Faith's POV:
My bedroom walls are pink.
Two words?
Helllll no.
It's so…pink. And all that 'pink' brings with it. Fluffy. Girly. Wussy … Pink!
So not my fucking color.
So, yeah. That's gotta go.
I glance at my new cell phone. Cordy gave it to me as a 'housewarming present'. Whatever, I'll just use it as a watch till I get a new one.
Some vamps tend to scratch at your wrists before you stake 'em, you know? I lost three watches to those inconsiderate bastards already.
Anyway, it's only seven AM. Shit I only slept for like an hour.
Rough night.
Don't get kinky; Cordy was asleep for half of it. I just couldn't get used to sleeping next to someone. Barely got a wink.
I rub my eyes out of habit and get up. I throw on a t-shirt and some shorts while I make my way to the kitchen. Damn. Didn't get a chance to do groceries yesterday.
And I'm outta milk!
Fuck. And I ate the leftover burger at four. Sigh.
I'll just grab something before I head to SunnyD high since I'm up so early.
…
Early…. Cordy…
Where the hell's Cordy?
I look around but don't see any of her stuff. What the hell?
Although I know its empty, I open the fridge anyway.
Yup. Completely and desolately empty.
"Motherfucker, shit, fuck."
Phew, got my morning swearing out of the way.
"Good morning to you too.."
I look around to see Cordy in the hallway with her arms full.
Are those… Are those donuts? And coffee?
I make my way to the living room.
"I borrowed your keys, I hope you don't mind." She says as she drops them on the table. She places the box of donuts and the coffee next to it, accidentally making my comics fall from the coffee table.
I flop down on the couch as she picks up the comics.
"No prob, Cor." I hungrily eye the food. "Those for me?"
She leans against the couch as she looks into an X-men I borrowed from Xander.
She seems really into it.
"Cor?" I ask again.
She looks up funnily and nods.
"Yup. All for you." She eventually replies.
"Hey, thanks, C. You're the best." I smile and dig in the donuts first.
Ooh, rainbow sprinkles! Uh-…I mean…
…
Ah, whatever, rainbow sprinkles!
"Before I forget." Cordy says in a monotone voice.
As I happily swallow down half of the donut, she drops some more stuff on the table.
"Extra sugar." She informs me.
That's…great. But why does she sound pissed?
I pause before I finish my donut and place it back down instead.
"What's wrong?" I ask her.
She crosses her arms and looks away, sighing audibly.
"Just… Just forget about it, Faith." She sighs.
She turns around to briefly look at me one more time and then grabs her purse and walks away. I follow her just in time to see the front door slam shut.
What the…?
I rub my forehead confused and with what's probably the beginning of a major headache.
Walking back to the living room, I notice the comic book she was reading. I pick it up and something falls out of it.
I look down to find B smiling happily in the Polaroid.
That…can not be good.
Buffy's POV:
"Good morning, Buffy." Giles smiles as he organizes some books on the table.
"Fabulous morning, Giles." I reply sarcastically and collapse on one of the chairs.
Giles stops what he's doing and gives me his worried look. His forehead gets all wrinkly. I nibble on my lower lip. Think, Buffy, think!
"Sorry." I mumble. "We ran out of yoghurt again this morning." I lie.
Giles sighs relieved. Relieved that I just ran out of yoghurt. I resent that but whatever.
"Oh. Well that's a shame, Buffy." He coughs and starts organizing books again. Always with the books.
Well duh…librarian. But still.
"You're rather early this morning, aren't you?" He comments.
"Yeah, just a little. I was up early."
"And the others? Do you know who else might be joining us?"
"Umm… Will and Oz are taking a tour of that 'special' school today so they're out. Xander should turn up some time though." I reply.
He nods and walks to his office.
"What about Faith?" He asks.
I clench my jaws a little but try to remain neutral looking.
Fat chance.
"Wouldn't have a clue, Giles." I manage to get out chipperly.
He comes out of the office, diary in hand, looking at me strangely. Oh, yeah, I wasn't supposed to be chipper today. Ugh… I'll just shut up for now.
"Hmm…" Giles perches on the table pensively. "There's something I've been meaning to ask you, Buffy."
He taps his chin. "Have you thought about which college you'd like to do to?"
What is he talking about? Was there another college in Sunnydale I wasn't aware of?
"UC Sunnydale, Giles. Unless the hellmouth decided to up and move." I shrug.
He takes off his glasses and cleans them.
"Well you see, with Faith here, you could go to any college you'd like. Preferably somewhere nearby still so we could call on you for emergencies. But you have more possibilities now."
"What?" My eyes widen and I'm truly shocked. "What are you saying Giles? Leave Faith with the hellmouth? I can't go, I need to stay! I can't just leave her behind!"
Giles looks surprised and replaces his glasses.
"Buffy, she's quite capable of keeping things under control by herself. You did so yourself for quite some time, remember?"
I-… That's not what I meant.
"I just… I just want to stay, Giles. Is that okay?"
"Well…" Though I'm looking at his shoes, I can feel he's looking at me. Trying to figure out what's going on in my head, I guess. "…It's your choice of course, Buffy." He finally says.
I sigh, relieved he's letting it go. I wonder what Faith would think if she knew. God, like I could go and have a life while she takes the brunt of it. What was Giles thinking?
"Giles, how could you suggest just leaving Faith with the slayer duty? " I suddenly burst out. "Like she doesn't want a normal life either!"
He looks at me thoughtfully before answer.
"Actually, Buffy, Faith came up with the idea. She brought it up a few weeks ago."
What the..?
He stands up and walks behind the counter.
"You might as well know; I approached her that day about letting me tutor her for her GED so she could perhaps get into UC Sunnydale in the near future. She seemed not too enthusiastic. But she seemed confident about the hellmouth and asked me if that way, you could go to… UCLA?" He looks at me questioningly.
I don't really know what to say right now.
"But since you'd prefer to stay in Sunnydale, perhaps you and Faith shall go to the same school some day." He takes out his tea mug. "Tea?"
I shake my head. "No thanks, Giles."
She agreed to tutoring? College? With me? We'll go to the same school and maybe have some classes together and-..
"Hey have you seen Cordy around?"
I whip around in my chair and see Faith.
"Good morning, Faith. And no, sorry, I haven't seen Cordelia this morning." Giles replies.
Cordy and Faith. I feel sick. I try not to look at her and just gaze around.
"B?"
I bite my lower lip. Damn it. I turn to look. Ugh…
"I… I saw her this morning." I answer. This is going to be embarrassing.
"Yeah? Where was she? When?" She looks shocked and steps nearer.
"Um… Around seven."
Her eyebrows furrow in confusion. She looks adorable but I look away, hoping she doesn't ask where I saw Cordy.
"Where'd you see her?"
Crap. I sigh…
"In your street."
I hear Giles choke on his tea and I grimace. This is so painfully embarrassing.
"Err…" Faith begins awkwardly. "That's… Um… At seven, huh?"
