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Chapter 10


Buffy listened as her father walked out of the house on one of his many
dates. Saturday night was finally here, and Buffy was surprised how much
she’d been looking forward to it. Once the car had pulled down the long
driveway, Buffy made her way down the grand staircase.

“Oh, Buffy, you look beautiful.” Fred greeted her with a huge smile as she
saw Buffy approaching.

“Thanks,” Buffy said with a smile, nervously smoothing her black skirt. It
was longer than she usually wore, but it had two slits running along her
legs, compensating for the length. Her hair was loose and slightly curled,
and the golden highlights were set off by the shimmery silver shirt, she was
wearing.

Buffy worried her bottom lip as she paced the length of the house. She and
Spike hadn’t spoken that often, unless it was to discuss their English
project, and Buffy was worried that he was starting to regret asking her to
the party to begin with.

Looking in the mirror of the foyer for what felt like the thousandth time,
Buffy was about to head upstairs and change when she heard a knock at the
door. With a deep breath, she put a smile on her face and pulled it open.

Spike’s eyes lit up when he saw her, running the length of her body and
taking in every detail that he could commit to memory. “You ready to go,
luv?” he asked, offering his hand as she walked outside.

“Yeah,” Buffy said in what sounded like a shy voice. Taking his hand in
hers, she let him lead her to his car, surprised when he opened the door for
her. “Thanks,” she said, turning to give him a grateful smile.

“Not a problem, pet,” Spike replied with his own smile before shutting the
door and jogging around to his side of the car. “You ready for this?” he
asked, turning the key in the ignition as he looked over at her.

“Ready and willing,” she said, trying to sound more confident than she was
feeling. Spike wasn’t convinced.

“We don’t have to go, Buffy,” he said, his tone turning serious. “If you’d
rather not, I’ll understand.”

“No,” Buffy said quickly, her eyes getting wide as she shook her head. “I-I
mean…unless you don’t want to go, that is. It’s fine if you don’t.”

Spike smiled at her nervous tone. “Let’s have some fun, Buffy.”

Pulling up in front of the spacious house a few minutes later, Buffy took a
deep breath. “Spike?”

“Yeah, pet,” he responded distractedly, looking through his pockets and
around the car for his lost pack of cigarettes.

“Is this…I mean, are we…”

Spike looked up at her with a curious expression. “Are we what, luv?”

“It’s just…I was just wondering if this…if tonight was a date…or
something…you know, just forget I said anything.”

Spike stared straight ahead for a moment, not sure how to react. “Buffy,”
he said slowly, not wanting to blurt out the wrong thing for a change.
“Harmony just broke up with me, and I-“

“Say no more,” Buffy said with a generous smile and a wave of her hand as
she opened the car door. “I don’t know what I was talking about,” she
continued, hopping out of the car.

“Buffy, wait, luv, that’s not what I-“

Spike was cut off as the door closed on his reply. “Bollocks,” he muttered
with a sigh. “That’s not what I mean. I’ll straighten it out with her
later.”

* * * * *

Two hours later, Buffy was nowhere to be seen. She had disappeared about an
hour ago, and although Spike didn’t expect her to stay by his side all
night, he would have liked to know where she was. There were too many guys
milling around that would take advantage of a situation.

Scanning the area, Spike saw a blonde heading for him but groaned when he
realized it wasn’t the right one.

“Blondie Bear,” Harmony sing-songed as she danced up to him, a slight slur
in her words. “What’s my wittle Spikey up to tonight?” she asked in a baby
voice, wrapping her arms around Spike’s neck.

“Same thing as you, Harm,” he replied, trying to discreetly extract himself
from her grip. “You can go now.”

“Now, that wouldn’t be any fun, would it?” Harmony replied with a pout. The
same pout that she knew Spike could never resist. “I plan on staying here
until you’re in a much better mood, Spikeykins.”

Spike was shocked, although he wasn’t sure why, when he felt Harmony’s lips
on his. Making an effort to push her away at first, she simply dug her
claws into his back, pulling him closer to her as one hand came up to grip
his head.

* * * * *

Buffy wandered around the party, woozy from having too much to
drink. Stopping at the stairwell, she gripped the banister, trying to will
the room to stop spinning.

“Hi.”

Buffy turned at the unfamiliar voice, having to blink hard to focus on who
was talking to her.

“I’m Parker Abrams,” said a smiling brunette. “I don’t think we’ve been
introduced yet.”

“B-Buffy,” she mumbled, not even sure if that was her name at this point.
All she wanted to do was leave…or sit down.

Parker smiled, recognizing a trashed girl when he saw one. “So…would you
want to go upstairs and lie down for a bit?” he asked, putting on his most
concerned face.

“Yeah,” Buffy said softly, swallowing hard as she tried to focus on any
unmoving target in the room. She was surprised when she felt Parker’s hands
go around her waist, pulling her closer to him, and his lips were suddenly on
hers. After a minute of very sloppy kissing from Parker’s side, Buffy
succeeded in pushing him away.

“Come on, baby, you know you want it.”

