The Start of Something New
“Giles?” The man looked at her strangely. Buffy shook her head. “I mean hi. Can I help you?”
“Uh yeah. I’m looking for Joyce Summers.”
“Tony?” Buffy heard from behind her. She looked to see her mother wiping her hands on her apron as she approached them.
“Joyce.” She smiled at the couple.
“Come in come in.” Buffy moved aside and let them enter the house. She closed the door and watched as they went into the living room and sat down.
“Robia, you look so good.”
“Thank you. So do you.” Joyce looked down at herself.
“Not so much with my marshmallow apron on. You’ll have to excuse me; I’ve been doing some baking.”
“It’s quite alright,” Tony said. So apparently he’s ‘British here,’ Buffy thought.
“Buffy, do you remember Tony and Robia?” Buffy shook her head no even though she recognized them both. Telling her mom that he had been her watcher and she had been her computer teacher that had been murdered by her ex-boyfriend gone bad in her dreams probably wouldn’t go over too well.
“It is understandable, we haven’t seen her since she was a little girl,” Robia said.
“Well Buffy the Morgan’s are friends of mine and your dad’s. We’ve known them a long time. They were really there for us when you were sick.” Buffy made a face at that. It wasn’t really great to know that your mom referred to your time of incapacitation as a sickness. She really hoped her mother didn’t think she had a real mental disease. That had been one of her fears since coming back. She hated other people thinking she was crazy, but it would be worse if her own parents thought that.
“Well it’s nice to meet you...again,” Buffy told them with an attempted smile.
Buffy watched the couple closely the rest of the night. They seemed very happy, which she was glad of. Even though she didn’t really know them in this world they seemed enough like Giles and Jenny for her to care about them. After dinner Buffy headed up to her room leaving the adults to themselves. Though she was curious about Tony and Robia she wasn’t interested in hearing them talk about finances for three hours. Not too long after she went upstairs her cell phone rang.
“Hello.”
“Hey Buff. Listen we were gonna head to Freddy’s for some drinks and dancing and we were wondering if you wanted to come,” Julie’s voice said from the other line.
“Umm I guess. Mom and dad have some guests over so I’m sure they won’t mind if I’m gone a while.”
“K well we’ll be there in like 10 minutes.”
“Alright. I’ll see you then.”
“Bye.” Buffy hung up the phone and went to the closet. She needed to change clothes if she was going out. She let her mind drift to James. He would probably be there. Him and Juliet. Ever since her mother had died he had been spending every possible second with her. Buffy knew that this would happen, but that didn’t make it any easier on her. Seeing them together bothered her.
Once dressed Buffy grabbed her purse and headed downstairs. Her parents and the Morgan’s were all sitting in the living room.
“Oh Buffy where are you going?” her mother asked.
“Julie called; we’re going to Freddy’s.”
“Oh alright. You kids be careful.”
“It was nice to meet you Buffy,” Robia said.
“It was nice to meet you guys too,” she replied before stepping out on the porch. She took a deep breath and leaned against the porch rail. ‘Julie should be here soon,’ she thought. In the meantime however she was left to her own thoughts. Which of course were similar to what they usually were. Him. How long would it be before Juliet was okay enough for him to leave her? She couldn’t wait forever after all. But she had finally decided she wanted to be with him so she couldn’t give up now.
Julie’s car pulled into the driveway and Buffy shook her head deciding not to think about it anymore. Tonight was going to be about fun.
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Buffy made a face at James and Juliet’s current display of affection. He had his arm around her and had just given her a kiss. Not two weeks ago they had been bound and determined to be together and now she had to watch him make out with another girl. She had agreed to wait on him, but she hadn’t realized that waiting on him would require pretending not to be uncomfortable around Juliet.
She had to admit that she was happy that the girl had agreed to come tonight. It had taken a while to convince her to come. She was still mourning the death of her mother, but as Julie put it, it wasn’t doing her any good to sit around the house all day. She had reluctantly agreed to come with them to Freddy’s. Buffy was relieved when the manager of the club came up to James insisting he needed to speak with him right away.
“So,” Julie said, “how about we go dance.”
“Sounds good to me,” Chris said. Juliet shrugged her shoulders and the three of them got up.
“You two coming?”
“I think we’ll sit this one out,” Nick told them. Julie nodded and they headed out on the dance floor.
“So Buffy…I haven’t seen you much lately.”
“Yeah I’ve been busy. Mom’s got me helping out at the gallery sometimes.”
“The gallery? Sounds like fun.”
“Oh yeah. Loads.” He smiled.
“I’ve been pretty busy myself. We’ve had a big case load.” Buffy nodded and was about to speak when she heard a voice from behind her.
“Nicky. Long time no see.” Buffy turned around and saw a familiar face. It was the guy Nick had punched in the face.
“Not nearly long enough.” The guy smiled.
“I missed you too.” He looked like he was going to sit down at the table.
“Why don’t you piss off Andy.”
“Or what? You gonna hit me again?” It sounded like a challenge. Nick looked at Buffy.
“I would but then I’d have to interrupt this lovely date and it’s just not worth it.” Buffy smiled sweetly at him and Andy made a face.
“It would probably be a relief for her if you got lost. She needs a real man in her life.” He put his hand on her shoulder. She picked it up and dropped it.
“Sorry I got all the man I need right here.” Andy didn’t seem too happy about that.
