A week later, Buffy found herself standing in the doorway to William’s room. Instead of looking at a bare, empty space, it was full of furniture and freshly painted. She took in how the walls were now a hunter green and all the furniture that seemed to compliment it.
She hadn’t seen him much during the week while he moved in since their schedules had conflicted, but had noticed his belongings slowly filtering into the apartment. One day, she’d come home and noticed an X-Box connected to the TV in the living room and a set of coasters on the coffee table. The following day there were new pictures on previously bare walls and masculine toiletries in her very girly bathroom.
He was currently laying against the pillows on his bed, engrossed in working on his laptop. Since he hadn’t noticed her standing there yet, Buffy took the opportunity to study the area he had made into his own. It was obvious that he liked earth tones, and they did suit him very well. All the furniture was made out of a grainy, darkly stained wood. His comforter was tan with dark brown pillow cases and, Buffy assumed, the sheets underneath were the same brown. He had placed tan wooden blinds on the windows for privacy and his desk and dresser were against the walls giving him more floor space. His desk was directly across the room from his bed and it had a shelf on top that was probably meant for a printer but he had opted to put a small flat screen TV on it instead.
She decided it was time to make her presence known and gently knocked on his open door. William started at the unexpected noise, finally looking up from the computer screen in front of him.
He smiled at her as he motioned her to come in. She entered and turned around in a slow circle to see everything he had done from a better view.
“You’ve really done a great job in here; I can’t believe it’s this different in just a week,” Buffy said as she stopped spinning and pulled his desk chair out to sit.
William glanced around with a satisfied smile before turning back to her. “It was a lot of work; I can’t help but be glad it’s all done.”
“Did you take all this furniture from your uncle’s house?”
“No, actually, I decided to buy a new set so I didn’t leave him with a barren room to host guests. I’ve wanted a bigger bed for some time now, it’s nice to have more leg room,” William replied, wiggling his bare toes to make his point.
“I did the same thing when I moved here. I had only ever known what a twin size was like before then. Once I got my full, it took me an entire year to explore the wonders of more space. In a twin you learn not to move unless you want some bonding time with the floor,” Buffy laughed and shook her head.
“I can’t even imagine the tortures of a twin! I had a full and I feel spoiled in comparison, especially now with a queen,” William replied and stretched out a little further.
After a moment William added, “While we’re on the topic, my uncle said that once he purchases new furniture for his living room, we are welcome to any of the old stuff before it gets tossed.”
“Oh, that would be great! Please make sure you let him know I really appreciate the offer.”
They sat there for a few minutes, not really knowing what else to say. Buffy started to fidget around in her seat and William was looking everywhere but at her.
Finally, remembering an important topic she had needed to bring up to him, Buffy said, “Faith stays the night once in awhile. I hope that’s okay with you.”
William was a little startled by this drastic change in subject, but got his thoughts together pretty quickly.
“I suppose that’s not a big deal. I wouldn’t want you to change your habits merely because I moved in.”
Buffy looked a little relieved at his answer, but felt the need to explain the situation to him.
“It only usually happens on nights when we both work the night shift, sometimes when she works it alone too, but that’s rare. Faith lives with her father; she doesn’t have enough money to move out. Whatever money she makes she tries to stash it away, but….well you see, he’s an alcoholic. He’s usually passed out during the day, but if she comes home from work late he’s usually up and mean. He would be very aware of her at that point and besides demanding what money she has so he can buy more booze; he really enjoys knocking her around.”
Buffy said all this steadily, looking William straight in the eyes. It was a lot of information to be told about someone he barely knew, and he hadn’t been quite prepared for it. It was obvious that Buffy cared about Faith a lot. Pain radiated from her eyes as she talked about he friend’s home life.
William had trouble combining this information to the picture of the confident girl sashaying down the hall after slapping him on his rear.
“I’m sorry to dump all this on you, but I wanted you to understand why you’ll probably be seeing a good amount of her even though she doesn’t live here,” Buffy finished as she looked down at the floor.
“It’s quite alright, luv. I don’t mind her being here; it’d actually be nice to get to know more people. I don’t really have any close friends,” William said bashfully. He didn’t want her to feel bad for him or anything, simply wanted to put her at ease and possibly turn the subject a bit.
