“Did he really have to bring her, here?” Xander whispered harshly.
“I said you weren’t gonna like it,” Willow whispered back.
“Overgrown man-child…” Xander muttered.
Willow smacked him lightly on the arm as the two continued to spy on Angel and Cordelia. When Willow had arrived at Cordelia’s place, Buffy had answered the door. Evidently Cordelia theory had proven to be somewhat correct. The small blonde only had to know that the redhead was there to tutor her stepsister, leaving Buffy thoroughly disinterested and let the redhead enter without interrogation.
Though it was a bit suspect when Cordelia appeared decked out in a small cocktail dress and full make-up. Buffy still barely acknowledged the two girls, not even bothering to wait and say good-bye.
Once they had left the house, Cordelia instructed Willow to follow her to the end of the block. Angel was picking her up, she’d explained. Willow had grimaced. Though Angel had been nice enough to offer her a ride back to her own place; at which point, Willow immediately called Xander.
And that’s how they ended up here. Stuck at a small round table way in the corner of the French restaurant, Café Nice. They’d managed to catch up with Angel and Cordy right as they were being seated, which Xander was equally grateful and disenchanted.
“Well she’s not laughing at his jokes, that’s a good sign, right?” Willow offered as they continued to watch.
Xander snickered, “Willz, a guy like Angel doesn’t need a girl to laugh at his jokes. He probably doesn’t even have any.”
“Well I’d wanna guy who had jokes,” Willow pouted.
“Yeah, jokes…and a vagina,” Xander reminded her bitterly.
Willow rolled her eyes, defeated. She’d told Xander about Cordelia’s date initially to inform him that their own devised counter-plan would have to wait. Of course, Xander being……well, Xander, had to see the date for himself. Willow knew how much he’d be hurting, watching Angel fawn over Cordelia, and what was sure to be worse, Cordelia responding accordingly.
“So, how do you like the place?” Angel asked, taking a sip of his water.
“Well I’d like it better if they’d bring us something else to drink besides water,” Cordelia mused.
Angel outwardly laughed but inside was panicking that his girl was already displeased. “Right? If the service were any slower, Café Nice should change their name to Café ‘Not-so-nice,” he laughed heartily now, hoping his joke would impress her.
Cordelia stared blankly at him for a moment, “It’s Café Neice, “she said, correcting his pronunciation.
Angel choked down his laughter, his pride wounded, “Right, right. Just…ya know…making a joke…”
Cordelia nodded tightly, rolling her eyes and bring her menu up to block his view of her. This was not going very well. Angel was a good looking guy, but something was off and Cordelia was annoyed.
Angel exhaled and followed suit by lifting the menu and staring at the offerings absently. This was not going very well. Cordelia was gorgeous, but something was off and Angel was worried.
“Oh man, they’re ordering food!” Xander whined, watching the pair open their menus from across the room.
Willow furrowed her brow, “Guess that means they’ll be here for awhile, huh?”
“Yep, and so will we,” Xander said with a nod.
Willow sighed and picked up her menu in surrender.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Friday is a special day for a college student. That final day after a hellish week that whispers the promise of escape. Even though Saturday and Sunday are the actual sanctioned days off, that feeling of accomplishment at the end of a Friday is the best feeling in the world.
Buffy disagreed.
This particularly Friday was not shaping up to be the welcomed liberator it usually was. If anything, it would only give her more free time to sit and stress about how her life was falling apart.
First came the morning argument with Cordelia. Which in itself was nothing new, really. The sisters had always had spats growing up whenever they shared a space. But this was something else all together. Cordelia had come home late the past two nights. Really late. And though Buffy had briefly considered it none of her business, last night’s late arrival had been her undoing.
Cordelia had begun to worry. Not about Buffy finding out about Angel so much as Angel himself. She was getting disinterested. True he was good looking, and true he could be charming sometimes…and he was a decent actor, which gave him that whole “talent is sexy” thing…but he was kind of…dumb, Cordelia realized. And moody…and not like in a James Dean way, more like a premenstrual woman way…
But she’d given Angel a second chance…or, at least….in her mind, she’d given him a second chance…since Cordelia wasn’t sure if someone could actually be given a second chance without being informed they had failed the first one.
Angel’s second chance was last night, Thursday. They’d gone out again and this time, it really was a study date. Willow was even invited, more as a consultant.
