Saturday, January 15, 2011
Spike dropped on to a bar-stool. “Whiskey.”
Lorne raised his eyebrows. “You realize it is four o’clock in the afternoon?”
“Wasn’t aware of your conservative streak, mate.”
Lorne laughed. “Heaven forbid.” He pulled out a glass, filled it with ice and poured a generous serving of whiskey. He placed the glass down in front of Spike before walking around the bar to sit beside him. “Where’s your girl?”
Spike scoffed. “Not my girl.”
“Ah. Am I right in guessing this is the reason for our little pity celebration this afternoon?”
“I’m not feeling sorry for myself. I’m just feeling honest.”
“And that’s bad?”
“Sucks.”
Lorne nodded. “The truth often does.”
Spike rolled his eyes. “Stop playing wise barkeep already. I just want to get a little drunk. It’s not illegal.”
“What happened?”
He groaned, finished his drink and placed the glass back on the bar. “I met her boyfriend last night. The one I wanted to pretend didn’t exist.” Spike turned to look at his friend. “That’s not true. I didn’t pretend he was fake, I pretended he was an ass. I had this whole fantasy going that he’d be some kind of soul-less monster-but he’s just a guy.”
“Well that’s much worse isn’t it?”
“Now I’m the ass, right? I mean the girl has a man who, aside from having stupid hair that sticks up straight in the air and a seriously diluted sense of humor, seems like a decent sort and here I am waiting on the sidelines like a shark or a bloody vulture hoping to pick up scraps if they crash. I should just stay away from her.”
“We’re talking about the little blonde, right? Buffy?”
Spike nodded. “That’s the one.”
Lorne sighed. “I don’t know if this helps at all, but that girl looks at you like you’re a frozen treat and she’s been working out in the heat all day.”
“I don’t know.”
“I do, cupcake. She may not know it, but she wants herself a taste of Spike.”
Spike winced. “Yeah, thanks. Maybe another drink now?”
Lorne chuckled and patted Spike on the back. “Yeah, I’ll get you another, but don’t give up just yet. I have a feeling about this girl.”
Spike nodded, but was feeling less than confident that the girl in question would be dumping the man she’d been with for a decade just to go out with him.
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Buffy wrapped her lips around her fork and pulled the last bit of cheesecake into her mouth. “Oh my god--that’s good.” She moaned softly.
Angel laughed. “You certainly do seem to be enjoying it.”
She blushed. “I did. Thanks for tonight. Best birthday dinner ever.”
He smiled. “Good. The thing is, I’m hoping tonight can be more than that.” He took a deep breath and pulled a ring box from his pocket. “You know I love you, Buffy. I want you to be my wife. Marry me.” He opened the box to reveal a sizable diamond solitaire.
Buffy gasped and stared at the ring.
“Buffy?”
She pulled her gaze away to look up at him smiling anxiously at her. “Angel.” She looked back down at the twinkling ring. He’d totally surprised her. A year or two earlier she’d been expecting a proposal but he hadn’t been ready and now she was so used to things they way they were she hadn’t even thought about it in months.
“I have to admit I didn’t think you would need this much time to think about it.” Angel laughed softly. “Buffy, will you marry me?”
She blinked. “Of course. I mean, yes. You just surprised me.”
“Whew. Had me worried there for a minute.” He pulled out the ring and held out his hand for hers.
She watched him slide it on, not surprised to find that it fit perfectly. Angel was detail oriented. “It’s beautiful. It’s the size of a small car, but it’s beautiful.”
He grinned. “Only the best for my princess.” He signaled to the waitress to bring out the champagne he’d secretly ordered earlier and leaned across the table to kiss his fiancé.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Satsu took another look at the ring on Buffy’s finger. “You really weren’t expecting it? I mean you two have been dating forever.”
Buffy shook her head. “I really wasn’t. It was like all of a sudden there was a ring. I almost forgot to say yes. Actually I totally forgot to answer. He had to ask again.”
Satsu laughed. “I wish I could have seen that. Angel is always so confident. It’d be fun to see him look a little nervous.”
“Don’t be mean. He’s really not like you think.”
“If you say so.”
“I do.”
Satsu pointed to another aisle. “Let’s check out the paint stamps.” They’d been given a little extra money for classroom supplies thanks to a highly successful parent fundraiser and were gleefully spending it at a craft supply store. “How did you two meet exactly? You were in school together, right?”
“Yeah, but he was two years ahead. I mean I always knew who he was. Angel was…well, handsome and popular and rich.” She shrugged. “I didn’t even think he knew my name. But I ran into him at this card shop. He was trying to pick out a birthday gift for his grandmother and he was—he was sort of lost. He was holding like ten cards and looking at this ugly little heart-shaped box and he was so…genuine. He seemed so happy to see me. I’d never thought of him as being a real person. You have to understand that he was a senior and seriously the most popular guy in school and there he was totally freaking out about his grandmother. It was so sweet. So l helped him pick out a card and some flowers and the next week he called me up and asked me to homecoming. I thought I was dreaming.” Buffy shrugged ans smiled dreamily.
“And now you’re getting married.”
