He’d come out of the bathroom ten minutes ago. Ten minutes.
Ten minutes of pretending to read, that’s what she’d been doing. After the latch on the door sounded and she saw him walk out, his eyes glancing briefly at her, she couldn’t get her mind back on her novel.
Given, that wasn’t because she COULDN’T go back to reading immediately. That is what she’d done when she’d first sat back down after all, but now she was allowing herself the time to think about him.
Or more like her mind was forcing her to ALLOW it. He just was so strange. From his Billy Idol look to the way he walked around and hadn’t said anything when addressed. Not that she was jonesing for conversation, mind you. It’s just that he wasn’t… normal, and he was definitely withdrawn.
The man had gone over to a high set of shelves right after leaving the bathroom, pulling up a step ladder that was nearby and retrieving what looked like a small diary sized thing, a stack of actual books, and three notebooks. She looked on through her lashes and studied him. She really couldn’t help herself.
He had glanced at her again, but she was busy with her novel (or at least she’d pretended to be). Then he’d approached a slightly hidden area, with a large green cushioned chair that sat next to a desk with its own matching wooden seat. He switched on a nearby lamp and removed his coat before setting his things on the table.
Buffy couldn’t help but notice his arms after the leather was pulled off and out of the way. He was built, very nicely she might add, but that fine physique didn’t stop her from observing his peculiarity. He sat down and pulled a hardback into his lap, along with a notebook.
His form seemed to descend right into that green cushioning; it looked like he fit there. Like the chair knew his body or something strange. He glimpsed at her one more time, and then got to work. He opened his volume and his notebook, turning the thin cover of the latter over so it wasn’t in the way. Setting a booted foot up on his knee and putting the book on the arm of his chair, the man sat there and read.
He must’ve been 10, 15 feet away.
He was driving her a little crazy, to be honest.
He read silently, turned pages, and made notes in his notebook. She didn’t mind her privacy being violated by this man’s arrival, he was only one person and the third floor was still very quiet. He didn’t really bother her but there was something about him. His odd (and frankly, rude) behavior not too long ago dubbed him unfriendly in her mind, and yet, her mind couldn’t stop obsessing over him.
And WHAT was with his little stash of private books and tomes on the top of that one shelf anyway?! That was beyond weird if you asked her- And-
The girl mentally groaned. She was obsessing alright; majorly so.
*Ugh. Just go back to reading already! He’s just sitting there, he hasn’t even looked at you since he opened his book!*
Buffy blinked a few times in quick succession and brought her brain back to her novel. She breathed out a small sigh and slowly lost her thoughts inside her story, her body relaxing once again.
><
He stayed there, making notes and enjoying his book. It was years’ old poetry he’d been immersed in for awhile now. After he’d settled down in the chair he’d long ago declared as his own, Spike had managed to… accept the lady’s presence. Mostly.
He looked at her every few minutes without her noticing. Having someone else on his floor was strange and he didn’t like it much. However, her company was becoming something like an allowed annoyance to him. Similar to a dripping faucet, at first you want desperately to fix it but then you slowly, begrudgingly begin to consent to its existence.
Her scent had changed from new and unwelcome (although lovely), to fresh and almost common. His nose was no longer tickled by the mere whiff of it, but instead was gladly filled every time he inhaled. The noise of her fingers touching paper to flip a page rang in his ears every second it seemed, but the sound had soon became a steady hum rather than something akin to a fly buzzing in your ear.
It was going on 10pm now, and she was still here, which had Spike wondering. She had presumably finished her book, about two hours ago. But then the only thing she’d done was retrieve another one out of her backpack and start up on that one. She’d gone to use the bathroom three times, not including the time he’d tripped her, but never did she look up at the clock on the wall or search for a cell phone.
Wouldn’t someone be expecting her somewhere? Who was this girl? Didn’t she have any family, anyone who’d be wondering where the HELL she was. The chit had been here for about five bloody hours, you’d think-
Hold on.
Was he… worrying?
Spike quickly removed his stare from the mysterious female.
He didn’t worry. Not about people, not really; and especially not about birds he didn’t know from Adam.
Fuck, this was odd. Why- Wait. No, he wasn’t worried, just curious. Yeah, that was all.
Except it was hard to believe that untruth when you kept wondering how she was going to get home alone and in the dark; never mind the constant questioning of WHERE she even lived.
