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Notes: This was the first fanfic I ever wrote and was written in November 1997, which makes it a second season AU now.
Buffy came into the library. School wouldn't start for another half-hour. "So, Willow, is Xander around?"
"No," Willow replied, "Is he back?"
"He didn't call you?" Buffy looked uncomfortable. "He called me last night, I guess I just assumed he called you too." At Willow's crestfallen expression, Buffy hastily began to make excuses.
'Open mouth, insert foot,' she thought. "I'm sure he meant to, but he probably got caught up in helping his cousin move in."
Willow smiled weakly. "He didn't run out of time to call you. And if he was home, why didn't he come over this morning? We usually walk to school together."
Buffy put her arm around Willow's shoulder. "Come on, Will, it's not like Xander has a real good short-term memory. He does tend to get caught up in things. He probably needed some time to talk to his cousin. Besides if Xander's going to continue to play clueless and dense, then I think you should write him off. There are a lot of cute guys in this school who are probably dying to ask out the brainy, beautiful Ms. Rosenberg, but are just too shy without encouragement.
"Yeah, right," Willow said.
Their conversation was cut short when a voice came from the door."Did everyone miss me?" Xander said as he walked in, followed by a tall boy with sandy hair and more than his share of good looks.
"Hi, Xander," Willow said shyly, wishing she had known to do something a little special with her appearance as she caught the look Xander gave Buffy.
"So, you gonna introduce us?" Buffy said, snapping Xander out of his drool-producing fantasies.
"Oh, yeah. This is my cousin Drew. Drew, this is Buffy and you already know Willow," Xander said.
"Hi," Drew said smiling and holding out his hand.
'Wow,' Willow thought, 'He's even cuter when he smiles.' The thought sent a guilty twinge through her.
"Well, we've got to go guys, I just wanted to say hi and make sure Mr. Giles didn't need any help," Xander said, choosing his words carefully for Drew's ears.
"No, everything's fine. He's just up in the stacks re-shelving books," Buffy said.
"Okay, well then, I've got to get Drew registered for school," Xander said, and the two boys left.
"What a hottie," Buffy said.
"Buffy!" Willow said, "You're sorta going out with Angel."
"Well, I can still look, can't I? Although, I have to say Drew seems to be more you're type than mine. He's got the same conservative, undaring look in clothing that you've carried to an art form. As for looksÑall the best parts of Xander mixed with Brad Pitt."
"You think my clothes are boring?"
"Not boring, just undaring. I mean you looked great at Halloween and you totally covered it up with that sheet."
Giles came down from the stacks. "Hadn't you better get to class? School started five minutes ago."
"Great," Buffy said. "Like Mr. Gertz needs an excuse to put me on his hit list." The two girls scampered off, but Giles had already forgotten about them, intent as he was reading the latest prophecy in the Codex. ----- It was lunch time. Buffy, Xander, Willow and Drew were eating lunch. The conversation was a bit strained. There wasn't much the group could talk about. Every time Buffy or the Slayerettes brought up a topic it started to veer into vampire territory and the conversation would be broken off with an embarrassed pause.
Drew didn't notice, except to note that Willow had a very attractive blush. The situation was all a little unreal for him. Less than two weeks ago he had been living in Portland with his parents. Now they were dead ('don't think about it') and he was sleeping on Xander's floor. He shook himself, he hoped they didn't think he was a space cadet or rude, because he hadn't been listening. He needed to make a good impression if he was going to live here. "So, what I do I need to know to survive the halls of Sunnydale High School?" Drew asked, praying no one had already spoken about something similar.
Xander smiled, "Well as a macho, manly man with the Harris genes, all you really need to know is that cheerleading practice is right after school outside on the track." "Ouch," Xander yelped when Buffy lightly punched him in the arm. They all laughed and the awkwardness was forgotten. ----- Willow looked out of the window towards the end of class to see Drew walking away. 'I wonder where he's going?' As soon as the bell rang she hurried out of class. Immediately, she strode out in the direction Drew had left. She found him sitting at a bus stop two blocks away, thank goodness she had her free.
"Drew?" She asked uncertainly as she walked up.
"Oh, hi Willow," he said. "I was just uh, uh."
Willow took a deep breath. 'I should have gotten Xander or Buffy,' she thought. 'I don't know what to say.' "Were you thinking about your parents? Willow asked.
"Yeah."
"Can I sit down?" Drew nodded and moved over to make room on the bench. They sat in silence until Drew said, "I miss my parents and I miss my friends in Portland. I just miss Portland. Not that Sunnydale isn't great or that you guys haven't been really nice, but,"
"But itÕs not the same," Willow said.
"Yeah."
"I remember how hard it was for me after my dad died. I don't know what I'd do if I had to deal with that and move to another state," Willow's said sympathetically.
"Well, most of the time I'm fine with it. But it's still so new — I guess sometimes I just need to be alone to think."
"Oh," Willow said, "And I'm interrupting. I'll leave you alone." She started to get up. Drew grabbed her arm.
"No wait. Maybe I need to be alone with someone," he smiled, "You know you're much prettier than I remember." Willow took his compliment as an effort to change the topic and decided to play along with it.
"Well, I should hope so, now that I don't have braces," she said.
"Remember how Xander dumped that bottle of ketchup on me when I teased you about them?" Drew said. Willow laughed. "At the time, I just thought he was weird for wanting to hang out with a girl, but I suppose he probably just had a crush on you."
Willow blushed, 'If only,' she thought. Drew continued on, sharing reminisces from the few summers that he had visited and they talked for a long time. Sometimes, the conversation was light-hearted and sometimes it grew more serious as they both shared the pain of having lost parents. Suddenly, Willow thought to check her watch.
"We've been talking for hours," she said. "School ends in like 15 minutes."
"No problem," Drew said. "We'll just head to the library and hook up with Buffy and Xander there."
"But what if somebody sees us? The teachers are going to want to know where we've been. What if they call my house? How am I going to explain an unexcused absence to my mom?"
"Willow," Drew said, rolling his eyes. "Just tell your mom that I was feeling depressed and you cheered me up. It's not like you ditched school to go bar-hopping or anything."
"I guess you're right, I am freaking out over nothing," Willow said. They headed back to school, and when Drew slipped Willow's hand into his, she was too surprised to say or do anything.