The next day Buffy managed to avoid being around Spike as much as possible. She spent all her free time locked in her dressing room, chatting to Dawn about anything Spike-unrelated, or glued to Giles’ side, which did help with the avoidiness.
Although they had some scenes together, there were no kissing scenes, which meant she could consign the memories of her bathtub fantasy to the little box in her brain labeled ‘Do NOT open… EVER!’
The problem was that her body still wasn’t complying with her brain and after every scene that forced her to be around him she could feel the telltale wetness coating her panties.
Of course, just because she had a minor attraction to him didn’t mean that she liked him. She still maintained her hatred for him exactly as she had before, but it was galling that he was able to play her body like a banjo with just a single look. And he probably didn’t even have any kind of clue that he was actually doing it.
Thankfully she managed to get away relatively unscathed and without any meaningful contact with the bleached actor. With only two more days to go, she was confident that she could now manage to get through this week and then put it behind her forever.
She was relatively confident that she could make it through the rest of eternity without ever picturing a naked Spike again.
Yep that would be easy…right?
On Thursday Buffy started off her day as normal. She was actually a little excited that this job was almost at an end and she couldn’t wait to get out and away from the maw of temptation.
The reporters, as usual, hounded her when she left the hotel to go to the studio, but because it was so common these days she didn’t think anything of that. They were yelling even more questions than usual about Riley at her, but it was her breakup with him that piqued their curiosity to the stalkage level, so that wasn’t too strange.
However, when she walked into the studio she immediately knew that something weird was going on. Several pairs of eyes were staring at her, and whispers rippled through the room. She shifted her posture, suddenly feeling uncomfortable, glad that Giles was at her side.
“What’s going on?” she asked him.
He shook his head. “I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about,” he assured her, although she could tell from his face that he was also picking up on the strange vibes in the room.
“Giles,” she sighed, “everyone’s looking at me like I’ve suddenly grown an extra head.”
He removed his glasses from his face and started to polish them with a cloth he pulled from his pocket. “Really Buffy, I’m sure that it’s nothing to worry about.”
“I hope not.” She had a sudden fear flowing through her that someone had somehow found out about her viewing Spike’s video.
No! They couldn’t know that! Could they?
Giles interrupted her silent freak when he spotted Lindsey standing to the side chatting to one of the runners and excused himself, leaving her standing alone.
Buffy leaned against the wall and surveyed the green room. Most people were gathered around the food table, eating their breakfast.
When she caught sight of Harmony and Spike kissing right next to the table, Buffy grimaced, feeling as if she’d suddenly lost her appetite. Actually, if they kept doing that, she felt like she might lose her breakfast, lunch and dinner too.
She felt even more nauseous when the vapid blonde broke away from Spike and made her way over to her.
“Are you lost?” Buffy asked when Harmony came to a standstill in front of her. Harmony waved a magazine in front of Buffy, but the latter didn’t flinch. Instead she just raised a sardonic eyebrow at the other woman.
“Did anyone ever tell you that you’re really annoying?” Buffy asked.
Harmony just stared at her, giggles wracking her buxom frame. “Oh my God! You’ve not like seen it?”
“Seen what?” Buffy clenched her teeth as the other blonde continued to giggle uncontrollably.
“You’re big news today, Bunny.” Harmony haughtily tossed her hair over her shoulder and grinned smugly. “Your ex has told the whole world how bad you suck in bed. Although I’m guessing you not sucking is like so totally the actual problem.”
Harmony held up the magazine in front of Buffy’s face and Buffy’s world felt like it was falling apart. She felt sickened and horrified, as if someone had just torn her guts from her body and twisted them around her throat.
The actress’ mouth opened and closed like a fish while she stared at the headline: “My Life with a Cold Fish: An exposé by Riley Finn.”
A plethora of emotions flooded her all at one. She felt shocked, hurt, betrayed and furious. Part of her wanted to sink to the floor and curl up into a weeping ball of Buffy, while the other part wanted to break something, preferable Riley’s fat head…or maybe Harmony’s smirking face.
