Chapter Thirty seven
Buffy knew she was acting like a child. She just didn’t care. Why stop here? she thought. William is well aware that I make poor choices already. No, that’s not true, she scolded herself, that’s not being very fair to myself now is it? No one is perfect, no one knows what they want all of the time and no one should be expected to always know. Her mom used to tell her, well, more like warned her, that sometimes life got in the way of the best laid plans. Buffy just didn’t know and understand exactly what she meant until now.
Oh, how wise her mother could be. Could be. Truthfully, Buffy was still pretty upset with her mother. And, well, her father too. But mostly her mother. She kind of felt let down. Parents weren’t supposed to go through things like this. They weren’t supposed to have lives and make mistakes. They were supposed to be parents. Just parents. Yes, I am learning a lot these days, Buffy thought. I am learning that my parents are human beings that make mistakes and poor choices of their own. I’m also learning how they muddle through and make it out of the messes they make. And, they’re doing it together.
It seemed to Buffy that life was a series of coming together and pulling apart. Sometimes one needed to be on the down low and ‘hide out’ and other times, they needed the comfort and solace of another. People needed people that was the way of the world. No matter what, it was what made the world go round. And, yet, other times, solitude was needed.
Maybe I should become a recluse, Buffy thought. Hide out like J.D. Salinger and write books on how screwed up others are. How lame and superficial and hypocritical people can be. Or maybe I could get a cabin and ponder society and life like Thoreau. Get back to nature and ostracize myself.
Hearing Fred laughing down the hall at something William said made Buffy cringe. And she only knew it was William talking to her because she could hear the deep timbre of his voice. Briefly she wondered if he was telling Fred a dirty joke like the ones he used to tell her to make her blush. He never cared if she laughed at his jokes, only cared if he saw her blush profusely. To him, that was better than her laughing at his anecdotes. One day she’d come in and told him a dirty joke and had taken great pleasure in seeing his jaw drop to the floor before sauntering off to her desk, feeling victorious.
Buffy couldn’t imagine Fred knowing any dirty jokes. The woman probably didn’t even swear. God, how in the freaking hell could one woman be so goddamned nice? Despite how Buffy had tried to discourage the woman from talking with her, Fred still made it a point to greet Buffy every day in that wide smile and sappily sweet voice. How did her face not hurt at the end of the day from smiling so much? Buffy entertained the idea that Fred had a tremendous dark side. Dark side like Jeffery Dahmer dark side. There was no way someone as sweet as Fred was that sweet all the time. She had to have a dark side. She probably lures unsuspecting men to her apartment and then hacks them up, Buffy mused. She’s probably got severed heads in her fridge, maybe a few body bags in her closet. Hmm… maybe I should ask Wesley if we should do a background check on Miss Fred. She’s got to be wanted somewhere.
Buffy sighed heavily and sat back. It’d been almost a week since the incident in the copy room. As well as avoiding Fred, she’d been avoiding William as well. Him much more as it turned out and boy was it a lot of work to avoid him. For one thing, her will power was not up to par when it came to William. She found that she needed at least a glimpse of him every day. However, it didn’t stop there. Somehow she was sucked into talking to him – either of her own making or his. He was not a man that took kindly to being avoided. He sought her out when she hid. He found her if she was with Wesley or talking with one of the other part time secretaries or just coming out of the bathroom. Somehow, he always found her.
So that was why she sat in her office, alone, feeling like a child for pouting over the sounds of William and Fred laughing together in the hall. She contemplated slamming her door completely shut. She discarded the idea as quickly as it came; he’d just go and accuse her of being jealous again.
The phone ringing startled her out of her thoughts.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Buffy, it’s Lindsey.”
“Oh, hi. What’s up?”
“Well, seeing as your Dad is coming back tomorrow, Lilah and I were talking about having a little ‘Welcome Back’ party for him. We thought maybe you’d like to join us.”
“You’re going to have a party for him?” Buffy asked, feeling a wave of sappiness that was creeping into her tone at a swift rate. She was so touched by the gesture, she wanted to cry.
Lindsey chuckled, “Yep. Nothing spectacular, just some food and soft drinks in the break room.”
