Chapter 2
Buffy sat on the hard wood floor and crossed her legs. With a sigh she scanned the room full of brown boxes, bubble wrap and other packing papers. She tucked a few wild strands of her hair behind her ears and blew on the Styrofoam cup that rested before her. Stirring the instant noodle soup with a plastic spoon gave her something to do instead of listening to her quiet house.
“Boring.”
She had already unpacked all her boxes and found homes for all her clothing and kitchen supplies, everything else was on the floor in little piles: her stuffed animals, photo albums and other bits of nostalgia.
“Hot! Hot!” Buffy hissed and quickly dropped her spoon back into her soup.
This would be better with a fork, wouldn’t it? She thought after wiping off the warm broth that had splashed her in the face.
“If I were a fork, where would I live?” She got up and brushed off the back of her jeans. She searched through the silverware drawer and the sound of her bare feet slapping against the floor echoed through the house. “Bah, silverware…more like plasticware. Damn. What genius thought of a spork anyway?”
Armed with her fork and spoon hybrid and a hot brothy soup, Buffy took her first steps onto her back porch.
I spy with my little eye…a swing!
She traveled to the end of the porch and looked questioningly at the tall grass that covered her yard, not sure if she wanted to walk in it without shoes.
I guess only the front yard was kept up… the grass needs to be mowed or at least weed whacked. These towns should specialize in teenage boys that want to do chores for a few dollars right?
She closed her eyes and ran as fast as she could without spilling her lunch to the bench looking swing that stood in the middle of the yard.
Ewww. Carefully choosing a spot covered with the least amount of bird droppings, Buffy sat and took her feet out of the overgrown lawn. After wiping her exposed lower legs of unseen insects, Buffy looked up at the tree she was sitting underneath and marveled at its height.
I may like it here but I have a feeling like I’m going to stick out like a sore thumb. I’ve never had a backyard before; I’ve never climbed a tree or have gotten sick after spinning on a tire swing. Isn’t that what people do when they live in the country? Buffy shrugged in response to her question. Bad me, stereotyping my new town because of Lassie and all those other shows on Nick at Night.
After blowing on her soup, she swirled her spork and collected the long, thin noodles on the utensil. “Mmmm, mmm good.”
Yesh, Ramen is going to get old, fast. I can’t believe the only appliance I have is a coffee maker. Maybe Dawn will know of some good places to shop at.
Buffy smiled, thinking of welcoming girl. I hope we become friends because I think we’d get along very well. I’d have to kiss all my fries goodbye but I don’t need them, it’s a small price to pay for a friendship. Speaking of friends…
After putting a heaping amount of curly noodles in her mouth, Buffy ran back to the porch and walked through the old screen door.
***
“Xander here.”
“Hi.”
“Hey how are you?”
“Ok…good. More than good, maybe.”
“Is someone feeling noncommittal this afternoon?”
“Give me a few more days and I’m sure I’ll give you a real answer.”
“I’ll be waiting for that, but give me all the gory details. Have you found him yet?
“Let’s see…I think I may have the oldest house on the block, which doesn’t really bother me too much. There are feuding Willy’s here and don’t ask because I’m not sure I understand the story. And I meet a girl named Dawn that owns a diner that has a really cute kid and almost uncomfortablely friendly people skills. And no I haven’t even looked for him because, like I said, I’m not here only to find Spike.”
“Sounds like you’re having fun out in the boonies. If you need help finding your dream guy, I suggest posters. Lost: hunky man with girlie British accent.”
Buffy laughed and broke her pacing to throw her Styrofoam cup on top of the overflowing trashcan. “Posters, huh? I’ll think about it. Oh crap.”
“What?”
“I hate to cut this short but I’ve got to run, I’m meeting someone at two.”
“You’re late…what kind of someone?”
“A new friend.”
“Already? Should I be jealous?”
***
“You don’t cook?”
“No.” Dawn leaned closer to Buffy in the booth, as if preparing to share a secret. “I can’t and won’t cook. Look at the menu; everything on it has absolutely nothing to do with the actual food. It’s all about the sauces and condiments.”
