Chapter 17:
Buffy concluded that William was right; the pathway of life wasn’t always picturesque when you’ve been driving down the same road for so long. It seemed that all it took for her to change directions was a stop at a college library.
“I can’t believe I said that to him…” Buffy muttered to herself as she continued pack on the miles between her and the UCLA library.
“What is wrong with me?!” she scolded herself while hitting steering wheel.
‘You’re an idiot, remember?’ the little voice inside her head whispered.
“Idiot, idiot, idiot!” Buffy continued to bang her hand on the wheel.
‘The one true friend you have that understands what you’re going through and you mess with his mind…good going.’
Buffy wiped the tears that started to run down her cheeks as drove back to her house.
“What he must think of me…”
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
William’s hair flickered like a light switch—from brown and curly to bleached and slick, and then back again. It seemed that the change was in unison his state of mind—chaotic, never settling on how he should react to what he was watching.
They were alone again. The library was dark except for the lone spotlight that shined on her hair. Every once in a while she’d snap those wavy locks back over shoulder and glance over at him, but other than that she ignored his stares.
He groaned as if in pain when she turned her back to him and stepped down the small ladder with a book in her hand. The spotlight, which he still wasn’t sure where it was coming from, moved to highlight her tan calves.
“I’m afraid I don’t have a library card…”
William gulped, she must have been thirty feet away from him two seconds ago and now she was leaning across the check out desk.
“I—I—I—“
“Can I use the copy machine?”
William nodded without a word.
“Can you show me how it works?”
William was now pressing her book to the glass of the copy machine, watching as page after page of Kama Sutra came burning out of the machine. Buffy stood behind him, looking over his shoulder as he flipped to another page and pressed the Start button.
“Perhaps you can show me where to return this book when you’re through making copies…”
“I’ll…I’ll be happy to… “
Buffy placed her hand on his shoulder and spun him around.
“Buffy”
She hushed him with a single raise of her hand.
Her index finger came up and rested on his lips; it ran down and petted his bottom lip repeatable.
“You know what I’m doing?”
William’s eyes crossed as he looked at her finger playing with his lip. When she spoke he glanced up at the first thing that came to sight—her cleavage. The dress she had on was white and sexy, too sexy for the likes of going to the library.
“She’s playing with you…”
The voice broke the sweetness that was in the air. It broke the dream within the dream. Buffy’s fingers no longer lingered on his fragile self; she seemed to have disappeared into thin air.
All that was left was Dru dressed in black.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
William sat up in bed breathing heavily from the erotic images that his mind created. He glanced down and noticed that the part of his body that hasn’t been responsive to his wife much of late was up and ready for action.
He took a deep breath and muttered the first thing that came to mind, “Oh no…”
*~*~*~*~*~*~
The restless night that William had was clearly visible the next morning. Drusilla could easily spot it as she prepared for work and watched him nurse a cup of coffee.
“I see you are writing again…” Drusilla quipped as she poured the freshly brewed coffee into her travel mug to take to work.
William’s head slumped before jolting up to look at Drusilla.
“What?” he asked quietly.
“I said…it seems to me that you are writing again…” Drusilla said more slowly.
William stared at her for a moment, not breaking eye contact, “No I’m not.”
“Do I need to remind you of what everyone thinks of your writing…what I think of it?”
“Aren’t you late for work?” William brushed her off and looked out the window.
He heard the click of her heels across the tile before he felt her cold hand raise his chin to look at her.
“Tell me off like that again and I’ll tell daddy…”
It was a threat she used most of their marriage. It was her number one weapon and it always stirred something ugly in the pit of William’s stomach. Buffy may have slain a few demons for William to be able to stand being his wife, but when Mr. Laurence, Drusilla’s father, he was the devil wearing Armani.
“He’s coming for a visit Friday…” Drusilla smiled and let go of William’s face.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
“You look like hell babe.” Angel muttered as he took a second look at his wife sitting at the breakfast table.
“I feel like—“
Buffy cringed as Angel pressed the Start button to the blender to make his morning protein shake.
“What?!” he yelled over the sound.
“Nothing…oh nothing…” she muttered in a tone that he couldn’t clearly hear her at, “Just that I hate you and that I’m going to leave you as soon as I get a plan…or a new job…or win the lottery…”
“What?!” Angel yelled again when he noticed her lips were moving but he couldn’t hear her.
Buffy put on a fake smile and mouthed to him ‘Nothing’ before getting up to leave him alone in the kitchen.
She only got halfway across the room when the blender shut off and Angel addressed her again, “Wait...I got something I wanted to tell you.”
With a roll of her eyes, Buffy turned around to hear this ‘big news’. She automatically wished she didn’t stop to listen to him when she saw him reach across the counter and pick up an envelope.
‘Please be a bill, please be a bill’ she chanted in her head.
“We got invited to another party.”
TBC…