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Thank you so, so very much, Caitie, blondiebear and Jessica , you’re so kind and I’m touched!
Well, I think things will keep getting even worse before they get better... but please, keep trusting me! ;)

Chapter 22

“C’mon Dawn, let’s go home!” William turned to her sister, leaving with her.
Buffy didn’t even have the strength to try to stop him, to call him, to ask him to come back to her as he had disappeared on his way to the subway station.


“It’s all my fault, if I hadn’t come here, if I hadn’t sent you that message…” Dawn blamed herself, her face wet with the tears she’d shed after watching the whole scene.
“No, don’t say that, not even joking! This is not your fault, understood? Come here, Nibblet!” William reassured her, hugging her.
“But... I don’t understand... you seemed to care about her so much...” she went on, sniffing.
“And I still care about her, but after what happened, I just can’t anymore. You know why I reacted this way!”
“Yeah, I know. It’s all about that old story, but you can’t keep thinking about the past!”
“You’re right, but you know how much I suffered ...”
“And how afraid you are of suffering again!” she anticipated him, holding his hand in hers.
“Yeah, but... let’s not think about sad things now! You know that your Big Bro is a hard nut to crack and I will get over this! Plus, I promised you that we would have a special night just for us and you know I always keep my promises!” he pretended to be cheerful, but Dawn didn’t buy it... and to be honest, neither did he.

***************************************************
Buffy collapsed to the ground, shedding all the tears she had and when she had none left, she got back to her home feeling exhausted.
She was relieved that her mother was away on a business trip and she wouldn’t come back until Christmas. She would have comforted her as she always did, but right now Buffy didn’t feel like talking with anyone... not even her best friend, whom she had to call anyway but due to another reason.
“Hello?” Willow exclaimed on the other end of the receiver.
“Hi, Will...” Buffy said... with a hoarse voice due to all the crying.
“Buffy, wassup? Are you okay?” the redhead asked concerned.
“Let’s just say I’ve had better days. I just wanted to let you know that I won’t go to practice tomorrow, I really don’t feel like doing that now... so I’ll go directly to ‘The Bronze’ on Sunday... I don’t think there’ll be any problem if we don’t go over our songs just this once, I already know everything ...”
“Ok, Buffy, yeah, I think so, too. Anyway, Angel just called me, saying that William told him he wouldn’t come tomorrow, too...” Willow explained, and after hearing his name Buffy felt like she was suffocating. “Buffy... everything is alright between you two, isn’t it?” her friend wondered as discreet as ever.
“Will, I gotta go now. See you there on Sunday!” Buffy hung up quickly.
Just one more second and she wouldn’t have resisted anymore. She’d been wrong before, she still had some tears and she shed them all on her pillow.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sunday night came a bit too fast for Buffy and somehow she had managed to hide everything that had happened from Willow.

As she drove to ‘The Bronze’ in her mind there was only one thought.

< He will be there, of course, so I’ll have to see him again. How am I supposed to do that? I don’t think I have the courage to face him… so talking with him is just out of the question. Plus, he has nothing to say to me anymore, he already said as much the last time we saw each other. Yeah, sure, I was a complete idiot, but... after all he wasn’t so right. Who am I kidding? He was totally right! But I think... he exaggerated by telling me... it... it’s o... over!>

Tears threatened to fall from her eyes once again but she willed them away, shaking her head. There wasn’t time for this kind of thoughts.
She had gotten to ‘The Bronze’ and she’d have to face the harsh reality.
She parked her car, took her stuff out and got into the pub from the back. She found Willow and Angel that were finishing all the preparations.
“Buffy, how are you? I hope you feel better! Why didn’t you come with William?” her friend wondered.
As Buffy was looking for the most believable excuse, the bleached blond made his entry.
“Hi guys. Well, let’s begin this bloody show as soon as possible, because the sooner it ends, the better it is!” he snapped, sitting at the drums without even glancing at Buffy.

The boy had acted like that due to a very simple reason: if he had looked at her, if she had talked to him, if only she had directed one of her bright smiles at him... he would have been under her spell once again... and he couldn’t allow himself to do that.
Angel and Willow looked at each other perplexed, wondering silently what was going on. Whatever it was, it definitely wouldn’t be good for the group.

Their show was about to start. The pub was very crowded with people eager to see their show and hear their music. Their friends weren’t there tonight, but hidden in the crowd were Xander, Riley, Ben and their girlfriends who watched them.
“I don’t understand, you told me that she was shocked, wasn’t she, Dru?” Xander asked nervously. Drusilla confined herself to just nod. “So why the hell are they performing tonight on that stage again as if nothing had happened?” her boyfriend snapped.
“I... I can’t explain that. We did such a nice job... and it seems it was all for nothing!” Darla complained.
“Let’s go, I don’t wanna see another of their shows!” Harmony snorted.
“No, let’s stay, at least at the beginning ... maybe it’s not what we think...” Ben suggested and the others agreed.

Clem introduced the ‘Chosen Ones’ and there were lots of incitements and applauses, even stronger by the people who had seen their first show.
The only different thing was the way the band showed up to their crowd, mostly the two members who were supposed to be the entertainers.
In fact, Buffy confined herself to raise her head without a word to the crowd, she just began the first song playing all the wrong notes, so much so that Willow and Angel figured out which song it was just because they remembered the first song in their play list, so they managed to save the day. And William? He seemed like a zombie and an amoeba would have played the drums with more vitality than him.

