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Chapter 20

That Friday Spike and Angel sat at the bar, each deep in their own thoughts. Spike’s were joyous while Angel’s weren’t. Behind them the large screen TV was showing some obscure ball game. At the moment the blue guys were wiping the floor with the yellow guys. "She actually asked me if I loved her. You know what," Angel said abruptly. He cut his eyes to his blond friend. "This wasn’t supposed to happen to me." Spike silently tipped his head back, emptying his glass completely. To the casual observer it looked like Angel was talking to himself, and he briefly wondered why he was friends with the quiet Englishman. Angel sighed loudly. "I mean, I’m Angel. I’m young, rich and beautiful," that caused Spike to smile faintly. "It was supposed to be just this thing, something or someone to do. I mean falling in love was your goal, not mine. Do you have any idea how this screws up my life plan?" Angel caught the eye of the bartender and signaled for two more drinks.

"Why don’t you just call the Homecoming Queen and kiss and make up? Stop pretending that you’re not whipped. Pick out your china pattern and get that house in the suburbs, or not, just stop pissing about it already." Spike stood up and drained his glass. "Myself, I’m man enough to admit that I’m love’s bitch. Now if you don’t mind, I got plans tonight. I’m going to see a little lady."

"I just hope she wasn’t serious about me to taking her
to that silly prom." Angel said to himself.

Spike stopped and with his back still towards Angel whispered, "What are you talking about, you daft git?"

"Yeah, when she initially brought it up, I kinda blew her off." Angel didn’t notice the change in his friend’s demeanor. He chuckled as he shook his head "I mean, how would it look, me at a high school senior prom?"

Spike turned to his flat mate and looked at him with wide eyes. "What the hell are you talking about? High school? Who’s in high school?" he asked through clenched teeth. But he knew, dammit, he knew. It answered so many questions that he’d never really wanted to ask. He knew there was something big that she was keeping from him, but high school? "How could I be so blind?" he asked himself with a broken voice as he sat down heavily. "Why would I think...? I mean she was always so vague. And I didn’t want to see it. I just didn’t want to see it. I was going to sleep with her.

Angel looked into Spike’s eyes and barked out a harsh laugh. "You really didn’t know? Dude I just thought you were, I don’t know, playing dumb. You know, that whole don’t ask, don’t tell attitude. But go figure, she had you snowed all along." Angel turned to the bartender and said, "Give my naive friend here a drink," he paused and added ,"dude, you’d better make it a double."

Spike blindly took the offered drink and emptied the glass in one shot. "High school," he said quietly. "So she’s what, eighteen--?

"Seventeen."

"Seventeen? Bloody hell!" Spike roared. "If Snyder, or anyone for that matter, found out about her, I would have lost everything." The gravity of the situation was starting to sink into the subdued man. "She not only lied to me but she put my whole career, everything that I’ve worked for, my future, in jeopardy." He ran his hand though his hair and stood up suddenly.

"Hey where are you going? You’ve had way too much to drink to be out driving tonight buddy. Let’s call a cab and get you home so you can sleep it off and just talk to Buffy in the morning." Angel reached for the smaller man’s arm.

Angel felt the emotion in his friend’s tense shoulder. "You best be getting your hand off me, mate. I have never been more sober than I am right now. Like I already said, I’m going to see a little lady.


Buffy did a final walk though her house. The living room had a soft glow from all the various candles. The radio was playing softly in the background. Dinner was done and the wine was chilling. All that was left to do was to get her new dress on. She smiled as she thought about the little black bag from Kam’s Naughty Girl that was upstairs on her bed. She had been thinking about this night for a very long time. Wondering about what it would be like, who the man would be. She was very happy that she never went all the way with Riley. She believed at the time that she loved him. But now that she knew what real love was, the childish crush was just plain embarrassing. She felt her face flush when she thought about what the night had in store for them. "Tonight we are going to share everything, I’m going to tell him everything," she vowed to her reflection. Lights turned into her driveway and Buffy felt her heart speed up. "Oh my goodness," she said turning towards the knocking on the front door. "Come in Spike, it’s opened," she called. As she ran up the stairs to her bedroom she ripped off her sweatshirt. "I’ll be right down, OK, Spike?" She frowned waiting for him to answer her and walked back to her closed bedroom door. She slowly opened the door, "Spike?" Outside her door he stood quietly watching her with hooded eyes. Buffy nervously brought her arms up to cover her breast, feeling the black mood coming off him. "Spike you’re scaring me. Talk to me, what’s wrong?"

