Disclaimer: Willow & Co. don't belong to me, and unfortunately never will. They belong to Joss and his cronies.
Graham walked down the street at a moderate pace, ever watchful for anything in the darkness which might decide to attack him. He turned a corner, and reached 'Safe Street', as he'd come to call it. No hostile had ever attacked here, and several had mentioned that none would dare attack anything on this street. No reason could be extracted; the hostiles obviously were more scared of whatever or whomever had declared this a no attack zone than they were of the Initiative. Which annoyed Prof. Walsh to no end. Graham allowed himself to relax, as his pace slowed somewhat. Here he could enjoy the night with less concern about the creatures that thrived in it.
Her house was just up ahead. The Redhead's. He didn't know how many times he'd seen her sitting out on her balcony at night, sometimes as late as one or two o'clock in the morning. She was a beautiful creature, that he never passed a chance at gazing at should she be outside. The Redhead was one of the reasons Safe Street so intrigued him. Anyone normal who stayed outside after dark like she did would have gotten munched on long ago. But she hadn't been. He could now she her balcony, and the light of her candles. She was outside tonight. Her hair gleamed in the candlelight, as did the liquid in her glass. Graham stopped at her neighbours house and leaned against a tree, hiding in the shadows so he could watch her. She was reading from a binder, as was her want, slowly sipping her drink as she did so. He wished he could be closer so he could see her throat move as she swallowed, see her eyes moving back and forth as she read. Okay, he could admit it, he was rather obsessed. He didn't know who she was, he just knew that she was something special, someone he wished he could meet and talk to. How to do that, however, was a problem. He never saw her except when she was on her balcony. And he certainly couldn't approach her there. She'd probably think he was a lunatic.
"Are you going to stand against that tree all night?" Graham was startled by the feminine voice. He looked towards the Redhead, who was looking right back at him. "You know, it's considered impolite to stare." Graham closed his mouth when it started to gape in astonishment. Well, so much for me being stealthy. He waited a moment more, then stepped out of the shadows into the light from the streetlights, so that he could be seen. A smile graced her face. "Want to come up?" she asked. Graham nodded mutely. To this the Redhead simply raised an eyebrow. Graham assumed that this was an invitation, so he climbed the obviously well-used ladder of her trellis, and landed in front of her. Up close, she was a true beauty, although it was also obvious that she wasn't very old. He doubted she was eighteen yet.
"Have a seat," she nodded to the other chair on the balcony, which had some dust on it. "Sorry that's it's dirty, I don't tend to have company." A smile remained on her lips the entire time, as if she found his situation very amusing. He noticed the second glass, and frowned.
"Then why…?"
"The second glass?" she finished the question for him. She shrugged. "One of my quirks. Feel free to drink some." Graham could hear the challenge in her tone, however: she was daring him to drink some. He wondered why, as he raised the glass to his lips, and their eyes locked together when he took a large sip of the beverage. It was extremely sweet, whatever it was, but not harmful from anything he could tell. The girl's smile widened some more as he drained the glass.
"My name's Willow."
"Graham," he offered back.
"So, Graham, that's quite a habit you have there." Graham blinked, and shook his head in confusion. Willow's smile, which was quite mischievous, never faltered. "Watching me. Do you really think this is the first time I've noticed you?" Graham did an impression of a fish for a few moments, before he regained his wits. By this time, Willow was chuckling softly. She made quite a vision, as the all-knowing seer, with powers over the average male. Her red hair and green eyes just added to the allusion, which made it difficult for Graham to speak. After all, what did one say to a creature such as the one before him, after they'd caught him staring at her?
"I…" Graham tried to start, but his sentence fell apart as he stared at her some more. Willow appeared to take pity on him.
"It doesn't really matter. I just figured that since you liked to stare at me so much, I should get equal time."
Graham smiled back at her, at a loss for something to say. A few moments later, the wind picked up for a bit and the candles flickered out. Willow frowned at the candles, and the smile dropped from her face for the first time since he'd seen her up close.
"Damn," he heard her mutter, while she turned away to presumably re-light the candles. He couldn't see how she was doing it, but soon all the candles except the one in between the two of them were re-lit. Another smile filled with feminine-mystique was cast his way, as Willow cupped her hands around the top of the candle between them. Graham's eyes widened when the wick suddenly burst into flame. He stared at Willow with incomprehension as she dropped her hands back to her side. The smile on her face never wavered. What is she?
The silence continued for several minutes, as the two stared at each other. Graham just didn't know what to make of her. What she had just done, it shouldn't be something that could be done. And yet, she'd done it, with a smile on her face that suggested that she knew how much it was going to disturb him.
"You aren't used to magick, are you?" she finally asked. Graham just shook his head. "You aren't much one for words, either, eh?" Graham again shook his head, which made Willow chuckled. "Another lack of words guy. My life seems filled with them." The last sentence was said very softly, almost too low for Graham to catch.
"It's late, Graham. You should go. But feel free to come by again, some time. Be glad to have you." That smile was again on her face. The one filled with secrets. Secrets that he longed to know. Kind of like the secrets that were Safe Street.
"I will." Willow nodded, and started to blow out the candles that surrounded her. He rose from his chair as Willow grabbed a bag from behind her that Graham hadn't noticed before. He wondered what its contents were, but remained silent. After she opened her balcony door, she grabbed the two glasses in one hand. "Goodnight."
"Goodnight," Graham said quietly, watching until Willow had entered her bedroom, and she closed the drapes so he could no longer see her. He sighed, and climbed down the trellis. He should head back for home. It was late. But on the entire walk home, and later in his dreams, the Redhead dominated his every thought. And there was really only one thing he truly knew: he had to see her again.