“Pay up.”
Spike glared down at Buffy’s outstretched hand before sighing loudly and reaching into his deep pockets for money. When he drew up an empty fist, Spike practically snarled. “Bloody hell.”
Buffy smirked at him, crossing her arms. “Guess you owe me now. With interest.”
“You’re vicious, you know that?” Spike’s rhetorical question was loud as he stomped off in the direction of his car, Buffy on his heels. Right, he remembered, he was giving her a ride since Willow was at some math thing.
“We made a bet,” Buffy corrected him, “I’m just honoring that.”
Spike just rolled his eyes as he unlocked the car. “Get in.”
Buffy obeyed, slipping into the deep seat and buckled herself in. Her damp hair clung to her neck as she leaned back against the headrest. “Funny, I remember when you told me to get out of the car.” She looked up at him with wide-eyed innocence and he shot her a look that clearly said ‘don’t push it.’
It was then Buffy noticed how much more…well, if not comfortable, then civil they were to each other. She wasn’t sure but she swore something had changed…shifted. Maybe it was their banter the evening before or…she froze. Had Spike heard her last night?
As the thought ran through her mind, Buffy glanced at him quickly as if the answer was written on him somewhere. He didn’t seem different and he wasn’t acting drastically different so everything must be fine, she decided. Absolutely fine.
**********
Faster.Faster.Faster.
The words fell in rhythm of the steady pound of her feet moving. Buffy breezed past another girl.
Stray pieces of hair were sticking to her face and neck, she was sweating profusely in her tank top and shorts, but it felt great.
Buffy turned the corner and ran up the hill, which was mercifully shady. When she emerged from the shadows, the sun was hot against her skin again. Up ahead, Buffy could see a girl with a long brown ponytail swinging. She was really good, Buffy noticed even from a distance.
Buffy pushed herself a little more. She could handle it; they were at least past the halfway mark, and closing up on three-quarters into the race. She focused on using the muscles in her thighs, her legs going up and down at a quicker pace.
Slowly and almost cautiously, Buffy began to catch up the girl ahead. She was most likely the one in the lead and that meant she didn’t have to push herself to extremes…yet.
The girl glanced behind her, hearing Buffy’s footsteps increasing and frowned. She picked up her own pace a little. It was a subtle move, but clearly implicated the brunette’s challenge.
Buffy wasn’t stupid. This girl knew what she was doing; she was good at running and obviously felt confident enough to begin an unspoken race between them.
Not that Buffy didn’t want to take her down a peg or two.
They kept at it, trying to one-up each other in speed and stride. Currently, they were head-to-head, but with the end coming up, Buffy knew that wasn’t going to last.
She had a vague memory of how the route was set and Fred had told her that they would have hit the ‘one-fourth of a mile left’ mark when the passed an old, worn stone barn foundation, which was incidentally, just up and to the left between two large oak trees.
The brunette obviously knew this and gave Buffy a quick glance as they ran along a curve, revealing the ruins in full view.
Then, almost simultaneously, both Buffy and the girl shot off, using everything in them. Buffy could feel her breath coming in quick spurts, trying to keep up with her sprinting pace.
The girl was edged just a bit further and Buffy kept it that way, but never let it the distance increase by more than a couple of feet. It would keep the brunette nervous, Buffy reasoned, if she kept herself near, but not ahead.
A rather steep hill loomed before them and Buffy groaned internally. Of course there would be a hill at the end, she thought sarcastically. What better place was there?
At the top of the hill, Buffy’s legs felt like lead and burned, but she could see the crowd not too far away. The most beautiful red line was drawn across the path and Buffy knew she was going to make it.
With one last final spurt of energy, Buffy pushed herself to her maximum speed, her legs moving automatically. She pushed aside the voice in her mind screaming to stop and kept going.
They were now running alongside of each other and the brunette looked pissed. She couldn’t run faster, she didn’t have the energy for that and the rest of the length.
Buffy was surging ahead, if only by an inch or two, which seemed to further enrage the brunette. She forced her stride to widen, taking fewer steps and covering more space.
The line was a mere ten feet away and the brunette was leading. Damn, Buffy thought, thoroughly annoyed.
Then, with an involuntary grin, Buffy leaped forward, using the trick both she and Spike had used on each other, and practically flew across the finish line, a full foot and half before the other girl.
In the instant her foot touched the other side of the red line everything sped up, as if someone had pressed the fast forward button.
Several people accosted her, pressing around her on all sides. Coach Adler rushed forward, a bright smile on her otherwise hard face.
Cheers from her non-running friends erupted from the other side of her and Buffy turned, a wide grin on her face. Willow squeezed Buffy extra-tight, and the two girls engaged in the atypical jumping a squealing ritual.
A tap on Buffy’s shoulder alerted her that her mother and Giles were standing behind her, their own smiles gracing their faces.
“We’re so proud of you,” Joyce announced, “Winning on your first meet and everything.”
