Chapter 15



“Have you got all the literature from the property people?”

“Yes mom” Buffy said

“Got your tickets?”

“In my wallet, got both mine and Buffy’s”

“Now, the hotel said that they haven’t got two singles, so I booked a double room with two single beds, I did tell you”

“Yes mom” Buffy said again.
Buffy was just putting some folded tee shirts into her case.

“Do you think I’ll need my hairdryer?”

“No, they have them in the hotel room”

“Oh, ok. Do they have robes, or shall I take mine?”

“Take yours, even if they do have robes, you don’t know who’s worn it before” William said.

“True…oh! Won’t fit…any room in your case?” Buffy grinned at her brother.

“Buffy, William’s case is half full of your stuff already…What do you need this for?” Joyce asked, pulling out Buffy’s best cocktail dress.

“In case we go out…ok, I’ll leave it!” She threw it on the bed.

“Look at her, $300 dress and she throws it!” Joyce shook her head, exasperated, grabbing a hanger.

“You won’t need these either, or this, Buffy, you’re property hunting!” Joyce took out diamante sandals and her fake fur jacket.

“See, you’ve got plenty of room now, you can have some stuff out of William’s case”

“It’s ok mom, it’s all done up now with the labels on…but you can take these for me, if you would” Will handed her a pair of black trousers.

Saturday, the 24th July, Sunnydale airport coffee shop.

“Now, phone us every night, won’t you” Joyce fussed.

“We will mom, don’t worry” William said.

“Come on, they’ll be calling the flight soon” All four of them stood up. They’d checked in and had gone for a coffee while waiting for their flight to be called. They were on the escalator going to the departure lounge, when they heard their flight being called.

“Will passengers for American Airlines flight 362 to New England please go to gate 14, where your flight will be boarding shortly”

“That’s us!” Buffy said grinning.

“Now, you’re sure you’ve got your tickets?”

“Mom! You asked us that about a thousand times!” Buffy said. They stepped off the escalator and made their way to gate 14. There were only four people in front of them. Joyce fussed and kissed them both.

“Remember to phone, and look after one another”

“We will”

“And don’t go looking at anywhere on your own, always have William with you”

“No mom…I mean, yes mom” Buffy said, rolling her eyes, smiling.

“You will be alright, won’t you?”

“Of course we will, I promise to look after her, and we’ll phone you as soon as we get there and checked into the hotel, the Holiday Inn, a double room with two single beds” William said calmly. Joyce’s shoulder’s relaxed.

“I’m fussing, aren’t I? I know you’ll look after her, you always have done”

“And you look after William” Hank said to Buffy

“I will dad” Buffy said, giving him a hug.
The gate opened.

“Please have your tickets and boarding cards at the ready” The stewardess announced.

“Bye mom, dad!” They both said. Hank heard Buffy say to William,

“Promise to hold my hand when we take off?”

I promise” William said, handing both tickets to the lady behind the desk.

“They will be alright, won’t they Hank?” he put his arm around his anxious wife.

“Do you think one of us should have gone with them, William’s only just eighteen”

“Joyce, they’ll be fine, besides which, when they go for real in September, we can’t be with them then. And they’re devoted, you know that, no harm will come to them. Come on, I’ll treat you in Macy’s” Hank led his wife out of the airport departure lounge.

“It’ll be awfully strange with them both gone…” Joyce said.

“Yes, but think of it this way, William won’t be on his own, and neither will Buffy, and she’ll be away from that awful Angel lad that keeps pursuing her, why hasn’t she told him she’s leaving?” Hank asked.

“Don’t know…she said they had their reasons, they’ll have a party before they go, tell everyone then I suppose” Joyce said.

“Well, I suppose they know what they’re doing” Hank pulled off the carpark.

It was early evening when they landed, and they got a taxi to the hotel no problem. They checked in, and Hank had already Emailed his credit card details on, so they just filled out two forms, which they were required to do, and got their key card.

The room was light and bright, fresh looking.

“Wow…this is great! – Which one do you want?” Buffy pointed to the beds.
William shrugged, grinning.

“Don’t mind” Buffy opened the door off the room.

“Will, come and look at this!” There was a big bath, a big walk-in shower, and a large vanity mirror surrounded by lights. It was all white with gold trimmings.

