Buffy spent an hour getting ready. She put on more makeup than she wore normally, adding three coats of mascara, eyeliner and a little bit of glitter to her eyes.
‘Glitter’s in, right? People love Katy Perry and that Ke$ha chick,” she thought as she dabbed it on.
She tried on several outfits before she decided on a short, bright pink dress with silver sequins under the bust. She tried pushing her small breast up to get more cleavage, but it was to no avail.
‘No Boobs Buffy, that’s what they should call me,’ she thought cynically as she stood in front of her full-length mirror.
Nine o’clock arrived and she heard a prompt ring of the doorbell. Luckily her mother had left already and wasn’t there to give Riley the third degree. She passed Xander’s door on her way downstairs, rolling her eyes at the sound of Eminem’s angry voice blasting through the walls.
“Hey, Riley,” she said, opening the door to let him in.
“Hi, Buffy,” he said as he stepped inside, giving her a quick kiss. “How was you Christmas?”
“Good. Well, it was good. Then it wasn’t good. Now it’s just weird. But, I mean, Christmas itself was good.” She stopped after that, aware of her rambling.
Riley furrowed his brow, “everything okay?”
“With me? Yes. With Will and Xander? Not so much. They kind of had this fight thingy and now they’re not talking to each other.”
“Did you ever find out about, you know, what you were wondering?” he inquired.
“Um, I thought I did. But, now I don’t really know anymore. Everything’s so confusing,” she said exhaustedly, grabbing her coat from the closet and putting it on.
“You wanna talk about it?”
“An enormous no to that. Not right now at least. I’m all talked and thinked out when it comes to that.”
“Okay,” he didn’t press her any further. “You ready to go?” He offered his arm.
“Absolutely,” she said with a smile, linking her arm in his.
**
Cordelia Chase’s New Year’s Eve Bash would be even bigger than her usual parties, Riley had warned Buffy. The music would be louder, the lights would be dimmer and there would be enough alcohol to fill a swimming pool.
“Hi guys!” Cordelia greeted them loudly as they came in. She was already tipsy, drink in hand. “You can throw your coats in the office upstairs on the right and drinks are in the kitchen.”
Buffy and Riley put their coats in the room, where a boy and a girl were already making out on a chaise lounge. They made their way back down to the kitchen as Riley greeted his football friends with high fives and fist bumps. Buffy smiled politely at all the people she recognized from school and had barely spoken to.
One of the many popular songs about drinking was blasting through the house and people were dancing in the middle of the living room. In the kitchen, the counters were completely covered with bottles of alcohol, most of which Buffy had never seen or heard of before.
“What do you want to drink?” Riley asked.
“Something not too strong,” Buffy suggested shyly. Her experience with alcohol was very limited and she was afraid of drinking too much, especially considering her small stature. She watched Riley pour a little bit of rum into a cup.
“That okay?” he asked.
“Yeah, that’s good” she said, seeing the small amount. He then filled the rest of the cup with Coke and handed it to her. “Thanks,” she said taking a sip. ‘Can’t taste it. Good.’
Riley grabbed a beer for himself and took Buffy’s hand to lead her through the house. They ended up in the game room, where some of Riley’s friends were playing pool.
“Mind if I play a bit?” Riley asked Buffy.
“No, go ahead,” she said, her inner feminist a little annoyed that they didn’t seem to be letting any of the girls play. However, most of the girls seemed to be scantily clad and gyrating on the dance floor.
“Omigod, Buffy!” She heard a high-pitched voice yell from behind her.
She turned around to find Harmony Kendall, one of her least favorite people, stumbling right toward her. Harmony had a red cup in her hand, liquid sloshing over the side. She came up next to Buffy and threw an arm around her, mostly to steady herself on her heels.
“Isn’t this the best frickin party?” she said drunkenly. Buffy would bet that Harmony had been drinking for a while.
“Yeah,” she replied. “Pretty great.” Truth be told, she was a little bored. Being the only sober one was kind of a drag. So she downed her drink quickly and waited for the effects to kick in. She saw Riley finish off his beer and grab another off a table in the game room. ‘I’m probably gonna have to call mom,’ was a passing thought she had as she went to get another drink.
***
Buffy had worked up a good buzz as it got closer to midnight and she was feeling light-headed and giddy. Riley had finished his pool game and they were currently sitting on a couch in one of the many sitting rooms in the Chase house after having mingled and danced for a bit. She was laughing along with the group of intoxicated teenagers about someone she didn’t know, trying to feel like part of the group.
“Your name’s Buffy right?” one of Riley’s friend slurred at her from another couch. He was a short stocky guy with pimples and a crew cut.
“Yeah, and your Steve,” she said loudly. “We’ve met before.”