“This is the part I like best,” Harmony giggled, clearing her throat regally and adopted a faux news reporter’s voice as she read aloud. “Most nights I tried to get her revved up, but it was like trying to take out a car with no engine. Sure, she’s pretty on the outside, but she’s the coldest fish out there. Any man would be driven to infidelity with someone like Buffy around. Even when she wasn’t frigid, her skills left a lot to be desired and…”
“I don’t want to hear it,” Buffy hissed, cutting off Harmony’s voice and fixing the blonde with a glare. She grabbed the magazine from Harmony’s claws, and skimmed it herself. Her heart contracted with every venomous word she read.
“God Harmony, why don’t you shut your big mouth for once?” Dawn hissed, coming up in support behind Buffy and patting the tiny blonde on her shoulder in a show of solidarity.
“Stay out of it, Pint Size,” Harmony warned the brunette.
“Or what?” Dawn raised a challenging eyebrow at the blonde. “You don’t scare me. You’re too pathetic to scare anyone. Well anyone sane or smart anyway.”
She crossed her arms in front of her chest and tried to stare down the peroxide-challenged woman.
“As if I care about scaring a brat like you,” mocked Harmony. “You’re just another annoying little kid.”
“Don’t talk to her that way,” Buffy yelled, matching Harmony’s glare with one of her own.
“I’ll talk to her however I want to, Cold Fish,” Harmony sneered, noticing the wince on Buffy’s face. “Truth hurts, huh?” Harmony laughed vindictively.
Buffy didn’t know what the other girl had against her but she refused to let her strike a nerve. “The truth?” Buffy snickered. “Like, for example, telling you that you look like a two dollar hooker in that outfit?”
“Hey! I so do not.” Harmony looked offended as she preened her reflection in the glass of the painting on the wall.
“Keep telling yourself that and maybe one day it’ll come true. You’re cheap and nasty.”
“At least I know how to please a man,” Harmony sneered at her in return.
Buffy felt her anger bubbling inside of her. It was like magma, flowing up through her blood and threatening to spill from her. She had to find a way to channel it before she lost control. But a red mist was descending in front of her face and she could focus on nothing but her fury.
Almost as if she’d lost the ability for conscious thought, her fist screwed up into a ball, her eyes focused on the target. Taking a healthy swing back she surged forward, her knuckles connecting with Harmony’s three-thousand dollar nose. Buffy heard the loud crunch of bone as it deformed under her punch. Blood gushed from the damaged appendage, but she all she could do was stare. Harmony crashed to the floor and suddenly the room was in tumult.
“Bitch!” Harmony spat, gripping her nose and staggering to her feet. “I swear to God, I’m totally suing.”
“Just try it,” Buffy warned menacingly.
Harmony cowered away, clearly wanting to avoid another fist to the face. One of the runners came to her side and led the now sobbing blonde away from the scene. Buffy didn’t feel guilty though. That bitch deserved it.
Buffy turned her eyes to Spike, who she expected to start gloating now, as Harmony was otherwise occupied. He’d been standing behind Harmony watching the scene unfold, opening and closing his fists. However, the blond surprised her by flashing a genuinely sympathetic look at her.
For a moment she wondered if he was feeling residual guilt for causing her a similar pain all those years ago, but quickly pushed that idea aside. She couldn’t ever believe that Spike Pryce had a conscience. He was a liar and a scoundrel, so no doubt he had some ulterior motive in not hitting her while she was down. Maybe he just wanted to ensure that his own nose stayed intact.
She didn’t have time to fully analyze his actions right now though. Buffy was too emotional to rationalize anything at that moment in time.
“Good Lord, Buffy! What in God’s name was that?” asked Giles, as he suddenly appeared at her side.
“You don’t know what’s going on?” she asked, massaging her bruised knuckles.
He shook his head and Buffy bent down to retrieve the magazine from the ground. Giles blinked rapidly as she thrust it into his face.
