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*Senior Year*
That morning waking up felt like she was on deaths door, Buffy staggered out of bed and into the toilet to throw up again. Was it a hangover, was she still intoxicated? She struggled with the answer as her head pounded but the room swayed violently.
Once throwing up again she climbed into the shower and curled up into a ball, letting the warm water run over her body, cleansing her not only of daily grime but of the wretched afterbirth of too much alcohol.
It took a good hour before she felt well enough to get ready for the day, some aspirin with water was taken then she headed out. Her feet were on autopilot as she made her way down a few streets in the direction of where Angel lived.
The house from the outside was quaint and cute, his grandma was sitting on the front porch wrapped up in winter clothes with a cup of hot tea in hand; she looked like she was enjoying herself. The older woman smiled brightly at her "Hello dear, are you looking for my Angel?"
Buffy smiled back at her "Yes, is he in mam?"
"Oh now, call me Kathy dear… no 'mam' necessary here! Would you like a cup of tea or hot cocoa?!" Kathy got up from her position on the porch and ushered her inside the house, Buffy shook her head to decline the offer.
Kathy pointed her to upstairs and told her to enter the last room on the left, Buffy climbed the stairs slowly taking time to look at the pictures of Kathy when she was younger with her late husband and pictures of Angel's parents who he'd sadly lost when he was a baby.
She knocked on the door quietly and pushed it open, she froze immediately – her mouth open in shock. Angel was dripping wet, the towel that had been around his waist now thrown haphazardly on the floor, leaving him completely naked.
The look on his face rivalled hers; he too was shocked that she was in his room. His hands went down to cup himself from her gaze "Buffy" he started to shuffle backwards to retrieve the towel "What are you doing here?"
Buffy couldn't find the strength to look away, she had been appreciating how his muscles were developing when he was in school – now standing in all his glory she felt like she was on fire. Droplets of water ran down his chest and over the muscles in his stomach till it pooled on top of his cupped hands.
Her skin flushed crimson and she smiled widely "I Uh, I wanted to thank you…" her eyes trailed downwards, hating the fact that she couldn't see all of him "…for last night" her eyes met his, even though he was surprised, he looked like he was completely comfortable in his skin.
Angel done his best to not show her that he was terrified of her seeing him naked, he wasn't shy about his body, in fact the definition he could see was pleasing him but with her being the girl that he lusted after, he suddenly wanted to hide.
"Oh" he carefully picked up the towel and wrapped it around his waist "No, don't worry about it… you looked a little worse for wear" he rifled through his drawers and found a pair of boxers that he slipped on underneath the towel then done the same with a pair of jeans.
Buffy chuckled "Don't be so polite, I still look worse for wear today" she tucked a flyaway strand of hair that had been annoying her behind her ear then looked to the floor. She felt a bit silly for coming over to thank him; it was something she could have done over the phone.
Angel threw the towel into the hamper then smiled shyly "Well, I didn't want to be so forward" he ducked his head and back away as she tried to playfully hit him. He laughed loudly, thinking how cute she looked when she giggled.
He ran his hand over his forearm, he wanted to spend more time with her when she was like this; usually she acted like a bitch in front of her friends, this was the real Buffy, the one he wanted to get to know "You doing anything today?"
Buffy shook her head, the rest of the A-crowd would be hiding in their rooms nursing their hangovers, she was free as a bird "No, why?" she chewed the inside of her lip waiting on him replying; usually when one of the jocks asked they'd make a joke about something they were doing without her.
"I've got no plans… and today is Sunday dinner, which I usually cook for me and my grandma, would you like to stay for food?" when she nodded in acceptance he bit down the urge to celebrate, coolly he nodded then pulled on a shirt.
Buffy looked around his room, there was photos of him, his grandma, old pictures of his parent and pictures of his friends, she recognised some of them to be from their school and the others she had no idea who they were.
"This is beautiful" her fingers ran over a drawing of what looked like his mother full of smiles holding a baby, the likeness to the picture that hung on his wall was amazing. She faced him in shock when he said that he had drawn it "You draw?"
Angel swelled with pride, he knew that he had a gift, Kathy had always said he did but he didn't want to take just her word for it because she was his grams and would always favour things he done over anyone else.
"Yeah, it calms me down… its quite therapeutic" his hands shook as he pulled out the A3 sketch pad from the shelf in his closet and handed it to her. This was his special pad; he only kept it for drawings that meant a lot to him.
