“Hey, Buffy! Where’s the fire?” Riley Finn chuckled as Buffy nearly ran into him, not paying any attention to where she was running in her eagerness to find William. She hadn’t been able to find him anywhere, and now, the only place she hadn’t looked for him was outside the school building. According to Charles Gunn, Liam and his friends had their minds set on ‘having a little talk’ with William – which Gunn had explained meant beating him up. She wasn’t entirely sure why Gunn had felt the need to let her know, but he had, and for that she was grateful. Now, needless to say, she needed to find William before those bastards did. She so didn’t have time to deal with Riley right now.
Deciding to simply ignore him, Buffy tried to step past him, but Riley put his hand on her arm to stop her. She glared at him. “Let go of me.”
Riley quickly raised his hands in an apologetic manner and let out a nervous laugh. “Relax; I just wanna talk to you.”
Buffy stared at him for a moment, then shook her head. “I don’t have time for this.”
“Please!” Riley gave her a pleading look. “Buffy, I…”
“Wow!” Buffy interrupted him, a sarcastic note in her voice. “He remembers my name! I’m impressed.” She paused. “No, actually I’m not. You’re a jerk, Riley. Give me one reason why I should listen to anything you have to say.”
“Look, I’m sorry.” Riley looked down at his feet. “About the other day, when you called me. I owe you an explanation…”
“Yeah?” Buffy crossed her arms over her chest. “Really not interested.”
“I didn’t mean it.” Riley sighed. “Harmony was there and I didn’t know what else to say. I didn’t want her to find out…” He hesitated. “I panicked, okay? But it wasn’t a joke. I really wanted to talk to you. I’m sorry.”
Buffy snorted, not believing what she was hearing. “Are you serious?!”
“Well, yeah.” Riley finally looked at her. “I feel really bad about what I said to you then. I just want you to know that I was serious when I said I wanted to go out with you.”
He sounded sincere, and for a moment, Buffy didn’t know what to say. Then she shrugged. “All right. Whatever you say.” She had been both hurt and humiliated, but now she realized that she didn’t care anymore. Riley meant absolutely nothing to her and she couldn’t care less about what he – or any of his shallow friends for that matter – thought of her. William’s opinion was the only one she was interested in. She started to leave, but Riley was obviously not done.
“Wait!” Riley puffed out his chest and smiled widely, certain that he had immediately been forgiven. “If you still wanna go out, I’m free tomorrow night.”
“Um…” For a moment, Buffy didn’t know if she should laugh or cry. “Aren’t you still going out with Harmony?”
“Oh, well…” Riley laughed a little, then cleared his throat. “Let’s just say we have a very open relationship. We’re both allowed to see others if we want.” A pause. “Though I’d appreciate if you wouldn’t tell her. But you two aren’t that close anyway, right?”
Buffy just stared at him, dumbfounded. Was he for real? Did Riley actually expect her to jump for joy at the fact that he still wanted to date her after the way he had treated her. It would have been almost funny, had it not been so incredibly pathetic. She shook her head in disgust. Riley and Harmony really did deserve each other, she hadn’t been wrong about that. Realizing that he still waited for her to answer, she put on a feigned smile. “Riley?”
Still smiling, he cocked his head to the side. “Yeah?”
“I wouldn’t go out with you if you were the last guy on earth. Face it, Riley; you’re just not man enough to satisfy me.” His smile disappeared and the shock was evident on his face. With her head up high, Buffy stepped past Riley and left him staring after her in disbelief. And this time he didn’t try to stop her.
“Not so cocky now, are you?” As Liam snickered, William started to wonder what he had gotten himself into. They were standing behind the main school building and there was no one else in sight. He couldn’t help but wonder what the hell he had been thinking, following Liam out here. Coming here was clearly a mistake; he was not a fighter. Even if Liam would stick to his words and leave his friends out of this for once, he didn’t stand a chance against the much larger guy. Sure, the other day he had been lucky enough to punch Liam in the face before he got the chance to understand what was happening, but it had simply been just that; luck. And it wasn’t likely he would be that lucky again.
Seeing his hesitation, Liam took a step closer, a challenging look on his face. “You know what? I’m feeling awfully nice today. I bet you’re having second thoughts about coming out here. How about we forget the whole thing and I’ll let you walk away?”
Raising a brow in surprise, William gave Liam a suspicious look. What kind of game was that git trying to play now? There was no way Liam would walk away from a fight, especially not with him. William’s eyes narrowed as he looked at Liam, trying to figure out what he was thinking.
“I’m serious.” Liam chuckled. “We don’t have to do this.” He paused. “All you have to do is beg.”
William stared at him in disbelief. “What?” Liam kept approaching him, slowly, and William found himself, against his will, backing away. The worst thing he could do now was show any sign of fear.
“You heard me.” Liam’s smile had disappeared. “You want out of this? Then you’ll have to beg me. Get down on your knees and beg me to leave you alone, and I might just be nice and do that.” A pause. “For today, that is.”
“You want me to…?” William finally understood. So that was Liam’s plan; today he would settle for just humiliating him. He snorted, knowing that hell would freeze over before he would ever beg Liam for anything again. Crossing his arms over his chest, he shook his head, firmly. “Not bloody likely!”
Liam looked annoyed for a moment. Then he nodded. “All right.” Without warning, he pulled back his fist and slammed it into William’s face, causing him to stumble back. Angry that he managed to remain standing, Liam grabbed William and shoved him back, hard, against the brick wall behind him. Dazed from hitting his head against the wall, William struggled to keep his balance, not wanting to give Liam the satisfaction of taking him down before he even got the chance to defend himself. But when he failed to block another blow against his face, he knew that he had already lost. As he slid down against the wall, he could only hope that Liam, for once, would get it over with as quickly as possible.
Unfortunately, it seemed like Liam had other ideas. Letting out a growl, he kicked William in the stomach, causing him to gasp for air. Then he smirked. “You should’ve just gotten down on your knees willingly. Cockiness will get you nowhere, Willie; you should know that by now.”
William ran the back of his hand under his nose, wiping away some of the blood streaming down his face before looking up at his tormentor. “Go to hell.”
“Think you’ve got that wrong.” Liam crouched next to him on the ground, so they were on the same level. Then he leaned so close that their faces were nearly touching. “Because I’m the one who’s going to make your miserable life a living hell.” As if to emphasize his words, Liam hit him again, this time on the jaw. “Come on, Willie!” He let out a cruel laugh when William winced in pain. “Beg me to stop!”
Spitting out a mouthful of blood, William glared at him. “Never!” Liam pulled back his fist again and he braced himself for another blow, but it never came. Blinking in confusion, he realized that someone had just pulled Liam away from him.
TBC