Who: Ginny and Tess Where: Stark Tower - Roof When: New Year's Eve Rating: Low Status: Closed; Complete
After swapping a few messages on the network and talking on the phone, Tess had arranged to meet Ginny on the roof of Stark Tower. Ginny had initially mentioned wanting to stay at home alone and Tess couldn't imagine taking her to a bar (nor would she with her own problems with alcohol), but she'd hoped that she'd come up with a decent alternative. She'd dressed in jeans with a green collared shirt that was rolled up at the elbows and had let her long blonde hair down. She was also carrying a picnic blanket. She wondered if she was being completely obvious with her intentions, but maybe that wasn't the worst thing in the world either.
Perhaps her intentions would have been obvious to most people... but not to Ginny. Ginny, who was very attracted to Tess, honestly thought they were just good friends who gave each other someone understanding to turn to. She put on a black, knee-length dress that clung to her curves perfectly, and made her way to the top of the tower. Sometimes she still had moments of disbelief about this world... being let into Stark Tower and led to the roof by CAPTAIN MARVEL was definitely one of those moments.
Tess's face lit up as soon as Ginny joined her on the rooftop. "How do you always manage to look so damn good?" She couldn't help it but wonder. Ginny was right that they were friends who had a deep understanding of each other and while a part of her worried that she was jumping the gun... she knew that she would handle any rejection much better now than she would have prior to meeting Ginny. She was prepared for it. She went for a hug, trying to keep it gentle (since she hadn't gotten around to mentioning that she was something a little more than human). "Seriously. It's criminal."
"Right..." Ginny laughed, rolling her eyes. "Says the woman with the most perfect face I've ever seen." She still worried that she'd never entirely get past Lexi... but when she was around Tess? The pain was more bearable than it was with anyone else. "So, what've you got planned here, hm?"
Tess found herself thinking about Rasmey less and less these days. A niggling part in the back of her brain worried that she was replacing one addiction for another. Addiction to pain and loss into hope for something new. It wasn't a fully formed thought and one that she wouldn't heed right now. "Well," Tess started to say as she took Ginny's hand to lead her, "Stark's got some nice patio furniture up here. I figured we could sit together and watch the stars, talk a bit... see in the New Year."
"How DOES Rachelle manage to make friends with people like this?" Ginny asked incredulously, as for how uncouth the woman was, she seemed to draw people to her like bees to honey. Walking over to the patio furniture (which probably cost more than Ginny's house), she sat down, curling her legs beneath her. "Wow... the view is breathtaking..."
"Isn't it though?" Tess agreed, although she was looking at Ginny when she said it (not in a lecherous way but in a 'wow you're so pretty' kind of way). She unfolded the picnic blanket and tossed it over Ginny's lap before sitting down beside her. "As for Rachelle... She's like a magnet, maybe." She looked up at the sky. "She just attracts all kinds of people. Don't tell her I said it but I kind of envy her that."
"I get it though. I mean, the moment WE met, all I could think was 'I need to spend more time with this person'." Ginny said, smiling sweetly. "So... I get that need to just be near someone."
"I thought that too," Tess murmured in agreement. "I often catch myself wondering what you're up to, though. If you're having a good day or... a bad one." She fell silent for a moment. "If you're getting a coffee or writing a new song. If Paige is being a pain in your ass," she smiled lopsidedly when she said it, "mostly I wonder if you're happy."
"You are SO sweet..." Ginny told her with a soft smile, reaching over to take Tess' hand. "And... usually? I'm not. If we're being honest. Mostly I'm happy these days when I'm either laughing at something Shayne or Paige said, or when I'm hanging out with you."
Tess gave Ginny's hand a light squeeze as she listened to her, starting to think that she was putting more into this than she had any right to. "You know I'd give anything to make sure that you'd stay happy, right? That you'd never have to worry or doubt," or think about her, "but I also know that that's... not my battle. It's yours."
"Fuck." Ginny rarely used that word, so when she did? It was usually in great anger or frustration. "Why do you have to be so amazing? Really." She laughed, trying to force away the dampness she felt forming in her eyes.
Tess chuckled. "Wish I could say that I was born this way, but... more'n more I think it just took a lot of hard work." She paused. "And being surrounded by the right people." Sobriety had helped too, of course. She was the best version of herself when she was sober and less prone to listening to her demons. "So... even though it's your battle, you ever need someone to lean on? I'll be there," she offered, just as Ginny had offered to her.
"More than leaning on you... I just genuinely enjoy being around you." Ginny told her, those red lips curling into a gentle smile. "I just don't want to be too clingy and get on your nerves."
"Never," Tess murmured. She looked out at the view, out over the city to the distant horizon. She could hear the revellers down below enjoying the festivities and couldn't help it but felt a hint of pride for not even entertaining the thought of going down there to join them, to forget the world and herself for a while. It helped that this was exactly where she wanted to be and exactly who she wanted to be with, though. "So... I'm going to admit something entirely selfish."
"Ok..." Ginny said, tilting her head to the side in curiosity. "This seems pretty serious... are you ok?" She asked, sweetly panicking a little due to how attached she'd already grown to Tess.
Tess nodded. "I'm okay. This isn't a 'I've fallen off the wagon and can't get back up' conversation starter." She gave Ginny's hand a squeeze. "This is more of a 'I like you more than a friend' conversation starter."
"More than a...." Ginny started to repeat, before going silent, her eyes widening. She HAD to be misunderstanding this. "Is this about when we almost hooked up? I mean... I wouldn't say no if you wanted to go through with it sometime..."