Buffy flipped carefully through the pages, there were pictures of his family, some alone some of them all together and some were of him and his friends "Angel, these are amazing!" she stopped on the last page which had the outline of a female "Whose this?"
Angel pulled the pad from her hands and closed it over, within no time it was back in its rightful place on the shelf, he stuttered over his words "Uh, I-its of… its just no one… I'm not sure who it is" he done his best to stop the redness creeping up his cheeks but failed.
The drawing was of her and she knew it, the outline included the shape of her nose that was a dead giveaway. It warmed her heart that he had started a sketch of her in a sketch pad that was obvious that it was kept for important drawings.
"…Its nice…" he cleared his throat at her reply then tipped his head for her to follow him downstairs. She followed him in silence then smiled widely as Kathy berated him for not offering to pour her a drink.
Angel made his way into the kitchen, pouring them both a fruit juice. Buffy gulped hers fast causing her to cough; her cheeks went red for the second time that day. He patted her back firm but gently "You okay?"
Buffy coughed loudly then laughed "Yeah, I'm okay" her voice sounded strained from the coughing fit that she had just gotten over. She gave one last cough to take the residue away then smiled "I'm fine"
He eyed her carefully then began pulling items out from the fridge "As long as you're okay?" when she nodded he turned back to the opened fridge. He could feel her eyes on him as he moved around, preparing the meal for that night.
The way he moved was elegant, he was beautiful and manly but looked at ease with the task of making dinner for her and his grandma. Buffy helped chop some vegetables for him but he insisted that she should relax and wait to be fed.
Once the dinner was prepared he placed the plates down on the table where they were to be seated, Buffy took her place beside Angel and across from Kathy. The conversation during their meal was light; thankfully Kathy didn't push as they confirmed that they were only friends.
Feeling stuffed from her lovely meal Buffy said goodbye to Kathy and left as Angel walked her back home, they made small talk during the journey to the point that it felt surreal "We could do something again, if you want?"
Angel's hand caressed her shoulder lightly as he stared deep into her eyes, the moss green pools sparkled as she bit her lip and looked back at him. He wanted nothing more than to slide his hand and wind his fingers into her hair, pulling her into a kiss but he managed to suppress the notion.
Buffy was caught off guard with his question, she smiled lightly. Seeing him again was something she wouldn't mind, the day had been a change but pleasant, she could see herself enjoying more time with him "Yeah… I'll let you know"
They remained in silence, both battling the urge to make a move on the other. The beat of his heart was rapidly thudding away in his chest, almost to the point where he knew that she'd be able to hear it. Angel took a deep breath then smiled as he walked away.
She watched as he walked back towards his house then went out of sight. Buffy smiled widely then entered her house; a girly squeal escaped her lips as she shut the front door over.
Angel came back downstairs from tending his son and apologised to her "he wanted me to read him a story… I'm glad you stayed though" he had been away for 15 minutes before Connor nodded off again, he was expecting her to have split.
Her lips still tingled from their kiss earlier, whilst he was away she was tempted to leave, unsure of what he would say once he had time to think over what they had done and want to be away from her, they had only just began speaking after a long time apart.
They made their way into the kitchen and like she had done the first time she had ever came to this house she sat on a seat at the kitchen table and watched him as he prepared a meal for them. She had suggested take out so not to trouble him given the circumstances but he declined.
Although he was older, his build more masculine and the muscles even more defined than they were over five years ago; there was still elegancy in his moves. Once the dinner was prepared Angel woke Connor up from his nap and they ate in silence.
Buffy done the dishes as Angel packed up the things that they had brought over to the house that morning; he decided that he couldn't stay in the house that night so they made their way back to the hotel. The journey wasn't long, Buffy felt deflated as they saw the sign; her time spent with Angel was coming to an end.
As they reached the entrance to the hotel they stopped, Angel faced Buffy and placed his hand on her arm "Buffy… thanks, I uh would invite you for a coffee but" he tipped his head in the direction of his son who looked like he was about to fall asleep again.
She shook her head "No, I understand" she looked up at his eyes with longing, her mind kept coming back to when they had kissed and what could have happened if they weren't interrupted. Angel must have sensed this as he leaned down to kiss her softly.
"Goodnight Buffy" her hands played with his collar, he could see that she didn't want to leave but he knew that she had too. Buffy smiled at him then continued the walk to her own flat; he stood outside the hotel watching until she went out of sight.
