(longest chapter so far. a lot of pov shifts. buckle up)
Darcy
I lay in my bed, staring at the ceiling. Tara and I had a fight yesterday because I had, quite literally, kicked her out of my window. She said she was worth more than this and I mean, I don't disagree. So, I will be taking her out on a date today. I only have to figure out what to buy her as a gift and well, an apology.
Tara
I think I had been a bit too harsh with Darcy yesterday. But since it made her take me out on a date, I did not regret it in any way. I was however, feeling a bit sorry for her. So I decided I was going to make something for her. Only for her. Something special. I picked up a pen and tore a page from one of my notebooks, keeping the edges uneven on purpose to make it look more...improvised, I guess?
Darcy
I decided on buying her a bouquet. I would have bought her a chocolate as well, there is nothing more romantic than a bouquet and a box of chocolates, but she does not like chocolates, so I stuck with something else. Something sweet that she enjoys. Her favourite glazed donuts. I would have to wait another thirty minutes for the shop to open up though.
Tara
I walked over to my desk and sat down, clicking my pen open, and I started writing:
I would have described you as my favourite chocolate, but I don't have one, so I will call you my sunshine. Warm and bright. Sometimes, I fear I will look at you a second too long, and your piercing glare will burn me, but then again, I won't see anything if you are not around. Everything just turns dark and cold without you, my sunshine, my baby.
Darcy
I finally decided it was time to jump out of bed and go outside to actually get gifts for my date. I went to the florist first and bought some fresh flowers. Tara loves the smell of fresh flowers, and she loves to take care of them as well. My girl is a loving person at heart. She gives her love selflessly and without a wish for anything in return. She gives and gives and gives, and I take and take and take. It makes me feel guilty sometimes.
Tara
Nothing tastes sweeter than my baby's love and nothing feels better than giving her all of mine. When I take my finger and trail it down her skin, it burns into a cherry red line and she says she loves how it feels. I love my baby when she loves me and I love her too when she hates me and I love her too when I hate her. Like the red I scratch on her skin fades, every other emotion in me fades away and I am left only with love. I say I don't like chocolates, but maybe I lie, because I know chocolates melt just the same way her lips melt on mine.
Darcy
I walked to the bakers from where I was supposed to get the donuts and found it closed. I huffed and decided it was best if I just picked Tara up and then we could eat the donuts nice and fresh right at the bakery. I pulled out my phone and typed a quick message to her.
Tara
I know my baby is away from home right now, away from me, but she will walk back to me. Always. She always knows where to find me and even if she does not, if I ever wander away a bit too far, I will leave my footprints for you. You will always find me baby, and I will always find you.
My phone, which lay on the desk beside the sheet I was writing on, lit up. Darcy had sent me a message: Coming home baby.
I smiled.
Darcy
I loitered down the road, clumsily walking along the footpath for a while and then jumping down to the road. I stared at the dull grey of the pavements and started zoning out, but before it took a hold of me I shook my head. Zoning out felt so close to those moments, when my brain disappeared, it terrified me. I had done some research on it and figured out it was something called as dissociation or derealization maybe. It didn't matter. What mattered was that those moments scared me, and they scared Tara too. I did not care about what happened to me, but the fact that it bothered Tara made me want to fix it. But I had no idea how.
Tara
My baby lives in shades of cool. Her skin is patches of pale and brown and blue.
A single tear rolled down my cheek and I quickly wiped it away, before it ruined my letter.
If you loved her like me, you would know too, she comes home everyday with a new bruise. I bite into her skin and wring out the pain, and fill her up with the poison in my fangs. My baby is filled with my poison now, nothing else can suffice. I feed off of her and I pay the price. My baby, I just ask for one wish, one crime, fill me with your poison when I run out of mine.
I clicked my pen shut and leaned back into my chair. The tears were falling freely now. I had hoped it would be a sweet little love letter, but I had turned it into something else altogether. I was not sure if I should give this to Darcy anymore.
Suddenly, there was a knock at my door and I quickly wiped my tears away and turned back to look at my Dad standing at the door, with an expression on his face that resembled a certain shade of sympathy.
"Everything alright, baby?" he said.
I nodded, "Yeah, I was writing something for Darcy and I just...got overwhelmed."
"Can I see it?" he asked. I nodded and he walked up to me. He took the paper in his hand and placed his free hand on my head, as he went through my unruly handwriting.
He took in a deep breath and I knew he had finished reading it.
"That was beautiful, Tara," he said in a soft voice, looking down at me with a smile that did a weak job in hiding the fact that his throat was choking up, like mine.
"I'm not sure if I should give it to her though," I said, "It's too sad."
My dad shook his head, "Give it to her. She should know how you feel."
Before I could control it, tears rolled down my cheeks again.
Darcy
I reached Tara's place and her dad greeted me at the door.
He raised his eyebrow at the bouquet in my hand, "Someone's chirpsing my daughter, I see?"
"If I have your permission, sir," I said, doing a mock bow.
