The last thing that Buffy had wanted to do tonight was be roped into this double date. She wasn't even sure how Cordelia had gotten her to agree to this in the first place. Hell, she wasn't even sure she had even agreed and that Cordelia hadn't just done some sort of Jedi mind trick voodoo magic spell or something on her to get her here. Buffy checked her watch and sighed, there was still time to gather her bearings and just skip the hell out of here technically. She had so much work she needed to catch up on, not to mention the new apartment she'd gotten waiting to be unpacked and settled into.

Buffy fretted with her hair, removing it from the ponytail then trying two more styles before throwing it back up into the black holder. She hadn't been on a date in awhile, only one other one since she and Riley had split. The fact that this was a blind date with a complete stranger sure didn't help her nerves any. Nor did it help make sense of why she let Cordelia talk her into it because she hated blind dates! They made her feel uncomfortable and desperate.

After fussing with her hair, Buffy moved on to being annoyed at the dress she had on. Even sitting she felt like too much of her had to be showing. "I think I should have wore something else," she said to Cordelia.

The tall brunette gave her a glance. "Your dress is fine, Buffy."

"Anytime that I stand up I feel like my ass is going to fall out and be shown off to the world."

"Stop worrying so much," Cordelia told her. "Your ass is amazing anyway, it will be fine."

Buffy rolled her eyes. "Well, thank you for that... I guess... but I really don't need a bunch of strangers seeing that particular side of me. Nor is that exactly the impression I feel like I need to make with this friend of yours."

Cordelia chuckled and leaned closer. "Hey now Buf, you never know.. by the end of the night you just might want him to be seeing every little bit of you." Cordelia added a wink and Buffy rolled her eyes again but decided to say nothing more on that subject for the time being.

Cordelia had been going on for months to her about this friend of her boyfriend, Jesse, and how she wanted to get the two of them together. Buffy had a feeling that Cordy had a bit of a crush of her own on this mystery man but all the same she kept going on about how great she felt they'd be together. Buffy had brushed it off time after time, she'd had enough things to worry about. She had just broken up with Riley when Cordelia had even first begun all this nonsense, she'd had to deal with all of that, plus moving twice since leaving him. There was always work, drama with her sister, so on and so forth. But Cordelia argued time and again that this was exactly when she needed to just go have a night of fun with a handsome stranger, to go relax, take a break from all the stress otherwise in her life- even if just for the one night.

Buffy had grumbled about it but eventually relented... which got her here tonight.

"Is there anything else you would like to tell me about this guy?" Buffy finally asked. Cordelia hadn't exactly been too forth coming about him. She wanted them to get to know each other rather than giving all the details away but little tidbits here and there had come out over the past several months.

Cordelia thought for a moment. "Well, I guess I should let you know I kind of told him your name is Elizabeth."

Buffy's face scrunched up. "What?"

"Well, he didn't want to agree anymore than you did and I needed to sell the idea. I love you, you know that I do... but I am sorry... Buffy makes you sound like a bimbo. I did not think that would help my case in getting him so I told him that your name is Elizabeth."

Buffy pinched the bridge of her nose. "I don't even know how to respond to that," she said. "What is his name, then? Or what name did you decide he should have?" she asked after a few more moments had passed.

Cordelia rolled her eyes. "His name is Angel."

Buffy's eyes widened slightly. "What?"

"I promise that is his name, and that he is a male! A very, very good looking one at that!"

"You have got to be kidding me," Buffy muttered, her body already pushing the chair away from the table so she could stand up.

"What are you doing?" Cordy asked, standing up her own self. "Oh, hey, they're here. Late as usual," she grumbled the last bit.

Buffy let out a deep sigh, she dared to look over her shoulder. She spotted Jesse, then Angel just a few seconds later. "Cordelia," she said quickly, "I promise you that that man is not my Mister Right and I should not be here."

"Don't be silly. I mean, sure, he's a little bit out of your league and all but once you get to know him you'll find that you two match up pretty damn well in the end."

Buffy's mouth opened, then closed. Sometimes she wondered how this friendship had even come to be let alone lasted. Before she had time to think of how to respond or how to make her way to an exist before the two men could make it over, they were already there. Jesse smiled at her, giving her a quick hug. She and Angel's eyes met and she watched his face show slight shock for a moment before it turned into amusement. "Bu-Elizab-what am I supposed to say?" Jesse asked, looking from Buffy to his girlfriend. "Cordelia said her name is Elizabeth for whatever the hell reason, man. This is Buffy, Buffy this is Angel," he finally said, throwing his hands up.

"Hi," Angel finally said after a moment, smiling. "How are ya?"

Buffy felt herself smiling as well. "Hi," she echoed. This was ridiculous. "I am doing alright, yourself?"

His smile grew wider. "Much better now," he answered and began to head to his seat. His eyes never left her, starting to twinkle with mischief.

It didn't take long for Buffy to loosen up, bantering back and forth across the table with Angel came on naturally. Jesse and Cordelia sat mostly silent, eyebrows raised and passing looks between one another as they watched the two of them interact.

"I feel like we're in the Twilight Zone," Jesse finally stated, his eyes looking from Angel to Buffy then back again as the waiter returned with their drinks and appetizers. He began to hand out the menus for the main course next.

Angel watched her for a moment, Buffy felt his eyes on her. She lifted her own up to look up at him. "Yes?"

His white teeth flashed again. "You still do that."

"What?"

