Chapter 30
Spike was fully aware of what day it was the moment he woke up and a smile bloomed on his face. *August third! I’m bloody seventeen!* If he deemed it even remotely manly, he would have squee’d in delight about being a year closer to shouting out his love for Buffy from the rooftops with no fear of the consequences.
Unable to completely contain his giddiness, he turned to Buffy who was still peacefully asleep, cuddled up against his side and cupped her chin to bring her lips to his. He didn’t expect her to remember his birthday the moment she opened her eyes, but wasn’t quite expecting the scowl on her face and her pulling away from his attempted kiss to grumble ‘coffee’, either.
He didn’t let it spoil his mood, though. An idea suddenly flitted through his mind that maybe she’d hidden his birthday present in one of the kitchen cupboards to surprise him., So he jauntily dashed downstairs to prepare her breakfast and even went through the trouble of walking out to the patio – thankfully with a kitchen towel held in front of his naked morning erection – to pick a rose for her and add it to the tray that held two steaming cups of coffee and four slices of toast with butter and jam. He wasn’t fazed by the fact that none of the cupboards held a gift-wrapped package in them. Quite the contrary. On his way up the stairs, he was convinced his girl would be waiting for him all ready for some hot birthday sex and he had to stop himself from flinging the tray over his shoulder just to run to her.
He wasn’t exactly disappointed to see her lying on her stomach, almost air-tightly sealed in the covers, her face buried in the pillow. Not exactly, but close enough. *Oh, don’t be daft, you know how Buffy is in the morning.* But that was the problem. He knew how she was in the morning. Waking up together always brought out the insatiable lusty beast in both of them. *Maybe she’s comin’ down with a flu or something.*
“Buffy? Pet? Rise an’ shine!”
The only answer he got was a ‘hmmm’, so he tried harder. “Goldilocks, your java is here an’ so is your faithful servant. Give us a kiss, luv.”
Groggily, she half turned towards him where he sat on the side of the bed and blindly reached for the mug. “Coffee, yummm”.
“Ah-ah-ah! No coffee before I get my kiss!” He tried to hide his slight hurt by jokingly pulling the tray out of her reach and leaning towards her, puckering his lips. *She didn’ even notice the soddin’ rose. What’s wrong with her?*
“Spike, stop. I haven’t even brushed my teeth yet!” She pulled the sheet up to cover her mouth when his lips were an inch away.
*What?* And since when was that ever a problem? Still refusing to let anything bring him down from cloud nine, he left the tray by her side and picked up her cell-phone which started buzzing. One look at the screen told him it was Xander, so he let her have her breakfast and walked towards the bathroom – door properly fixed now, but the key conveniently stashed in his suitcase – to answer it. He still held on to the hope that she remembered his birthday, but he wouldn’t bet his life on it, so he made sure to stay within her earshot as he answered. *’S not like I’m remindin’ her. ‘Sides, it’d be impolite to leave the room to talk.*
“Mornin’” Pause. “Thanks, mate. ‘Preciate you rememberin’.” Pause. “Guess I do owe you a drink. Not tonight, though. Spendin’ the day with my girl, I am.” Pause. “Nah, nothin’ special planned, ‘less she has somethin’ in mind…” He turned to wink at Buffy, but her eyes were still half closed as she sipped on her cup looking lost to the world. *Lost to me?* He squashed the thought the moment it appeared. Her indifference had to be faked, she didn’t ask what Xander wanted – or even who was on the phone, though that might be evident. *Nope, she’s plannin’ something. Has to be!*
~~~~~*~~~~~
By the time Buffy finally graced him with a full both-eyes-open look, his certainty had began to waver. It was well after two o’clock in the afternoon, and he’d smoked half a pack of cigarettes already. She’d dodged his efforts to playfully feed her in bed and sent him downstairs to let her have ‘some alone Buffy time’. Still, her eyes were full of love when she finally joined him in the living room all fresh from the shower and he couldn’t stop grinning as he patted his lap in an inviting gesture.
“Nuh-uh. I want to paint my toe-nails and your lap is so not the safest place for that!” She planted herself in the armchair next to the couch where he was sprawled and set about painting her nails, rarely glancing at him until she was done with the second coat, too.
He desperately wanted to whine, to ask her what was wrong and why she still hadn’t kissed him, or wished him a ‘very happy birthday’, but he was determined to let her play it out any way she wanted. Most likely she had some naughtiness in mind and was laying the ground work by acting aloof. Determined, that is, until she leaned forward to blow on the drying polish and he got a very clear view of her very braless breasts over her top.
