Disclaimer: I own NOTHING!!! I found this story awhile ago and knew that it had to be shared. I am NOT the original author. I tried to contact her but her email was invaild. Her penname is Michelle. I found her work of Land of Denial. I don't know if that is her original site or not. So PLEASE don't sue....I'll give you the first 5 chapters to see if you guys like it as much as I did...

"You cheated!" five year old Melissa Riches yelled at the girl playing hopscotch with her.

Buffy Summers put her hands on her hips, stopping dead in her tracks. "I did not. I skipped the four!"

"No, you didn't! Your sneaker touched it. You lost, Buffy. I won."

"No, I won!"

Redheaded Willow Rosenberg ran over. "Don't yell. It's not nice."

"Willow, Buffy cheated," Melissa whined.

"You're lying. I didn't cheat!"

Melissa hated Buffy. She thought the little blonde girl was the meanest person on earth. "You are so mean, Buffy. I hate you." She shoved Buffy with both of her hands, causing her to fall backward onto the concrete.

From the other side of the playground, Melissa's twin brother saw his sister push their classmate. He ran over to find out what had happened. "Missy, why did you push Buffy?" he demanded angrily.

"She cheated, Angel!" Melissa explained. "So I pushed her."

"That's not nice," he chastised. "I'm telling Mom when we get home."

"You're a tattletale."

"I don't care. You shouldn't push people."

Melissa pouted. "You are as mean as Buffy is. Buffy and Angel sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G. First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes Angel pushing a baby carriage. Sucking his thumb, wetting his pants, baby's gonna do the hula dance."

She kept singing it as she walked away, Willow following her like a puppy. Buffy was still sitting on the ground, angry tears in her green eyes. "I didn't cheat," she told Angel, whimpering.

"Missy's a sore loser." He took Buffy's hand and helped her up.

"Do you think I'm mean?"

Angel shook his head. "No. I think you're pretty."

She giggled. Her father was the only person who ever told her she was pretty. "I like you, Angel. You aren't mean like your sister. I don't like her."

"I don't like her either," he agreed.

"Will you be my boyfriend?" Buffy asked.

He scrunched up his nose. "Ew! Girls have kudies."

"I do not! And I'm not a girl. I'm Buffy."

Angel thought about it for a minute. "Okay, I'll be your boyfriend."

"Yay! I love you, Angel," she said, kissing him quickly on the lips.

"I love you, too, Buffy."

***

(13 years later)

"I can't do this anymore, Angel," Kelley Page said to her boyfriend when he dropped her off at her house after their date.

He sat behind the wheel of his Ford Taurus, looking at her with confusion in his brown eyes. "What are you talking about? Can't do what anymore?"

Kelley sighed. "Us. I'm sorry, but I just can't take it."

"I must be missing a piece of the puzzle or something because I'm really lost."

"How long have we been dating, Angel? Three years, give or take a few months? In some societies, we'd be considered an old married couple by now. And look at us. You don't touch me except to kiss me. In those three years, you've never even attempted to lay a hand on me."

Angel lifted his eyebrows at his girlfriend. "And that's a bad thing?"

"Yes! No! I don't know. Look, all I know is that we never got past the kissing stage of our relationship. We should have been at the next level years ago."

"I'm sorry, Kell, but you know that I don't want to yet. It's just not on my list of priorities," he explained. "There are other things that are more important to me."

She nodded. "I know that, but…but I can't wait any longer. I didn't want to be the last virgin in our graduating class, so I…"

"You what?"

"Found someone who wasn't as noble and chivalrous as you are, so to speak. I want to be with him. Parker doesn't have all the insane goals you do. Angel, I want to break up."

He processed the information. "Let me get this straight. You're dumping me because I don't want to have sex?"

"That's only part of the reason, but it is a reason. I want to get out of this town and do something with my life, make a name for myself. How can I do that if I'm Mrs. Angel Riches, wife of the local department store manager? You're never going to leave Sunnydale and I can't live here forever."

"I have dreams that I want to fulfill, I will get out of here," he swore.

Kelley shook her head. "No, you won't. You only think you will. As long as your mother is sick, you'll still be here supporting her. Angel, you're too loyal to leave. You have obligations that will always come before me. I'm fine with that; hell, I even understand it. But I want something more, and I am not going to find it with you."

"Why didn't you tell me this before?"

She shrugged. "I guess I just came to the realization. I still care for you, but I fell out of love with you a long time ago."

"Get out of the car, Kelley," he ordered softly.

"I'm sorry. You'll find someone else, I know you will," she said as she got out of his car.

After she shut the door, Angel peeled out of the driveway, heading home. For three years, he devoted himself to Kelley and to being the perfect boyfriend. And how did she repay him? By dumping him for Parker Abrams, the town bad boy.

Angel decided right then and there that he would no longer be anyone's doormat. He was sick and tired of people walking all over him. And he swore to himself that it would never happen again.

***