“I’m such a fool.”
Buffy wanted to shake her head and reach out to her friend with a smile and say, ‘No you aren’t’, but the words seemed to be stuck on the roof of her mouth. She wasn’t a good enough liar either to let the words, ‘Maybe he’ll come back’, slip out. Buffy’s friend, Cordelia, was finding out the hard way that not all little rich girls from Sunnydale married a decent man. Hell, half the girls from Buffy and Cordelia’s high school were already into their second marriage; and at the age of twenty nine it wasn’t considered an accomplishment.
“He didn’t even say goodbye to Connor…” Cordelia cried, thinking of her 18 month old son that was now left daddy-less.
“Connor’s better off without him. Plus, he’s young…he won’t remember this painful time.” Buffy said softly as she shuffled though her purse, searching for her little plastic pouch that carried Kleenexes--being a mother of two she had to always be prepared for drippy noses. Once she found it she pushed it across the table and encouraged her friend to blow her nose.
“That’s not making it better, Buffy.” Cordelia grumbled as she blew her nose and then grabbed another Kleenex and blew again.
“I know, but things will get better eventually. Sometime in the future you’ll look back and—“
“Easy for you to say, your marriage is perfect.” Cordelia interrupted, the tone in her voice was now turning to be smart-alecky and bitter.
“William and I do not have the ‘perfect marriage’. We have problems just like everyone else.” Buffy argued. She was started to get a little ticked off with the brunette being all snotty and stuck up when Cordelia was the one that called her at home with her problems. She had to drop her kids off at her mother’s in order to make this last minute luncheon.
“What kind of problems? Who forgot to turn off the downstairs TV after you go to bed?” she mumbled under breath as she snatched out another Kleenex from the plastic pouch.
Buffy reached over Cordelia’s water glass and took her Kleenexes back. She wasn’t going to share with this wet cat when she was being such a bitch.
“Oh grow up Cordy!” she said in a harsh whisper. “I can’t help it Angelus was an asshole. I warned you once before that he wasn’t the faithful type, and you just plain out ignored everything I said.”
“That was in high school! I mean, just because he wasn’t faithful to you doesn’t mean he would do it to me.”
“But he did do it to you!” ‘Gosh!! Did I need to write it out in big black letters?’ Buffy thought as she shook her head in disbelieve at how narrow-minded her old best friend is being.
“I didn’t deserve this Buffy, I was loyal to that bastard for five years and I carried his child.” Cordelia raised her voice a little bit louder, “And I’m sorry if I lost a few of my curves after Connor was born, but that’s what happens when you have kids.”
“Don’t you think I don’t know that?” Buffy asked, “I have two, remember?”
However, Cordelia wasn’t really listening; she was too busy being in a fit of rage over her soon to be ex-husband. “He told me he was bored! Fuckin’ bored!”
“Bored?” Buffy scrunched up her face and looked a bit confused.
“I mean he was on the road a lot, and he said when he came home that he was just bored with the whole…having a family thing. He was bored with me...and thought there were more exciting things he could be doing.”
Cordelia’s rage started to dissolve and the tears returned once again.
‘Bored of having a family?’ Buffy never really thought of it before. She knew that people had routines day in and day out that weren’t too excited—get up, go to work, come home, have dinner, go to bed, pay your taxes—but she never really believed that someone would walk out on their family because of it. ‘What about watching you children blossom into an adult and seeing what path they take in life...or the making of memories with your spouse?’ Buffy asked herself, ‘How could that be boring?’ Unfortunately for Cordelia, it seemed that Angelus found something better than his son and wife. His priorities had now shifted.
Buffy shoved the tissues back across the table without a word.
*~*~*~*~*
Buffy glanced into her rearview mirror of her car to take a peek at the two kids in the back seat. Matthew was playing some sort of electronic game quietly while Sarah sleepily watched the cars go by in the passing lane.
‘Bored with your family’
The words seemed to nagging Buffy all afternoon. It made her think of her own life with her husband, and what he was really feeling when he was at home with her and the kids. Buffy was well aware that they had a routine at some things, but would that really cause boredom? Every Saturday morning William took Matthew to soccer practice and Sarah to ballet class, every morning she made the same breakfast for the kids and William—cereal, if you even call that ‘making something’, and every night after dinner she always dried the dishes while he washed.