I nod affirmatively. Yup. Your street at seven. Doesn't have to mean a thing, does it Faith? She'll ignore it like she always does. I'm repulsive, aren't I?
"Okay, well… Is the meeting done already?" She asks Giles.
He looks up in the middle of cleaning the spillage on the counter.
"Oh, no, we haven't even begun yet. You're both early." He answers.
Yeah, what's up with that? Why is she looking for Cordy? Shouldn't they be all eating donuts and drinking coffee and making out around now? Eww..
"Well, what's the meeting about anyway? I reported to you last night." She doesn't sit down anywhere and just leans against the counter.
She definitely doesn't wanna be here. Run, Faith, run! I wonder what happened between her and Cordy.
I can't believe I still have to ask her for the Christmas thing. I am so doomed.
Faith's POV:
Well… It's just like any other Thursday morning. Except it's not.
I slept with Cordelia. She disappeared on me. Buffy was skulking about my new neighborhood. And since we're both so damn early and B has first period off… Giles has decided to squeeze in some extra training.
So… Not exactly any other Thursday morning. But I can still act like it. Right?
B doesn't seem to have any trouble in doing so. Does she hang around my neighborhood every morning? That's just creepy.
Maybe I should ask her about it anyway.
I hesitate before putting on my training T-shirt.
Yeah… I think I'll ask her.
I gather up my clothes and shove them in my gym bag as I get out off the bathroom stall. Still can't believe she makes us change in different bathroom stalls. I'm not saying we should change in the same stall. Although… give me time. But we're both girls! And it's not like I haven't seen her naked before.
With all her privacy issues, you'd think she'd remember to lock her stall. The slayer connection isn't infallible you know.
I lean against one of the sinks to prepare myself for the inexplicable lengthy wait I'm about to endure. How can it possibly take so long for her to get ready for training?
But it's like she heard my thoughts and refuses to admit I'm right, cuz she's suddenly exiting her stall. In track pants and a really tight top. She rearranges the semi-folded clothes hanging on her arm and doesn't meet my eyes once.
"Hey, B?"
She still doesn't look at me and instead looks at herself in the mirror as she ties her hair back.
"Yeah?"
Guess I just ask her then.
"What were you doing around my place this morning?"
She freezes and her arms drop by her side. Her eyes dart to my reflection in the mirror.
"This morning?"
Don't play stupid with me, B.
"Yeah. This morning. Around seven? When you saw Cordelia?" I remind her.
"Right. This morning." She nods slowly. "I was just… I was going to… ask you something."
She nods again, faster, and then smiles and turns to me. I wait for her to continue and then raise my eyebrows when she doesn't.
"And…?" I press on.
"Oh, right. And what I wanted to ask you was… if you wanted to come over on Christmas eve."
Uhhh… Who on the what now? Christmas? Isn't it a bit early to be talking about Christmas?
Oh wait… It's the seventeenth already.
Umm…
"Your mom made you, huh?" I smirk.
Her mom makes her invite me to her house sometimes. Mrs S is cool and I rarely pass up a good meal but… well I have my reasons. Besides, Christmas isn't my thing anyway.
I pick up my gym bag and swing it over my shoulder.
"Tell her I appreciate it, but I got plans, B. Let's train."
Well I didn't exactly have plans because I didn't exactly know Christmas was coming up. But it's just Christmas anyway, so whatever. Do I ever have plans on Christmas?
Oh yeah… There was this huge 'Filthy Heathen Bonfire' last year in Boston. But I don't remember too much about that. I dunno. It's just Christmas.
"What kind of plans?"
I turn around in the hallway to see Buffy looking like a girl.
Don't get me wrong, Buffy is most definitely a girl. As in not a boy. But sometimes she looks especially girly. Because although B's tiny, she doesn't usually look it. She'll pout and bat her eyelashes and try to play innocent if she wants something, but I can pretty much see through it. I'm not always as successful in ignoring it, but at least I see what she's doing. Anyway, she's tiny but usually she looks like she can kick your ass good anyway.
Although this time…
She walks up to me and I resume my way back to the library.
"What kind of plans?" She asks again from beside me in a small voice.
"Just plans." I reply and audibly sigh as I shove open the double doors.
"Okay…sure. You've got plans. Got it. What kind of plans?"
"Just plans. Christmas is a family thing, you know?"
I throw my bag over the counter and push one of the tables out of the way. She just stands in the middle of the room.
"You… You have plans with family?"
Yeah, right. Last time I was with 'family' on Christmas…. Shit, I don't even wanna go there.
"Don't you?"
She's quiet as I clear out another table.
"I just… I didn't know… Where are you going?" She asks unsurely.
Great.
I sigh and gesture to the two other tables.
"You just gonna stand there?"
I'm sure she would be fiddling about with her sleeves if she was wearing any. She helps with the last table anyway and I ignore the warmth of her proximity. I also ignore her uncharacteristically toned down demeanor. She's acting like a puppy that got yelled at! I didn't yell at her. And she's not a puppy. So she should get over it.
"How about Christmas morning?"
"Isn't that the most family-oriented part?"
She shrugs and sits on one of the tables.
"I guess."
I walk over to G's office and pop my head in.
"We're ready." I inform him and he nods.
"Good. Why don't you and Buffy begin with a little warm-up sparring while I drop these papers off at the office?" He takes a last sip of his tea before nodding one more time and leaving with his very very damned papers.
"No problem…" I mumble to myself.
Back in the library, Buffy's putting the last of the mats on the floor.
Training. Right. No problem.
We circle each other at first. As always. Usually, I get impatient and jump right in. But once in a while, B decides to take the initiative.
I duck away from a well-aimed kick to my head.
Like today, apparently.
I block two punches and move to the right and kick the back of her calf to make her leg buckle.
She does, but only for part of a second and she's already turning around when I try a slide-kick. Slayer speed ain't a joke though cuz she jumps to dodge and a fist is already heading my way.
I duck and go for a couple of punches which she deftly blocks. She throws back with quick but powerful little jabs which I in turn block. We're getting way too good. I suddenly grab her wrist and move around her, twisting her arm with me.
Ooh…that's gotta hurt. But she's not even giving a peep.
I move closer to her and move my face to her neck. But then I move to her ear.
"Gotcha."
I let her go and she quickly moves away, massaging her sore wrist.
"Did I twist it too hard?"
She shakes her head.
"Where are you going for Christmas?" She turns to face me again.
"What?" I spread my arms for effect. "B, we're training."
Whoa, I better block that fist!
"So train." She grunts as she knees me in the gut.
Oomph! That's gonna hurt in the morning. … Well… This morning anyway. And it should be gone by noon. But uh… well it hurts.
I kick her legs from under her but she's so fucking quick! I'm on my back before I know it and she's getting up and moving towards me already. I roll away and jump up.
"Damn, B…You're on fire." I wink.
