The bridal shop was packed when she arrived; Buffy was almost surprised she was able to spot her sister, almost. She was yelling at their mother and pointing at something in a magazine.
“BUFFY, thank god. Tell mom that lime green is hideous and gross and not in my wedding.” Her eyes were imploring.
“See mom I told you, it’s nauseating.” Buffy grabbed her dress and walked into the changing room. The dress was actually nice, despite the rumours that Dawn would be putting them in poufy sleeves and princess style frocks.
It was a deep maroon strapless dress that stopped just below her knee.
Bravely she stepped out of the changing room and Dawn’s eyes flicked to her immediately. Her eyes narrowed but she didn’t say anything. Buffy did a full spin and after a beat of silence Dawn smiled.
“You look great! Alright, Willow and Tara will be here any minute for their fitting.” Dawn grabbed her dress off of the rack and walked into the changing room. Buffy held back her sigh of relief, the last thing she needed was a Dawn style freak-out.
She grinned as Willow entered the shop. Willow was her best friend, they’d known each other since high school and had stuck together ever since. Willow eyed her dress and raised a brow.
“So Where’s my dress?” Willow embraced Buffy before moving to the rack.
“Hey Buffy, the dress looks good.” Tara was Willow’s girlfriend; they’d been together since the first year of college. They were probably one of the most functional couples she had in her life. Her mother and father were divorced but ‘close friends’, yes she couldn’t quite get over that one. Then there was Dawn and her fiancée, they’d been together for two months before getting engaged, though Dawn had taken an extra six months to plan the wedding, add on the next two weeks and they would have been together for nine months.
Willow emerged from the changing room and twirled gracefully. Buffy nodded in approval but what mattered most was Dawn’s opinion.
Forty minutes later and Dawn had decided all the dresses were perfect. Buffy got into her car and started off towards the studio. The whole day had been taxing though Willow had agreed to drinks later on that night. Her pager beeped and she flicked her eyes down to see Spike’s number flash.
She pressed number 1 on her speed dial, yes she had already gone over the fact that her number one on speed dial was essentially her boss, and waited for the answer.
“Am I allergic to peanuts?” Spike’s voice sounded through the phone.
“YES, stay away from any peanuts Spike!” She accelerated slightly.
“Mandy no peanuts, Buffy you there love?”
“Yeah I’m here. I’m ten minutes away from the studio.” She slid her phone shut again and rubbed her temple, she felt a headache coming on.
~/~
Buffy looked at her watch, it was nearly 10 PM and she was exhausted. Spike had worked until 9:30 and she had only just gotten home. She frowned when she realised her door was unlocked. Perfect, she thought, a freshly robbed apartment was all she needed to end her day. Tentatively she opened her door and looked around, relieved to see Willow on the couch watching TV.
“Hey Wills.” Willow smiled at her.
“I ordered pizza, and started drinking. I figured I’d enjoy myself.” Buffy held back a laugh at the sight of her slightly tipsy friend.
“Good for you, here I’ll have some wine; Spike gave me the morning off tomorrow so a little hangover for me won’t be so bad.”
“Well you better be prepared for the bachelorette party, you won’t be able to walk straight girly.” Willow giggled and fell back against the couch. Ok make that more than tipsy Buffy thought idly. She sipped on her wine.
“Is Tara coming to the wedding?” Willow looked over and pouted.
“Yup she managed to get out of working. It’s really great; it just feels like we haven’t gone out anywhere special in a while. What about you Buffy, got a date?” Willow tried and failed to wiggle her eyebrows.
“Oh yeah, he’s right here, Mr Perfect meet Willow, Willow this is Mr Perfect, he has some great friends like Mr always puts the toilet seat down and don’t forget Mr doesn’t have mommy issues.” Sarcasm practically dripped from her voice. Willow looked unimpressed.
“How about you invite Spike?”
“What? Come on Wills, he’s not going to blow off some swanky Hollywood A-list gathering to come and watch Dawn get married and my mother grill me about still being single at twenty five.” She finished off her wine and took a frustrated bite out of her pizza.
“OK maybe not but I’m sure he’d want to hang with you, come on he’s like your boyfriend anyway!” Buffy stared at her in shock.
“WHAT? Spike and I…there is no…That is so….Willow seriously, we work together, essentially I am the man’s mother!” Willow scoffed.
“Yeah sure, I bet that’s not what you think when you-” Buffy cut her off.
