Allison117- Thank you for the review! It would appear that she is staying at Angel's house. lol
Guest- Haha! Yes! Anything could happen!
Sassy.B93- I certainly want to keep posting every day! My muse is working overtime on this one. I have until August 14th when my classes start back up so I hope to have this story done by then.
Vincatfan73- Thank you so much! And thank you for the review! I really appreciate it!
Jan- I am so happy to hear that!
Chapter 7: Bible Study with Angel
Buffy couldn't take her eyes off Angel, he was hot in general but put a guitar in the man's hand and she couldn't seem to look away. Wait, did Pastor Giles just say son? "Son?" Buffy whispered, ripping her eyes away from Angel to look at Pastor Giles. "Son? As in he is your son? Or like we are all related because we are all God's children type thing?"
Pastor Giles laughed, she certainly was a colorful girl but there was something about her that he likes. "He is my son, as in I am his father and Jenny is his mother."
Buffy looked back and forth between the two men again, there was no way Jenny was old enough to have a son in his twenty's. "Oh… well, I knew you had kids, I just didn't know… you know, that Angel was…"
Pastor Giles laughed again before turning to his son. "Angel, your mother is making dinner if you are hungry… you know what, you always eat your mothers cooking even if you aren't hungry. Just know that your mother is cooking."
Angel nodded and watched his father walk down the hallway to the stairs that lead to the living room.
"Son?" Buffy asked, raising her eyebrows at Angel, he just smiled wider and continued to play his guitar. "Are you going to say anything?" Buffy laughed.
Angel shrugged. "I thought you knew who my parents were. Everyone at church knows."
"I'm the new girl." Buffy reminded him. "Cut me some slack."
"You're right, I'm sorry, Buffy." Angel turned serious. "I'm the Pastors kid. I don't know how it happened, but it's been about twenty-one years."
"Stop it!" Buffy laughed, playfully slapping his arm. "It makes sense though, you wanting to be a Youth Pastor, your dad is a pastor and your mom is the director of the Kid's Ministry. You really are the perfect combination of both of them."
"Perfect, huh?" Angel smiled.
Buffy smiled back at him. "You know what I mean."
"Maybe." Angel smiled and nodded slowly.
"So." Buffy sighed looking around the room. "Do you play all of these instruments?"
Angel nodded. "Yeah, I have been playing since I was young. My dad started me out on the guitar because that's what he used to play. My mom used to play the Piano, we have one but it's…"
"Downstairs." Buffy finished for him as she admired the drum set. She looked up at Angel, who was watching her. "I saw it yesterday when I got here."
Angel nodded. "It's a little big to get it up the stairs, and my mom likes to play it too, so I settled for the keyboard up here. I started showing interest in the drums when I was about…" He paused and thought about it. "Nine years old. Being an only child, if I showed interest in something, my parents encouraged me to go for it."
"Only child?" Buffy asked. "I thought Pastor…. Your dad said that there were a couple…"
Realization hit Angel and he nodded. "My parents call Oz one of their kids, he doesn't have parents that live here so he is a big part of our family."
Buffy looked back at the drums. "Oh, okay."
Angel smiled at her interest in the drums. "Do you play?"
"Oh! No!" Buffy shook her head quickly. "I'm musically challenged to the max!"
"Would you like to try?" He wondered. Buffy paused, as if she wanted to say yes but the word just wouldn't come out. "Come on." Angel walked towards Buffy, taking her hand and leading her around the set to the stool. "It's not that hard, I promise." He smiled when she sat down. "When I first start on the drums it just sounded like horrible banging, even ask my mom."
"I'm sure you sounded a hundred times better than me." Buffy laughed taking the drum stick that he offered her. "You had already been playing the guitar and the piano, so you knew how to read music. This probably makes some kind of, I don't know, a sentence or something, I don't know what they call it in music world." Buffy said pointing at a sheet of music, Angel let out a small laugh. "You know what I see? Golf clubs. That…" She pointed at a particular note. "Looks like Mickey Mouse got murdered and they just left his shoes."
Angel laughed harder when she pointed to an adjustment that he had personally made to the sheet music with a yellow highlighter. "I did that, I just thought it would sound better. Here." He gently took her hands in his, guiding her to lightly tap the large drum.
"Is this the first part?" Buffy asked, wondering what exactly they were playing.
"No." Angel shook his head, releasing her hand and pointing to the first line on the music sheet. "This is a piano ballad. We are here." He said pointing to the third line. "This…" He pointed to the second line. "Is the piano and then a guitar gets added in. I personally love this song just on a piano but so many people want upbeat songs these days."
"I'm sure it sounds good either way."
Angel nodded. "It's a great song, so your right." He smiled then started to sing. "You call me out upon the waters, where my feet may fail and there I find You in the mystery, in oceans deep my faith will stand..."
Buffy gasped at the sound of his voice, turning to look at him she realized how close her was to her. She got butterflies from him being so close. "You can sing too? Is there anything you can't do?"
"Ice skating." Angel whispered. "and swimming… anything that involves water in some form."