She moves towards me and I jump up on my toes a little, fists up. Gotta feel the Rocky in me… Although I could take him any day.
We exchange a flurry of fists again and I have no idea who's winning. Block, block, punch, kick, punch, block, punch, block, block, block.
She gets me right in the jaw and then holds me in a back-grip as I'm briefly disoriented.
"Gotcha, F." She leans in next to my ear. "Why don't you ever tell me things? Like about your family?"
She sounds kinda pissed. She tightens her grip around my neck and arm for a second and I wince but she lets go.
I shrug dramatically to make sure she knows I am not getting what this is about.
"I dunno! I dunno, B. Did ya ask?"
I go back in a fighting position.
"Ah… Have you both warmed up, then?"
I whip around to see Giles walk back in. He nods distractedly and then notices our unresponsive behavior.
"Is everything alright?"
I breathe out to try and calm down and nod.
"Yeah, it's cool, Giles." I mumble. "Training?"
"Oh, well… All right, then." He takes a last look at me and Buffy but nods again and moves towards the counter. "I thought today we could focus more on the…" He holds up the two blindfolds from behind the counter. "Blind combat."
I fight the urge to turn around and raise my eyebrows with B, like we usually do when this comes up. But she's pissed at me. For some reason. Not sharing with her? I dunno.
"Willow suggested though, that meditation would perhaps help strengthen the 'slayer connection' and aid you in battle. So I thought we could test that out today. It's a fairly simple exercise."
Meditation? I dunno…
I turn around and see that B has the same skeptic look on her face.
"So sit down on the mat, facing each other. And then place your palms on each others." Giles instructs us as he pulls up a chair and sits down with his book and a pen.
We sit down and hold out our hands but we have a little trouble with deciding who's on top.
"No, I put my palms on yours." She slaps my hands away. "You're my other."
Huh?
"You're the other palm."
Right. Whatever.
We finally settle as I give into her little palm thing. And our hands are touching. And hers are small and warm and soft.
"Hmm… Good, now you simply close your eyes and try to feel the other. Try to see them in your mind and simply feel each others presence." He states.
Riiight. Simple. Um… So why don't I wanna do it?
Buffy seems just as hesitant about it as I am. Giles is already writing something down in the book, whatever it is.
You know what? I'm just gonna close my eyes, I'm not gonna try and feel anything. I'm just gonna… think about… what color I'm gonna take for my room.
I take one last look at B's kinda red but pretty face as she looks from me to Giles. And then I close my eyes.
… Blue? I like blue. Nah… Maybe like… Red. Or just black. But that's so… black. I like black. But most of my stuff is already black. I wouldn't see anything, you know? Maybe I'll just go for… Pink.
What?
No, not pink. I don't like pink. Blue. Yeah… Blue or red. I dunno. Ears. What about ears?
No, who cares about ears. Though B's ears are nice. How about black and white? Maybe a christmas tree.
What the fuck is wrong with me? I don't care about christmas trees. With Willow and Xander and Giles and Mrs S and Dawn. What? Why am I thinking about this?
I shake my head a little, my brain's all funky today.
Then I hear Giles slide his chair backwards and clear his throat.
"Er, alright then. That should be sufficient."
I open my eyes and let go of Buffy's hands. But the loss of contact kinda stings. Just a little.
We both get up and Giles hands us the blindfolds. I wonder if B's still pissed. I'm not so good with the blind, this could get dangerous. Wouldn't be the first time. She has to let loose more so she stops having these little explosions. I take one last wary look at her and then tie the black cloth around my head.
I take another step back and breathe out deeply.
This time I'm really gonna have to concentrate or I'll get my ass kicked real bad. I switch into a comfortable fighting position, knees slightly bent and fists in front of me.
I hear B swiftly move to my right, but not towards me. So I silently move to the left and face where I think she's standing. I'm concentrating so much on my slayer hearing, I hear Giles scribbling something down in his goddamned book. My hearing automatically focuses on the only sound in the room and I'm flying through the air before I know it.
Not for long though, because the floor is waiting. I crash into it hard, my arms barely softening the blow, and my cheek doing not much better.
Buffy's kicks are vicious, man.
I hear Giles coming closer.
"I'm alright, Giles." I grunt.
I get up and rub the side of my face. Ouch. Anyway, I carefully walk back towards the mats.
"B?"
"Yeah?" She answers left of me so I walk to the right and turn to face her again.
"You know I'm going to get you for that, don't you?" I smirk and fall back into fighting stance.
"Well… You'll try anyway." She taunts back.
I just hope she's smiling.
Okay, round two. Ding!
I hear B move to my right and I mirror her again, keeping her at a safe distance. But then it's quiet. Real quiet. Giles isn't even writing anything. Where the hell is Buffy? Is she still in front of me?
I tense up a little, going into a more serious fighting stance and try to concentrate harder. Come on, B… Where are you?
The seconds crawl by in silence. And I have no idea where she is, which is not a good thing. She's way better at this and it's pissing me off.
"Hey, B?" I whisper so that only she can hear me. "Have I told you how fuckable you look today?"
I hear a small gasp, just two feet behind me and I dropkick her ass! I hear the very satisfying thump of her cute little butt hitting the mat.
"No fair." She whines and moves to her feet.
I hear Giles hum thoughtfully a little way further and I slide up my blindfold. I see Buffy still has hers on and I smile as I see she's got her arms crossed and is leaning sulkily to the side.
"That was good." Giles tells us. "Very good actually. However, Faith, what would you have done if I had the radio on?"
I raise an eyebrow.
"I dunno. Probably wouldn't have come in here in the first place cuz of your taste in music, Giles."
He looks at me as if he's waiting for me to give him a decent answer. I'm all out.
"Faith, I feel perhaps you're relying too much on your extra developed hearing while you're in the possession of another great weapon; your slayer connection." He explains.
Right. Just try to feel the other. But feeling Buffy is distracting!
Giles glances at his watch.
"Perhaps one more try, and try to focus more on the slayer connection this time, alright Faith?" He nods matter-of-factly.
I shrug back and slide my blindfold back down. I turn to Buffy and steady my breathing. Just try to feel the other.
It isn't difficult to find the connection. It's always sorta pulling at me anyway whenever she's around and it's even worse when she's in the room. It's very distracting though so I usually kinda suppress it when I don't think I need it. But I guess I'll have to really focus on it now. Great. Here we go.
Here comes the warm fuzzy tingling.
And just like that, suddenly I know exactly where she is. Like I can see her although everything else is gone. She takes a careful step to her right and I do the same. We successfully circle each other a couple of times and I'm amazed at how I know what she's doing. And then I feel her smiling and I can't help smile back.
I speed it up a little and take a sudden move towards her. She moves away and I move back too. She shakes her head, smiling. Like she knows I was just testing how alert she was, like I usually do. I smirk, yeah but the next time won't be a tester.
She suddenly lunges at me and I duck an incoming fist and at the same time attempt an elbow in her stomach. She blocks it deftly and pushes me back, making me falter and have to put my hand on the ground for balance.
