A/N: I always found it a little unbelievable that Buffy never noticed that Xander had a crush on her so I wanted to justify her denial.
Disclaimer: Characters belong to Joss, I'm just messing with them.
Episode: 1x03 "Witch" by Dana Reston
Buffy: This is so sweet! "Yours always…"
Xander: That was on there when I got it. Really. They all said that.
Buffy wasn't dumb. She knew Xander had a silly little crush on her. She guessed she could say she was sir of in denial. If she didn't acknowledge that it existed, then maybe it would go away.
She didn't like Xander that way and she knew she never would. He was her friend and that's what she needed from him. She was afraid confronted him about his crush would just ruin the friendship they had created; and as someone with only two friends here, she couldn't afford to lose one of them.
She couldn't help but feel bad every time she saw Willow's pain over Xander's crush on her. When he gave her the bracelet and Buffy saw what it said, she saw Willow's face fall.
Buffy was the slayer with responsibilities. Xander liked Buffy. And Willow liked Xander. Buffy only hoped they could figure it out.