A Glimpse of Heaven
Chapter 25
Buffy wished she had insisted on the movie instead of the Bronze as the band playing on stage thumped out the overly loud music that seemed to vibrate her from the inside out. She didn't know which was worse, being subjected to Angel's friends or listening to the loud music blaring from the speakers only a few feet away from the table she was sitting at with Angel.
She and Angel had only been at the Bronze for ten minutes when what seemed like the entire football teamed showed up and nearly half of them situated themselves around her and Angel's table. She had never felt like such an outsider before but ever since Angel's friends had shown up, he had practically ignored her.
She sighed heavily as she lifted her cup and finished off the diet coke she had been sipping on before rolling her eyes as one of the guys yelled. She didn't know what Angel saw in half of them. They were like four-year-olds on crack. None of them knew how to talk without yelling and the rude comments and hand gestures they always seemed to demonstrate were almost more than she could take.
Leaning back in her chair, Buffy sighed again and tried to tune them out and let her eyes roam over the crowd. The place was packed with teenagers and college students and for once, Buffy wished she was home in the quite sanctuary of her room.
As the band started playing a slower song, Buffy turned to look at Angel, hoping to at least get to dance before the night was over. Then she saw him. Sitting on a stool by the pool tables, was Spike. She couldn't help the smile that tugged at the corner of her mouth as she looked at him. From where she was sitting, she could still see some of the bruises on his face but the glasses were gone. As he lean forward, she let her eyes roam the area and soon found the rest of her friends. They were all there.
Willow tried not to be obvious, but kept stealing glances at Buffy. She hoped her friend would choose the Bronze and just as she suspected, she had. It had taken a lot of persuading to get Spike out of the house but with Xander and Jesse's help they had finally managed it.
No one else had seen Buffy yet and Willow had made a point to not tell them she thought she would be there. She smiled as she saw Buffy looking their way and had to restrain herself from waving. She didn't really want to interfere with her date no matter how much she wanted to but hoped Buffy would come to them before the night was out. Spike being there was the bait and Willow hoped it would be enough.
"Wills. You going to shoot or not?" Xander asked, nudging Willow in the arm.
"Oh, sorry," Willow grinned before picking up her cue stick and walking back to the table. She made an attempt at her shot while grinning to herself as she glanced over to where Buffy was sitting and saw her still staring over at them. Figuring out how to get her away from Angel was going to be tricky.
"Hey Ryan, you bring the stuff?" Angel whispered as he leaned over toward one of his friends.
"I said I would man," Ryan smiled as he looked at Angel and stuck his hand in his pocket, pulling out a small white envelope.
Angel grinned big, glancing around at those seated around him before reaching under the table and taking the envelope. He pocketed his prize before leaning back in his chair and looking at Buffy before wrapping his arm around her. "Everything okay?" He asked her, smiling.
Buffy turned her attention away from her friends on the other side of the room and smiled as she looked back over at Angel. "Yeah, I'm fine," she lied.
"Good," Angel said, giving her shoulder a tight squeeze before placing a kiss on her head. "You need another drink?" He asked, finally noticing the empty cup sitting beside her.
"Yeah," Buffy told him, "but I'll get it. You stay and talk to your friends."
Angel smiled as she stood up and watched her walk away from the table before the laughter of his friends caught his attention. Turning back to them he sighed happily, knowing that tonight would be one he would never forget.
Buffy made her way to the bar holding her empty cup as she discreetly looked toward her friends. She sighed in frustration as she looked at them. She wanted nothing more than to be over there laughing and having a good time with them. They were all smiling and laughing and seemed to be having a great time while she was stuck with the idiot patrol.
After giving the guy tending the bar her order, she turned and looked back toward the pool tables and her breath caught in her throat when she saw Spike looking at her. She froze while what seemed liked a million things raced through her mind all at once. She didn't know if she should run, go back to Angel or do what her heart was tugging at her to do and go to him.
He smiled at her then and she felt almost dizzy from it. She wasn't able to contain the smile that tugged at her lips and before she knew what was happening, she threw her hand up and waved. Spike's smile only brightened as did hers. The bartender finally broke the moment by yelling at her to take her drink. When she finally tore her eyes away from Spike and looked toward the cup her momentary happiness was shattered as the large hand she knew well wrapped around it.
"I thought you got lost," Angel said as he picked up her drink and wrapped his free arm around her.