The air makes a swooshing noise as she jumps towards me, a fist coming dangerously near. I drop to the floor and roll to the left, jumping back to my feet in a flash. This is like we didn't even have the blindfolds on at all!
"This is like we didn't even have the blindfolds on at all…" Buffy says.
What the hell?
I slide the black cloth back up. She's standing right where I knew she was. Did she just read my mind?
"Yes, I saw…" Giles murmurs. "It was quite remarkable. I would've thought more training, practice and meditation would be necessary but apparently… Well, we'll speak more of it next time. You'll have to get ready for class now, Buffy." He informs her.
She groans in protest and advances on Giles.
"But Giles! This is important training." She places her hands on his shoulders seriously. "When another apocalypse comes and it'll be very dark and the radio will be playing, you'll curse yourself for sending me to Spanish instead of doing the much needed training."
He raises an eyebrow, unconvinced. But Buffy doesn't let up.
"I think training is more important than Spanish, don't you? Unless you think it'll be a Spanish speaking demon and I can just go, 'ola señor Demon, habla español?' ,and we could just talk about our problems." She goes on.
Giles looks pensive. Probably wondering how crazy Buffy is, really. She watches him suspiciously.
"You don't really think there'll be a Spanish speaking demon, do you?" She asks.
He opens his mouth to answer, but seems lost for words.
"Oh my god. Okay. Okay, I don't know any Spanish! I have to go to Spanish. Why didn't you tell me?" She shakes Giles a little bit in her excitement but then lets go and picks up her stuff from the counter.
"Okay, I'm gonna get ready now." She informs us. And then she looks at me expectantly.
"Uhh… Yeah, me too then, I guess." I shrug and she hands me my gym bag as I walk over.
Buffy's POV:
I smile as I walk out to the hallway. She's coming with me!
Okay… That's important. Because… Whoa. That training session was intense! Not like… I mean… I didn't break a sweat or anything but… Whoa. That connection. It was creepy.
Well… Almost. It was just really intense.
She comes out of the library and smiles.
"That was wicked, huh?"
I smile back and nod as we make our way to the bathroom.
"It was like… I just knew, you know?" I attempt to explain.
"Yeah, I know." She nods back.
I smile to myself as I push open the bathroom door. We're connecting again!
Oops. I don't need to be here. I need to take a shower.
"Don't you need to take a shower, B?" Faith asks me.
"Yeah… I just needed to ask you something."
She raises an eyebrow. I sigh.
"Completely non-related to the Christmas thing."
She relaxes her stance and shrugs.
"Then shoot."
"Wanna patrol tonight?" I ask.
"Uh… Yeah, I'm on duty, remember?"
"Yeah, yeah, I know. But I mean, together?"
Her eyes widen a little in surprise but she quickly recovers.
"Uh… Sure. Yeah. That's cool."
I smile.
"Okay, great. Meet you at Restfield? At seven?"
She grins and nods.
"Cool. Your call on the food, alright? My treat." She opens her bag and takes out her clothes, heading towards a stall.
"Right, you just end up eating everything they have and I just get the freebies anyway." I tease her.
She enters the stall but pops her head out.
"How about that time we went to Mickey D's? Never knew you had a thing for plain old cheeseburgers, B. You ate like fifty of 'em. And you know it's the truth."
She looks at me, daring me to deny it.
"Shut up." I narrow my eyes and stick out my tongue for good measure. She promised she wouldn't mention it again after she kept on about it for hours and hours.
She smiles and laughs before closing the stall.
"See ya at seven then, B."
"Alright. Bye."
Yeah, that was a good moment. That training session was intense. I'll have to talk to Willow about that little… meditation thingy. Because wow. Was it because of that?
After showering and changing into fresh clothes, I walk into Spanish and spot an empty seat next to Xander.
"Olà, Xander." I grin.
"Olà, Buffy." He grimaces. "Wanna skip Spanish?"
"No, Xander." I say solemnly as I sit down. "I'm the slayer."
I notice a jock look at me funnily and slide his desk a little further away.
Great. My crazy Buffy rep just got a boost.
Xander looks a little like he's questioning my sanity too.
"What's that got to do with Spanish? Do you have to be multi-lingual for the job? Don't you just kinda… slay 'em?" He whispers the last part.
"True. But I don't wanna fail another class. I wanna get into college, you know." I smile, thinking back on going to college with Faith. That would be so great.
"So you don't want to just join me into the bum life?" He wipes away imaginative tears.
"You got into that college, Xander!" I remind him.
"But it's in Seattle! I can't go to Seattle. I gotta stay here." He says.
Very familiar words.
"I get that." I answer.
So we drop the issue and decide to behave, going to all our classes all day. Although the urge to go see Faith was enormous, I kept myself in check by reminding myself of our seven o'clock appointment. Appointment… Date? No. No. Appointment. Meet-up. Not date.
Yeesh, Buffy. Get over it already.
As Xander and I make our way to the library after school, we see Willow and Oz. They spot us and wave.
"Hey, my little geniuses!" Xander slides between them and wraps his arms around their shoulders. "How'd it go? Were they worthy of your superior brains?"
Willow laughs and shoves him off good naturedly.
"I already told you last time, I'm staying in Sunnydale." She reminds him.
Oz nods and wraps his arm around Willow instead.
"Same for me."
Xander places his hands on his chest and looks at me dramatically.
"See that, Buff? That's what I call friendship."
I roll my eyes but smile at Will and Oz.
"You might still change your mind after we investigate this Mayor guy." I start up the walk towards the library again.
"Oh, we still have their numbers." Oz replies.
I laugh and open the library doors.
"Always good to have a back-up plan." I agree as we approach Giles at the counter.
"Hey, Giles." Willow gives him a little wave.
Oz and Xander settle themselves on chairs around the table.
"Ah, good afternoon. How are you?" He looks at Oz and Willow curiously.
I lean against the counter and wait for my chance to speak to Willow alone.
Oz and her give a little summary of their day but end up stressing that they've decided to stay in Sunnydale and there was no use trying to talk them out of it.
I couldn't wish for better friends.
I finally get to pull Will to the side and invite her for some girly talk at my place. She gets really excited and tells me she's been meaning to have a serious talk with me for a while.
Should I be worried?
It feels good for it to just be me and Will again, we used to hang out more often. Just the two of us.
"I just need to stay, Buffy. You get that, don't you?" She attempts to explain her decision again as we stroll into Revello Drive.
I link my arm with hers and squeeze it a little.
"I totally get that, Will." I tell her. "I just don't want your potential to go to waste."
"I know." She squeezes back. "But I have a different kind of potential too. And I think this might be the best place to maximize that potential."
Oh, right. Magic. Or is it magick? Is there a difference? I never got that.
I let go of her arm to get out my keys.
"Point taken. I just don't want you to get hurt." I tell her again and open the front door.
