Once he had gotten into the car, Spike immediately regretted it, and not only because accepting Buffy’s offer of a ride home wasn’t exactly the way to avoid her, like he had planned. Buffy was probably good at a lot of things, unfortunately, driving was not one of them. When she accidentally stepped on the accelerator instead of the brake in front of a red light, he simply closed his eyes and hoped that he would be home soon. In fact, they should already be back at his place since he only lived a few blocks away from The Bronze. His eyes snapped open and he looked out the window, realizing that they were at the other side of town. He sat up abruptly, giving Buffy a suspicious look. “What the bloody hell are you doing?”
She took her eyes away from the road and looked at him, an innocent look on her face. “What do you mean?”
He gave her a patient look and gestured towards the window. “Last time I checked, I didn’t live in this part of town.” He rolled his eyes. “If you tell me you’re lost…”
“No.” Buffy turned her attention back to the road, not that it made that much of a difference. Suddenly she looked uncertain. “I just thought…” She hesitated. “That cut looks kinda bad, and since you don’t wanna go to the hospital…” Then she shrugged. “I didn’t know if you had a first aid kit at your place. I have one at mine.”
Spike stared at her, bewildered. “You could’ve bloody asked!”
Buffy shrugged again, lowering her eyes. “You looked like you were sleeping, I didn’t want to…”
“All right.” He removed his seat belt. “Just stop the car, I’ll walk from here.” When she didn’t stop, nor slowed down, just kept her eyes stubbornly on the road and kept driving, he slumped back into the seat with a sigh. “What will your parents say when you’ll bring home a complete stranger?”
Buffy finally stopped the car outside a white house and turned off the engine. “They’re out of town, they won’t be home until tomorrow night.”
As Spike followed her out of the car and towards the house, he considered more than once to simply run, but for some reason he didn’t. Instead he followed Buffy inside, waiting while she turned the lights on, and finally followed her upstairs.
She opened a door and motioned for him to step inside. “This is my room.” Then she blushed a little and rushed past him, quickly grabbing something from the floor and shoved it under the bed before he got the chance to see what it was. She let out a nervous giggle. “Um… I’ll get the first aid kit. You wait here.“ And then she was gone.
Spike glanced around the room. No girl had ever invited him up to her room before, of course, he had never given them a chance. He noticed that Buffy had a lot of stuffed animals, and wasn’t sure if that was a teenage girl thing or just a Buffy thing. Walking over to the bed, he picked up one of them, a pink pig that looked like it had been around for quite a while.
“That’s Mr Gordo. My dad gave him to me when I was three.”
Having not heard Buffy return, Spike jumped a little and spun around, a guilty look on his face. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to…” He didn’t know how to finish so he just dropped the pig on the bed and took a step back.
She just shrugged and walked over to him, a small first aid box in a tight grip. “You, um… you want me to…? Or do you…?”
Buffy hesitated as she held out the box in front of her and Spike noticed that she seemed nervous. He couldn’t blame her, she’d probably gotten second thoughts about inviting him over. Well, comming here hadn’t exactly been his idea. “I got it.” She handed him the box and he walked over to the mirror.
While he started cleaning the wound over his eyebrow, Buffy slowly walked over to him, For a moment she just watched without saying anything. Then she cleared her throat and he gave her a questioning look. She shrugged a little, like she wasn’t sure of what to say, but obviously wanted to say something. “Does it hurt?”
“No.” He turned his attention back to the mirror, but realized that she kept watching him.
“Why were you guys fighting?” He just shrugged. She waited for a moment, then realized that he wasn’t going to say more.
Finally he was done and turned around, giving her back the box. “Thanks. I’ll…” He paused before finishing; “…better head home.”
“Or…” She blushed a little and looked away. “You could stay here. For the night, I mean. It’s kinda late. You could sleep on the couch and I’ll give you a ride home tomorrow.” She really hadn’t meant to blurt something like that out. Spike was practically a stranger, this wasn’t like her at all.
He couldn’t help but gulp at the thought of getting into the car with Buffy again. Then his mind registered what she had said before that. “You want me to…?” He shook his head, firmly. “No, I’ll just walk, s’no big deal.”
“I don’t mind.” Buffy gave him a pleading look. “I feel like a part of what happened was my fault, and…”
So that’s what it was about; she felt guilty? He snorted. “That’s bollocks, and you know it. I didn’t mean what I said back there, all right? I just…” He let out a nervous chuckle. “Was the concussion talking.”
She smiled a little. “If you have a concussion, you shouldn’t go home and sleep alone. You really should stay here.”
Spike opened his mouth, then closed it again. He didn’t understand why she was being so persistent. “I don’t have a bloody concussion!”
Buffy crossed her arms stubbornly over her chest. “You just said you did.” She paused, lowering her eyes. “Look, I’m sorry. It’s just that I really hate the idea of being alone in the house all night, especially after what happened last week.” She hated admitting it, but a part of her still half expected Angel to show up behind her every time she closed her eyes.
“Buffy…” He could come up with at least a thousand reasons why staying the night would be a terrible idea. Then she looked at him and pouted, and he forgot every single one. Though a part of him found her both stubborn and annoying, another part actually enjoyed being around her. And that part was reluctant to leave. He didn’t understand it, though. For as long as he could remember, he had always kept to himself, avoided other people as much as he could. But there was something about Buffy that both scared him and fascinated him at the same time. “Oh, bloody hell! Fine, I’ll stay.”
“Good.” She looked pleased, and once again Spike was amazed at how beautiful she was. “I’ll make up the couch downstairs for you.” She paused. “Unless you don’t mind sleeping on the floor, then you could just…” She gestured towards the floor beside her bed with a shrug.
Spike let out a defeated sigh. “Floor will be fine.” Then his eyes widened as realization hit him. Had she just suggested that he would spend the night here, in her room? And had he just accepted? He shook his head as if to clear it, about to tell her that he would take the couch after all. Then he noticed how tired she looked, and decided against it. He could always wait until she had fallen asleep and then leave. Or, he could stay.
TBC
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