‘Maybe he would like to dry for a change… ‘, the thought popped into Buffy’s mind. ‘Day in, day out he washed and washed and washed until he couldn’t take it anymore…then one day his soapy pruney hands packed up his bags and left just because he didn’t get the chance to dry.’
Buffy shook her head at how crazy the voice inside her head sounded. ‘William wouldn’t crack because of that…hell, he likes things staying the same…he wore the same damn thing everyday for five years until I introduced him to the other colors of the rainbow.’
“Mom, are you making tacos tonight?” Matthew asked as Buffy drove into the driveway.
“Thursday night tacos!” Sarah squealed in delight.
Buffy bit her lip when she recalled going to the grocery store and buying the meat and taco shells like she did every week. It was the Sarah and Matt’s favorite food, and it seemed to be the only meal they could wipe clean off their plate without problems. ‘Thursday night tacos…’ she thought with a sigh, ‘Oh yeah, another red letter for the Pratt family.’
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
“You pick up the dry cleaning?” William asked as he got up and went to the refrigerator to return the carton of milk.
Buffy didn’t seem to be listening. She was staring at the center piece in the middle of the table—a fake bouquet of flowers that she got three years ago at an arts and crafts show. Her one taco that she wanted for dinner was left untouched.
“Mommy can you braid my hair later?” Sarah asked as she whipped her face with a napkin.
“Dad, I need a new soccer ball.” Matthew said as he finished his last taco and placed his plate in sink.
“What happen to your old one?” William raised an eyebrow and looked at the seven year old with suspicion. They had just bought him the ball three weeks ago.
“Sarah kicked it into the woods over at grandmas and it went flat.” Matt said as he turned and glared at his little sister. Sarah sported out her tongue in defense.
“Retreat that little tongue love.” William said as he came up and gently tugged on the girls little ponytail. Once he picked up Sarah’s plate and his own, he finally noticed Buffy’s zoned out mode. “You alright?” he asked with a little concern.
Buffy shook her head and blinked a few times, coming out of the trance she some how got during dinner --- somewhere between Matthew talking about wanting a puppy and William explaining why they can’t have one. She got up out of the chair and took the plates out of William’s hand.
“I got it love.” He said as he held onto the plates.
“Nah, I got it.” She shook her head and tugged the dishes towards her.
Neither of them let go of their side of the plates.
“You didn’t eat…” he frowned as he noticed her plate still full.
“I’m not all that hungry. I had a lunch thing today.”
“Lunch thing?” William questioned.
“Yeah with Cordelia.”
“Your old best friend slash bit—umm…B-I-T-C-H.” he said, catching himself quickly when he remembered that a seven and four year old were present.
“What does that spell?” Sarah interrupted.
“A bad word.” Matt explained.
“No…no, it doesn’t. Now go watch the telly.” William said.
Once the kids were gone William went back to cleaning up the table.
“What did she want?” William asked, going back to the subject of Cordelia.
“She and Angelus are getting a divorce apparently.”
William snorted and laughed, “Who’s leaving whom?”
“Angelus left.”
“Big surprise there.” He muttered as he threw the scraps of food away in the trash can, “Cordelia should be happy to be getting half of Angelus’s big fat pay check. So who did he do it with?”
“Do?”
“He had an affair right? Run away with the secretary or nanny or someone else with big boobs?” William went back over to the sink, dropping the last plate in the dirty dish water and turning back to Buffy.
“I’ll wash today…you dry.” She said before he could reach for a wash cloth.
“Huh?”
“I want to wash.” Buffy said stubbornly, grabbing a clean towel off the counter and throwing it at his chest.
“Someone should teach you how to use towels in foreplay, luv.” He gave her one of his sexy smirks, but Buffy didn’t see it.
After wiping the first plate clean she handed it to him.
“That wasn’t the reason he left…I think” Buffy muttered, moving back to the subject of Angelus and Cordelia’s failed marriage.
“Before we get into that, why did she call you? All her regular friends out playing tennis at the country club or something?”
“I don’t know…she called and I answered…guess because Angelus broke my heart once before, she decided to start a club meeting or something.” Buffy rolled her eyes; she didn’t know why she answered the phone. They had caller ID. She knew it was Cordelia, but yet she went ahead and was drawn back into the world of high school drama.
“Is this a private club or can anyone join?” he laughed.
“Sorry…need to have dated Angelus to join.” She teased with smile and passed him a wet plate, it was the first smile she displayed in hours.