“Did you know about this?” Buffy asked him, holding back the dam of tears that was threatening to burst.
Giles took the magazine from her gently and studied it. His expression grew stormy as he read the poisonous content and he glanced at Lindsey who stood silently next to him.
“That bloody little prat!” Giles exclaimed. “We won’t let him get away with this, Buffy.”
“You didn’t know?” she inquired in a small voice.
“Of course not! I should have known. It’s my business to know, but I’m afraid I’ve failed you in this case, my dear. I assure you, heads will roll for this.”
“Yeah, you should have. I had to find out from Spike Pryce’s little slut! I had to listen to that horrible bitch gloat about it. Do you know what that feels like?”
Giles shook his head. “I wish I’d known. I wouldn’t have let you find out that way if I had any idea.”
“I didn’t know either,” Lindsey assured Buffy, earning him a watery smile of gratitude. “I’m sorry. You still can’t go around punching people on my set though.”
“I know, Lindsey,” she said, hoping she looked a little repentful. Right now, her acting wasn’t at its best though.
“If that girl presses for assault…” Lindsey sighed.
“I don’t think she will,” Giles assured the director. “Harmony Kendal will realize she’s got her comeuppance. I’ll make sure of it.”
Buffy and Lindsey both glanced at him slightly askance, but he didn’t add to his comment.
“And I promise you that we will get to the bottom of this mess with Riley too,” Giles said with conviction.
Buffy nodded, but she felt numb at what had happened. She didn’t understand how Riley could have betrayed her like that…again. It was bad enough catching him with that hooker, but this was like pouring acid into the already gaping wound of their former relationship.
When she first met him on the set of a movie they were making together, he’d seemed like the perfect boyfriend, but it rapidly became apparent that he was totally unequipped to cope with her immense level of fame. He’d spent most of his career making relatively unknown television shows until he found his big break on the silver screen with her.
But it gnawed away at him that he was always playing second fiddle to his more successful woman and quickly became jealous and bitter before finally turning to prostitutes to relieve his anger and resentment toward his girlfriend.
Having become Hollywood’s unlikely First Couple, their breakup rocked the world. Ever since, Buffy found herself at the mercy of the tabloid hounds and it was hard for her to deal with. And now he’d gone and turned up the heat on her, no doubt. How would the press ever let go of this story?
Unfortunately Riley Finn wasn’t the first of her bad choices in boyfriends. Many years ago, when she was less cynical and jaded, she dated a man she thought loved her. However, immediately after they slept together, he told her that his career was more important than being with her and shattered young Buffy’s heart.
And then came her first meeting with Spike. But this definitely wasn’t the time to reminisce about that less than pleasant recollection.
Why did everyone have to hurt her so much?
“Buffy,” Giles’ soothing voice pulled her from her reverie and she glanced up at his sympathetic face. He ran a hand across her cheek, wiping the wetness away from her face and it was only then that she realized she’d started to cry.
Placing a fatherly arm across her shoulder he steered her out of the green room and back to her dressing room where she could find some privacy. She plopped down into a chair, guided by Giles, and readily accepted the glass of cool water that he poured for her. Before she could take a sip of the water, sobs tore through her throat and she collapsed into a heap, only supported by the strong arms of her surrogate father.
“Why do they do it, Giles?” she wept. “Why does every goddamn guy end up acting like an asshole to me?”
“I wish I could answer that, my child,” he said, a slight hitch sounding in his own voice.
“Every single man!” she repeated, before pausing with a furrowed brow. “Well…except for you. But you’re not really a man.”
“Thanks ever so.” He tossed her a wry smile.
“Sorry, Giles. I didn’t mean you’re not a man. I just meant…You know what I meant, right?”
He nodded, holding her even tighter. “Yes, my dear. I know.”
When she finally pulled away from her, she gave an apologetic smile for having cried all over his shirt. He handed her a Kleenex and she began to dry her face properly. Her eyes were all red and puffy and she just hoped that make up could fix that little problem. God, she looked like a wreck.
