12: Jealous, Moi?
"I'm telling you, Donna, I don't like it."
"I know you're telling me, Josh. You've been telling me for quite some time."
"It's a terrible idea."
Donna stopped in the hallway and gave him a challenging look. "Tell me, Joshua, why you in your infinite wisdom consider this plan of CJ's to be a terrible idea."
That one flummoxed him. "It just... is."
"Wise words, Joshua. Well, I'm certainly persuaded."
Of course, she knew exactly why he thought it was a terrible idea. CJ had decided that if the worst came to the worst, they needed to be able to smuggle their Sunnydale allies into the hall - and what better way to bring them in than as their dates? CJ would take Giles, Sam would take Buffy, and Donna would take Wesley. Everybody agreed that it was the most sensible way to handle it.
Apart from Josh. And Donna didn't think it was the idea of Sam dancing with a girl twelve or fifteen years his junior that was bothering him, either.
Aw, is little Joshie jealous?
It was pretty cute, actually, the way he was pouting about it. Not that she was going to tell him that.
"I just..."
"Don't like the idea of members of staff having dates?"
"Well, when you put it like that, it sounds silly."
"Imagine that."
"No, I just think-"
"Joshua Lyman, you are sooo jealous."
"I am not!" he retorted so sharply that she knew the truth had stung. "Why would I be jealous?"
Lie through teeth. "'Cuz everyone else gets a date except you?"
"Toby doesn't have a date."
Bonnie, passing by in the corridor, stopped abruptly. "Okay, that's something that doesn't usually need to be stated."
"Josh is jealous," Donna informed her. "'Cuz everybody has a date for the ambassadorial reception except him."
Josh tossed his head. "Donna, I'd hardly consider you, Sam and CJ to be 'everybody'."
"Sam has a date?" demanded Bonnie curiously.
"That's not what I'm jealous about," Josh said hastily. "Especially since I am not, in fact, in any way shape or form jealous." They both smirked at him. "And anyway, she's not a real date."
"She's an unreal date?"
"Sam's only taking her because she's a friend of CJ's date."
"Okay, Josh, that doesn't, you know, cancel her out or anything," Bonnie informed him wryly. She turned to Donna. "You have a date? Way to go, you!"
Donna decided a little giggly excitement was in order. Cover story. For the cover story. And nothing to do with pouty Josh.
"His name's - get this - Wesley Wyndham-Price, and he's English." She and Bonnie exchanged squeals, and Josh looked pained.
"He's a complete geek," he informed Bonnie knowingly.
"Sure he is, Josh," she agreed tolerantly, and smiled at Donna.
"He is!"
Donna rolled her eyes and grabbed her boss by the sleeve. "Come on, Josh. Don't you have a country to run or something?"
Josh wasn't the only one to be a little uncomfortable about the dating arrangements.
"I feel weird about this, Josh. I mean, people are gonna think I'm... I don't know."
"Will you just relax, Sam? You're taking the girl out for one evening, everybody knows it's because she's a friend of Giles's, and it's not as if you're gonna get up to anything." He gave Sam a searching look. "You're not getting up to anything, are you?"
"No!" His indignance quickly faded back into concern. "I know that, Josh. But I mean, I'm in my thirties, and she's-"
"Sam, did you miss the part where you're not actually dating her? Besides, it's not like she's twelve. I mean, she's only a few years younger than Donna, really."
Sam blinked at him. "What's Donna's age got to do with anything?"
Josh looked completely poleaxed. "Uh... nothing? Absolutely nothing at all? Except for maybe the fact that she's going with that Wesley guy who is kind of your age which I think might have been my point, in fact I'm sure it was. So, um, yeah. That was the point. That I was making." He scuttled hurriedly away, and Sam smirked after him.