Interview 1999
So, there I was… nervous as hell…my bloody voice cracked… I was off-pitch…
1993
The sun had set hours ago. William cursed himself when he noticed what time it was. After midnight. Shit. Well after midnight. By three hours. Definitely wasn’t planning on being out that late. He quietly let himself in the residence hall.
The lounge was virtually deserted, except for one person.
Buffy.
She was curled up on the sofa, fast asleep. He instantly felt bad. She obviously was waiting for him to return. And he kept her waiting.
He knelt down in front of her. Smiling softly, he tucked an errant strand of hair behind her ear.
“Buffy?” he asked quietly.
She didn’t stir. He said her name again, a little louder. Her eyes fluttered open.
“Hey,” William whispered.
She moaned and sat up, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. “Mmm, what time is it?”
William looked at the clock on the wall and cringed, “Twelve after three. Sorry, pet. Didn’t mean for you to wait up for me. Hell, wasn’t plannin’ on being out that long either.”
She gave him a quick peck on the lips, letting him know she wasn’t upset.
As he sat down beside her, she curled up against him. He wrapped his arm around her, pulling her closer.
“So, how’d it go?” Buffy asked, nonchalantly.
“Bloody horrible, luv,” William said as he leaned his head back.
“Oh.” She obviously wasn’t expecting that. “I’m sorry,” she said sincerely, laying her head on his chest.
There was a moment of silence.
“I got the gig, pet.”
Buffy’s head whipped up, “But, you just said -”
William grinned, “I know. But -”
She interrupted, smacking him lightly on the chest, “You were leading me on. Trying to make me feel all sorry for you.”
She gave a little pout and William chuckled lightly, “Look at that lip. Gonna get it.”
His hand moved to the back of her head and pulled her lips to his. She moaned into his mouth and allowed him to sidetrack her for a moment before pulling away.
“Nuh-uh. Don’t try to distract me with the smoochies, mister. Now, tell me what happened.”
He gave a big dramatic sigh and planted a quick kiss before regaling her with the tale.
Interview 1999
….and, somehow, I got the gig….
Now, despite his adamancy that the audition was horrible beyond belief, that he totally bombed it, the opposite was quite true. Of course, they didn’t know it at the time, but Angel would be telling interviewers for years how it just clicked for him when he heard William sing.
Red Edge decided instantly when William was finished that he was the one. So, yes, that took a grand total of approximately ten minutes.
Of course, Buffy asked what happened during the last eight hours before he came back.
The band was adamant that they got to know one another. That they formed the bond needed for a band as soon as possible.
So, he did.
Interview 2005
Angel’s a bloody fantastic liar. That ad he placed said the band was about to sign to a record deal. They just needed a lead singer…
1994
It was a few months after William got the gig with Red Edge. And tonight, after endless nights of practice, it would be his first performance with them. Buffy and Dawn, William’s younger sister and Buffy’s new best friend, entered the club together. They wanted to be there to support him.
“I wonder why Will didn’t want us to come,” Dawn said as she and Buffy found a table in the middle of the room, with a perfect view of the stage.
Buffy did find that a little odd, as well. Especially since he was initially so proud to be in the band. But lately, he would get upset whenever she asked how practice was going. But she could never figure out why. They were only going to play a small set, consisting of only a few songs. William tried to pass it off as unimportant, not worthy of the girls’ time. She knew he wouldn’t be expecting them. He thought he had convinced her to make other plans tonight. But, if he thought she was going to miss this, he had another thing coming.
“I don’t know,” Buffy said as she looked at the eighteen year old.
And so, they made small talk as they waited for Red Edge to take the stage. Both girls had a love for art. Dawn was an aspiring artist, and of course, Buffy was working on her art history degree.
“So, what do you think of Warhol?” Dawn asked, focusing the conversation on the topic the girls loved most.
Buffy’s nose scrunched up. “Personally? A little overrated. But, also, Pop Art? So not my thing. Give me an Artemesia any day. Although I wouldn’t say no to a little Redon.”
“Who?”
“Odilon Redon.” Her eyebrow arched, “Don’t tell me you’ve never heard of him?”
Dawn shook her head.
“He was a French Symbolist artist during the 1800’s. Remind me and I’ll show you some of his works.”
“Alright.”
“Have you decided whether or not you’re going to pursue your art?” Buffy asked.
Dawn shrugged, “I don’t know. I want to, but then…I don’t know…not sure if I…have what it takes, you know?”
“Well, I think you should. Will showed me some of your work, and I think it’s amazing. You’re a talented artist. You have a good eye.”