“Oh, I think I get it.” Buffy covered her mouth and swallowed a spoon full of ice cream. “It’s like when you wear a whole outfit but the most important part is the shoes and the jewelry, the dress kinda fades into the background. You specialize in food accessories.”
“Oh my God! Where have you been all my life!?” Dawn giggled, excited to know that Buffy understood her logic.
“Um…I have more similes where that came from.”
“Keep them coming. So how was your first night? Homesick yet?”
“It was really quiet, I didn’t even hear one car drive by. I was up in the middle of night looking for blankets because it was freezing. Isn’t supposed to be summer here?”
“It is but the weather is fickle, it does whatever it wants to. Tomorrow never knows, we could have a heat wave.”
“If that happens I’ll be waiting with my shorts in hand, until then it’s long pants and light weight jackets for me. And to answer your homesick question, I miss my friends back home but other than that I think I’ll adjust…eventually.”
“I’ve noticed you didn’t bring a U-haul. Did you live with your parents?”
“Have you been stalking me?” Buffy asked jokingly but still curious. She could imagine Dawn as a Gladys Kravitz figure, always with her nose peeking through the blinds and watching Buffy’s every move. “I lived with my best friend for a little and before that I was in my boyfriend’s apartment.”
“Ick. Is that the bad breakup face?” Dawn patted Buffy’s hand reassuringly, “He’s a big jerk for whatever he did.”
“Thanks, it was never a happy relationship but it got really ugly in the end.”
“If you ever need someone to join you in the scorned woman man bashing, just call. I have a husband and an annoying brother, I’m sure I could contribute to the bitterness.”
“I’m not completely bitter…ok, maybe I was but sending Riley to jail really helped.” Buffy gave a weak smile and gently tapped on the scar that she displayed on her forehead.
“Oh, that’s nothing to joke about, I’m really sorry. Is that why you’re here in Sunnydale? You said you needed a change…”
“Yeah and to be honest, I’m kinda looking for someone.” Buffy pushed away her finished ice cream to the edge of the booth that her and Dawn were sitting. “I may not be ready to do any heavy dating at the moment, but there is a guy that is on the top of my to-date list and I think he lives in Sunnydale.”
“Really? Do you know his name?”
“Yes, only his nickname.”
“Tell me and we’ll have you reunited in no time.”
Buffy tried not to grimace at Dawn’s excitement. “Well this could be dumb but…I met this guy out of the blue, it was all about us both being in the right place at the right time, the moment was perfect and…I kinda want to meet him again the same way, you know? Call me crazy but I’ll a firm believer in if it’s meant to be, it’ll…just be.” Buffy looked up and searched Dawn’s face for disappointment. “I just have these high hopes of another wonderful moment…”
“Wow.”
“Wow?”
“You just may be the biggest romantic I’ve ever met.”
Buffy laughed and felt a blush cover her face. “Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”
“It’s a big wow. My brother, well he’s technically my stepbrother, he was biggest sap I knew, of course he denies it…anyway you’ve knocked him from his throne and to be honest if things were different, I’d probably be on my hands and knees begging you to marry him.”
“Is that right? I hope he won’t miss his throne; maybe I’ll have to keep your brother in mind. Is he cute?”
***
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Buffy covered her head with a pillow and hoped the loud ringing would go away. “It’s too early, way too early for doorbells.”
She groaned and slowly trudged downstairs in her nightclothes, an oversized white t-shirt that fell past her knees. After standing on her tiptoes to reach the peephole, Buffy opened the front door and forced a smile.
“Hi, Dawn, Parker. You guys are up early.”
“Oops. Did we wake you?” Dawn gave Buffy a guilty smile. “I forget sometimes that not all people must awake up at the crack of dawn to watch Big Bird, but if it helps, we come bringing food.”
“Food? Ok you’re forgiven. Do you want to come in?”
“Naw, that’s ok. I just wanted to stop by, bring you muffins and invite you to Parker’s birthday party. I can’t believe I forgot to mention it yesterday but it’s on Saturday around noon and it will last awhile. I think it will be a great opportunity for you meet some more people and you can meet Conner, my husband.”
“And the cute brother?”