Spike’s gaze returned to the girl when he caught her standing up out of the corner of his eye. She seemed suddenly in a rush. Her face was a little flushed and she was shaking her head at herself it seemed. She jammed her book in that backpack and picked up her shopping bag that Spike knew the contents of, turning around to put her shoes on next.
She rolled her eyes at herself abruptly and dropped her things to speedily slip into her jacket, never even bothering to button it before grabbing her things again and moving towards the staircase.
Spike felt himself frowning at her departure. Maybe she did have somewhere to be, it’s possible she’d let the time get away from her and now she’d left somebody worried at home.
Her footsteps were fast as she moved to the railing He watched her, very curious and couldn’t decide whether or not he was happy she was leaving, or whether he wasn’t, or whether he cared at all.
She started down the steps, turning her head his way in what seemed a somewhat last minute thought. The chit glanced at him, her descending green eyes peeking between the banister’s mahogany columns. Spike caught her gaze for just a second before subconsciously sitting up when she disappeared from his view.
><
Thank God it had stopped raining. She ran out of the library, her foot splashing in a shallow puddle. Buffy quickly made her way back home. She knew her grandmother would be worried.
“Shit.” Buffy swore under her breath. She didn’t want Grams upset.
Fortunately, home wasn’t too far away from the MayBell library, only half a mile actually.
…Okay, maybe that was a little far to be walking alone at night, but this was a tiny town and it wasn’t horribly late. Neighborhood folks were still sitting out on their porches with candles and cups of hot tea. Some kids were walking around in groups, and two couples even passed her by on her way.
Buffy ran up the stairs to her Grams’ place and opened the door she knew would be unlocked. She called out for her grandma, sighing when she spotted her in the living room with a book in her lap.
“Oh, Grams, I’m so sorry I’m back late! I know I never called I just- I went to the library.” Buffy set her things down on the floor and continued breathlessly rambling as her audience simply smiled calmly. “I’m so sorry, I lost track of time. I didn’t worry you did I?” She sat down on the couch, beside an antique chair the other woman occupied.
Anne only blinked and released an amused breath. “Buffy.” She spoke with easy composure. “Yer nineteen. Now truthfully I didn’t expect you’d stay out this long, but it is only ten o’clock. And besides, this is MayBell, it ain’t no big dangerous city.”
Buffy blinked dumbly. “Oh. W- well, I’m still sorry I didn’t call you.”
The grey-haired woman looked at her granddaughter through her reading glasses. Her wrinkles defining themselves as she smiled tenderly again. She pulled off her spectacles and let them hang by the pearl string around her neck, her brown eyes twinkling warmly in the soft lamplight.
“Sugar, you’ve got a cell phone don’t ya?”
Buffy nodded. “Well, yeah.”
“I have the number written down on the fridge. I wasn’ worried none, an I coulda called you if I had been. Just knew you was busy combing ya way through MayBell.”
Buffy released a breath. “Well okay.” Her lips lifted on one side. “So I guess sprinting home was sorta overreacting a little huh?”
Her Grams laughed. “Maybe a little. But m’glad to know you thought f’me, I know I didn’ forget ‘bout you. Supper’s in the fridge, chicken and potatoes f’you wanna warm em up.”
Buffy’s eyes lit up. She hadn’t even realized she was hungry. “Thanks Grams.” She hugged her quickly before standing up. “I haven’t eaten anything since I went to that diner in town earlier today.” And she went to the kitchen.
“Oh, so before you went and hid up in the library you actually managed ta explore town a lil bit did ya?!” Her Grams called teasingly from her place in the living room.
Buffy frowned and paused mid step, turning and peeking her head around the doorframe. “I was out for quite some time I hope you know.”
“Oh you were, were you?” Grams asked, an eyebrow raised in wagering question.
Buffy put her hands on her hips. “Yes. I. Was.” And she demonstratively picked up her shopping bag and sat on the coffee table, displaying her purchases for her mistrusting grandparent.
The young woman and her guardian talked for the rest of the night; Anne relayed her day’s events with smiles, while Buffy explained her MayBell experience with halfhearted enthusiasm. However, when asked about how the library had suited her, the teenager described it in great detail. And even though her Grams already knew what the MayBell library beheld to its visitors, she didn’t stop her granddaughter from contentedly depicting it.
“And how long were you there for again, darlin?” Her grandmother asked her sweetly.