“Buffy, I want my mornin’ kiss now.”
“But it’s not morning.” She batted her eyelashes.
The playful gesture made relief burst through his veins. *Yeah, chit’s definitely playin’ me*
“Yeah, well, it’s still today, though, and with the way you’re actin’, if I don’ ask for it I’ll get it tomorrow mornin’!” He raised an eyebrow and tilted his head to the side in that way he knew she found hard to resist.
“Oh, okaaay...” With an exaggerated sigh, she stood up to join him on the couch and wrapped her arms around his neck to draw him in for a very sweet, but rather brief, kiss. “Good morning, Mr. Whiny!”
*Tha’s it? Bloody hell!* Spike tried to pull her back to him, even employed his fail-proof tactic of running his knuckles seductively up her inner thigh, but she just sat back next to him and faced the TV.
“Oh, there’s a romance movie marathon on.”
She grabbed the remote and started flipping through channels until she found the opening title of ‘Sixteen Candles’ and Spike couldn’t hold back a groan.
Making him watch chick-flicks really was a test of both his love and patience, but he sensed that for some reason, *probably to heighten the effect of the surprise*, Buffy was trying to get on his nerves and he refused to give in. So he sat through the ninety three minutes – or eternity – of watching the very ironically chosen movie, as his girl seemed entranced by the thousandth re-run of Molly Ringwald’s hit.
As the movie neared the end, he noticed that Buffy, the Buffy that always left her cell phone ‘wherever’, was constantly stealing glances at it where it lay right by her leg. It struck him as weird, but didn’t bother him. At least until it beeped once and she snatched it up, subtly shielding the text message she received with her free hand as she read and answered it. Now that worried him.
Not as much as her next action, though.
Standing up with a look of determination, she didn’t even look at him as she said she had to go get some soft drinks… of the same kind he and Xander stocked the fridge with just the previous day. Something was fishy… unless she was just going out to buy his present. *Tha’s right! That was probably the Whelp or Red remindin’ her and she decided to go buy me something’*
He only realized that this contradicted his earlier theory of her acting weird because she was planning a surprise for him after the door closed behind her.
By the time she was back, with the much un-needed drinks, he was agitated. When he saw she held nothing else, he became pissed off.
Still, he knew Buffy enough to know that if something was wrong, he would have to wait for her to come out and say it. So instead of confronting her, he let himself dwell in misery, happy thoughts from this morning all but extinguished. His pride didn’t let him show her how hurt he felt, but it did allow for him to start bickering about everything and anything… from bread-crumbs in the bed where he went to take a nap – by himself – to not leaving him enough hot water when he gave up struggling with the sheets and went to take a shower a half hour later. He barely managed to keep his voice calm long enough to convince his Da he was having a really nice day when he called to wish him ‘happy birthday’ – passing the phone around to the entire extended family and friends, including Dawn who almost made him break down and cry when she wished him that this day be the beginning of the rest of his life. Xander’s folks were extra sweet, although Tara, kept asking how come her son wasn’t available to talk to her, bringing the blond at a loss for words, as he always hated lying to her and his uncle Oz, so he avoided the question for as long as he could before finally mumbling that the boy had some bowel problems and was spending a lot of time in the bathroom.
Buffy seemed to brush all his moodiness off with muttered apologies while her eyes never left the cell-phone which now seemed to be super-glued to the hand not holding an ever-present cigarette. *I’ve never seen her chain smoke like that. Somethin’s up.*
The shower pacified him somewhat as he reasoned with himself that his frazzled nerves were attributed to the fact that she’d apparently forgotten his birthday and that’s what made him overreact to her innocent trip to the grocery-store. He had to relax. *’Sides, why would the chit ‘member my b-day? I never mentioned it all summer and she wouldn’a remembered from all those years ago… still, the Whelp could have said something. He should’ave.*
Having rubbed his body dry he put on his most seductive smile and descended the stairs in all his naked glory to patch up whatever seemed to be wrong between them. The unexpected ringing of the phone made pure anger boil inside him when she didn’t afford him the same courtesy he had afforded her that morning, and left the room to answer it.
It was a different Buffy who re-entered the living room. Different from what she’d been all day, that is. The smiling girl that was looking at him bright-eyed was actually the Buffy he had fallen in love with.
“So, wanna go for a ride?” she asked.
And just like that he was pissed off all over again.
“Oh, now the princess wants my company? Remembered I was here, did you?” Whatever made her smile was not him. It was whoever was on the other line of that bleedin’ phone call, and he wasn’t having it.
