The next day Buffy remained quiet at her lunch table while Cordy, Riley, and Angel did their usual insulting of everyone not-them. Occasionally she would find herself glancing over at Spikes table, then scolding herself for doing so. He had been haunting her mind all day. Everything that she felt last night was still fluttering through her, tempting her for more.
"Uh, hello... Earth to Buffy..." Cordy said with an 'ugh' attatched at the end. "What is with you lately? You're like, posessed or something."
Riley looked over at her with a semi-concerned look on his face. "You okay? You're awful quiet."
Buffy forced a small smile but found it hard to look him in the eye. "I'm really tired. Haven't been sleeping well lately."
Cordelia rolled her eyes and waved her off before turning to Angel to start up a new conversation.
Riley bent down a tad to whisper in Buffy's ear. "Want me to come over and uh, tire you out later?" he asked with a stupid grin attatched to his face.
Buffy cast him a little glance but found his offer less than appealing. "Actually I think I'm supposed to have movie night with mom tonight. That should be boring enough to put me to sleep right away."
Lies. I'm a liar.
Riley looked a little dissapointed but seemed to buy it.
Just then Buffy looked up to see Spike staring at her with a smug smirk on his face before Willow knowingly slapped his arm, breaking the eye contact. But it was too late, the feelings that coursed through her at the eye contact alone was enough to wig Buffy out comepletely.
"You know, I think I'm actually gonna cut out early. Maybe catch a nap before mom gets home," she said as she got up and started gathering her things. "I'm just not feeling right today."
Riley nodded. "I'll call you when I get out, see how you're doing."
Of course you couldn't be bothered to, oh, I don't know, offer me a ride?
"Sure."
She was gone before he could say another word. She was flying between the double doors of the cafeteria as Spike looked up from his lunch plate again. He cleared his throat an subtly announced he needed to use the bathroom and got up to go after her.
Buffy was hustling down the hallway trying to calm herself down when she heard him call her name.
"Buffy!"
She stopped and closed her eyes as she took a deep breath and cursed herself for loving the way his voice rumbled when he said her name.
"Buffy..." he said a little more quietly as he approached her in the empty hallway.
"What?" she said in a tone that was a little more harsh than she was intending it to be.
"What's wrong, where you goin'?" he asked as he stopped beside her.
"I-..." she sighed. "I'm tired, okay? I just wanna go home."
"Oh, and uh, why's that, luv," he said with a smirk. He tilted his head. "Somethin' keep you up all night?"
Buffy whirled around to face him, obviously aggrivated at this point.
"What do you want?" she said with gritted teeth.
Spike was a bit taken back, obviously not realizing how upset she really was. His smirk faded. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing is wrong, Spike. I am tired because I was up all night on the phone with my boyfriend WHO I love, by the way. So why don't you stop asking me stupid questions and stop finding ways to see me! I am done with you!"
The look on his face let her know that she had royally pissed him off. His jaw clenched and his muscles twitched. His cool blue eyes shifted and became dark.
"Fine," he ground out. "I'm sure now everyone would just love to know how all holy Buffy Summers just loves to sneak around with losers like me. Oh and what dirty little secrets Captain Cardboard over there would love to know about you..."
Tears welled up in her blazing green eyes. "If you tell ANYONE, I will destroy you."
Spike didn't know what else to say. He had followed her out of the cafeteria to have a laugh with her about the previous night. Instead they wound up threatening each other.
Without another word Buffy spun back around and stormed off, wiping her eyes dry as she did so. She told herself she wasn't going to cry over him. He wasn't anything special to her. He was just a little fling... wasn't he?
As he watched her walk out into the courtyard Spike felt a pang go through him. He hadn't wanted things to go like this. He cursed himself for being such a ponce and slowly made his way back to the cafeteria.
x X x X x X x
Buffy spent her entire walk home fighting back tears. She was so confused about everything she was feeling. She'd been with Riley for a few years now and everything was fine and dandy until he showed up. He had to go be all sexy and english.
And different.
He was different from all of her other friends and she found it so refreshing. Everyone she associated with was conceited and stuck-up. Spike had done nothing but make her feel more alive again.
Ugh, but why does it bother me? He's just a guy. I'm Buffy Summers. Everyone loves me, I don't need him to. I've got my big studly boyfriend and my popular friends. I don't need to be all buddy buddy with the sexy bleach-blonde across the street... no matter how much better I feel around him.
Her attempts to make herself feel better were only making her feel worse. It was no secret that she liked him. Well, it was, but not to him. He had this thing about him that made her open up around him, get her out of the role of the snobby high school popularity queen and into a shy giddy girl with a crush. And to be honest, she liked that part of her more.