Buffy nodded. “Yeah.”
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Spike arrived at Buffy’s apartment at ten-twenty in the morning. He presented his offering of Pop Rocks and Jiffy-Pop to Willow as he walked through the door. “Mornin’, red.”
“Ooh! Fun choices. Tara and I brought the stuff to make s’mores and Cordy brought a case of Dr. Pepper. The boys aren’t here yet.” She frowned. “You aren’t wearing pajamas.”
Spike grinned at her cloud covered pajamas. “I’m not really the pajama wearing type.”
“But it’s in the rules. I sent you an email.”
He laughed. She had, in fact, sent him a special email invite explaining what to wear, what to bring and when to show up at Buffy’s place.
“I had a feeling this would happen. Come on.” She walked into the living room and picked up a brown paper bag. “Go change.”
Spike’s eyebrows rose. “You’re kidding.”
“She’s not.” Cordy, wearing a pair of capri-length yoga pants and an ‘I’m a Pepper’ t-shirt, watched them both with an amused grin.
He looked inside the bag and found a pair of plaid men’s pajamas. He looked back up to find Willow giving him a stern look. “Right. Where can I change?”
Willow showed him to the bathroom and Spike took off his jeans and pulled on the plaid pants. He refused to change into the shirt and left on his well-worn U2 Actung Baby t-shirt instead. He took one look at his pale feet and pulled his sneakers back on. When he came out of the bathroom a few moments later, he found Buffy standing in the hall wearing a pink tank top, pink and green sleep pants and fuzzy stuffed-pig slippers. He couldn’t help smiling. “Not every girl could pull off those slippers, kitten.”
She grinned. “I hear Willow pulled her PJ police routine on you.”
He nodded. “She’s almost scary sometimes. Wouldn’t have thought she had it in her.”
“You’d be surprised at what Willow is capable of.”
He titled his head to the side and gave her a flirty smirk. “I must say this pajama idea is growing on me though.”
Laughing, she reached up to brush back her hair.
Spike quickly grabbed her wrist. He stared at the ring on her finger in shock for a moment before speaking. “Wow, kitten. That’s-that’s quite a ring. I’m surprised you don’t need help lifting your hand carrying around that much real estate.”
Her cheeks pinked. “Angel asked me to marry him.”
Spike nodded but didn’t look at her face. “And you said yes.”
“Well, yeah. I mean we’ve been together for a long time. It was time for us to take the next step.”
“How romantic.”
She frowned. “It was. He asked at our favorite restaurant and we had champagne.” She shrugged.
“Right. Right. Congratulations, love. I hope you are very happy.” He glanced up at her. “Where is he? I should go give him my uh…regards.”
“Oh he’s not here. He has a business meeting in Chicago. Besides, he isn’t really into this sort of thing. We’ll have fun though. Xander just got here with his new girlfriend. He always brings the movies.”
“Yeah. I’ll be right out. I need to..umm…use the loo for a moment.” He turned and ducked back into the bathroom. He listened to her footsteps walking away before he sat on the edge of the tub. “Fuck!” He whispered loudly and clutched the sides of his head. He knew that he should leave. The girl didn’t just have a boyfriend, she was getting married. He could never make a move now. The best, most reasonable, thing to do was leave.
But when he walked out of the bathroom Buffy was smiling at him and holding a box of Count Chocula cereal in one hand and Fruity Pebbles in the other. “Xander brought breakfast. What do you like?”
He couldn’t walk away. “Damn, man. Where did you find Count Chocula?”
Xander smiled smugly. “I’ve been saving that box since Halloween. The grocery store only carries that seasonally these days.”
“Nice.”
Buffy laughed. “One bowl of chocolaty goodness for Spike coming up.”
“Spike, this is Kendra-my girlfriend.” Xander gestured proudly to a pretty dark-skinned girl standing just behind him.
Spike gave her a smile and reached out to shake her hand. “Nice to meet you, love.”
“It is good to meet you as well.” Kendra responded rather formally in a heavily accented voice.
“Is that Jamaica I hear?”
“Yes, I am from Jamaica.”
“What’s brought you to the states?”
Xander answered for her. “Kendra is a graduate student over at U of Sunnydale. She’s studying the Chumash tribe. She’s like a genius. Smart girls are hot.”
Spike laughed. “I concur.” Buffy handed him a bowl of cereal. “Thanks, love.”
She held up her own bowl. “Let’s eat on the floor in the living room. We can watch cartoons until Jessie gets here.”
They joined Tara and Willow on the carpet. He ate a few spoonfuls and then pointed at the bowl with his spoon. “This is brilliant. I can’t remember the last time I ate this shit.”
Willow giggled. “I’m a Fruity Pebbles girl myself.”
“I always liked Lucky Charms.” Tara added quietly.
“Ooh!” Xander was sitting down beside them as he spoke. “Lucky Charms! I’ll have to remember that for next year.”
Tara smiled at him warmly. “That would be great.”
Willow wrapped her arm over Tara’s shoulders and gave her a quick squeeze. Spike watched and knew that they were both feeling a lot of relief at how easy and welcoming Willow’s friends were to Tara.