As expected, Buffy became defensive. “What do you mean? I so knew you were here all day! Didn’t we watch that movie together and-”
He didn’t let her finish. “And what? You watched a bloody chick-flick with me, jus’ like you would with any ‘f your friends. You were around, but you weren’t here with me though, were you?”
“I so was!”
Her answer was inadequate for him, further fuelling his outburst. “What the fuck is wrong with you today, Buffy?”
“Nothing,” she yelled. “Nothing is wrong with me. Just because for one day I wasn’t in the—the frigging mood to be all over you something has to be wrong with me?”
Her eyes seemed to be welling up with tears, so he refrained from shouting how much she’d fucked up a day that was special to him and instead, sulked while returning to the couch and kept sulking for another hour, watching her repeatedly send and receive text messages.
It was half past seven by the time she addressed him again, and he’d seen her become increasingly fidgety in the meantime.
“So, you wanna go for that ride?”
“Where to?” He wasn’t thrilled at the idea, but at least they were talking again.
“Dunno.” She shrugged noncommittally. “Around.”
“Not yet. There’s somethin’ on the telly I wanna watch,” he huffed. It was a small victory making her watch the second half of ‘Rambo’ – that he stumbled upon by accident – but a victory nonetheless. Even if his heart kept feeling stomped on when she looked at her watch or sent another text message every few minutes.
Abruptly he stood up, forgetting all about the film. “Le’s go.” He went out the door first, and she silently followed, making sure to lock it behind them.
She was still silent as she got in the driver’s seat, texting another quick message and didn’t say a word as she turned the engine on and sped off.
It wasn’t even nine, but the end of the summer meant that it was dark out. Still the darkness inside Spike seemed to surpass that of their surroundings as the car left the city limits. *What’s wrong with her? Why is she like this? And who the fuck is she messagin’ at this hour?*
Buffy suddenly brought the car to a halt after about forty minutes. Her driving had been precarious to say the least since he first had the pleasure of getting in her car about two months ago. Tonight, however, he was willing to drop to the ground and kiss the earth at her feet for making it this far still in one piece. *Where exactly is this ‘far’, mate?*
Buffy was quickly walking away from the vehicle, however, so instead of examining his surroundings, he trotted after her. He wasn’t upset anymore. *Nope!* He was livid! This was his day, God damnit, and she was acting like a spoiled brat!
“Buffy! What the fuck is going on?”
“You pissed me off,” was her casual answer as she disappeared between some shrubs, barely giving him the chance to see her exact direction as he followed her through a narrow passage, his progress hindered by the mere slip of the waning crescent moon lighting the night.
“I pissed you off? I pissed you off? You’ve been a bloody fury all day! And tod-” he cut himself off, not wanting to give her more ammo against him in case this was going where he thought it was. Part of him was weeping at the thought of things being over between them, *an’ tonight of all bloody nights*, but the whispered phone calls and her practically ignoring him all day left almost no doubt in his mind that she was about to break things off between them. So he resigned himself to take it like a man… before walking his way back to Willow’s and crying his eyes out to his cousin.
“Today what? Today of all. Days, you choose to act like a child? Sulking and refusing to come for a ride with me cuz I was a little… aloof?” She never slowed her step and he never fell any more than a couple of steps behind her.
“A little aloof’?!” His voice was fraught with sarcasm as he mocked her way of speaking. “Oh, tha’s rich! You’ve been avoiding me all day, Buffy! ‘S that the trendy way of leavin’ a bloke, pet? Avoid him ‘til he tells you to sod off?” He spoke quietly, but there was nothing subdued about his tone or stance. He was beside himself. *Havin’ the next one all lined up, most likely – and here I thought she loved me!*
tbc.
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Thank you darlaslilgirl for the awesome banner!Author's Chapter Notes:
This chapter is angsty.It's angsty in a most-definitely-will-piss-you-off way. Please before giving up on me (or Buffy) remember the promise I made several chapters ago (perhaps even in the first one) concerning angst in QS. That said, I hope you enjoy this!Thank you, as always, to those of you that read and even more to those who review, you make me smile! A huge 'thank you 'Im_bloody_English; she is an incredible person and a wonderful friend and has really made my life (let alone writing) much better since I met her. Thank you also to Dusty273, Darkrivertempest and SpikesGoddess for helping me out, prodding me on and caring enough to repeatedly ask me to fix this when I first wrote it! Hugs and cookies to you all, guys, really! Also, hugs and cookies to Tanit, Daisy, Shadow, Spikeluv84 and SpikesKuruptedSon for spending so much time with me on the chat box and listening to my (epic-sized) rants, and to Sandara for being just great!