Part Ten –
//Someone once told me that they would never wear a watch, because they hated the way people that wore them always looked at them, always kept track of time, of progress. Evaluated their actions (past, presenbt and future) in units of time…//
It was close to seven when filming was finally over. As Wes had mentioned might happen, Lily had arranged for one of each of the entire range of Gap 'live' clothing to be sent to Buffy at the Hyperion. The producer's gave her half her check and told her there would be an advert launch party that she and Lindsey would be expected to attend. The cameraman, Ricky, in turn took her to one side and said she was welcome to come to his and Lily's after-launch party too, as long as she didn't bring any of the editorial team. Happily excepting the invitation, she hugged Lily goodbye before leaving the pair and heading toward the entrance where Wes was due to pick her up, having fetched Willow two hours earlier.
Before she made it there, however a hand shot out, wrapped itself around her wrist and pulled her behind one of the stages. Yelping in shock, Buffy lifted her eyes to glare at her captor, only to smile when she realised it was Lindsey.
"Hey! What are you doing?" She laughed.
"Monopolising a beautiful woman." He smirked back.
"When she gets here, I'll tell her where you are." Buffy told him, "See you at the launch." laughing to herself before turning to leave again. Lindsey's hand once again caught her wrist. "What?" She asked frustrated at his behaviour. "I have to go."
"Just, don't say anything for a minute, okay?" Buffy obediently swallowed her next question. "This evening is the premiere of L'Angelique, and as of yet I hadn't asked anyone to go." Buffy nodded unsure where he was leading. "Do you want to be my date?" He clarified.
"Oh!" Buffy gasped "I didn't… I mean… oh. I'm sorry." She sighed, real sadness playing on her features, she felt bad for turning him down, especially since there was certainly nothing unappealing about him. He was smart, kind and funny and she was perfectly comfortable with him… but only as a friend. Anything past that would have been wrong somehow. Though she'd known him barely three days he had allready slipped into 'brother' on her radar.
Lindsey smiled sadly. "It's fine. I should have known anyway with the way you are around Angel." Linking arms with her, he lead her to the exit.
"I'm not any *way* around Angel." Buffy shot back indignantly.
"I'm sorry." Lindsey shot back, a wry smile on his lips. "I must have been mistaken."
Buffy pouted. "Fine. He's a honey. But he's annoying as hell!" Lindsey just laughed in reply. "I'm somewhat putout that you aren't more upset about me not coming this evening."
"Oh well, I had a standby but I was going to throw her off in favour of you."
"That is so mean!"
"Not really. She's desperate to get me married off." Puzzled Buffy stopped walking and stared at him. "It's my mother, Buff. I brought my folks across from Texas to stay for a bit when I visited them." Realisation dawning, Buffy poked him playfully.
"I worry about you."
"Well you're going to have to worry without me." He replied checking his watch. "I've got dinner reservations." Kissing her on the cheek, Lindsey parted ways with her.
Now even more contented, though it seemed scarcely possible, Buffy hummed to herself as she stepped out of the lobby of the studios. Drawing her coat closer against the cold wind, Buffy scanned the parking lot for the Buick.
Instead she was meet by a tall dark figure, casually leaning against the side of a red Ferrari Enzo. As she wacthed, he straightened up arms unfolding, and opened the passenger door, which rose like an eagle's wing, hinged from eth windscreen.
"Oh, Angel." She sighed. Seeing no other alternative, she descended the short flight of stairs and headed across the lot to the car. Without a word she slid inside, revelling in the smooth feel of the leather against her skin. The door closed beside her, and a moment later Angel was folding himself into the seat next to her.
"How was work?" he asked, as the car rolled smoothly oout of the park and onto the road.
"Good." She replied, biting her lip she considered what she was about to do… the consequences could be. Mentally shaking her head she decided she didn't care. "I, uh, I think I realised something today."
"What was that?" Angel asked, his tone painfully nutral, but he must've cared, or he wouldn't have come to collect her…
"That I'm really stupid." For the first time, Angel turned to face her, Eyes full of soft hope but still so very cold. She would have to fix that. A car horn honked and Buffy squealed as she realised that in their shared moment the car had drifted into the path of oncoming traffic. Perhaps cars weren't the best place for heart to hearts. Wrenching his eyes off her, Angel yanked the steering wheel so that the car swerved back into the right lane. "I was a lil' bit frustrated that we couldn't ever have anything… and I took it out on you. I'm really sorry, because it's not your fault."
"Kat said… that you took the job with Lindsey just because if you were famous as well there wouldn't be any reason we couldn't be together." Angel replied softly.
"Yes."
"And she swore blind it wasn't you who told about Giles in some crazy scheme to…"
"Why doesn't everyone automatically think that!?" Buffy exclaimed.
