Who: Gwen Stacy and Tara Smith When: The day after Gwen and John move in. Where: Gwen and John’s new apartment. What: Meeting! And deciding to become sisters! Rating: Low Status: Complete when Posted
After visiting IKEA with John earlier in the week, Tara had offered to hold onto his things so she could drive them over once he’d moved in. She knew that he was without a car, and was more than willing to help him out. She really liked John, valued his friendship greatly, and wanted to do as much as she could to help him. So here she was, making a delivery for her best-fucking-friend-forever, though she miiiight have forgotten to call him first. Oops.
Tara had dragged the (admittedly a lot of) items into the elevator and out to their apartment door, giving it a firm knock before standing back and waiting. Hopefully it was the right apartment.
Oh, she had the right apartment. Gwen had been moving boxes and things around all day. She had to make a trip to Ikea for furniture, and was thinking about renting a truck. She needed a better bed than this silly air mattress, but it was a lot nicer than the moldy furniture back at her old place.
She was unloading dishes into the cupboard in the kitchen when she heard the knock. Gwen wiped her hands on her trousers and came through into the foyer to answer the door. She pulled it open and gave a curious expression. “Hi.”
“Oh!” Tara hadn’t been expecting Gwen to answer the door, but really, she should have. The blonde was sure to open the door quite often, Tara just... well, she just hadn’t thought that. Forever just a bit oblivious. “Hello! You must be Gwen! Is John at home?” She would have reached out to shake Gwen’s hand, but she was kind of balancing two entire armfuls of things.
Gwen knew that John had a friend named Tara, but she didn’t know that this was the woman in question. She was a little confused as to why this woman was standing on her doorstep with armfuls of things, but then again, stranger things had happened.
Not many. And not often. But sometimes.
“Oh! Yes, I am! You must be... John’s friend.” Gwen said, the confusion falling from her features and the grin spreading. “I think he ran out. Come on in, I’m sure he’ll be back any minute?” She said, then pulled the door even wider and motioned for Tara to come in.
“We don’t have a whole lot of furniture yet, but make yourself at home.” She added. “Can I get you anything? We have... water. And Sodapop.”
“Yes! I’m Tara,” she told the blonde as she motioned for Tara to come in. Entering the apartment, she brought all of the stuff inside and set them in a spot where hopefully nobody would trip over everything. “Thanks for letting me in. I should have called before I came over! But I finished work and saw everything still in my car, so I thought I’d drop it off on my way home!”
Standing back up once she’d all the things down, Tara smiled back at Gwen. “I’m fine, thanks. Maybe I’ll send John a text and check where he is.” Although, this seemed like the perfect opportunity to get to know John’s new roommate. After all, she liked meeting new people! And Gwen seemed nice enough. Pulling out her phone, she sent John a quick text (not to be rude), then pocketed it and looked around.
“Really nice place,” she commented, placing her hands on her hips. “Looks much smaller from the outside. Glad to see it’ll be comfortable for you both!”
“Well, any friend of John’s is a friend of mine.” Gwen said, beaming at the other woman. Hopefully they’d get on well! If there was one thing that Gwen needed in Southern California, it was good friends. She had so few, but was making a lot!
“Can I help you with those?” She added, though it was a moment too late, as Tara had already started putting things down. Now she was kicking herself for not being a better host. She should have helped Tara with those things. John’s things, she assumed.
“It should be!” Gwen grinned. “You want a tour? It’s not all that big, but I can show you...” She turned to lead the way. “Kitchen, breakfast nook, dining area... then John’s bedroom, my bedroom, and the third, which I think we’re turning into an office.” She said, pointing out rooms.
“Not at all!” she assured Gwen when she’d asked if she could help. She’d gotten everything up there well enough on her own, so setting it down wasn’t too hard.
“I would love a tour!” Tara exclaimed and ran to catch up with Gwen, who had started walking around. She nodded and ooh’d and ahh’d at all the right places, poking her head into each of the rooms. John’s was particularly empty, though she knew he’d fill it up with things quickly. “It’s really nice! I love it. My little townhouse isn’t nearly as exciting, but I live on my own mostly. Except when my parents visit.”
It wasn’t a particularly long tour, but Gwen pointed out a few other things that she thought might amuse Tara. The emptiness of John’s room was matched almost equally by the emptiness of her own. Just a pile of boxes, an air mattress... and, oh, yeah, a full closet.
“My parents probably won’t be out for a bit. My brothers are keeping them quite occupied.” She said, giving a little shrug. “Oh, you should have seen the place I was renting before finding John and this one. It was terrible. I think even the cockroaches had cockroaches.”
“Eeewww,” Tara squirmed at the mention of cockroaches. She absolutely hated bugs, and cockroaches were the absolute worst. Anything that could survive and nuclear explosion was not okay with her, especially if it was creepy and crawly. Eeeeuurrgghh. “Cockroaches are the worst.”
Leaning on John’s bedroom’s door frame, Tara crossed her arms and smiled at Gwen. “You’ve got brothers, then? Older or younger?” As an only child, Tara loved hearing about people’s families. She’d never really had much of a true family experience. “I wish I’d had siblings!”
“Tell me about it.” Gwen said, giving the other woman a knowing smile. “I couldn’t wait to get out of there. It was fully furnished, but dusty, moldy and full of bugs. And some of the appliances didn’t work properly,” Gwen said, then gave an involuntary shudder.
“Oh, younger. Two of them have birthdays coming up,” Gwen said, giving Tara a smile. “I bought them some things at a local joke shop to ship back to them. A surprise, I don’t think they’re expecting anything from me.” She gave Tara an ‘aww’ look. “Well, maybe you and I can be sisters.” She offered, only half-joking. She really wanted friends in California, to take her mind off of the idea she was going to be working side by side with Peter Parker.
“Oh! Can we please be sisters?” Tara sounded like a child, but she was actually serious. She always wanted to have a sister -- she’d never had many permanent friends. “I mean, yes of course, I’ve always wanted a sister,” yes, play it cool, Tara. Play it cool. “My parents are always moving, they never visit much. I’ve always wanted a close friend to call my sister.”
“Of course we can!” Gwen said, grinning. “I’ve never had a sister before.” She responded, equally as excited but a lot less child-like. “So long as you don’t mind sharing me with my brothers... aw, to hell with them. Let’s be sisters.” Gwen said, giving Tara a grin. “We can do each others’ nails and read celebrity trash magazines and fight over boys... okay, well, maybe not fighting over boys.” She said. “We should have s’mores to celebrate!”
“S’MORES!” Tara was obviously quite excited about that one. “Yes, please, that part! We must!” She was grinning widely, eyes wide and full of mirth.
Feeling her phone vibrate, Tara checked the text message she’d gotten back from John. “John won’t be back till later,” she read aloud, frowning just a little. She thought better of it and smiled instead, putting her phone away. “We could make s’mores, just the two of us!” Because that was a very good plan.
Gwen gave a laugh that was more like a cackle than anything else. “Yes, s’mores! I’ll just get some supplies...” She paused when Tara checked her phone. “Wonderful! We’re free to run out and get some marshmallows and chocolate... and Graham crackers. I don’t think I have any of those things in the cupboards.” The cupboards were very empty, considering they just moved in.
“Oh yes!” Tara was still smiling. “Let’s run to the store, then!” She rearranged the bag on her shoulder and headed for the door. Absolutely excited for the deliciousness that is s’mores, she was bouncing as she waited for Gwen.
And maybe, if John was lucky, there would be s’more building materials leftover for him to enjoy too!