The area outside the Bronze was surprisingly deserted; usually, couples hung around out here, schmoozing in the dark corners, but that night, Willow found herself alone, worrying briefly if this meant that a vampire was nearby and just waiting to jump her and suck her dry; then, she shrugged it off, telling herself that even if there should be such a bloodsucking fiend, she'd have no trouble to blast his ass away with a spell. Letting out a small sigh, she leaned against the wall next to the door, enjoying the peace and quiet; moments later, this was interrupted though as the door opened once more and another person stepped outside, Willow recognizing her as the usurper of her seat a second later.
Apparently not noticing her, the woman moved a few steps away from the door, then started digging through her pockets; it didn't take long until she pulled out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter, removing one of the cancer sticks and moving it up to put it between her lips, only to jump a second later and nearly drop her lighter, startled, when Willow spoke up behind her. "I hope you're not planning to blow that smoke in my direction…"
"You nearly gave me a heart attack, so I was close to not blowing that smoke anywhere at all", she replied, turning around to face the redhead; her voice was surprisingly deep for a woman, as well as slightly hoarse, sounding like the voice of someone who had been smoking heavily for a long time.
"Hey, I know you", the woman added after a moment of looking at Willow, while the redhead still asked herself why she had made that comment; usually, she didn't talk to strangers like this, but on the other hand, she usually also didn't stand in front of the Bronze, being upset due to a certain song playing inside. "You sat next me during class… During all classes, to be more specific."
"Yes, because you took my seat", Willow replied, receiving a blank look as an answer; she held back the urge to sigh, then explained herself, feeling incredibly lame the moment she started to talk. "Well, you see, I usually always take the seat in the middle of the second row, but today, you sat there, so… yeah."
"Yeah", the woman echoed, rising an eyebrow, causing Willow to feel even lamer about the whole thing, her cheeks heating up, making her realize that she was blushing; she cleared her throat and shuffled her feet, relieved when the woman glanced away after another second and down on her cigarette, as if suddenly wondering where it had come from. Obviously recovered from the shock Willow had given her, she moved the cigarette up to her mouth, plucking it between her lips and lighting it up; to the redhead's relief, she did make sure to blow the smoke away from her, the content look on her face being just another sign for a rather heavy nicotine addiction.
She took the time to put the lighter away before she removed the cigarette from her mouth – after taking another long drag from it – then brought the pack out again and surprised Willow by holding it out to her, a slight smirk on her face now. "Smoke?"
"No, thanks", the redhead replied after a second, oddly touched by the simple gesture, "I don't smoke…"
"Oh", the other woman gave back, not sounding all too smart, quickly speaking on before she'd end up looking like a dimwit. "I thought you did, and came out here as well to have a ciggy… Smoking's not allowed in there…"
"Nope", Willow declined again, giving the other woman a pointed look afterwards, in the back of her mind noticing how amazingly blue her eyes were. "I came out here to get some fresh air. Which you are stinking up now with that cancer stick, by the way."
Again Willow wondered what was going on with her – she had gotten much better when it came to her shyness, but normally, she still didn't speak to total strangers like that, not even if those strangers were nasty seat usurpers.
"Aw, come on", the woman now gave back, throwing her an incredulous look over the rim of her glasses, "I bet you can't even smell it over there. And I am blowing the smoke away from you…"
"Yeah", the witch had to admit after a few moments of pondering those words, "you're right… Sorry, I guess I'm a bit touchy today…"
With a smile and a casual gesture of her free hand, the stranger shrugged her words off, then took another drag from the cigarette, making a show of blowing the smoke away from Willow afterwards; if anyone else had done that, it probably would have annoyed the redhead, but for some reason, she found herself smiling at the sight, suddenly glad that she had come out here and that this strange person had joined her.
Fifteen minutes later, Willow made her way back into the Bronze, by now feeling much better, her mood rising even further when she heard the song which currently was playing and realized that it didn't bring up any painful memories; the woman she had been talking to had stepped back inside right after finishing her cigarette, and now had been swallowed up by the crowd, the witch not even noticing fully that she was keeping an eye open for her as she moved towards the table where Xander, Anya and Buffy stood talking.
"Hey, welcome back, Willow", Xander called out to her the moment she was close enough to hear him, gesturing at a rather lonely looking blue cup on the table in front of him. "I got you that beer you wanted, but seeing that you vanished, it's probably warm by now. Sorry 'bout that…"
"Never mind", Willow gave back, picking up the cup afterwards and taking a sip, grimacing at how warm the beer had become while she had been outside. "I better go and get a new one", she let the others know after she had forced herself to swallow the lukewarm mouthful; while Xander and Anya just nodded, Buffy threw her a concerned look, apparently being the only one who had noticed how long she had been gone. After taking the time to give her friend a reassuring smile, signalling to her that she was fine, Willow turned away from the table again and made her way to the bar, a task not made easier by the mass of people in the club; finally though, she reached the counter, waving frantically to gain the attention of the barkeeper, holding back the urge to roll her eyes when he served a skimpily dressed blonde right next to her before he finally found it necessary to give her a questioning look.
Quickly, before his attention could shift away from her and to the next skimpily dressed girl, she ordered a small beer, paying him – and giving him a tiny tip – as soon as he had put the cup down in front of her; grasping it securely, she made her way back to the table, holding back the urge to roll her eyes again when she saw that during the short time she had gone, Xander and Anya apparently had been lust-stricken, as they were kissing deeply.
"That's quite impolite", she pointed out as soon as she had joined Buffy, keeping her voice down so the couple wouldn't hear her. "Making out like that while you're just standing there…"
"I got used to it by now", Buffy shrugged, giving her friend such a warm smile afterwards that it made the redhead feel slightly uncomfortable, asking herself what was going on. "Plus, I'm not just standing here anymore now… You're here with me, and you can keep me busy… I'm glad that you came here with us tonight, you know…"
"So am I", the redhead had to admit after just smiling at the Slayer's kind words for a few seconds, taking another sip of her beer before she spoke on. "I guess I should have done that earlier… Go out with you guys, I mean, and just for fun, not because it was someone's birthday or something… Instead of sitting at home brooding about things I can't change anyway…"
"Nah", Buffy shook her head, reaching out and placing a comforting hand on the redhead's shoulder. "You had to grieve, and it's right that you did… It was important…"
"But it's time to move on", the witch gave back, smiling again when Buffy squeezed her shoulder. "Slowly, at least… With small steps maybe, but…"
Nodding her agreement, Buffy patted her friend's shoulder, then pulled back her hand and took a sip of her own drink; afterwards, she changed the topic by asking Willow if she felt like playing some pool, since Xander and Anya were still busy with kissing, making the witch nod in reply, the two women smiling briefly at each other before they made their way to the – miraculously empty – pool table, neither Xander nor Anya noticing that they had left.
