Part 7
A week later, Spike and Faith were still a couple, Oz had met Willow's parents, Kathryn had had a small argument with Angel about the Homecoming dance and practically nothing changed except for the weather.
Buffy, Willow and Xander were sitting at one of the tables on SHS campus, waiting for school to start for yet another boring Thursday morning. Willow was cramming for a Physics quiz, Xander was sitting on the table playing with his Gameboy and Buffy was sitting on the other side of Willow, watching the world go by.
"So, Buffster, what would you like for your birthday? I know where to get limited edition Lois and Clark action figures if you're interested," Xander was grinning like a madman. Sometimes he just got too excited over some things...namely comics, Star Wars merchandise, Superman...and food. Willow just looked at him as if he'd grown a potbelly and pronounced himself as Buddha.
"Sorry, Xand, it just won't go well with the wallpaper," Buffy replied sarcastically. She tilted her head to see that the lovely weather caused there to be only the one cloud hanging overhead. The blueness of the sky was sometimes so blue that she wondered if something was wrong with the sky.
"Gee, we're awful quiet today," Faith said, approaching the three friends. On her arm was Spike, who looked happier than ever. Even more so than the time he got so pissed at a party that he started seeing naked women in every direction.
Xander turned the game off and sat in a lotus position. "Mmmmm," Xander hummed softly with his eyes closed. "'Tis called meditation, Faith. Calming, quiet and relaxing serenity." He spoke in a funny voice, a mix between his own and a bad imitation of an old Indian man.
"Very funny, Xander. Now stop it, you look like an idiot."
Xander opened one eye to look at the brunette, "Do I?"
"Yep," she replied, pushing him out of the way to make room herself and Spike to sit.
"Hey, hey, watch the physics!" Willow said when her physics book almost got sat on.
"Sorry, Red. Didn't see it there," Spike shifted and saw Buffy in daydream mode again. "Earth to Buffy, come in Buffy." He waved a hand in front of her face.
"What? Oh, sorry. I was just thinking how much that cloud looks like a jelly donut. I haven't had one in weeks," Buffy looked at Spike, smiling sheepishly.
"Bloody right, it does look like a sodding donut."
"Great, now I'm hungry...anyone got anything to eat?"
"Xander! Is that all you think about?"
"Actually, no, but I don't think you'd want to hear about it."
"Xander!"
*****
"Okay, Harmony's bringing drinks, I'm bringing chips and dips, and everyone else is bringing finger food, got it?" Cordelia asked her entourage, which was answered by a chorus of yeses and nods. "Good. Don't forget, Sunday, noon. Bring presents. Kathryn's eighteenth birthday has to be perfect."
Cordelia honestly didn't like having to organise parties like she were organising a bunch of foot soldiers, but sometimes you had to do what you had to do. Kathryn had been her best friend since junior high and it was important to her that Kathryn has a perfect 18th birthday. No matter what everyone thought, the two brunettes treated each other like friends, even though they were both certified bitches.
So what if they thought more than half of the population of SHS were losers? Was it a crime to have an opinion?
"What about cake?" Harmony asked.
"Duh, Harmony, Angel will take care of that," Cordelia said, right when the bell rung to signalise the beginning of the first lesson. She turned and almost jumped when she found Angel standing right in front of her.
"I'll take care of what?"
"The cake. It's tradition to have the boyfriend buy the cake. One year we had three cakes and we didn't want to eat them all cos they were all covered in this horrible fattening cream stuff. See, this year we won't have the same problem cos we know we'll only have one cake and hopefully you'll know not to buy one covered in cream."
"Sure...three? How one earth did she have three b-" Angel paused and looked at Cordelia's sheepish expression, his mouth turning into an 'o' shape.
"Sunday at noon, don't be late!" Cordelia shouted over her shoulder as she headed toward her science classroom.
*****
It was Sunday, noon, and Angel was nervous. In his hands were a cake and two different gifts, one for Kathryn and one for Buffy. The cake was a low-fat chocolate mud cake fresh from the bakery on Main that sold those fluffy cinnamon pastries he sometimes liked to have for breakfast. Starbucks was right next door, so it was convenient for him to have a nice healthy breakfast, even if it slightly resembled Holly's in Breakfast at Tiffany's.
The roses that lined the path were flowering madly, scenting the air with a mixture of different fragrances.
Angel stared at the doorbell, wishing he wouldn't have to ring it. There would be a one in five chance that it would be Buffy answering the door. He hesitantly moved his finger toward the button, but was beaten by a finger with a perfectly painted nail, which was attached to a hand, which was attached to an arm, which was attached to...
"Cordelia. Hi. I brought the cake." Angel said nervously, awaiting the person who should reach the door first.
"Relax, the doorbell won't bite. Nor will anyone behind that door except maybe Mr. Gordo."
"Come again?"
"Mr. Gordo. Buffy's cat. An exquisite creature if I do say so myself, but Kathryn really hates him. Something about it being evil around her or something," Cordelia laughed at the imagery.
The door flew open, revealing Buffy with a half eaten croissant in one hand, a magazine in the other and Mr. Gordo at her feet. She didn't even register who was at the door because she was concentrating on the article in the magazine and trying not to trip over her cat at the same time. "Come in, make yourselves at home."
