Buffy sat down beside Willow at the same table they did the day before taking a bit of her apple. “ So, how was your morning?” She grinned.
Willow blushed knowing she meant ‘so, did you see Oz this morning’. “ Yeah, it was pretty good.”
Xander looked between the two girls confused. “ Am I missing something here?”
Buffy just grinned. “ Me and Willow both have dates this weekend.”
Xander stared at them a little shocked, that and slightly disappointed that Buffy was basically taken now. “ With who?”
“ Well, Willow with Oz and me with Wesley.”
“ That geek?” With that he was kicked sharply under the table by Willow and sent into a chorus of ‘ouch’, ‘damn’, and ‘ow’. “ Sorry Buff. I didn’t mean to be rude. It’s just, I didn’t really imagine you with a guy like Wesley.” With that he slid farther down his seat to avoid another kick.
“ It’s ok Xand.”
Xander flinched again rubbing his sore leg. “ So are we going to the bronze again tonight?”
“ Nope. I’m taking Willow out somewhere.” She stopped remembering this morning. “ Which by the way, is going to be a little late. I kind of got a detention after school for the rest of the week. Not only that but its with… You know what, never mind. Just wait by my car and I should be there around 10 past the bell if I can manage to sneak out.”
Buffy turned to look up at Wesley as she felt someone tap her on the shoulder. “ Hi Wesley.” She gave him a bright smile and stood up hugging him. Sure it felt kind of bold given that she only basically met him last night but she felt comfortable around him. Like she could do things that she wouldn’t usually do and not care.
He couldn’t help smiling a little brighter and hugged her closer. “ Hi. Was just wondering what you were up to today. Maybe we could grab a coffee at the expresso pump after school.”
Buffy frowned looking away for a second. “ I’m sorry Wes. I got detention for the rest of the week after school and then I’m taking Willow out to get some stuff.” God she felt crappy for refusing.
He rubbed the back of his neck. “ It’s all right. I get it.” He gave her a weak smile and was about to leave when she grabbed his hand.
“ Hey now, that wasn’t some weak girly way of blowing you off. I really did make plans with Willow. And Snyder has it out for me ever since we first met.”
“ Oh.”
“ Maybe tomorrow though.”
It was Wesley’s turn to frown. “ Can’t, da’ has this whole father son thing planned and well, I really don’t want to let the old man down. He’s been kind of set on it lately and I’ve been putting it off.”
She smiled again. “ It’s ok, we’ll figure it out,” She kissed him on the cheek, “bye Wes.”
***
Buffy sighed as the last bell rang. Detention was one thing she didn’t cope with well, now that Snyder was the one dealing it? She groaned. Gathering her things as slow as possibly she made her way towards the library where she had been told by Xander (a multiple detention goer) that detention would be held. Opening the doors she heard them make a swish before closing behind her. Once inside she stopped and looked around.
As expected there were rows and rows of old shelves with books neatly aligned in rows, undoubtedly arranged in genre, alphabetical order, and years. Those however, were on a bit of a higher level, on the one she was standing on was a main desk to the right and tables to the left and middle. To her expectation it wasn’t that bad actually, she didn’t read as much as she had once (due to her popular status that she now refused to gain) but the whole place felt warm and inviting and the smell of…well she didn’t know what it was but it soothed her and hey, it wasn’t a musty book smell so it was a definite plus.
“ Hello?” She was surprised by the small echo the reverberated of the walls and back to her.
Grinning she walked a few more steps in looking around to make sure she couldn’t see anyone before walking up the small stairs by the railing and trying again. “ Hello.” She giggled at the echo the was heard.
“ Didn’t anyone ever teach you to be quiet in a library?” She nearly screamed and was about to fall over the railing when two strong arms caught her.
She glared at the person when she realized it was Spike. “ Didn’t anyone ever teach you that it’s rude to sneak up on someone like that?”
“ Touché. ”
And then it hit her just how close they were. His arm was lightly grazing hers as he had her caged in from both sides and she could feel his warm breath on her chin and tickling her throat. “ You can let me go now.”