“I’ll feel like a film star with all these lights!”

“Do you want dinner here, or shall we go out and find somewhere?”

“Ooh, can we go out?”

“Ok…I’ve got a street map so we don’t get lost”

After a quick shower apiece, and a phonecall home, they went out.

“Here looks nice, what do you reckon?” Buffy said, just going on appearance. William perused the menu. Chicken, steaks, ribs, burgers, all the usual barbecue stuff.

“Ok, great, I really enjoyed those ribs I had a few weeks back, when we went to see the Matrix 2, remember?” Buffy smiled and nodded as they pushed open the door.

They walked into Mick’s Barbecue Shack. The place was quite busy.

“Hi, can I get you a table?” a friendly waitress gave them a big smile

“Please”

After a couple of minutes, they were seated, and given menus. Complimentary bread and salad was put on the table, and they were asked what they wanted to drink. They ordered a jug of iced citrus crush.

“Hmm…smells good, I’m starving!” Buffy said, looking at the menu card. What you had to do was either order something ready cooked, or you could go and choose something from the big refrigerated cabinet, such as a steak, or a whole fish or giant prawns, or seasoned ribs, and they’d cook it for you.

“Ooh, I’m too hungry to wait…I’ll have…the small mixed plate I think, with a side of peppers, onions and mushrooms, and some wedges” Buffy said.

“What’s the mixed plate?” William asked. Buffy pointed it out on the card.

“Oh yeah…Chicken, burger, sausage, steak and pork chop, all seasoned with our special herbs and spice mixture, or you can choose your own, from Cajun, Hickory smoke, sweet tomato, hot ‘n’ spicy, Chinese style or garlic and herb. Hmm…I think I’m going to be greedy and have a steak…yeah, Hickory smoked steak with jumbo fries, I can pinch some of your onions, can’t I?”

The food was superb. There was loads, but they ate it all up, basically because the airline meal had been inedible, in fact, they never did find out what it was supposed to be. As soon as the table was cleared, a waitress bought them a dessert card over, showing photos of huge desserts mostly consisting of ice cream, cream, chocolate and fruit.

“Oh gods, I couldn’t! I’m stuffed!” William said.

“Me too!”

“Coffee?”

“Nu-uh, this crush stuff was lovely” Buffy said shaking her head, draining her glass.

“Just the bill then please” William said to the waitress.

“Hmm, not bad at all, considering all we’ve eaten!”

“How much?”

“$30 Shall we go?”

“Yup, lets go for a walk, try and walk off some of these calories!” Buffy patted her full stomach. For one so small, she could certainly pack it away at times!

“Oh, wow…so that’s Harvard!” Buffy said, looking at the building from the gates.

“Yup.”

“Don’t you find it…I don’t know, a bit…well, daunting?” Buffy looked at William.

“Suppose…it won’t be so bad, not now I know you’re here with me, I won’t feel so alone”

“You mean, you’d have come here and stuck it out, even if you’d hated it, just so mom and dad could be proud?”
William looked pained.

“I don’t want you to think I think that they’re shallow, but, I don’t know, if I’d decided not to come, or failed, despite what they said, which I do believe, I’d felt like I was letting them down”

“Yeah, I know. Whereas, well, I have let them down, just scraping through my finals – thanks to you I passed at all!”

“You haven’t let them down!”

“What about Angel?”

“What about him?”

“Well, you didn’t bring trouble to them…you know”

“What, get pregnant, you mean?”

William just nodded; he couldn’t bear the thought of Buffy being intimate. Definitely not with the likes of Angel Stebson, anyway.

“I’d have had to have had sex with him for that…that’s why we split, coz I wouldn’t” Buffy said.

William let out an audible sigh, which he tried to cover with a yawn. They’d begun to walk along the road, slowly, Buffy holding William’s arm.

William felt like turning cartwheels, he was overjoyed. At first he thought that she had, and because he’d got what he’d wanted, dumped her.

But then as he hadn’t done any bragging like he had about Cordelia, and as Angel was still pursuing Buffy, William should have realised the opposite was true.

“Gods, I can’t believe I went out with him!”

“Neither can I…I blame those tight jeans of yours, cutting off the circulation!” William said to her, smiling. Buffy rolled her eyes and grinned herself.

