Part 10
"You're late," Giles stated as Buffy walked through the door. In his hands were two or three books that looked to her as if they were older than Giles. Twice over. At his heels, Thor followed like the little puppy dog that he was. Upon seeing Buffy, he barked happily and his tail wagged furiously.
Thor leapt towards her and nearly made her fall over, almost knocking her into Gunn at the same time.
Buffy laughed at Thor's little antics and gently bent down to pick up the overly excited pooch. "Aren't I usually?"
Giles considered it momentarily. "I suppose. But it's still no excuse." Giles blinked a few times before he removed his glasses and polished them with the handkerchief that he always kept in the breast pocket of his waistcoat. Giles' handkerchiefs were always a freshly-laundered, and always a crisp white in colour. And that was only one of Giles' funny habits... "Oh, and Buffy? Clean your room. It looks as if there was a stampede in there when Francine brought back your...whatever it was from the dry cleaner's." One of his many habits just HAD to be an exceptionally good memory. Like an elephant's, really.
"Okay...I'll remember that," Buffy muttered as Giles left for parts unknown. You could literally get lost in that house. If you could even call it a house. **Maybe I can bribe Gunn to clean it for me.**
Buffy turned around. He stood there, in all his black pride.
His eyes widened. "Uh-uh. No way. I seen your room. No way am I gonna clean that that thing. Not even if I get to see your underwear drawer. Why don't you ask loverboy to do it? I'm sure he'd be willing and able."
"What? No..." Buffy paused, "Did you just call Angel 'loverboy'?"
"He thinks you're gorgeous," Gunn teased in a sing-song voice, "he wants to kiss you, he wants to date you, he wants to love you, he wants to marry you."
"You need to get over your 'Miss Congeniality' obsession," Buffy replied flatly, "cos I'm now WAY beyond disturbed."
"A kick-ass woman, comedy AND lots of beautiful girls in bathing suits. What's not to like?" Gunn asked innocently.
Buffy just rolled her eyes. **Guys...! Always thinking with their dicks...**
*****
At 5:45 that night, the doorbell rang, loudly sounding throughout the much-too-large house. Buffy, expecting and anticipating seeing her voice trainer again rushed to get the door.
Upon opening the door, she found the person she had least wanted to see. They hadn't seen each other for almost three years.
"Hi Buffy. Missed me?"
*****
Angel slumped around his house, wearily going about his chores and doing his homework.
"What the fuck is wrong with you now?" Spike asked, only caring half-heartedly.
"Gee, and I thought you were smarter than that..." Angel muttered as he threw his heavy maths textbook on the dining table along with a small pile of other books.
"Homework?"
"No," Angel replied, leaning tiredly back into his chair.
"The football team."
"No," Angel replied again. He was already growing tired of his stepbrother's irritating tendencies.
"Erection problems?"
"William!"
"You dimwit," Faith interrupted. "It starts with a 'G'," she hinted, handing Spike a glass of root beer.
"Umm...grades?" Spike tried uncertainly.
"GIRLS!" Faith finally gave in. "And I thought that that was the only word you even knew how to spell except your own name and 'sex'..."
"Hey. I'll have you know that I never failed a single spelling test in elementary school," Spike stated proudly. "I can spell 'fuck' and 'you' and 'bitch'," Spike grinned at his girlfriend.
"Hello? I have problems here and all you two seem to want to do is play childish spelling games," Angel reminded them.
"Sorry," Spike apologised smugly. "So, how is it going with Darla?"
"I bumped into her this afternoon," Angel said, opening his maths books, "apparently I'm going to the Bronze tonight. She left before I could tell her otherwise."
"And...?" Spike prompted.
"And I don't want to go. Cordelia will be there."
Spike burst out laughing. "Two words that'll make it ALL better: 'good', 'luck'."
"Gee, thanks for the help..."
"Why don't you just break up with her?" Faith asked suddenly. "If she's as terrible as all that, then wouldn't it not be worth it?"
"Male pride," Spike stated simply and took another gulp of his root beer.
"What he said," Angel said, scribbling furiously in his book.
"Well then what the heck is the problem? It's not as if your dare is as bad as Billy Rowland's was," Faith said casually as she slid into a nearby armchair.
"What was his dare?"
"He had to kiss his mother..." Faith replied.
"How's that bad?" Angel asked, rejoining the conversation.
"...On the mouth."
Spike sent root beer spraying all over the expensive Persian rug under his feet. "Oh my God! Did you have to fucking tell us that? Now I'm as dead as Sigourney Weaver's career for getting this stuff on the carpet...oh well." He shrugged and took another gulp from his glass, emptying it.
"Did he go through with it?" Angel asked, holding his breath (as was Spike).
"Of course he did," Faith said. "He was drunk at the time."
Angel and Spike breathed a sigh of relief.
Angel tuned out and back to his homework. It was boring and useless and totally something he didn't want to be doing. His attention flickered out the window where he saw the faint figure of a girl, chatting with the security guy at the front gate. She was let through and hesitated when she lifted a finger to press the doorbell. Her hair was dark, wavy and she seemed to be fairly tall. Definitely not Cordelia.
**Okay, so maybe I was wrong in assuming that her 'plans' were with a guy... It could still be right though.**
Angel continued to watch, eyes widening when the door flew open, revealing the same black guy he had seen just today and the day before that. **That's strange...**
*****
"Umm, who are you?" Gunn asked, wracking his memory for the identity of the brunette girl standing in front of him. She was pretty: bright smile, confident and looked, well, rich.
"Who are you?" she shot back. "I need to talk to Buffy. I can see you hiding up there!"
"Again, I ask. Who are you?" Gunn asked again.
"Jennifer," Buffy's voiced hitched at the name that slipped out of her lips. "What are you doing here?"
