Chapter 13: Questions
Buffy stared at the phone in her hand with a worried look. Her fingers were poised over the buttons, prepared to dial, once again, Spike’s hotel number. The phone suddenly vibrated in her hand, making her jump. She answered it quickly. “Hello?”
“Buffy? Have you heard from Spike?” Willow asked.
“No, I keep trying his number but he’s either not there or not picking up,” Buffy answered, biting her lip.
There was a pause before Willow spoke again. “Okay, well let me know if you hear from him and tell him we’re Bronzing tonight.”
“Will do,” Buffy replied. “See you there,” she finished, clicking off the phone.
She’d been trying to contact Spike since the incident with Riley, but with no success.
After she’d woken up the next morning she’d felt guilty for taking her anger out on Spike and had dialed his number to apologize, but he hadn’t picked up. At the time she figured he was either sleeping, had gone out or was pissed at her.
However, when that night both Xander and Willow called asking if she’d heard from him, nervousness began to creep into her mind and make her wonder if he was really alright.
He’s probably just out and about, she reasoned. After all, it wasn’t like Spike was Mr. Reliable.
Buffy picked up the phone again and dialed Faith’s number, hoping the brunette was up.
“Hello?” came Faith’s groggy voice and Buffy let out a sigh of relief.
“Hey, have you seen Spike recently?” Buffy asked and glanced at the clock, 1:00pm-she said she’d meet the gang at the Magic Box soon.
“Ungh,” Faith grumbled and Buffy could hear a rustling sound in the background.
“Um…Spike?” Faith asked out loud and paused. “Yeah, I saw him last night at the Fish Tank.”
Buffy grimaced at the mention of the trashy bar in the ‘bad’ part of town.
“But,” Faith continued, “I left after a few drinks. Why?”
“I was looking for him,” Buffy replied carefully, “and Willow and Xander haven’t heard from him in a couple of days.”
“Why’re you looking for him? Something happen?” Faith asked, her voice hinting at her suspicion.
Buffy sighed, “Listen, Faith, it’s kinda complicated and I really don’t feel like talking about it right this minute, but I’ll tell you later. Right now I just need to find him.”
“Okay,” Faith responded, “But you better tell me what this is all about later.”
“I promise,” Buffy told her and they said their goodbyes.
Buffy once again put her phone down and reviewed her options. She could try looking around for him, but something told her if Spike wanted to be found, she’d have heard from him by now, what with all the messages she had left. Her other choice was to go the Magic Box and hope she’d see him later. That, Buffy thought, seemed like the best idea right now.
Buffy walked into the Magic Box, intent on seating herself in one of the oversized chairs. She was stopped from doing so by Willow, however, who was looking strangely happy.
“Guess what? Spike’s crashing at Giles’s.” Willow lowered her voice seeing as Dawn was standing a few feet away. “I guess he got really drunk and managed to find a ride to Giles’s and ended up sleeping on the couch.”
Buffy felt a mixture of annoyance and relief at knowing he wasn’t ignoring her completely.
“Drunk? Just how often does he drink?” Buffy grumbled, “It seems every time I see him he’s drunk off his ass.”
Willow smirked, “That’s Spike.”
“What’s Spike?” Dawn asked, her interest piqued by the pair’s hushed voices.
“Nothing,” they replied in union and Buffy ordered Dawn to get back to work.
“I managed to wring a promise out of Spike that he’ll be at the Bronze tonight since he’s leaving in a couple of days. It’ll be his official goodbye, you know, until the wedding.”
Right, Buffy remembered. Spike’s leaving on Tuesday. All the more reason to apologize tonight, that way they’d be on equal footing for the wedding. And hopefully, Buffy added, things wouldn’t be so awkward this time around.
*************
“Tonight?” Riley asked incredulously and Buffy closed her eyes.
“Yes,” Buffy gritted out, “Spike’s leaving on Tuesday and we wanted to have an official goodbye party.”
Buffy shifted the phone from her right shoulder to her left as she studied her reflection in the mirror, applying her eye shadow.
There was a silence on the other line and Buffy wished she’d never mentioned Spike’s name.
The past two days there had been an underlying tension in their interaction and Buffy found herself yearning for everything to go back to normal. And they would, she told herself, after she apologized to Spike and he left for New York, putting a good 3,000 miles of space between them.
“Do you really need to be there?” Riley whined unattractively.
“Yes,” she said shortly, “he’s my friend.”
There was another pause while Buffy pulled on her favorite black leather pants, the ones she hadn’t worn since high school, along with a pretty red silk halter. She eyed herself in the full length mirror and a grin broke out on her shiny, cherry painted lips. She looked good. Really, really good.
“Spike isn’t my friend,” Riley eventually responded and Buffy instinctively rolled her eyes. Like that hadn’t been that obvious?
“But he’s mine and you could at least show up and be civil,” Buffy snapped and then wished she hadn’t. Now, she realized, he would be mad at her.
“That’s not the point.” Riley, surprisingly, snapped back. “You don’t care that I don’t like him!”
“God!” Buffy practically yelled, “Stop being so fifth grade about this! It’s just a party- everyone is gonna be there, not just us!”
“Do you think of me as a chore?” Riley asked abruptly and Buffy blinked, trying to follow the shift in their conversation.
“What is that supposed to mean?” she asked cautiously.
“It means,” Riley explained slowly, “do you think of me as burden? Something you have to do, to take care of? ‘Cause that’s not what I am Buffy. I want to help you, love you, but I can’t do that if you don’t let me.”
Buffy felt herself struggling to breathe. Was that was he thought? Was that what he was? A chore to her?
“Can we do this later?” Buffy asked.
“Fine,” Riley responded curtly, “I’ll see you at the Bronze.”
The dial tone rang in Buffy’s ear and she slowly set it down and cast another glance into mirror. Suddenly she didn’t feel so sexy anymore and wanted nothing more than to crawl into bed for a hundred years.
But she’d made a promise to Willow.
Buffy slapped on a cheerful grin and grabbed her matching black leather jacket and headed out to her car.
What would this night bring?
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Author's Chapter Notes:
thanks to all for your amazing reviews and thanks to my beta who has been amazing! hope you enjoy this