Buffy smiled and whispered back. "I happen to be very good at those two things."
"Maybe you can teach me." He whispered again.
Buffy gasped when she thought she saw him move closer to her, she was sure he was going to kiss her.
"Angel!" Buffy and Angel both looked towards the doorway when they heard his mother call his name. Buffy shook her head, she often felt like she was in a trance when she looked into his eyes, she didn't know what it was about him. "Come eat, sweetie!"
Taking the drum sticks from Buffy, Angel set them down, he held his hand out to her, helping her up. "Coming?"
Buffy shook her head. "I already ate."
"So did I." Angel smiled.
Buffy laughed as Angel walked towards the door. "I thought Xander was the one that ate all the time."
"Oh, Xander is so much worse than I am!" Angel said seriously, before smiling again. "But I'm not going to turn down food."
"She was right." Buffy sighed and whispered to herself. "You are a foodie."
Angel turned around in the doorway to face Buffy, who hadn't moved very far from the drum set. "Who was right?"
Buffy's eyes got large, she didn't think he would hear her. "No one."
0o0o0
Buffy sat on the couch in the family room that was upstairs, she loved this house, it was so homey feeling and it had quiet places to sit and focus on work. She looked up from her Bible that she had been reading and looked around the room, it looked like Angel had been up there at some point doing homework because there were textbooks, notebooks and printed off study guides laying all over the coffee table. She leaned forward to look at one of the papers that was laying on top of an open textbook, she couldn't help but think how cute his handwriting was. She laughed lightly, Willow had told her that finding something cute about someone that you wouldn't normally pay attention to was a sure sign of a crush. She was sure that she was far beyond the crush stage at this point, actually, she knew she had skipped completely over the crush stage as soon as she locked eyes with him almost a week ago. Had it really only been a week? It felt like so much longer.
Shaking her thoughts away, she was trying to focus on her Bible. It was getting harder and harder as she got further into the book. She had so many questions to ask Pastor Giles at this point that by the time he was done eating there was no way she would remember them all.
Angel groaned, rubbing his stomach as he walked into the family room. "I'm so full."
"Maybe you shouldn't have had second dinner." Buffy teased, she moved to get up when Angel sat on the couch beside her. "Do you need me to go? You look like you were studying."
"Hmm?" Angel looked from Buffy to his books, before waving his hand at his books. "No, it's fine." He looked at the book in Buffy's hand. "What are you doing?"
Buffy closed her Bible but kept her finger in the page to hold her spot. "Trying to make heads and tails of this."
"What seems to be the problem?" Angel asked sitting up straighter.
Buffy laughed. "The part where it makes sense."
"It all makes sense, Buffy." He said gently.
"Okaaay…" Buffy turned to face Angel, curling her legs up on the couch. "But is there a kid's version? That would probably help me a lot."
"Can I give you some pointers?" Angel asked, earning a nod from Buffy. "Okay, don't be afraid to ask questions, to me, my dad, my mom… anyone you know, even God himself. So, hit me. What's a question that has just been eating away at you?"
"Well, for starters…" Buffy looked down at her Bible in her hand. "Why are there numbers everywhere? Because one thing I have learned from Sunnydale High, NEVER mix English and math because Ms. Miller can't teach both." Buffy giggled at the memory of her English teacher stepping in for the Math teacher, Mr. Davis.
Angel laughed, he remembered Willow mentioning Ms. Miller in the past, from what he could tell she was a great English teacher but Math just wasn't her thing. "The numbers are more as a reference to a particular place in the Bible. See, the word is the Book that you are in, the first number is the chapter and the last number is the verse."
"Oh. That actually kind of makes sense." Buffy laughed, she felt really stupid for not knowing that, but Angel didn't make her feel stupid for asking. "Okay, so how come they talk all funny?"
"That is a very good question, and I say that because I also asked my dad the same thing once." He smiled. "The Bible was written a long time ago, so there is not only a time difference but a culture difference and so many different translations. The best thing to do is break it down. If you don't understand a verse, break it down into sections. If you still don't understand it, pray about it."
"I…" Buffy shook her head. "I don't know how to pray."
Angel leaned in closely to Buffy and whispered. "You don't have to know how to pray, Buffy. You just have to talk to your best friend. There is nothing formal about it, just talk. Talk about your fears, anxieties, hopes, dreams… God already knows everything about you but he wants to hear it from you."
Buffy's eyes got large, she never thought about it that way. God knew about all those bad thoughts she had been having about Angel since meeting him, yup, hell was her next stop.
Angel took the Bible from Buffy's hands, opening it to a random page. "What does this verse mean to you?"
Buffy shrugged. "It's a seriously long run on sentence."
Angel looked down at the page and nodded with a laugh. "Okay, you aren't wrong." Turning the page, he tried again. "What about this?"
Buffy looked down at the random verse that Angel put his finger on. "Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth." Buffy raised her eyebrows and skimmed a little further. "Therefore, the virgins love you…Is there sex in this book?"