Buffy was a little shocked by this announcement. Sure, she’d never really seen him with anyone, but she’d never thought he didn’t have friends.
“That’s all going to change- it already has changed. I hope you think of me as a friend. I want to get to know you more William. That is, if you wanted to spend time with me,” Buffy said, not sure what his response would be.
“I would like that very much, Buffy,” William replied, meeting her eyes to let her see his sincerity.
Buffy couldn’t stop the big smile from curling up her lips.
Seeing this, William went ahead and asked her something he had previously been too nervous to. “Would you like me to cook us something for supper tonight?”
“That would be wonderful! Oh – I don’t really have any food in the kitchen. Probably only a carton of milk that’s about to go bad and a moldy chunk of cheese in the refrigerator,” Buffy said apologetically.
“Not to worry, luv. I stocked the kitchen when I moved in. We have more than enough food for the next week or so. I also threw out that moldy cheese. Figured it could die in the waste bin in peace,” William said, smiling at her.
Buffy laughed at this, liking his sense of humor.
“I can make some pasta and chicken in alfredo sauce with some veggies thrown in,” William offered. He was thrilled he had been able to get her to laugh.
“That sounds delicious! I think my mouth is watering at the thought of a home cooked meal!” Buffy said as she stood up and rolled the chair back under his desk.
“Let me finish this up and then I’ll be off to the kitchen to start,” he said, turning back to his laptop.
“Whatcha doing?”
William looked back up at Buffy as she stood next to his bed wearing an openly curious expression. “I’m pre-ordering the books I need for this semester at the bookstore on campus. Don’t rightly feel like searching around and fighting other students for them.”
“That’s a really good idea! I should do that, I never thought to before. I usually go the first day of classes and accept the bruises on my arms from getting elbowed out of the way.”
William looked at her in shock, “That’s just unacceptable! I’m all done here, if you like; pre-order your books now and I’ll go start on supper.”
Buffy smiled at William and said, “Thank you, I think I’ll take you up on that! Hey, maybe we can go pick them up together? I don’t have to work on Wednesday.”
“That sounds like a good idea, pet. I’ll leave you to it then.”
William was smiling as he headed for the kitchen.
***
After Buffy had finished pre-ordering her books, she closed up William’s laptop and put it back on his desk as she left his room.
She found him in the kitchen with all the ingredients he’d need for their meal laid out neatly on the counter. He was leaning over, half-way in a cabinet, trying to wrestle some pots and pans out.
Buffy knew she should probably go over there and give him a hand, since his struggle was in an attempt to make her dinner, but she couldn’t bring herself to move. The view of his butt he was presenting her with was way too good not to enjoy.
Before she could look away, William finished his struggle. He turned around holding a pot in one hand and a large pan in the other. A funny look crossed his face at catching her staring at him, but before he could say anything she walked over to the food sitting out on the counter and asked, “What can I do to help?”
William shook his head quickly, as if the act would clear it of any thoughts he was having.
“Can you cut up the broccoli and chicken breasts into chunks while I heat up some water and put together the alfredo sauce?” William asked as he set the pan aside and started filling a pot up with water.
“Yea, no prob. Cutting I can do.”
They silently worked to get everything together. It was a comfortable silence for the most part; Buffy had so many things she wanted to learn about William but figured she could wait until they were finished making dinner since she was pretty attached to her fingers.
It amazed Buffy to watch William cook. It seemed so effortless how he whipped up the alfredo sauce from scratch. He put the pasta in the boiling water and added the chicken to the skillet to brown.
Feeling a little useless since she had finished cutting everything up at least ten minutes ago, Buffy got plates out, setting the little kitchen table.
Fifteen minutes later, they were sitting across from each other with steaming hot plates of food before them. Buffy had made sure to move the rickety chair to the middle so neither of them would get stuck sitting in it.
They started quietly eating until Buffy took her first bite and couldn’t stop herself from announcing, “This is fantastic! How’d you learn to cook so well?” She was trying not to talk with her mouth full, but continued to eat as if she were starving.
