The boy was sitting on the front lawn just outside her house, wearing a black t-shirt and a pair of dark blue jeans. He was slim, almost skinny, with curly, brown hair and looked about nine, maybe ten years old. As Buffy came closer, she noticed the small, white cat, curled up comfortably in his lap as he scratched it gently behind the ear.
She cleared her throat as she approached him, slowly, not wanting to startle the boy in case he hadn’t heard her leave the house. Suddenly he looked up, and Buffy realized that he had the most piercing blue eyes she had ever seen. He eyed her a little suspiciously as she stopped a few feet away, and she smiled softly at him. “I see you’ve made friends with Princess Leia.”
He looked at her blankly for a moment before turning his eyes back down to the white little fur-ball in his lap. Then he looked up again, a doubtful expression on his face. “You named your cat Princess Leia?”
Buffy laughed. “Yeah, right! As if.” She rolled her eyes. “No, I got her as a birthday gift from my cousin, Andrew, six years ago. He had already named the poor thing and wouldn’t let me change it.” She paused. “Andrew’s kinda… well; sometimes I think he’s from a whole different planet.”
The boy looked almost amused for a moment, then he turned his attention back to the cat, patting it tenderly. Buffy hesitated for a moment before walking over and sitting down next to him on the grass. He glanced at her, but didn’t say anything more. She smiled again. “Hi, I’m Buffy. This is my house. Do you live around here?”
She thought she saw him tense up for a moment, then he shook his head. “No.” Frowning a little, Buffy waited for him to explain what he was doing in her front yard, but he remained silent. She opened her mouth to ask him, directly, but closed it again when he finally spoke; “I used to live with my grandmother downtown, but she died.”
Buffy stared at him with wide eyes. “Oh my God, I’m so sorry!” She had to cringe at how lame that came out, but she had no idea what else to say.
He went on, seemingly oblivious to her horrified expression. “The Social Services tried to force me to move to a foster home, but I ran away. The last couple of nights I’ve been sleeping in an alley behind the docks.”
“But…” Buffy felt like her head was spinning, not wanting to believe what she was hearing. “What about your parents?”
Shrugging, he continued patting the cat. “Both dead. Was a car crash. I was the only one who survived.”
That was the most horrible thing she had ever heard. Buffy kept staring at him for a moment, then shook her head, as if to clear it. Suddenly she remembered that she was supposed to be at work in less than fifteen minutes, and glanced at the boy. Sure, he wasn’t exactly her responsibility, but she really couldn’t just walk away and leave him here. After all, she had found him sitting outside her house; she had to at least do something. And after hearing that awful, heartbreaking story of his, she couldn’t help but feel an almost desperate need to help him, somehow.
She quickly made up her mind. “Look, I’m working at the Double Meat Palace and I really gotta go now. Why don’t you come with me? I’ll get you something to eat.”
He looked at her, a little surprised. Then he shrugged again. “Okay.” As he started to get up, the cat jumped off his lap and quickly ran towards the other side of the yard.
Buffy got to her feet as well, brushing some grass off her pants and gestured for the boy to follow her. They had gotten as far as to the other side of the street when she realized that she hadn’t even asked for his name. She opened her mouth to do so when she heard an angry voice calling out behind them. Turning around with a frown, she saw a man with bleached blond hair and a black leather duster running towards them. “Hey!” He glared at her, furiously, as he came up to them. “What the bloody hell do you think you’re doing?!”
“I…” Buffy just stared at him, dumbfounded. She had never seen him before but he was, without doubt, the most gorgeous man she had ever seen. Quickly she glanced at the boy, who suddenly seemed to find the ground next to his feet extremely interesting. Then she turned back to the man. “I’m sorry. Who are you?”
The man kept glaring at her, his eyes cold. “I’m the boy’s father.”
“Huh? I mean… huh?” Buffy blinked in confusion. “But he said…” She looked at the boy again. He refused to meet her eyes. Suddenly she wished that the ground would just open up and swallow her. God, how stupid am I?! she thought, miserably. Now she realized that the blond man had just the same blue eyes as the boy, maybe even more beautiful if that was possible. She took a deep breath before turning back to him, an apologetic look on her face. “I’m really sorry. He told me his parents were dead, and…” Her voice trailed off and she swallowed hard, suddenly beyond embarrassed.
Closing his eyes for a moment, possibly counting to ten, the man then looked at the boy for the first time. “Billy, go back to the house. You’re grounded.”
The boy – Billy – finally looked up, staring at his father in disbelief. “But…”
“Do as I say. Now!” Buffy watched the boy turn around and leave without another word, a moment later entering the house next to hers and slamming the door shut behind him. The man turned to look at her again, opened his mouth to say something, then seemed to decide against it and followed his son towards the house.
Buffy stared after him, mouth open, then let out a groan as realization finally hit her. It looked like she had just met her new neighbors.
TBC