Dawn smiled, “Really? Thanks.”
“You’re very welcome. And William is really proud of you.”
Dawn blushed at the compliment. “Oh, there he is,” Dawn said, as the emcee announced them, relieved to have something distract the conversation. The five piece band joined the emcee on the stage and took their positions.
William stood in front of the microphone, nerves beginning to stir. Please, don’t screw up, he thought. He just wasn’t sure who he was more worried about. Himself or the rest of the band. His eyes flitted across the audience and immediately landed on his girl and sister. He inwardly groaned. The bloody chit lied to him. But he didn’t have time to dwell on it. He had to sing.
Buffy grinned widely as she watched her boyfriend begin.
I'm a rolling thunder, a pouring rain
I'm comin' on like a hurricane
My lightning's flashing across the sky
You're only young but you're gonna die
Buffy and Dawn looked at each other, silently asking each other the same question. Okay, this could be why William didn’t want either of them to be there. He was embarrassed. Not because of his performance. No. That wasn‘t it.
I won't take no prisoners, won't spare no lives
Nobody's putting up a fight
I got my bell, I'm gonna take you to hell
I'm gonna get you, Satan get you
Interview 2005
…turns out they were nothing more than a bad covers band…who did a lot of AC/DC...
1994
William scanned the crowd. It took him no more than mere seconds to pick them out. Of course, spotting them while he was on stage made it easy. He took a deep breath before making his way over to their table.
Dawn noticed him first, grinned widely and motioned for him crazily. Buffy followed Dawn’s wild gestures and smiled at him. When he got to the table, he dropped a quick kiss to her lips before taking a seat in the empty chair.
“I thought you said you weren’t going to be here?” he asked.
Buffy simply shrugged, “Why wouldn’t we be here?”
“We just wanted to hear you guys,” said Dawn.
William cringed, “We suck.”
Buffy promptly shook her head, “No, you don’t.”
“Luv, yeah, we bloody suck.” And he was firm in the belief. He thought back to their performance. And winced. “Tim was off beat. The rhythm guitar was out of tune. The tempo kept fluctuating. Please tell me you noticed this, too.”
Buffy and Dawn shared a look. Okay…yeah…they noticed. It didn’t take someone gifted in music to hear all that.
“I think you’re being too hard on yourself,” Dawn stated matter-of-factly. “It’s only your first performance. Things are bound to be a little shaky.”
“Bit, we sounded like that since the first rehearsal.”
“Oh.”
He continued, “If it wasn’t for Angel, we would have completely fallen apart right there on stage for all to see.”
“Still think you need to give it some more time,” Dawn interjected. She looked up, “So, who’s tall, dark, and handsome and headed our way?”
“Who?” William turned around and noticed Angel moving towards their table.
The men gave a quick tilt of their heads to acknowledge each other. William turned to the girls, “I don’t supposed either of you have met Angel. Girls, Angel. Angel, this is Buffy, my girlfriend, and Dawn, my sister.”
“Pleasure to meet you both. Um, do you mind if I borrow Will here for a moment?”
“No, go ahead. We’ll wait,” Buffy said.
William nodded and followed Angel as they headed for a darker corner of the club, away from prying ears. “What’s this all about?” William asked.
“What do you think of tonight’s performance?” Angel asked quietly.
William just cast him a look.
Angel nodded, “Yeah. I was thinking the same thing. We suck.”
“And not getting any better.”
“Their hearts are in the right place…but there’s no talent, you know?”
William nodded. He respected Angel’s musical opinion. The night they met, he learned about Angel’s talent as a multi-instrumentalist, specializing in the keyboards and guitar. And he also did some music producing as a day job. Small stuff, nothing real big. Although that was a huge dream of his.
William may not have the musical background like Angel, but within the few months of being in the band, he learned a lot. He learned all the industry talk. He learned about music. Things he barely remembered from his school days were revived. Angel was an excellent teacher.
“But you,” Angel continued. “You’ve got talent. Amazing talent.”
William blushed silently at the compliment, still not used to being paid such praise. “You’re not bad yourself, mate.”
“Thanks. I was thinking… This is something I’ve been wanting to do for a while, but I’ve been looking for someone to work with. And, I think I finally found that person. Will, I think we should split from the band.”
End Chapter Two
A/N: The song William was singing was AC/DC’s Hells Bells. I don’t really know any of their songs. I just surfed online and found the lyrics and thought, okay, why not…
And, please forgive all the art history references I will probably continue to make throughout the story…it’s my major as well as Buffy’s so….and her opinions tend to reflect my own…