Chapter 6
“So, does your sister ever mention me?”
Spike rolled his eyes. “For crying out loud, Harris. We go through this almost every bloody day. If you want to go out with Dawn, you have to ask her.”
His eyes widened. “You mean actually talk to her? I couldn’t do that. She’s way out of my league. I mean, you’ve seen the guys that she’s been with.”
Spike nodded. “Yeah, which is exactly why she needs a change. You’re a good bloke, Xander. She needs to be with someone more like you, instead of someone like white bread over there.”
Xander looked to see that he was pointing at Riley Finn in the distance, one of the popular guys in school. “They broke up, right?”
“Dawn let Finn go after she found him with another girl. He actually had the nerve to cheat on her because she wouldn’t sleep with him. I still have an urge to strangle the pillock, but I’m just glad that she finally came to her senses about him. There isn’t a bloke in this school good enough for my sister.”
Xander glanced down at the lunch table.
Spike then felt bad about what he said. “I didn’t mean that. I just meant those pompous wankers aren’t good enough for her. Dawn doesn’t care whether someone is popular or has a lot of money; she only cares about a good heart. That’s definitely you, mate. You should talk to her, she might surprise you.”
Xander gazed back up at him and decided to make things more interesting. “Okay, but only on one condition. If I finally get the guts to ask Dawn out, then you have to do the same with Buffy.”
It was now Spike’s turn to be nervous. “I already did ask her out and it didn’t go very well. She’s not interested in me. I don’t know what more I have to do.”
“How do you really know that she’s not interested? She’s probably just shy. Do you ever see her with anyone around school? The girl probably doesn’t have a lot of friends. Keeping to yourself like that all of the time has to get lonely. You should give it another try. She’s worth it, isn’t she?”
Spike thought it over and looked across the cafeteria to see that Buffy was once again sitting alone at her usual table. “She’s worth everything.”
Xander grinned. “I thought so.”
* * * * *
“God, I can’t wait for this year to be over. I’m so sick of high school boys. Aren’t you?”
Buffy didn’t know how to answer that. “I guess so.” She was still surprised to be sitting in the living room of the Giles home. It was a shock when Dawn invited her over after school, but she wasn’t about to turn down what was probably a one time offer.
Dawn smiled and moved closer to her. “Have you ever thought about leaving your hair down more often? You always have it up most of the time at school. Not saying that’s a bad thing, but I bet it would look great down. Can I try?”
Buffy nodded and let Dawn pull the scrunchy out of her hair, her golden locks now falling around her shoulders.
“Yeah, I was right. You’re a total hottie. Oh, I have the best idea. What do you say about me giving you a makeover? It wouldn’t be much, just some make up and maybe different clothes. You have a body under all of these layers, I just know it. It would give me something to do that’s not homework. Pretty please,” she pleaded.
It did sound like a good idea, but Buffy was worried about her scars. She always covered them up for a reason; luckily she was saved from answering at the arrival of Spike.
“Dawn? Are you here?” he called out.
“In the living room, doofus!” she yelled back in her usual way.
“I told you to never call me that,” Spike responded, then stopped at the sight of Buffy sitting with his sister. He wasn’t expecting to see her there. “Hey, what’s going on?”
Dawn shrugged. “I was just trying to talk Buffy into letting me give her a makeover. It could be fun.”
Spike was outraged at that suggestion. “She’s not a bloody Barbie! Don’t you have homework that you should be getting to?”
Dawn rolled her eyes and turned back to Buffy. “He acts like he’s so much older than me. I’m the one that gets better grades, anyway.”
Buffy couldn’t help chuckling a little at that.
Spike glared at the back of his sister’s head. “Could I see you in the kitchen for a moment?”
She let out a sigh and went to join him.
Spike didn’t address her until they were out of earshot. “What the bloody hell are you doing, Dawn? Don’t embarrass me in front of her. And what is all this about a makeover? That’s the last thing she needs.”
“I was only trying to help. I figured it might make her feel better about herself. I wasn’t really trying to change her or anything.”
Spike nodded. “I should hope not. Buffy doesn’t need to change. She’s perfect just the way she is.”
Dawn was stunned. “Wow, you’ve really got it bad. I’ve never heard you talk about a girl like that before.”
“That’s because I’ve never felt this way about anyone. I would have liked a warning that she was going to be here.”
Dawn looked apologetic. “Sorry, it was a spur of the moment kind of thing. I wanted to tell you after school, but I can never find you.”
A throat being cleared in the doorway turned their attention off of each other.
Spike gulped when he saw Buffy standing there, praying that she didn’t overhear any of the conversation.
“Sorry to interrupt. I should probably get home now. I didn’t mean to cause so much trouble.”
Dawn shook her head. “You’re not causing any trouble. My brother is just being a butthead. Do you really have to go home now? We can go up to my room and study for a bit.”
Buffy thought it over and realized that going home was the last thing she wanted to do. “Okay, that sounds good.”
Dawn smiled and glanced back at Spike. “We’ll just be upstairs,” she claimed, leading Buffy out of the kitchen.
Spike let out a breath that he didn’t even realize he was holding. The girl of his dreams was in his house. She was so close, and yet he still couldn’t manage to talk to her.