Thursday, October 21, 2010 (still)
“So, of course, Tyler had hidden his sandwich in his coat pocket two days earlier, which he had then left at school, and it was rotting or something.” She laughed. “It reeked. The whole room was gross even after we found it and threw it out. I had to take the kids outside for the whole day to avoid the stink.”
“But why did he put the sandwich in his pocket?”
“Because he’s four.” She shrugged and laughed again. “When I asked him about it, he couldn’t remember if he wanted to save it for later or if he was hiding it because he didn’t like it.”
“Brilliant. I’ve got a friend like that but he’s almost forty.”
Buffy raised her eyebrows dramatically.
“You remember those commercials that played when we were little-the ones with the egg and the pan-they were all ‘this is your brain on drugs’? Turns out that’s true.”
She laughed and took another sip of her strawberry margarita.
Spike was surprised that he’d talked her into ordering a second drink and was enjoying every moment of her silly classroom anecdotes.
“You were a big partier then?” Buffy asked, giving him a mock stern look.
He shook his head. “I wouldn’t say that. I drank a bit more than I should have and I smoked some weed.” He shrugged. “That scene and music…there’s some overlap, but I was never too far gone. Giles saw to that.”
“Is that a person? Giles?”
“Yeah.” He chuckled. “Rupert Giles is my uncle. He’s the one that took me in after—when I came here. He did his best to keep me on the nearly straight if not so narrow.”
Buffy laughed. “Did you make it hard for him?”
Spike nodded. “When I first got here I was…angry.”
“You were hurting.”
He shrugged. “I thought I was going to be a badass. Giles made it clear that wasn’t an option. He perfected the ‘your mother wouldn’t wish this’ guilt trip.”
Buffy gave him her sad face for a second before smiling. “You still ended up playing for a punk band. He couldn’t have been that strict.”
“I never said ol’ Rupes doesn’t have brilliant taste in music. He’s the one that taught me to play.”
“Awww…that’s—” The sound of her phone chiming cut her off. She pulled it out, gave the ID screen a glance and frowned. “I’m sorry. I should just check.”
Spike nodded.
“Hello? Dawnie? Where are you? You…what…I can’t believe you…mom is…where exactly are you now? You’re…oh my god, Dawn! Yes, I’m coming I might kill you when I get there, but I’m coming.” Buffy hit call end and stared at her phone in shock for a moment. “My sister has apparently been arrested in Yucca Valley.”
“I thought she was going to school in Boston.”
“Yeah, so did I.” She sighed. “I’m gonna need to cut this short…so I can go bail out my kid sister—words I never thought I’d say.”
“Of course, pet.” Spike lifted his hand and waved at their waitress. When she came over her handed her a credit card and told her that something had come up and they were in a hurry. “Any idea what she’s in for?”
Buffy whimpered. “In for…my sister is in jail.” She shook her head. “Something about a protest.” She shrugged.
Spike smiled a thank you to the waitress as he took and signed the credit card slip. “Well, Yucca Valley is about three hours away so we just get moving.”
“Oh…you don’t—I just need you to drop me off at my car.”
He scoffed. “Come on, I’m not gonna send you off to drive all night on your own. I’ll take you…unless you meant to grab your uh…your boyfriend for the trip.”
Buffy followed him out of the restaurant. “No, Angel is out of town on business, but I can do the drive by myself. You really don’t need to come. It’ll take all night.”
Spike stopped. “Can tell me you honestly that you wouldn’t prefer some company?”
She put her hand on the car door and looked at him over the hood. “You’re really willing to spend all night driving to Yucca Valley and back just to keep me company?”
“Why not? It’s what friends do, yeah?”
Buffy’s eyes widened. “Yeah, I guess it is. Thanks. You’re right. I would have hated driving all the way there and back by myself.”
An hour into the drive Buffy decided it was time to play road trip games. They were able to work their way through the alphabet on signs in about twenty minutes and then played several rounds of the six degrees of Kevin Bacon.
Buffy was still trying to remember who else was in Flatliners when she turned to Spike to suggest a new game. “Have you ever played ‘I never’? Normally it’s a drinking game, but we could just pretend to drink.”
He laughed hard. “I’m fairly certain that the drinking is the only reason that games works, pet. Otherwise you are sharing information that you’d prefer not to share whilst sober. No motivation.”
“Oh. I guess that makes sense.”
“Besides if you want to know something about me all you have to do is ask.” He turned to give her a quick grin.
She blushed. “That’s not a game—unless, it’s kind of a game if we take turns.”
“I’m an open book, kitten. What do you want to know?”
“Hmmm…what’s your favorite color?”
He laughed again. “I see you’re jumping right in—getting personal.” He pretended to give her question consideration while he wondered what her goal was. “Red.”
“Interesting. I read a thing in Cosmo once about what your favorite color says about you and red means you have a zest for life and that you’re passionate.”