“Do you feel quite up to working today?” Giles inquired carefully as he surveyed his young charge.
Buffy nodded, still peering at her dull reflection in the mirror. “Yeah. I’ll be okay. Could you just give me five minutes?” He studied her but she flashed him an encouraging smile. “Promise, Giles. Five minutes and I’ll be all upbeato-girl again.”
Giles agreed, still a little worried, and exited the dressing room leaving her alone once again. She laughed dryly at the thought that she was alone again because in truth she was always alone. Sure, she still had her mother back in her hometown of Sunnydale, but she rarely ever saw the older woman. Her schedule didn’t give her enough time to take breaks to visit the woman who gave birth to her.
She also had Giles, but sometimes it felt like there was a barrier between her and her manager. There were parts of her psyche that he would never comprehend, never try to comprehend and so she didn’t share them with anyone. Those were the times when she could have used a real girlfriend, but in Hollywood friendships never seemed to be real. They were all façades, created for the benefit of the media.
She sighed and wiped over her face one more time, before struggling to her feet. Her body felt weary and she wished away the rest of the day in a moment. Buffy took several calming breaths before leaving the sanctuary of her room.
When she was satisfied that she wasn’t about to burst into tears again, she finally made her way out, planning to head down to makeup to rectify the damage that her weeping had wreaked on her face paint.
As she ambled through the hallways, the sound of raised voices grabbed her attention and she paused, wondering where the sound was coming from. It only took her a moment to realize that the yelling was coming from Spike’s dressing room. She could hardly mistake the sound of his baritone trademark British accent. Against her better judgment, she approached the door and put her ear to the outside.
“You stupid bint!” Buffy heard Spike yell. “That wasn’t your place to go showing her that buggering rubbish.”
“Me? Psycho-Bunny punched me in my face!” Harmony shrieked. Her cry hurt Buffy’s ears even through the door. However, she did find some satisfaction in the nasally quality to the fake-blonde’s voice.
Guess she really did hurt her.
“You deserved it, Harm. Actually you deserved a lot worse than that. You had no business doing it. If she’d bloody well knocked you out, that might have been too good for you.”
A girlish giggle sounded and she knew Harmony wasn’t taking the reprimand seriously. “Oh come on, Blondie Bear. That bitch deserved it.”
‘Blondie Bear?’ Buffy mouthed with disdain, keeping her ear pressed to the door.
“No, she didn’t!” Buffy heard Spike exclaim. “Summers might have a bit of a stick up her arse sometimes but she’s not got a bad heart. You just wanted to be bloody vindictive. I could just about knock your head off right now, Harmony.”
“Uh, so what if I was being vindi-whatever?” Harmony retorted defiantly.
“’So what?’” echoed Spike in disbelief. “You take pleasure out of other people’s pain, Harm. I’m soddin’ well sick of it.”
“You used to do the same,” Harmony said. It sounded like she was pouting and Buffy rolled her eyes again.
“’Used to’ as in not anymore. I changed you silly chit.”
“Blondie Bear!”
Buffy stood staring at the door in abject shock. She couldn’t believe that Spike had just defended her. He’d sided with her over his own girlfriend. It was like she’d just entered bizarro-land where Spike wasn’t actually the world’s biggest asshole and where she suddenly had some of the warm fuzzies about him.
A crash sounded from the other side of the door, jerking Buffy from her reflections, and some more muffled yells assaulted Buffy’s ears. She only managed to catch a few garbled words like ‘chit’, ‘bloody’ and ‘finished.’
“I’m getting the bloody hell out of here, you nasty bint,” he yelled. “Don’t come after me or I might do something I’ll regret!”
The sound of footsteps neared from the other side of the door, and in a panic, Buffy dived around the corner just as Spike stormed out of the dressing room with a sobbing Harmony following behind him like a lost puppy.
Well, at least she wasn’t the only one whose day totally sucked.
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