So not what you were thinking.
Buffy had wanted to try out her roller blades since she bought them in Rome six months earlier, but thus far had not found someone to go with. She even went as far as to buy a pair each for Xander and Dawn. Dawn declined, citing that it was not cool to be seen skating with the all the wannabe sk8-punks in the park. Xander bowed out due to limited depth perception. Then, in a desperate last-ditch effort to have a warm-bodied somebody to go skatng with her, she tried to give the roller blades meant for Xander to Andrew. But Andrew said, “those indie kids are just too scene.” Whatever that meant.
Xander’s skates fit William, so whether he liked it or not (he did), he was going with her to skate.
Since it was a Monday morning, they found the park quite empty. No wannabes or indie scenes to be found. And this park was really nice, too. It bordered The Strand with a nice view across the Thames and up to Westminster. Plenty of sidewalks, shrubbery and a nice stretch of riverfront overlooking some of the older London business centers.
It was soon clear that Buffy had lots of skating experience, and that William had none. She whirled around him, literally skating circles.
“This is something you always wanted to try?” she taunted.
“They make it look all easy on the telly,” he said. He made an effort to move forward by waving his arms in front of him.
Buffy scraped past him, showing off now. She turned to skate backwards, away from him. “It’s not like swimming,” she said. “Use arms less.”
William rolled his eyes. He put one toe forward, then shoved off with the other. He moved all of five inches.
“You’re all wobbly,” Buffy said. “Like Bambi.”
William glared at her. “All those years I was a bad ass...”
“Wasted,” she said, skittering away. “It just takes practice. And you know, once you learn, you never forget.”
“Like some other things,” William said. Since he had minor success, he tried the toe forward maneuver again. This time, though, gravity disagreed. He wheeled his arms to keep his balance, but he was sidewalk bound. He stumbled, scraping his leg on the curb.
“Oh, oh!” Buffy said. She skated over and knelt beside him. “Are you all right?”
William was laughing. Hard. “I’m fine. Better than that...”
She sat down on the curb and began rolling up his pants leg. “Let’s have a look,” she said.
He watched her closely. “Buffy,” he said.
She ignored him. “You’ve violated the cardinal rule of roller-blading,” she said. “Stay upright-ski, don’t fall down-ski.”
He titled his head to the side. “Hurt my knee-ski?” he asked.
She pushed the cuff over his knee. He winced.
“More like shin-ski,” she said. The not-so-attractive scrape fell just below the kneecap. “Ouch,” she said.
“Does sting,” he admitted.
“Let’s see the other one,” she ordered.
He pulled way. “It’s not so bad as that,” he said. “Besides, I don’t hate it so much.”
Buffy scoffed. “What? You came back as some kind of masochist?”
William pursed his lips.
“Right,” she said. “My bad.”
He nodded. “I do love the way the air feels in my lungs. A not-unpleasant burning. Humans live their lives on fire. I had forgotten that. And the sun!” He raised his face to catch the sunlight. “What a curse not to feel it.”
Buffy laid her hand on his leg. “You know what,” she said. “You’ll live.”
William began tugging his pants leg back down, when Buffy stopped him. The blood that oozed from the scrape was rapidly vanishing into the skin.
“Hang on a tic,” he said. “It’s not supposed to do that.”
“I’m thinking no,” she said.
“Buffy?”
She looked at him. “Do you feel all right?
“Right as rain. Right as – as daisies and caterpillars. What is this?”
“You have heal-y power,” she said.
They watched in stunned silence as the wound closed up, leaving nothing but unscarred skin. Not even a bruise.
“Confused is the word,” he said.
“Let’s get you home, okay? We’ll call Willow. She’ll help,” Buffy said.
They got shakily to their roller-bladed feet.
William looked at her. “How did I get here?” he asked. He looked lost, and felt lost.
“It was me,” Buffy said. “I did it. We’ll figure it out, though. We’re good with the figuring.”
“Right,” he nodded. “Right.”
They hobbled together all the way back to the house.
Dark as roses, fine as sand
Feel your healing and your sting again
I hear you laughing and my soul is saved
On forgotten graves you cry
Crawl like ivy up my spine
Through my nerves and into my eyes
Cuts like anguish
Or recollections of better days gone by
But it’s all right
When you’re caught in pain
And you feel the rain come down
It’s all right
When you find your way
Then you see it disappear
It’s all right
Though your gardens grey
I know all your graces
Someday will flower
In the sweet sunshower
Eyes like oceans so far away
A feather trail to a better way
Worried mornings turn into days
Then into worried nights
But it’s all right
When you’re all in pain
And you feel the rain come down
Oh it’s all right
When you find your way
Then you see it disappear
Oh it’s all right
Though your gardens grey
I know all your graces
Someday will flower
Oh in the sweet sunshower
Oh in the sweet sunshower
In the sweet sunshower
I know all your graces
Someday will flower
In the sweet sunshower
And it’s all right
All you’ll be you are today
Are today
It’s all right
All you’ll be you are today
Are today.........
Sunshower by Chris Cornell,
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Song lyrics at the end of this chapter are for Sunshower by Chris Cornell. In the original draft, this song accompanies the chapter that follows, but because of the length of this chapter, I appended it here.