“Suppose he’s going to be an even bigger problem now he comes from a ‘broken home’ and has got an ‘excuse’ for all his bad behaviour” Buffy said.

“Oh yeah, somebody was going to tell me, what happened then?”

“Well, while his mother worked nights at Wal-Mart, and his dad had a girlfriend at the house…well, remember there was that big fire, and all the workers got sent home, well, as his dad was in bed with said girlfriend instead of watching the news, she came home and caught him, red handed. And red faced, I’ll bet”

“His dad never worked, did he?”

“Nah, something to do with his back, said he got injured in Vietnam or Korea or something, Willow’s dad says he got injured stealing big containers of food that were going to be sent out to the soldiers, that was as close as he got to war”

“I suppose he’ll end up a waster just like his father” William said.

“Yeah. What DID I see in him? – Gods, I was so stupid! – No wonder mom and dad were at their wits end with me” Buffy shook her head disbelievingly.

“Well, you saw sense and came good before any damage was done. I just pity Cordelia in a way, I mean, she can act as high-and-mighty as she wants, but she’ll have to live with the fact that she let that slime ball take something very precious, and there’s no going back from that. Unless she goes to China!” William said, laughing.

“What, why China?”

“Didn’t I tell you? Do you know Kenny Hong? – That computer whiz kid, he showed us a website, and it’s genuine, for girls in China, when they get married, or start serious relationships, they are expected to be virgins, and they can go and have this operation that supposedly reattaches the hymen or something, so they can be classed as a virgin again, technically it feels right on the wedding night, but they must have the operation done within three weeks, of being ‘deflowered’ again, because they use ‘melting’ stitches, cost’s something ridiculous, like $70HK, so even office girls and the like can afford to have it done!”

“NO!”

“Honestly, cross my heart!”

“Bloody hell, what will they think of next!”

“Oh, hey, look…”

“What?” William asked.”

“Down here, towards the park…I remember seeing the name on one of those property pages the estate agents sent us…come on” They crossed over the road and walked on towards the park.

“Heathfield, that’s it”

“Oh yes, I remember…two bed roomed flats, with concierge, parking and small garden at rear”

“Can you remember how much?”

“$600 a month, I think”

“Hmm…can we afford that?”

“You’d have to work at least part time, to feed us! About $525 is our maximum really. I could get a job in the evenings I suppose too, I wouldn’t let-

“No, I’m here with you, and I’ll do my share, you’ll need to study in the evenings. I don’t mind working…it’ll be fun!”

“You going to register for school, coz it’s sort of why mom and dad are letting you come”

“Don’t worry. Let’s get somewhere to live first, see how much it costs, see what sort of money I can earn and the hours I’m doing, and then we can think about school. Mom and dad won’t stop me coming here…else I’ll take up with Angel again”

“You wouldn’t!” William quickly whipped his head round to look at her, serious faced.

“Well……… no, I wouldn’t, but I’d play up merry hell, and let them think I was!” She said it seriously, then a slow smile crept across her face.

“Minx!” William squeezed her hand in the crook of his arm.

“Oh look…ducks!” They walked through the park gates, and went to the little boating lake. The ducks quaked and waddled up to the edge where they stood. William squatted down and said,

“Sorry Donald, didn’t know you were here, mate, else I’d have bought you some bread!” As they weren’t being fed, the ducks soon lost interest and swam away, diving into the water so their rear ends stuck up in the air. They both laughed.
Buffy yawned.

“Come on, let’s get back to the hotel, shall we? – We could come down here tomorrow, what do you say?”

“Great, we can bring some bread for our new friends!”

“Friends! That one showed me his bum as I didn’t feed him!” William said, making Buffy giggle.

*****


“This is luxury…can we live here?” Buffy asked, sighing, lying on the bed watching TV.

“Er, no, it’s already cost dad $600 for the week for us two to stay here”

“$100 a day! Wow!” Buffy went round-eyed

“Mom said it was lucky that dad’s boss was lending him his beach house, else we wouldn’t be having such a fancy holiday this year”

“Ooh, sipping cocktails by the pool, lying on Miami beach…I’d better not pig out again like I did tonight, else nothing will fit me, and I want to look good on the beach!”

“You’ll look great, you always do”

“Ah, aren’t you the sweetest thing! Will you fight off all the tanned gods that’ll be swarming around? – I wish”

“Sure, dad and I will imprison you behind screens so no one can set eyes on you!”

