The following weekend, Buffy went to the bookstore in town to get a copy of The Joy Luck Club for her English class and was surprised to see a certain platinum blonde teen already walking around the store.
‘Great,’ she thought. ‘This will make my day complete.’ She proceeded to make her way to the Fiction section and scanned through book titles to try and locate the one she needed. She was crouching on the ground when she suddenly noticed a pair of motorcycle boot-clad feet beside her. ‘I hate my life.’
“Well, look who’s on her knees,” Spike said, grinning mischievously at her. “Feel like servicing me now?” She stood up and went to slap him across the face, but he grabbed her wrist tightly. “Just kidding around, luv. Calm down.” She pulled her wrist away from him and continued to look at the bookshelf in front of her. “So, what brings you here?”
“Need a book for class,” she mumbled, getting angry that she wasn’t finding the novel. “They have to have a copy.”
“Which book?” Spike asked, and she looked at him, raising an eyebrow.
“You almost sounded helpful, Spike,” she said. “I’m shocked.” He shot her a look. “The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan.” He smirked. “What?”
“That’s the same one I need,” he answered before turning towards a different shelf and looking around for a while. “Aha!” He leaned up to grab it from the highest shelf. “There’s only one left. Sorry, princess.” She clenched her fists, angry.
“Let me have it,” she said sharply. “At least I’ll actually use it.”
“What’s saying I won’t?” he asked, amused.
“This is just a guess, but you’re the type of guy who will bring it to class just to prove the teacher he owns it but will never open it,” she replied. “Why don’t you just buy the SparkNotes?”
“Because that wouldn’t be nearly as fun,” he said. “Besides, I have finder’s rights.”
“And you just want to screw me over as much as possible,” she mumbled.
‘No, I just want to screw you in general,’ Spike thought. ‘But you don’t need to know that yet, Goldilocks.’
“Fine, take it,” she said. “I’ll just drive around until I find it.” She turned to walk away, and he watched her for a moment before beginning to feel guilty. He caught up to her and handed her the book.
“It’s yours,” he said, surprised when she gave him a genuine smile. “I’ll just bum the notes off of someone in class.” He walked out of the building, not ever looking back. If he had, he would’ve seen the gracious expression on her face before she went to the register to buy the book.
* * * * *
On the way to his car, Spike saw Xander and Liam at the coffee shop and decided to go talk to them before he went home.
‘I need to talk to the whelp about something,’ he thought. ‘Something blonde, beautiful, and incredibly feisty.’
“Hey,” Liam said as his friend approached. “What’s up, Spike? I’m surprised you’re not still asleep.”
“Very funny, mate,” he muttered. “I had to go get a book for English class, but there was only one copy left, so I gave it to… someone.” Xander raised an eyebrow. “Buffy was there and needed the same book, so I-”
“Decided to be chivalrous and gave it to her?” Xander asked, surprised when Spike nodded. “Uh oh, Liam- I think our friend is falling for a new blonde.”
“Buffy Summers?” Liam asked. “She’s hot, isn’t she? I can’t understand why she’d be with a guy like Finn. I mean, after she slept with Parker Abrams, I thought she’d go for some of the more popular guys, but I guess not.”
“Oh yeah, I forgot she slept with Parker,” Xander said. “That was a couple of years ago, right?”
“Yeah,” Spike said, looking down. “The story goes that he thought it’d be funny to seduce her and pretend he loved her before breaking her heart and going off to college.” He sighed. “He’s a real prince.”
“And you wonder why she dislikes you,” Liam said. “You’re known for doing similar stuff to girls, minus the college part.” Spike took a deep breath as he looked away. “Guess you’ll have to prove to her that you’re not as bad as him.”
“What if I am?” Spike asked quietly. “As bad as Parker?”
“Not possible, man,” Xander replied. “No one’s as horrible as Parker.” Spike managed a weak smile and nodded.
* * * * *
Later on that afternoon, Buffy and Willow went shopping to try and find a birthday gift for Fred, aimlessly walking around the mall at one point after buying two presents.
“So, Spike just gave you the book?” Willow asked, and her friend nodded. “From what you’ve told me about him, that doesn’t sound like him whatsoever.”
“I know,” Buffy replied. “I expected him to buy it and rub it in my face that he had it and not me.”
“I wonder what that was all about,” Willow said, surprised. “It seems kind of weird that he wouldn’t have made some comment about it or what-not. He was almost being gentlemanly.”
“Gentlemanly and Spike aren’t two words I’d associate together,” Buffy said before smiling. “But yeah, I guess he was.”
Harmony and Cordelia walked out of a store and right into Buffy and Willow, all four girls dropping their bags.
“Watch where you’re going, geek,” Harmony said, glaring at Buffy.
“You’re the one who practically ran out of the store,” Buffy pointed out, angry. “What’s wrong- they turned you away because you max-ed out Daddy’s credit-card?
“At least I have a dad,” Harmony shot back, and Buffy tried her hardest to hold back the tears that were trying to form in her eyes. “Besides, you shouldn’t even be here, you loser. Since when do you have money?”
“Screw you,” Buffy said, turning on her heel and storming off, leaving Willow to run and catch up to her.
“Are you okay?” the redhead asked quietly, watching as tears began to stream down Buffy’s cheeks.
“I’m fine,” she said, trying to wipe off her face. “I can’t wait to graduate and get the hell away from here, Will.”
“Me, too,” her friend said, putting her hand on Buffy’s shoulder. “Things will get better once we’re away from Sunnydale.”
“Where we can make new lives for ourselves and get away from people like Harmony and Cordelia,” Buffy said, heading for the glass doors in the mall so she could leave and go to work.
“And Spike?” Willow asked, looking at Buffy.
“Yeah, him, too, I guess,” Buffy said, shrugging.
[Reviews - 354]
-
Table of Contents [Report This]
Chapter or Story |
Chapter or Story | 
Chapter or Story
Has been viewed 5828 times
- Text Size +
-
Table of Contents [Report This]
Chapter or Story |
Chapter or Story | Chapter or Story - Text Size +
Author's Chapter Notes:
Thank you for all of the reviews! I'll be posting chapter 4 tomorrow!:)