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AUTHOR: Laragh
CHAPTER RATING: PG-13
DISCLAIMER: These things are a bitch to write a different account for every time, so here’s the deal; I DON’T OWN THE CHARACTERS. Never have, never will, just borrowing them to continue my existence in happy denial-land.
SUMMARY: Willow leaves the only home she’s ever known to fulfil her parent’s dream of her attending New York University, but ends up having her own dreams come true in the process.
SPOILERS: Nope. This is totally Uber. Oh, but I probably will steal some dialogue here and there.
FEEDBACK: I crave it like I crave Oreos and milk. (Which is a lot. Just to be clear.)
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Just thought I should note that I think Craig is gonna end up being super campy. Which I know is a stereotype of a gay guy and normally I hate sterotypes as much as the next lesbian who keeps getting asked why she hates men, but I couldn't resist the fabulous campiness. So, uh, yea. Hope that doesn't like offend anyone. I don't mean it to, I swear. Um, thanks to everyone who reads!
Chapter 3
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Willow gratefully took her first sip of her morning coffee, trying to visualise the caffeine flowing into her bloodstream in an effort to make it work faster.
“Morning, roomie,” Tara greeted playfully, coming out of the bathroom, tying her hair up in a ponytail.
“Hey,” Willow greeted groggily, her senses coming to full alert as she took in the tiny black shorts and tight-fitting white blouse the brunette was wearing, something she’d become accustomed to seeing in last month, as it was Tara’s work attire. Nonetheless, the outfit had the same reaction on her each and every time; basically stopping all train of thought, “Um, work?”
Willow knew she was lucky that she didn’t have to work to fund her education; her parents had been adamant that she focus on her studies so were paying all her tuition fees and still giving her an allowance to pay for everything else. In her efforts to have some independence, she had chosen her own place to live, hence going for the place with the lowest rent so she would have the spare cash to do what she wanted with.
“Yea,” Tara nodded, rolling her eyes, “Trying to get as many shifts in as I can before college starts. Sorry I haven’t been around to show you the sights much.”
Willow shook her head as she took another sip of coffee, in actuality, she had enjoyed the month or so that she’d been living in the city immensely, Tara had shown her Washington Square Park the day after she arrived, which was just a five minute walk from the apartment, and she had been reading over the study material for her course everyday in the park ever since, as well as getting acclimated to her neighbourhood, and exploring the Village.
The simple fact that she knew the guy who sold coffee on the street corner, Joe, by name, thrilled her. She’d never had much contact with anyone other than family members and the people at synagogue, and even then it had been sporadic, her house at home was situated miles from any neighbouring houses, pretty much isolating her as she grew up.
Being thrust into the flurry of people, everywhere, all the time - though she thought might overwhelm her - actually made her feel great, less pressured. No one was watching her, making sure she was studying, to ‘fulfil her potential, fully and completely.’ She had to admit though, if all that work her parents had enforced upon her got her to where she was now, she was eternally grateful, because life was pretty wonderful at the moment. Even if she had to endure watching Tara looking delicious everyday and having to resist reaching out and touching her.
“It’s no problem. I’ve been enjoying the park and, um, getting to know the neighbourhood,” she reassured.
“Cool. Well, I better go or I’ll be late. Want me to bring home one of those muffins you like?” Tara asked, shrugging on her jacket.
She worked at a coffee shop that doubled as a piano bar at night, had been working shifts there since she was sixteen, the owner was a family friend and almost like family to her. She’d spent the summer working as much as she could so she would be able to ease off and concentrate on study when college rolled around, and in the last weeks before she started, had been working doubles as much as she could, becoming kind of a recluse in the process, only seeing Willow for a little while at night when she arrived home before falling into bed.
On the bright side, she had also found that her dreams were filled with a certain redhead that always made her wake up with a smile on her face. The constant work also meant she wasn’t going out at night, something she generally did regularly, and was looking forward to Freshers Week to blow off some steam.
“Ooh, yes please. Blueberry,” Willow nodded eagerly.
“You got it, sweetie,” Tara chuckled and grabbed her purse, slipping out of the door.
Willow sighed and put her coffee down on the counter in front of her.
At least when I only had my laptop for company, it wasn’t driving me insane with its uncompromising hotness.
She downed the last of her mug and went into her room, gathering stuff for a shower, before going into the bathroom. She came out of the steam filled room twenty minutes later, wrapped in a bathrobe and towel-drying her hair. Just as she was about to go back into her own room, she heard a knock on the door. She walked over and opened it, revealing a smiling Craig.
“Hey, neighbour,” he greeted, smirking at the redhead’s attire.
“Hi. Uh, sorry ‘bout the robe. Shower, ya know?” Willow replied, blushing.
“No problem. I just came over to get a CD Tara borrowed from me.”
“Oh, she left for work. But, um, the stereo is right over there. You could check if your CD is there if you want?”
“Thanks, doll,” Craig replied and walked into the apartment, “So, we haven’t had a chance to welcome you, really. How you settling in?”
“Oh, fine thanks. I really like this place, and New York is awesome. Well, what I’ve seen of it, but it’s cool. And the park is really nice and I was looking around the NYU campus the other day, I’m really excited about starting. And Tara’s really nice. It’s all so different from back home, ya know?” Willow gushed as Craig flipped though the CD’s.
“Oh, I know. I’m from small town Texas, came out here to get away from my bible belting family. You’re Iowa, right?”
“Yep. Iowa. Next to, you know, Illinois. Wisconsin. Missouri...”
Oh my god, what the hell am I saying?!
"But, uh, different to New York. Different and good," Willow finished, hoping her neighbour didn't think she was a complete idiot from her random naming of the states.