"That was rude," Cordelia said before rushing into the house to find Kathryn.
"Sure, whatever Cordy," Buffy replied, taking a bite out of her croissant. She started closing the door, not realising there had been two people there in the first place.
"Wait, Buffy-"
"Oh my God, I'm sorry. It's just this article. It's so horrible how people kill those poor little baby seals for fashion." Buffy took another bite from her croissant, and almost fell over when Mr. Gordo started slinking around her feet. "Mr. Gordo, stop it."
"Happy birthday. Nice cat." Angel entered the house and closed the door behind him.
"Thanks." Buffy smiled when she noticed that Mr. Gordo abandoned her in favour of Angel, who was now trying not to come crashing to the ground, cake and all. "Mr. Gordo, I said stop. Ooh, cake." Buffy took the cake from him and headed down the long hallway to the very last doorway with Mr. Gordo at her heels.
Angel laughed and followed her to the kitchen.
"Mai Lee, here's the cake. Make sure you put in the fridge or it'll melt." Buffy handed the box to Mai Lee and finished the last of her pastry.
"How'd you know it's the meltable kind?"
"Well you don't look like the cream type. And I suppose Cordelia talked to you about the cream issue anyway, so...low-fat?" Buffy took a glass from the cupboard and started making coffee using the complicated looking machine on the other side of the large kitchen.
"Psychic now, are we?"
"No, just experience."
"Oh, I just remembered. I have a gift for you. Here," Angel handed her one of the presents from the two. "I hope it isn't too much."
Buffy opened the box to reveal a silver ID bracelet with her name engraved on the tag; just the right length to go around Buffy's wrist. "You didn't have to."
"I wanted to."
"It's beautiful, thank you."
"Mai Lee can y-" Kathryn stopped, surprised to find her boyfriend in the kitchen with her sister. "Angel, you're here. We thought you went missing or something cos Cordy said she was at the door at the same time as you and you still hadn't found the room we were in. Oh, where's the cake?"
"In the fridge. Low-fat chocolate." Buffy answered, leaving the room with her coffee and her present.
"Ooh, yum. I love low-fat chocolate cakes. Is it a mud cake?"
"Yeah, how'd you know?"
"Experience." Kathryn wrapped her arms around his waist and said, "What? No happy birthday kiss?"
Angel smiled down at the brunette attached around his middle and took her mouth in a long, sweet kiss. "Happy birthday Kathryn."
"Yeah, happy birthday to me. Now, where's my present?"
*****
"Willow, how much do you think this cost?" Buffy asked, showing her the bracelet she received from Angel.
"Well, it depends. What kind of metal do you think it is?"
"Aren't you supposed to be the smart one who tells me what metal it is?"
"Well, if I'm right, then it's sterling silver. If it is, then I estimate that it's around...ooh, fifty or sixty odd dollars."
"Do you know what this means then?"
"He likes you? I think it's pretty obvious that he does. Well, considering he's hardly spoken to you and already he's giving you personalised gifts," Willow took the bracelet from the box and went about putting it on Buffy's wrist.
"What are you doing?"
"What does it look like I'm doing? The guy you have the hots for feels the same way and he gave you this beautiful birthday present and you aren't gonna wear it? Doesn't that defeat the purpose?"
"Yeah, but it feels wrong. He's still with Kathryn."
"Buffy, Buffy, Buffy. Stop it already. You know you want to." Willow closed the clasp and moved it around to see the engraving. She flipped the tag part of the bracelet over and found another engraving. "See, sterling silver."
"And I thought you were going to say that he had 'Love, Angel' engraved on the back..."
"Good things come to all who wait. Now come on, you don't want to miss the party or that lovely guilt-free chocolate mud-cake."
"You know, they say it's low-fat, but it still has fat in it so it's not technically guilt-free."
"So what? It's chocolate."
*****
"Dawn, don't touch the matches," Joyce scolded her youngest daughter. It was time for the cake to be cut and the party to end. They were going to have dinner guests tonight and she wanted the house spotless well ahead of time so that Mai Lee would still have enough time to prepare a dinner for nine.
"Why?"
"Just don't, they're dangerous," Joyce replied. She set the cake on the dining table and stuck two candles in it; one for Kathryn and one for Buffy. There wouldn't be enough time nor candles to put 36; all on the same smallish sized cake. "Okay, hurry up, I need this house spotless in an hour." She lit the candles and it was a unanimous decision that it would be okay if they didn't sing.
The candles were blown out and the cake distributed and then everyone left, leaving a gigantic mess in their wake.
Joyce shook her head in despair. There'd be no way that the mess could be cleaned up quickly enough even if she and Mai Lee worked extra hard.
Seeing her mom like that and knowing the dinner guests were important for the gallery, she rested her hand on her mother shoulder comfortingly. "Don't worry, mom, I'll help," Buffy said and started picking up the dirty plates and forks scattered around the room.
By the time Buffy, Joyce, Mai Lee and Dawn had finished, it was gleaming with cleanliness.
"Sunday best, girls. Dinner guests at 6 o'clock sharp."
"Okay, mom," the two girls chorused.
"Now, I wonder where Kathryn is..." Joyce wondered aloud.
