Title: Pre-rehearsal Practice
Rating: PG
Pairing: Alyson Hannigan/Amber Benson
Summary: Amber invites Aly to the park to run over their lines together.
Disclaimer: Absolutely none of this is true; it's all spun from my imagination.
"I was friends with Alyson Hannigan already and have always been a big fan of the show . . . And on the whole kissing issue, let me just say that Alyson is quite the lady! I must have kissed her about 400 times . . . [her favourite scene in Buffy so far] Kissing Alyson."
- Amber Benson
Aly said that her hair wasn't really such a red color, but more auburn instead.
Amber shrugged. "I like you with red hair," she said, rustling the older girl's hair playfully. "I think it suits your eyes. They're such an exotic green color."
Alyson smiled and blushed. "You're sweet, Amber."
"Not sweet, just honest."
"Well, you're honest then," Aly said, picking up her water bottle and taking a drink.
Amber watched her. Aly had her head tilted back ever so slightly, her neck sloping gracefully. Her hair shone in the sunlight. Amber smiled to herself, blushing slightly. Alyson was so beautiful; Amber always felt like she was cast into the shadows when she was around the older girl. But Alyson was kind and sweet, and Amber adored her. She could very clearly remember the first time they'd rehearsed on the set; she'd been terrified. She'd known Aly from before though, and Aly, being Aly, spent the whole time joking about how they really were 'girlfriends' now, which made Amber relax and smile and somehow get through the day in one piece.
"Want to run through some of our lines now?" Alyson asked, startling the blonde out of her thoughts, tossing aside her water bottle and picking up the script that lay discarded on the grass.
"If you want to," Amber said, picking up her own script and flipping idly through the pages. "I've already memorized most of it though."
It had been Amber's suggestion that they hang out together today, so they could relax a bit in between rehearsals and filming. If anything, she had said, they could run over some of their lines, a bit of pre-rehearsal practice. And Alyson had readily accepted her invitation; they'd met up at the park the next day, each toting a backpack and their scripts. Amber was almost surprised that Aly had accepted. They'd only known each other for a while now, and it wasn't as if they hung out all of the time. Sometimes they went shopping together Aly invited her out to lunch, but usually others had tagged along as well. Thinking about it, today was really the first time they'd ever done something just by themselves.
Alyson sighed, and flipped though the pages of her own script book. "I've got most of it down too, but I like to go over it outside of regular rehearsals," she said, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "It gives me the opportunity to test stuff out without worrying that I look like a dork."
"You never look like a dork."
"I do too, and often," Alyson argued back, playfully. "But it's all right. I don't mind."
Amber smiled and glanced down at her script. There was one part she'd been having a bit of a problem with, emotionally, but she was afraid to ask Aly if she'd care to go over it with her. Actually, she was more embarrassed than anything; Aly seemed to have such an amazing control over her emotions. It was incredible how she could just cry on cue. Amber wished she could be like that.
"This is going to be such a hard episode to do," Aly said at last, breaking the silence that descended upon them. "I mean, wow, it's Joyce's death and all. I can't even imagine how hard it's going to be for Sarah and Michelle."
"They're so talented," Amber replied, thoughtfully. "I'm sure they'll do an amazing job, as usual. As will you," she added, with a blush.
Aly said, "You really do flatter me too much, Amber. But I appreciate it." She flashed Amber a smile, which made Amber melt.
"Um, well, would you mind going over one section with me?" Amber asked shyly, ducking her head to avoid Alyson's piercing green eyes.
"What section?"
"Um, the part where Willow and Tara are in the bedroom and Willow's searching for a shirt?"
Alyson flipped back a few pages. "Ah," she said, scanning the page quickly, to make sure she could remember her lines. "Can I just start wherever?"
Amber nodded. "I just want to get the basic feel of the scene."
