Chapter 5 – Give Me a Break

They were standing at the counter like a pack of wild dogs. Their comments were loud and Spike couldn't see who they were ridiculing but he knew. It was Buffy. And since she was working there was no way she could defend herself.

"What happened to the Obsession perfume, you kind of smell like," Larry stopped and loudly sniffed the air, "hamburgers and, yeah, grease, definite eau de lard."

Spike sidled up behind them as they laughed raucously at their own jokes.

"Hey, are you guys going to move it along or play all day? Cuz some of us would like for you to get out of the way."

"Look, punk," Percy turned to him.

"Don't even start," Spike said his eyes glittering in anger, as he stepped closer. "You wouldn't want that pretty face messed up for prom. Your girlfriend might be upset if the pictures didn't look good."

The boys gave Spike a once over grabbed their tray and went to take a seat. Spike went up to the counter expecting Buffy to be appreciative but she seemed angry.

"Welcome to the Doublemeat. How may I help you?"

"Buffy, come on, don't be like that. I was just trying to help."

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath and he could see the pain she was pushing away.

"Please don't make this any harder for me."

He nodded and placed his orders; one for him and one for his boss. When the transaction was done and she placed his bags on the counter, Buffy gave him a weak smile.

"Hey, what time is your break?"

"Seven."

"Okay, if I stop by."

"Yeah, that would be nice."

With a lighter heart he turned and headed back to work. Yeah, this day wasn't going to be so bad after all. Not when he could look forward to spending time with Buffy.

~~~~~~~~

It was almost seven and Spike figured it would be best if he avoided going into the restaurant itself and instead went along the side to wait for her. As he passed the window, her eyes met his as she pulled her hat off and ran her hand through her hair. Even this way she was beautiful to him but he knew that she was embarrassed that she had come to this. That she was now on his level and he looked away before heading for the back lot.

She was there in just the few moments that it took for her to clock out. Slipping out the back door, she looked around and came over to him. He took a last drag of his cigarette before tossing it aside and when she was standing in front of him, he ran his fingers softly down her cheek. Buffy stepped back out of his reach.

"Don't, I smell funny," she whispered.

Laughing he pulled her against him and nuzzled her neck.

"You just smell good enough to eat that's all."

And when she giggled, he squeezed her tighter but then as he started to let her go, her arms slid around him and she buried her face against him. Spike wasn't sure how it started, their embrace was innocent enough, just comfort between friends and he had figured that one night was all there was going to be but something ignited between them. Buffy ended up between him and the wall as their kisses got deeper and feral. It was her tongue in his mouth, swirling and teasing his, sucking the flesh like a newborn to its mother's teat. She clung to the lapels of his duster holding it around them as his hands slid over her body.

He kept waiting for her to stop him but she didn't and his hand moved under her uniform, down to cup her bottom to bring her against him. It was a wild fire that was burning them and he kept thinking they were going to go up in flames. She was like nothing he had ever felt before and he wanted to let her burn him so deep that it purified him. The kiss was broken because they were both panting too much to be able to keep kissing without suffocating. She turned her head to the side inviting without words for him to rain kisses on her throat. The primal male in him took over as he sucked on the bruise that he had marked her with and he knew he was giving her pain with the pleasure but it only seemed to push her over the edge. She reached between them to undo his belt buckle and it was time to make a decision.

"Fuck, Baby, are you sure?" He asked as he rested his forehead against hers.

Before she had a chance to answer the back door opened and they broke apart as her manager hollered that he needed her back in.

"I'll be right there," Buffy replied. She looked up at him, her eyes bright against the paleness of her skin, and he could see the confusion in their depths.  "Sorry, I kind of forgot where we were."

"It's okay. Do you want me to pick you up after work?"

Buffy nodded before she hurried back in, leaving him to watch her go. He didn't delude himself as to why she was clinging to him. She needed someway to hide from the hell her life had become and she was losing herself in him.

Spike had been studiously studying the back of Cordelia's head in Algebra class when they had paged him to the Guidance Office and he had hurled out an expletive that made the class laugh and his teacher frown at him. He just smiled his cocky smile at her and shrugged his shoulders as he headed out.

"Mrs. Lawrence sent for me," he told the secretary when he got there and was immediately sent back to her office.

"William, come in, come in, take a seat," Mrs. Lawrence gushed as she ushered him into her office and closed the door behind him.

"What did I allegedly do this time?" He joked because he was always being called down there and usually it wasn't even him that had been involved. He was only pulled in by reputation.

"Well, actually," she said as she took a seat behind her desk. "Buffy Summers helps me out in third period and she told me that you wanted to go to college."

"She was mistaken."

Anger surged through Spike at her invasion into his life as he stood.

"It's possible if you want. I already put a package together for you. The forms you need to fill out for scholarships. And, oh yes, the SAT is this coming Saturday. Deadline is already over but I can pull some strings."

He sat back down and looked at her in befuddlement. It had been an offhand comment in a conversation that he had thought about college and his Mum would be thrilled if he'd go but he didn't think it was possible. Kids like him didn't go to college that was reserved for the other crowds in school, not the outcasts.

"You serious?"

"Of course, you're grades are good enough. I'll be honest though, you are going to have to work at it because you're behind but yes, William, it is possible if you want it bad enough."

"Can I look this stuff over and get back to you tomorrow?"

"Certainly and catch up with Buffy. She said she'd help you study for the SAT."

"Thanks," Spike stood and took the package with him. He was determined to find Buffy and figure out what was going on.

