Spike spotted her before she saw him. He had arrived at the hotel in downtown Sunnydale with the other chaperones fifteen minutes before the formal started-and spent the next half hour after that eying the entrance of the banquet room. The room was already filled with college students in formalwear. Buffy stood out from the rest, looking gorgeous in a long turquoise gown. A slit up the front of the gown showed off her tanned legs and Spike could feel his arousal building as he thought of those legs wrapped around him.
He shook his head to clear the wicked thoughts running through his mind and realized someone was speaking to him. “I’m sorry, what did you say?” Spike suppressed a groan when Buffy turned around to hug someone entering the room. Her dress dipped dangerously low down her back, making the sexy dress almost unbearable.
Jenny Calendar laughed. “Oh, nothing important. I can see you have other things on your mind!”
Spike couldn’t tell his colleague and friend how right she was.
Buffy entered the banquet room with her friends and their dates. The group of eight had rented a limousine to chauffeur them to and from the formal. It wasn’t a far ride to the hotel, but none of them planned to be in any state to drive at the end of the night.
Buffy groaned as she saw Harmony approaching her and Angel with someone she had never seen before. At that same moment, she noticed Spike standing with a female who Buffy assumed was another chaperone. UCSD was a large campus, and the woman didn’t look young enough to be a student so she had to be a professor.
Spike looked amazing in his suit. Yes, she saw him in a suit on pretty much a daily basis, but tonight he was wearing a much more formal black suit with a black button down shirt and tie. The ensemble contrasted perfectly with his fair skin and hair, and it took Buffy a moment to realize she was staring.
Harmony was draped over the man who Buffy assumed was her date and looking at her expectantly. “What?”
Harmony rolled her eyes at the other blonde. “I was just commenting on what a fabulous job the new sisters did this year setting up the formal.”
“Oh, yeah. Everything looks amazing,” Buffy replied, talking about more than just the decorations.
Buffy looked back to the spot she had just seen Spike in and caught him staring in her direction. He smiled at her before carefully returning his attention to the brunette. Buffy sighed and looked back at Angel who was offering to get her a drink. It was going to be a very long four hours being so close to Spike and not being able to have any interaction with him.
“Ah, Ms. Summers. May I say how lovely you look tonight?”
Buffy turned to smile up at him. “Yes, you may.” She took her drink from the bartender as Spike motioned to him for a refill.
Spike bent his head so that he was whispering into her ear. “As much as I love the dress, pet, all I can think about is ripping it off of you.”
She was about to respond as he pulled his head back and raised an eyebrow at her until she felt a hand at the small of her back. Spike’s expression quickly turned professional and she hoped her eyes didn’t give anything away as she looked up at her boyfriend. Angel didn’t seem to notice what had just passed between them, and greeted them both with a smile.
Angel signaled for the bartender, ordering another beer. “Professor Thompson, I didn’t know you would be chaperoning this year.”
Spike forced a chuckle. “Yes, well, Ms. Kendall is quite persistent.”
Buffy rolled her eyes at the mention of Harmony. “That’s one way to describe her,” she grumbled. Although she knew Spike didn’t return Harmony’s advances, she still didn’t like thinking of how Harmony had persuaded Spike to chaperone the event.
“So, what do you think Buff’s chances are of actually passing English this semester?” Angel asked with a laugh, accepting a beer from the bartender. “We both know she’s not exactly an honor student.”
Spike stared coldly at Angel. “Quite the contrary, Mr. O’Toole. Buffy could be an exceptional student if she worked up to her full potential.”
Angel laughed again. “Right, that’s why she’s a third year student with freshman standing.” He hugged Buffy to his side. “It’s a good thing I’m not after her for her brain.”
“Yes, how lucky for her,” Spike replied snidely. “Not every day a girl finds such a prince.” His tone left no indication that he considered Angel to be anything but a prince.
Buffy stared at Spike, silently willing him to stop defending her. The last thing either of them needed was for Angel to get suspicious. She plastered on an expression that she hoped looked indignant, but her eyes pleaded with Spike to let it go. Angel noticed the tension that hung in the air between the three of them. He also noticed the soft look that crossed Professor Thompson’s face before he excused himself in search of the restroom.
