As her heart beat wildly, hammering inside her chest like a jackhammer, and breathing once again became a serious problem; Buffy closed the lid on the toilet and plopped down and stuck her head between her knees in attempts to halt the impending panic attack by taking deep gulps of air. Her mind was spinning as she thought of all the ways that tonight could go wrong. Would she make an idiot out of herself? Did he think of her as an easy one night stand? What exactly was he expecting her to do? Would her heart break into a million tiny pieces when it turned out he only thought of her as a way to pass time?
“Oh God, oh God, oh God.” Buffy muttered, closing her eyes tightly to block out the mental images that refused to go away. Her chanting must have gotten louder than she intended, because a sharp knock on the bathroom door caused her to jerk to attention. “Yeah?”
“Buffy? Is everything ok in there?” An obviously worried Willow asked timidly, “You’ve been in there for a while.”
“Come on in, Wills! I’m fine, just partaking in a little bit of pre-date jitters.” Pushing off the toilet seat and returning to the previous post in front of the mirror just as Willow stepped inside. Leaning in to the mirror, Buffy expertly applied smoky coal eyeliner and asked, “Why do you think he asked me out? I mean, seriously, the man could have any woman he wants and he chooses me?”
“Yeah, ‘cause it would have nothing to do with the fact that you’re gorgeous, would it? Come on, Buffy, I’m sure he just wants to get to know you.” Willow encouraged as she eased one hip onto the counter. “You look hot, he’s so gonna flip.”
“You really think so? This dress isn’t too slutty?” At Willow’s cocked eyebrow and look of impatience, Buffy sighed and said, “I still can’t believe I let you and Xander talk me into buying this thing, like I’ll ever get another chance to wear it.” Running her hands down the front of the fabric, she smoothed down an imaginary crease in the plum material.
After Willow and Xander managed to steer a dazed and very much confused Buffy out of the convention hall the trio had headed down the street in search of a late lunch. Sometime during the meal, where Buffy had managed to down several fries before being reduced to poking at her food absentmindedly, the realization of what happened finally penetrated her mind enough to provoke one thought…she had absolutely nothing to wear! Since they had only traveled to Las Vegas from Sunnydale, California for the weekend and hadn’t planned on doing much outside of the convention other than gambling at the hotel, the notion to bring something dressy for a night out on the town. Instantly kicking into hyper drive, Buffy had grabbed her friends and managed to drag them around town in search of the perfect dress.
Three hours later they found it, or rather…Willow and Buffy found it and Xander plopped down in a nearby chair and grumbled about his aching feet. Standing in front of the three way mirror, Buffy had meticulously inspected every inch of the corset style, knee-length dress for nearly half an hour before Willow miraculously convinced her to buy it, along with an impossibly high pair of black heels.
Now, as she appraised herself in the mirror, Buffy was having serious doubts about the figure hugging, cleavage pronouncing outfit she had chosen. “You’re sure it doesn’t scream ho-bag?”
“No, it doesn’t, but if it did…would that really be so terrible?” Growing tired of the apprehension on her friend’s face, and knowing full well that she was trying to talk herself out of the date, Willow crossed her arms over her chest and announced, “Ok, you’ve been obsessing over this man for years and I’m not going to let you do something you’ll regret later…like cancelling this date. Nope, not gonna happen. See? I’m wearing my Resolve face and you know what that means!”
Knowing she was defeated before she even began, Buffy smiled and said, “Fine, you win, but when this blows up in my face I’m so going to blame you.”
“I can accept that, mainly because nothing is going to go wrong. You’ll see, it’ll be fairytale perfect.” The feisty redhead opened her mouth to say something else, but snapped it shut at the sound of a knock at the door. Grinning madly, she flung open the door and announced, “I’ll get it!”
“No way, Wills! I’ll get the door; you go play invisible with Xander.” Buffy slid past Willow and pushed her down the hallway in the direction of their napping friend; waiting until she reluctantly disappeared into the bedroom before opening the door. “Hi!”
“Well, hello gorgeous!” Spike drawled, his British accent heavily noted. Instantly, his mood was brightened upon laying eyes on his chosen companion for the evening. Curvy in all the right places and sinfully sheathed in a lush plum colored ensemble, her breasts were tightly cinched and beckoning his attention beneath the constricting garment, just gazing lightly over Buffy’s body had his own responding immediately. “You’re absolutely breathtaking, luv.” He whispered as he leaned in to brush a kiss across her flushed cheek.
