“Oh, okay.” William waited for Buffy to continue, certain that whatever it was, it wouldn’t be of the good. Because no good news ever started with the words ‘we need to talk’, of that he was very much aware. He frowned when she remained quiet. “Buffy?”
After almost a minute, she finally spoke, her back still turned towards him; “I don’t know how to say this. I…” She hesitated, obviously not sure of how to begin.
“Say what?” William didn’t know what to think. Buffy seemed genuinely nervous, he just didn’t understand why.
Buffy finally turned around, slowly. “You said you were glad we’re friends. I am, too. But…” She stopped then, keeping her eyes on the floor. Inside she was screaming with frustration. Why did this have to be so hard?
William remembered the look on Buffy’s face when he had mentioned the friend’s part. He had thought she looked disappointed, but maybe he had been wrong. Maybe it had never been about that at all. Suddenly, all he could hear was Cecily’s hurtful words again, taunting him, just as clear had she been in the same room. ‘Did you really think you had a chance with me, William? Get real! Who would ever want to go out with you?’ The heartless bitch had immediately told all of her friends about his pathetic declaration of love at that dreadful party, and he could still hear them laughing. But what if she had been right?
Suddenly he couldn’t believe he had actually thought Buffy would ever return his feelings. And had he really just been about to do the same stupid mistake all over again; telling a girl how he felt about her? Thank God he had been interrupted before he would have made a fool of himself again! Suddenly he thought he knew what Buffy was going to say. She hadn’t been disappointed like he had first thought, she had been upset, maybe even disgusted. And why wouldn’t she be? Being friends with someone like him was probably the last thing she wanted. Only she was too nice to laugh in his face, or yell at him for making such a stupid assumption, so she would have to come up with a polite way to let him down. No wonder she seems nervous, he thought, bitterly.
Of course, if William had just stopped to think about it for a moment, he might have realized that if that was the case, Buffy wouldn’t have bothered to come over to his house in the first place. And she had never shown any signs of not wanting to be seen around him in school, or anything like that. In fact, it was quite the opposite; she had always been the one to approach him and not the other way around. Not to mention the fact that Buffy had just moments before confessed something to him that she probably hadn’t shared with many people, if any at all, and all to make him feel better. But still, he had heard enough about what a loser he was over the years to actually believe it. The thought that whatever Buffy was trying to tell him could actually be something positive, never even crossed his mind.
He took a deep breath, desperate to keep his emotions under control when he spoke. “Never mind, I know what this is about.”
Buffy got a surprised, yet worried look on her face. “You do?”
“Yeah.” He forced a smile. “And you don’t have to worry about it. Just forget I said anything.”
“Um…” Now she just looked confused. “What did you say?”
“You know, about being friends.” He looked down at his feet. “I won’t bring it up again.”
“Oh.” For a moment, Buffy just stared at him, blankly. Forcing back the lump in her throat, she first thought that he was having second thoughts about what he had said before; that he didn’t want them to be friends after all. A thousand thoughts rushed through her mind at the same time; was it because of what she had just told him, would he be ashamed of hanging out with a loser like her, had she really been that wrong about him? Then she noticed the miserable look on his face, and couldn’t help but wonder if the whole thing was really just a huge misunderstanding. Only one way of finding out, she thought, and before she had even thought it through, she blurted out; “William, I like you!”
“Huh? I mean, what?” William stared at her like she had suddenly grown a second head.
Buffy gulped, nervously fidgeting with the edge of her shirt; “I mean, of course I like you, otherwise I wouldn’t even be here, right? But I really like you, you know, like you-like you.” He opened his mouth, but she went on before he could say anything; “And I realize you probably don’t feel the same way about me and if you really don’t want us to be friends, then I’ll stop bothering you, but I want you to know that what I really want is for us to be more than just friends and I guess what I’m trying to ask is…” She stopped briefly to catch her breath before finishing; “Do you wanna go out with me some time?” He opened his mouth again, but she raised her hand to stop him and added; “But, you know, only if you want to. No pressure.”
Feeling like his head was spinning; William kept staring at her for a moment, dumbfounded. “I’m sorry, did you just say…?” He shook his head, as if to clear it. “Never mind, I must be going crazy. Because surely you didn’t just say…” His eyes narrowed and he looked at her, closely, like he was trying to read her mind. “Buffy, what did you just say?”
She almost giggled at the completely bewildered expression on his face, but too much was at stake for her to actually dare to be amused. Instead she inhaled, shakily. “Tell me you don’t feel the same way, and I’ll let it go. I promise I’m not gonna start stalking you or anything…” She paused, frowning. “More than I already have.”
“No!” He quickly walked over to her and put his hand on her arm, afraid that if he managed to say the wrong thing, she would leave and never come back. “Really, stalk me any time!” Then it was his turn to frown. “That didn’t come out right.” She shook her head in agreement. Taking a deep breath, he went on; “Buffy, are you serious? You’re not messing with me?”
Giving him a confused look, Buffy shook her head again. “Why would I be messing with you? And feel free to answer any time, by the way. I’m just freaking out here, but no big deal...”
“Oh, right. What was the question again?” Finally realizing that she was indeed serious and that she actually did return his feelings, he couldn’t help but tease her a little. It was either that, or jump for joy and start reciting bloody poetry. Though he quickly gave her an assuring smile as she glared at him. “Sorry, pet. But don’t you think you’ve gotten the whole thing a bit backwards?” She looked confused, so he hurried to explain; “Not that I’m an expert or anything, but isn’t it usually the guy who asks the girl out on a date?” He held his breath as he waited for her answer, a small part of him still half expecting her to take it all back.
Now it was Buffy’s turn to smile. “Yeah, I guess. But I got tired of waiting.”
“Is that so?” He smirked. “In that case, let me do this all properly. Buffy, would you like to go out with me Friday night?”
“Hmm…” She pretended to be thinking hard, then couldn’t help but giggle. “I’d love to.”
TBC