"I appreciate that, Buff, I do. But I have two slayers to protect me now, right?"
I nod as we make our way towards the kitchen.
"And a werewolf." I add.
"Yeah." Will sighs. "Too bad it's only by full moon though. It would be great if he could control it."
I grab a cookie from the cookie jar and slide it over to Willow on the counter.
"Is that even possible?" I ask carefully.
Willow shrugs before taking a bite from her chocolate snack.
"I found some vague references about it in a scroll but I haven't fully translated it yet." She sighs.
"Oh, wow. Because yeah, obviously it'd be great if he could control it." I agree.
It's not easy to have a werewolf boyfriend.
We talk some more about Oz as we enjoy our cookies in the kitchen. Dawn's arrival compels me to take our conversation upstairs though and we settle in my bedroom.
I prop my knees up as I lean against the headboard of my bed. Willow leans on her elbows as she lays on her stomach at the foot.
"Have you asked Faith about Christmas yet?" She asks.
I bite my lower lip. I asked her but I want to try again. I don't know if I should though.
"Yeah, I asked her this morning." I answer and sigh before she can get her eyes to fully light up expectantly.
"She said no?"
I nod sadly but shrug.
"I dunno, maybe I can still talk her into it. We're patrolling together tonight."
"Really?" She seems surprised. Happily surprised though.
"Yeah, we're meeting up later tonight." A little smile creeps up on my lips without my permission.
"Cuz I kinda thought…" Willow absently picks at a piece of lint on my bed. "You know…"
She looks at me shyly.
I urge her to go on.
"There was some tension between you and Faith."
I raise an eyebrow carefully. Um… What exactly is she getting at? I knew I should've been worried!
"Um… What kind of tension, Will?" I ask.
"Well, you know…" She waves her hand in the air helplessly. "Tension."
Right. Tension. Got it.
"I felt some bad vibes since Cordelia and Faith are hanging out so much." She gets out in one breath.
Oh.
"Yeah. Me too."
"But now you guys are okay? Voluntary duo-patrols again?"
I nod.
"I hope so. I dunno. We'll see, I guess." I lean my head against the headboard. "Will…about Faith…"
She straightens herself a bit and nods.
"Yeah?"
"Um." Should I tell her? She's my best friend. I should, right? I should. Yeah. I will. I'm so gonna tell her. "…She's so weird, isn't she?"
…Maybe just not today.
I laugh weakly.
"Weird Faith…" I shake my head. I am so lame. Will seems disappointed though.
"Right. And… well… Did anything happen recently that made you go all.. 'Hey, Faith's weird'?" She asks carefully.
Great. Now what do I say? Well… I guess there are a couple of things.
"There was the UCLA thing." I shrug and then frown. "Which really was weird actually."
"What about UCLA?" Willow asks confused.
"Well…When she first came to town, I mentioned once that if I wasn't a slayer I would've wanted to go to UCLA."
"And?" She urges me to go on.
"And.." My frown deepens. "And this morning Giles tells me that Faith wanted to stay and be solo-slayer so I can go to UCLA."
That really did freak me out. Ugh. That training session totally messed with my mind. It's like…There were these major things going on in my head. The college thing, the Cordy thing, the Christmas thing… And what the heck is she going to do at Christmas anyway? I hate her!
No I don't.
Wait…I had a point. Right; so I had these major things going on in my head. And after that training session… It was just like… I dunno. I forgot? It didn't matter. Like I was high or something.
"Oh my god, she said that?" Willow exclaims and sits up on the bed.
She smiles, her eyes wide open and she looks like she's about to say something but doesn't.
"That's basically what Giles said she said." I nod, eyeing her suspiciously. "Isn't that weird?"
"She remembered what you said." Willow states. "All those months ago."
"Um…yeah, I guess she did."
She did remember. Oh god, I want to be with her so much. I hate this.
"Will… This morning…" I have to stop kidding myself and start facing the facts. "I was going to Faith's place, before school."
I pause and see I have her full attention.
"And I was in her street and… Then Cordelia was there."
Her eyes widen.
"And I think I have reason to believe she stayed over at Faith's." I raise my eyebrows and give her a look.
If possible, her eyes widen even more and then she frowns in confusion.
"Stayed over at Faith's? Or…" She gives me a look. "Stayed over at Faith's?" She says in a lower voice.
I give her another look.
"Stayed over at Faith's." I answer. Although I try not to make it sound too sad.
She gasps and looks at me urgently.
"You mean Faith and Cordelia… They…?"
"Pretty sure, yeah." I pick at a piece of…nothing. It just gives me something to do.
"Wow."
Uh huh.
"Well you know… We kinda saw it coming though, right?" I shrug. "The signs were all there."
She raises her eyebrows in surprise.
"What? You saw the signs, right? All the flirting and…closeness and stuff."
She raises one eyebrow and kinda shrugs. But there's more to this.
"There was flirting!" I insist.
"Yeah, there was." She agrees finally. "But it's Faith."
"Well yeah, it is Faith. So we shouldn't be surprised she fucked Queen Cordelia, should we?"
Ooh, did that sound bitter?
"Maybe. But I am anyway." She shrugs.
"Although you saw the flirting?"
She nods.
"Why are you surprised then?"
She opens her mouth about to say something, but changes her mind and just shrugs. That girl is hiding something! My own best friend trying to hide something from me!
"Will, I know you're hiding something. And you know I won't stop bugging you until I find out what it is."
She contemplates this and then looks at me doubtfully.
"I'm just saying… There were other signs as well." She raises her shoulders as if that's all she could say.
"Right." I nod. "Other signs."
Hmm.. What the hell does she mean by that?
"Sorry, Buff. That's all I can say." She looks at her watch. "Oops, better get going. I have to get some homework done before dinner."
I roll my eyes and get up from the bed with her.
"Will, you can't just leave it like that! What do you mean?" I whine and pull a little at her sleeve.
"I can't say, Buffy." She insists and gives me her resolved look.
"Aww…" I whine some more but let go of her anyway.
Fine. Whatever. She knows something about Faith, damn it. And I don't know what it is.
She pauses as she's at my door.
"Buff… Just… give her some time, okay?" She gives me a sad little smile, sighs, and then leaves.
"Will!" I follow her down the hall. "What does that mean?"
She raises her arms in despair.
"You'll figure it out." She hurries down the stairs and opens the front door.
I follow her down feeling very frustrated.
"Bye, Dawn!" She calls out to the living room.
"Bye, Willow!" Dawn shouts back.
"Will, seriously, you're going to have to explain this some day." I sigh.
"Yeah, I know, Buff. Sorry." She gives me a little hug before smiling and going out the door.
"Have fun tonight." She calls out one last time.
I close the door and lean my forehead against it.
Give her some time. Me give Faith time? Time for what? She'll be late tonight?
You know everyone always complains about how Faith is always late for appointments but she's never late for slaying. Ever.
Oh, crap! I forgot to ask Will about the meditation thingy! Stupid Buffy. Argh.
