tried to point out, raising her hand to indicate her status as a girl.
“You’re a lesbian. Same difference,” Anya tried to explain, which was followed by a “Hey!” from Willow’s direction.
Kim pointed to herself. “Not a boy. Not a lesbian. And I’ve been working.”
“You own the place. Of course you have to help out.” Anya rolled her eyes. “Are we going to stand here arguing or are we going to finish setting up?”
Collectively everyone returned to the tasks at hand. The other bands that were performing that day showed up as well, adding to the flurry of activity. The music lineup consisted of Brighton Orr, Sunny City Rockers, and The Circuit’s On Fire, with Alison Ashmore closing out the day.
With just under an hour and a half left before the doors were set to open, everything was in place and ready to go. Weighed down by bags full of sandwiches and drinks from the nearby deli, Adam arrived, along with his girlfriend Caroline, whom he had met on the bus ride to the Fourth of July party at Tara’s. They signed on to help Kim in the shop since Tara would be occupied outside for most of the day. Everyone welcomed the couple and began grabbing food.
Sandwiches and drinks in hand, Willow and Tara went into the shop and sat midway up the steps to the upstairs storage area where they would be hidden and could have a little time to themselves.
Willow picked off a piece of her sandwich and fed it to Tara who more than willingly accepted the offer. “Are you not nervous?” the redhead asked. She was wowed by how calm, cool, and collected her girlfriend had been the entire day.
“Promise not to tell Kim?” Tara asked after swallowing the food in her mouth.
Willow nodded.
“I’m petrified,” the blonde confessed.
This news surprised the redhead. She never would have guessed her girl was even the slightest bit worried. “Petrified? Why?”
“Same reasons Kim has,” Tara explained. “Well, except the fear of starving on the street,” she amended with a light laugh before sobering. “No matter how much we’ve put into this or how good the odds might seem in our favor, there’s always a possibility that it’ll crash and burn. That we’ll be failures. That I’ll be a failure.”
Willow reached over to caress the other woman’s hand. She knew how important it was for Tara to feel like she could stand on her own two feet and become successful through her own hard work, despite the fact that she was pretty much set financially for a long time to come. This was partly due to Tara’s strongly independent nature but also it had quite a bit to do with the fact that, deep down inside, the blonde needed to prove to her father, and herself as well, that she wasn’t the big disappointment in life he had made her out to be. Willow knew there were no words she could say to help ease the blonde’s fears and decided the best approach was to be silently supportive.
Tara took a deep breath, and the pair sat wordless for a moment. Willow continued to rub her hand, and she was surprised by how she was beginning to feel better just by sitting in the redhead’s quiet presence. Willow didn’t need to say anything to soothe her. She just needed to be there.
When Tara started to pick at her food, Willow knew she was feeling better, or at least a bit less freaked out, so she thought it was okay to finally speak. “For being petrified you’ve sure looked awfully mellow all day,” she said lightly.
Tara quirked an eyebrow and gave her girlfriend a saucy leer. “With what you did to me this morning? How could this body be anything BUT mellow?”
Willow grinned and blushed at the memory. They had never showered together before today, and she knew exactly what she, or more precisely her tongue, had done to the blonde earlier from the floor of the tub. “Well, anytime you need a good mellowing out, you’ve got me happily on stand-by,” she offered.
“Promise?”
“Always.” Willow punctuated this by leaning over and giving her girl a sound kiss on the mouth.
When they pulled apart, Tara’s eyes were closed and she was lightly biting her lower lip. “Mmm… how ‘bout right now?” she said as she opened her eyes.
Willow gave a laugh. “Tease,” she said before looking at Tara’s face and realizing the woman was serious. “Really?” Off Tara’s hopeful eyebrow raise, she quickly glanced at her watch and mentally calculated exactly how much time they had. They didn’t have long, but she could work with what was available. With just a look she accepted Tara’s request.
Their food forgotten, the couple laced their fingers together and scrambled up the steps, closing the door to the storage area behind them. Inside, Willow pushed the blonde against one of the shelves lining the walls and began frantically kissing the other woman. “We’ll have to be fast,” she said between kisses.
Tara merely nodded, not wanting the formation of words to get in the way of her mouth being on Willow’s. She kicked her shoes off while Willow worked on the clasp of her belt. In no time at all she had one leg free from her jeans and underwear, which, when Willow dropped to kneel before her, was pulled up to drape over the redhead’s shoulder.
As Willow worked out a fairly accurate rendition of their morning’s activities, Tara’s head swayed back and forth against the shelf behind her and her eyes rolled back in their sockets. Her breath came in panting gasps, punctuated every so often by repeated whispers of the redhead’s name.
It wasn’t long before her body tensed and her breathing hitched, followed by a drawn out, throaty moan, a happy sigh, and finally silence. Willow gently stilled her movements and eased Tara’s leg back to the floor. She rested her cheek on the blonde’s bare hip and closed her eyes, smiling.
A moment later Willow let herself be guided upward and felt Tara’s hands fumbling to work the zipper of her jeans. She quickly checked the time and reluctantly placed a hand over Tara’s, stilling the girl’s movements.