Buffy just kept grinning. “Thanks!” She knew it was a little stupid, being so excited when it wasn’t a major meet but winning made it seem like the biggest deal in the world.
“Well, pet, aren’t you glad you trained with me? Otherwise the brunette would have left you in the dust.”
Buffy turned to face Spike and gave him a look. “Please, training? Our races were brutal. And,” she tilted her chin up, “I could so have beaten her without any ‘training’.” A bluff for sure, but she was pretty certain he wouldn’t call her on it.
“Right,” Spike replied, drawing out the word. “Well, congratulations anyway.”
The words brought a smile back on Buffy’s face and in the strangest impulse ever, she wrapped her arms around him. It lasted for a second, brief, but just the single embrace sent her stomach all…fluttery.
She yanked her arms away, resting them awkwardly at her side. Buffy knew there was some attraction she felt for Spike, but that wasn’t inherently bad. But what she knew was bad was the weird fluttery feelings and unnecessary touching.
“Um thanks,” Buffy mumbled, “in case I needed a little tuning.”
Spike shifted a little, looking over her shoulder. “Right. Yeah, um, Gunn’s over there, he’s giving me a ride.” And with that, he almost ran away.
Stupid, Summers, Buffy scolded herself. Did she not understand the concept of parents are dating, ergo almost-step-brother?
Buffy shook her head briefly and then turned to Xander, the driver of the day. “Hey, give me a ride?” Her smile was back. An awkward moment was not going to ruin her happy.
*********
“So Bronze tonight?” Buffy asked Willow, cradling the phone between her ear and shoulder. They’d agreed to do a little impromptu celebration after Buffy had won the race.
“Yep. Unless you want to see a movie with Wes and Fred,” Willow offered.
Buffy’s nose scrunched up. “Aren’t they on a date?” She asked, confused.
Willow sighed and Buffy could almost see her rolling her eyes. “It’s a non-date.”
“Ahh.” Buffy knew exactly what that meant: they both liked each other but were too shy to actually say the words out loud.
“Right,” Willow confirmed, “so the rest of us are going the Bronze. Oz is playing tonight and he asked me to come watch him.” Buffy smiled at how Willow’s voice picked up at the very mention of Oz’s name.
Yep, Buffy thought, there’s no doubt about it, Willow’s smitten. And, if she wasn’t mistaken, Oz was pretty smitten back. It was a smit-fest.
“I’ll pick you up in an hour or so.”
“Good,” Buffy replied, already pulling out her party-clothes. “I’ll see you then.”
It took her a good fifteen to settle on an outfit consisting of a swishy skirt with high heels and a shimmery silver top with thin straps crisscrossing on the back. Far more fancy than usual but she and Willow decide to go all out.
Her make-up was light, and her lips coated a shiny pink. She wore her hair straight, the blonde tresses glinting in the light thanks to a shine spray. Buffy smiled, pleased with her reflection.
The phone rang, jarring her out of her appraisal and she picked it up. “Hello?”
“Buffy?” It was a male voice, familiar yet not.
“Yes,” she replied warily, waiting for an introduction.
“Hi, it’s, uh, Riley. Riley Finn. Sorry to impose and all-“ Buffy cut him off with a question.
“How did you get my number?” She asked, suspiciously. While she would have given it to him, the opportunity hadn’t arisen and him calling was definitely odd.
“Well,” Riley began sounding sheepish, “I have a pretty good memory and I remembered your address, from when I walked you home. So, I looked it up in the phone book, pretty stupid huh?” He let out a small, nervous laugh.
Buffy relaxed a little at his explanation. “I’ll admit it’s a little…” she paused, unsure how to say it out loud.
“Creepy,” Riley finished. “I normally never go to such extremes, but, uh, I really wanted to ask you out tonight and I didn’t want to go to your house, so this seemed better.”
“This is better,” Buffy confirmed. “And I completely erase any creepy-related judgments of you.”
Riley let out a sigh of relief. “Oh, good ‘cause I was wondering if you’d like to go out tonight, or another time.”
“Um…” Buffy bit her lip. “We’re having a sort of celebration thing for my meet today, but you’re welcome to join us.”
“A meet?” Riley questioned, “You a runner?”
“Yeah,” Buffy responded, feeling a little silly. “Yeah, I am.”
“Well, I’d love to join the celebration, if your friends wouldn’t mind,” Riley added quickly.
“No, I’m sure they won’t. So, I’ll meet you at the Bronze? My friend Willow reserved a big table and booth in the back.”
“I’ll look for you,” Riley replied.
“Cool,” Buffy said and then wished she hadn’t, it sounded so weird. They said their quick goodbyes and she hung up the phone.
Once last glance in the mirror confirmed she was ready to go out and celebrate. And have an actual date. With a guy. A nice guy. This, Buffy told herself, is what you deserve.
A/N: Buffy's future meets and practices-unless super important-will not be as detailed as they have been. And all of you, don't worry, more Spuffy soon! Understand, I don't want to rush it and make it fake-it's gonna be a process. Thanks to all of you readers!!