"Darcy!" I heard a voice call out my name from inside and before I knew it, my vision was blocked by a mass of curly black hair and Tara's arms were all around me. I took a step back to balance us before we both toppled back.
"Baby," I said softly. Tara inhaled shakily and I frowned, pulling her away from me to look at her face. Her eyes were blotchy and red.
Moments like these felt terrible, because they reminded me no matter how much I loved her, we were two separate individuals. I would never be able to tell why she cried and what I could do to never make those tears appear again. I could ask her, but I knew Tara, and I knew she would wave it off and say that her dad had been making her laugh so hard, it had made her cry.
So I tried to change her mood instead, "Look baby, I brought you some flowers." I smiled, and my girl smiled back at me, it made me feel a bit better.
"Thank you," she said, planting a kiss on my cheek.
"Wanna go and grab some donuts?" I asked, tilting my head slightly.
"Yeah, su-"
"Wait, you two," Tara's dad said out of the blue, and he disappeared. "Don't go yet!" his distant voice called out.
He reappeared after a while with a royal green suit in his hand. "I was wondering I should gift this to your brother," he said, "but I reckon it's too big for him. You should take it. It will match with Tara's dress too."
I noted for the first time that Tara was wearing a dress of the same colour. I hesitated for a bit. "Take it. It doesn't fit me anyway," Tara's dad insisted. I smiled at him, feeling gratitude fill me up completely.
Tara
I always feel a little special when I am around Darcy, the world feels like it all belongs to me, but with both of us in matching green outfits - hers being a full ass suit- I felt like the two of us could rule the universe. Even the little bakery we were in felt like a royal hall.
Darcy fed me my donuts and we chatted for a while, then we decided we should go out for a bit - to the beach. It was a beautiful place, but for some reason it was never too crowded. Not that I was complaining though.
I patted the little purse I had brought with me and thought about the letter in it as we walked to the beach.
"Uh, this isn't exactly the outfit in which I would want to sit in the sand," Darcy said and I chuckled. "Let's go and sit on the chairs."
And we did. The sun was not fully up yet, which was a good thing as it did not scorch our eyeballs off. There was a brief silence between us in which I anxiously started tapping my finger on the table, this did not go unnoticed by Darcy, who pressed my hand down on the table.
"Penny for your thoughts?" she said and I pursed my lips.
"I just...I have something for you."
Darcy sighed, "Come on, you don't always have to keep giving me things. You know that."
"It's nothing that money can buy," I said and unzipped my purse and pulled out the letter, which I had enclosed in an envelope I had made at the last moment. A little lipstick mark sealed it.
"Oooo, a letter?" Darcy said. She opened it carefully, so as to not tear the envelope, and read it while I watched her in complete silence.
Yes, to many of your surprise, Darcy is in fact, a literate person.
She started reading it with a smile, but by the time she reached the end, there was moisture in her eyes.
"Hey," I said, tucking her hair behind her ear, feeling my heart twinge with guilt, "Sorry."
"Sorry?" she said, "Damn bro, I never thought you could write so beautifully." She chuckled as tears fell from her eyes. "These are not tears of sadness, these are tears of love. I fucking love you so damn much, you little bastard."
I smiled and shifted my chair closer to hers and she buried her face in my shoulder. "I love to so fucking much too, you little twit."
She finally straightened up. "The poison in my veins is all yours," she said, "I will give it to you the moment you ask."
I closed my eyes and pulled her close to me, "We share it."
"Yes, we share it, miss vampire." Darcy grinned. She took my hand, and raised it to the ring around her neck.
***
We fooled around for a while and Darcy and I clicked a couple of photographs. There was one that I was absolutely in love with. It was a moment right after we had kissed, Darcy's hand was on my chin and both of us were grinning into each other's lips.
I looked at it and then decided.
"Darcy, I'm ready to come out," I said with conviction.
"If you are, then so am I," she said.
"Let's post this," I said, showing her the picture.
"Your wish is my command," Darcy said, opening up her phone and both of us decided to post at the same time.
"What should the caption be?"
I pursed my lips, "Love of my life. With a couple of hearts in the end?"
"Nahhh," Darcy said, "It should be chaotic, just like us."
"Okay, hmm," I tilted my head, "what about a heart and pride flag?"
Darcy sucked her lips inside, "What about 'girlfriends', heart emoji and a little pride flag?"
"Still not chaotic enough," I said. "Wait, what about, GIRLFRIENDS. In all capitals and a pride flag with it?"
"Perfect."
"Perfect."
***
A/n
damnnn, this chapter was...chaotic. i hope you liked it becauseeee this is officially the last chapter of this book
i had initially planned that i would write all the events that happen in the series, but figured it would get a bit repetitive.
also
first, please do leave a vote, a comment or a little donut, because it really helps this book reach more amazing readers like you, and it helps me a lot as an author as well<3
second, i have some bonus chapters in mind, so do let me know if you are curious about what happens to our favourite lesbians (and our favourite trans boy too) in the future
thanks for reading!
until next time
xx