It'll have to wait then.
Faith's POVWeird-ass training session. Intense. But weird.
I flick my pencil against the table a couple of times.
Giles looks up from his own work.
"Problems, Faith?"
I look down at the math problems he gave me to solve.
"Uh…No, Giles. No worries. Just uh… Math's not one of my strongest areas." I shrug.
"Hmm…" He takes out another pack of papers. "Perhaps you'd prefer English?"
"I ain't got nothin' against English, G. I does like English. It's just I don't think English likes me." I shrug.
"Your work so far has been quite good, Faith." He purses his lips and looks impressed.
Riiight.
"That's cuz you keep giving me this elementary stuff. I still went to that shit, Giles."
"What about those problems you're working on now?" He asks.
I sigh and look down on them again.
"I'll take another crack at 'em I guess."
I try to concentrate and stop myself from flicking my pencil against the table again.
I sneak a peek at Giles. He's looking real busy with whatever he's doing. Better not disturb him.
Although…
I look back at my own crap and start up a rhythm with my pencil on the table.
Giles looks up again and I hold back a grin.
Too British to tell me to stop. Hehe. Although I shouldn't be torturing him too much, he's been cool. I quiet my pencil and take another shot at the math.
Giles is pretty serious about me getting my GED. He keeps talking about my 'potential' and 'capacities'.
But I dunno if I can take this the whole day. Specially after that training session. Damn. Gotta talk to Red about that when I see her.
There were some weird vibes there, I swear. It was… intense.
All day Giles keeps giving me shit to fill out and read. But every once in a while I think about that training session. Cuz man… that was.. Yeah well, you get the picture.
Around two-thirty though, I have had more than fucking enough of it.
I slide the Shakespeare books away from me as Giles places them on the table.
"No way, Rupert. No more." I shake my head.
He shakes his head too, although he seems more amused than anything else.
"Alright. I actually didn't expect you to last this long."
"Huh?"
"Have you been a closet-bookworm all this time, Faith?"
Did he just say that!
"What the hell, Giles? Closet-bookworm? Take it back!"
He laughs.
"I'm sorry, Faith. I take it back."
Yeah well, he better.
"You really should have seen your face though." He says as he carries back the books.
Old man still has some tricks. Yeesh. Good for him.
"Yeah, good one, G." I roll my eyes. "But that means I can go, right?"
"Yes, go ahead. Thank you, Faith, for doing your best again today."
I grab my jacket and head for the doors. How the hell do you respond to that shit?
"Whatever, Giles. See ya."
He smiles and nods.
I shake my head as I walk down the mainly empty hallway. I exit the school and stroll down the front stairs until I hear my name called out.
"Faith!"
I look to the right and see Will and Oz approaching.
I finish my way down the steps and wave as they walk towards me.
"Hey guys, how'd they take it?" I ask.
"I think they're in denial." Oz shrugs.
"They kept saying 'Please call us if you change your mind.' And they gave us a dozen cards." Will rolls her eyes.
"Can't blame 'em for trying to get the best brains of the country in their school though, huh?"
"I guess." Will says shyly.
"Oh, Red, can I talk to you for a while maybe?" I ask her but look at Oz, if he's cool with that.
"Sure, Faith." Will answers and looks at Oz too.
"No problem. Meet me at my locker?" He answers and offers his arm to carry Red's books.
Wolfboy's such a gentleman. I should be disgusted but he's cool too, so more power to him.
They kiss and Will gives him her bag.
"Thanks man, see ya." I wave.
"See ya." He smiles and leaves.
Willow turns to me.
"So what's up?"
"Um… So… How's Buffy been.. lately?"
She looks at me strangely. Don't blame her. But I feel like I never know how Buffy's doing. Keep saying wrong shit. And I don't wanna fuck up patrol with her tonight.
"She's… alright I guess. She was sorta worried about you though." She answers.
"Worried? Why? About me? Worried?"
"Yeah, because you've been… Distant I guess."
"Oh." B's been worried about me? Huh.
"Yeah." Will nods.
"Um… Anyway…" I attempt to steer the conversation to another direction and tell her all about the training session. She listens attentively as I mention the weirdness that was going on during the meditation.
"Well… have you been using that blocking technique?" She asks.
Yeah, I asked Will about how to block something like say… the slayer connection. If that was possible. She mentioned some books. Which I read. And I tested it out. It was hard at first. Cuz you have to like… Ignore the weird warmth and everything and just push it away.
"Uh…yeah." I answer.
"And how's that working out?"
It fucking sucks.
"I dunno. Okay I guess." I shrug.
She looks at me as though she's waiting for me to say something else.
"I don't think you should be doing it though, Faith." She tells me.
"Uh…Why not? It's distracting, I told you."
"Some things just can't be blocked, you know. Some things just shouldn't be." She seems to stop herself from going further.
"What are you saying? The slayer connection's too strong to be blocked?"
She shakes her head and sighs.
"Buffy didn't have this with Kendra, you know. At least not… well… Like you two." She seems exasperated.
"Right."
Maybe I should give her a break.
"Anyway, thanks, Red. You better get to your boy." I grin.
"Right. Call me if you need anything else, okay?" She pauses before turning. "Think about it, alright?" She then waves and makes her way up the school steps.
I nod distractedly.
Red's weird.
I head back to my place contemplating tonight. I hope it'll go smooth. No weird silence or 'kind of but not really'-fights.
It takes me ten minutes in the wrong direction to realize that I've moved. Twenty minutes later, I'm letting myself in and smelling a whole lotta Cordy.
Not cuz she's particularly smelly or anything. It's just… slayer senses you know?
Forgot to open some windows this morning.
I go to the bedroom first. The sheets are still messed up and her scent is everywhere.
I'm such a fucking idiot. How could I do that to Cordy?
I clean up the apartment for like half an hour and change the sheets. I take a quick shower and sit down on the bed to dry my hair.
And that fucking wall is still pink.
It's really gotta go.
I let my hand wander over the fresh sheets on the bed. I fucked things up with Cordy big time.
I wander around my apartment aimlessly until six. I get dressed, watch some TV, eat some food and watch some more TV. But with all the shitty shows, it's hard to get my mind off Cordelia. And Buffy. At six I start to get fidgety and decide to get an early start.
I just hope B won't be early.
Buffy's POVI'm early.
It's only six-twenty. But whatever. Faith's gonna cruise by a little before seven and I can pretend I just got here three minutes earlier.
Or something like that.
I hop up on a huge tombstone and swing my legs against the marble-like surface.
Suddenly I feel like Faith's nearby.
It's barely six-thirty; she's usually early but not this early.
The connection fades away and I begin to doubt myself until suddenly the connection is fully back.
I hear some rustling between the trees behind me and a few moments later she steps out from the shadows.
"Hey, B."
She approaches me and leans against the tombstone I'm sitting on.
"How's it going?" She asks.
