Part 21
Angel's finger was poised over the buttons on the phone, ready to dial the number to the ticketing office at the exact moment they opened. He tried two minutes ago and they'd just turned him back and gave him a voice recorded message saying that they would open in two minutes time. As soon as the numbers on his clock radio changed, Angel began to dial frantically.
Following the phone prompts, he used his brand spanking new credit card to buy the tickets and had managed to secure seats for himself and ever-annoying roomie. In the ten seconds or so that Angel had been carefully listening to the to-do-such-and-such-press-one...so on and so forth message, he'd lost about 12 rows to other callers, those buying over the counter at the ticket offices and people purchasing over the internet. **Woah, tough.**
It was madness. Ten seconds and already enough tickets were sold to fill twelve rows. *Twelve*-if he'd waited for the full message to play, he guessed he probably would've lost closer to twenty rows.
Later he checked the seating arrangements over the internet and found that he'd actually gotten aisle seats-perfect for his plan. Nothing extravagant of course-certainly not anything that would involve singing or dancing or anything remotely publicly humiliating. Or at least he hoped it wouldn't.
*****
Again, screaming of fans. Again, applause. It didn't hold the same magic to her as it did before, when she thought it could only get so good. But now...now she wasn't so sure anymore. It was different last time. It was more exhilarating. All that she was concerned about now was that Angel would get her hints-she was sure he was watching it in some way or another-if not by coming to the actual event or by watching it on pay-per-view. She'd written a song especially about him a month after the break up and had been the most meaningful song to her from the whole album.
After a long and emotionally draining conversation with Jenny, she'd fallen apart and admitted her true feelings about the whole catastrophe. She knew she loved him already. She knew he loved her back. The problem was that she couldn't admit to herself that she still wanted to be with him, not until Jenny forced it out of her by brute force...or rather, supportive words.
The first show hadn't even started yet. She was still waiting nervously backstage as she wondered if it was still a good idea to go ahead with her plan to profess her love to him in such a public way. But of course, she couldn't back out now. The band had rehearsed it already and probably wouldn't be happy with her if she decided at the last minute to cut it out of the program. Nor would she be too happy with herself afterwards.
*****
"Gunn!" Angel shouted as soon as he spotted the bald African-American wading through the crowd of fans still waiting to get into their seats. Angel was armed with a bunch of nineteen red roses. That is, a dozen plus seven-Buffy's lucky number. Remembering that little detail had been an easier feat than figuring out how he could remember so easily in the first place. Amongst the roses sat a crisp white piece of card carefully written on by him and him alone. He just hoped it wouldn't end up in her drawer of "I love you" cards from supposed "secret admirers". She'd even shown the drawer to him once-it was only half full so far.
Gunn didn't turn around immediately (his movement was currently...constricted), but when he did, he instantly recognised him. "Loverboy!"
"Will you stop calling me that?" Angel grumbled.
"Ooh, flowers. Are they for me?" Gunn asked in a mocking tone that made Angel idly wonder if he was about to swoon like an 18th century debutante.
"Do you even have to ask?"
"Okay, here's the deal," Gunn said, suddenly turning a bit too serious and threatening for Angel's liking. "I don't know what happened, but you hurt her bad. If you expect her to forgive you cos you brought a bunch of flowers, then I think that maybe you should reconsider your chances."
Angel turned the bunch of flowers around and pointed to the card inside, "There's a note."
"And what exactly do you want me to do about it?"
"Could you just...give them to her? Make sure she sees the note. And also, I need you to tell her that I got a dozen, plus seven. I'll owe you one..."
"You, my man, have a twisted logic. Why didn't you just get seven single ones and smush them together? Then you'd get her ACTUAL lucky number. Still, twisted logic."
"I thought of that, but then the bunch looked too small. Please tell me your next phrase will be 'I'll see what I can do,'" Angel pleaded, coaxing it out of him by pure desperation.
"I'll see what I can do," Gunn said, accepting the roses. "Also, my message is that she has a message for you. Which you'll...ah, find out about sooner or later."
"Are you pulling my leg or are you clueing me in on something?" Angel asked suspiciously as he found his seat and slowly sank down into it, not breaking eye contact.
"Both," he replied mysteriously as he left, having a little difficulty with his planned scene-exit scenario as the lights had been dimmed and there were still a whole flood of people trying to get to their seats.
Jared looked at Angel in question. "Who the heck was that?"
"Charles Gunn. He's her, uh, permanent bodyguard."
"Oh. Interesting. Are they...?"
Angel flashed him an odd glance, "Uh...no?"
