Spike downed his beer with a sigh. He knew he was being pathetic, sitting all alone in a bar, still drinking beer after beer at 1.30 in the morning. Although, it had seemed like a good idea at the time. He’d gone straight to The Bronze after leaving Buffy’s place, spending a couple of hours grumbling and muttering about daft bints and their sodding mixed signals.
Eventually Xander, who unfortunately had been the one working in the bar that night, had had enough of Spike’s drunkenly ramblings and told him to either stop whining or go home.
~3 hours earlier ~
“This is ridiculous, Spike! It was just a misunderstanding, it’s not the end of the world! So you screwed up? Go back there and apologize to Buffy. Tell her that you care about her and that you’re not just after getting into her pants.”
“No, can’t go back, she threw me out, remember? This thing, whatever it was, is over. It never would’ve worked anyway. Let’s just face it, I’m too fucked up to be in a relationship.”
At midnight, when Xander’s shift was over, he'd offered to give his friend a ride home, but Spike had declined. Now, almost two hours later he was still there, still drinking and still feeling sorry for himself. He’d been wrong, he knew that now. Buffy really had been different. She'd actually enjoyed his company and had liked him for who he was, and Spike had ruined everything. Every slight chance he’d once had of them ever getting together for real. All because of his damned stupid insecurities.
But, he just wasn’t used to girls being serious and caring about him, wanting to take things slow. Inviting him inside had obviously been a totally innocent act from Buffy’s side, but how was he supposed to have known that? Something like that had never happened to him before, whenever a girl asked him to come into her apartment it always meant that she wanted them to sleep together.
And now Buffy thought that he was the one who wanted nothing more from her than a one-night-stand. Nothing could’ve been more wrong, the whole situation was so fucked up, it would've almost been funny, that is to say, if Spike hadn't been so depressed by it.
He liked Buffy, really liked her. They hadn’t known each other long, but there had been something, a spark, there from the beginning. They’d both felt the same way, he knew it. It was ironic really, all he’d ever wanted was to find someone who would like him for who really he was and when he finally did find someone, find her, he messed everything up.
Having had enough of the self-loathing, he was just about to order himself another beer when someone sat down next to him. He glanced over at the blond girl now sitting beside him, and almost growled. And I thought that this night couldn’t possibly get any worse. “Oh, bollocks! You.”
Harmony rolled her eyes, throwing her hair over her shoulder. “Nice to see you too, Blondie-bear.”
Spike cringed at the ridiculous nick-name, glaring at her. “Stop calling me that, you stupid cow!”
“Don’t yell at me. You don’t have to be so mean!” Harmony wiped away a tear, looking down at her hands.
Hating to see a girl, any girl, cry, Spike sighed. “Oh, bloody hell, will you stop that! I’m sorry, ok? I was rude, I just had a really bad night, I shouldn’t have taken it out on you. Let me buy you a drink?”
Harmony lit up a little, nodding eagerly. “Ok. That’s not why I’m so upset, anyway. Parker dumped me tonight, can you believe it? I gave him the best couple of…weeks of my life!”
Knowing first hand what Harmony was like, he was amazed that anyone could stand being around her for a couple of days, let alone weeks. Sure, they’d been together for almost a month, but she’d gone out a lot, with her friends she’d said but he knew better now, giving him some well-needed space. The only reason he’d been going out with her at all, was that it was better to have someone, anyone, than to be all alone. Or so he’d thought.
So she’d been going out with Parker, and yet she’d been going on about wanting to give him another chance last night? Not that it surprised him, she’d never been much for just one man at the time. She seemed really upset now though, and he didn’t know what to say to her. “It’ll be ok.”
Sniffing a little, Harmony looked at him, a hopeful look on her face. “Yeah? Because I’m really such a wonderful person and I deserve the best and will find the right guy some day?”
“Um…” Spike wasn’t sure how to describe Harmony, but knew that ‘wonderful person’ was the last expression he’d use. “Right…”
He looked at his watch, realizing that it was past 3 in the morning, and that he was supposed to be at work in less than five hours. “Well, it’s been… nice, but I gotta go.” He got up and was about to leave, when Harmony let out a miserable whimper. “What’s wrong?”
Harmony sighed, more tears welling up in her eyes. “Oh, nothing. It’s just that I was supposed to sleep at Parker’s place tonight since my room-mate’s having her boyfriend over. I have nowhere else to go.”
Spike didn’t know what to do. He really needed to go, but he couldn’t just leave Harmony here all alone and miserable. It was the William-part left in him, not able to see a girl, even one as annoying as Harmony, suffer. He took a deep breath, sure that he’d end up regretting his decision later. “If you want, you can stay at my place tonight.”
Harmony let out a squeal, throwing herself in his arms. “Oh my God, that is so sweet of you!”
Rolling his eyes, Spike pushed her away. “You’ll sleep on the couch, and you better be gone when I get back from work.”
Pouting a little, Harmony finally gave in and sighed. “Whatever.”
TBC