Author's Note: So very sorry this has taken so long. Thanks for all the reviews and special thanks to romiverna who got my butt moving on this and Comedown. Happy reading!
CHAPTER 13 -- Back to Reality
Buffy sat in the passenger seat of the van next to her newest date -- a guy who looked suspiciously like Spike, although she was pretty sure her date’s hair was naturally that color.
He sighed behind the wheel, “Yeah, Spike is really cool. Do you think he could, like, go out with us sometime?” His eyes lit up at the prospect.
Buffy rolled hers, all through lunch and the car ride home, no matter what she tried to suggest, the conversation always turned back to her date’s two favorite subjects: Star Wars and Spike. “Um . . . Sure Andrew . . . I’ll ask him,” she replied, with no intention to do anything of the sort.
The van rolled to a stop outside Fairytale and Buffy slid out of her seat. She turned back to her date, “Goodnight, Andrew.”
“Oh, goodbye!” he waved awkwardly. Buffy had gotten halfway down the sidewalk when he called out her name, “Buffy!” She turned around. “. . . Tell Spike I said hi!”
“Ooookay. Goodbye Andrew.” Buffy shook her head and headed inside her store.
She winced as a bright flashbulb went off in her face. “What . . .” she attempted to dodge Spike’s camera, “What are you doing?” She dropped her purse and jacket on the floor and went to join Xander at the desk. It was after hours and the two men were helping put the finishing touches on the new window displays.
“Taking pictures of the store for the layout. You do remember the rest of our deal, don’t you? I get the lowdown on Ms Summers’ psyche.” He smirked and snapped another picture of her for good measure.
Buffy rolled her eyes, “How could I forget?” She sighed and picked up a stack of papers, flipping through them.
Spike followed her to the desk, “So, how’d the date go?”
Buffy looked up from her papers, “I think he’s trying to vicariously date you through me.”
Spike looked thoughtful, “I always wandered about that guy.” He shrugged. Buffy smiled. “So, one last date then?”
Buffy looked at him seriously, “No, Spike. You’ve had your fun, your little experiment didn’t work. Let it go. I‘m done.”
Spike blocked her way as she tried to walk towards the back, “Listen, he’s an old friend of mine from grade school. I just called him the other day and he’s currently between girlfriends.”
Buffy considered him warily. If he really was an honest to God friend of Spike’s, he had to be better than the last couple guys he’d set her up with -- guys she could never imagine being in the same room as her bleach-haired friend. “Who is he?” she asked suspiciously.
“His name’s Ben. He’s a med-student at Sunnydale Hospital.” He rolled his eyes at her impressed look, “Every girl and their mother’s dream guy, I’m sure.”
“And if this one doesn’t work out.”
Spike put his hands in the air, “I’ll leave you alone, not more dates.”
“Promise?”
Spike crossed his heart.
“Even if I only go on one date with the guy?”
Spike sighed, “Yes, even if you don’t hiccup, I’ll never set you up with anyone ever again.”
Buffy furrowed her brow, “If I don’t what?”
“Hiccup,” Spike replied. At her confusion, he continued, “Red tells me you hiccup when you fancy someone.”
Buffy looked appalled, “I do not!”
Xander, who had until then amused himself listening to their exchange, smiled at her shock, “Yeah, you do. Remember Riley?”
Buffy looked pained, “Oh, please don’t bring that up.”
Spike smiled, “Oh, yeah, I forgot about that. You really liked him. Who’d he end up asking out instead? Melody?”
“Harmony,” Buffy corrected. “Wait . . . didn’t you go out with her?”
Spike racked his brain, “Might of.”
“And you couldn’t remember her name?”
“We met a couple times. Alcohol was involved. I didn’t know any better.” Spike looked regretful.
Buffy turned to Xander, “You going to be okay here while we go to the park?”
“No sweat, I can figure this wedding stuff out. You figure I gotta be smarter than the two of you.”
Buffy and Spike looked doubtful, “And why’s that?”
“Because I’m the only one in the room with the hair color he was born with.”
Both blondes smiled at their friend’s logic. Loud ringing interrupted the conversation, Buffy turned toward the noise, then looked up at Spike, “Your ass is ringing.”
Spike gave her a look, fishing his cell phone out of his back pocket, “I can hear that.” He flipped open the phone, “Hey babe . . .”
Spike spoke on the phone while Buffy continued to talk to Xander, “Where’s Willow? I thought she was going to show.”
“Her and Tara are at the Magic Box. Willow still gets the discount even though Spike’s dad doesn’t own it anymore. They found out they both were all into the witchcraft. They had a moment. It was kinda creepy.” Buffy smiled, pleased that Willow had found someone that shared her enthusiasm in magic. Spike ended his phone call.
“Who was that?” Buffy asked.
“My boss.”
“You call your boss ‘babe’?”
“You should hear some of the things she calls me.” Spike raised his eyebrows suggestively.
Buffy smiled and rolled her eyes, “No thanks. Ready to go skating?”
“Got my skates in the car.”
“Ok, let me get changed and we’ll go,” Buffy disappeared into a dressing room.
Xander watched her go, “Spike, man, what’s the deal?”
“What do you mean?”
“In the past week their has been not one single screaming match. And now you guys are skating together three times a week. What gives?”
Spike smiled, thinking back to their talk on the hood of his car, “We understand each other now.”
TBC
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