“That reminds me…must get a bikini wax done” Buffy said. William went red. Buffy smiled, but said nothing.

**


“Hmm, yum, yum, yum!” Buffy screwed up her eyes grinning, smacking her lips.

“Er, s’cuse me, what happened to the ‘I’d-better-not-pig-out-any-more-this week-else-nothing-will-fit-me’ statement, from last night?”

William sat down opposite Buffy. On her plate from the ‘help yourself’ breakfast counter, Buffy had; three rashers of bacon, three link sausages, two grilled fresh tomatoes, a large portion of fresh mushrooms, hash browns, and two fried eggs. She’d also got toast, a roll and butter, honey, jam and marmalade, orange juice and tea. William had two rashers, one egg, two sausages and some toast, and tea. He also had juice.

“Couldn’t resist, as it’s all paid for!” She said grinning, putting a forkful into her mouth.

“Anyway, I can always go for a jog around the park later!”

“Shyeah, right, you exercise!” William scoffed. They both giggled.

“I’ve been looking at these, (William waved three pieces of paper from the real estate offices) these three places are open on Sundays, I thought we could go and have a look. Even If we can’t see the vacant places today, we can perhaps make an appointment”

“Great…hmm, want more juice?”

“Um, can we?” William looked around at the other diners.

“Yeah! That bloke by the door has already been up twice for breakfast, three times for juice and twice for rolls!”

“Not that you’re counting! Oh, ok then” Buffy jumped up, went over to the jug, refilled both glasses, slipping another two bread rolls into her pocket.

“What, still hungry!” Will asked incredulously.

“No, they’re for the ducks”

“Oh, wonder if they’ll eat toast, I’ve had enough”

“We can try…wrap it in a napkin…that’s it.”

“So, let’s go up, get our coats, go out and then we can see if we want lunch, we could go for a swim this afternoon, or, you could go in the solarium, start on your tan before the holiday”

“What a brilliant idea!” Buffy grinned. They went up.



*************

Later that morning

“Geez, I don’t know how I kept my face straight!” Buffy said, as they came outside after looking at one of the flats.

“Luxury? – if that was luxury, I’d hate to see what their definition of a dump is!”

“Never mind, come on…4 more to look at…”




*********

“Don’t get depressed, we’ll find somewhere, it’s only day one” William said as Buffy flopped dejectedly onto her bed back at the hotel.

“I know, but some of the definitions of luxury…luxury for what, cockroaches? Ew! You could smell them at the last place…yuk!” Buffy shivered.

“Yes well, you certainly told the agent that!” William said, smiling.

“Did I go over the top?” Buffy asked, biting her bottom lip.

“No, you were quite right, it wasn’t fit for pigs. And if it was a teacher who lived there before, then boy, he had something to learn about cleanliness!”

“You should have seen her face when you asked if it was a bacteriologist growing cultures for experiments!” Buffy said grinning

“Want lunch?”

“Nah, you?”

“No. Fancy a swim though”

“Ok, swimming is good exercise” Buffy sat up, took her coat off.

“As long as you swim, not stand about in the shallow end, posing!” William said, grinning. Buffy pulled her tongue out to him.


“Race you!” William poised ready to take off.

“Ok…but”

“But what?” He stood down.

“Only if I can … cheat!” Buffy ‘ducked’ William under the water, and took off in a fast front crawl. Surfacing, William exhaled, coughed, cleared water from his eyes, and wiped his dripping face, saw how far ahead she was getting, and took off after her. Buffy just about beat him, her hand reaching the edge seconds before his.

“Ha, I win!”

“Cheat”

“So, I said I’d cheat!”

“You going to fry yourself in the solarium now?” William asked.

“No, you’ve got to book apparently, and it’s fully booked for today”

“Ok then, what do you want to do?”

“Go for a walk, feed the ducks?”

“Ok…last one out’s a fat Muppet!” William ducked her and hauled himself up out of the water. Buffy surfaced, spluttering, vowing revenge.



******

As soon as the ducks had eaten all the bread they had on offer, they swam away.

“Bye then…keep in touch!” William said.

