Spike put his fork down. He knew it was too good to be true. “What do you mean?”
“Your father’s trying to say that you could have an adventure next year. A new state, new friends…”
“I like my friends. Why do I need new ones?”
“Think of the opportunities!” Rupert exclaimed. “A sport scholarship could take you all the way to the east coast.”
Spike frowned, pushing his plate away. Suddenly he wasn’t hungry, and it didn’t seem too early to call Buffy. “I like the west coast just fine.” Standing up, he went back upstairs, leaving his parents alone to finish their meal in silence.
~~
“They want me to move away,” Spike told his girlfriend on the other end of the phone line. “Across the country.”
She sighed, thinking of the letters in her desk drawer. “Maybe it won’t be so bad.”
“How will I pass math without you?” he tried to joke.
“You’ll be fine,” she replied. “You’re smarter than you think.”
“We could go to the same school,” he suggested. “Where are you thinking about going?”
Buffy sighed again, twisting her hair with her fingers. Why did they have to talk about her now? “I don’t know.”
“Well, where are you accepted?”
She wanted to say ‘everywhere,’ because it would almost be true. She’d been offered a place at every school she’d applied for. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Fine.”
“I have to go. Mum wants some quality time today.”
“I’ll talk to you later, then.”
“Yeah, later.”
Spike flipped his cell phone closed, resisting the urge to throw it out the window. He needed to figure out where he was going next year and get some information for Buffy’s mother about what she was considering. And he only had a week until his acceptance letter had to be in the mail.
~~
Buffy hadn’t slept well that night, and Spike’s call had only made her feel worse. She felt so bad for not really talking to him, just making him frustrated until he ended the call. She was being a bad girlfriend. She should be there for Spike, helping him make his decision about next year, except she didn’t want to talk about her own choice.
All she seemed to do these days was lay around her room. Sometimes with music on, sometimes with a book. Occasionally, Spike took her out, but she was too worried to really enjoy being with him for longer than an hour or two.
“We’re going bowling!” Joyce called up the stairs. “Be ready in ten minutes!”
“Can Spike come?” Dawn yelled in reply, racing to the top of the stairs. If he was going to be there, she had to find something pretty to wear.
“Buffy can invite him!”
“He’s busy!” Buffy called out.
“Then it’s just us girls!”
Disappointed, Dawn opened her sister’s bedroom door without knocking. “You just want Spike all to yourself,” she complained.
“Firstly, he’s doing something with his parents,” Buffy told her, again thinking of their conversation earlier about colleges. “Secondly, he’s my boyfriend, so hands off. And finally, he doesn’t like you. No need to show him you can sink to a new level of skank, he’ll believe you without the visual. He’s not interested.”
“Mom! Buffy insulted me!”
“Apologise to your sister, Buffy!” Joyce called out.
“Sorry,” Buffy said, though she was reaching in the closet for something to wear so Dawn didn’t see her smile.
“Apology accepted.” The younger girl closed the door and went back to her own room.
In the car, Buffy sat in the front next to her mother. Joyce turned off the radio. “So, about colleges. Have you thought about it?”
“A little.”
“Where have you been accepted?”
“A few places.”
Joyce stopped at a red light and turned to face her daughter briefly. “Could you please be a bit more specific?”
Buffy paused. She didn’t want to talk about it, especially in front of Dawn.
“Where’s Spike going?” the younger girl asked. “I bet he’s staying in Sunnydale.”
“He’s not sure yet.”
Joyce pulled in to the parking lot of the bowling alley. “I think you spend too much time with Spike. Perhaps you shouldn’t see each other next year, so you can focus on college.”
“Break up with Spike?” Buffy asked. Dawn’s eyes lit up.
“Your school work should come first.”
“Can we just drop this, please? He understands that I need to study hard. We’re not breaking up.” Inside, she wasn’t so sure. She knew that Spike had been offered several sport scholarships, but she wasn’t sure where. Maybe he’d leave her for the chance to play professionally?
“Okay, fine. Let’s just have some fun.”
~~
Later that night, close to 10pm, Buffy’s cell phone rang. It was Willow, Buffy’s best friend, though they weren’t particularly chatty outside of school.
“Hello?” Buffy said.