Or worse, tell Tara about it.
“You should come out with all of us, sometime…aha, here it is,” Craig replied, picking up a case, oblivious to the redhead's inner turmoil, “When Tara chills her work schedule, we’ll take you out. New York gay nightlife is probably different from whatever you had back home.”
“Oh. Yea, um, I wouldn’t know about back home. I, uh, never really went out,” Willow responded, blushing yet again.
“Well then, you’ll have a blast out here! Tara’s quite the party animal, too, she loves going out and having fun…may not seem like it with work, but she does. I’ve been in college and living in this building for two years, and she was the one who dragged me out, helped me come out of my shell a lot. Plus, you know, the girls go crazy for her.”
Craig smirked as he made his way over to the door.
“Oh,” Willow replied, processing this new information, “Cool. Well, ya know, she’s very pretty. And super nice. So that makes sense. Being with lot of girls.”
“Yea. So, anyway, thanks for this, and good luck with classes if I don’t see you before they start. Say hi to Tara from me.”
“Will do,” Willow responded with a weak smile, closing the door as her neighbour left and leaning against it, sighing.
Great. Has girls all over her. Of course she does, she’s a goddess. Why would she ever want the little inexperienced Jewish virgin from middle America whose entire lesbo street cred comes from watching downloaded episodes of The L Word on her laptop?
Her parents had never really talked about her dating, never questioned her lack of boyfriend, never really questioned her lack of friends at all and when she’d figured out that her fascination with old Elizabeth Taylor movies had very little to do with her fine acting skills and a lot more to do with her beautiful features, she figured her parents apathetic attitude towards that part of her life was a good cover for her not needing to come out.
It wasn’t that she had no intention of ever telling them, her parents were nice people, they had always been able to joke around with her, have cosy family dinners and she saw them more of them than most kids saw their parents because of being home-schooled, but the logical part of her thought that the scholars she had for a mother and father would think she was going through a phase if she came out when she was young, and after numerous research on various forums had decided to wait until they might not think she was ‘experimenting.’ Even if most of those forums informed her that it wouldn’t matter what age she told them, the reaction would probably be the same.
What her parents didn’t control, though, was her computer, so she immersed herself in the online community as much as she could, talking to other gay teens, keeping herself informed on lesbian pop culture and obtaining all the movies and TV shows she could find that even mentioned the word ‘lesbian’ at one point or another. But her life experience was completely zero.
Shaking her head to try and get rid of the bad thoughts and feelings about herself that were coursing through her, she walked back into her bedroom to get dressed and get on with her day.
*
“Hey, Tara.”
“Hey, Jack,” Tara said warmly to the man approaching her as she wiped down a table, “Or am I still supposed to call you ‘boss’?”
Jack, the owner of the café and bar that Tara worked at, and who had gone to school with Tara’s father and known the family for years, chuckled loudly and shook his head.
“No, Tara, I’ve known you since you were in diapers, ‘Jack’ is perfect,” he said in his thick New York accent, “Actually, I wanted to talk to you about work. Could you come back to my office for a minute?”
“Uh oh. Last time someone said that to me I was held back my senior year.”
“It’s all good, Tara. Just had an idea I wanted to float.”
Tara smiled and folded the cloth in her hand into her apron. She straightened up and followed her boss through the tables and into the backroom, sitting down opposite him in his office.
“So, I know you’re starting college next week…”
“Yep,” Tara nodded, “Pre-med.”
“Your parents would be proud. So would your grandmother,” Jack said with a genuine smile.
He’d been broken up when he found that Peter and Amanda Maclay had been killed in a car accident and had made sure Ruth Maclay, Tara’s grandmother, got all the help she needed to look after baby Tara. He had watched her grow into the young woman before him today, watched her take care of her grandmother when she got sick and watched her learn to live on her own when Ruth died, despite having barely turned eighteen at the time.
“Thank you,” Tara replied, with a sad smile, “I won’t be able to do as many shifts with classes and everything.”
“I know. But I just got word from one of my regular pianists, he works the Tuesday/Thursday, you know, the ‘Classic Ballads’ set?”
Tara nodded, familiar with the different themed nights at the bar.
“So apparently he met some broad, uh, woman, sorry, woman,” Jack coughed when he saw Tara give him a mock-stern glare, “Met a woman on vacation in Hawaii and decided to up and marry her. Can you believe that? Barely know each other two weeks. So, anyway, he says he’s moving out there, wants to live his life ‘on the island’. Like, what, with coconut phones? I don’t know. But that leaves me with space to fill…”
“Do you need me to do flyers for auditions or something?”
“No, Tara, I want you to take his place. It’s only two nights a week, you’d be finished before eleven, and it pays double what your waitressing shifts do.”
“Uh, wow, Jack, thanks for the offer, but I’m really not that good.”
“Tara, please, you were in here playing, uh, what’s that guy, Beethoven, Fur Elise or whatever better than most of my regular guys when you were five. And I’ve heard you sing, you’ve got a wonderful voice.”
“You want me to sing?!” Tara asked in disbelief.
“Hey, now. Don’t go thinking you’re not able. Really, Tara, you’d be doing me a massive favour as well. I don’t have time to find and audition someone new. Please?”
Tara closed her eyes, taking in the offer and everything else said. She opened her eyes and regarded Jack with a warm smile.
“I don’t know what to say.”
“Say yes.”
“Okay then. Yes. You got yourself a classics girl.”
Last edited by Laragh on Wed Dec 14, 2011 7:56 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Your daily updates make me happy! And I'm glad you forgive me for the pressure, your stories never fail to make me smile so you can't blame me for getting a little bit obsessive. I need my daily dose of grins 
I wish I was more like that actually 