Tara gave a questioning look then a pout.
Willow explained, “No time,” before placing a gentle kiss on the blonde’s lips.
This only deepened Tara’s pout.
“Tonight, okay?” Willow promised.
“I’m holding you to that,” Tara acquiesced as she reluctantly bent down to resituate her pants. Willow bent down as well to help untie the laces on Tara’s hastily discarded shoes.
When Tara was once again presentable for civilized society, she clasped Willow’s hand and opened the door to go back downstairs. They stopped halfway down to collect their discarded lunch and continued the short trek to the main area of the shop.
Kim, who was standing behind the counter finishing off her sandwich, saw them emerge from the stairwell. “Were you two off having sex in the store again?” She tried to sound stern but it came out more teasingly than anything.
Willow placed their trash in the garbage bin and gave Kim a look that seemed to say, “What kind of people do you take us for?” Tara simply avoided looking directly at her friend because she knew she had a horrible poker face. Instead she leaned down, pretending to straighten a poster affixed to the front of the counter.
Kim was none the wiser and continued talking. “There’s already a pretty good crowd outside,” she said, gesturing toward the front of the store where, through the windows, they could see people already gathering to get inside. She was visibly excited.
Tara stood, smiling, and shared a happy fist bump with Kim. “That’s awesome!”
Willow wrapped an arm around Tara’s waist and addressed both women. “See, it’s all working out.”
“Maybe so,” Kim agreed, then added, “But I swear by all that is holy if you’ve just somehow jinxed us I will punch you in the face.”
“Right,” Willow laughed, knowing Kim was joking. “Like you could even touch me. I’d mop the floor with you first.”
“Big talk for such a little girl,” Kim shot back.
“You’d just better watch your back,” Willow teased.
“And on that note,” Tara said, noting the time on the clock behind the counter, “we’d better head out back.” She began pulling Willow toward the rear of the store. “You have everything under control up here?” she asked Kim.
Kim nodded. “Totally. I’ll open the door up in five minutes. Let Adam know he can start letting people through the back gate then.”
Tara nodded and she and Willow headed off to the back lot.
Outside, Willow went to double check her equipment while Tara went to tell Adam about when to open up for the crowd that was waiting outside the fence. The blonde then made her way to a sectioned-off area to the side of the stage where the bands could hang out. It was a hive of excited energy and she mingled with the large group until Willow rejoined her.
“Everything good?” she asked the redhead.
Willow nodded. “Yep. Bobby’s going to change out tapes and batteries while I’m up front, so we’re good to go.” During the show, Willow would be shooting footage around the stage on a handheld camera to cut with the footage from the static camera.
At that moment, Adam opened the gate and people started making their way toward the stage to get a good spot.
Tara looked at the crowd and said, “Show time.”
About thirty minutes after the gate opened, the first act, Brighton Orr, headed onto the stage. His set was more subdued than the rest of the lineup and was a nice way to get the ball rolling. He carried a laptop under his arm and placed it on a stand near his microphone before connecting it to power and an audio output. He then picked up a guitar, plugged into the amp, and opened the lid to his laptop. The crowd watched in silence.
Without any introduction, he began playing a simple pattern of notes on his guitar. With a tap to one of the foot pedals set up in front of him, the notes began to loop. He then repeated this process multiple times until he had four sets of loops blending together. He reached over to the laptop and with a few keystrokes a beat joined the mix. Another few keystrokes and a new layer was added.
Finally, he stepped back to the microphone and started to sing. He resumed with the guitar and began plucking along with the song he had been building. The crowd erupted in cheers and began to move.
After a few songs, Brighton announced other musicians would be joining him for his last two numbers, and Tara and Anya joined him on stage, earning a good deal of applause from the crowd. Anya stepped behind her keyboard and Tara moved into place behind a bell kit Brighton had set up. She grabbed the two mallets resting on top, and the two women waited for their cues.
The song began much the same as the first with Brighton piecing layers together, but instead of resuming with the guitar, he picked up an electric violin and played until he began to sing. Anya joined in when the lyrics started and, after the first verse, Tara started to play. Four verses later, the song reached it’s crescendo and exploded to an end.
They played the final song and left the stage to thunderous applause. Willow stood off to the side, and as soon as she stopped recording, she enveloped Tara in a tight hug.
“You did great, baby.” She punctuated this with a peck to the blonde’s cheek.
Tara smiled her thanks, and after a few minutes talking with her girlfriend, said she wanted to go inside to check how Kim was doing.
Without a band on stage at the moment, the store was fairly busy as people walked around front to check it out. Tara found Kim at the register ringing up a customer, and asked, “How’s it going in here?”
The customer left with her purchase and Kim exclaimed, “We’ve already made over two hundred dollars!” She was almost bouncing. “And you know a lot of people’ll wait to buy stuff until after the show so they don’t have to tote crap around.”
Tara shared in the excitement for a moment then headed back out to share the news with Willow before the next band started up.
