Today was the day he would be transformed into someone other than himself. Try as he might, he couldn't picture it. Cordelia and Anya were on their way over to give him a 'makeover', and he was scared senseless. Maybe he could back out?
No, they would never allow him to. Besides, it was a dare. He agreed, so he had to go through with it. Maybe he could change into something different after he got to the party? He could probably do that, too. Xander would be too busy with Anya, Cordelia would be too busy with her entourage of admirers to care, so that left him free to do what he wanted.
Maybe he would make a small appearance at the party, then leave. He had never been to a college party, and he had never really intended to go. Just like his soon-to-be costume, Xander was the one to talk him into it.
William kept thinking about the dreadful things that was about to happen to him during the makeover when Xander and the girls walked in, pulling him out of his thoughts.
“You ready, William?” Cordy asked, plopping a big bag of who-knows-what on his bed, by his feet. “Cos' Anya and I stayed up really late last night deciding on what to do with you... In a very non sexual way.” she shuddered then started to pull things out of her bag.
First came chains. Lots of chains. Then a baggie full of safety pins, which he was really nervous about. Then, what looked like a makeup bag came out and William put his hands up. “Whoa. Not putting no bloody makeup on my face, if that's what you're thinking.” he said. “I'm no bloody girl.”
Anya laughed and unzipped the makeup bag. “No, its not for girls, see?” she said holding up an eyeliner stick. “It's called Guyliner. Guy eyeliner. It's totally fine!” she told him, waving her hand dismissively. Anya reached into her purse, procuring a rolled up magazine and quickly flipping through it. "See, Johnny Depp wears it all the time, and he's a total hunk!" She said, holding the picture of said actor about three inches from his face.
"Hey!" Xander hollered. "I'm just as gorgeous and.. and.. manly as Captain Jack Sparrow there!"
William pushed the picture away from his face and sighed, slumping into his bed. “Still not wearing it,” he mumbled.
Cordy giggled and started to bring more things out of her bag. A black t-shirt that looked too small for him and a pair of black jeans that also looked like they would be tight was added to the pile, causing him to cringe. “You expect me to wear those?” he asked, picking up the t-shirt and holding it to his chest.
“Yup.” Cordy said. “And these.” She held up the chains and pulled out a couple of rings from her bag. “You're going to look great!”
“Not bloody likely,” he mumbled then stood up to sit on the chair in front of his laptop. “Alright, let's get this over with.”
Cordy giggled evilly, rubbing her hands together before grabbing a pair of scissors from his dresser. “First things first, hair must go.” she said, grabbing a hold of a think patch of hair.
Insert evil giggle.
William dodged to get the scissors away from his head. There was no way he was going to let her cut his hair. “Whoa, Whoa, Whoa. I did not agree to a hair cut,” he said, his lips turning into a pout. “I like my curls.”
Anya laughed and held Williams arms at his side. “Don't be such a baby, it'll grow back! Besides, curls? Not exactly the punk look. We wont do anything else to your hair. Promise.”
William sighed, rolling his eyes drastically. “Fine,” he said. “Just not too much.”
And she didn't take too much off. Just enough to get rid of split ends and a give him a chunky layering. “There.” She said, standing back to admire her work.
It was a little lopsided. Only a little. And some of the layers were longer than others, but she wouldn't dare tell William that his head went from a mop, to 'my head was attacked by scissors'.
She tilted her head to the side, examining it more closely. 'Well... That didn't turn out quite like I'd hoped..' she thought, definitely keeping that statement to herself.
She looked at Xander and Anya, happily making out behind her so they couldn't see the disaster that was Williams hair. Quickly, she grabbed some hair gel and put a generously sized dollop in the palm of her hand. 'I can fix this. He'll never even notice!'
She rubbed her palms together then running her fingers through his sandy blond hair, effectively slicking it back. She wiped her hands off on a towel then grabbed a comb, running it through his hair again to clear away the gaps.
When she was satisfied with the results, she stood straight and placed her hands on her hips. “There! Hair is done!” she said enthusiastically, a beaming smile on her face.
