Chapter Four
Buffy tried to smile up at Spike to show that she wasn't upset about his sudden appearance at her table. She had the feeling it came across more as a grimace.
“So, your name is Spike?” Faith drawled as she stood up. “Interesting.”
“Not really,” Spike replied with a wry smile as he held out his hand.
“I'm Faith.” She shook his hand, then pulled him forward a few steps and nudged him toward the booth where Buffy was busy trying to disappear into the wall. “Have a seat.”
As soon as he sat down she shimmied in beside him, forcing him to move further along the seat until he came dangerously close to being pressed against Buffy's side. “Wow,” Faith said, grinning over the table at Willow and Xander. “It's getting very cosy in here, isn't it?”
“It is at that,” Spike muttered under his breath.
“So, Xander,” Faith continued, effectively turning all attention away from the couple beside her, “why don’t you tell us about yourself?”
Buffy snorted. Could Faith be any more obvious? She may as well have handed Spike a fifty and told them to get a room.
She glanced at Spike out of the corner of her eye and found him focusing intently on the conversation that had sprung up between the other three occupants of the table. He looked a little tense, his arm tucked into his side, as if he was desperately trying not to enter her personal space. Or pay any attention to her at all for that matter. And what was with that? It wasn’t like she was going to bite ... much. The thought made her giggle.
He turned to look at her, an unspoken question in his eyes, and she stopped breathing. He was so close. And she was so tipsy. Oh please, you past tipsy two vodkas ago.
“Sorry,” she told him. “I think I may have over-imbibed.”
He grinned. “Well, love, I figure if you can still get a word like 'imbibed' out without mangling it then you can't be too bad.”
She laughed. “I guess you’re right.”
He glanced around the table, as if he wanted to make sure that the others were still engaged in conversation, before he spoke again. “Look, Buffy, I'm really sorry about this. I had no idea that this is where we were headed until it was too late. I didn't mean to intrude on your evening – yet again.”
His voice was low and quiet, for her ears only. That, coupled with his nearness, gave his words a sense of intimacy that sent shivers running down her spine. She wanted to lean closer, to feel her thigh brush against his beneath the table. It would be so easy, seem so innocent. There wasn’t a lot of room at the table, after all. She could touch him, just this once, and get away with it.
Clearing her throat, she backed up a little further into the wall behind her. One touch. Yeah right, once touch that would end with her giving him a lap dance. Nice thinking, Buffy.
“Don’t worry about it. It's fine, really.” Her voice sounded strained, even to her own ears, and she took a sip of her drink in an effort to ease the tension. “Do you come here often?”
He shook his head. “Just on the odd occasion. I'm usually more of a quiet pub kind of man.”
Buffy grinned. “Does that mean I won't get to see you doin' your groove thang?”
“Not tonight, no,” he replied with a chuckle. “But please, don't let me stop you from heading out there.”
“No, no, no.” She shook her head vehemently. “I think I'm done with the dancing tonight.”
“Are you sure?” he asked, leaning toward her as if about to impart some big secret. “I promise not to tell anyone what a vixen you are on the dance floor.”
Her eyes snapped up to meet his, remembering all too vividly the scene he would have witnessed earlier in the evening. He winked at her, a teasing smile on his face.
“Thank you,” she said, her breath coming a little heavier. “I wouldn't want anything to spoil my reputation as a boring professor.”
“Your reputation is impeccable, love.” He drained the last dregs of beer from his glass before turning to her again. “But it never occurred to me for a moment that you could ever be boring.”
Their gazes locked and Buffy could have sworn she saw something other than professional respect burning in those clear, blue eyes. “You’re right,” she said, unable to resist the urge to add a sultry edge to her voice. She bit her bottom lip, for good measure, and saw his eyes drop instantly to her mouth. Oh yeah, he wants me.
“Spike!”
“Huh? What?” Spike snapped his head around to look at Xander.
Xander just smirked. “Willow was just asking about your studies.”
“Right. Sorry, love,” he replied, sitting up straighter in his seat. Buffy almost laughed at his discomfort. “What did you want to know?”
“When do you graduate?” Willow asked.
“End of the year,” Spike replied. “Just have to do my thesis and then I’ll be all with the pomp and ceremony. Not to mention the funny hat.”
“That’s great. What’s your thesis topic?”
Buffy looked at Spike and saw him take a deep breath, as if preparing himself. Remembering the reactions he’d said he got when asked what he was studying, she jumped in just as he opened his mouth. “Spike’s examining some of the main factors that predict whether a new relationship lasts beyond the first major courting stages.” Four pairs of eyes turned to her in surprise. She gave a nonchalant shrug. “It’s fascinating, really.”
“Uh-huh,” Faith said, looking unconvinced. “So what are these factors, exactly?”
Spike cleared his throat. “A number of things, like how much enjoyment each person experiences, how much they have in common, satisfaction with the level of intimacy, that sort of thing.”
Faith chuckled. “By intimacy you mean sex, right? Does the amount of ‘o’ predict whether or not people stay together?”
Buffy almost groaned. There was no way Faith was going to leave this one alone.
“Something like that, yeah.” Spike had a smile plastered on his face, but Buffy could see he was a little uncomfortable, waiting for the general reaction.