Angel laughed nervously. He had taught Song of Solomon to several others but for some reason, Buffy was making him nervous. "It touches base on it. It's not porn though."
"Sounds like it gets pretty juicy to me." Buffy smirked.
"Okay, how about we pass on Song of Solomon for right now." He chuckled. "Here… Then God said, Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness. What do you think that means?"
"I don't know." Buffy shrugged. "Why is us and our capitalized in the middle of a sentence?"
"Are you sure you wanted to be a lawyer?" Angel joked. "You seem like you would make a pretty good English teacher."
Buffy rolled her eyes playfully. "Ha ha!"
"It's capitalized…" Angel laughed. "Because it's referring to God."
"Then who is us and our?" Buffy wondered. "Does God have multiple personalities?"
"That is referring to God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit." Angel explained.
"Our God is three in one." Buffy sang. "Right?"
Angel smiled brightly at Buffy. "Yeah, exactly."
"Learned that in Kids Min." Buffy laughed.
"The Kid's Ministry is a great place to serve." Angel smiled, looking down at Buffy's Bible before grabbing a pen from the coffee table and underlining the words in the Bible.
"Angel! What are you doing?" Buffy exclaimed. "That's like a Holy book!"
Angel laughed. "Doesn't mean you can't write in it." He then continued to write a note beside the verse they had been discussing. Buffy leaned in to see what he was writing. He had written the lyrics that Buffy had sang from Kids Min with a small musical note. "God's Word is holy but the Bible is a tool. Not everyone believes this but… we believe that if a person has had a Bible for a year, two years… and it looks like this…" Angel held up Buffy's Bible. "Then something isn't right. It should look like you read and live your Bible, if you don't understand something or you have a question about something, mark it in your Bible, if you want to be able to come back to it- dog ear it. You don't even want to know what my Bible looks like."
"I saw it, at church." She whispered, hopefully he wouldn't think she was some weirdo that was watching him all service. Oh, wait, she was!
"That's my church Bible, I have a Bible that I take everywhere with me, it's pretty beat up now. I have hed it for years." He told her.
"My grandma had a Bible that was in perfect condition all my life." Buffy noted. "Come to think of it, I never even saw her open it."
"It's important to read your Bible, Buffy. It brings you closer to God." Angel smiled, then whispered. "Following Christ isn't here…" He pointed to his head. "It's here." He pointed to his heart. "The only way you are going to allow God into your heart is through His Word."
"You're going to be a great Youth Pastor." She whispered.
Angel smiled. "You think so?"
Buffy nodded. "I know so."
0o0o0
Angel rolled out of bed, scratching his head. He and Buffy had stayed up far too late talking and he had to get up early for band practice at the church. It wasn't his best decision that he had ever made but he stood by his thoughts last night, when he realized it was 3am, Buffy was worth it. Letting out a yawn, Angel walked towards the bathroom, he was the only one that ever used that bathroom so he didn't think twice when he opened the door.
Buffy turned around quickly at the sound of the door opening, she clutched her bath towel tightly around her body and quietly screamed.
Angel's eyes were round with shock and he quickly shut the bathroom door. "Oh man!"
"Shit!" Buffy exclaimed.
Suddenly the bathroom door swung back open but this time Angel was covering his eyes. He blindly pointed. "Colossians 3:8- But also put all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth."
"Are you really quoting scripture to me right now?" Buffy shouted.
Angel closed the bathroom door again. "Sorry, reflex."
0o0o0
Angel made his way down to the kitchen where his mother was making her Saturday morning pancakes, he was still wearing his black sweatpants and his white tank top that he had slept in. "Good morning, Angel."
"Mom." Angel said, standing beside her as she flipped a pancake. "I think I'm going to go back to the dorm tonight."
"Why is that?" Jenny asked her son.
"Well… Buffy is here." Angel shrugged.
Jenny turned to look at her son. "Yes, I know. I invited her to stay here while her mom is out of town. Your father was supposed to tell you, but apparently he forgot."
"Mom…" Angel trailed off. "Buffy is a girl."
Jenny laughed. "Yes, I know."
"She is a… pretty… girl." Angel struggled to get out.
"Oh." Jenny nodded, understanding what her son was saying. "You like her…"
After looking at his mother for a moment, Angel nodded.
"You have never liked a girl before, as far as I know." Jenny said removing the pancake for the griddle and setting it on a plate.
Angel shook his head. "I haven't… not like this."
"Sweetie…" Jenny started. "You know, she likes someone, right?"
Angel frowned. "She does?"
Jenny nodded. "She told me sh… wait, now that I think about it… it might be you."
"What?" Angel asked, hopeful.
"Well, from the way she has described this guy, it might very well be you." Jenny smiled.
Angel paused for a moment. "Do you really think she might like me?"
Jenny nodded. "But Angel, she is only seventeen and you are twenty-one. If there is anything there, if she does like you, you would have to wait until her birthday."
Angel smiled and turned to leave.
"Where are you going, Angel?"
Angel turned around, smiling at his mom. "To ask her when her birthday is."