Alyson set the script book face down, and began, tears instantly springing to her eyes. "Well, I can't see Buffy at the morgue and be all royal! 'Oh, I'm the king of everything, I'm better than you!' I have to be supportive, I, Buffy needs me to be supportive, I . . . "
She gave Amber the saddest look the blonde had ever seen; it made tears sting in Amber's eyes as well. Suddenly a single tear rolled down the red-head's cheek and Amber felt her heart roll over slowly in her chest, and she had to struggle not to start crying herself. Aly had truly become her character; this was Willow, in every sense of the word.
"God, why do all my shirts have such stupid things on them?" Aly went on, tears rolling gently down her cheeks, sparkling diamond-like in the sunlight. "Why can't I just dress like a grown-up? Can't I be a grown-up?"
"Shh," Amber murmured softly, putting her hand on Aly's shoulders, gently rubbing them. "Shh, darling."
"I can't do this," Aly sobbed.
Then suddenly Amber remembered what she had to do next, and she pulled away, her face red.
"What's wrong?" Alyson asked, completely breaking character and returning to her normal self. "Did we do something wrong?"
"No! No, I just, well," Amber looked away and scratched the back of her neck, embarrassed. "It's just, well, we're supposed to kiss, and I didn't know if you wanted to do that or not. I mean, uh, we're going to do it anyway, but we're out in public here. And - and I thought you probably didn't want to . . ." she trailed off.
"Oh," Alyson said, flushing slightly. "Well, I mean, if you want to . . ."
"Well, it's not like I wanted to kiss you," Amber laughed nervously, toying with a strand of blonde hair.
Aly raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Don't you? I feel offended, Amber." she leaned forward, her face dangerously close to Amber's. The blonde shivered, unsure of what to do next.
But the older woman pulled away, laughing. "We don't have to do anything you don't want to do," she smiled, leaning back on her hands. "It's totally cool, I mean, if you don't want to do it outside the studio."
Amber shifted uncertainly. The problem wasn't the fact that she had to kiss Alyson, the problem lay in the fact that she wanted to kiss her. Right from the beginning, she'd been entranced by Aly, a girl with strawberry red hair and smooth, cream colored skin. And of course, her eyes were magnificent, a sparkling emerald green color. She just wanted to taste Aly, just once, wanted to press her lips against Alyson's own cherry colored ones. She imagined the girl would taste like strawberries. But, she knew she was straight and so was Aly. It was probably just some silly infatuation, brought on by the fact of just being so in awe of Aly; it couldn't possibly anything more than that. Could it?
"Um, maybe we should just skip to another section," Amber suggested, embarrassed. She picked up her script book and began to thumb through the pages, avoiding Aly's eyes.
The older woman moved forward, plucking the script gently out of Amber's hands and laying it aside. "Amber," she said, quietly. "I - I want to finish the scene."
"Oh, you - you do?" the blonde asked, eyes full of fear and expectations and hope.
Aly nodded, and so Amber gathered her courage and leaned forward, pressing her lips first against Alyson's forehead, then bowing her head lower and kissing her.
The kiss was hesitant at first, Amber gently pressing her lips chastely against Aly's. But then Alyson shifted, moving closer, and the kiss deepened, as Amber captured the older woman's bottom lip, gently sucking on it. She could taste Aly, slightly. She tasted of peppermint and smelled like lilacs, and Amber was afraid she might swoon.
Too quickly they broke apart, panting slightly.
"Whoa," Alyson said, opening her eyes and giving the blonde a lop-sided grin. "That was . . . different."
Amber slowly opened her eyes and gazed at Aly, her head spinning. "It was."
"Maybe . . . " Alyson started off slowly, inching closer to the younger woman and resting her hand gently on Amber's knee. Amber felt a rush of warmth suddenly flow through her body, starting where Aly touched her. "Maybe we could try practicing it again?" the other woman asked softly, and Amber was almost certain that she hadn't heard the red-haired girl correctly, because was she really asking to kiss her again? That couldn't possibly be true.
But Aly was leaning in again, and suddenly their lips were crushed together once more. Amber reached up a hand, hesitating slightly before running her fingers through Alyson's red, red hair, smooth as silk, pulling her in deeper to the kiss.
She was more than sure they'd be ready for tomorrow.