"What? You're not even going to say 'hi'? How rude..." Jennifer commented bitterly.
"Hi. Are you jealous now?" Buffy asked caustically. Good ol' Jen had betrayed her all those years ago, sneaking behind her back to steal Tyler from her. She had been her supposed best friend. More like a conniving, bitching, stealing, cheating, trampy, jealous traitor.
"Why would I be? I live in a place in Bel Air now...I have the sweetest boyfriend on the face of the earth...I'm not stressed...I got nice teachers this year. How about you?" Jennifer raised an eyebrow, inwardly snickering away.
"Bel Air, huh? Prime real estate. I didn't like it. It was so overrated..." Buffy replied. She hurried down to the bottom of the stairs and grabbed Jennifer by the arm and slammed the door closed. "I like it here."
"Surprised to see me?"
"Not really. I've been expecting it for a long time now. Steal anyone else's boyfriend lately?"
"Tyler was hardly your boyfriend at the time anyway. You didn't spend time with him, talk to him on the phone or any of that stuff. If you didn't do any of that stuff, then who would?" Jennifer said innocently. "And if you wanted to know, we broke up about three months later. He moved to Massachusetts."
"Really? I bet he's really kicking himself now."
*****
Angel continued to watch as the girl was pulled forcefully into the house. **Strange...**
He wanted to know what was going on and he wanted to know what the truth was.
Angel closed his books and grabbed his jacket from the closet at the front door. He hastily put it on and grabbed his keys from next to the phone. Slamming the door behind him, he started heading in the direction of Buffy's house. He needed answers and he needed them now.
*****
Jennifer laughed. "I bet he is. Probably everyday, even."
Buffy grimaced, sitting down on whatever was convenient. Apparently the most convenient thing at the moment was the second step of the grand staircase. At least it was carpeted.
"Look, I'm sorry," Jennifer apologised suddenly, startling Buffy out of her trance. "For...well, everything."
"Then what was with the bitchy attitude before?" Buffy asked suspiciously. "You don't just come around looking to apologise and begin by being bitchy. It doesn't work that way."
"Honestly? Not a clue."
"I think I should sleep on it, see how a more rational me will handle it. You know?"
"Yeah, I know," Jen nodded. "Well, I should...go. I don't think I really feel welcome anymore. Or at all," Jennifer lowered her eyes to the ground and turned to leave.
"Wait!" Buffy halted her former best friend. "You should visit again. When you have time."
"Okay," Jennifer beamed, "I will. Bye." And with that, she let herself out.
"Now, where were we?" Gunn asked as soon as the door clicked closed.
"You were going to teach me how to dance 'properly'. And then you were saying how we can't slow dance to The Actual Tigers and I was saying that it IS possible," Buffy reminded him. "Remember?"
"Fine, fine. Put on the damn CD..." Gunn agreed reluctantly, ushering her to go get the CD with a wave of his hand.
"Yay! I win," Buffy beamed. She quickly turned the stereo on and pressed play.
"You usually do."
//It's hard to be sevenIt's hard to be forty
I hear it's hard to reach heaven
It's too hard to be holy//
"This song sounds weird," Gunn commented as he showed her how to hold her arms.
"Well I guess you just have different musical tastes, so...uh," Buffy stuck out her tongue and concentrated on copying Gunn's steps.
//It's hard to be agelessIt's hard to be phoney
It's hard to be faceless
It's hard to be lonely//
"One, two, three, one, two, three, one, two, three," Gunn counted rhythmically as he moved. Buffy mimicked his steps uncertainly, nodding her head discreetly to the beat of his counting. She never thought it could be so hard to slow dance; it something she'd never really had the opportunity to do because of her singing career.
"I never thought it would be so hard," Buffy commented quickly, struggling not to lose her rhythm. **One, two, three, one, two, three.**
//Well maybe I ought to say that I'm notAnd what have I got left to say?//
"It's easier when you're younger. My mother taught me when I was eight. I *very* reluctant at the time," Gunn laughed. "You're doing well."
"Really? Cos right now I'm getting the impression that I suck at this," Buffy said, tipping her head to one side.
//Well I could write a long book about time and spaceI could write a long book about time and space
We couldn't get along
Time and space
If I could only say so long//
"Well with more practise..." Gunn teased.
Buffy laughed and punch her bodyguard in the arm playfully. "Stop doing that! You're joking about my inability to slow dance. It's no joking matter."
//It's hard to be JacobIt's hard to be Betty
It's hard to just wake up
And it's hard to get ready//
*****
Angel watched from outside, gazing longingly through the window from where he was standing on her front stoop. He watched as she joked as she danced with the lucky guy that Angel wished he were in the shoes of. **Yeah, well, you don't always get what you want. I thought I learnt that lesson already.**
He turned and left, kicking up gravel as he walked. Back to his house...where his stepbrother and his girlfriend were probably enjoying themselves or screwing around. As usual.
*****
Buffy paused as she saw a figure walking down the driveway and disappearing beyond the gate. She shrugged. It was probably Jennifer, dawdling.
Just a minute later, a car drove in through the gates. **Miss Calendar's here! 6 o'clock. Right on time.**
"Finally, Jenny's here," Buffy said, breaking away from Gunn to open the door for her. She needed advice and since Jenny was the only close female friend she had in a 100 mile radius, she was also Buffy's only hope.
"Hey Buffy," Miss Calendar greeted her pleasantly as she shrugged off her coat. "Have y—"
"I need help."
*****
Angel glanced down at his watch. 6:02. **Well I'm not staying cooped up doing homework on a night like this. Not with those two going at it like bunnies while mom and dad are out for the evening. Bronze it is.**
AN: The song is "Time and Space" by The Actual Tigers and in this story, pretend that Jennifer looks like Darcy from Bring It On.