“Good to know.”
“Okay, it’s your turn. Ask me a question.”
Spike was tempted to ask several things, most of which would not have sent the friendly message he was aiming for. “What type of music do you listen to?”
“No fair.”
He turned to look at her incredulously. “How do you figure that?”
“You are going to be a music snob.”
He chuckled. “I like lots of types of music. I won’t tease.”
“Even if I don’t really know what type of music I like best?”
“Even then.”
“I mostly just listen to pop, I guess or whatever is on the radio.”
Spike sighed. “You’re right, I am disgusted.”
“Spike!”
“Just playing, pet. Though, I will have to begin your musical education immediately.”
Buffy rolled her eyes. “Whatever. It’s my turn. Hmmm…”
“Take a quick peek at the GPS. I think I should take this next exit.”
Buffy picked up his phone and checked the screen. “You’re right. We’re making good time.” She frowned. “How fast are you driving?”
He smirked. “Did you have a question for me?”
“Yes. I do. How fast are we currently going?”
He laughed. “We are currently moving at a speed of 81 mph and will be busting your little sis from the big house in no time.”
She groaned. “Yeah, unless we get locked up with her. I thought you said you were past your immortal phase.”
“Fine. I’ll slow down. And it’s now my turn to ask a question.” He paused for a moment and considered asking about her boyfriend. What he really wanted to know was whether or not things were serious between them. “What’s your favorite movie?” He nearly groaned at his own lameness.
“Mamma Mia.”
He winced. “Seriously?”
“Yeah. Or maybe any movie with Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks. They just don’t make movies that sweet anymore.” She shrugged and then grinned. “Ooh, my turn. What’s the most embarrassing thing that ever happened to you?”
“What happened to favorite food or favorite airline or favorite playboy bunny?”
“What happened to I’m an open book?”
“I suppose I didn’t see you being quite so blood thirsty.” He sighed. “Fine. This goes no further and is never mentioned again. Once, when I was about thirteen and particularly pathetic, I wrote a girl a poem.”
“Aww…that’s cute. That can’t be the most embarrassing thing that ever happened to you.”
“Yeah, I’m getting to that. See, the girl I gave the poem to thought it would be great fun to share that poem with the brute she fancied that week. He and a few of his mates waited until one of those dreadful school dances and read it aloud for the entire school.”
Buffy made her sad face. “Oh no. That’s just mean.”
“Kids are like that.”
“Sometimes.” She laughed softly. “I’m sorry. It’s just…your story kind of reminded me of my friend, Xander. He was always trying some scheme to get a new girl to like him. Once he actually ordered this special cologne from the back of a magazine. It was supposed to have pheromones in it that would make him irresistible to women.”
“I’m gonna wager a guess that it didn’t work.”
“Not even a little bit. It actually kind of stank and then he put on like half the bottle. Even Willow and I wouldn’t hang out with him and we were his friends.”
“The things we do for love.”
Buffy nodded.
He gave her a quick look. “What about you? What crimes against rationality have you committed in the name of love?”
She shrugged. “None really.” She smiled suddenly. “There was a boy in the third grade I let eat all the cookies from my lunch for a week so that he would like me. Once I ran out of cookies he just moved on to a girl with Twinkies.”
“Why buy the bakery when you’re getting the goodies for free?”
“Ahh…you’re one of those, are you? Talk a girl out of her pants and then lose all respect for her?”
His eyes widened in surprise. “What? No. Not—that’s not—I absolutely respect women without pants.”
Buffy giggled. “That’s what Tony said before he ate all my cookies.”
“He told you to take off your pants? Damn ballsy for an eight year old. Did it work?”
“Yes, yes it did. He stole my cookies, my virtue and my heart.” She laughed.
Spike chuckled. “The police station should be just up here on the left.”
She stopped laughing. “I still can’t believe she did this.”
“You said it was a protest, right? So it’s probably something simple like gathering without a permit or trespassing on someone’s private sidewalk.”
“Yeah-maybe my sister who is supposed to be in class in Boston got arrested for a little thing in California. I’ll bet you’re right.”
Spike grinned. He kind of loved when she let her sarcasm out for a minute.
They pulled into the police station a few minutes later. Spike walked Buffy in and stood quietly behind her while she dealt with the police and paid her sister’s fine. Twenty minutes later the three of them were walking towards his car.
He gave the younger girl a quick perusal. She was pretty like her sister, but was taller and had long, straight, dark hair. She was wearing a pair of olive green cargo pants and a T-shirt that read ‘I give a hoot about owls’ and was too short to meet the waist of the pants and stretched over her modest chest. Spike suspected it was a child’s size co-opted by the thin girl for its cute but politically inspired message. Dawn had a row of small silver hoops running the length of her right ear and a single silver butterfly earring in her left lobe. She was wearing several bracelets crafted from rope or string and wooden beads and had a single lock of hair wrapped in colorful threads. The general affect was rather hippie-earth-warrior, but Spike noted that the toes peeking out of her hemp sandals were perfectly painted and that even after sitting in a holding cell for the past few hours, Dawn smelled great.