“Does that line ever work?” she asked, proud of herself for sounding more
coherent than her foggy brain wanted her to.

“I’ve never had any complaints,” Parker said with a cocky smile. “Let’s
just go upstairs and relax a little, okay, honey?”

Buffy was about to shake her head when a flash of blonde caught her eye.
She could almost feel herself sober up as she watched Spike kissing Harmony.

‘He doesn’t owe you anything, Buffy,’ she reminded herself. ‘He was just
being nice by bringing you here tonight. It’s not like you’re together.’

Turning away from the sickening sight, Buffy began climbing the stairs, not
knowing that Parker was right behind her.

“Buffy!”

Buffy frowned at the familiar voice, turning when she was halfway up the
staircase. She watched in confusion as Spike jogged up to meet her. “What
are you doing?” he asked her, shooting a look Parker’s way.

“Why do you care?” Buffy retorted with far more malice in her voice than
she had intended.

“Come on, I’m taking you home,” Spike said, taking her elbow.

Buffy roughly pulled herself away, nearly falling from the momentum.
Gripping the banister, she stared at Spike. “Don’t you have a little floozy
to tend to?” she asked angrily.

Spike’s jaw ticked as he stared at the infuriating blonde. He didn’t
particularly care for Harmony anymore, but he did date the chit for most of
the school year and felt the need to defend her. He decided to keep his
mouth shut this time.

“I brought you here, Buffy,” Spike replied in a low tone. “I’m taking you
home now.”

“No,” Buffy said, crossing her arms, which was a complicated process for
her in itself, and staring back at him.

Spike glanced around and noticed most of the partygoers had stopped to watch
the display on the stairs. “Stop acting like a spoiled brat and come on,”
he practically growled.

“Go back to your tramp, Spike. I’m fine.”

“Don’t say that,” he replied with a warning tingeing his voice.

“Don’t say what? That you’ve been dating a whore? It’s practically common
knowledge, Spike.” Somewhere in her alcohol-laden brain, Buffy knew that
she had gone too far, but there was no taking it back now.

“You want to know common knowledge?” Spike asked, taking a menacing step
toward her. “How about the fact that you’ve slept with practically every
guy in Los Angeles and had to move down the coast to get away from your
reputation? That little bit of news arrived long before you did.”

Buffy fought the urge to slap him with everything she had. Her eyes
shimmering with tears, Buffy took a deep breath. “Well…if the shoe
fits…come on, Parker,” she said, grabbing the other boy by the hand and
leading him up the stairs.

Spike watched her go in shock. He stood there for several long moments as
she disappeared around the corner with Parker in tow. Swallowing the
sensations of jealousy and sickness that were creeping through him, Spike
began walking up the stairs a few minutes later with one thought in mind- he
had to get to Buffy.

* * * * *

Buffy pulled Parker down the hall with her. Suddenly remembering that he
was with her, Buffy’s eyes widened. She looked around the unfamiliar hall
and saw a smaller staircase that probably led to the back of the house. Her
only thought was going home…but now she had to deal with Parker.

Turning around, she roughly pushed him into a bedroom. “I’ll be right in,”
she said with a sweet smile as she closed the door in his face.

Buffy quickly turned and ran as fast as she could down the back stairs, sure
that she was going to lose her balance and break half the bones in her body.
She breathed a sigh of relief as her feet met the hard tile of the kitchen
floor. Looking around, Buffy spotted the backdoor and let herself outside.
She had no idea who Parker was or how he would react to being ditched, but
she didn’t want to risk him coming after her.

As she was met with the cool night air, Buffy let the tears fall as Spike’s
hurtful words filled her head again. Moving as fast as she could, Buffy
gasped as she crashed into someone, feeling strong hands grab her shoulders
and steady her.

“Whoa, are you okay?”

Buffy looked up and saw a pair of warm brown eyes.

“Buffy?” she heard a small voice ask as the man let her go. “It is Buffy,
right?”

She turned and nodded at the petite blonde that stood next to the man.
“Yeah,” she said softly, trying to control her crying.

“I thought so. I’m Darla, and this is Angel,” she said. “Are you okay?”

Buffy shook her head as the tears began falling again. “I need to go home,”
she whispered.

“We can take you,” Darla said with a nod as she gently wrapped her arms
around Buffy’s shoulders, leading her to a car parked further away.

“Thank you,” Buffy whispered.

“Wasn’t Spike bringing you tonight?” Angel asked as he walked next to his
girlfriend.

Buffy felt the lump in her throat as she nodded. “Please don’t tell him
about this,” she said softly. “Please.”

“Won’t he be worried about you?” Darla asked.

“No,” Buffy said, shaking her head. “He really won’t.”




A/N Please, please, please don’t hate me :-) A version of this was actually going to be earlier in the story, but I pushed it back because the title is Intimate ENEMIES and I needed just a teensy tiny conflict between our two favorites. I promise I’ll make it better (don’t I always?) in a chapter or two. I love all of my reviewers- especially when they are loving and understanding about my needing material for a story :-P





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