She looks good. I hold back the urge to push her hair back behind her ears a little. I don't think it's a good idea to be picking at her hair. Urges are stupid, see?
"Good." I swing my legs again a little. "You?"
She lights up a cigarette and shrugs.
"Same."
"You're early."
"So are you."
I stop swinging. That's true.
She looks down and takes another drag from her cigarette. She looks sexy.
"So you wanna hit Restfield now?" She asks.
I hop down.
"Sure." I walk away, hoping the darkness hides how I'm blushing.
I hate it when I do that. It's not even justified. It just happens. I should get that checked out.
"You shouldn't be smoking, you know." I add.
She laughs and finally decides to follow me. She jogs up next to me, nodding and grinning.
"I know."
We systematically clear out Restfield from five vampires. Which is an averagely low amount. We usually get six or seven. But we hit a nest at the next one, which counts for six. Plus another three stray ones.
Making a nice full total of fourteen by nine o'clock.
"You'd think the vamps would start protecting themselves around here." Faith grunts as she stakes another stray vamp.
"What do you mean?" I ask and watch her pat the dust off her clothes.
"I dunno… start investing in some armor around the heart area." She shrugs.
Hmm..
"Like bulletproof armor?" I muse as we continue to make our way through the cemetery.
"Yeah. Which reminds me… Why couldn't we have those cool guns and shit like in Blade?" She gets excited and her eyes light up.
"Oh, and that sword too. Cuz that was wicked hot. Plus the leather gear. We'd look fucking hot, B!" She continues.
She's actually smiling, she's so cute with her dimples and everything and I laugh.
"You just wanna get that car." I smile and she laughs.
"Oh, yeah. That was wicked." She agrees.
We joke around about freaking Giles out with my Spanish babble. And how Faith's TV actually works now. Amazing.
But then Faith gets a little quiet.
I decide to move away from Angel's mansion and hit the smaller cemetery in the south for dessert. We were always up for a midnight vamp snack though.
"So you like your new place?" I ask her. Hoping to get something out of her again.
"Yeah, it's great." She massages her neck like she does when she's worried about something. "You should check it out some time."
"Really?" I bite my lower lip.
I suddenly get flashes of Cordelia and Faith together. In her apartment. I don't know if I want to go now.
I grip Mr Pointy a little tighter and look around the cemetery.
"Yeah. You know, if you wanna." She takes a few steps away from me, also scanning the area.
"Did Cordelia like it?"
Oops.
I clench my eyes shut. I can't believe I just asked that.
No, wait. I'm cool with her and Cordelia. I am. I swear. If that's what Faith wants.
That was a legitimate question to ask, right? … Right?
She's taking a long time to answer though.
"I dunno. Maybe."
I turn around to face her. She nods her head to the side.
"We should head west first."
I sigh. I hate it when she ignores me.
"Look, Faith…" I stop her from walking further. "You and Cordelia…I'm cool with it, you know."
I try to say it in happiest way possible.
Her shoulders slump a little, which surprises me. But then she turns around.
"Are you, B?"
I flinch and take a step back. Just a little one.
"What?"
"Duck!" She yells.
What! I'm not a duck! What does that mean? Faith's got some serious issues-
And suddenly I'm thrown to the ground together with a huge stinking weight on me.
"Now you die, Slayer!" It breathes out in my neck.
But all I can think is: 'Phew, almost thought she had Tourettes or something.'
Faith hurls him off me with one strong kick. She has crazy boots though and I bet several ribs got cracked along the way.
"I'm alright." I answer before she can ask.
She jumps over me, stake in hand and the vampire crawls away, coughing violently.
I'm about to get up when a knife plants itself in the ground just two inches from my face. I look up and see a scraggly little punked out vampire already aiming another one.
Uh oh.
I take out the knife next to my cheek and roll to my side as another knife is planted right where my head was. I pull that one out the ground too and grin at him.
"Shit!" He lets out and jumps behind several trees.
Ugh. I check how Faith's doing with hers and she's just about to stake him.
I run after my vampire and am suddenly surprised by another, big vampire hurling itself on me. I try to kick it off but it grabs my leg and bites me!
I grunt and kick him off forcefully but yelp in pain as I try to get up.
Fat bastard!
"B!" Faith runs to my side but the big vamp jumps on her and they fall to the ground.
I try to get up again as they violently roll around on the ground.
"You fucking stink, asshole!" Faith says, offended. And she pounds on him.
I attempt to walk and the pain's alright so I run towards them. Faith sees me and grabs him by his shirt and rolls so that he's on top of her.
That's my cue. So I stake him.
Poof.
Faith closes her eyes and mouth tightly as the dust falls over her. I hold out my hand to help her up and she's about to but then points behind me.
"B!"
I turn around and see the punk vamp jumping out of the trees and making a run for it.
I hurl a knife before his feet and he comes to a screeching halt. He looks at me, panicking, but I'm the least of his worries because Faith has gotten up and is nearing him rapidly.
His face twists in fear and he gives the running away plan another shot.
I don't think so.
I plant the other knife before his feet again and he lets out a strangled scream as he turns around and sees Faith behind him.
She punches him square in the face and before he even hits the ground a stake is protruding from his chest.
Poof.
Faith picks up her stake and turns around, grinning. I grin back.
"We kick ass, B!"
I pretend to think about it and then nod admittingly.
"Yeah, we pretty much do, don't we?"
"Hell yeah."
I go over to her but wince as I'm suddenly reminded of the wound in my leg.
Ouch.
"Hey, how bad did that big one get you?" She jogs over to me.
"It wasn't that deep really but it stings." I shrug.
"Gotta disinfect it…" She looks around the cemetery. "My place is closest, wanna go?"
I quickly debate that in my mind.
"Um… Sure, yeah." I decide.
Although not whole-heartedly enthusiastic, I must admit.
A couple of minutes later we're walking to her place at a slow pace.
"I can't believe you'd accuse me of that, B." She says, offended.
I shrug innocently.
"You have to admit, it is pretty convenient."
"That you happen to get hurt and we have to disinfect the wound?" She holds a hand to her chest incredulously.
"It's not that bad!" I protest.
"Oh come on, B! You really think I'm that cheap? That I'm trying to get out of paying for the pizza? We can still order in, you know." She shakes her head and glances at my wounded leg again.
Hm. Good point.
"Fine." I give in. "But it really isn't that bad since, obviously, I can still walk on it."
"Sure, that's great. Better be safe, though." She shrugs and pretends she hasn't been glancing at my wound all the time.
For little miss rebel wild girl, she's being really safe lately.
We're almost in her street and I breathe out deeply.
Here we go.
Faith's POV:
I take out my keys as we get out of the elevator and walk up to my door.
She looks around, impressed.
"It's a lot cleaner than that motel place."
"Definitely." I agree.
That neighborhood was a dump. Although this place isn't perfect either. Which reminds me.
"The other day though," I tell her. "there was coffee and donuts all over the sidewalk."
