14

At noon the following day, Buffy walked into her house. She was both happy and sad at the same time. On one hand, she'd spent the most perfect weekend of her life with the man she loved. On the other, she was disappointed that it had to end. And that she and Angel had to part. They'd kissed and held each other when she dropped him off at home, but he promised to call her when he got home from work.

"Buffy. You're home awfully early," Mr. Summers commented when his daughter entered the kitchen.

"Yeah. Wanted to beat the holiday traffic. How was your meeting in Seattle?"

"Boring. But everything's okay now, we worked it out."

She smiled. "Glad to hear it."

"And how was your weekend? Did you have a good time?"

Buffy blinked. 'Does Dad know?' She always felt as if her father could see right through her. And she knew he'd be livid if he found out she'd lied about spending the weekend with her friends. Especially when she had actually spent the weekend with her boyfriend.

"Yeah. We had a great time. Girls' weekend and all that, big fun," she lied.

He turned back to his newspaper. "And Prom? That went well, I suppose?" he continued, not showing a great deal of interest. He only asked because he felt he was obligated to.

His lack of interest didn't go unnoticed by Buffy. Her face fell. "I was voted Prom Queen."

"That's great, honey," he replied casually. "Glad you had fun."

"I'm going to my room to unpack my stuff," she informed him, biting her lip to hold back her tears. She hated being back home; she missed Angel. Not just him, but she missed having someone around who was concerned about her feelings. Her father obviously didn't care.

"Cordelia called this morning and wants you to call her back," Mr. Summers said. "Didn't she go with you to the beach house? I thought you said she was."

'Oh shit,' she thought. 'Now what?' "Um, she had a family thing to do. Her parents wouldn't let her go."

"All right. Oh and, Buffy?" he called before she stepped out of the room.

She turned around. "What, Dad?"

"Wear something nice to dinner tonight. I have one of my business associates coming over."

"Okay."

"Why don't you invite your new boyfriend to join us? That way I can meet this young man of yours and you'll have someone to talk to."

Buffy shook her head. "He has to work tonight. Maybe some other time."

She left the room, heading straight for her bedroom. Upon closing the door, Buffy leaned against it, a solitary tear falling down her cheek. 'Angel, I need you. I miss you so much. I need your arms around me right now.' She wondered what he was doing at that exact moment.

***

Angel stood on the front porch for close to five minutes after Buffy pulled away. He kept his eyes on her car until she made a left-hand turn at the end of his street, heading in the direction of the wealthier side of town. It felt strange for him to be away from her. They'd spent nearly every minute together since Saturday morning. He missed her sunny presence already.

He entered his house, half-expecting to be dive-bombed by his mother and sister. Thankfully, he found the living room empty.

"Mom?" he called. "Missy? Is anyone home?"

"We're in the kitchen!"

Holding his overnight bag in his left hand, Angel found them sitting at the kitchen table, watching him expectantly. "I'm home. Did everything go okay while I was away?"

"Yes. Us women managed fine without you," Melissa replied sarcastically. "No major catastrophes occurred while you were off frolicking in the sun with your girlfriend."

"Missy…"

She raised her eyebrows. "God, take a joke. Actually, Mom felt a little dizzy yesterday but that's about it."

"Are you alright?" he asked his mother. Suddenly, he felt guilty for being away when Mrs. Riches needed him.

His mother nodded her head. "It was nothing. Just a minor dizzy spell. Nothing to get all worked up about."

"I should have been here."

"Like I said, it was nothing. Besides, you deserved a weekend away from all this doom and gloom. Did you have a good time? And Prom, how did that go?" Mrs. Riches wanted to know.

Angel smiled. "I'm glad I went. I had a great time at Prom with Buffy. It was fun."

"Your sister said Buffy was voted to be Prom Queen. You must have been very proud of her achievement."

"I was lucky to have gone with her. And the weekend trip to the beach house was a lot of fun as well."

"What did you two do there?"

He couldn't tell his mother everything that happened over the weekend. "Friday night we talked, Saturday we laid on the beach and went tanning and swimming. There was a storm at night and it knocked the power out. And then on Sunday Buffy and I went for a walk down to a pier and watched some movies later on. Nothing too exciting."

"You must be exhausted. Buffy probably wore you right out," Melissa commented harshly.

Angel chose to ignore his sister. "Like I said, it was fun. Buffy and I had a great time."

Mrs. Riches smiled. "And I seem to remember three weeks ago when a certain young man came into this house swearing off girls. Said they only went for bad boys. It looks like you found one who likes the good guys. You might want to keep Buffy around, Angel."

"I plan on it." He sighed. "I'm going to put my stuff away before it gets all wrinkled and take a nap before work."

"It sounds like Angel really enjoyed himself this weekend," Mrs. Riches said to Melissa once Angel left the room. "I like his new girlfriend. Buffy's very down-to-earth and is such a lovely girl. They make quite a handsome couple."

Melissa shrugged. "I guess so."