Tess ducked her head in an attempt to hide her blush. While that night still featured in her highlight reel... "I'm not angling for 'friends with benefits' here, Gin. I just want you to know that I like you. I think that you're smart and sweet and you just have this beautiful smile..." She took a breath as people down below started to count down to the new year.
"You're saying...you want to date me?" Ginny asked, her meaning clear: she was shocked someone like Tess would even be INTERESTED in her. "Me?"
"Why is that so hard to believe?" Tess asked softly. She cupped Ginny's cheek and looked into her eyes before leaning in to gently kiss her on the lips, just as she heard cheers down below and the fireworks being set off.
Ginny would have answered. She would have said that she was such an emotional mess, such a train wreck at heart, that she didn't DESERVE to have someone like Tess. But all that went unspoken when their lips met, and Ginny felt that instant connection, that instant chemistry, that she suspected all along would be there. She reveled in the kiss, returning it with a hungry desperation, before air finally became an issue and they had to break apart. She rested her forehead against Tess', and laughed raggedly. "Do you even understand how hard I've been falling for you since the first time we met?"
Tess's eyebrows shot up and she let out a surprised laugh. For all the preparing for rejection that she'd done, she barely allowed for the possibility that Ginny would feel even remotely the same way. "I honestly thought I was being an ass by telling you all this," she admitted with a laugh. She lightly tugged Ginny in for another kiss. "Really?"
Ginny nodded, closing her eyes. "I'm so damaged... and I know you are too, so don't think I'm making this all about me... but when I'm with you? I don't think about Lexi. At all. All I think about is YOU. That little smirk you give when something amuses you. The twinkle in your eye when you talk about stupid things you and Rachelle have gotten into together. All of it."
Tess audibly whimpered. "God, the shit we used to get up to," she murmured, that twinkle in her eyes clearly evident. She gave Ginny's hand a light squeeze, as if to assure herself that she was there and that this was really happening. "I'm sorry if I'm staring. Does this mean that... we're dating?"
"As long as that's what you want?" Ginny said, a gentle, content smile on her face, "And as long as you're ok with me being... a bunch of glued-together pieces that might never completely be whole again? Then yes. Yes, we're dating."
Tess brushed hair away from Ginny's face, nodding as she listened to her. "Just... promise that you'll tell me whenever I'm being too clingy?" She tended to glomp onto people when she felt a real connection to them. She often wondered if it was part of the reason why she and Ramsey never worked out (beyond the whole domestic abuse stuff, obviously).
"You're kidding me, right?" Ginny asked, half amused and half surprised. "That's... pretty much the main thing about ME that turns people off. I'm overly clingy and physically affectionate." She admitted, a light blush coming over her.
Aw, geez. That blush was gonna be the death of her. Tess opened her arms up for a snuggle. "Well, c'mon in then. You'll never hear me complain about too much affection." She wanted to say that while Ginny felt like she was irreparably damaged that to her she was perfect - but maybe that was too heavy a thing to say so soon. So instead as they settled into a comfortable position she murmured: "Girlfriends. I like the sound of that."
"I do too." Ginny whispered, sighing then as she snuggled into Tess. "There... are probably gonna be some people that aren't super happy about this, just to warn you."
Tess puffed out a thoughtful breath. "I bet Morgan's gonna give me 'The Look'." She'd lived with Rachelle and her wives for a long time, so she'd been the receiver of that disapproving look enough to know when to expect it. "Who would it be on your end?" She asked softly, rubbing a hand along Ginny's bare arm to ward off the chill in the air.
"Paige. Shayne. Basically... the women who tried to heal me before you. I don't think they're gonna understand that it's not an indictment on them...." Ginny said, knowing that both of her best friends tended to be very emotional, 'get mad first, ask questions later' types.
"So I imagine I'll have at least two conversations that will involve the threat of bodily harm to my person in the future. Thanks for the forewarning." Tess smirked, but she got serious quickly. "We'll just... take it as it goes. We can't control how they feel... But we can control how we react to them. Okay?"
"Hm. With Paige? That's very possible. Shayne.... is more likely to be hurt and take it personally. Which kills me because I adore her." Ginny told her, just taking a moment to take in everything about Tess. Her smile. Her voice. The scent of her perfume. It was all overwhelming in the most spectacular of ways.
"Hopefully in time she'll see that you didn't mean to slight her in any way." Again, you couldn't choose how people reacted to things. Now that the conversation had shifted to Shanye, Tess couldn't help it but think of her conversation with the other woman on the network earlier that day. Something to file away for later. Catching Ginny staring, her face lit up. "I think it's been a long time since anyone looked at me like that."
"It's been a long time since I've been ABLE to look at someone like this." Ginny replied, leaning in to lightly nuzzle her cheek against Tess'. The woman made her feel several things, none of which she thought she'd ever feel again: Loved. Protected. Content."....where have you been all my life, dammit?"
"I really don't know," Tess murmured. She still had a lot of hang ups, a lot of personal growth to work on, but right now she couldn't imagine being anywhere else. "But I'm here now and I'm not goin' anywhere," she promised.
"I feel like this is gonna get really serious, really fast." Ginny said, almost in warning. "And I'm very ok with that if you are." She just didn't want to scare Tess away. She felt like this was maybe the ONE chance she had to actually be happy.
"I'm MORE than okay with that," Tess murmured in reply, a smile lighting up her entire face. Happiness had been hit and miss for Tess of late, but there was no denying that tonight? She was the happiest damn person on Galador.