~~~~~~~~

It was almost midnight before she got off work and Spike knew his Mum was going to kill him by the time he got home because they had school in the morning. He watched her as she straggled toward him, her shoulders slumped and a vacant expression on her face. She slid into the car and huddled against the door looking almost broken as she leaned her face against the window.

"Buffy?"

"Thanks, for picking me up but you shouldn't have waited. It seems I don't know how to clean right."

There were no tears and no emotions in her words, just a bare explanation of what had held her up. Leaving her alone he started the car to head the three blocks to the motel. He wasn't sure what he had been hoping for when he picked her up. Maybe a continuation of what they had started a few hours earlier and he wondered why he was. She looked like hell and he knew from her words that she felt like that too. And despite what he said earlier she did smell of grease and sweat but underneath all that she still had a dignity and strength to her. But he knew even if he still saw it, she didn't, and he reached for her hand to give it a squeeze.

"Pull over somewhere," she whispered.

Buffy wasn't even looking at him as she said the words so he didn't say or do anything else, just pulled the car into a side alley. After turning the car off he waited. It was her show.

"I'm sorry about earlier. It's like you touch me and I forget everything else, even where we are."

"I know the feeling."

This time they glanced at each other and smiled. It was the smile of two people who know everything about each other but yet are still afraid to open their hearts. Spike wanted to give her so much, to take care of her, and if he had to her mother and sister but yet knew that she wouldn't take it. Her next words surprised him.

"Make it go away," she pleaded. "Just for a little while."

They had arranged to meet at the town library that evening. He had caught up with her after school but she was on the way to cheerleading practice and couldn't talk. When he had said he didn't get off work till six, she had hesitated then agreed to meet at 6:30. So, now he was waiting for her to show and he saw her as soon as she came through the door. She was all bubbly and cute in her work out gear, her hair in braids across her shoulders and a big smile across her face as she came toward him. It was times like this that he didn't like her. This was pure Buffy, one of the privileged few who never had to fear being ridiculed because everyone wanted to be like them. He glanced down at his nails with the grease under them and the burn on his forearm where he had stuck it against a hot motor and wanted to leave.

"Hey, Spike, what's up?" She gushed as she made herself comfortable across from him. "I am so glad that you decided to do this. It is going to be so great."

"What made me your pet project? Decided to help the unfortunate," he snarled. He was feeling awkward sitting here with her. In his own world, he felt in control and like he was something, but here he didn't fit in. "Do you earn extra brownie points for this?"

They stared each other down across the table and he had to admire the sparks flying from hers.

"No, I don't actually. You said this was something you wanted. And it's going to be a hell of a lot of work for you to get it. I'm willing to help you but it doesn't do a damn thing for me. So, do I stay or leave?"

He did want it. When he had touched base with his Mum and told her, she had been excited and if nothing else he didn't want to disappoint her. He sighed as he accepted the fact that the two most important women in his life believed in him for some reason.

"Stay."

As he walked her to her car after they had closed the library down, they had run into Cordelia and Harmony in the parking lot.

"Hey, Buffy, what are you doing here?" Cordy asked.

"Studying," Buffy replied as she put her head down and started to pick up speed.

"I thought you had the initial Yearbook staff meeting tonight? Did you decide not to join because you know if you didn't go tonight then you can't be on it?"

Spike stopped as Cordelia's question sunk in and he turned in disbelief to Buffy.

"Yep, that's true.. Look, I'm tired and I'll talk to you tomorrow."

He waited until the other girls were gone before he grabbed Buffy's arm and turned her to look at him.

"You did that for me?"

"Yeah I did."

Sacrifices were what you did for friends. She had made a sacrifice for him, giving up part of the identity she had cultivated through her school years and she did it without hesitation because she wanted to offer him a lifeline. A light at the end of the tunnel that he could cling to, so that he had a reason to hope that one day he would get out of this town and be somebody.

And now he did the same for her. He knew it had nothing to do with love but yet everything to do with love. His love for her. If she needed moments that she could just lose herself in so that she could deal with everything else in her life then he would give them gladly. 

He scooted across the seat and took her into his arms. She came willingly to him, taking his love and strength into her, as she became what he needed. There was no question of holding back as she gave herself to him, taking him higher than he had ever been before. When he pulled her across his lap, she hesitated then tried to pull him down onto the seat again he laughingly asked her why.

"I don't know what to do like that."

Scooting away from him she pulled his duster around her since her pants and underwear were somewhere on the floor.

"You've never been on top before?" He asked incredulously.

When she looked up at him, confusion and pain in those emerald depths, he felt a sense of awe move through him, even as she snapped in anger.

"Have I ever been on top with you? Then no I've never been on top before."

"Buffy, I didn't know. I…it was too much to think that…"

"That what? That I'm not a slut."

She started to reach for her clothes when he pulled her against him.

"Don't, please, stay with me. I never thought that of you. Never."

Cuddling her close to him, he whispered in her ear as his fingers ran through her hair. Maybe if he hoped really hard than she might come to love him. And he was going to do everything that he could while he had a chance to make it happen. She had to care about him if he was the only she had ever let love her and he would find a way to convince her that they belonged together before Graduation.

TBC