"Just checking."
*****
AN: The song is "I Love You" by Faith Evans, from the album, 'Faithfully'. Cue: download.
Buffy hurriedly slipped behind the changing screen backstage with three of the people from wardrobe bearing her next costume, jewellery and shoes. Okay, not exactly a costume, since it was store-bought dress, but technically...
She unhooked the microphone headset from her ears and threw it to one side, managing to be able to be stripped of most of her previous costume in the process. She picked up a bottle of water from a nearby table and gulped down half the contents and managed to don the plain white gown at the same time.
One of them started undoing her hair, another was securing a necklace around her neck and the last of them was putting shoes on the floor so that she could slip them on. After they were done with her hair, a fourth guy came in and gave her a heavy black microphone and told her she had all of fifteen seconds to do whatever she wished. Or 12 seconds by the time he finished telling her.
Gunn appeared out of nowhere..."These-"...and presented her with Angel's bunch of roses "-are for you."
Buffy beamed. "Gunn...you didn't have to. That's so sweet..." She brought the bouquet up to her nose to smell them.
"I didn't. Loverboy asked me to give 'em to ya. Told me to tell you there are nineteen, too. A dozen, plus seven."
"Really? I can't believe he remembered me saying that..."
"I think that's your cue," Gunn said pointedly as the first few chords of the next song were played and the screaming of the crowd died down in reply to the mellowness of the accompaniment. Buffy grabbed the note tucked within the flowers and wrapped it around her microphone. She set the flowers down on a nearby empty chair and hurried back onto the stage.
She took a deep breath. This was the right moment for saying the three little words that she'd somehow kept locked up inside for months. Its time had come; right here and right now.
//My heart belongs to youSo what could I do
To make you feel I'm down with...
You see me hangin' around
But you don't know how
You make me feel for you, and...//
She poured her heart out as she sung. She'd written the song for him and now she was singing it for him. He was out in the crowd somewhere and she wanted him to know that she meant what she was singing.
//Each and every day, I try to make some sense of thisWhat you mean to me, I know it could be serious
Each and every night, I dream about just holding you
Loving you like this, what is a girl supposed to do//
The backup vocalists sang the first half of each line and Buffy sang the second half, the harmony stirring Angel from his daze to recall what Gunn had hinted at before. "She has a message for you," he'd said. Was this the message? He had the album and recognised the song to be the ironically titled "I Love You"...it was his favourite track and he often spent whole days listening to the song on repeat. It just meant the world to him to hear her say those three little words.
//I love you, I want youYou're the one that I live for
And I can't take it anymore
I love you, I need you
What can I do to make you see
You're the only one for me//
Buffy searched the crowd-starting from the back-for that familiar face that her heart was aching with the need to see again.
//First time I saw your faceMy heart just erased
All the guys I knew
Before you walked into my life
I was the type to never want for nothing//
Getting to the sides, she still couldn't find him. She was starting to get desperate. The only good thing to come of the search, should it be unsuccessful, is that she would've made eye contact (however briefly) with almost every member of the audience. She prayed to God silently that it would be successful.
//Each and every day, I try to make some sense of thisWhat you mean to me, I know it could be serious
Each and every night, I dream about just holding you
Loving you like this, what is a girl supposed to do//
Angel realized that she had yet to notice him there, near the front of the audience, looking straight at her throughout the whole of the time she'd been onstage. Maybe it had something to do with the obsessed screaming girls sitting in front, who were unable to *stay* seated.
//I love you, I want youYou're the one that I live for
And I can't take it anymore
I love you, I need you
What can I do to make you see
You're the only one for me//
Finishing with searching the sides of the concert hall, she concentrated on searching the section in front of her where she guessed Angel was least likely to have gotten a seat in...unless he really rushed to get the tickets over the phone... She concentrated harder-that was definitely something she could imagine him doing.
//I love you, I want youI need you in my life
Can't you see what you mean to me?
Baby, come hold me tight//
Nearing the front, she finally found him. He was looking up at her with dazed eyes, as if he couldn't believe that she'd found him in a crowd like this. He was behind a bunch of three girls who she'd noticed before, but they'd obstructed any sort of view she could've had of him. It was chance that the person sitting beside him had tapped one of them on the shoulder when he did. **God bless that person who I don't have a clue about.**
//I miss you, wanna kiss youEvery time I see your face
Baby I'll be waiting for you
Each and every day//
One of the girls sitting in front of Angel kept turning around to look at him and Jared. He felt like telling her it was creeping him out, but restrained himself. It would mean that he'd have to break eye contact with Buffy...which would be bad.
