Chapter Text
“And just like a Roni, you were too shy but you weren't the only 'cause so was I and I dreamed of you ever since. Now, I build up my confidence.”
1994
Jax did not understand what it was about Tara that made him so nervous. The fact that Opie and Piney would kill him didn’t help. He just had to know what it was so different about Tara.
He just needed to talk to her.
Girls were disposable in his world but this girl, he wanted to kiss this girl like it actually means something and wrap a protective force around her. She looked like a princess in her dress and he never thought he would think about a girl longer than it took to get her out of her panties, but this girl was just so different.
Tara was curious about Jax too. “Hold on, I’m going to change my clothes. It won’t take more than a few minutes.” Tara closed the window and changed quickly into an Alice In Chains shirt and some pajama pants. She took her hair down, brushed it out, and washed the makeup off.
When she opened the window back up, she jokingly said, “The princess has turned back into the frog, do you still want to hang out?” She was pretty sure he would definitely go back to Wendy. When she saw his face in the moonlight, she couldn’t help but think how handsome he was. To her surprise, he reached towards her face and tucked a stray hair behind her ear.
He wasn’t trying to be fresh, but he saw her completely different than he had ever seen her before. It was like seeing her in that dress and after the dress. That moment when time changed from BC to AD. She was just as beautiful in her t-shirt and sweat pants as she was in the dress.
She didn’t know what made her reach for his face too. Something in the way her touched her so gently.
She had literally never been kissed.
He didn’t need to ask to know and he wanted to be her first kiss. He reached for her and closed the distance. This was something he never did with anyone else. He always made the girl reach for him.
Like a moth to a flame he closed the distance and it felt like his first kiss.
When their lips met, she wasn’t sure what made her so aggressive but he was even more so as he drew her lips towards his. He had kissed lots of girls. Filthy kisses. Dirty kisses. Never loving. This was loving. It scared the shit out of him but he wanted to show her how to kiss in a way that wasn’t filthy or dirty. He was gentle and he was loving.
Tara knew instead that this was new for him too. She always assumed he just made out with all girls the same way because she had heard so many girls talk about making out with him. That kind of kissing was transactional. They were giving up something in exchange for those kisses.
This kiss was not transactional. It was a kiss that he didn’t expect anything from. She was relieved because she half expected him to kiss her filthy. She really needed to stop watching soap operas. The kiss became so intense though that she half expected him climb through the windows and take her right there on her bed.
As they broke apart from the kiss, his forehead touched hers and he breathlessly said, “What are you doing to me?” Tara took the question literally and plainly said, “I’m kissing you.” He laughed, but then a knock on her door broke the spell.
“It’s Mary, can I come in?”
Tara panicked a bit but schooled her voice, “Give me one second!”
Tara quickly kissed Jax, “I have to go!” He understood and smiled at her. “I’ll be back tomorrow night, same time, same place” as Tara closed the window.