William shook his head in disgust as a mental image flashed in his mind, “No thanks…”
“Maybe he did cheat on Cordelia and did run away with his secretary…she really didn’t go into all the messy details. She sort of gave the impression that he did.”
“We aren’t going to be getting a three in the morning phone call, are we; with her on the other end, crying and telling you how she is missing her sweetie cakes.” William’s towel drying arm froze in mid sweep across a plate; he dreaded the answer to his question.
“Doubt it…” she muttered and looked up at an unconvinced William, “We’ll unhook the phone tonight.”
He nodded and got back to drying. He didn’t understand why the girl was calling his wife after not speaking with her for over a year. ‘Could Queen C be hitting rock bottom and be embarrassed that Angelus got the better of her?’ The instant thought made William smirk a little bit.
“I do kind of feel bad for her…some of the things she said were…I mean, what Angelus said to her was…” she paused and didn’t go on. She looked over at William for a second before looking down at the flower pattern on the plate.
“What?”
‘He was bored of me.’
“Nothing.” Buffy shook her head.
*~*~*~*~*~
“Are you ever afraid that one day Xander will get bored of you?” Buffy asked.
“Why? Did he say that?!” Anya asked with wide eyes, she was completely taken off guard.
“No. No.” Buffy shook her head with a smile, trying to help reassure her friend that her husband was not going astray. “Just…” Buffy rolled her eyes at how pathetic she was about to sound, “I was just curious if you ever thought about it.”
“Are you daft? He would never wonder into someone elses nest.” Anya laughed and took a sip of her Starbucks coffee. She had no problem convincing herself about her figure—in Anya’s mind, she was hotter than her cappuccino.
“Well let’s say he isn’t going out looking for strippers, but he got just…you know, bored.” Buffy went on.
“Bored? Buffy, my man has sex on tap. How could he ever get bored with that?”
“I don’t know…” Buffy whispered and shook her head, she felt really embarrassed for asking her blunt friend these kinds of questions in a public place. She didn’t know what kind of words may hop out of Anya’s mouth.
“Is William getting bored?”
“What?! Huh…what? Huh..?” Buffy didn’t know what she was caught off guard by the question, since she was the one that started this subject, but she was.
“Are you not putting out for your poor sex starving husband?” Anya gasped, and shook her head in shame.
“Hey, I put out!” Buffy argued.
“When was the last time you did it?”
“Last Thursday…” Buffy stuck out her tongue just like Sarah did the other night.
“Where was it?”
Buffy looked from side to side in confusion, she forgot this was Anya she was talking to.
“In our bed….” Buffy muttered.
Anya rolled her eyes, she forgot she was working with little innocent Buffy Pratt, the lady who even though was a married woman still had her sexual mind was under a lock and key. “Alright...but when was the last time you did it in your car?”
Buffy’s eyes bugged out. “The…my…what?”
“You heard me Pratt…car…front seat all access pass.” Anya smiled over the edge of her cup as she took a sip. She was starting to like this conversation. Maybe if the two of them had more conversations like this, she would find herself more willing to be dragged out of the office for coffee.
“Anya…we never...we never did that.” Buffy leaned over and whispered between her hands.
“Never?” Anya raised an eyebrow, “I make sure to get Xander in the front AND back seat once every two weeks, and you never done it?”
“We’ve kissed and made out in the car.”
Anya raised an eyebrow.
“Hey, we have an active sex life!” she raised her voice a bit, but once the words were out she looked absolute humiliated when the man at the table behind Anya raised his head up at her from his newspaper. Buffy slouched in her seat.
“But not a kinky one, huh? No wonder you are worried about Mr. Bond playing detective with someone else.” Anya shook her head.
“William loves me.” Buffy said with confidence, and no one, not even Anya herself could ever make her ever doubt his love for her.
“I didn’t say he didn’t.” Anya pointed out. “You were the one talking about being bored…you could be in love and be bored.”
Buffy chewed on her bottom lip as hers thoughts darted to William, Cordelia, Angelus, her kids, towel drying, and the back seat of her Jetta. Cordelia’s crying voice of ‘He was bored with me’ and ‘Bored with the family’ was now replaced with Anya’s, ‘You be in love and be bored’. It was even worse than Cordelia's comment.
“If you want to be kinky, I can help…” Anya shrugged.
Buffy’s eyes shot up and looked at her friend’s casual smile.
“But I’ll have to charge you.” Anya laid down her guidelines quickly before Buffy could get in another word.
TBC…