“Fine. I could do better anyway.” Buffy seemed unaffected by his comment, which only furthered to make him angry. Eventually he turned and sauntered towards the bar. Buffy looked back at Nick who was glaring after him.
“So what’s the deal with you and that Andy guy anyway?”
“He’s an ass,” Nick replied making Buffy laugh.
“Seriously. Seems like every time he’s around you turn into Mr. macho defensive guy.”
“Yeah well he always makes me feel inferior. We went to high school together and he used to make fun of me. Said I would never amount to anything.”
“And I’m sensing there’s more to it than that.”
“He also stole the love of my life.”
“Oh…well that’s definitely a reason to hate someone.” He nodded.
“Yeah.” She wondered briefly who this love of his life was. “I thought Emma and I were gonna get married. I was gonna propose. But apparently she saw something in him that she didn’t see in me so…” He got a sad look on his face, but it disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. “But, that’s all in the past. And I’m focusing on right now.” He said the last part with a smile at her. Buffy couldn’t help but smile back. Nick really was a great guy, much as Xander had been.
They were pulled out of their shared look when Julie appeared beside them.
“You guys need to get out there. Get your groove on.” Buffy cast a look at Juliet and Chris who were currently doing the shake.
“I’ll pass.”
“Oh come on, you know you want to.”
“Yeah come on Buffy, let’s get funky.” She laughed.
“I don’t know…” Both of them started shaking their heads yes. “Well okay.”
“Yay,” Julie said walking back out onto the dance floor. Buffy laughed as she danced with the group over the next few songs. She felt herself relaxing as her body swayed to the music. She felt Nick’s hands on her waist, and turned to dance with him.
James ran his hand through his hair as he walked back out into the club. He had had to get his band’s schedule worked out with the manager and that wasn’t exactly the most exciting thing in the world. He was just happy to have that over with. When he got back to the table where everyone had been they were no longer seated. He glanced out on the dance floor. They were all out there dancing. His gaze fixed on Buffy. She was smiling, which caused a similar look to appear on his face. His smile faded however when he saw her turn and begin dancing very closely to Nick. He felt a pang of unwelcomed jealousy. He couldn’t help but thinking that it should be him out there with her.
When the song ended Nick went off to the bar to get a drink and Buffy was standing a few feet from Juliet, Julie, and Chris so James proceeded over to her.
“Can I talk to you?” he asked her. Buffy turned surprised to see him there.
“Sure.” He looked around making sure the others hadn’t seen him.
“Privately.”
“Okay…” she said with a questioning look. He nodded towards a nearby hallway and she followed him. He stopped when he decided he was far enough away from the dance floor.
“So what did you need to talk to me about that was so private?” she asked him. He looked at the floor as if he were trying to gather his thoughts.
“James?”
“I can’t do this.”
“You’re the one who wanted to talk.”
“That’s not what I meant. I mean I can’t do this,” he gestured between them. “I can’t keep pretending I don’t have feelings for you. Watching you with him…it’s killing me.” She rolled her eyes.
“And you think I like seeing you all lovey dovey with Juliet?”
“I know, and I’m sorry but I don’t want her to know that anything is wrong.” Buffy sighed and crossed her arms.
“So you keep saying. And I get it. I understand, and you should too. Look, I know we said that we’d wait to be together, but I…I can’t just sit here and wait for her to be okay again. I wanna be with someone too. And I like Nick, he’s a nice guy.”
“A nice guy?”
“Yes, and he really likes me.”
“So you’re leading him on?”
“I’m having a life.” He put his hands in his pockets. He knew it was a stupid idea to talk to her. He was only making himself seem pathetic. But there was something about this girl that he couldn’t shake. Something that made him want to drop everything he had ever known to be with her. It was a strange feeling that he didn’t even remember ever having with Juliet.
“You’re right. You shouldn’t have to wait on me.”
“Thank you.”
“So we’ll be together.” Buffy narrowed her eyes at him.
“What?”
“We’ll be together now. No more waiting.”
“But Juliet…”
“We won’t tell her. We won’t tell anyone. It’ll be our little secret.” Buffy couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
“Are you serious? You want to be with me, but you want it to be a secret?”
“It’s the only way. At least for now. One day I’ll tell her, but it’s still too soon to hurt her. I mean we’ve been together for 7 years I can’t just end it.” She didn’t know what to say to that. He wanted them to start a secret relationship. Why did fate keep doing this to her? He grabbed her hand.
“Please baby. I want this, and I know that you do too.” She couldn’t deny that. She did want this. But it was wrong.
Tell me I’m wrong, please.
He put his hand under her chin and lifted her face so she was looking him in the eyes.
“If I’m wrong…if you don’t want this, then just let me know and I’ll walk away right now and never look back.” She wanted to tell him she didn’t; she knew that would be the best thing…the right thing. But those eyes…the ones that seemed to look right into her soul…they were begging her not to say no. And damn it, she just couldn’t go against those eyes.
“You’re not wrong.” He brushed his thumb across her lips.
“I know I’m not,” he said with a smirk that made her want to slap him. But before she had a chance to do anything he captured her lips with his own.
Perhaps it was crazy, but much as it had been in the other world, doing something wrong was exciting and it was about time she got some excitement in her new life. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back passionately.
They were so caught up in the moment that neither of them saw the figure watching them from around the corner.
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