I was kinda tempted to look in that box to see if any donuts survived it, but I held back. It was a sad sight to see though. What a waste.
I look up as I unlock the door. Buffy's blushing and looks away. What the…?
"Uhh… My wound does kinda sting." She says.
Oh, right. And I open the door, flicking the lights on as I enter and hold the door for her to come in.
We settle in the living room and she looks impressed again as she takes in my kitchen too.
"Not too shabby, Faith. Not too shabby at all."
"Thanks, B. I'll give you a grand tour later on if you want." I take out the first-aid kit and put it on the coffee table in front of Buffy.
I wonder what she's thinking. She's acting weird. I think. I dunno, that's what's weird.
Briefly, I consider whether I should offer to clean the wound for her but she's already opening the kit and taking out what she needs.
"Need some help, B?" I ask anyway.
She looks up strangely.
"No, that's okay, thanks. Done it a million times…"
"Okay. Want something to drink then? While we wait for the pizza." I walk over to the kitchen.
I grab some glasses and glance to see her dabbing at her wound.
"Um…Sure, some water would be good."
"Yeesh, B. Don't you want anything stronger?"
I grab myself the bottle of JD and shake it in front of her.
"I have some beer too, if you prefer." I add.
She looks at me doubtfully and her lips pucker up in thought.
"What are you having?" She asks.
"Jack, of course." I shrug.
She nods.
"I'll taste some of that."
"Cool." I grin.
She'll hate it. The first couple of sips at least.
I pour a little bit in her glass and fill mine up. Slayer metabolism, you know? Then I grab a third glass and fill it up with water.
I put the drinks on the coffee table and sit with mine on the lazy chair as she finishes up with her wound.
"All done." She rolls down her jeans. "Doesn't even need a bandage."
"Yeah, well, better safe than sorry or whatever." I drink from my glass and lean back.
She takes the glass of Jack Daniels and sniffs it suspiciously. I roll my eyes and smirk.
She sips from the glass carefully and makes a face.
"Yummy." She manages out unconvincingly.
"Right." I put my glass down and light a cigarette.
"Er… Do you have some water anyway?" She chokes out.
Didn't go down real smooth apparently. I nod towards the glass of water on the table and she grabs it eagerly.
"Thanks." She says between gulps.
And then the buzzer goes off and my face lights up. Pizza! I guess having a cell phone does bring certain advantages along. We ordered a couple of pizza's on the way here.
"Hope you're hungry." I grin as I put my drink and cigarette down and jump up, hurrying to the door.
Damn, I know I am. I love it when Buffy and me patrol together, we work well. Those were a lot of vamps. And two of those Wolverine-like demons. But even hairier than Wolverine. Those H&H's are not to be underestimated after a big slay like tonight. I glance at Buffy as I open the front door.
She always looks so fucking good.
"Hey, that'll be…" The dude looks up from the bill and sees me for the first time.
I smile and lean against the door frame, shaking my head a little to let my hair down.
"Hi." I look him up and down and bite my lip like he turns me on or something.
"Uh…Hey. That'll be…" He looks me up and down a little bedazzled. How old is this kid? "That'll be twenty."
I flash him another smile and wink. Nice discount. I grab a twenty out of my pocket and hand it to him, making sure to graze his fingers. He hands me the three pizza's.
He gulps and smiles goofily.
"Alright, thanks dude." I grin and close the door.
I hear Buffy laugh softly behind me and I smile.
"Time to pig out, B." I walk over to her holding the pizza boxes carefully.
"You broke the kid's heart." She shakes her head but remains smiling.
I chuckle as I open the boxes on the coffee table.
"If anything, I don't think it was his heart that I broke, if you know what I mean." I grab the first of the many more slices to come and lick my lips in anticipation. "Dig in, B."
And she does. And we all know I do, and pretty soon there is no evidence of there ever being any pizza whatsoever. Except for those boxes, but I quickly chuck them in the trash and resettle myself on the couch with another drink, feeling pretty much satisfied. Except for that one thing. But I don't think humping B would be the best idea right now.
"How about that tour, Faith?" She suggests and stretches contentedly.
I shove back the wave of burning hot something from how beautiful she makes the simple act of stretching look.
"There's not much more to see, really." I shrug but get up. " You already saw the bathroom."
I swing the door to the empty spare room open and she looks from behind my shoulder.
"Hmm… Has potential." She approves.
I massage my neck absently as I lead the way to my bedroom. It's pink, you know. She'll give me a hard time about it.
"I still need to paint the bedroom." I tell her. "Like… as soon as possible."
She peeks in as I open the door and it doesn't take her long to enter all the way and notice the color on the wall.
She gasps and then almost squeals in glee.
"Oh my god, Faith! It's pink!" She waves her hands excitedly.
I bow my head in shame.
"Yes, yes it is." I admit sadly.
"That is so sexy!" Buffy almost purrs.
What the hell?
"You could add some dark furniture like black furniture or something…" She lets her hand travel across the bare wall. "With the right accessories…"
She turns around and grins. "Totally hot, Faith!"
…Right.
Hmmm…
I look around the room and try to imagine it with dark furniture and some cool posters and crap.
"Oh my god, what time is it?" Buffy asks suddenly.
"Uhh-.."
I take out my cell phone.
"Almost two." I answer.
She looks shocked and then worried. Uh-oh. Just blew a curfew?
I follow her out to the living room as she collects her things.
"I'm late! I promised my mom I'd be home by midnight, sorry." She pauses before putting on her jacket.
"Hey no problem, just explain to her about your leg, right?"
I open the front door for her and she hesitates before stepping into the hallway, smiling shyly.
"Um… About you and Cordelia-.."
"About me and Cordelia-.." I interrupt her. "…I think we both know it was a mistake."
I sigh. Stupid Faith.
She looks confused.
"I just… I dunno, I'm kinda messed up right now." I shrug helplessly.
Crap. I went to far there. She knows too much now. Fuck. Where did that come from?
Her eyes soften and she smiles gently.
"Don't worry Faith, maybe… I don't know. Maybe you just need some time?" She takes a couple of steps back.
Time?
Damn she looks good. It feels good when she's around too. The way she looks at me, like right now. It just feels good.
…
Better not drag it on for too long though… I quickly cough to wake up from the weird just looking at her moment.
"Uh..Right." I nod. "But uh…yeah, you're late." I remind her.
She nods.
"I am. I'll see you, Faith. I had fun tonight."
"Yeah, me too, B. See you tomorrow or something…" I nod.
She blushes and gives a little wave. "Alright, goodnight."
" 'Night, B." I smile as I close the door.
I attempt to remove the smile in vain as I walk to my bedroom. Damn it. That's just stupid. I massage my jaw and cheeks as I sit down on my bed.
Buffy messes me up real bad, I shake my head ruefully. I lean back on my elbows on the bed and look around the room.
Pink.
Doubtfully, I gaze at the walls.
Hmm… Maybe pink's not so bad.