[Reviews - 56]
-
Table of Contents [Report This]
Microsoft Word Chapter or Story | ePub eBook Chapter or Story | Printer Chapter or Story

Has been viewed 2800 times

- Text Size +




Party Like Its 2002

“And you’re sure she hasn’t called?” Joyce asked her husband for the fiftieth time.

“Yes dear, I’m sure.” Hank briefly looked up at his wife who was currently pacing back and forth across the living room.

“And you’re not worried?”

“No dear.”

Joyce plopped down on the couch. “I don’t know why I’m acting like this. I mean it’s not like she’s incapable of taking care of herself. And it’s only 8.” She sighed. It was a mother’s job to worry about her daughter. Even if said daughter happened to be of the legal drinking age. This thought brought other, less pleasant ones to mind. “Oh God. What if she’s passed out somewhere and she needs us?”

“What if she got kidnapped by the Italian mafia and they’re holding her hostage in their warehouse until the government pays them 10 million dollars?” Joyce gave her husband a look that said she found no humor in his statement. Hank on the other hand was smiling to himself. He looked up at his wife and then reached over and patted her on the knee.

“I’m kidding. Look, you know she’s fine.” She didn’t look convinced.

“She should have been back by now.”

“She’s 21 years old dear. You should be happy that she comes back at all.”

“Hank!” Before he had a chance to defend himself the front door opened.

Buffy looked over at her parents, one of which looked irritated and the other who looked like he’d got caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

“Hey” she offered. Joyce rose from the couch and moved to help her daughter with her bags.

“Hello honey. Are you alright?”

“Uhh…yeah I guess. Just tired.” To be honest she wasn’t so good. That movie had gotten her all shaken up, and despite her brain telling her it was a bad idea she had bought it. She was determined to find out what all of her dreams and apparent hallucinations meant, and she was convinced the movie would provide the answers that she needed.

“You sure?”

“Yes mom. I’m sure. I’m okay. Really. You don’t have to worry about me.” Her mother nodded knowing that she had a point. She was overreacting considering that it was barely even dark outside.

As Buffy started up the stairs she couldn’t help but think that her mom in imaginary world had been a lot less protective of her than this one seemed to be. Although other world Buffy had never been in a coma, she had been a slayer. One would think that this would cause a mother to be more concerned.

After she got all of her bags into her room and showed her mom everything, well almost everything, that she had bought, she went to the bathroom and took a shower. The water felt good on her sore muscles. She was surprised at how tired her body was after a simple day of walking around town. And those shopping bags had been heavier than she had anticipated. Having the strength of a normal girl was tough. She had gotten so used to being strong. But of course she really hadn’t, because that wasn’t real.

She was becoming more and more convinced that the doctor had been right. Maybe she had unknowingly saw the movie somewhere before and it had stuck with her in the back of her mind. That would make sense. And maybe all of the people that she had imagined, she had seen sometime or another in her life. Maybe her subconscious had a photographic memory.

She really had to watch that movie. And that was the plan she had decided while showering. She would watch it tonight after her parents went to sleep. She couldn’t risk them walking in and seeing her watching it. They would send her right back to the looney bin.

She turned the water off and grabbed her towel. After wrapping up in it she stepped out of the bathroom and into the hall. The coolness of the air made her shiver. Buffy made her way to her room and got dressed. It was getting close to nine and she was becoming a little hungry. She hadn’t eaten anything since lunch, and even then she had only eaten one slice of pizza. Her stomach growled loudly and she knew that she couldn’t put off eating much longer. She decided that Chinese sounded really good, and if she remembered correctly, the restaurant nearest to their house delivered.

What could be better than dinner and a movie?

--------------------------------------

As the credits of the movie rolled Buffy’s mind was all over the place. The girl in the movie had been similar to “dream world Buffy” in the respect that she was a slayer with weird dreams and an interesting taste in men. And what a coincidence that said love interest happened to carry the name Pike. That would explain the whole Spike thing. She just saw James and connected that with Pike from the movie and added an S for some reason. And maybe she could kinda link Riley with that Jeffrey guy, but what about Angel?

Thinking of him brought her mind back to her dream. What the hell did that mean? And romance aside, what about Willow and Xander? Buffy’s friends in the movie had been major bitches. Not to mention Giles and Merrick don’t exactly sound the same. And Dawn, how did she fit in? She was still so confused.

Buffy closed her eyes and lay back on her bed. Why did this all have to be so complicated? She could only hope that things would get simpler as time went on. She would figure everything out, eventually. She hoped.

Right now though, she had other things to worry about. Like that party that was to be thrown in her honor. She could only hope there would be no clowns or magic tricks. The way her mom was acting, anything was possible. She was 21 years old after all. She should have been out with friends, drinking and having a good time instead of lying on her bed thinking about a world that wasn’t even real. Not that her parents would let her go anywhere. Buffy felt like she was 16 again, having her mom pacing the floors and checking in on her every two seconds. She would really have to look into getting her own place. Though, in order to do that, one needs money, and to have money, one would need a job, and having a job brought back bad memories of fast food and people burgers. Buffy cringed. Even if she hadn’t really worked in fast food, she still remembered doing so, and that was enough to keep her away from that world.