“That’s fantastic!” Faith clapped her hands together in delight. “I know I’m not one to stick around if a guy is a dud in the bedroom. I mean what’s the point, right?”
“Faith, there are other reasons to date someone,” Willow said, rolling her eyes. “Not everyone is a perfect match the first few times.”
“Yeah, but if the fire isn’t there then the relationship is going to fizzle eventually anyway. Why go through the drama?” She pointed a finger in Xander’s direction. “What do you think?”
Xander balked at the question. “Umm, I guess it depends on if you see potential there,” he said. “I mean, maybe the fire is there, and it just needs to be ... err ... tamed.”
As the debate continued, Spike looked at Buffy with a relieved grin. “Thanks for trying, love.”
“Any time,” she replied, smiling back at him. Then she gestured toward the others. “Though I don’t think you had anything to worry about here.”
He chuckled. “I guess not.”
Buffy was just starting to relax again when Faith turned back to them. “That must be a real trip, having to talk about sex for hours on end.” She leaned across the table a little before adding, “Hell, I’m already horny and we’ve only been talking about it for five minutes.”
A nervous laugh make its way around the table as everyone looked sideways at Buffy and Spike.
“Well, there’s a lot more to supervision than the topic itself,” Buffy said, hoping to steer the conversation back to safer ground. “There’s the ... err ... literature review, a-and the methodology. Making sure you have solid hypotheses. Isn’t that right, S-Spike?”
She looked at him to find him staring determinedly at the table top. “Yep.” He nodded. “Loads more.”
“Yeah, but, at the end of the day, it comes back to the sex. Right?” Faith seemed to be enjoying herself immensely, despite Buffy’s glare. “I’d love to be a fly on the wall of your office, B. It must be smouldering by the end of your meetings.” She fanned herself, as if just the thought was causing her to overheat.
“Nonense,” Spike said curtly. “Buffy is the consummate professional.” He looked at Xander and cocked his head toward the door. “I’m going to head outside for a smoke,” he said. “You wanna join me?”
“I thought you quit,” Xander replied with a frown.
“I did.” Spike all but pushed Faith out of the way in order to get past her and headed straight for the door.
“Excuse us, ladies,” Xander said, exiting the booth in a more dignified manner. “We’ll just be a few minutes.”
The moment the men were out of earshot, Buffy buried her face in her hands and Willow pounced on Faith. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?
“What?” she replied, laughing her head off. “At least you don’t have to wonder anymore, Buffy. He’s so hot for you it’s a wonder he could walk straight.”
Buffy glared at her. “You, missy, are officially off my Christmas card list.”
“What about Willow?” Faith asked. “At least I didn’t interrupt when you two were making some progress.”
Willow cringed. “I wasn’t sure what to do, Buffy,” she explained. “You said you didn’t want to get involved with him because of your job, so when I saw you two eyeing each other off, I figured I should do something.”
“We weren’t eyeing each other off,” Buffy argued.
Now both women were looking at her as if she’d lost her mind. “You were both about five seconds away from sliding under the table,” Willow said, giggling.
Buffy groaned her dismay. “This is ridiculous. I’m going home.” She grabbed her purse and made her way out of the booth.
“No, Buffy, don’t leave,” Willow cried. “We were having a good time.”
“No, really. I should go before I do anything really stupid.” She bent to give each of her friends a quick hug. “And I am so getting you back for this, you big ho.”
Faith placed a hand over her heart, a grin on her face. “Oh, you wound me so.”
“Yeah, right.” Buffy laughed as she left the table, relieved that she was going to be able to put this whole situation behind her. At least for tonight.
She ran into Spike and Xander just a few feet from the door. Damn. So close.
“You going somewhere, love?” Spike asked, looking down at her purse.
“Yeah,” she replied. “I’m really tired, so I’m going to head home.”
“Well, it was great to meet you, Buffy,” Xander said, shaking her hand. “Good night.”
“Good night,” she replied, but he’d already started to head back to the table, where Willow and Faith were waiting. When she turned around, Spike was shaking his head at his friend’s retreating back. When he looked down at her, he sighed. “I think perhaps our friends are trying to play match maker.”
“You get that feeling too, huh?” Buffy replied, tucking her hair back behind her ears. “Look, I’m really sorry about Faith. She can get a little carried away sometimes.”
“No kidding,” Spike murmured. “Of course, she was completely off base.”
“Of course,” Buffy agreed, nodding her head emphatically.
“Just because I picked kind of a ... hot topic, doesn’t mean that we’re going to get all ... hot.” The last word was said on a sigh as he stared at her and Buffy wondered if he actually believed what he just said.
“Exactly,” she agreed, hoping he would believe her if not himself.
“Do you need a lift home or anything?”
“No. There’s a cab rank just outside. It should be pretty empty at this time of night.”
“Right then.” He held out his hand. “I’ll see you on Wednesday, then.”
Placing her hand in his, Buffy savoured the feel of his warm skin for a long as she could. “Good night, Spike.” Finally pulling away from his touch, she forced herself to walk out the door.
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Hey, guys. I hope you enjoy this chapter. It was heaps of fun to write. Unfortunately, I haven't even begun to write the next chapter yet so updates will probably start to slow down now. I hope you can bear with me.