His third drink in, Spike tossed it back, emptying his glass before he thumped it down on the bar. He slid the glass forward and beckoned the bartender with nothing more than the gesture and a raise of his scarred eyebrow.
She smiled in a 'come hither' manner as she poured him more of the amber colored whiskey. The bartender was pretty and she obviously found him attractive. Maybe he would take her home. Maybe he should...probably won't. Not that it mattered. He was more likely to forget her face than remember her name. He forgot all their faces. All but one.
The ensouled vampire turned his attention elsewhere, searching his pockets for a lighter and some smokes. He found them and placed one between his teeth. The zippo clicked open as a man in a cowboy hat crooned on stage into a microphone about a girl he'd lost. Same as every low rate bar in the country.
"Here here, Mate." Spike called and raised his glass to the deep voiced man who was strumming his guitar like an old lover. Spike watched the man tip his hat in reply through the bottom of the glass.
"Can I get another, Love?" He smiled with his signature charm and placed enough cash on the bar to cover a few more rounds.
"You know what, just leave the bottle."
"Are you sure?" She eyed him dubiously. "You've already drank more than half the bottle."
"May as well finish it then, eh?" He smiled lightly.
"If you say so." She shook her head, but gave him the bottle nonetheless.
The song came to a close and the host stood up to the microphone as the crowd gave a polite spattering of applause.
"Okay, let's give it up for..." He covered the microphone with his hand and spoke to the guy putting his guitar away in a case.
"Let's give it up for Paul! Next up in open mic night is Eric!"
More applause as the next guy with a guitar began singing about beer and trucks.
Paul worked his way to the bar where he stood next to Spike. He ordered a beer and admired the bartenders' backside as she bent to get it for him.
He turned to look at Spike who was looking back at him.
"You're not her boyfriend, are you?" He asked in a Southern drawl. Spike scrunched his brows and shook his head, putting the cigarette out in the provided ashtray.
"Good, that would've been awkward." Paul chuckled.
"I liked your song, Mate." Spike was always one to give artistic credit where it's due. His poetry had always been vastly under appreciated. Maybe it wasn't the most rhythmic thing, but it had soul. It had emotion.
Paul took notice of the bottle clutched in Spike's hand labeled 'whiskey'.
"A girl?" They locked eyes and he read it all. "Yep, I knew it. I've seen that look before. You love her?"
Spike let his silence speak for him.
"Where is she?" The cowboy asked the vampire as he drank his beer.
"This week?" Spike scoffed. "Who knows. Maybe Rome? Maybe some other part of Europe." He took a swig from his own bottle. "Not here."
"She couldn't have run that far from you, could she?" He laughed good naturedly and clapped Spike on the back. He smiled for the strangers benefit.
"Her work takes her everywhere."
"I bet you hate her job." Paul wasn't a dumb man.
"Well, yes... and no. Her work brought us together... and tore us apart, I suppose. A lot of mixed feelings about that one." He stared thoughtfully at the bottle.
"Well, what are you worried about? If she's the one, you'll see her again and if she isn't, then she's holding you back. So, which is it? Is she the one, or isn't she?"
"She is." Spike's voice held the ring of conviction.
"Then she'll be back, my friend." He smiled as he paid his bill and tipped his hat again in farewell.
Spike was left in thought and the host introduced another singer. Luke Bryan was really young and nervous looking as he took a seat on the stool with his guitar.
"Hey, Y'all!" He said with a friendly smile. "This here's a song I wrote called 'I see you.'
As he played the song Spike really got into the lyrics , because they spoke to him. Luke crooned them soulfully and Spike drained the bottle and tried to see the bright side. Just like the song, he only saw Buffy.
He missed her something fierce, even though it had only been a few months really since he'd seen her. Her big smile, bright eyes and shiny hair. Her good heart always being projected into everything she said and did.
With her cute little frame and skin that glowed. She always smelled of vanilla and sunlight. He could smell her now... He could really smell her.
It shook him to his core when he looked up and saw Buffy taking the empty stool next to his own and his stomach hit his shoes. Buffy was staring at him as though she'd seen the sun for the first time. Or perhaps a ghost. He'd been a ghost recently, of course.
Spike could hear her pulse thundering and her eyes, big and green filled to the brim.
"I missed you." Without another word, Buffy reached for him and wrapped her arms around his neck, holding tightly.
Spike sighed in relief. The tightness in his chest that had been perpetual as of late, ever since he'd left her side, loosened as his arms wrapped around her, too. He was finally home.