She wondered who exactly her parents had invited to this thing. It wasn’t like she had any friends, and the ones that she had had probably wouldn’t be too up for hanging out anymore. And how awkward would that be? ‘Hey Buffy. Long time no see. How you been? In a coma? Great.’ She really needed to look into making some friends. She briefly considered talking to James. He was after all the only person relatively close to her age that she had met, and he could probably introduce her to some other people. She quickly dismissed the idea. She didn’t need any help. She was perfectly capable of making friends on her own. And that was exactly what she was going to do.

-----------------------------------

“Buffy! It’s almost six. Everyone’s going to be here soon. Are you almost ready?”

“Yeah mom!” came a reply from upstairs.

Buffy nearly fell over as she hopped on one foot while trying to put a shoe on the other. She soon regained her balance and looked at herself in the mirror and smiled. She had successfully gotten both of her heels on without sitting down. She looked herself up and down, satisfied with what she had managed to put together. Her knew black dress fell just above her knees, and was cut low enough to show off some cleavage, but high enough to be considered tasteful. Luckily her mom had some black heels that didn’t look like old lady shoes. She had her hair slightly curled, and it fell around her shoulders. (A/N: we’re pretending that her hair isn’t short cause I liked it better long) Looking at her now, one would have never guessed that she had been in a coma for six years. She had apparently managed to keep her shape.

Buffy heard the door bell ring and knew that some of the guests had arrived. She gave herself one final look over before heading downstairs.

-------------------------

“Mrs. Johansson” Joyce greeted as the woman entered the house.

“Hello Joyce.” Joyce looked out the door and when she didn’t see anyone else outside, she closed the door.

“Where’s Frank?”

“Oh he spotted Hank out back and absolutely had to find out what he was doing.” Joyce nodded and the two women smiled.

“And what about that daughter of yours? Is she going to be able to make it?”

“Yes. She’s on her way now. She went with Juliet Thompson down to visit her mother.”

“That poor girl. I’m surprised she hasn’t become as insane as that woman, having to take care of her all those years.”

“At least they’ve got her in a good place now.” Joyce nodded.

“It’s just a shame that they couldn’t have done it sooner. Juliet lost most of her childhood to her mother’s disease.”

“It’s a good thing she had…Buffy.” Barbra looked slightly confused for a second before she noticed the girl at the bottom of the stairs.

“Hello Buffy. You look wonderful.”

“Thank you.”

“Honey you look beautiful.” Joyce looked admiringly at her daughter.

“Thanks mom.”

“Is that the dress you bought?” Buffy nodded. “It’s lovely.” She smiled at the two women. She had almost forgotten how it felt to have her mom reassuring her that she was beautiful. It was nice.

The doorbell rang and Joyce went to answer it.

-----------------------

Within the hour approximately 30 more people arrived; none of which Buffy recognized. With the exception of James, who had shown up with his parents. And other than saying hello to them, she had been doing her best to avoid James at all costs. Maybe he wasn’t the vampire that she knew, but he was enough like him to give her the creeps.

It was getting close to eight now, and Buffy had decided to duck outside to get some air. Having to tell people that she was fine over and over was exhausting. She leaned against the porch rail and watched as cars passed by.

“Nice night.” She jumped, slightly startled. James came to stand beside her, and she stood up straight. “You alright?”

“Yeah. You just scared me a little.” He smiled.

“Sorry.”

“No big.” She crossed her arms and looked at him out of the corner of her eye. It looked as if her ‘avoid James’ plan had failed.

“So, shouldn’t you be mingling right about now?” He had turned to face her leaning his back against the porch post behind him.

“I think I’ve had about all of the mingling I can take for one lifetime.”

“I know what you mean. Not even my party and I’ve had to explain my future plans to everyone in the room. But apparently there’s still hope for young people.” Buffy smiled despite the fact she felt really weird talking to him. His lack of accent was rather disturbing. She thought briefly about asking him if he’d ever been to England but thought better of it. No need to make more people think she was insane. It was also strange to hear him refer to himself as young. James was only a year or two older than her. Though technically Spike had been about that age. He was still young when he had died.

They stood in silence, neither really knowing what else to say. Luckily a car in the driveway caught their attention. James seemed to perk up.

“Who’s that?” Buffy asked as she saw two people get out of the car.

“Hold on a sec.” He started down the stairs to meet them. The question of did he know them was dismissed when she saw him kiss one of them. She pushed back an annoying feeling and waited for them. The other person, a girl, arrived at the porch first. Soon after James returned with another girl in tow.

She shouldn’t have been shocked, but that didn’t stop her eyes from going wide as she recognized two faces she had never wanted to see again.

----------------------------------------





You must login (register) to review.