The girl turned around again and gasped. She turned back to the front sharply and quickly whispered to her friends, who each gasped louder than the girl before. **Maybe they recognize from somewhere. I think I'll deem this the Jared Realisation.**
Buffy glared at the three girls checking her guy out (or so it looked from her line of vision). **Hey! Eyes off!**
//I love you, I want youYou're the one that I live for
And I can't take it anymore
I love you, I need you
What can I do to make you see
You're the only one for me//
Her voice was nearly hoarse with emotion. She was getting close to the point where she just wanted to drift off the stage and back into his arms. It was certainly bordering on corny, but she didn't care what anyone else-not even Jenny or Giles (wherever those two disappeared off to half an hour ago)-thought about their relationship, not now or ever again.
//Baby you're the only one for meAnd you know it's meant to be
What can I do to make you see
My love will carry on
So listen to my heart and know
To find out where my love will go
The future lies between us, boy
Oh babe, I love you so//
She carefully unwrapped the card discreetly as she sang. On it, Angel had written a poem, one that he'd written himself.
"I know I can't singI know I can't dance
I know I'm not nearly perfect
But I have to take a chance
The feelings in my heart,
I know you may not reciprocate
But there's a thirst-not in my throat
That I cannot seem to sate
The only thing I do know,
And for sure, it's true
Is not only that I was a fool
It's that I love you..."
It wasn't a very good poem, but it said exactly what he wanted to say to her. Angel saw the flash of white that she held in her hand and instantly flickered his eyes to her face. She was smiling, beaming, grinning...there just weren't enough words he could think of describe the smile she gave him.
Buffy tucked the card safely back into her hand and quickly cut off the rest of the song (which was just more repeated chorus).
//I love you//
*****
When he got home that night-after unsuccessfully trying to sneak backstage-he was surprised to hear noises coming from his dorm room. It was Jared (who had declared Angel a lost cause and gotten back by his own means of transport) and somebody else, whose voice sounded vaguely familiar.
"Hey, Loverboy. Gotta say, I never imagined that dorms could look so...civilised," Gunn said, gazing around and poking his nose into the things on Angel's desk. "Hey, you still have that picture from the Pier," Gunn held up the frame and grinned proudly, "I'm an amateur at photography, but I think this turned out damned good, don't you?"
"Speak or forever hold your peace," Angel said, sighing. Jared watched from the other side of the room, intent on keeping out of the conversation and content to be allowed to witness it.
Gunn rubbed his hands together, "Someone's gonna get lucky tonight..."
"Yes, and we all know it's not gonna be you. No news there," Angel grinned.
"Hey! I take offence to that. I have a girlfriend and I am *not* afraid to turn her on you."
"Okay, I got it. Now what was it you wanted to say?"
"Why don't you," Gunn pointed to Angel, "come with me, and we'll go on a little drive."
*****
Gunn held the limo door open for him, gesturing for him to get inside with a flourish of his free hand. Angel looked at him suspiciously, but got in nonetheless. Gunn slammed the door after him.
"Put it on the boil and let simmer for half an hour," Gunn said to himself curtly. "It's time to party!" He shouted at the top of his lungs, slamming the front passenger door behind him and they headed off for destinations unknown (though possibly just a winding route through the area).
*****
Angel blinked to adjust to the darkness of his surroundings. It was then that he noticed that he wasn't alone...in a good way, of course.
He swallowed a lump in his throat before he could squeeze out the tiniest of tiny sounds, "Buffy?"
"Of course, silly," she said slowly as she moved up to sit next him. She was wearing a pair of worn-out jeans and snug-looking sweater, but he still couldn't imagine her looking better than she did right now. **Well, technically...better would involve the loss of the jeans and the sweater, but...** "Seeing as we owe each other an apology, can we just say that they cancel each other out and skip to the bit where I kiss you?"
Angel nodded, not knowing how to respond. She quickly climbed into his lap and kissed him as if she hadn't seen him for a thousand years, which wasn't far from the truth, in her opinion.
"I wrote that song for you, you know. And I do love you."
"I know...I love you, too. I-I turned down several scholarships to be near you," Angel said, and then as an afterthought, added, "you know."
"Really? What kind of scholarships?"
"Not academic, of course. They were all football scholarships. My dad wasn't too happy with me," he said, laughing at the memory. He let his hands wander, eventually ending up at the same place as his gaze. "Lucky jeans?"
"Well Gunn DID mention something to you didn't he?" she said smirking. "Lucky you."
THE END
AN: There will be no sequel!!