Angel laughed at her. "I get the feeling that there only problem there is with us having a future togther, is that we think that there's a problem."
"That's sort of the conclusion I came to, as well." She smirked at him. "Thunder stealer."
Angel just rolled his eyes. It looked suspiciously like things were back to normal, or at least as normal as things ever were.
When the red car rolled straight past eth Hyperion instead of turning into it's drive, Buffy turned to Angel, and wicked grin gracing her lips. "And where do you think you're taking me?" She demanded playfully.
"I thought… dinner, movies then maybe a club." He replied.
"And does Giles know about this?"
"You think I'm going to spend time with you surrounded by friends and family, when I could spend the night, with you, entirely alone?"
"Just what exactly are you insinuating?"
"Nothing at all." Angel replied in a tone so contradictorary to his voise, Buffy had to remind herself he was driving a moving vehicle to prevent herself from climbing into his lap. He was just so lickable when he was flirty all growly and ye gods… it made it so very impossible for her to think.
The resturant he took them to was, typically, gorgeous. Despite it's black tie code, Buffy and Angel had managed to sneak in in their jeans just because he was Angel. Buffy considered that not everything about being famous was bad, though she had no doubt Angel would be entirely munchable in a tux, she was glad they hadn't had to go home and change first. They were led to table in a discrete corner where the light from the central chandeliere barely reached, leaving their faces lit by the warm glow of the candle on the table.
"It's weird… but this is the first date I've ever been on." Angel finally said, sipping from the glass of water in front of him. Buffy's eyes met his in shock.
"Really? But you're all… studly and stuff."
Angel quirked an eyebrow at her mannerism. "I, er, skipped the date part out."
"And went straight on to the goodnight kiss." Buffy filled in. "I still can't believe you were really a wild child."
"Searching for proof huh?" A sly grin touched his lips. "Do you know how I got my first film part?"
"In 'Bill and Ted'? Uh, as I recall you were walking your dog past their studio when the director spotted you."
Angel shook his head. "That the story the press got, Faith and Lindsey and I… we were inseperable as teenagers, and we were constantly in trouble. Faith was actually supposed to be living with George and the woman he married when my mother died, but she kept running back to the Hyperion. After a while the cops didn't bother coming to fetch her back anymore. We were *always* in trouble, one night we broke into the studios where Bill and Ted was going to be shot, to steal… oh, part of the set I think. But we got caught by the director Joseph Nest, we made us some amazingly ridiculous lie to try and get ourselves out of it. And Joseph thought we were amusing. So he gave us all parts in the film. And then in 'Dawn' when he started making that.
"No dog?" Buffy pouted.
"I didn't even have one. Kat's allergic." Angel laughed.
"And the change from teen rebel to teen angel?"
"Jospeh said if I got into trouble again he would black list me and I'd never get another job in Hollywood." He admitted.
"He tamed the wild beast with money?" Buffy questioned somewhat surprised at his answer.
"No. He just made me more careful." Rubbing his chin thoughtfully he seemed to be debeating how much to tell her. "You're one to talk anyway. I've heard tales of you. Pyro-girl."
"That was an accident!" Buffy claimed, all innnocence. She managed to keep her face straight for a whole minute before it broke. "All right. 'Twas me, got mixed up with the wrong people. Burnt down the gym… got expelled, and moved to Sunnydale… But. It's over now, I have friends that I can trust and that care about me. And you… in your way." While she spoke, Angel's eyes had not left hers, his hand had caught hers where it lay on the table and his thumb moved across her skin in soothing circles. As she uttered the last word, he moved forward, leaning over the table to meet her lips in a sweet gentle kiss. Even when the kiss broke they didn't let the contact slip, instead leaning so that there foreheads still touched. "Guess we were both reform school brats." So whispered, before seizing his lips again in passion filled kiss that shot heat through every cell of her body, and made her skin hum with desire. As she let out a stiffled moan Buffy was convinced that there was nothing better than that feeling in the whole world.
//… but what, really was the point in that? In having set times to work, and set times to play, it made her feel trapped, like she had a duty to some mystic goddess ruler of the hands of time. But really, time is the only thing we have excess of, we have a whole lifetimes worth, and given the nature of thought, our physical tiem of being alive is all the time there is, in infinite amounts. In fact the only way you could *ever* run out of time, and not do everything you wanted, would be if you worried about how much time it would take to actually do… and so you can have what you want now, because waiting for it is just another way of avoiding ever doing it at all.//
Hello, I'm ill, so I thought hey, better write some of this. I have two very completely random questions to ask, one is do American school kids *really* pledge their allegence to the flag everyday? And the other is, does anyone happen to remember the name of Gunn's little sister? This is all relevant, honestly.
Weasy