“Greedy lot! That brown one nearly had my finger off! – Ooh look, ice cream!” Buffy said, standing up from squatting at the edge of the lake, dusting her hands off. They noticed a small kiosk selling ‘Real Italian Ice Cream’, and as they’d skipped lunch, bought themselves one each. They sat on the bench.

“You do realise, all the good you did swimming, will now be rendered null and void, there’s about sixty squillion calories in this stuff!” William said, grinning. Buffy glanced at him, said nothing, and without looking at him directly, she waited until he raised the cone to his mouth, and elbowed his arm so the ice cream went all over his nose and chin.

Buffy turned and looked at him, burst out laughing! She couldn’t stop, and dissolved into an undignified rolling about in hysterics on the bench. William sat there covered in it. Every time she stopped laughing and went to say something, she collapsed again. With a face still covered, William smirked, and quickly dived on her, pushing his cone onto her nose, and on her cheek. Buffy shrieked!

“There! How do you like it!” While they were play fighting, a dog came up and pinched Buffy’s cone out of her hand!

“Hey. Stop thief!”

“A little old lady came up to them.

“I’m sorry my dear…oh” She could see that they looked like a couple of kids, their face’s covered in ice cream, and hurried away.

“S’ok, don’t worry” Buffy said, to the rapidly retreating figure. Trying to hide her face.

Eventually, they calmed down, she fished about in her pocket for a tissue. But still sticky they went into the toilets and had a quick wash. As there was no paper towels, Buffy dried her face on another tissue. When she got out, William was waiting for her. She held his arm.

“Fat Muppet!” William said, grinning

“Idiot ice cream buyer!”

“Moronic bread roll stealer”

“Er…let me think…ah, silly rib muncher”

“I don’t munch ribs!”

“You did, last night!”

“I eat the meat off the ribs, not the ribs themselves” William stuck his tongue out to her.

“Well…I’m not a fat Muppet”

“Ok, not a fat one…but you look like one………”

“You say Miss Piggy, and you’re SO dead!” They were both giggling.

“Don’t be daft…you’re not that pretty…no, I was going to say…Animal!” He took off running, with Buffy in hot pursuit after him.

With the hotel in sight, and William quite well ahead, he walked up the steps. Buffy slowed to a more sedate trot, and went in.

She saw the lift going up, and thought it was William, so she waited for the other one. William hid behind the large potted plant. The lift ‘dinged’ and the doors slid open. Buffy emerged on her own, William jumped out with a

“Wah!” Buffy shrieked, and giggling they went into their room. She flopped on William’s bed.

“Oh gods, I ache from laughing!”

“Been fun though…acting like a couple of kids!”

“Shall we phone home?”

“Yeah…oh, hold on though, what’s the time there, don’t want make the same mistake as last night!”

“No, no, to be fair, we did promise to phone them as soon as we got here” William said.

“Mind if I have a shower first?”

“Course not, you dirty little girl!” Grinning, Buffy went into the bathroom. She got undressed, went to get into the shower, and screamed, grabbed a towel, draped it in front of her.

“Will-yum!”
Without a second’s hesitation, William dived into the bathroom.

“What – Are you ok?” He looked panic stricken, looking around for armed terrorists the way she’d screamed for him.

“Sp-spider!” She stammered, barely above a whisper, looking scared to death.

“What – oh…where?” His shoulder’s relaxed and he exhaled loudly.

“In there!” She pointed, and backed away from the shower cubical. He opened the door, scanned the walls and saw it crawling towards the plughole it wasn’t very big either.

“Um…pass me one of those glasses, please?” William held his hand out. Buffy threw her toothbrush in the washbasin and shakily handed him the glass.

“Ok…sorry about this mate…but it’s the price you pay for frightening my little sister…” Carefully he slipped the glass over the creature.

“Have you got it – have you, ooh, um, don’t kill it!?” Buffy asked backing right up to the vanity unit, standing first on one leg, then the other, drawing her knee upwards, all huddled up and grimacing.

“Just get something to slip underneath so I can put it out of the window…” William went out and came back with a flyer for an estate agent. Bending down, he slipped the paper under the glass, picked it up.

“Come on then…walkies…ok I’ve got it, you can carry on now”

“Thankyou” Buffy said shakily.

She decided against a shower, and to have a bath instead. William had just made himself a drink with the complimentary tea and coffee sachet’s, when there was a knock at the door. Frowning, he got up and opened it.