“I used to cook dinner for my mother every night,” William said softly, looking down at his plate.
“I didn’t mean to bring up a bad subject, we can talk about something else,” she said quickly, knowing that his parents’ deaths were the reason he had come to live with his uncle.
“No, it’s okay. I just miss them,” he said this just as softly as his last comment, but this time he looked at her, “My dad used to work a lot, so he wasn’t ever home for supper. My mother was always very frail so I learned to cook for the both of us when I was still very young. It started out with cooking with her, and then one day it was just me while she’d instruct me from the table.”
“Thank you for telling me. I think your mother would be very proud of how well you cook now,” Buffy said as she placed her fork down and reached out to touch his unoccupied hand.
They sat like that for what felt like hours. Buffy’s hand covering his was just a friendly gesture of reassurance, but William felt a spark go through him the second she touched him. He was afraid to move, not wanting her to take her hand back.
After a few more minutes Buffy did take her hand back, a blush creeping up her cheeks. She felt foolish for holding on for so long, but couldn’t seem to tear herself away.
She cleared her throat and changed the subject to school, asking him what his major was.
“English. I like to write, so maybe I can do that professionally one day. Get some short stories or even a novel published,” William replied, grateful for the change in topic, “what’s your major, luv?”
“Psychology, with a minor in sociology. I want to help people, and I think I’m pretty good at listening,” Buffy answered.
They continued on like this, talking about what teachers they’ve had and what classes they hated the most.
Buffy admitted she tended to butcher the English language up and usually got pretty bad grades in any writing class she’d ever taken. William wasn’t so big on mathematics, but figured he wasn’t going to need it for anything besides counting change and he’d already mastered that skill working at the store.
They continued to talk about random things that popped into their heads as they cleared the dishes together and loaded them into the dishwasher. After the kitchen was clean, they made their way over to the couches to watch some TV together. During their conversation they had discovered that they both enjoyed watching reality TV.
Buffy turned the TV on and found that the new episode of Jersey Shore was on. They sat on either end of the couch directly facing the TV and began making fun of the show as they watched it.
“I swear, if that Snooki girl gets any more orange, she’ll be confused for an oompa loompa!” William laughed.
Buffy started laughing with him, shaking her head, “No, her hair’s the wrong color! If it were green, then she’d look like one!”
“No, luv, the hair doesn’t matter. She’s got the skin and the height, that’s all that matters,” William shot back, “I keep expecting her to break out into song like in the movie, but I don't think she's smart enough to find a rhyme for syphilis."
Buffy was hysterical, between bursts of laughter she said, “What if when she’s attempting to make out with some guy and it looks like she’s about to suck his face off, he’s internally singing? Something like: oompa loompa doopidy dee, hope she doesn’t try to eat me!”
They were both rolling on the couch with that. When they had finally calmed down they were silent for a bit as the show came to an end.
“I should probably head to bed,” Buffy said, “I’m supposed to work the morning shift at the diner.”
William let out a sigh, sorry to see the night end. “Yeah, I need to work in the morning too.”
With that he heaved himself off the couch, and then turned around to offer Buffy his hand. After he pulled her up, they stood facing one another for a moment, both frozen at how close they were standing. William was the one to break the spell as he took his hand back and started walking towards his room. He wasn’t sure what was going on, between catching Buffy staring at him in the kitchen earlier and the two touches they had shared after that. He didn’t want to make more of it then was really there, but he couldn’t help that his confidence grew slightly.
Buffy followed behind him and stopped as he got to his room.
“Well, goodnight William. Thanks again for dinner, it was delicious.”
William blushed imperceptibly and nodded. “It’s nothing, luv. ‘m happy you enjoyed it. Sleep well.”
Buffy smiled at him as he entered his room and closed the door behind him. She continued to make her way down the hallway to her room to begin her nighttime ritual.
By the time she was laying in bed, sleep seemed like an impossibility. Her mind continued to race for hours reliving the night they’d shared until finally she fell into a fitful sleep.
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Author's Chapter Notes:
I hope everyone is still enjoying this. Thank you for the reviews and to Minx Delovely for betaing me!
Chapter End Notes:
Thoughts???