With a sigh Buffy walked up her front porch and stuck the key into the lock, turning it until she heard the click and happily stepped into her quiet empty home. She didn't waste a minute going up to her bedroom to relax. When she pushed open the door to her room she toed off her shoes and began to take her jean jacket off and went strait to the side of her bed to lay down.
"Buffy..."
The deep rumbling and all too familiar voice that came from behind her startled her to the point of a scream. She spun around and held her hand to her chest to calm herself as she stared at the invader in her house.
"What the FUCK are you doing?!?" she screamed at the very blonde object of her thoughts.
"I-..." he hesitated for a moment, not quite expecting her to react the way she did. "I didn't mean to scare you..."
"Well you DID! What did you expect?!? Here I am thinking the house is empty and all of a sudden theres a guy creeping in the corner of my room..."
"I'm sorr-"
"How did you get in here? And WHY are you here?"
"The front door was locked so I came in your bedroom window! I don't want you to be mad at me, Buffy!" he yelled. "I came here to tell you that you can trust me. I'm not gonna sodden tell anyone what happened between us, and I won't bring it up anymore if you don't want me to."
Buffy closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
"But, Buffy," he started as he took a step toward her. "I like you. I like you a lot and I know you probobly don't want to hear it. But..."
She could tell he was struggling to find his words.
"My girlfriend of four and a half years dumped me, and I was more in love with her than anything in my entire life. But, it's like I don't even care because all I keep thinking about it you. You're all I've bloody thought about since the minute I met you."
Buffy didn't know what to say back. She knew he was expecting some kind of reaction or response, and that he was really hoping it would be a good one, but it was like her mind was about to crash and burn it was going so fast.
She took a deep breath.
"My reputation is all I have," she said as she looked up at him. "I was living happily as queen bitch at this high school and everyone loved and worshipped me. I have the studly boyfriend who plays on all the varsity sports teams. I have the evil best friend who will laugh with me when some loser trips or spills something on themselves. I was happy being that person. And then you came along," she sort of laughed. "A dark, punkish, anti-social british guy who shows up outta nowhere calling himself Spike and all of a sudden I'm sneaking out of my room at night, lying to my boyfriend and avoiding my friends, and inadvertantly hanging out with the very kids I used to laugh at."
Spike shifted uncomfortably. He couldn't exactly tell where this was going, but he was pretty sure it was all going to lead up to the 'I like you but we can't see each other anymore' speech. What he wasn't expecting was what she began to say next.
"I do really really like you. And it's no secret that I do want you, but, I can't leave Riley. And I know you don't want to hear it but I've been with him for so long, I'm not ready for that part of my life to be over."
She was waiting for some kind of reaction from him. She honestly thought he'd get angry and leave and she'd never ever see him again. He probobly did the exact opposite of what she was expecting.
He smirked and looked down on her. "So, you're not willing to leave Captain Cardboard... but, you're not willing to lose me either? Is that what you're saying?"
Buffy shyly looked away and bit her lip, afraid to look him in the eye. Instead she meerly nodded and concentrated on a very interesting piece of lint on the floor.
"I bet I can get you to change you're mind."
Her head shot up and she looked at him with the most confused look on her face. But with all her might she couldn't hide the tiny smile that formed on her lips at the thought of what he might be insinuating. "Wh-what do you mean?"
He curled his tongue up over his teeth and slowly stepped toward where she was standing. "I bet I can make you fall for me so hard, you're not gonna know what hit you," he said with a flash of a sexy smile.
Buffy's knees we're going weak at the sight of him walking toward her like that, but she tried her best to keep her composure and look as if she didn't notice a thing. "Oh yeah?" she asked with a gulp. "And just how exactly are you gonna do that?"
For a second she thought about taking the question back and telling him not to answer it, but he moved too fast for her to speak again. He swooped her up and pinned her up against the wall with the most breathtaking kiss she's ever gotten in her whole life.
His tongue darted between her lips and explored her whole mouth in a matter of seconds. He was making her so dizzy that she grabbed hold of his shoulders to steady herself, allowing him to press the length of his body against hers. When they broke apart she could barely hold herself up. Her knees had gone so weak that he had to actually sit her down on the side of her bed so she wouldn't collapse. He smirked once again and leaned dangerously close to her ear.
"I have my ways. See you around, luv."
And with that he was gone. Buffy was left panting for air and lightheaded on the edge of her bed. She could barely get her mind around what had just happened. Had he really just declared that he was going to fight for her?
She knew it made her look so selfish but she found herself getting more and more excited at the thought of Spike trying to win her over and take her away from Riley. She was the very object of a battle that was going on that no one even knew about, not even the other opponent.
Buffy fell back on her bed with a smile and kicked her feet out in a happy-dance. This was going to be way too fun.
TBC