"And she makes your brother quite happy. Did you see that smile on his face? I bet she put it there," Mrs. Riches noted.

"Yeah." 'I bet I know how it got there, too.' She stood up. "I have to go ask him something. Excuse me."

Melissa headed down the hall to Angel's bedroom, not bothering to knock before entering. He looked up when he heard the door open. "Missy, what are you doing in here?" Angel demanded.

"I want to know what really happened this weekend."

"I don't know what you are talking about."

"Oh please. Don't act stupid, Angel. It doesn't become you. Do you honestly expect me to believe that all you did with Buffy was swim and talk and tan and go for walks? How stupid do you think I am? You might be able to pull your good little boy routine off on Mom, but it doesn't work with me," accused Melissa.

Angel nonchalantly hung up a shirt. "Fine. What do you want to know?"

"Did you sleep with her?"

"That's none of your business."

"You did! I can't believe it. My own twin brother had sex with the Ice Princess!"

"You're putting words in my mouth, Missy. I never said that."

"You don't have to! It's written all over your face. What the hell is wrong with you?" she asked. "Angel, you could have any girl in the entire school, but instead you had to pick the bitchiest, most self-centered person on the planet! Why?"

"I love her. And she loves me."

Melissa shook her head. "She's playing you for a fool. How much are you willing to bet that your precious little girlfriend is on the phone with all of her other bitchy friends telling them what it was like to finally land you in bed?"

"Get out," he ordered, doing his best to keep his voice under control.

"I'm simply stating a fact."

"You don't know the facts. Actually, you have no idea what happened between me and Buffy this weekend. It was wonderful, she made me feel alive for the first time in my life."

She nodded. "You did sleep with her. You did it with Buffy."

"So what if we did sleep together?!" Angel exploded. "It doesn't concern you or anyone else. It's my life, let me live it."

***

"Are you going to tell me what happened this weekend or not?" Cordelia asked excitedly when Buffy came over an hour later. "I want details!"

"What do you want to know?"

She sighed, exasperated. "Hello? Everything!"

"It was nice."

"Nice? Nice?! You have got to be kidding me. You spent the entire weekend with *the* most gorgeous guy at Sunnydale High and all you can say is 'it was nice'?"

Buffy plopped down on Cordelia's bed. "It was the best weekend of my life!"

"Care to elaborate or am I going to have to guess?"

Buffy smiled softly. "Friday night, Angel and I had a long talk. I told him everything…I said that I have loved him since grade school."

"What did he say?" she wanted to know.

"He didn't get angry or push me away or anything. Cordy, he loves me, too. More than he ever loved Kelley. We kissed and we went to bed," she said.

Cordelia raised her eyebrows. "You went to bed? As in slept together?"

"Not like that."

"So, nothing happened between you two."

"That isn't what I said. Let's just say I owe you a very expensive Prada purse," Buffy told her, cryptically.

Her jaw dropped. "You're kidding. Something did go on this weekend. I knew you two wouldn't be able to keep your hands off of each other."

"It started out innocently enough," she began. "Friday night he and I were kissing and before I knew it, he was touching me. Hands-in-my-shirt kind of touching. Plain old making out Saturday on the beach, but then there was an electrical storm at night. And you know how afraid I am of thunder. Angel held me and comforted me and one thing led to another. I woke up Sunday morning on the floor in the living room with his arms around me."

"You actually slept with him?" Cordelia couldn't believe it. Granted, she assumed something would happen between Buffy and Angel, but she never imagined it would go beyond kissing and touching.

Buffy nodded sheepishly. "Yeah. It was great, wonderful, perfect, and a million other adjectives I can't think of. I made love to the man I love, how could it not be perfect and wonderful? It felt right and he made me feel so safe, so beautiful. Everyone's first time should be like that."

"Did you guys spend the entire rest of the weekend in bed? Was it a day-long sexfest on Sunday?" her friend joked.

"No!" Buffy exclaimed, agitated. "See, now you're just making what Angel and I shared seem so cheap. It wasn't."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that. Buffy, I was curious, I guess. But…what was it like?"

"Great. Every single time, because I was with him. Neither of us were sure the first time, so we had to follow our instincts. I wouldn't trade this past weekend with him for anything in the world."

"Wow. That is so cool. Almost makes me want to rub it in Kelley Page's face that you slept with him before she did."

Buffy shook her head. "Cordy, don't. It's not right."

"Who cares? It'll be fun. Besides, that was the whole reason she broke up with him. It will eat her up inside and I want to see it."

"I can't do that. She doesn't need to know and I'm not going to say anything. And if you are really my best friend, you won't say anything either. Everybody doesn't need to know. What me and Angel did was private; I'm only telling you because you're my best friend. Please, don't tell anyone else."

"I won't say a word."

Buffy hugged her. "Thank you. This is it, Cordelia. I'm going to be with Angel forever. We were destined to be together, and after this weekend, I am positive of it."

***