Chapter 15:
The light bulb in the basement flickered until it finally held a steady light. The floor boards squeaked as giant combat boots descended down the stairs. Spike didn’t have to search long to find what he was looking for; on a shelf high above the ground, so no little fingers could grab it, sat his old guitar case.
Spike sat the leather case down on the cement floor, pressed on the metal locks for it to open, and greeted his first guitar that he got when he was sixteen years old.
“Hey baby…” he muttered as he picked it up and positioned the straps on his shoulder, “Miss me?”
He started fussing with the strings, gently brushing his fingertips across them—getting reacquainted with his ‘baby’.
Behind Spike, at the bottom of the stairs, Buffy stood quietly for a few moments—watching him with a small smile on her face as he talked to his guitar as if it were a woman.
“Does she purr like I do?” she asked quietly as she stepped down towards him.
Spike turned his head to look over his shoulder, “You were always jealous of her, weren’t you?”
Buffy rolled her eyes and came to stand beside him, “Oh pleassseee…does that ego of yours still need stroking?”
“Always”
“So…Oz set up a date for you guys to play?”
“Ya…Friday night…”
“Nervous?”
Spike snorted, “Me? Oh come on, how many times have I gone up on stage in front of hundreds of people and done this?”
“You’re terrified aren’t you?”
“Petrified…”
Buffy smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck leaned her head against his, “You don’t have to be…because I’ll be there…”
“Is that supposed to make me less nervous?”
“A little bit…why, don’t I relax you?”
Spike’s eyes lingered down her tank top and shorts, “You melt me…”
Buffy smirked, “Like ice cream?”
“Mmm…you’re placing ideas in my head woman.” He whispered as he leaned in to her neck and nibbled on her soft skin.
“Good…” Buffy muttered as she grabbed the guitar gently between them, slipped the strap over his head, and sat it upright on a cardboard box.
“Knew you were jealous of her…already getting rid of her.” He whispered as he attacked her right earlobe.
Buffy gasped and started to breath heavily, she closed her eyes in pleasure for a brief moment before opening them and spotting something behind his shoulder. Buffy smiled when an idea, a dirty idea, popped into her head.
“Honey…?”
“Mmm…ya?” he breathed out as he started inching his fingers inside her shorts.
“Have you ever had sex on a pool table?”
*~*~*~*~*~
Friday Night…
Despite what Buffy thought, Spike was right —he was nervous when he got back on stage with his old band. Even the quickie they had in the car before entering the club couldn’t help calm his nerves. After the first song he had tell the audience to excuse him for a moment so he could switch his sweat soaked shirt for a new one.
Buffy giggled on the side of the stage as she quickly helped him change.
“It’s not funny…” he snapped, which only made her laugh harder.
Five songs later, Buffy could see that he started to relax. In fact, it looked like he never even left his career as a professional singer.
“Takes you back, doesn’t it?” Willow asked when she walked up to Buffy near the bar.
Buffy turned her head from the stage to address her old friend that she hadn’t seen in a while, “Ya…it does…”
After Spike went off on a solo on his guitar and got applause from the audience, Willow spoke again. “You know…I envy you…”
“Me?” Buffy raised a brow.
“Ya…a little bit…”
“How come?”
“Because you got him…” Willow nodded up to the stage at Spike, “…you have him every night…and don’t have to fight for his attention.”
“You should come around the house more often…Sarah and Matty…” Buffy shook her head, “Those two can beat me out when it comes to getting his attention…”
“Oz and I broke up three times Buffy…”
Buffy turned her head to the redhead in surprise, “You guys? Really?”
“We’re together now…but I’m just saying, your life versus this life…” Willow nodded to the audience and the bar, “Well, I’d rather have yours…”
“I’m sorry Willow—“
“No, don’t be sorry…I’m not unhappy, Oz is at the point where Spike is…were moving to New York…officially…no band, no bus, and no hotels…it’s just us.”
“The band is breaking up?”
“Sort of…Gunn is helping manage another band, actually a few bands…Devon is getting married…” Willow shrugged, “…everyone is going their separate ways.”
“And everyone is okay with that?”
“Oh ya…”Willow smiled, “Oz keeps saying lately, ‘I’ve had my fun with the band, now it’s time for our fun to start’.”
Buffy smiled at Oz’s remark and looked up at Spike. Willow was right, she was lucky—she wasn’t the one that had to wait ten years for Spike to finally decide what he wanted. She had no doubt in her mind that he figured out that home was where she, Matt, and Sarah was.
*~*~*~*~*~
One week later…
“How’s it look?” William asked as he ran a towel through his damp hair.
“Dull” Buffy teased.
“Oh come on now…really?”
“It looks fine sweetie…” she said with a smile as she went up on her tippy toes and kissed his lips. Buffy took the towel out of his hand and hung it up back on the towel rack to dry.
“And you still fine me sexy without the bleach right?” he tested.
Buffy turned around and tilted her head to the side to study him, “I don’t know…you could have been fun for glow-in-the-dark foreplay with your radioactive hair.”
William inched closer, “Think you’re so smart don’t ya?”
“Yes I do…and yes, you still are the sexiest English teacher this side of the West Coast.”
“Thank you…” he said and gave her a long kiss.
“I don’t know why you wanted to go back to being brown so soon though…I mean, you could have just let it grow out.”
“Because the kids are coming home today…” William explained as he checked himself out in the bathroom mirror.
“And what, they’re going to yell at you and tell you to get a haircut like your dad did when you were nineteen and bleached it…?”
William turned and gave her a little glare, “Nooo, I just don’t want them see me that way.”
“Honey, they’ll love you no matter what…they’d love you bald.”
“And they love me when I’m brown too.”
“Admit it; you’re afraid they’ll freak out…”
“No, I’m afraid Matt will get ideas…”
Buffy laughed, “Matt? What about our little ballerina girl?”
“Her too…if you see her hanging out with funky hair kids when she’s older, just explain to her that her hair will fall out if she does that to herself.”
“Honey, my hair is blonde…unnaturally blonde…”
“Ya well…you’re okay.”
“Uh-huh…”
The doorbell ran downstairs.
“That would be my mom with the kids.”
“I’ll get it.” William said as he dashed off down the stairs to greet his kids that he missed.
Buffy checked around the corner to see if he was truly gone before she went back into the bedroom, reaching under the bed, and took out a white plastic pharmacy bag. Mrs. Pratt smiled at the white bottle of peroxide and sweet and low packets inside the bag. Buffy figured that she might as well keep these things in handy for next time.
After all, their new sex drive has sparked them to be pretty adventurous, to have sex in kinkier places. While the kids have been away Buffy has been making a list of all the places they’ve been:
In the car…
On the pool table…
In the shower…
Behind the alley of The Bronze…
Underneath a lifeguard tower at the beach…
Victoria Secret dressing room…
Macy’s dressing room…
JcPenny’s dressing room…
Changing room table at a local restaurant that they got kicked out of....
In Principal Wood’s basement at his BBQ…
Anya and Xander’s pool...twice.
And the list goes on and on.
THE END.