“Yup, so what are your plans today?”
“Shopping and more than likely getting lost.”
“Have fun and if you get bored, stop by and we’ll talk more. Well I’ve got to run before my brother eats me out of house and home. He insists on always eating breakfast at my house…Bye.”
“Bye.”
***
“Where’ve you been?”
“At your neighbor’s house. Have you met her yet? She’s a doll.”
“You were there before nine in the morning? That’s an ungodly time, bit.” Spike opened Dawn’s cupboards and searched through the endless rows of Tupperware dishes. “Where’s my bowl? You know I like the yellow one.”
“Yeah, yeah it’s in the dishwasher, all-clean. Don’t you have food at your house?”
“Nope, besides it’s easier to steal from my loving little sister.”
Dawn grunted in response and pretended to be reading the daily newspaper as she watched out of the corner of her eye amused, seeing Spike struggle to join her at the kitchen table. He had his hands full: his bowl in one and a gallon of milk in the other and tucked under his arm was a box of cereal; his spoon was already in his mouth.
Once settled in a chair, Spike overfilled his bowl with Lucky Charms and concentrated on reading the back of the box. “What a shame. I miss when those little toys were hidden in the bottom of the cereal and all covered sugary bits. I was looking forward to showing Parker the fine art of emptying a box on the table and floor in the name of a cheap plastic doodad. But now everything has to be mailed in with those bloody proof of purchases.” He frowned and shook his head, glaring at the cereal’s mascot. “Just sucking out all the fun, aren’t you?”
“Gosh you can go off on some weird things. Leave Lucky alone, you big bully. So you never answered my question, have you met her yet? I think you’d really like her.”
“Who? Oh the new neighbor? I haven’t seen her yet but I’m sure I’ll mange a little wave when I’m out at the mailbox or something. Why is she so special, have you already squeezed out her life story?”
“Well, she let me eat her fries and we had a nice talk yesterday afternoon, that’s was good. She also didn’t throw me out this morning, it was early for her too but she was still pleasant, also nice. Oooh, and she has blonde hair and green eyes.” Dawn sang Buffy’s description, knowing how it would affect her stepbrother.
“Oh?” Spike grinned slightly but then looked up at Dawn’s smiling face and glared. “You’re horrible, you know that?”
“You are so predictable, William. You really need to move on.”
“I have nothing to move on from. Actually I’ve--”
“Sure just like you don’t slobber over any girl that reminds you of that girl that stood you up, heck, you can’t eat coffee ice cream without getting moony eyed.”
“Do not.” Spike poured more cereal into his half empty bowl and avoided Dawn’s glance. “Can we change the subject now? Because I like pretending that I’m not terribly head over heels over a weird girl named Buffy. It was a beautiful moment, I made an ass out of myself and she let me take my foot out of my mouth, it was just like that old song…but I’ll never see her again but what’s the harm of pinning over a fantasy…a dream girl? You have the hots for every other pretty boy that you see on the TV and you’re married. Besides--” Spike stopped his rant when he looked up and noticed that Dawn had a strange look on her face. “You still in there, Dawnie?”
Oh. My. God. Buffy? Buffy?! Could it be? How many Buffy’s can there be in the world? It’s not a regular Joe Blow kinda name. Wow. This…this could be great!
Oh no, internal conflict. Dawn pinched the bridge of her nose. But if Will is the reason that Buffy is here, I can’t get involved because I can’t ruin her lovey dovey hopes, now can I? But she still could be talking about someone else…Argh!
“Dawn? You look like you’re going to combust, pet. Are you alright?”
“Um, I just need to pee!” Dawn jumped from her chair and ran.
“Crazy bint.” Spike rolled his eyes and continued to eat his Lucky Charms. “Damn they’re all soggy on the bottom because of all that yakking.”
***
A/N:
So so sorry. Writer's block. Big, nasty writer's block.
[Reviews - 100]
-
Table of Contents [Report This]
Chapter or Story |
Chapter or Story | 
Chapter or Story
Has been viewed 2418 times
- Text Size +
-
Table of Contents [Report This]
Chapter or Story |
Chapter or Story | Chapter or Story - Text Size +