“Hi, Buffy! How are you? I haven’t seen you since graduation!” Willow exclaimed.
With a smile, Buffy replied, “I miss you too!”
“Do you want to get together sometime? Coffee, lunch… a sleepover?”
“Aren’t we a bit above that?”
Willow pouted, though her friend couldn’t see. “Yeah, I guess. Coffee it is. I just need some girly chat time. I’m thinking about next year. Have you decided where you’re going?” she asked quickly.
“I’m still deciding.”
“Well, have you narrowed it down? I think I’m going to stay here in Sunnydale, even though we both said we wanted to leave. Remember the beginning of the year? I wasn’t seeing Oz, you weren’t with Spike, and we were going to go to Harvard together?”
“I remember. We were gonna be roomies. So you’re staying here to be with Oz?”
“Oh, yeah, and I got a great offer from a software company. They’re going to pay for college, as long as I work for them for at least a few years when I graduate. My parents said it’s cool, and this way I can stay with Oz and my career isn’t affected.”
“Wow, you have it all planned. Am I invited to the wedding?” Buffy teased.
Willow laughed. “You’ll be the maid of honour,” she promised with mock sincerity.
“No, really, you’re so lucky. I think I might have to break up with Spike,” Buffy told her friend sadly.
“What?! But you guys are so cute together. You’re in love!”
“Mum said I have to think more about which school is best for me.”
“But you’ll just mope around without him,” Willow said. “He makes you happy.”
Buffy switched ears with her phone, lying down on her bed. All of a sudden, a smile lit up her face. Spike was outside her window. “He’s here,” she told Willow. “Hang on.” She put the phone down and let him in.
“Hello, pet,” Spike whispered, softly kissing her lips.
She pushed him away gently, “one second,” and went back to her phone. “Can I call you tomorrow, Wils? Spike’s here.”
“Sure, just talk to him before you decide to move away, okay? Please?”
“Okay,” Buffy agreed. “Bye.”
“Bye.”
She hung up and turned back to face Spike. “What are you doing here?”
Before answering, he made himself comfortable on her bed. Leaning back against the pillows, he removed his shoes and patted the space beside him. When Buffy was in his arms, he spoke. “I was worried about you.”
“Me? Why?”
“You wouldn’t talk to me this morning. I want to know what’s going on in that head of yours that makes you close up.”
Buffy considered her answer carefully, playing with a strand of her hair. She couldn’t look at him when she talked. “I have to think about my career when I decide where to study next year.”
“My parents are telling me the same thing. I’m thinking of just letting them decide for me. That’s what they’re going to do, anyway.”
“Spike, you have to make your own choices. You’re the one who has to live with it.”
He hugged her closer. “I suppose. We’ll have each other though, right, pet?”
“Maybe.”
“Why won’t you look at me?”
Buffy felt tears well in her eyes. “I can’t.”
He moved so he was lying down, facing her, and she followed. There was a knock on her door, and then it opened. “Buffy? Go to bed- Spike! Buffy, you’re not allowed to have boys in your room!”
Spike and Buffy sat up, looking guilty even though their actions had been innocent so far. She moved to stand at the end of her bed, facing Joyce. “Mum, Spike was just here to ask about colleges. I turned my phone off, so he couldn’t call.”
“Is that right?” Joyce replied suspiciously. “Spike, do your parents know where you are?”
“They know I’m with Buffy.”
“Very well. Please leave now, and stay away. Buffy, you’re grounded for a week.” With that, Joyce took the cell phone from her bedside table. “Goodnight.”
“But Mum!” she protested.
“I’ll see you later, Buffy,” Spike said, walking past Mrs Summers, down the stairs and out of the house.
“I don’t want to know,” Joyce told her daughter, “but he won’t be welcomed while you’re grounded.”
Buffy curled up on her bed alone. She crossed her arms, sulking, as her mother left. Now Dawn had a chance with Spike. The younger girl would be sure to visit her ‘distraught’ boyfriend, offering him ‘comfort’ while they couldn’t see each other.
She hoped she could trust Spike. And it didn’t occur to her that she shouldn’t care, because she was probably going to have to break up with him anyway.
TBC
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Thanks for the reviews! I’m going away this weekend for a week, because it’s summer here and I love vacations, but I hope to get another two chapters in before I go. :)