“Can I look?” William asked, reaching his hand up to touch the new gel encased hair he was sporting. “Jesus, Cordy, what did you do? Put a helmet on my head?”
Cordy scoffed, her smile was instantly gone. “No,” she told him, crossing her arms across her chest. “Just a little gel. No big deal.”
“A litt--” he sighed. He would play along. “Fine, let's just get on with it. There's a couple of things I need to do around town.”
Anya pushed Xander away from her, leaving him in a lust addled state. “Ohh! Let me do the guyliner!” she said while clapping her hands, making sure to put emphasis on the 'guy' part.
She picked up the stick of black eyeliner and pulled his eye lid down and pressing the eyeliner down on the edge of his eye, causing him to yelp in pain. “I swear to god, woman! You poke me in the bloody eye with that and I'll rip your throat out!”
Everyone in the room stood up straight, wondering where the hell that had come from the mild mannered man. “Well, gee.” Anya said, leaning forward to apply more eyeliner. “No need to be so rude. And the imagery...” she cringed.
“That's the spirit, William! That was totally bad ass!” Xander exclaimed, not missing the glare his girlfriend sent over her shoulder. “But, if you hurt my girlfriend, I'll have to do... something...” another glare. “Something damn manly!” Cordy giggled and shook her head at Xander's lame threat.
“What? Like I could top 'I'll rip your throat out'?”
After the eyeliner, chains and rings were in place, Cordy ushered him to the bathroom so he could change, then stood outside of his door. She had been waiting for the perfect time to bring up Buffy, but hadn't had the chance until now.
“So, uh...” she mumbled, not really knowing what to say. “You.. Do you want to go out on a date with Buffy Summers?” she asked, deciding to make a blunt approach, as per her usual.
“What?” William yelped through the door. 'Did she just say 'Buffy Summers'? As in The Buffy Summers, the girl I convinced himself that I loved when I was younger?' he thought to himself, completely missing what Cordelia had said. “What was that?”
“I said...” she took a deep breath. “Buffy is here for the month, wants to get with a guy. Someone different than the guys she usually dates. I thought maybe you would be up for it. Will you ask her out?” she asked bluntly.
William thought about this for a moment. He treated little Buffy like a princess when they were younger. What ever she asked for or wanted, he would have it for her within the next two minutes. He knew now that she had only been using him, but he didn't mind. She was the only girl that ever actually let him be himself around. Plus, they were older now. Things might be different.
With Cecily, he had to fit in. Be in the popular crowd and be envied by all the girls in school, yet be owned by her. That relationship didn't last long. He was no were near popular, and not even close to being enviable by all the woman. That relationship ended in a week. She had only really been interested in him because she though he might be able to help her pass english.
Then there was Drusilla. He treated her like she was the second coming for the four months that they had been together, and yet 'William' wasn't enough. She wanted 'Spike'. Whoever that was, it wasn't William, and he wasn't going to just change for some gothic loony who talked to her dollies.
He wanted to be himself.
He looked down at his 'costume' and shrugged, he could go back to being himself later tonight. Maybe Buffy would want him the way he was. He hoped.
With his mind made up, he opened the door, revealing his costume to Cordy. His jeans were a little tight, and same with the shirt, but it was bearable. Plus, Cordy was doing this weird googly eye thing while looking him up and down... he had to look at least decent to get her attention.
“Forget Buffy, I might just keep you all for myself!” she laughed, holding a hand up to cover her mouth. “Ohmigod! Will! You look incredible!” she hollered then threw her arms around his neck or a tight hug.
“Thanks, Cordy,” he said, hugging her back. “But I don't know if I like the shirt. It's a little... tight. Maybe a size bigger?”
“No! Just like that is perfect. I just have to add the safety pins! Oh, I'm so excited for the finished product!” she giggled loudly.
It seemed like she really had forgotten about Buffy, but William hadn't. He would like to see Buffy again, he hadn't seen her in so many years. To go on a date with her would be... magnificent. He wondered for a minute about what she might look like, but figured it didn't matter. She was Buffy.
“Cordelia, about Buffy. Tell her I'll pick her up at 8 next Friday. I would love to go on a date with her.”