TITLE: Burgandy

AUTHOR: Ben Is Glory

RATING: PG-13

PAIRING: B/S

DISCLAIMER: Characters do not belong to me. Title comes from a Common Rotation song. Goooood band, go listen!

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Another update, not much to say. But "creative licensing" just became my new best friend :-D

FEEDBACK: Yes yes yes!

***

An hour and three beers later, Buffy was the life of the party. She had danced with nearly everybody at the Bronze and had long since forgotten any inhibitions she had before. Willow was getting nervous.

"Come on, Buffy," she said gently, trying to coax the blonde out of the club. "Time to go home!"

"No! I don' wanna!" Buffy exclaimed. By now, Willow was practically dragging her to the exit.

"Need some help?" a stranger asked. It was the boy Buffy was admiring earlier.

"Yes!" pleaded Willow. He slung one of Buffy's arms around his shoulder and started to help her walk out.

Buffy smiled at him as she rested her head on his shoulder. "Hee. You're pretty," she slurred drunkenly.

He shot Willow a nervous smile, but she only gave him a tiny shrug. "So, where are we going?" His voice had a thick British accent. Buffy giggled.

"You talk funny," she babbled and lightly slapped his face.

Willow disregarded the last comment and calmly told him, "Stevenson Hall. NYU." Buffy just held her gaze on the man, smiling stupidly.

Amazingly enough, the two had been able to get the drunk girl into a cab without problems. She fell asleep on the way to the school. When the taxi pulled up in front of the campus, Willow paid the driver and the stranger carefully lifted Buffy into his arms and started for the dorms. The redhead soon caught up and led him to their room.

Willow opened the door and let him in. She pointed out which bed was Buffy's and he gently set her down on top of it. He removed her shoes, hoping not to wake her, and tucked her in. The other girl silently mouthed a "thank you" and gave him a grateful look.

"No problem," he answered softly and slipped out the door.

***

Slowly, Buffy began to regain consciousness. She could tell because of the throbbing headache she had. Oh, man. What a night. I wonder what time it is… she pondered as she peeked open her eyes to glance at the clock.

Suddenly, her eyes popped open and she bolted upright. 9:15? she thought frantically. But, how? I had my alarm set, and… how could this happen? Fifteen minutes late on the first fucking day of classes! She jumped out of bed and ran around the room, desperately in search of clothes.

"Shit! Shit! Shit!" she curse as she pulled a shirt over her head. "Where the hell is Willow?" The question went unanswered by the empty room. Buffy threw on a pair of jeans, stuffed her feet in some sneakers, grabbed her book bag and flew out the door.

The little blonde ran for all she was worth. She rushed through the quad, through one building and into another. As she reached her classroom, she composed herself quickly, then moved to open the door.

"So, this is what I expect for the first semester," explained the professor to the room of students. He was dressed in tweed and spoke with a British accent. Somebody English is teaching English, Buffy joked to herself. Uh oh, time to get serious. He glanced at Buffy, who had just stepped in. She tried to read his expression; he seemed upset and a bit surprised. "And you are?" he inquired.

"Buffy. Buffy Summers," she replied quietly.

"Ah, Miss Summers. Nice of you to join us. May I ask why you are twenty minutes late?"

"Faulty alarm clock," she lied.

"How terribly unfortunate. Well, Miss Summers," he continued, "please have a seat. I'm Mr. Giles, and this is English 101."

Buffy flashed him an apologetic smile before hurrying to a seat next to Willow, who gave her a little wave. "Hey Buff," she whispered.

Afraid they'd be in for another lecture from Mr. Giles, Buffy ripped out a piece of paper from her notebook and scribbled furiously. Why didn't you wake me up this morning? read the note. She shoved it at Willow.

The redhead wrote back: I tried! The alarm went off, and I shook you and yelled at you, but you wouldn't get up! So, I didn't know what to do, and I left. I'm sorry! Forgive me?

As Buffy read the note, her anger faded away. Yeah, I guess. she wrote back. How out of it *was* I last night?

Willow let out a small laugh. At that moment, the door opened and someone stepped in the room. Buffy let out a sigh of relief knowing that she wasn't the only person late on the first day of classes. That relief soon turned to mortification.

Into the classroom strolled the stranger from the Bronze. The one Buffy had been admiring all night, and the same one that had taken Buffy home. Horrified, Buffy ducked her head.

"Class!" began Mr. Giles. "This is my teaching assistant, William Walthrop. He will be helping me teach the class throughout the year."

Buffy groaned. *This* is going to be fun, she thought sarcastically.

***

A/n: Good? Bad? Review!