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Special thanks to Edgehead for the lovely banner and to Cordykitten for letting her know that I was in need of a pretty


Author's Chapter Notes:
Sorry this update has taken so long. I've been sick and my laptop stopped talking to it's power cord. ( I got a new laptop instead of investing another hundred in the old one.)

Anyway-as always thanks tons to anyone who reviews!!!
Buffy smiled brightly when Angel came over at half-time to say hi. She accepted his kiss and congratulated him on his great play earlier in the game. She hoped that her extra make-up hid the fact that she hadn’t gotten any sleep.

“How’s my girl?” Angel bent to scoop her in to a hug.

Buffy tried to giggle playfully, but the sound got caught in her throat. She pushed against his chest a little harder than normal. “Great. You guys are slaying them out there!”

Angel ignored her attempts to get put back on her own feet and swung her around instead. “Yeah we are. There’s gonna be a little victory celebration out at Todd’s place. You’ll come yeah?”

Buffy paled. She’d been hoping to talk to him after the game. She’d come to some pretty big realizations last night and one of the most important was that she was being unfair to Angel; he deserved to be with someone who felt about him the way she suddenly realized that she felt about William. She cared too much about him to continue seeing him now. A small selfish part of her wanted to. It’s not like anything is happening with William, she’d thought briefly, but a bigger part of her felt sick at the idea of hurting Angel just so that she wouldn’t feel alone. So she was going to have to end it. She’d wanted to call him first thing in the morning, but he deserved better then a few minute phone call right before his big game. So she’d pretended everything was all right. “Oh I don’t think so, I have…” She shook her head.

“Oh come on Buff.” Angel had come to some realizations himself the night before. He now knew that his girl had been spending way too much time with William. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust her. In fact, Angel was certain that Buffy had no idea that the other man was interested. She was just too trusting. She was sweet and innocent, he thought, it was what he loved about her. It was why he’d put his sex life on hold for the past two years to be with her. Although he was thinking that now was a good time to get it back on track. “You gotta come. It’ll be great. I know you’ve got your homework done already.” He placed her back on the ground and gave her a pleading look.

“It’s just that I was hoping we could talk this afternoon.”

He laughed. “We can talk at the party.” He kissed her once more. “I’ll find you after the game OK!” He ran off to join the rest of the team in the locker room.

Faith watched the entire encounter just out of hearing range, but she read the body language well. She understood plenty about what had just taken place. What she didn’t understand was why everyone she talked to at this school thought that Buffy was in love with Angel.
*************************************************************
Buffy went to the party. She simply couldn’t come up with a good reason not to. Most of the cheerleading squad was there and so she found it simple enough to avoid spending any alone time with Angel. They needed to talk, but not in the middle of a rowdy party.

She caught Faith’s eye and smiled. Buffy was surprised to find that she really liked the new girl’s company. Sure, she thought with a smirk, she talks like a porn star, but her honesty is refreshing.

“Hey B. Good game huh?”

“Yeah. I think we’ll make regionals again this year.”

“Wow! You know at my old school I swear the cheerleaders had a better shot at winning a game then the boys did.”

“That bad?”

Faith nodded emphatically. “Which isn’t to say those boys didn’t have other fine qualities.” She raised her eyebrows suggestively.

Buffy laughed and shook her head. “I’m umm…glad to hear that. I mean, good for them.”

Faith laughed. “You mean good for me.”

“And that.”

“So uh…where’s your boy?”

Buffy looked around. “Angel’s here somewhere.”

“No I meant the other one…you know hot, bleached and bothered?”

“William? He’s not…”

“I’m just teasing B”

“Oh. Well, he doesn’t…this isn’t really his scene.”

Faith nodded, noting the sudden color on the other girl’s cheeks. “So what is his scene?”

Buffy shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“Well what kinda stuff is he into?”

“Lot’s of stuff. He umm…I guess he reads a lot.” Warming up Buffy leaned closer to her. “He’s really smart. I mean like really smart. And…and he plays guitar and…”

“Yeah? Is he any good?”

Buffy nodded. “Yeah, but he won’t play in front of anyone. I’ve caught him a couple of times though; he’s…he’s…”

“Good.”

“Yeah.” Buffy nodded. “He’s really good.” Buffy’s cheeks reddened when she realized how breathlessly she had just spoken. She quickly changed the subject.
*****************************************************************
Buffy waited until Angel pulled his car into her driveway to try and talk. She turned to him. “Angel, I…”

“Hey do you want to catch a movie tomorrow after school? There’s a couple of new action flicks at the…”

“Angel.”

He frowned at her serious expression. Something was definitely wrong here. His heart began to speed up. “Did you want to see a comedy?” He tried weakly.

Buffy shook her head. “Angel, I’m sorry.” She couldn’t quite keep the waver out of her voice. “I…”

“Why Buffy? Why are you sorry?” His voice was cold.

“I can’t…” She pulled the ring he’d given her off her finger and reached her hand over to give to him. “I can’t keep seeing you. I’m sorry.” She tried but failed to keep her eyes from tearing up.

“Why?” He said it quietly and without looking at her, but he sounded more angry than sad.

“Because I…I just can’t…I’m not…I’m not in love with you anymore. You deserve…”

“I deserve to be dumped.” He turned towards her angrily. “That’s what I deserve. Two years Buffy. How can you just throw away two years?”

“That’s not. I still care about you. I… hope that we can be friends.”

Angel’s eyes turned black. “Friends. You want to be friends?” He snatched the ring from her hand and held it front of her face. “Friends? I wanted to marry you Buffy.”

The tears were flowing freely down Buffy’s face. “I’m sorry Angel; I never meant to hurt you. I…”

“Are you fucking him?”

“What?”

“You heard me; I asked if you were fucking that little twerp. How long have you been playing me Buffy? Pretending to be all innocent…two years I barely got my hand in your pants…”

The blood left Buffy’s face and she reached up her hand to slap him. “I would never…”

He caught her hand in his. “Don’t you dare touch me; get the hell out of my car.”

As soon as she stepped out, he pulled quickly out of her driveway.

Buffy fell to her knees and cried.
**********************************************************
William pulled his guitar out of its case, placed it in his lap and ran his fingers over the worn engravings. He’d always enjoyed looking at it; some of his best memories were of his father playing it. He knew that he didn’t have his father’s passion or talent for music, but he knew he had a good ear and, he felt, a passable voice. More importantly, William could lose himself while playing. All of his anxieties and repressions were temporarily forgotten while he plucked out the chords. He’d close his eyes and simply let go. And that, he thought, was why he never played in front of anyone. When he played, he was laid bare and sharing that with someone else terrified him.

Only today he was thinking about trying it. He’d seen enough movies to know that even mediocre playing would increase his status as a potential boyfriend and Buffy had brought it up a couple of times, so he knew she wanted him to play for her. William was pondering a big romantic gesture. He bit his lip as he thought about it. What song, he thought, or should I try to write one myself, something especially for her. He shook his head. Too much, he thought quickly, there’s no coming back from that. What he needed, he decided, was a song that expressed his feelings but wasn’t one of his own, that way if she wasn’t interested he could claim it was chosen at random and that it didn’t mean anything. He nodded, pleased with himself for coming up with a back up plan and began strumming softly.





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