Buffy forced a smile on her face and looked up at him. "No, just a long line," she lied.
Angel looked at the few people standing around the bar and smiled before turning and leading her back to the table.
Spike watched Angel lead Buffy away and the urge to go after her was almost too much. He knew he didn't have a right to tell Buffy who she could and couldn't date, but knowing what kind of person Angel was had Spike wanting to inflict as much bodily harm on him as he possibly could. Every time he thought about what Angel and his friends did, Spike thought his blood would boil. The fact that Buffy chose to be with him only aggravated the situation more.
Sighing heavily, Spike finally turned his attention back to Xander and the others and tried to put Buffy out of his mind. Lingering on the thoughts of having a relationship with her while she was on a date only made things worse and having to watch Angel put his hands on her only irritated the situation more. One way or another he would have her. This he knew.
Angel sat quietly at the table with his arm still wrapped around Buffy's shoulder. He watched her as she quietly sipped her drink but she wasn't really what held his attention. It was the bleached blonde sitting by the pool tables.
He had seen Spike when he went looking for Buffy and seeing him smile at her had infuriated him. Seeing her return the smile and even throw her hand up to wave at him sent a wave of hatred slicing through him. He honestly didn't think Spike would be a problem now but he seemed to have underestimated him. Maybe his last lesson wasn't enough. Smiling to himself, he gave one last look to Spike before pulling Buffy closer to him.
Buffy felt like her insides were going to rattle clean out of her. Her nerves were on end from the loud music, seeing Spike and now Angel. He hadn't taken his hand off of her since he met her at the bar and all the attention he was now paying to her had her wondering if he had seen Spike.
He hadn't paid her that much attention all night and now the sudden attention had her brain in overdrive. Did Angel see her wave at Spike? What if he did? Spike was her friend. She didn't deny that and never would, but if her assumptions about what happened to Spike were true, then Angel was dangerous.
That thought alone scared her. She didn't have any special slayer skills in this world and stopping Angel from hurting Spike wasn't going to be easy. Not that Spike couldn't take care of himself if he needed to, but judging from his last run in it would seem Angel didn't play fair.
Sighing heavily, she downed her diet coke and closed her eyes. She needed to find out the truth and find out fast.
Willow frowned as she looked over at Buffy. She was sure she would have joined them by now. She saw the small exchange between Spike and Buffy and hoped her friend would at least make an appearance.
Spike had been unusually quite the whole night. Willow had seen him glance in Buffy's direction more than a few times and judging from the way he was fidgeting in his seat she was sure he was going to go to her before the night was out.
The whole night was turning out wrong. It wasn't supposed to happen like this. Buffy was supposed to come to her senses, dump Angel publicly and then run to Spike and confess her love just like they did in the movies.
Seeing Angel stand up, Willow quickly turned her attention back to the game so he wouldn't see her staring at them. She'd have to think of something else. Seeing Angel walking towards the bar she handed Jesse her pool cue and excused herself from the game.
"Diet coke," Angel said, handing Buffy's empty glass to the bartender before he drummed his fingers across the bar. He glanced back over his shoulder, looking at Buffy before he smiled.
"Hey Angel," Willow said quietly with a shy smile. "Um, you and Buffy having fun?" God how lame Willow thought as the words left her mouth.
Angel turned, looking at the redhead before smiling. "Having a great time."
"That's good," Willow beamed as she looked up at him. "Um, I know we don't talk much, you being captain of the football team and me, well not, but you being Buffy's boyfriend and all I thought maybe you'd want to join us and get to know her friends some since we never get to see her much when she's out with you and I know I'm rambling right now but I do that when I get nervous, so I'll just be over here if you want to come over." Willow practically ran back to the pool tables and the safety of her friends. She didn't know what she was doing. Inviting Angel to join them was like a death wish. No one wanted to see Angel, let alone talk to him and what would Spike think? What would Buffy think? Did she just go completely stupid or what? "Buffy's gonna kill me." Willow thought.
The game had been long and fun and Xander couldn't remember the last time he laughed so hard. Jess was playing just as badly as he always did and Willow was improving. Spike not playing just made Xander seem like the pro and life seemed great from where he was standing.
Walking to the table beside Spike, Xander picked up his drink while Jesse set the table up again. Before taking a big gulp of his drink Xander let his eyes scan the club. Finally resting on the dance floor, his eyes widened comically before the drink seemed to go down the wrong way and he spit it halfway across the room.