“That guy is so uptight!” Angel complained. “I don’t know how you do it, spending time with such an asshole.” He kissed her, and Buffy could taste the alcohol on his breath. “I guess you’ll do just about anything for me, huh?”
Buffy nodded silently, letting Angel pull her back to the table where their friends were gathered. She sat down and tried to look interested in the funny story that Faith’s date, Xander, was telling everyone. Inside she was feeling a million different emotions, the two most dominant being anger and confusion. After three years, she was finally fed up with Angel’s antics. He thought he owned her, and that was partly her fault. Now she knew how different things could be. Everything was changing-she was changing-and she had no idea what to do about it.
Spike stalked off in search of the nearest restroom. Instead, he found himself outside the hotel smoking a cigarette to calm his nerves. What the hell was wrong with her? How could she allow that oversized moron to speak about her like that? He was still fuming and about to light up another cigarette when she found him.
“Spike?” Buffy put her hand on his elbow to get his attention. “I’m really sorry about what happened in there. Angel-“
“What the bloody hell do you have to be sorry about?” Spike asked. “Besides the fact that your boyfriend is a complete and utter wanker.”
Buffy sighed and looked around to make sure they were alone before leading Spike around the side of the building, into the shadows of an alley. “Look, I don’t know what a wanker is, but-“
“A wanker is a man who takes for granted that he has the most beautiful, intelligent, funny, sexy girlfriend in the world.” His tone softened as he moved an errant strand of hair out of her face. “A wanker, luv, doesn’t deserve you.”
Buffy placed a hand on the back of his neck, drawing his face down to meet hers in a kiss. It didn’t take long for the sweet kiss to turn passionate. Spike leaned back against the stone of the building, taking her with him. His hands roamed down her bare back, cupping her ass and pushing her more tightly up against him. The kiss deepened and Spike found the opening of the slit in her dress, his hand creeping underneath and caressing her panty clad mound.
Buffy pulled back just as Spike’s fingers moved her panties aside. “We can’t do this here,” she told him, adjusting herself under the dress.
Spike snorted, reaching out to bring her back into his embrace. “Here’s just as good a place as any.”
Buffy shook her head, evading his grasp. “No, Spike. We’re being too careless. Anyone could come out here and find us. Angel could come out here and find us.”
Spike rolled his eyes. “And wouldn’t that be just terrible! If your boyfriend found you screwing his English teacher up against a wall.”
“Uh, yeah, it would be!” Buffy told him, as if he should already know this. “Our relationship isn’t exactly, well, not frowned upon.”
“Relationship?” Spike countered, ignoring the hurt look that crossed her face. “Is that what we have?”
Buffy backed away from him angrily. “I guess not!” She turned and stalked away from him, and all he could do was watch her go.
The formal was coming to an end, and Buffy for one could not wait to leave. After her fight with Spike, she had tried to compose herself in the bathroom before joining her friends again. Angel was already three sheets to the wind, and she had no patience left to deal with him. Luckily he had sprung up a conversation with Harmony’s date, whose name Buffy still didn’t know. Just as she thought her night couldn’t get any worse, she spotted Spike on the dance floor. She hadn’t even seen him come back in after their fight and had assumed he had gone home.
As hard as Buffy tried to look away, she couldn’t help but see who he was dancing with. It was one of the few slow songs of the night, and Spike’s back was blocking her view of his partner. She assumed it was the professor she had seen him talking to earlier that evening, until they turned and her heart dropped.
He was dancing with Harmony.
There was no way he was dancing with Harmony for any other reason than to make Buffy jealous. He knew damn well how she felt about Harmony! And what was he trying to draw attention to himself? It wasn’t unusual for chaperones to dance at these formals, but they hardly ever slow danced with students. Especially not the kind of dancing Harmony was doing!
It took all of her strength not to march onto the dance floor and rip Harmony’s whoring arms off of Spike. She hated that she was so jealous, but she was feeling incredibly insecure about their “relationship” after the fight they’d just had in the alley. Or, at least she thought they had a relationship, but apparently he didn’t.
Buffy couldn’t take it anymore and looked away. She hadn’t been very good company tonight and she was sure her friends had noticed. She looked back to Angel. At least he was too drunk to notice anything going on. She sighed to herself, counting down the minutes until she’d be back in her bed. Alone.