Jessie arrived a few minutes later with two large bags of Reese’s Pieces and the movie voting process began.
Spike watched the gang argue good naturedly over the merits of each film that Xander presented.
“I’ve got a few new additions this year.” Xander held up a dvd of Back to the Future and one of Beatlejuice.
“If Beatlejuice counts as a childhood favorite, then I say Dirty Dancing should qualify too.” Cordy announced.
Xander sighed heavily. “We’ve been over this. Dirty Dancing was not a relevant childhood experience.”
“It was if you were a girl.” Buffy pointed out.
The process to choose the first movie took nearly thirty minutes. They chose Labyrinth despite Jessie’s complaint that David Bowie hitting on a teenage girl was kind of creepy.
Buffy admitted that she’d always found the Goblin King kind of hot.
“But he’s wearing tights.” Xander countered with a bewildered expression.
“Yeah, but he’s also wearing eyeliner.”
Cordy nodded solemnly. “Some guys can pull off the guyliner.”
Spike wondered if he should admit that he’d piled on the black liner during his punk stage. He decided against it. Maybe they’d decide he wasn’t one of the guys that could pull it off.
By eight o’clock they’d watched Labyrinth, ET and the first two Indiana Jones movies and eaten two pizzas in addition to a mountain of candy. They were just about to make the popcorn when Cordy and Jessie announced that they were going to run to the store for some beer.
Willow sighed. “We didn’t drink beer as kids so it doesn’t count.”
“I’m not a kid anymore and I think beer will make the movie watching more enjoyable.” Cordy argued flatly.
“I agree.” Jessie didn’t even bother to look at Willow.
They left a few moments later and Buffy put her hand on Spike’s arm. “We might as well hold off on making the popcorn. They’ll be awhile.”
He frowned. “They’re just going to grab a case of beer.”
Xander shook his head. “Nope. That’s the cover story. They are going to have sex in Jessie’s back seat.”
“I didn’t realize they were—”
“They’re not.” Buffy shook her head. “Cordy and Jessie dated for a bit in high school. It didn’t work out. But for some reason our movie weekend gets them all sexy and they disappear for a bit.”
“It’s like nostalgia sex, “ Xander added.
“Right.”
“That’s the real reason we can’t just buy beer ahead of time.” Willow explained with a smile. “Jessie’s the one who put the no beer clause in the rule book. It’s their cover.”
“We can play Monopoly while they’re gone. Cordy is a sore loser anyway.”
At two-forty-five in the morning they had watched seven movies, played two rounds of monopoly, eaten four pizzas and drank twenty-six beers. Willow and Tara had fallen asleep on the couch, Kendra was sleeping in Buffy’s guest room, Cordy and Jessie were making out in the kitchen while everyone else pretended not to notice and Spike sat on the living room floor with Buffy and Xander.
He picked up the remote control. “What do think? Cartoon time?”
Buffy nodded sleepily. She was lying on her stomach with her chin propped on her arms on top of a throw pillow. “Sounds good.” Her head tilted to the side. “You need a blanket. Hold on.” She pushed herself up and walked into her bedroom to collect the blankets from her bed. She handed one to Spike and took the other back to her spot. She grinned at Xander. “I assume at some point you are going to go sneak into bed with Kendra.”
He grinned. “A gentleman never tells…and yes.”
Buffy smiled at Spike. “I have a feeling we are going to be the only ones to make it until morning.” She yawned.
Spike chuckled softly and moved just a little closer to her. “I don’t know. It didn’t look like Cordy and the boy in the kitchen were planning on sleeping anytime soon.”
She giggled. “It doesn’t count if you stop watching the movies.”
“Fair point.” He flipped through the channels until he found the cartoon network and then lied down about a foot away from Buffy. Her blanket smelled like the jasmine perfume she wore and Spike was glad he was lying on his stomach. The pajama pants that Willow had insisted he wear wouldn’t have helped cover things at all.
“Ooh. She-Ra. This is a good one.”
Spike nodded. “Yeah, you can tell she’s all empowered because she walks around in her underpants all the time.”
Buffy giggled. “Not when she’s She-Ra—then she gets that rocking miniskirt and headpiece.”
Xander stood up suddenly. “I like miniskirts.”
Buffy laughed even harder.
“Yeah, they are nice.” Spike nodded agreeably.
Without another word, Xander walked away.
Spike and Buffy cracked up. Both tried to muffle their laughter with pillows.
“You might be right, kitten. We might be the only ones who stay up all night.”
She grinned. “Yup. We are totally the winners.”
A half hour later they were both sleeping.
[Reviews - 188]
-
Table of Contents [Report This]
Chapter or Story |
Chapter or Story | 
Chapter or Story
Has been viewed 3116 times
- Text Size +
-
Table of Contents [Report This]
Chapter or Story |
Chapter or Story | Chapter or Story - Text Size +
Author's Chapter Notes:
Hi. I'm happy to have a quick update for you. :) People are going to have mixed feelings here, but I ask that you trust me. There's a plan in play. :) Thanks for reading and commenting. It means a lot to me.
Chapter End Notes:
Thoughts?