Replies: One of a Kind: In my head the store looks really cool. It's too bad you can't see it in its full glory. I have quite an imagination. arsyadriani: Sorry to hear about your finger sprain. I will say that left-handed on a real right-handed guitar feels a little more comfortable than left-handed on the Guitar Hero controller. But not by much. ophelia11: When you use the Rock Band foot pedal do you rest your foot down on it or keep it poised above? I figured out that you can actually put your foot on it and press down about half-way without setting the thing off. That's how I rest my foot. Less shin splint-type pains. Ironically, I'm a righty but had to re-teach myself how to play guitar left-handed after an injury. Basically I pulled a Hendrix and flipped my right-handed guitar upside down and switched the strings. Very interesting process.
Now, on to the update. A little longer than the last. I think. Hope it satisfies.
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 B
Willow made short work of connecting the game console, and before long, Tara had unwrapped the game case and was placing the disc into the machine. Wanting to test out Willow’s modified controller, she played the first two songs and decided it was absolutely awesome. She then shut the game down and sank into the couch next to where Willow was sitting.
“That is so freaking cool,” she said with a big smile directed at the redhead. Instinctively, she leaned against the other woman’s body and melded their hands together.
Willow squeezed Tara’s hand in return and rested her head against her girlfriend’s shoulder. “You don’t want to play anymore?” she asked.
Tara shook her head lightly. “Not right now. Everyone will want to play later, and right now I’ve got you all to myself.”
With a look of mock innocence, Willow tilted her head up towards Tara and batted her eyelashes. In the sweetest voice she could muster, she asked, “Well whatever shall we do?”
“I’m sure we can find something to fill the time,” Tara replied just as sweetly. Then, with a surprising display of strength, she tugged Willow into a position where the redhead was straddling her lap.
“If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were going to try to have your way with me,” Willow said with a sexy leer.
“I have to try now?” Tara did her best to look hurt but ended up completely unsuccessful.
“Well, no, not really,” Willow admitted. “I just don’t want you to think I’m easy.” As Tara started trailing kisses across her neck she added, “But I guess easy isn’t necessarily bad.” She then captured Tara’s lips in a fiery kiss that brought a moan to both of their throats.
As they continued kissing, Tara rolled Willow down onto the couch and stretched herself out atop the redhead’s body. They stayed in this position for a few minutes, but, soon, Willow felt the urge to be atop Tara and began shifting herself toward a more dominant position. She misjudged the size of the couch cushions, however, and instead of just rolling herself on top of her girlfriend, she rolled them both into a heap on the floor. They both uttered a collective, “Ooof.”
“A little overzealous, don’t you think?” Tara asked with a smirk. She had taken much of the brunt of the fall, as nearly half her body was beneath Willow’s. She was almost certain bruises were currently forming on the back of her head and one of her elbows.
Willow was also sure she would have a few bruises of her own but chose to ignore the slight discomfort and focus on the fact that she was at least partially successful in finding her way atop Tara. Looking into the face below hers, she replied, “With you? Always.”
Tara almost melted on the spot, and she lifted her head up to recapture Willow’s lips in another string of passionate kisses. It wasn’t long before articles of clothing began to find themselves discarded and all that was left was a pair of naked bodies tangled together, moving as one on the floor. They made love there, in the back room of the record store, and it wasn’t until much later, when they lay gently wrapped in one another’s arms, that the fact that they were naked on the floor finally registered. They locked eyes and burst out laughing.
Tara was the first to speak. “Overzealous is good.”
“Can’t argue with that,” Willow responded before she began placing chaste kisses on Tara’s shoulder.
Suddenly, the sound of a door opening came from the main area of the store, and Kim’s voice carried into the back room. “Tara? You here?”
Tara couldn’t help but mutter, “Oh fuck,” as she scrambled to make it to the open door separating the two areas of the store. She nearly tripped but managed to slam the door shut and turn the lock. Willow was on the move as well, trying her best to gather up their clothes so they could dress.
There was a knock on the door, and Kim shouted, “Tara?”
“I’m here,” Tara shouted in response. She was struggling to get into her pants, which were currently inside out due to their earlier removal by an excited redhead.
“Why the hell’d you lock the door? Are you naked or something?” Kim joked.
Both Tara and Willow went beet red at the comment.
“Just give me a sec,” Tara yelled through the door. Very quickly, she and Willow were both fully clothed, and Tara moved to unlock the door.
As soon as she heard the door unlock, Kim turned the knob and walked into the back room. She’d been expecting to find Tara alone, but upon seeing both Tara and Willow along with their obvious disheveled state, Kim put two and two together and was momentarily rendered speechless. She recovered quickly though and yelled, “Holy fuck! I was totally joking about being naked!” She looked quickly between the pair with shock. “You were having sex! In the store!” Kim then looked down and noticed the rug on the floor was completely askew. She pointed accusingly at them. “You had sex on my rug! Ewww!”
Tara looked like she wanted nothing more than to crawl off and die right then. Willow, however, had somehow found her composure and looked Kim straight in the eye. “I’d say it was probably more along the lines of ‘absolutely fantastic’ than ‘ewww,’” she deadpanned before grabbing Tara’s hand and pulling the blonde out into the main area of the shop.
Kim just watched them go with her mouth agape.
Others started to arrive for the night’s festivities not long after Kim. All of the band members and their respective partners were present as well as a very pregnant Buffy accompanied by her husband Liam. Everyone was milling about, chatting with one another and exploring the new store. Tara was deliberately avoiding Kim because every time she caught her friend’s eye her face flushed red in embarrassment. Currently she was standing with Buffy talking about the baby.