“Still. He’ll love it. Do you need anything for it?”
“Uh, actually, yes.”
It was at that moment that William sauntered in her office, smirking slightly at her. He shut the door and made his way over to the chair opposite her desk and sat down, making himself comfortable, and watching her intently.
A light bulb went off in her head and she swiveled the chair slightly so she was turned slightly from him, but could see him out of the corner of her eye. “What do you need? I’ll be happy to help with anything, Lindsey.”
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw William’s lackadaisical demeanor change. He froze and immediately sat up straighter, his eyes narrowing slightly.
Buffy leaned back in her chair and twisted the phone cord through her fingers. She smiled flirtatiously, almost trying to mimic Fred’s smile and sickeningly sweet tone.
“A banner. We just need a banner. As I said, nothing spectacular, but some kind of decoration would be nice.”
“No problem, I can do that. What time should I be ready for?” That sounded a little funny and Buffy tapped down the urge to cringe. And that’s when William shot up from his chair and made his way over to her. He plopped himself down on her desk and spun her chair so that she was facing him. His eyes bore into hers. She tried to turn away, but he stuck his feet under her chair and held the chair in place.
“What are you doing?” William growled.
“Was that William?” Lindsey asked.
“Yes, it was,” Buffy said averting her gaze from William. With lightening quick moves, Buffy jumped up from her chair and bolted out of William’s range before he could grab her. The cord was stretched to the max, unfortunately, and she couldn’t move that far from him. It was comical actually, but she wasn’t finding it funny at the moment.
“Could you invite him too?”
“Sure, no problem,” Buffy said, trying to sound positive, but she was certain that came out forced.
“Great. We plan on having it around two thirty so as soon as you come in, if you could? Could you also ask Wesley and Angel to come down as well if they don’t have meetings and whatnot?”
“Of course. See you then.”
“Okay, bye Buffy, thanks.”
“Buh-bye.”
Holding the phone she turned to find a heated William. It was on the tip of her tongue to just tell him what the call was about, but remembering how he’d teased her about being jealous over Fred and remembering the laughing the two had done in the hall just moments before, she wanted him to marinate in his apparent jealousy for a while.
Which was funny – and completely contradictory – to how she had been just a couple weeks ago when he’d gone caveman on her at Envy when he’d seen her innocently dancing with Faith and Willow. Now she was encouraging it? Well, yeah. Especially after he’d made her so jealous. What was good for the goose was good for the gander.
And when had that feral look on his face started making her wet?
“What was that about?” he growled at her and shoved off the desk, stalking her.
She handed him the receiver. “Could you get that for me?” she asked, smiling sweetly at him.
His jaw was clenching again and he twisted his neck slightly, cracking it, as he took the receiver and all but dumped it back on its cradle. “What did he want?” he nearly barked at her.
She took two steps back. “Nothing,” she said nonchalantly.
“Buffy,” he said warningly.
She bit back a smile, “William,” she retorted in the same manner.
He cocked his head to the side, “Kitten wants to play does she?”
She laughed nervously and then squealed when he lunged at her. He grabbed her round the waist and hauled her up against him, her back to his front. “What was it about?”
She laughed as he tickled her mercilessly, “Welcome Back party for my Dad tomorrow at two thirty,” she gasped.
“And what does Lindsey want with you?”
“He asked if I could get the banner. You, Wesley and Angel are invited.”
He released her only to spin her around and slam his lips down on hers. He growled into the kiss which just made her wetter. His hold on her was tight and possessive, and she melted into him.
“William? You in there?” Fred’s voice wafted to them as she knocked on Buffy’s door.
Buffy froze and all but shoved William away from her; Fred’s voice having brought her back to reality. She glared at William, trying to get her breathing in control and was pleased to find him doing the same.
“Buffy--?” he started.
“Your assistant is looking for you,” Buffy said, her tone clipped.
He stared at her, his eyes boring hotly into hers. “This isn’t over.”
“Oh but it is, remember?”
William started for her just as Buffy yelled, “Come in Fred!”
If the look on William’s face was any indication, she was in big trouble. If he catches me, she thought wickedly.