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Chapter 6


“Hi, how’s the headache?”

“About to get worse, I think”

“You’re not getting married, are you?” Willow said, as she eased herself into the seat opposite.

“No, no I’m not. And I’ve got to tell mom, and Angel!” she burst into tears. Tears of relief.

“I don’t love him Willow…I haven’t done for ages, I’ve never really loved him the way I should have… but things just kept on snowballing…”

“And then William arrived” Willow said.

“This has nothing to do with William…he just explained it all, pure and simple made me see sense. He said if I don’t love Angel, then I owe it to him to finish it NOW, not the day of the wedding and do a ‘The Graduate’…and I’ve got nothing in this wedding I want, apart from you and Xander there.

The dress I hate, I know that sounds ungrateful, but how do you say no to a dying grandmother, who thinks the dress she bought you is the most prettiest thing in the world, and ‘keep it on a little while longer, it’ll probably be the only time I’ll see you in it’ guilt trip …I know she was right, and I know she’s dead now…but the reception…I mean, the GOLF COUSRE COUNTRY CLUB!

The menu I don’t understand, I mean, what sort of a bird is ‘voe’?”

“Voe? Never heard of it, why?”

“That’s what we are having…Voe de parmeshan”

“Oh, you mean ‘Veau de Parmesan’, its veal, baby calf with a cheese crust” Willow explained.

“See, thicko me didn’t even know that, I probably wouldn’t know what knife and bloody fork to use, and show myself up even more…the guests – I know 21 out of 96!

Dawn’s dress, Vivian Westwood, I mean, she just bought it to piss me off, or so she thought, the ‘my friends will think it’s SO way cool’ attitude, and she’s right, I hate it, but you should have seen her face when I shrugged and said ‘ok, have it if you want it’ I didn’t add, I’ve got nothing else I want so far, so your bridesmaid dress being another makes no odds to me…and did I tell you what Angel did last night?

Spent my evenings wages of $30 on beer to buy his way into the pool team – money I earned, money I’d needed to pay off the video guy”

“He didn’t!”

“He did, we had a huge row this morning…although now, I’m glad he did, else we’d have been in town, and I’d have missed William”

“Ah, William” Willow said

“I felt…gods Willow…when he held me because I got upset…I just felt so at ease…it felt so right………it’s what I’d missed all those years!”

“So what are you going to do now?” Buffy picked up the phone.

“I’m going to start phoning around and cancelling things, then I’m going to tell Angel, then my mom”

The front door opened, and in walked Joyce.

“Well that’s that plan up the Suwannee, say nothing about William!” Buffy warned, replacing the receiver, and her friend shook her head.

“Got away early as I clinched a $5000 sales deal!” Joyce smiled and put her bag down on the dining room table. Buffy looked at her hands that were entwined on the table.

“Mom…I’m going to tell you something, and you’re going to hear me out, without interrupting, ok?” It was only then she looked up into her mothers face. Joyce looked at her daughter, sat at the table opposite.

“Um…I’ll be off then” Willow went to leave

“No, Will, you can stay” Buffy took a deep breath and said,

“Mom, I’m NOT getting married”

“But-“

“A-a, you promised not to interrupt. I HATE the dress…well, ok it’s not the dress itself, but I HATE me in that dress.

You’ve only gone to town on the reception to sting dad out of every last dollar you can, you’ve picked the most expensive menu, and the guests…you’ve even invited the bloody Avon lady for gods sake…”

Joyce at least had the decency to look sheepish about this.

“Angel can’t be trusted to keep a job, he spent my wages last night on beer to buy his way onto a pool team, money I’d earned, and he can’t even play properly…I’m not big on religion, I never wanted to get married in a church, I hate camping so the honeymoon would be a washout, I hate currents, icing and marzipan is the devils own, so the wedding cake is one big yuk as far as I’m concerned, Dawn only bought that Vivian Westwood dress to piss me off, and last, but not least…I don’t love Angel…mom, I’m nearly 22 years old, and I’m still a virgin, doesn’t that tell you something about mine and Angel’s relationship?”

If Joyce was surprised at this information, she did a good job hiding it.

“Well…it um…it shows restraint! That you didn’t erm, well, haven’t given in to your…baser instincts and desires”

“Mom, there are NO baser desires, that’s what I’m trying to tell you…”

“I see. And there’s no changing your mind, and this isn’t just pre-wedding nerves?”

“Wild horses wouldn’t drag me down that aisle” Joyce stood, her manner frosty.

“Well, you’d better start cancelling things then hadn’t you!”

“Actually, that’s exactly what I was going to start doing, but you came home”

“When are you going to tell Angel?”

“Actually…right now, well, I’m going to call him”

Buffy went off to call Angel over to the house.

“She means it then, this isn’t just wedding nerves?” Joyce said resignedly to Willow.

“Oh, she means it…I mean, she’s not been that enthusiastic at all, really, has she?” Joyce sighed.

“No…no I suppose not…I’ll let you into a secret…when I put her dress in the wardrobe, covered in plastic, I put a piece of cotton across the door, to see if she went to look at it”

“And she never did?”

“The cotton was never broken, in fact, it got a line of dust on it…I know she only had it to please her gran, but I thought she’d come round…”

“…………And I’ve learned something, so I want you to come over, now please Angel” Buffy said on the phone.

“Oh, oh, kay” fifteen minutes later, a worried looking Angel stood on the doorstep.

He was trying to pluck up the courage to knock, and aborted the attempt twice, but Buffy saw his shadow and opened it anyway.

“Come in Angel” she walked into the lounge, and turned to face him.

“Buffy, can I just say this first…I’m sorry, and it, well, she, meant nothing, honestly…it well, it just sort of happened, and we regretted it after…and then you wasn’t there again and well things got out of hand again…”

“What are you on a…explain”

“How did you find out?” Angel asked, pained.

Buffy was wondering what the hell he was on about, but thought if she gave him enough rope…

“Never mind, GO ON” Joyce and Willow were listening in the kitchen, pretending that they weren’t.

“Cordelia said that she’s never tell, and well you weren’t here, when you went to Pasadena to see your gran…and you would never let me touch you, and Cordy was just there, and we-“

“You cheated on me?”

“What?”

“You cheated on me?” Buffy repeated

“Well yes, isn’t this …um, isn’t this what you’ve er, hum… learned?”

“No…(Buffy smiled, her get-out-clause! She wasn’t the big bad now after all! With a big grin, she said,

“You cheated on me!”

“Ok, colour me confused!” Angel said, frowning and biting his lip and twiddling his thumbs. Then Buffy’s face went like thunder,

“YOU CHEATED ON ME WITH THAT SKANK? – GET OUT, I NEVER WANT TO SEE YOU AGAIN!” She literally threw him out of the door, slamming it behind him.

“Buffy, Buffy…does this mean the weddings off?” Angel asked, through the letterbox.

“He cheated on me!” Buffy said to the couch! Joyce and Willow came into the lounge.

“Did you hear?”

“Yes love, you found out, just in time too!” Joyce said smiling.

“Oh, those are beautiful…who are they from?” Joyce asked, suddenly just spying the roses…

“Ah, those, well…”
After Buffy told her mother who the roses were from, she said she’d got to make a phone call………





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