You stand in front me, Riley, and say that you're sorry you slept with Faith. "I'm sorry, Buffy. I thought that she was you." And that you're sorry that you became addicted to vampires. "When you said that you let Dracula bite you, I was jealous and I wanted to know what you felt." I watch your beautiful eyes well up with tears of fake regret. How do you do it, Riley? How do you make your face look even more beautiful than usual when you need it to be?
I pace back and forth as I listen to you tell me lies and spin the truth. "You're always fighting vampires. And I know how you're attracted to them. I just wanted to see what is so wonderful about them. I was only planning on doing it once." I was such a fool for believing in you. How stupid I was. I should have known it wouldn't last, that I couldn't have the normal life, the normal boyfriend I want so desperately to have. I should have known that this isn't a fairytale, shouldn't have let you sweep me off my feet, and shouldn't have let you rescue me from the pain of Angel's departure. This isn't Hollywood; this is the small town of Sunnydale. I had so many dreams before I met you and when you fulfilled the one I wanted most to come true, you went and let me down. It's too late for you and your white horse to come around, Riley.
I was so naïve to believe in happily ever after. I got so lost in your gorgeous blue eyes when I first saw you in Professor Walsh's class, but I see now that I never really had a chance. I didn't know that to be in love was to constantly be fighting for the upper hand, to have to compete with someone else – a vampire, no less – for your affections. I had so many dreams about me and you, of our wedding, of spending the rest of our lives together. But now I see I was a fool hoodwinked by dreams and fantasies.
And there you are on your knees begging for my forgiveness, just like I always wanted. "Please, Buffy. It was a mistake. It will stop going. Please forgive me. Please give us another chance. I love you." But I can't, Riley. It'll hurt too much to forgive you and then have my faith broken again.
Because that's what's going to happen. I know it is. This isn't a fairytale. You're not meant to sweep me off my feet. Someday, though, I'm going to find someone who might actually treat me well. I thought that it would be you, Riley, who would be the boyfriend of my dreams. But you're no better than Angel.
This is a big world and Sunnydale is a small town. It's time that I leave and start making some of those dreams a reality. So it's too late for you, Riley, and your white horse to catch me now.