A Promise Broken

          "Wow," Cordelia starred, her jaw hanging open. "Willow you look hot."

          The redhead blushed. "Stop it," she looked away. "It's just a dress, Cordy."

          "Maybe on someone else," the brunette said. "But on you, it's totally hot."

          Eyeing herself in the mirror Willow couldn't help but agree. She did look hot. The dress, bought early that day, was a lush shade of emerald that hugged Willow's body in all the right places and fell midway down her thigh. Both front and back hung low, exposing an almost indecent amount of skin and the slit at the side ran up to the redheads hip leaving nothing to the imagination every time she took a step. Around her neck Willow wore a rose pendent of emerald and her hair was pulled into a knot of curls.

Smiling at her reflection Willow laced her arm through Cordelia's. "Let's rock this party."

"We're going to bring the house down," the ex-cheerleader replied as the two girls left the Hyperion Hotel and headed towards the club.

Silver and Gold was the club in Los Angeles and accessible only by invitation. Turning the corner Cordelia and Willow glanced at each other, shocked, then turned back to the mind-boggling line outside the three-story building. The row of people seemed to never end and Willow grew suddenly worried they wouldn't get in.

Approaching the two men out front Willow couldn't help but giggle. They looked ridiculous – tall but stocky, no neck, solid faces, black sunglasses even though it was well past 7:00 pm. Clearing her throat, hoping to catch their attention, Willow jumped slightly at the tap on her shoulder. Looking behind her she found herself eye to eye with a blonde-haired man no older then herself. Dark eyes starred into her green.

"Ms Rosenberg? Ms Chase?"

"Uh, yeah," Cordelia responded.

"Great," the man smiled. "Follow me please."

Glancing at each other again the two women shrugged and followed the strange man through the back door. They passed through a hallway, then glided through the enormous kitchen, down another series of hallways, up a flight of stairs, through a metal detector, down a flight a stairs, across a balcony over looking an empty room, down a final hallway, then out into the main floor. It was dim and sparkling and smelled of a rich, floral scent. Awing at the extravagance the two women continued to follow the stranger as he weaved his way masterfully through tables and patrons.

"Here we are," he said gesturing to a table.

"There you two are."

Facing the table Cordelia and Willow smiled. Angel, Fred, Gunn and Wesley were already seated and sipping wine. Frowning, Willow asked, "Where's Spike?"

Angel shrugged. "I haven't heard from him."

"I'm sure he's just running a little late," Fred said.

The redhead forced a smile onto her face. "I'm sure you're right."

Four hours. Willow was pissed beyond belief. That undead Q-tip had stood her up. He had promised he'd be there but he wasn't. Willow had spent the night chatting with Fred and Cordelia, dancing in turn with Angel, Wesley and Gunn and sucking down the drinks. Occasionally the redhead was eyed by a male patron but a growl from Angel or a warning glare from Wesley and Gunn quickly shoed them away. Willow wanted Spike. But Spike was the one person not there.

Frustrated and angry Willow, after five hours of waiting, pushed herself to her feet, excusing herself, and left Silver and Gold. Alone and crying Willow slowly made her way towards the Hyperion. Wiping away her tears and cursing herself for shedding them the redhead through herself down onto the Lobby couch and starred up at the ceiling. After a time she heard the door open and tilted her head.

"You've got some fucking nerve," she hissed standing to her feet. "How dare you stand me up like that."

"Red, I'm sorry," Spike pleaded.

Shaking her head Willow pushed away her tears. "No, Spike. It's not going to work this time. You promised me. Promised me. And you didn't show up. I asked you for one little thing and you couldn't even do that. How am I supposed to trust you now? I can't rely on you if I'm always wondering whether or not you're going come through."

"I know. I'm – "

"A lying bastard," Willow spat. "I wanted you there tonight. I wanted you to see me and tell me how beautiful I looked. I wanted you to hold me and dance with me and kiss me. I wanted you. But you were the one person who didn't come. God, I told you how much this meant to me. How much I wanted for us to go out. But I guess that doesn't matter to you does it? My happiness was unimportant and trivial compared to whatever the hell it was you were doing tonight."

"Willow, please."

Holding up her hand Willow shook her head. "Save it, blondie, 'cause unless you're going to tell me where you were, what you were doing, where you've been disappearing to lately, then I don't want to hear it."

Turning on her heel Willow left Spike standing in the Lobby, alone.