Buffy had come to help him straight away after work and was still dressed in her classroom attire, a pair of tan Capri-length pants, a red blouse and simple flats. Spike found himself wondering what she wore when she didn’t have to worry about anyone’s approval. Dawn’s hippie-like styling appealed to Spike in the way most moderately rebellious looks did, but he couldn’t quite see Buffy choosing the look.
“Right, so is anyone going to tell me who this guy is?” Dawn jerked her thumb in Spike’s direction.
“Oh!” Buffy’s cheeks pinked. “This is Spike; he drove me all the way here to bail you out of jail.”
Dawn rolled her eyes. “You make it sound like I did time in Sing-Sing. All I had to do was pay a fine. No big.” She turned her attention back to Spike. “When did you break up with Angel?”
“I didn’t. Spike and I are just friends.”
“Oh.” Dawn didn’t bother to hide the disappointment from her voice. “Anyway, I’ll pay you back as soon as I can. Just give me a ride to the campground.”
“I still don’t understand what you were thinking, Dawnie. Does mom know that you’ve dropped out of school?”
Dawn stopped and turned to her sister. “I didn’t drop out. I’m only missing one week of classes. A couple of my professors even came with us.” She shook her head. “You just don’t understand that some things are too important to give up on. Sometimes we have to do things that aren’t convenient because they’re right. This was the right thing to do.”
Spike could see things were about to escalate between the sisters. He stepped in. “What were you protesting, pet?”
“There’s a plan to put in another Wal-Mart with a giant parking lot that will completely disrupt the entire the watershed for an area right next to Joshua Tree. Animals don’t know which trees are in the park and which aren’t. And everyone is so excited about their lame big box store that no one is even talking about the big horn sheep that are about to lose their homes or all the bobcats that will be hit by cars when they build a new road right through their territory.”
Spike nodded. “So you and your mates were what holding up signs and singing, yeah? That’s sweet, right?” He turned back towards Buffy.
“Right, only no one gets any press for holding up signs and singing Kumbaya. So we did it topless.”
Buffy and Spike both turned back to her with open mouths. Buffy found her voice first. “You didn’t. Oh god, please tell me that my baby sister’s boobs won’t be on CNN.”
Spike laughed hard. He could feel Buffy glaring at him but he couldn’t stop. “I’ll bet the cameras came out for that, didn’t they?” He grinned at Dawn before unlocking the passenger side doors and walking around the car.
Dawn waited for Buffy to climb in. “Scoot over.” She pointed to the middle of the front bench seat.
Buffy shook her head. “Get in the back.”
“No way. I always get pukey in the back.”
Spike’s eyebrows darted together. He reached over and pulled Buffy closer. “There will be no puking in my baby.”
Dawn grinned at Spike’s decree and climbed in. “Cool, ugly car.”
Spike reached over and rubbed the dashboard. “Don’t listen to the mean girl, baby.” He turned back to Dawn. “This is a classic. They don’t make cars like this anymore.”
Dawn nodded. “Nope, they sure don’t. I’ve seen boats about this size. What kind of gas mileage does it get?”
Buffy forgot, momentarily, the odd physical awareness of Spike she’d felt when he’d pulled her closer and couldn’t help chuckling. “It was full when we left and we still had to stop on the way.”
Dawn nodded smugly.
Spike murmured comforting words to his car as he turned the key. “Where is this campsite of yours?”
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Author's Chapter Notes:
First off, I am so sorry about the long delay in posting. The last week and a half has been crazy. My five year old niece came for a visit, which means we had a couple of epic-length car trips in order to collect her and return her and then in the middle of that my uncle got married in Connecticut so we had to drive up there and back. Our major car trips alone for the past ten days added up to nearly forty hours. Add in a wedding, a day at the zoo, a training for work, a cardboard boat regatta, a couple of kids movies and the general watching of an active five year old and I was crazy swamped. :( I've barely touched my laptop in days.
Next off, I think I confused people with my last author's note. I meant that I think my summary for this story is boring. I was thinking about adding more pizazz to the write up that attracts readers. I am actually in love with the story itself. Still, I thank everyone who assured me they weren't being bored to tears. It's always good to know. *hugs* You rock. :)
Finally, I am still searching for a banner artist. :)
Next off, I think I confused people with my last author's note. I meant that I think my summary for this story is boring. I was thinking about adding more pizazz to the write up that attracts readers. I am actually in love with the story itself. Still, I thank everyone who assured me they weren't being bored to tears. It's always good to know. *hugs* You rock. :)
Finally, I am still searching for a banner artist. :)
Chapter End Notes:
Thoughts?