He pointed a finger down at the menu in front of her. "Look at every menu starting from the back."

She shrugged. "Habit."

Cordelia's eyes narrowed. "Hold on," she said, pointing a long index finger out, "you two already know each other?"

The pair looked at each other again. "You could say that," Angel responded.

Buffy shook her head slightly. "Angel is my ex-husband," she told the other couple.

Cordelia about spit her drink out, Jesse's eyes just widened to twice their size and he let out a laugh. Jesse rubbed a hand down his face. "Well... I did not see that one coming." He couldn't help but start laughing.

"You were married?!" Cordelia asked. "How the hell did I not know you had been married before?"

"I don't know, it's not something that's come up I guess. It was a long time ago and I don't exactly greet people as hi, I'm Buffy, I'm a divorcee."

"No," Cordelia snapped back, "But after knowing each other for the past few years you'd think at some point it would have come up."

Buffy shrugged, unsure of what to say. "Maybe. I guess. I don't know, Cordy. It's just not relevant at this point, it hasn't been in a very long time."

"I'm sure she wasn't trying to hide the fact from you," Angel offered.

"Exactly," Buffy continued. She reached over and tapped her friend's hand with her own. "It was a long time ago" she repeated. "It wasn't something that just ever come up. I was 17 when we got married, 20 when we split. That was well past me by the time you and I ever even met and became friends."

Cordelia looked at Buffy, then at Angel. "I don't even know..." She just trailed off. The waiter returned, everyone took a break from that revelation to order their dinner.

Angel cleared his throat as the waiter walked off again. "We met in high school, we fell in love," he began. "We got married young, and then there was the real world. I took a job that kept me away from home a lot of the time, Buffy had school and she had things come up with her family that kept her back in Sunnydale and it was hard on both of us. We decided after awhile that maybe this hadn't been thought through all the way and our lives were going in different directions at the time," he explained.

"We decided in the end it was just better for everyone if we just went about our own lives," Buffy finished. "That was 7- almost 8- years ago. We hadn't even seen each other since that day."

"Yep," Angel chuckled. "Until you decided to set us up on this date."

Buffy smirked and the two raised their glasses, clinking them together. "And I hate to say it, Cord, but you completely missed the mark on this one," Buffy told her while starting to crack up.

"I cannot believe this..." Cordelia said, shaking her head.

Jesse took a long drink then smiled at all of them. "I don't know, I think it's kind of nice. You two do look cute as hell together."

"I have no complaints," Angel told his friend. "Unexpected but a fun surprise."

Buffy had to agree with that. This was the last person she had expected to spend dinner with but she had to admit it had been fun. In round about ways they had caught up and almost felt like years past at times as they had found a rhythm in their back and forth conversation. She hadn't even had him cross her mind at all in so many years.

"And you two don't seem to be harboring any ill feelings so that's good," Jesse said.

"Nah, we did our best to avoid that... cut the cord before it had a chance to get nasty I guess."

Buffy nodded. For a long time she had wondered if that had been the right thing, if they should have fought harder, but it was true they had tried to remain civil during the ending of their marriage the best that they could. It had shocked her to the core to see him again, but it had been fun, too. She was glad there wasn't some bubble of anger for her to sit on when it came to tonight, to him. She did however had a mixture of other feelings swirling as the night had gone on.

The conversation came even easier once their little secret was shared amongst the whole group. Buffy and Angel caught up more about where their lives had taken them over the past many years, they spoke about their time growing up in Sunnydale and their friends from back home, how they had all gotten to know each other and what all had led to their paths crossing again.

OoOoO

"Are you sure you don't want a ride?" Cordelia asked again. Her eyes an almost plead.

Buffy smiled at her friend, leaning down closer to the car window. "Yes, I am sure. I live in the complete opposite direction! Go on home you two."

"You know I hate you taking cabs everywhere."

Buffy chucked. "I know."

"It's really not a bother, Buffy."

"I will be fine, Cordelia. Look, I will call a cab right now and if you so wish you can even wait for it to come with me. Though, I'd rather you didn't."

Angel appeared as she had finished her sentence, having had to run back inside to grab his phone he'd left at their table. "You need a ride?" he asked her as she pulled her own phone from her jacket.

"No, I am calling a taxi."

"Where do you live?" he asked. Buffy's tongue went to the roof of her mouth for a moment before she answered. Angel smiled, "That's on my way."

"Really?" Buffy asked. "Because I thought you all mentioned how close you all live to one another and I'm over here complaining at these two because I don't want them driving all the way over there."

Angel's smile got bigger. "No idea what you're talking about. Come on."

"Angel! I live on the opposite side of town, good lord."

Angel patted Jesse's car then Cordelia's, bidding them both a good night and letting them know he had it under control. "Come on, it's late."

"I will seriously be just fine in a cab. I take them all the time!"

Angel extended his hand out to her, ignoring that. "Come on."

Buffy huffed a long breath out then rolled her eyes at him. "Fine." They made it only a few steps and Buffy was back to tugging at her short dress. "I seriously should have put literally anything else on," she grumbled.

Angel smirked, looking her over from head to toe. "I will respectfully disagree with that statement. I think you made for some good eye candy for many lucky souls tonight in that number."

Buffy grumbled some more under her breath at him. They finally made it to his car and he let out a loud whistle as she got into her side which made her cheeks brighten. She threw her purse at him which only made him laugh harder. He was still chuckling at her embarrassment as he programmed his GPS in to get her back to her apartment.