“Oh, yeah,” he said with a boorish laugh.
Even in her intoxicated state she found many of Riley’s friends exhausting and moronic, especially this one. It didn’t shock her in the least that he didn’t remember her. What he said next, however, did.
“Isn’t your brother a faggot?”
Buffy was taken aback; flight instinct took over and she got up from the couch. Standing so quickly made her dizzy and she stumbled a bit before righting herself. Then fight jumped in.
“Excuse me?” she said, turning to Steve. Between her elevated height now and the effects of the alcohol, she felt bolder than she normally would have.
“He’s a faggot,” he repeated. “Him and that queer British kid. That’s what Riley said.” He was laughing now, making Buffy fume and shoot an angry look at Riley.
Some of the others let out laughs, while most of them remained silent and watched the exchange. Riley said nothing, which was pissing Buffy off more and more. She turned back to Steve.
“Don’t you ever fucking talk about my brother like that,” she said in a low, angry voice.
She turned to storm out of the room, hearing Riley call her name. She didn’t stop and headed upstairs toward the room with the coats.
“Buffy, wait!” he yelled, following her. “Where the hell are you going?”
“I’m going home, you asshole!” she yelled.
“I’m an asshole? I didn’t say anything!”
“Bullshit. I told you about Xander and you weren’t supposed to say anything to anyone about it.”
“Buffy, it wasn’t a big deal.” He tried to calm her down, but it was having the exact opposite effect.
“Yes it was!” she cried.
“Everyone was thinking it before I said anything anyway!” he argued.
“That doesn’t make it better! Just go away, I don’t wanna talk to you right now!” She entered the office where the coats were, shut the door and locked it before Riley could follow her in.
“Buffy! Open the door!” he yelled, knocking loudly.
‘He has to stop eventually,’ she thought, ignoring him.
“Fine,” she heard him yell after a few minutes of knocking. “You can find another ride home!”
She didn’t hear him again after that, so she assumed he had left.
‘Now, how am I gonna get home?’ She looked through her phone contacts and landed on the one person she knew she needed right now. Hitting the call button, she waited as the phone rang.
“Hello,” he picked up on the third ring. Despite her conflicted emotions about him and the fact that he had obviously just woken up, his voice sounded like heaven.
“Will?” she asked, voice cracking as she felt tears coming on all of a sudden.
“Buffy? What’s wrong? Are you okay?” he asked quickly, sounding worried and much more awake.
“You hafta come get me,” she told him, tears starting to fall.
“Where are you?”
“I’m at Cordelia Chase’s pa-“
“I’m on my way,” he said, interrupting her. “Just hang on, kitten, I’ll be there soon, okay?”
“Okay,” she said in a small voice.
“Just stay where you are.”
***
She felt like she had waited forever, even though it had only been about five minutes. She heard more yelling than usual from outside the door. Looking at her cell, she saw that it was three minutes to midnight.
‘Great,’ she thought. ‘Now I’m gonna ring in the New Year crying alone in this room.’ She felt more emotional in her intoxicated state and the tears came faster.
She peered through the window that looked onto the enormous front lawn and saw Will’s DeSoto pull in at the end of the long driveway. She quickly turned to find her coat in the pile and ran out of the room. Most of the kids had gathered into rooms with T.V.s so she would be able to get through the large house without anyone seeing her, namely Riley.
“Ten!” She heard everyone yell, starting the countdown.
“Nine!”
She ran down the hallway.
“Eight!”
She hurried down the stairs as quickly as she could manage with her dizziness.
“Seven!”
“Six!”
“Five!”
She reached the bottom of the stairs with a stumble.
“Four!”
“Three!”
She struggled into her coat.
“Two!”
She whipped open the front door.
“One!”
There he was, looking like an angel in black.
“Happy New Year!” The sounds were almost deafening, with horns and high pitched girl screams.
She instinctively launched herself into his arms, starting to cry again. He held her close as she clung to him, wetting his leather-clad shoulder with her tears.
“Buffy, luv, it’s okay. I’m here now,” he said trying to calm her. He let her cry for a few moments before she finally released him. “C’mon, let’s go to the car.”
They started to walk down the front steps, Will watching Buffy closely.
“Have you been drinking?” he asked, noticing her sway a bit.
“Yeah,” she replied, grabbing onto his arm to steady herself. They reached the car and Will helped Buffy into the passenger seat. He got into the drivers seat, then turned to her.
“You wanna tell me what happened, pet?” he asked with concern.
“Boys are stupid,” she grumbled.
“Did Riley do something to you?” he asked, starting to get angry. “Cause if he did, I’ll go back in there and-“
“No!” she exclaimed. “No, it wasn’t anything like that.”
“You wanna tell me about it?” he asked, calming a little.