“I swear this kid thinks my insides are a punching bag,” Buffy said as she rubbed her protruding belly.
Tara smiled sympathetically. “Willow said you finally broke down and asked the doctor what you’re having.”
“I totally caved!” Buffy admitted. “You have no idea how hard it is to walk through the baby section at a store and only buy gender neutral stuff. As soon as I found out it was a girl I ran out and bought the fluffiest, frilliest dress I could find.”
The two women shared a laugh before Buffy continued. “Will says I’m only conforming to society’s rules on how boys and girls should dress, but it was actually kind of cathartic, just knowing whether to choose the dress or the sweater vest combo. And it’s not like I’m going to put her in dresses every day. I just bought the one.”
“So are you still going with the name Disney?” Tara asked a little cautiously. She and Willow both thought it was a stupid name, but they had decided that if Buffy and Liam named their child Disney, they would keep their mouths shut and be supportive.
Buffy smirked. “Uh, no. Everyone I’ve talked to has made it pretty clear that it’s a poor choice. Even my mother.”
Tara tried her best not to look relieved. “Any new thoughts then?”
“I think we’ve decided on Aiden Elise.”
“Aww, that’s so cute!” Tara exclaimed honestly. She thought the name was adorable and ten thousand times better than Disney.
At that moment, Willow joined the pair and wrapped her arms around her girlfriend. They shared a brief peck on the lips.
“Hey, you,” Tara said to the other woman. “Where have you been?”
Willow motioned to the other side of the room. “Anya was introducing me to her new boyfriend.”
“So what happened to Eric and Michael?” Buffy asked. She had seen Anya walk in with an unfamiliar man, and her two ‘boy toys’ were surprisingly nowhere in sight.
Tara explained that Anya had broken it off with the two guys about a month prior because she felt they would be happier in a relationship with just the two of them. Anya and her new guy, Cameron, had only been dating for a couple of weeks, and tonight was the first time she was introducing him to her friends. Cameron seemed to be the complete flip side of Anya: quiet, well mannered, and friendly. He was exactly what the over-the-top woman needed.
Later in the evening, when everyone found out there was Guitar Hero to be played, an impromptu tournament formed. Kim was slaughtering anyone she came up against, and there were only a few competitors left, including Ro, Tara, Liam, Jeremy, and, to her own surprise, Willow. After Kim claimed Liam as her next victim, the next pair to duke it out was Willow and Tara.
Willow gave Tara a nervous look. She had no idea how she’d managed to last this long in the game. “Go easy on me?” she asked with the hope that Tara wouldn’t completely steam roll over her.
“No favoritism!” Kim shouted from across the room.
Tara looked apologetically at her girlfriend. “Sorry.”
As the song started up, Buffy shouted, “Kick ass, Will!”
The intro seemed easy enough, and Willow felt like she was doing okay. Out of nowhere though, all hell broke loose, and the notes were flying by at a seemingly impossible speed. By the end, despite Tara ignoring Kim and messing up on purpose in some places, the blonde ended up stomping Willow’s score into the ground.
“Well that immensely sucked,” the redhead muttered as she put down the guitar controller.
Tara took her girlfriend’s hand and led them both to an empty space on the floor where the sat down. “I’m sorry, sweetie,” she said while offering a comforting one-armed hug.
The small pout Willow had been wearing disappeared as she melded into Tara’s side. They both settled in to watch the next two players.
When it was all said and done, Kim knocked Tara out in the semi-final round and defeated Ro in the finals to come out victorious overall. After playing the last note, she lifted the controller and shouted, “I’m a Guitar Hero god!”
By the time the tournament wrapped up, it was getting pretty late, and people started gathering their things to leave. Once everyone was out of the store, Tara locked the front door, waved goodbye to everyone, and began to walk down the street with Willow, Buffy, and Liam in the direction of the funeral home. They were all tired and walked along in a comfortable silence. When the group finally reached their destination, they made the trek up the stairwell before breaking off into their respective pairs at the top.
Tara followed Willow into the redhead’s bedroom, and the two began to get ready for bed. As Tara pulled off her socks, a black and white puff of fur shot out from under the bed to attack the discarded footwear.
“I swear I lose more socks to the cat than I do to the dryer monster,” the blonde commented as she lifted up the blankets and crawled into bed. Willow followed right behind.
Despite technically being Tara’s cat, Cali’s time was split between both Tara’s and Willow’s homes. Depending on where the couple was staying on a given night, the cat could typically be found wherever the two women were. She did occasionally get to spend a night with ‘Aunt Kim,’ as Tara had affectionately dubbed her friend, since Kim had basically fallen in love with the furry kitten during the week Cali had spent at her house while Tara was out of town with Willow, but these visits had only happened a few times.
In bed, the two sleepy women cuddled together with Tara curled up in Willow’s arms.
“Are you ready for tomorrow?” Willow asked into Tara’s hair.
“Totally,” Tara confirmed. Then she laughed. “Do you think Kim will have forgotten about you and me in the back room by then?”
“Baby, I don’t think Kim will ever forget about that,” Willow joked. She then added, “However, I for one don’t plan on forgetting any time soon.”
Tara looked up with a gleam in her eye. “Oh, really?”
“Really.”
And, suddenly, neither woman was feeling very sleepy anymore.
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