"Bloody hell, Harris!" Spike yelled, standing up to escape the spray of drink Xander spit out before he finally looked at him. His eyes were huge and his mouth was hanging open as he stared across the room. Following his line of sight, Spike turned his head and his own eyes widened as he saw what had caught Xander's attention.
"Okay guys, who's up?" Jesse asked smiling as he turned to the others. He saw Spike and Xander both staring like they had just seen the devil himself and turned to see what they were looking at. "Oh my," he whispered.
Willow was the last to see and her reaction was no different from that of the guys. "Oh brother," Willow said as she walked slowly toward the others and stopped. "Where did she learn to do that?"
"Don't know, but I'm so not complaining," Xander finally said as he stared at Buffy out on the dance floor.
Spike didn't know whether to be turned on by the display or furious. Buffy was dancing with Angel and he didn't think she even knew how to dance like that. It was provocative and made his mouth go completely dry as he watched her.
She was draped across Angel and the look on her face was unlike any he had ever seen. She didn't even seem to know she was in a public place judging from the way she was acting and seeing Angel reach down and grab her leg caused the muscle in Spike's jaw to tick as he ground his teeth together.
The short skirt Buffy was wearing rode up her thigh as she wrapped her leg around Angel and seeing Angel run his hand up her leg and disappear under the light blue fabric had Spike clenching his fist at his side.
"Um, does anyone else find this strange?" Willow asked as she watched the display.
"Very strange," Jesse replied. "But it's very…"
"Yeah, that it is," Xander said, stunned. "Didn't think the Buffster had that in her."
"Neither did I," Willow agreed, just as shocked.
Spike watched the display until he saw both of Angel's hands disappear under Buffy's skirt and knew he had to get out of there. He knew if he watched for another minute he'd have to kill somebody, preferably Angel. Making his way to the door, he spared one last glance at Buffy before grabbing the door and slamming it open. The fresh air hit him like a ton of bricks. He started down the sidewalk and heard the door slam back open before he heard Willow call out to him.
"Spike, wait up!" Willow ran and wondered how he had gotten so far down the sidewalk in such a short time. When she finally caught up with him she wasn't sure if she should try to stop him or let him go. His face was completely red and his whole body was tense. She didn't have any doubt what was going through his mind and from what she had just seen inside she believed his assumption had merit. "Spike, stop a minute."
"Why?" Spike ground out through clenched teeth.
"Because, um…Buffy isn't normally like that."
Spike chuckled before shaking his head. "Whatever Red," he finally said before he quickened his step.
"She likes you!" Willow yelled out. "She told me so!"
Spike stopped and spun around before smiling big. "Is that right?"
"Yes," Willow told him, closing the short distance between them. "She told me so last night."
"Well, she has a funny way of showing it."
Willow felt bad. She didn't know what Buffy was up to but knew there had to be a reason for her behavior. "Well, she was pretty upset about what you and Sandy did. Maybe she just thought a little payback was in order."
Spike thought about it and his anger lifted only slightly before he shook his head. "Don't think so Red," he said. "What I did wasn't anything like what I just saw."
"I know, but Buffy told me…"
"Don't really care what she told you," Spike spat out. "If she wants the poof, then so be it. I have better things to do than play games."
Willow opened her mouth to speak but felt the air leave her lungs as Spike turned quickly and stormed off. She didn't know what to think. What was Buffy doing? "She cried!" she practically screamed out.
Spike stopped. That wasn't what he was expecting.
"Last night, when we got home, Buffy cried." Willow knew Buffy would kill her for telling him this but couldn't think of anything else to get him to stop. She knew if he left, things would be back at square one. "When I finally got her to admit that she liked you and when she realized what you and Sandy had done was just to make her jealous, she cried. You really hurt her." Please let him buy this, Willow thought as she rambled on. "She really does like you and this morning she was going to call you but Angel came by and she couldn't. Maybe seeing you here was just her way of getting back at you."
Spike slowly turned and looked at Willow. The thoughts of Buffy crying over what he had done had his heart clenching in his chest. Was she really just trying to make him jealous?
Jesse and Xander were still standing in the same spot staring out on the dance floor. Buffy and Angel had sat back down but neither boy could tear their eyes away from the scene they had just witnessed. It was like watching a train wreck. No matter how much you wanted to look away, you couldn't.
