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DISCLAIMER: I don't own these characters. They belong to Joss W. and company.
...



"Huh?" Buffy's mind was fuzzy the moment he opened his mouth and mesmerized her with his English accent. His blue eyes had bored into her, causing her stomach to flip flop. Then, abruptly, he had left.

Willow returned to the table and handed Buffy her drink. "Who was that?"

"I don't know. He said his name was Spike." Buffy's mind suddenly cleared. "He also said that he was going to see me next weekend and that I'd quit the Scoobies." She shook her head, "That doesn't make any.."

"You said Spike? As in Spike from the Lethal Bite?" Willow interrupted.

"Lethal bite?" Was this Spike person someone she should know?

Willow sighed. "It's a review column. It's in quite a few papers in Southern California, including our Sunnydale Standard. Maybe you should read the newspaper some time."

Xander shrugged at Buffy. "Never heard of him either."

"He's a critic?" Buffy felt disappointed. Then, she began to feel ticked off. She had acted like a school girl with a crush, and he only wanted to make a fool out of her. He was probably laughing right now, she thought, angrily.

Willow suddenly stood up. "Oh! He's going to review us next weekend." She started to pace.

"Willow, stop." Buffy grabbed her arm. "So what? We've had reviews before."

"He's known for getting bands to break up." Willow shook her head.

"Did you say Spike was going to review you next weekend?" Giles, Buffy's somewhat mentor, sat at the table. At first glance, the older man seemed out of place in the crowd of teens and young adults , but he was perfectly at ease.

Willow nodded. "Buffy met him. He said she was going to quit."

Buffy took a sip of her drink and didn't say anything.

"Buffy, Spike's reviews are not to be taken seriously. He purposely puts down everyone in order to make his own fans happy. He's a mockery of a serious critic." Giles removed his glasses and cleaned them. "However, as Willow said, many people have quit performing because of his column. Two even had huge record contracts. I hear he likes to brag about those two. His words can be..stinging. "

"I won't let him bother me now that I now know the type of man he is. "

"Good, because you have a good chance of getting a record label and.." Giles looked with a start to the stage. "Good lord, what is she doing up there?"

Buffy and Willow turned to see Faith dry humping the microphone stand.

"Performing." Buffy turned to Giles with a smile, trying to push her worry of Spike away.

* * *

Buffy walked in the Magic Box with a stack of old newspapers and Dawn following with another stack. She was glad her mom waited a few months before taking them in to be recycled.

"You won't believe the stuff this guy writes." Buffy dropped the newspapers with a loud thump on a table.

Anya, who co-owned the shop with Giles, ran over to the table. "Don't put those there! That table's for customers only."

"I am a customer. The Scoobies rent the back room for practice."

"That's not the same thing and you know it." Anya looked around the room, noticing that Xander had walked into the store and was heading their way. Her scowl turned into a smile as she turned back to Buffy. "So, do you need any help?"

Buffy ignored her as she sorted through the newspapers, pulling out Spike's column. The more columns she read, the more she was convinced that he was the biggest jerk she'd ever met.

"Hey, Buffy. What did you need us for?" Willow sat at the table with Tara.

Buffy turned to them in all seriousness. "We need to review these columns to get ready for next weekend."

Willow turned to Tara and raised her eyebrow. Dawn sat, bored, and watched Buffy.

"What?" Xander ran his hand through his dark hair and walked over to the table. "We have to read on our day off?"

"Don't look at me, I already did my homework." Willow flipped through a stack of papers.

"Willow, I don't care if this is the first thing you read every Sunday morning, you need to help me."

Xander gazed at a column for a minute, before putting it down. "What's the big deal? Giles said not to take it seriously."

"Willow, tell him."

Willow furrowed her brow. "Actually, I was thinking about it, and Giles is right. It's not like it's a real review. As long as you don't take it seriously, it's no big deal."

Xander raised an eyebrow at Buffy. "I thought you weren't going to let it bother you."

Buffy sighed. It seemed that nobody wanted to help her. "That was before I read his column. He doesn't care who he hurts. Listen to what he wrote in today's column about Faith. 'For a minute there, I thought I was at a strip joint. She would be better suited in an establishment such as Willie's Fishtank. At least there, she could put her real talents to use.'"

"Yeah, that was a good one." Willow turned to Tara with a smile. Tara shyly smiled back.

"Laugh, but I bet this column hurts Faith's feelings."