As the earth rumbled beneath her feet, her body set aflame by something as innocent as a peck on the cheek, Buffy’s heart jumped in anticipation of the remainder of the night. Head spinning in amazement, she murmured, “Ok, I’m gonna faint now.” With her eyes closed lightly to savor the moment, Buffy missed Spike’s reaction to her unintentionally spoken words and mustered up the courage to return the compliment, shakily saying, “You um…look really good, too.” This, of course, was an understatement since he was leaning more towards wicked indulgence instead of plain old ‘good’. Spike definitely fit the part of leading man, impeccably dressed in a specially designed black suit and a sapphire dress shirt, with several of the top buttons undone to give a teasing view of his chest.
“Thanks, kitten. So, you ready to leave then? You’re mates aren’t chomping at the bit to play the parental role and question me about m’intentions?” He teased as he cocked his elbow to escort Buffy.
“A world of no, they’ve been stuck in time out for the rest of the night. There will be no pestering from either of them, I’m all yours.” Buffy smiled brightly and slipped her hand delicately inside Spike’s elbow and allowed him to steer her in the direction of the elevators.
“All mine, is that right? Hmm…what ever will I do with you?” Spike replied saucily with a wink, earning a shocked expression and gasp from his date along with the most adorable blush of embarrassment. “Don’t worry, kitten…I’ll behave as long as you do.” Leading her inside the elevator, Spike chuckled as Buffy’s skin managed to deepen to a brighter shade of red. It was at that moment that he knew that tonight would be a night to remember.
Languidly stretching her arms above her head, Buffy moaned as her stiff muscles groaned in protest. Head pounding, she scrubbed her hands over her face as she rolled over and opened her eyes, coming face to face with a very much asleep Spike. Eyes wide with shock, Buffy unconsciously held her breath as she scooted as far away from the slumbering celeb and desperately tried to recall the events from the night before.
Images flashed in her mind: laughing while eating dinner in the secluded garden, slot machines jingling loudly and lights that pulsated brightly as he taught her how to gamble in the casino and numerous glasses of the finest champagne. Inwardly groaning, Buffy realized that those few images was all she could conjure up in her mind. She had no idea how they ended up back in his hotel room and in his bed. It was at that moment she slowly lifted the silken sheets away from her body and confirmed that she was very much naked; yes, Buffy was in the buff, to say the least.
Seriously wanting to avoid any embarrassing situations, Buffy slowly detangled her self from the sheets and gingerly slid from the bed; immediately scanning the barely lit room for her clothes. Stealthily, she managed to locate each and every item, getting dressed in the process, except for her underwear. The specially purchased black and red, lace trimmed thong from the lingerie boutique which was extremely overpriced; there was no way she was leaving without her underwear. Plus the fact that in her book, sashaying out of hotel room, intensely hung-over with an extreme case of bed head was bad enough without having to do the Walk of Shame sans panties. All in all, this morning she was already mentally placing a big fat red check mark next to the ho-bag column next to her name.
After a rather exhaustive search for the thong in question, Buffy was about to give up when she noticed the elusive scrap of material poking out from underneath a pillow. Of course, they were not just beneath any old pillow. Nope, they had to be beneath Spike’s pillow; which he just happened to have his hands tightly gripped around. Realizing that she was in fact going to have to either wake him up or leave them behind, Buffy opted for door number two and quietly left the room.
Once she was tucked safely inside the brightly lit walls of the elevator, the full impact of the night before finally sank in and Buffy allowed the tears that had been teetering precariously on her lashes fall and slip down her flushed cheeks. By the time she reached her hotel room, sobs were wracking her body with full force and just getting the key into the lock proved to be too much of a challenge. Just as she was about to give up and slump down into the floor, she was rescued by a rumpled looking Willow, who immediately pulled Buffy inside the room and wrapped arms comfortingly around her shoulders without question.
“Thanks, Will.” Buffy sniffled, pulling away from Willow with a half smile. “I know you’re probably way more than curious about what happened, but can we not do the Q & A portion of the morning just yet?”
“Whenever you’re ready to tell me what happened, then I’ll be ready to take all the blame for it!” Willow replied with a guilty smile, “You know, since I wouldn’t let you back out at the last minute.”
“You are so not to blame for this, that’s going to fall solely on me. I do have one favor to ask.” She asked as she slipped out of the dress and noticed for the first time that the material around the zipper was ripped. ‘Damn, what the hell did we do?’ Glancing back up at Willow, she continued with a sheepish expression, “Could we leave early? Like as soon as I can take a much needed shower.”
“No prob, Bob. Anytime you’re ready, I just need some time to get Xan out of his sleep induced coma.”
“Thanks. I won’t be long, promise.” Buffy advised as she stepped underneath the hot spray and vigorously washed away the grimy feeling that coated her skin, along with the painful memories of ruining her perfect night.
**I know, I know...cliffhanger, but what did you expect? Hey, let me know?!?!**