“I don’t know,” she said quietly. “It’s kind of about you.”
“About me?” he asked, confused.
“Well, about Xander and you, actually,” she confessed. “One of Riley’s stupid friends used a really awful, mean word about Xander…and, and…you…and I got really mad, so I told him not to…to talk about my brother like that, and then I left…and then I yelled at Riley..and then I called you,” she finished, waiting for him to respond.
“Let me guess, he called us faggots?” he asked, eyebrows raised.
“How did you-”
“Assholes like him have been calling us that for years. You’re lucky you’ve never heard it until now,” he said quietly.
“I don’t understand,” she said with a whisper.
“I’m glad you don’t, luv.” He reached out to her and brushed a piece of hair out of her face, smiling gently. “You weren’t made to hate like that.”
Realization started to dawn on her.
“Is that why Xander’s been so weird about everything?” she asked him.
“I suppose. He’s always been sensitive about stuff like that.”
“I feel like this is all my fault,” Buffy said in a small voice. “If I hadn’t asked-“
“No! No, luv, it’s not your fault. Never think that!” he said, taking her hands in his. “Listen to me. This has been a long time coming, and it’s most certainly not your fault.” He emphasized the last three words and squeezed her hands.
“Okay,” she said, accepting that for now. “I’m so tired, Will. Please, just take me home,” she said with new tears in her eyes.
“Of course, kitten.” He let go of her hands and turned to start the car. Buffy leaned her head against the window, starting to drift off.
**
She awoke to Will trying to lift her out of the car.
“It’s okay, I can walk,” she whispered.
“Okay, luv,” he said, putting her feet on the ground, but still holding onto her arms.
He helped her into the house, using the spare key that Joyce had given him a few years ago to unlock the door. Joyce was not home yet and Xander was probably still locked in his room. Will brought Buffy into the living room, settled her onto the couch and left to go into the kitchen. He came back a minute later with a glass of water and sat down next to her on the couch.
“Here, drink some of this,” he said, handing her the glass. She took it carefully and started to drink. “You’ll probably be hung-over tomorrow, but the water should help.”
She placed the water glass on the coffee table and turned to him. She surprised both him and herself by reaching forward to hug him.
“Thank you,” she whispered as she held onto him.
“Anytime, pet,” he whispered back, stroking his hand over her hair. She sunk into his embrace, enjoying the feeling of being close to him. She twirled a finger in the curls at the base of his neck and inhaled his scent.
“You smell really good,” she said impulsively. ‘Blame it on the alcohol,’ she thought.
He laughed a bit. “So do you, pet.”
“Buffy?” she heard Xander’s voice coming from upstairs. She immediately pulled out of the hug, suddenly feeling like she had betrayed her brother.
“Buffy, is that you?” he called again, starting to pound down the stairs. “I heard someone come in and-“ He stopped when he came into the room and saw Buffy with Will. “What are you doing here?”
“She called me to bring her home from the party. Riley was drinking and she needed a ride,” he lied. “She’s been drinking,” he added.
“Well, you can go now,” he said coldly. “I’ll take her upstairs.”
Will didn’t seem to feel like arguing so he just nodded.
“You now I’m here if you need anything, luv,” he told Buffy before getting up to leave. She nodded in response.
As he reached the door, he turned back and looked at Xander. He opened his mouth as if to say something, then closed it and didn’t. Then he opened the front door and walked out without another word.
“C’mon, Buffy, I’ll help you upstairs,” Xander said, coming to take her arm. She was too tired to argue, so she conceded and let him help her. They went upstairs and he brought her into her room. As he was about to help her into bed, she turned and wrapped her arms around him.
“I love you,” she mumbled. “No matter what.”
“Love you too, Buff,” he said, somewhat dismissively, returning her embrace and then changing their positions so he could lift her. He managed to get her into bed, took her shoes off and pulled the covers over her. He started to leave when she spoke again, a little louder this time.
“Really, Xander,” she said a bit more coherently. “I don’t care what anyone else says about it. I still love you,” she finished with a yawn.
Xander had stopped at the doorway, not saying anything or turning back to her.
“You should go to sleep,” was all he said after a moment. Then turned off the lights and closed the door. Buffy had already fallen asleep.
[Reviews - 219]
-
Table of Contents [Report This]
Chapter or Story |
Chapter or Story | 
Chapter or Story
Has been viewed 2228 times
- Text Size +
-
Table of Contents [Report This]
Chapter or Story |
Chapter or Story | Chapter or Story - Text Size +
Author's Chapter Notes:
I couldn't wait to post the next chapter, so here it is. It's probably my favorite so far, just saying.
I hope you guys like it!
I hope you guys like it!
Chapter End Notes:
Thanks for reading!!