Buffy smiled contentedly kicking off her heels and running up to her room so she could call Willow. Ok, so it hadn’t been the world’s most exciting date but it was definitely the best she’d ever been on. And he was really charming and sweet. ‘That’s Wesley all right.’
Closing the door and doing a belly flop onto her bed to reach for the cordless she dialled the red heads number. And turned on her back as she waited for her friend to pick up. Picking at her nails she sighed as the phone was finally answered on the third ring.
“ Hello, Willow speaking.”
“ Hi Wills, I just got back from my date with Wesley.”
Willow squealed enthusiastically. “ And?!” She apologized to her mom after receiving a glare and moved to her room.
“ And it was nice. I mean he’s so great. The way he treats me like a complete gentleman and compliments me on the right things.”
Willow paused and frowned lightly. “ But?”
It was Buffy’s turn to frown. “ But what? There’s not but’s why would you sense any but’s?” She looked up at the ceiling and dew lazy patterns on her bed covers.
“ Dunno, I just kind felt a but coming on after that. Are you absolutely sure he’s what you want?”
“ Of course. I mean. He treats me good and he’s a nice guy. Why wouldn’t I like him?”
Willow decided to back off on the defensive. “ No reason, just making sure your happy. So how was it?”
“ Great. He took me to this little hidden restaurant. We talked and there was lots of flirtage of the good kind.”
Buffy frowned slightly as she stepped out of his car only to the sight of a run down looking three story building. She scrunched up her nose, well, this wasn’t what she had been expecting to say the least.
She turned to Wesley and tried to think of something to say that would be subtle but to the point. “ Uh, Wesley, not that I don’t like going to dingy old apartments that have broken windows and are possibly condemned but why are we here?” Ok a little to blunt. Strike one Summers, great way to get the guy, insulting his good intentions on your first date. Well, not all guys intentions were good but his were.
She was astonished when she heard him chuckle and saw amusement in his eyes. “ Am I missing something?”
“ Do you really think I’d take a date to..” He paused and looked at the building in front of them comically. “..this place?” He smiled at her and gently took her arm leading her towards the alley one the side of the house.
“ Right, because dark, creepy alleyways are sure to score you points in the dating department.” She said sarcastically now more relaxed. From previous experiences guys were very predictable. Concerts, clubs that she went to regularly, maybe a restaurant. She had to give Wesley points for originality but it was kind of strange.
He gave her a patient smile. “ Not a ‘creepy alleyway’ but one of the best kept secrets in this boring town.” As they rounded the corner and walked a few more steps a tiny restaurant came into view and she grinned. “ See.” He said matter of factly.
She bit her lip as he led her inside the tiny establishment. “ Fine I admit, its cozy.” She glanced around in approval. Sure it was small but it just added to the charm. It looked like one of those small ethnic food restaurants that everyone loved to go to because the atmosphere was so warm and inviting. That meant the food was probably great too.
To her surprise she saw an older dark haired woman with tan skin waving in her direction. She tapped Wesley gently on the shoulder. “ Do you maybe, know that lady over there?”
He smiled. “ That’s Anita. She’s the owner of this place. I used to work around here and helped her out a lot after her husband died.” He waved her over and smiled as she embraced him tightly.
“ It’s good to see you Wesley, it’s been a while since I saw your face around here. Haven’t forgotten about me have you now?”
“ Of course not. This is Buffy. My date tonight.” Buffy giggled as Anita winked at him and gave her a warm hug before leading them to their table at the back where moonlight shone through the window.
“ So did you kiss him?” Will asked pumping the blonde for more details.
Buffy frowned. “ Actually, no. There was this awkwardness when we reached the door but I’m sure it was just because I was really nervous and he’s kind of shy too.”
Buffy smiled at Wesley as they finally made it to her front door. “ So I guess its goodnight. I had a good time though.”
“ I did too. Would you. I’m not sure how to put this…”
“ Like to go steady? Yeah, I would.” She chirped seeing his shy side come out after an evening with a confident guy.
He slowly leaned down to kiss her, only at the last minute she got the jitters and turned her face suddenly becoming embarrassed she apologized. “ Sorry, I guess I got kind of nervous. I haven’t really, er, kissed anyone for a long while.” She blushed.
“ That’s all right.” He kissed her on the forehead and they said their last goodbye’s before he left.
“ Yeah, I’m sure it was only jitters. Anyway, what are you doing tomorrow, I was hoping we could go to the Bronze.”
Buffy thought about the chances of seeing Spike there. They were pretty high. Even so, she couldn’t avoid him forever as much as she would love to and Sunday she was going shopping on here last day of freedom before her dad grounded her for getting detenion. After today’s little Houdini act she was sure to have detention on Monday. “ Sure Wills, I’ll go. Seeing as how I can’t go on Monday because I have detention and I’m sure my dads going to get a call and ground me.”
“ Why would you have detention? I thought today was your last day.”
Should she tell Willow? It couldn’t hurt right? “ Me and Spike had kind of a falling out. So I skipped detention deciding to go into avoidy girl mode.”
Willow twirled the cord of her phone, her interest suddenly piqued. “ What happened?”
“ He kind of, came on to me. When I was at my locker he cornered me and there was touching and comments exchanged.”
There was a long pause as Willow lay stunned. She was about to speak when..
“ GOD! He infuriates me! I mean, he knows Wesley likes me and I like him. For crying out loud it’s his cousin and he still makes a pass at me. And the only reason he did is because I’m unattainable! The nerve that guy has.”
That was the first time Willow had heard her friend talk to strongly about how she felt. And it was in no involvement to Wesley. Interesting. “ Wow Buffy, I don’t know what to say. I mean, Spike’s never been one to take no for an answer. Especially when it comes to girls. What Spike wants Spike gets.”
“ Yeah, well he better start getting used to hearing rejection.”