Professor Giles had wanted them to start dealing with their assigned Shakespeare scenes on their feet, talking and walking. Both she and Angel had different partners, but she thought it’d be more fun to practice with Angel. Willow was cursing to herself for being too nice. Despite the fact that she had crafted her own devious plan to set up Xander with Cordelia behind Angel’s back, her plan so far had backfired twice already and both times she had helped. Her disgust with herself had caused her to leave early; the couple was too busy making mooneyes at each other anyway…
And that’s when Cordelia had decided to push her luck…again. Angel drove her home, and after a half hour make out session in his car, the two said goodnight and Cordelia went inside, not knowing that Buffy had witnessed the entire thing.
Not one to shy away from an argument, Buffy approached Cordelia immediately in the morning. Cordelia denied and deflected a few times before finally admitting that she and Angel were seeing each other.
Buffy unsurprisingly, fumed. What did surprise Cordelia was that Buffy didn’t say she’d pull any of her usual scare tactics. Sure she cursed and she mouthed off about what an idiot she’d thought Angel was and how Cordelia was wasting her time and yadda, yadda, yadda…but not once did Buffy threaten anything. It was as if she was just a psycho protective sister, which in some ways, Cordelia almost found sweet.
Buffy however, found nothing sweet about this new development. But amidst her ranting, she remembered the argument they’d had on the first day of school. Cordelia wasn’t ever going to heed Buffy’s warnings, no matter what she said or did.
So Buffy let loose a few obligatory barbs about the stupidity of both parties and left it at that. Besides, if her theory held true, which she was certain it would, Cordelia would be on her side soon enough.
The next gem to accost Buffy that supposedly blissful Friday was another letter from her mother. Her mother had been sending her letters since Buffy had moved to Sunnydale for College. Sure, Buffy still visited Joyce on occasion and they would catch up that way, but the letters were a chance for each of them to talk about their lives without censure or interruption.
The last few letters however, had been short and vague. They hardly warranted the postage. But the letter she’d received this afternoon was even more devastating. Her mother was engaged; a man named Brian she’d met at the Art Gallery she worked for. Buffy was so much surprised as she was disappointed.
Her mother had been seeing Brian for almost six months now, though the two had known each other for a number of years. Buffy had met Brian twice. He was a nice enough man, as art curators go…but the 23 year old blonde was definitely not receptive to the man’s interest in her mother. Her reasons for disliking Brian were nothing new and her feeling of disappointment sprang from an entire childhood of watching her mother suffer at the hands of her husband.
So why in the world would her mother want to put herself through all that heartache and bullshit again?
In tandem with the yucky feelings pervading her thoughts as she contemplated her mother’s missive, was the epiphany she’d had with Cordelia that morning. Cordelia would never see her side of things until she’d been betrayed the way Buffy felt she had. But Cordelia had said something that first day of school that Buffy couldn’t process until now, and suddenly all of her thoughts and actions up to this point made complete sense.
The women were just as much to blame as the men for these awful situations. Obviously Buffy didn’t agree with Cordelia unilaterally. Not every situation warranted shared blame. Sometimes, (more often than not) it was the man’s fault. But Buffy suddenly understood where Cordelia had derived her own theory. The disappointment she felt in receiving her mother’s news was partially due to her pre-emptive blaming of this newly appointed fiancée, Brian. But now Buffy recognized that she was also prepared to blame her mother when something inevitably went awry.
Her mother was indeed foolish if she went into this engagement without considering everything that Hank had previously put her through. And now Buffy was at an impasse. She didn’t know how to respond to her mother’s letter. She wasn’t excited, but she didn’t want to hurt her mother’s feelings either.
Buffy saved the letter in a pocket of her bag for later dealings. She still had one more potentially disastrous event scheduled for this glorious Friday…Acting class.
That one irked her like no other thing today had. When she’d tried to explain her situation to Professor Giles, was ignored and brushed off like any other student. Buffy supposed she deserved a bit of Giles’ aloofness. She had missed practically a week’s worth of work already. But then to be saddled with some new sleaze-ball who’d just joined the class? How was that fair?
Buffy inwardly groaned. She was not looking forward to Acting class today. She’d barely grazed the scene she was assigned, she didn’t know her new scene partner, and they’d be stumbling through it on their feet today. Disaster was imminent.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
“What do you mean she knows?” Angel whined.
Cordelia shrugged and calmly repeated, “I told Buffy we were seeing each other.”
“But I had this whole thing figured out—“
“And that’s adorable,” Cordelia breezed, “But now that she knows, we don’t have to sneak around.”
