Chapter 2 – 'I Can't Believe They Kissed.'

"Well, that movie sucked." Said Buffy after the television screen went blank. It was very dark outside and the only light in the house came from the radioactive glow of the television. I'm not saying a large amount of radiation but the normal low level of radiation that a television produces. I mean I don't want you to panic, it is not like it is life-threatening radiation, I suppose it depends on how long you spend before your television and of course computer monitor. But enough about being slowly poisoned to death and back to the story.

The only two people left standing, or in this case slumped on the sofa, were Buffy and Xander. They had just finished watching one of the many B-movies that Xander had bought.

"What are you talking about?" Asked Xander.

"It was just scantily-clad women running from a giant blob over and over again."

"So?"

"Where was the story? The emotional adventure? The character development?"

"It's not a chick flick, Buffy."

"Not every movie like that is a chick flick, you know."

"I think you will find that they are."

"What about…oh, I know, there's…maybe…I hate it when you are right."

Xander's face was broken up by a large smile stretching almost from ear to ear. "Lucky for it I'm not right very often."

"I don't get it, how can you not like chick flicks?"

"I don't know. I just find a way."

"What are we going to watch now?"

"Funny you should say that because when at the video shop it occurred to me that you ladies might not want to watch just B-movies all night. So I picked out a chick flick for you."

"You picked out a chick flick?"

"Picked out, asked the assistant, what's the difference?"

"Which one is it?"

"I don't know. They all look the same to me."

"Well, put it in then."

Xander, after much effort, managed to free himself from the clutches of the comfortable sofa and walked over to the VCR. "You know we don't have to watch this if you don't want."

"Having second thoughts?"

"Second, third and fourth."

"God, chick flicks aren't that bad."

"I'll remember you said that."

"What's that supposed to mean."

"We both know that you can't stand chick flicks anymore than I can."

"That's not true. I love the way they get to you emotionally involve yourself with the same story and how you truly care about the characters."

"Yeah, just like I love to hear about how terrible your day has been."

"Oh you are just so full of…wait, you don't like to hear about my day?"

Xander quickly put the video into the machine and pressed play. "The film is starting, everyone quieten down."

The film was surprisingly good, thought Xander. There was none of the usual corny dialogue that he found so annoying and at one point he could have sworn he saw something. Buffy on the other hand was experiencing something similar to torture. The story was so unbelievable that every few minutes she would say, "I can't believe that!", "Man, that was predictable." Or "This is so unrealistic."

After one such outburst Xander turned to her and said, "What is so unrealistic about it?"

"Oh come on!" Buffy almost couldn't believe that Xander didn't see it. "Boy meets girl, boy falls in love with girl but doesn't tell her, girl falls in love with boy and doesn't tell him and then both realise the other's feelings. That would never happen in real life."

"I don't know about that."

"It so obvious that the boy fancies the girl that she would have to be blind not to notice."

"I suppose she would have to be."

"And why doesn't the boy just tell the girl he loves her?"

"What if he fears rejection?"

"He should stop being a wimp and get over it."

"It's not that easy."

"Oh, look at that." Buffy waved a finger at the screen. "I told you they would realise the other's feeling for them. I bet you this film ends with them kissing."

"What is wrong with them kissing?"

"You don't go from being friends to kissing just like that."

"You could."

"Maybe in Hollywood fairytale land but not in the real world."

The two figures on the television screens moved closer and closer together until finally there didn't seem to be any space left between them. All the while they had been engaging in the familiar Hollywood romantic comedy style banter. Then the music rapidly increased in volume and then they kissed.

"I can't believed they kissed! That so wouldn't happen in real-life!" Buffy said almost shouting.

"Yeah, you're probably right." Replied Xander in an unusually resigned way. "You're probably right." He repeated too quietly to himself.