She watched as a smirk spread across his face. It made her just want to slap it off his face, what right did he have cornering her in a library and nearly making her fall over a railing and then smirk at her like he knew something she didn’t, in that taunting way.
Buffy watched suspiciously as he leaned close to her ear. “ I think I like this position just fine thanks.”
Resisting the urge to close her eyes and just let the silky smooth tones of his voice wash over her she pushed him away and crossed her arms in a defensive posture. “ Well I don’t.”
“ Am I interrupting something, please do continue, I’ll just put my things down and listen to what seems to be such a fascinating conversation.”
Buffy spun around to see Mr. Giles standing by the desk looking quite surprised when she turned around. “ Oh, Buffy. Wasn’t exactly expecting on seeing you here on the second day of school.”
She looked away, eyes downcast and cheeks burning with embarrassment as her favourite teacher seemed disappointed in her for being here. Of all places. Sure it was bad when parents yelled at you for doing something wrong but it was far worse when they gave you the ‘I’m I’m so disappointed in you’ look and speech. And since her pearents, or the one she had, weren't much to do that now he was close enough. “ Sorry. Mr. Giles.”
“ Wasn’ her fault. She’s in here cuz’ of me.”
Buffy turned to stare at him. This was the second time that he had taken the blame for what was, at least a 50, 50 situation. And it was also the second time she was completely confused on why he did it, was he just being nice, or was it an ulterior motive. She’d go with the latter for now.
“ Ah yes, I see we’re back into old habits William.” Giles took of his glasses and wiped them down with a cloth. Buffy turned to look at him and mouthed ‘William’ curiously to which she could have sworn he blushed a little. “ Very well then, I’m sorry my nephew has dragged you along with him Buffy.” Buffy looked at him with shock. “ Nephew?”
He just shrugged and jumped over the railing, his black duster billowing around him as he did so. Well, things were definitely getting interesting. Now that she thought about it, Willow had mentioned that Giles had family going to the school, she just never mentioned it was someone she had met.
“ Lucky for you Snyder has given me detention duty for most of this week. However I won’t tolerate any misbehaving.” Buffy noticed how he was staring directly at Spike with a pointed look clearly written across his face.
“ Fine, got it.” He grumbled slouching in his chair.
Buffy tried to hold back her giggles as she watched him look sullen like a little child that had just been cought with his hand in the cookie jar and sent to have time out in the corner. As soon as Giles had made his way into the back office the image of him sitting in a corner pouting proved to be too much and she started laughing, bringing her hand to her mouth to try and quickly cover.
Spike looked annoyed, never the less the corners of his mouth twitched into and almost smile as he watched her laugh, her cheeks turning a delightful shade of pink as she did so. “ Oi! What’s so funny over there Goldilocks?”
She grinned. “ Well, let’s see. I just found out Giles is your uncle when you two seem to exist in two completely separate universes, and he just scolded you as if you were a little toddler that had done something wrong. The image was just…” She trailed of not wanting to mention the image she had gotten of him sitting in the corner. Laughing again she slumped against a bookshelf and started to calm down.
There was a comfortable silence before she spoke again. “ Is your name really William?”
He frowned at her, his defences going up. “ Yeah, what’s it to you?”
She gave him a gently smile. “ I like it. Gives me a sense of the person behind ‘Spike’.”
She looked at her watch. 3:50 seemed to mock her and her eyes went wide. Giles had gotten there after half the time had already passed, given that it didn’t feel like it and now Willow was waiting by her car for nearly twenty minutes. “ Damn it.” Quickly getting up she once again scrambled to get her things before dashing for the library door. “ Bye Giles, detention is over and I got to go.”
Spike watched her go with a wry grin on his face. She was definitely one of a kind.
Giles exited the library with a book in one hand. “ Where’s Buffy, what did she say?”
“ Detention is over.” He paused. “ For now.” He whispered the last part more to himself grinning.