“Ah, good afternoon, sir, um, is everything all right? – We had somebody say they heard a loud scream”

“Oh, sorry, yes, that was my sister, there was a spider in the shower cubical, she’s petrified I’m afraid…I had to remove it…you know…the old paper and glass trick” William indicated the glass and paper on the table.

“Very good, sir, I’m sorry to have troubled you!”

“That’s ok…Bye”

“Good afternoon sir” William closed the door. Buffy stuck her head out of the bathroom door.

“Everything ok?”

“They heard you scream!” William said grinning.

“What? - I didn’t scream that loud! ………Did I?” She slightly opened the door a little with indignance, and then remembered that she was naked.

“Whoops!” She closed it back round her neck again.

“That’s right, I’ve already seen enough of you naked today” William said, grinning.

“What, when?” Buffy asked, surprised.

“Just, you Muppet! You had the towel held to your front…but you were standing in front of the mirror! I could see you totally from behind! You should see your bum…Like a great big white moon it was…you might want to get it waxed when they do your bikini line!” He started to giggle Buffy had gone very red!

“You wait, I’ll get you back you ………ooh!” She closed the door.
William opened it just a crack and said,

“Want Mr. Spidey to come and play in the bath with you?”

“I’ll scream again twice as loud!” Buffy threatened, but she had a giggle in her voice. William put on a wicked ‘Hehehehe’ laugh, and closed the door. She didn’t even lock it; she knew he’d never do anything like that to frighten her.

William was dozing when she came out of the bathroom. She thought about walloping him on the head with her pillow, but he looked peaceful, and wouldn’t wake him.

He’d made her a drink, and put it on the cabinet for her with the saucer on top to keep it hot. She lay on her bed, reading, soon dozed off herself. She woke when she heard the bathroom door shut quietly. She’d dozed for about 40 minutes. She heard the shower go on, and she put the news on the TV. William opened the bathroom door dressed only in his briefs, and took his watch off and put it on the nightstand by his bed, he stopped, with his hand on the bathroom door, and said,

“Think we better eat in tonight, prove to everyone I didn’t murder you earlier when you screamed!”

“Sure…hey”

“What?” Buffy reached out and ‘twanged’ the elastic of his briefs.

“Ow!”

“How, all I did was this!”

“Ah-ah, like I’d fall for that!” William arched his hips away from her, and went for his shower. She put some makeup on, and made them both another drink.

He must have taken his clothes in there with him, as he came out of the bathroom fully dressed.

“Those new?” Buffy squinted at his black trousers.

“What these? – No, bought them in the sale just after Christmas, wore them to Aunt Susan’s 50th.”

“I hate that bitch!”

“Buffy”

“Well, I do, and you should too, never let’s you forget you’re adopted…has to keep on bringing it up…mentions it at every opportunity, for any reason.

Drives dad and mom up the wall, and me, come to that!”

“I know. It bother’s everyone else far more than it bothers me”

“Dad said he’d tell her to put a bag over her head if she kept on”

“Actually…mom did, she said to her, ‘I’ve just stopped Hank from telling you to put a bag on your head, but I wish I hadn’t!”

“She thought I didn’t hear…I pretended I hadn’t…still, I got my own back”

“How?”

“Don’t you remember, when the announcement was put in the paper wishing her ‘A Very Happy Birthday’, I said she was 60th!” Buffy snorted a giggle.

“Did you?”

“Yes…and I told mom and dad”

“What did they say?”

“After they stopped laughing? Just, oh good, and bought half a dozen copies each!”

“I never knew that!” Buffy said.

“Well, you had other um…’things’ on your mind, if you remember.” Buffy rolled her eyes.

“Don’t remind me…gods, I was such a brat about him!”

“Yes, well…let’s draw a veil over that, shall we?”

“We eating in tonight?”

“Can do…are we posh enough, the restaurant looks a bit swanky…” Buffy said.

“There’s the Café Bar, I don’t want to spend too much of dad’s money”

“Ok, great!” Buffy said.

“Besides which, they wouldn’t let you into the restaurant, you haven’t had your bum waxed yet!” William said, then added,

“OW!” As an expertly aimed elbow caught him straight in the ribs.

“Oh yes, thankyou for reminding me!”





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