"I bet it doesn't." Willow said under her breath.

As if on cue, Faith entered the store. "Hey." She looked tired, probably from staying up all night. "I just need to buy some more incense. I ran out last night."

"Did you read the review of your band in today's paper?" Buffy handed her the paper.

"There was a review? Cool." Faith sat down and read the column. When she finished, she smiled. "All right!"

"Faith. It was a bad review. He practically called you a stripper."

"I know. Do you know how many people are going to come to my shows, now?" Faith was all smiles.

Buffy sighed. "Don't you want to be recognized for your singing?"

Faith shrugged. "I don't care why people come see me, as long as they come."

Buffy shook her head and sat down at the table. Just because Faith didn't take this seriously, didn't mean that she wasn't. She handed Dawn a paper and started to read another one.

"What's with the stick up your butt?" Faith picked up a paper from top of one of the stacks and examined it. Buffy refused to answer.

Dawn looked up from her paper. "She's been like this ever since she met him last night."

Faith smiled and sat down next to Buffy. "You met him? I see."

Buffy put her paper down. "What are you implying?"

"Is he as hot as people say? He must have made quite an impression."

"Faith, don't you have something you need to buy?" Buffy snatched the paper from Faith.

Faith smiled and stood up. With a swivel in her hips she picked up a bundle of incense sticks and walked to the cash register. Buffy glared at her the whole time. Faith didn't know what she was talking about. This had nothing to do with how attracted she was to Spike when she first met him...Buffy shook her head to get her thoughts straight. This was about how he was a jerk - a jerk that wanted to make a fool of her.

"Don't just sit there - read." Buffy flung open her paper and ignored the smiles of everyone else at the table.


...



The week flew by, and Buffy still couldn't get Spike out of her mind. She wanted to double the practice sessions for the band, but the rest of them vetoed it. Giles said that if they over-practiced, they would get burned out. Buffy reluctantly agreed, but practiced in her room more than she usually did.

On Thursday night, she had stayed up late practicing. The combination of being tired and not being able to hear the guitar very well without the amp was driving her crazy. With a frustrated groan, she plugged her guitar to her amp and turned it to the lowest setting. After a few test notes, she sighed. This was better than nothing.

A moment later, her mother knocked on the door. "Buffy? The rest of us have to get up early tomorrow. Could you please turn that off?"

Damn! Buffy angrily pulled the cord out of the guitar and switched the amp off. "Okay, it's off."

Her mother opened the door and stuck her head in the room. "Why don't you get some sleep? You've been staying up late every night this week."

"But, I need the practice."

"You look tired."

Buffy noticed how heavy her eyes felt. Maybe she could stand to get some sleep and practice tomorrow night and Saturday morning. She nodded at her mother and loosened the strings on her guitar and laid it down. She fell asleep the moment her head hit her pillow.

She opened her eyes to the sound of typing. Spike was sitting in her room typing on an old fashioned typewriter. A swirl of smoke danced from the cigarette dangling in his mouth. Every few seconds, he would stop and tap his forehead as if pondering.

"What are you doing here?" Buffy sat up in the bed.

Spike looked directly at her and smiled. "Your review. I guess the rest of the band couldn't make it."

"But, it's not Saturday. You were going to review us..."

"I guess you could say I'm impatient," Spike interrupted.

Buffy looked around the room and noticed her guitar on the other side. "At least let me get my guitar." She attempted to leave the bed, but found that she couldn't move. Her arms were bound to her bed by soft silk.

"Hey now, that'd be cheating." Spike shook his head in disapproval. "So far, I'm not impressed with your performance."

Buffy tugged at the silk. "Let me go! I can play for you if I can just get my guitar."

Spike cocked his head to the side. "Now, it's getting interesting." He put down the cigarette and walked towards her. "Lying there, struggling, almost begging. Do you know how beautiful you are?"

Buffy's heart beat wildly in her chest, and her breath caught. She opened her mouth to say something, but she couldn't speak.

Spike placed his finger on her lips. "Shh. I have your review ready. It explains how I feel." He held a newspaper in his other hand. As he opened the paper, a pulsing noise came from it. Buffy couldn't see the column, and the noise wouldn't stop.

With a groan, she awoke. She slapped her alarm clock, turning it off. Thinking about her dream, she understood that she was nervous about the review. She had similar dreams about major tests in school. What she didn't understand was why she was disappointed she hadn't read his review. She wanted to know how he felt.

TBC





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