The crowd was puzzled, but Xander and all the others laughed a lot about that.
“So, your Princess was good, wasn’t she?” Drusilla exclaimed, smiling to her boyfriend.
“Hell, yeah, you were good! Look how troubled they are, you have destroyed all the concord there was in that band. You were wonderful, girls!” Xander approved, kissing her.
“Just another couple of songs and I bet the crowd will start throwing stuff at them!” Ben laughed.
“Yeah, so let’s get ready. Girls, you already know what to do!” Riley said, bending towards his girlfriend.
“Don’t worry, my love. I haven’t lost sight of him since we’ve got in and I won’t lose sight of him now, you can bet on it!” she reassured him between kisses.
“That stage is going to become yours! You’ll be a success, and tomorrow all my friends will be scarily envious!” Harmony chuckled, holding Ben tightly.

Ben had been right: in the next song, Buffy had gotten so nervous that she broke one of her guitar’s chords; William was so lost in his thoughts that he didn’t even know what he was doing anymore; the two blondes had confused Angel so badly that he had forgotten an entire bass notes sequence... making it so that Willow sung a lot of false notes.
It was a complete disaster, and the crowd began booing them and yelling them to go away, so much so that in the middle of their third song, the band stepped off the stage, leaving the pub.

Clem was already despairing, trying to entertain the upset crowd, when three girls approached him.
“You know, if you are interested, there are some friends of ours who could go on the stage and play something...” Darla suggested.
“Trust us, they’re pretty good, they’re not scrubs at all... I can assure you that the crowd will like them!” Drusilla helped her friend.
“After all, you have nothing to lose now. Trust us... or get ready to hear their complaints!” Harmony added, pointing to the crowd.
Clem needed desperately a diversion, any diversion and their idea sounded perfect for that.

“Ok, I wanna trust you. You said they’re kinda good, didn’t you? So, tell them to take their instruments and get ready, I’m going to introduce them. By the way, what’s the name of the band?” Clem asked.
“They are ‘The Initiative’, and they are already ready to play!” Darla assured him, as Drusilla had run to let the boys know the news and Harmony went on the stage, taking away the other band’s instruments.

**************************************************
Once, they were outside, all Buffy wanted to do was to get inside her car and forget that terrible night, but Willow didn’t give her that chance.
“No, Buffy, you’re not going to leave so easily. Now, you tell me what the hell is wrong with William and you to make us show up so badly!” the redhead snapped.
“Willow is right: if you have a little skirmish between you two, the band shouldn’t get involved... but what’s done is done, I guess this is the end for the ‘Chosen Ones’. It was cool while it lasted... thanks to you two!” Angel said, looking at them accusingly. “I would add that you should never mix private life with music... but I’m the last one who should talk!” he added, smiling to his Willow and holding her hands.
William and Buffy were about to say something, but the announcement Clem was making interrupted them.

-- Attention please. I apologize with all of you, maybe the Chosen Ones weren’t in the mood to perform tonight, but the show goes on, because we have ‘The Initiative’ here with us, let’s give it up for them! --

Hearing that, William rolled his eyes.
“Those bastards! Bloody Hell, that’s what they wanted!” the blond snapped.
“Those damn witches!” Buffy muttered, beginning to figure out what had happened.
Willow and Angel understood less and less.
“See? That band stole our stage, and it’s all because of your stupid argument!” Willow scolded them.
“I wouldn’t call it ‘stupid argument’, William and I...” Buffy murmured, trembling.
“Buffy and I split up!” William said in such a low voice that the others barely heard him.

Willow got closer to Buffy, and seeing her tearful eyes she figured out that her friend was about to begin crying, so she helped her.
“It was a really bad night for everyone. There’s nothing to do anymore, so Buffy and I’ll go home. Bye, guys!” she said, heading with her friend towards the parking area.
“Buffy, I’m so sorry... I couldn’t imagine. C’mon, you’re free to vent your pain, it will be good for you!” Willow hugged her and Buffy cried on her shoulder, until her sobs and sniffs faded out.
“Buffy, would you like to... tell me what happened, please?” Willow asked tactfully, and wiping her eyes Buffy told her everything that had happened.

“That’s what you were planning when we talked at the ‘Magic Box’! Buffy, I told you...”
“No, Willow, save me your damn ‘I told you so’ dance!” Buffy snapped with an acid tone, but she immediately realized how badly she had reacted. “Oh, Will, forgive me. See? I’m horrible, I’m blaming you and this wasn’t your fault, it’s just my fault, damn me and my stupid unjustified jealousy!” she cursed herself.
“Buffy, stop it, you can’t blame yourself for everything! You know what? I guess I would have reacted the same way you did. After all, you didn’t even know that William had a sister!” her friend assured her.
“Yeah, that’s the point, he has never talked about his family, about his past... he’s so shunning and I don’t know why...” Buffy murmured, resuming her sobbing.
“The only thing I know is that you can’t drive like this. C’mon, give me the keys, I’ll drive you home!” the redhead said and the blonde obeyed, giving her the keys.

“Will, what would I do without you?” Buffy forced herself to smile at her, as they got in the car.
“That’s why best friends exist!” the other girl smiled back, setting the car in motion.

TBC

Don’t worry, this time I’ll be faster with the update, because I know this is such a sad moment :’-( and I want it to end as soon as possible.. Well.. as you wait for the next chapter.. tell me what you think! ;)

By the way, tomorrow I’ll update ‘Simply Absurd’, too! ;)





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