Buffy bit her lip. “Ummm, only like... five or six hours.” Her face wrinkled guiltily but her grandmother only laughed lightly.
“Well now, that’s not much strange for you is it?”
“Well… I couldn’t help myself! It was just so comfy there.”
“It’s alright dear. All that matters s’that you went out today, talked to people for a little while. I’m just glad you weren’t lonely.”
Buffy hesitated before nodding. “Yeah. Not lonely.”
Having people around didn’t always mean that it made you feel good, though she wasn’t about to bother her Grams with that.
The girl rose and picked up her backpack, heading for her bedroom, but before she reached it a memory sparked her.
“Um, Grams?”
“Yes, ‘Lizabeth?”
Buffy turned to face her. “You know most people in town, right?”
“Honey, I know EVERYONE in town.”
“Right.” She smiled a little, a curious still face appearing a moment later. “Have you ever seen a guy, um, I think you’d recognize him- Actually ANYONE would recognize him. I saw him at the library today and he just sorta, stuck out.”
“Well go on now. What’d he look like?”
Buffy scrunched her nose before describing him. “Bleached hair, long black leather coat. He um, he’s got a nice face; and really REALLY blue eyes.” She chewed her lip. “Ring any bells?”
Her Grams seemed to contemplate it for a minute, before her concentrated gaze snapped brightly, and it was obvious she’d thought of whom her granddaughter was referring. “I know who yer talkin ‘bout.”
“Oh. Okay, I was just curious. The guy, he um. He seemed odd, ya know? I mean asides from the white hairdo.”
Her Grams nodded. “D’you talk to him?”
“Uh, well, not really. I mean, I told him he should watch where he puts his feet after he tripped me with his dumb combat boots, but other than that-”
Her Grams shook her head somewhat amused. “Don’t be surprised there, dear.”
Silence sounded before Buffy had to ask. “Why?”
“Tha boy, he’s lived here for a few years now. He um… well he just ain’t normal that one. Only times ‘ve seen him have been at the library. Never talks to nobody, always is sorta bad-mannered f’anyone tries to talk to HIM.” She frowned a little. “Don’t even know the man’s name come to think f’it.”
“Huh.” Buffy’s brow puckered. “Who knew MayBell had a resident Boo Radley.”
Anne laughed. “Well, not really. He comes out now don’t he?”
“Yeah, I guess but, whatever, close enough.”
He grandmother leaned back in her chair and studied Buffy as the girl turned around again and went to put her things away. “You uh, take a likin to this man, ‘Lizabeth?”
Buffy frowned again, very hard this time, and laughed a little as she turned around. “Grams, are ya kidding? He looks like some 80’s reject. Not to mention, he’s rude.”
Anne nodded. “Oh. Okay then. Just wonderin.”
Buffy scowled again and went to leave but then abruptly turned one more time, facing her grandma as she spoke. “I mean, the guy tripped me and didn’t even apologize. What kind of girl likes that?”
“None to my knowledge, dear.” Her Grams shook her head.
“… And did I mention that he had bleached hair? I mean, I used to bleach mine and ~I~ never even went that platinum.”
“I understand.” There was slight mocking added to those words.
The teenager’s shopping bag was still in her hands and an incredulous expression suddenly adorned her features. “W-White hair, Grams! He looks like a snow globe!”
Anne laughed a bit at that one. “I said I understand!”
Buffy seemed to take her time with approving that statement, before she stiffly nodded. “Good.”
“No attraction whatsoever then?”
“No! No, none… Nothing.”
Anne smiled and gave her granddaughter a look of slight pitiful acceptance. “Alright, I believe you.”
“He wasn’t even cute.”
“Right. Got it.”
Buffy left the room then, quickly tossing her stuff on her bed. She stripped off her jacket and went back into the living room remembering she’d left her backpack in there.
She picked up the old bag. “Stop smiling like that!”
Grams bit her lip to stop from laughing, though her granddaughter never saw. “I’m not smilin at nothin!”
Buffy went to her room again, sorting her new purchases away and idly wondering when she’d turned back into a fifteen year old.
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Thanks for the reviews and the interest in this story! Hope you all continue to like it!
Chapter End Notes:
im a review whore so please fulfill my needs! ;)
-and that line about the Boo Radley thing came from Gilmore Girls, btw :3
-and that line about the Boo Radley thing came from Gilmore Girls, btw :3