"How old are you?" he asked in a tight voice.

"What? I--I don’t understand." she began.

"How. OLD. Are. You?" he yelled at her.

"Let me explain," she said starting to cry.

"Oh my God! All the way over here I was still hoping that it wasn’t true. I can’t believe that you’ve been lying to me, hell, the entire time that I’ve known you. Now I understand why I never met your mother. Why you were always so bloody vague about everything. And you wanted to sleep with me? How many men have you played the ‘I’m a virgin’ card on, huh, Buffy?" he asked her mockingly. "I can’t believe that I fell for it all. And to believe that I actually thought that you might be," Spike stopped, trying desperately to rein in his emotions.

Buffy stood before him with her face in her hands. He wasn’t supposed to find out like this; it wasn’t supposed to be like this, she kept saying to herself. She couldn’t even look at him, afraid to see the anger in his eyes. Buffy dropped her hands and looked at his feet. "I wanted to tell you so many times but I didn’t know how. At the bar, that first night I didn’t know. I would have told you that very night if I had known that I was going to fall in love--"

"Don’t say it." Spike looked at her with hard eyes, his jaw clenched with fury. "You have no right to say it."

"No, no, no." she whispered reaching for him.

"What the hell do you know about love? It’s more than puppies and songs you daft bint. First and foremost love is honesty you silly little girl! What do you know? You were going to let me, a man who makes his livelihood working with children," Buffy blanched at that thought. "you were going to let me sleep with a minor. I could have gone to jail Buffy, never be allowed to teach again. But you love me? Again I ask, what the hell does a seventeen year old girl know about love?"

"Eighteen." she whispered wiping her hand across her flushed face. "I turned eighteen last Tuesday. No matter what you think, what it looks like. I did love you. Do love you." She reached for his hand and felt the tears resume when he drew away from her
touch. "Don’t, please, Spike," she moaned, reaching for him again. He backed away from her and started down the stairs. As he walked to the front door he paused at the mantel. His face paled and he clamped his eyes shut. A wild laugh bubbled up from his chest. He looked at her and asked incredulously, "You know the Bit?" Buffy looked at him and shook her head, confused. He pinched the bridge of his nose and snickered again. "You know Dawn?"

"She’s my cousin, the one that I baby-sit." Buffy looked at him sadly as she took a timid step towards him.

Spike backed away from her with his hand up in the air. "I can’t believe the little Bit is related to you. I’m her teacher, you silly, silly girl."

"Stop calling me that!" Buffy shrieked, fists clenched at her sides. "I may be a lot of things to you right now, but stop calling me that! I know you still love me, Spike. So please stop being so cold. We can work this out, I told you I’m eighteen now. I’m legal." She threw herself desperately into his arms.

Spike pushed her away and said disbelievingly, "And that is exactly why I called you a silly girl. This is about so much more than being bloody legal. You may not like the title of ‘little girl’ but how about ‘pathological liar’, that is a much better fit."

"Stop it! Get out, get out, GET OUT!" Buffy screeched picking up a bowl to throw at him.

"No need for that Ducks." Spike said coldly. As he picked up the bottle of wine that was chilling in the bucket he said, "And you’re too young to be drinking this." He stepped out of the house and, uncorking the bottle, took a deep swallow.

Buffy stood in the middle of her living room with the bowl still in her grip. She started after him, the bowl shattering as she let it slip from her hand. She hugged herself and looking down realized that she still didn’t have a shirt on. Buffy stopped and sat on the floor crying. "But you love me," she said in a small voice.





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