When I woke up the next morning, it was to the smell of pancakes and coffee. I checked the watch my mom had gotten me at the airport, and raised an eyebrow. 'Who eats breakfast at 8 in the morning? I don't get what's wrong with 11, but sure.'

When waking up at this hour, I would usually go right back to sleep for another few hours, but today I had no desire at all to stay in bed. I was too excited about the whole Faith issue to lie still. I was surprised that I had even managed to fall asleep last night, because when thinking about Faith, all I wanted to do was jump around screaming and smiling.

I took a quick shower, put on a tight tank top and a skirt reaching mid-thigh. I did a quick once-over of my looks and slowly padded down the stairs. As I entered the kitchen, Chloe and Jeff were busy making breakfast and setting the table.

Chloe smiled at me and said, 'Good morning, Buffy. It's good to see you're up. Now I won't have to be mean and wake you up myself.'

Jeff looked over his shoulder at me. 'Morning, Buffy.' I pulled out a chair and sat down. 'This morning is pretty good, yeah,' I said, smiling at Chloe.

She sat down next to me and asked, 'Did you find what you were looking for last night?' I tried to stop the dreamy grin that appeared on my face the second I thought about Faith again, but it was impossible. 'I take that as a yes,' she said, giving me a small smile and a laugh.

'Yeah, well, I saw her, but she didn't see me. I decided that it would be smart not to show up in the middle of a busy shift. The restaurant was packed with customers waiting to be served, and I want to have time to really catch up with her, you know. 'Cause there sure is a lot to catch up on,' I replied nonchalantly, thinking that she would see right through me, and know that Faith was more to me than just a lost friend if I didn't play it cool.

Before she had a chance to say more, I changed the subject. 'Where's mom, anyway?' 'Oh, Joyce went out for a little walk about ten minutes ago. She'll be back soon to join us for breakfast,' she said as Jeff put the food on the table.

Mom returned just then, and she sat down beside me, giving me a smile. Breakfast was nice, and as I expected, mom asked me pretty much the same things as Chloe had done. I think I succeeded in hiding my overexcitement, but I think maybe my cautiousness was a bit overdone, because there's nothing wrong with being excited about seeing an old friend. It doesn't have to mean that you're in love with that person, but I guess it's the same as being too denying when you know you've done something wrong. Not that being in love with a girl is wrong…'cause it's not, you know. Anyway, that's not what I meant; it wasn't an analogy or anything. Just a comparison of feelings, to put it correctly.

After breakfast I helped clean up, and then hurried upstairs to fix myself up a bit. I wasn't vain or anything, I just had a desire to look my best when Faith would see me for the first time in five years. I sure had changed a lot, but you could still easily tell that I was the same person. Bodywise, it was a totally different story. I could safely say that that was the part of me that had changed most; as could be expected.

I checked myself out in the huge wardrobe mirror and, finally, after about 5 minutes, decided that I was good to go.

'I'll say, B. Not lacking in the looks department, girlfriend!' I said, mocking Faith's way of speaking.

I suddenly realized what I'd done and made my way into the bathroom. 'Stupid Buffy. So stupid! You shouldn't get your stupid hopes up about Faith. She probably doesn't feel the same way as you do, anyway. And besides, your mom or someone could've heard you. And why on earth am I referring to myself as "you"?' I berated myself while pacing back and forth in the bathroom, trying to calm my hormones that seemed to not care about my sanity.

I calmed down and unpacked my make-up. I tried to be careful so as to not put on too much of the stuff, but still, it was a tad more than usual, but I was sure no one would notice. Well, maybe not so sure after all, because it only made that sinking feeling of my mom figuring it all out stronger. No matter what she would think, what Faith thought was way more important to me right now, so I would have to stop worrying so much about my mom.

I put my stuff away in my bedroom, and made my way down the stairs singing pieces of the song that was currently playing on repeat in my head. I turned left and walked into the living room, grinning at my mom who was retrieving her sunglasses from a table by the fireplace.

I could hear Chloe and Jeff cheerily talking out back. They were probably relaxing in the shade from the parasol, while enjoying fresh lemonade and the morning newspaper. I had difficulties understanding why they hardly used that swimming pool of theirs. Thoughts about Faith and me together in the pool began to form in my mind, and I mentally slapped myself to stop the process.

'Buffy, are you leaving to look for Faith right away, or would you like to join us outside? This is too lovely a day to spend indoors,' mom said and put on her sunglasses.

My smile faltered and I tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. 'Uh, I don't know…' I knew what I wanted to do, but it wasn't even 9 in the morning yet, so I reasoned that Faith might still be asleep. 'I'll just hang out with you guys for a while. It's too early to go visiting people, anyway,' I told her and moved out into the sunlight.

Jeff and Chloe were, as I had guessed, sitting by the backyard table catching up on the latest news and the latest Hollywood gossip; Chloe had always been a sucker for the glamour. Mom and I each pulled out a chair and helped ourselves with some lemonade.

Aunt Chloe looked at me, surprised. 'Buffy, I thought you'd get out of here the minute you had the chance. What happened to the happy reunion you probably had planned with Faith?' she asked, winking at me.

I could feel myself blushing violently at what she just said and did, and I was afraid she'd wonder why. It shouldn't be such a big deal, after all. If I weren't in love with Faith, it wouldn't be. I just smiled at her, and quickly told her how it was too early; gracefully adding how hot I thought it was outside to make her believe that this was the reason for the colour of my face. To my relief, she just nodded and turned back to her magazine.

I picked up a magazine whose cover sparked my interest and, to my surprise, it was already nine thirty when I finished it. I noticed that the others had left me, and had made themselves comfortable in the chairs at the side of the pool, frying themselves under the hot summer sun. I contemplated joining them, but I was too upbeat about the whole Faith thing to lie still. I really wanted to go find Faith, but something was stopping me from leaving the house – I realized that I was extremely nervous about it all – that's why I kept making these stupid excuses and procrastinating it by doing unnecessary things.

'Stop being such a wimp,' I thought to myself, 'and get your ass down to that restaurant - to Faith!' I put the magazine back on the table and got out of the chair I'd been sitting in. As I was starting to walk over to tell the others I was going out for a while, the doorbell rang. Upon Jeff asking me to open the door, I jogged slowly into the house