Chapter Twenty
Rachel’s eyes practically rolled back into her head in pleasure as she chewed and swallowed. “This is saving my life,” she declared blissfully.
Buffy giggled at her dramatics. “You should have mentioned you were hungry. I would have ordered ages ago.”
Shaking her head, Rachel picked up another piece of pizza. “No way. I was determined to get to the end of that last chapter before we stopped. That test is next week and I refuse to have to do it all over again.”
Their books were spread haphazardly around the room, now being ignored in favour of the more urgent matter of eating. The weeks had passed quickly and the two women had come to enjoy each other’s company, both in and out of class. They’d been studying all night and were now indulging in some well-earned relaxation time.
“Where are your folks tonight?” Rachel asked.
“Some charity thing. They won’t be home till after midnight for sure.”
“I don’t know how you do it. I couldn’t stand living with my parents now that I’ve been out on my own.” Rachel visibly shuddered at the thought.
Buffy simply shrugged. “They’re okay. I haven’t been back in town that long so I haven’t really had a chance to find a place of my own yet.”
Finishing off the last of her pizza, Rachel asked, “Where did you live before?”
Opening her mouth to give the automatic spiel about living in a small town up the coast, Buffy stopped suddenly. She really liked Rachel. She reminded her so much of Faith, with her down-to-earth attitude and her slightly standoffish ways. For some reason she found herself wanting to be straight with her new friend.
“Actually I was…umm…in a mental institution.”
Rachel’s eyed widened comically. “No shit! Really?”
Cringing, but hoping she wouldn’t lose her new friend, she nodded. “Yep. I was all with the loony tunes.”
“What was wrong with you?”
“I had some sort of mental breakdown when I was in high school. Built a little delusional world for myself to live in. Stayed there for six years.” She shrugged. “Just came out of it a few months ago.”
“And that’s why you’re just getting your diploma now?” Rachel asked interestedly.
“Yeah.” Buffy waited patiently for Rachel’s reaction, half expected her to start making excuses why she had to leave.
But instead Rachel asked, “What was it like? Your delusional world.”
Turning red with embarrassment, Buffy nervously brushed her hair away from her face. “It was pretty much the same as it is here only I lived in a little town called Sunnydale and I was a…err…a superhero.”
Rachel laughed, clapping her hands in appreciation. “That's fantastic. I mean if you’re gonna create your own world you might as well be important in it, right?”
Buffy smiled, surprised by Rachel’s ready acceptance of her situation. “Pretty much.”
“You didn’t wear tights and a cape did you? Cause if you did I may have to leave.”
Laughing at the image that created Buffy was quick to reassure her. “No. Definitely no capes. I was a vampire slayer so it was really just me and Mr Pointy.”
“Mr Pointy?”
“My stake.”
Rachel’s eyebrows lifted. “You named your stake?”
Cringing again, Buffy dropped her head in her hands. “I know, I know. It was a thing.”
“Wow,” Rachel muttered to herself, seeming to be reflecting on the conversation. “When you said you got distracted you weren’t kidding were you.”
“Nope,” she replied with a wryly smile. “I was about as distracted as you can get.”
“But you’re better now?”
Buffy shrugged. “So far so good.”
**********
“I was distracted by a guy.”
Buffy looked up from her ice cream to give Rachel a questioning look.
“I know. Total cliché right?”
Smiling softly, Buffy replied, “Depends on the guy.”
“Well this guy…he was something else.” Rachel was plucking at a loose thread on her jeans. “He was a bartender at a club I used to go to. We hit it off right away; it was love at first sight. Or at least it was for me.”
Buffy sat quietly and listened. She could see that it was taking a lot for Rachel to tell her this; could see the pain that burned in her eyes.
“He told me that he loved me. Convinced me to leave my family, not that I think they really minded that I was gone. I kind of just stopped going to school. It was hard making enough money to live on and before I knew it we were stealing what we needed to get by. Nothing big, just some food and stuff.”
She looked up, as if trying to gauge Buffy’s reaction, just as Buffy had done to her moments before and Buffy smiled encouragingly.
“One night he showed up with a gun, I don’t know where he got it. He wanted to rob a gas station.” Rachel’s foot tapped nervously on the ground. “I didn’t want to but…I loved him. I would have done anything for him.” She gave a sad depreciating laugh. “I was a stupid kid.”
“What happened?” Buffy asked gently.
“We got caught about three gas stations later. Turns out he’s been in and out of prison for years; I had no idea. That’s where he is now.” She shrugged casually, though this telling was obviously still difficult. “I got off easy because I’d never been in trouble before. The judge sent me to jail for a little while; said she wanted to scare me straight. Now I’m out and trying to put my life back together.”
“Hence the going back to school?”
Rachel cringed. “Actually that’s court ordered. I probably would have gone back anyway though. I don’t ever want to go back to jail again.”
“I can understand why.” Taking a moment to assimilate these new revelations, Buffy lifted her glass of soda in a toast. “Here’s to no more jails, no more loony bins, and definitely no more distractions.”
Rachel lifted her own glass with a look a relief on her face. “I’ll drink to that.”