Sunny City Rockers hit the stage and worked the growing crowd into a frenzy. By the time their set was over, the back lot was literally packed with people. The Circuit’s On Fire had a similar effect on the audience, and energy was virtually buzzing through the air when Alison Ashmore was set to go on.
The band started with a fast, punchy song that got the crowd going in a pogo. Willow moved about catching various shots of the different band members playing, and when she caught Tara in frame she thought her girlfriend was practically glowing, which caused Willow to smile broadly, knowing Tara was having such a good time doing what she loved.
The entire set was full of energy, with Ro and Ross inciting the crowd to alternately clap along or pump their fists in the air during different songs. Anya and Tara even played dueling keyboards during one number, the lead singer using a second keyboard that was set up to her side. Every person at the show, both off stage and on, seemed to be having a blast.
The end had to come eventually, though.
“We want to leave you with something new,” Tara told the crowd from her microphone. “This is our first time playing this. Hope you like it.”
Anya began playing a dark, almost chilling, tune. It was a stark contrast to the upbeat songs they’d been playing so far. After a few measures, Jeremy joined in, cutting across his floor tom and snare for a few beats before slamming his cymbals as the other instruments picked up. The mood immediately changed into something faster and much brighter.
In the weeks leading up to the opening and show, Tara had kept Willow abreast of how everything was coming along with the store as well as band practices, but she never mentioned the group had been working on anything new. Excited by this surprising development, Willow listened as closely as possible while recording footage.
In the middle of the first chorus, Tara managed to make eye contact with her girlfriend and smiled as she sang.
And it's funny how the best things
Can happen from the worst things
It took some time just to get through
In my ship with a broken oar
Spinning out from the shore
Oh I was waiting for you
Yeah I was waiting for you
Willow almost melted when Tara winked and she realized the blonde was singing to her. It took everything she had not to run over and smother her girl in kisses. She somehow managed to make it until the end of the song and the band had left the stage before bombarding the other woman.
“Did you like it?” Tara asked as Willow swept her up in a bone-crushing hug. “It was for you,” she explained, unnecessarily.
When Willow pulled back to look at Tara, her eyes misted over.
Tara immediately panicked when she saw the tears beginning to pool in Willow’s eyes. “Sweetie? What’s wrong?”
Willow brought their bodies together again. “That’s the sweetest thing anybody’s ever done for me!” She half-laughed and half-sobbed and began fanning her eyes. “Sorry for being such a crybaby.”
“You’re my baby, but you’re not a crybaby.” Tara brought her face to Willow’s for a kiss.
“How long have you been working on that?” Willow asked.
Tara thought back to when the inspiration for the song first hit. “I started writing it on the flight east to come see you.”
“I love you,” Willow breathed as she pulled the blonde into a deep kiss.
“Get a room!” Anya shouted as she walked by the couple.
“You know we do have some unfinished business to attend to from earlier,” Tara said, only loud enough for Willow to hear.
“That we do,” Willow agreed.
Tara thought about how long it would take before they could get back to that ‘unfinished business.’ The band had to pack and load all their equipment and the store would be open for another few hours. She frowned.
“It won’t be too long,” Willow soothed, understanding the expression on Tara’s face.
“You’re worth the wait,” Tara said, earning a shy smile from Willow who was reminded again of the song Tara wrote for her.
Willow began to pull Tara toward the store. “Let’s get busy.”
“So we can go home and get busy,” the blonde whispered suggestively.
Willow’s eyes widened and she playfully smacked her girlfriend’s arm. “Vixen!”
The store was packed for the remainder of the evening, and when they finally closed up Kim was nearly jumping up and down.
“Do you know how much money we made?” she shouted excitedly.
Sales had been extremely good, and the two new shop owners brought in much more than they had expected. They knew things would taper down somewhat after the initial opening, but for a first day they weren’t doing badly. Several items already needed to be restocked, and even Alison Ashmore’s new CD had almost sold out. The day could be written down as a success.
“All closed up?” Willow asked, walking out of the backroom rubbing her eyes. She had gone to take a rest on the couch an hour previously and ended up falling asleep.
Tara held out an arm inviting the redhead to snuggle up against her side. “All closed up, Sweetie.”
“Why don’t you two head home and I’ll finish up here,” Kim offered. “She looks worn out.” She pointed to Willow.
“Not worn out yet,” Willow mumbled sleepily into the blonde’s neck. “But Tara’s gonna to take care of that later.
Tara blushed and Kim covered her own ears.
“Okay, yuck. Please go now,” Kim said, pointing at the door.
“Going,” Tara assured, pulling her tired girlfriend toward the exit.
Outside Willow perked up considerably. “I can’t believe that worked!”
Tara looked surprised at the redhead’s sudden energy. “You were faking? You’re not really sleepy?”
“How can I be sleepy when I have naked Tara to look forward to?” Willow asked as if the answer was the most obvious thing in the world. “Come on!” she shouted and practically dragged Tara to the car.
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I recognized a few of the songs, but many are newbies to me so I must go exercise my itunes card now.
more 
I know he was mean when he kicked her out of the house..but still..hope Tara would talk to Willow about her feelings 