Spike’s eyebrow lifted at this sudden change in plans, “Hey now, Peaches,” he chimed in, “Hope this sudden liberation act doesn’t mean we’re settled.”
Angel groaned as he looked between his friend and his girlfriend. If he and Cordelia weren’t hiding anything, then Spike wasn’t necessary. On the other hand, Spike wouldn’t just let him back out of the deal now. Not after money had already been promised.
“No, no. You’ll get paid for your trouble, don’t worry,” Angel finally said.
Cordelia snickered, “What trouble? He’s hardly done anything! You’re aren’t seriously going to waste perfectly good spending money on Speck here, are you?”
Spike narrowed his eyes and zeroed in on the brunette and let loose a low growl, “Spike,” he corrected seethingly.
Cordelia shot him a furious look, “Did you just GROWL at me?”
Angel held up his hands in surrender, “Cordy does have a point ya know,” Angel said to his friend, “It’s not like you’ve really made any progress…”
“Well give a bloke a chance, would ya?” Spike scoffed, “Bloody hell what were you all expecting in two days?”
Cordelia rolled her eyes, “More than a few witty barbs, that’s for sure.”
“Yeah, you said she just walked away,” Angel furthered.
“I LET her walk away,” Spike argued, “I coulda followed her, made her life a living hell for the rest of the day but breaking down a chit like this girl takes planning. You can’t just rush into it.”
“When have you ever had a plan?” Angel wondered humorlessly.
Spike looked defensively at his taller friend, ‘I have plans all the time!” Angel looked to Cordelia, who shared in his skeptical look as Spike continued,
“But then I get tired of waiting.”
“Fine,” Angel started as Giles entered the studio alongside Buffy. Angel stopped his thought for a moment to survey the small blonde. Cordelia straightened in her seat, prepared to take on anything Buffy might dish out.
Spike however, just stared at the girl, blatantly. He’d been too busy trying to bombard her the other day that he’d never taken the time to get a good look at her.
She was far better looking than he would have guessed, based on everyone’s tales of her behavior. Her long, blonde hair that fell below her shoulders; bronzed, flawless skin; large green eyes and full, glossy lips. Nice figure: small but tight. Toned legs and arms, taut stomach and a ripe, curvy bum. She was almost pleasant.
Giles gave the girl a final nod before directing her to take a seat. Buffy turned and locked eyes with Spike. He raised one eyebrow in acknowledgement and curled his tongue between his teeth, deliberately challenging her to look away first.
She did. With an audible groan of disgust, she forcefully slung her bag up and over her shoulder as she moved to her chair; the momentum of the heavy canvas lobbing behind her and intentionally cracking into Spike’s head as she passed him. A brief chorus of choked laughs were heard as Spike winced and grabbed the side of his face.
She turned back to survey her damage only when she’d arrived at her seat, shooting the blonde man daggers as he glared back at her in contempt, still massaging the tender spot of his temple.
Cordelia and Angel were still laughing before the boy leaned over to Spike and finally finished his thought. “Fine, “Angel started up again, “New plan. Get Buffy to actually like you.”
Spike scoffed, his eyes never leaving the petite blondes across the room. Angel looked to Cordelia for support on his new idea, but she was bored already. The tall man turned back to Spike, “Don’t think you can do it?”
“How much?” Spike immediately asked.
“Hmm…” Angel considered, “500 bucks says you can’t even get Buffy to kiss you before Halloween.”
“Halloween, you stupid git? That’s less than a month away!” Spike whispered.
“I believe in you,” Angel mocked, patting Spike lightly on the shoulder.
Spike batted Angel’s hand away before turning back once more to stare at Buffy.
Giles had now begun listing off the order of the scenes and she was fully rapt with attention. But Spike tuned him out, intent on staring the girl until she was demystified to him. He thought he’d softened her with that jab about the daddy issues the other day but he was clearly mistaken.
Fine. Buffy wanted to play hard to get? Money or no money, Spike loved a challenge.
Buffy spared him an icy glare and his face fell into a smirk before he mouthed to her,
“You’re mine, Summers.”
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Here's the next chapter! Light on the Spuffy but more information to be revealed and checking in with our other characters! Stay tuned though, big Spuffy chapter coming up soon! Thanks to all who reviewed!
Chapter End Notes:
Thoughts? I know, teasing you with Spuffy crumbs is frustrating! But I promise, more to come! Please review! Thank you!