They barely even noticed when Spike stormed off or Willow follow him but as the music finally changed to a slower pace they finally snapped out of their daze.
"Do you think we could get her to dance with us like that?" Jesse finally asked as he looked over at Xander.
"I doubt it."
"To bad."
"That it is."
Willow finally came back inside the building with Spike in tow. She hoped Buffy wouldn't kill her when she found out all the lies she had spouted but knew she'd be grateful for it later.
Seeing that Buffy wasn't on the dance floor caused a relieved sigh to escape her as she made her way back to Xander and Jesse. The night was just getting stranger and stranger.
Spike made a beeline for the bar. He didn't know why he came back in but Willow had practically begged him. Even though some of what Willow told him about Buffy's feelings toward him sounded a little far fetched, he couldn't help but hope she was being honest with him.
Grabbing a drink, he down it quickly before finally getting up the nerve to turn and look for Buffy. She wasn't dancing so that was a plus and after scanning the table she and Angel had been at he strained his neck to try and see her. She wasn't there, but the current pain in his ass was. Spike had to bit back the curse ready to fly from his mouth as he watched him laugh with his friends and he had never wanted to hurt anyone as much as he did now. Just looking at Angel caused his blood to boil.
Finally looking away he saw Buffy go down the hall toward the restrooms and he quickly went after her. This game had gone on long enough. It was time to set things straight no matter what the consequences.
Buffy stopped at the end of the hall and Spike watched her turn in a complete circle before she finally looked up. Her face lit up in a huge smile as she saw him and he was surprised to say the least.
"Spike!" Buffy squealed in delight when she saw him. "Where did you come from?"
"I've been right here," Spike said slowly as she continued to grin at him.
"What happened to your glasses?" Buffy asked him, pouting slightly as she tilted her head to the side before she took a few steps toward him. "I liked them," she giggled. "Made you look smart and sexy."
Spike's eyes widened slightly at her words but the way she was looking at him caused him to look around to see if anyone else was around before he turned back to look at her. "Buffy, are you feeling okay?"
"I feel GREAT!" she laughed. "Hey, you hear that?"
"Uh, do I hear what?"
"That song!" She squealed. "Dance with me."
Spike barely kept himself from falling over as Buffy threw herself at him and the feel of her wrapped around him was almost too much. Her arms were wound tightly around him and he could feel her warm breath on the side of his neck. He closed his eyes and moaned softly as she ground her hips against him and he was temporarily lost in the sensations.
"Remember that time we were getting married?" Buffy giggled. "I never told anyone how disappointed I was when that stupid spell was broken."
Spike was brought out of his daze as she talked and he lifted his head and tried to look at her. He didn't know what she was talking about and the way her lips kept grazing the side of his neck as she talked made it hard for him to concentrate.
"I know we hated each other and all, but after that one time, God how I wanted you."
"Um, what time was that Buffy?" Spike closed his eyes as Buffy lightly kissed the side of his neck and his arms gripped her hips trying to still them as she continued to ground herself against him. He had to fight his reaction to her and shifted on his feet as he felt himself become more aroused by the second.
"You remember," Buffy said coyly before she kissed his neck and darted her tongue out, tasting the salt on his skin. "When Giles was on the couch," she giggled. "Remember, he kept asking what that noise was?"
"Um, don't seem to recall," Spike replied. "Wanna be more specific?"
Buffy laughed again as Spike's hold on her tightened and he moaned deep in his throat as she nipped and licked his neck. "I remember how good it felt having your lips on me," she whispered in his ear. "The way your tongue played across my skin. The way it felt when you touched me," she whispered. "Do you want to touch me now, Spike?"
"Oh god," Spike croaked out.
"Do you still want to taste me?"
Spike knew this had to be a dream. What other explanation could there be? As Buffy peppered small kisses across his neck to his jaw, Spike's breathing was coming in small pants. Opening his eyes briefly he let himself be drawn into her before she found his lips. Another small moan escaped him as her tongue darted out, licking his lips before it pushed its way inside his mouth. As all his fantasies came crashing in around him, Spike grabbed her, gripping her tightly to him and returned the kiss.
To Be Continued………
A/N…..
For (Chris) who reviewed saying you were confused. Not sure what you are confused about sweetie. Email me and I'll try to clear up whatever it is. zarrah@vol.com