“Look! Even if I did want to invite Spike, Dawn would have a first class hissy fit and probably threaten to cut my eyes out with her engagement ring.” Buffy held out her glass for more.
“Nope, go ahead and call her, right now. Ask.” Willow chucked Buffy her phone and emptied the rest of the wine into her glass.
Buffy slid the phone open and pressed the second number on her speed dial. She’d battled with putting Dawn as number 1 but she’d quickly made her mind up when the brunette had called Buffy up screaming because her fiancée had forgotten to mail the wedding invitations.
“Buffy, talk fast, I’m about to have hot stressed out sex.” Buffy scrunched her face.
“EW Dawn I do not need to know that. Look can Spike come to the wedding?” She cringed, waiting for the screaming fit.
“Yep! Bye.” Buffy stared at the phone in disbelief.
“Told ya so! Now call Spike!” Willow fell back onto the couch and closed her eyes. Buffy sighed and grabbed a blanket, covering her friend. She locked the door and turned off the lights, Angel padded behind her as she entered her room. Spike would have to wait.
~/~
Buffy guessed it was around 3 AM when her pager buzzed. With bleary eyes and bed hair she groaned as she made out the red blinking numbers to Spike’s personal cell phone. She picked up her cell and pressed her speed dial. It rang for two seconds before a sleepy voice picked up.
“Buffy, what’s wrong pet?” When she heard a throat clear she became confused.
“You just paged me, what’s wrong?” She listened to the static. Visions of a drug overdose or a binge drinking episode filled her head.
“What the Bloody hell are you on? I’ve been sleeping this whole time?” He was talking to her like she was nuts.
“Ugh Spike are you kidding me? You’ve got your pager on auto dial from last week. Remember I told you to call me at three?”
“No, thanks for the trip down memory lane though,” Sarcasm, just what she needed right now.
“OK, whatever, I’m going to sleep, see you at noon!”
“Wait, wait! Will you come to my dinner party I’m having tomorrow night?” Buffy sighed; he always had parties on the most inconvenient nights.
“Spike tomorrow is Tuesday; a Tuesday night is the worst possible night to have a party.”
“So that’s a no then?” Buffy sighed.
“Of course I’m coming Spike,” she took a moment to realise the awkward implications of that statement “What time?”
“The shindig starts at eight.”
“Cool, now I have a favour to ask you. Will you come with me to my sister’s wedding? It’s going to be really boring if I’m stuck there by myself.” She hoped she didn’t sound like a nervous teen asking out the high school quarterback.
“Would be my pleasure love, how is the bit anyway?” She shouldn’t have been surprised by the answer, Spike loved Dawn.
“She’s fine, now some of us don’t have to be up in four hours. Goodnight Spike.” He chuckled and muttered something that sounded like ‘feisty bint’.
“G’night Buffy.”
The phone went dead and she rolled over. She swore she’d just gotten to the stage between being awake and asleep when her phone buzzed again. Muttering a curse she grabbed the offending object. Great it was her father.
“Dad, what are you doing calling me at three thirty in the morning?” She hoped she sounded pissed instead of sleepy.
“Sweetheart quick question, if I put sun cream on my face will it get rid of my wrinkles?”
“It’s sun cream dad not the fountain of youth.” She heard a huff on the other end of the line.
“OK I’m sorry, it’s just you called on my day off.”
“Oh! Sorry sweetie, Be Tee Dub” She was certain he was trying to say ‘by the way’ “Have you heard about your mother’s lime cake idea, lime would taste horrible. I don’t even like it when your mother puts it in the stuffing for the Christmas Turkey.” Buffy frowned; and this breaking news obviously couldn’t have waited until morning, she thought frustrated.
“Dad it’s the colour lime green not the fruit…is it a fruit? Wait I don’t care, and when did you start speaking like a fifteen year old girl?”
“Honey its cool lingo; seriously you really need to get with it.” She stared at her phone in shock before hanging up. She promptly chucked her phone away from her and yanked the covers over her head.
When Angel stood and gave a meow she poked her head out from beneath the covers.
“Oh don’t even start.”
TBC...
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Oh My God! Thanks to all of you guys who reviewed, I was so amazed :-) You're all awesome! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and are enjoying your holidays :-)
Chapter End Notes:
Not a lot happening in this chapter but it's leading to something great :-) What did you guys think?? Please let me know :-)