19b

an- sorry for the wait, hope it was worth it!

Will came home right on time the next morning, and found a nervous Buffy sitting at the table waiting for him with a cup of coffee. She had bags under her eyes, and he frowned slightly.

"Have you slept a'tall, Buffy?" He asked as he pulled his boots and duster off.

"Not a whole lot, no. Inventory last night, remember? We didn't get done until nearly 1am. Didn't sleep real hot even after I got home. Where were you?"

Looking up Will couldn't help but notice the slight frown on her face, and the hurt expression her eyes held.

"I had to do some driving, love. I know you were worried, but I needed to get away from here for a while." Will closed his eyes and leaned back in the chair, letting his head drop back until it was facing up towards the ceiling.

"Oh," was all Buffy said in response. The one small word, said so quietly, was about all Will could stand, but at the same time, he felt the need to push away from her. Drusilla and Angel had left him feeling the need to protect his heart from any more painful shards of glass. Sighing, he opened his eyes.

"Look, baby, why don't we go lay down. I need the sleep, and it looks like you do, too. We'll talk about yesterday later some time." Will stood up, and held a hand out towards her. Buffy looked up at him with large eyes, then took a deep breath, and stood, placing her hand in his.

They silently walked towards the stairs, but Will veered off into the bathroom to change first. Buffy stood staring at the door and trying to sort her own emotions over the entire matter. She felt hurt that he didn't share what was bothering him. Even more than the hurt, though, was the confusion over why he would just disappear for a day without telling her why, or where he was.

Will came out of the bathroom dressed in a pair of gym shorts, and a t-shirt, and took her hand again. They walked silently up to her room, and crawled into a bed they were starting to both refer to as their bed, rather than her bed.

"Willow, I don't know what's going on in his head. He won't say anything, and it's been almost a week." Buffy was talking to Willow on the phone as she hurriedly got ready for work.

"Maybe there isn't anything to tell, Buff. I mean, he might have just gone to Vegas for the day, or something."

"It isn't just that. He's been pulling away since that day. He almost never comes home straight from work, and when he does, he tells me he's tired, and disappears into his bedroom."

"I don't know what to tell you, Buffy. Just give him time and space." Willow sounded sympathetic as she tried to give her best friend advice on men, something she didn't have great knowledge in.

"Yeah… I should just let him alone. Thanks for talking with me, Willow. I need to get to the diner. I'll talk to you later."

The girls said their goodbyes, and Buffy hung up the phone. For a moment, she stared at Will's door, then sighed, and left the apartment.

Will stared at his door as he heard Buffy talking to Willow. He closed his eyes with a deep sigh, and shrugged off the feelings tugging at his heart. He didn't care to explain it to her, because he knew she wouldn't understand everything.

After he heard the door click shut, Will got up and pulled on his jeans. Glancing around the room, he spied a button down crumpled on the floor. Will pulled it on, and buttoned it all the way down. Time to do laundry, he thought as he glanced at the growing pile in the corner.

Normally, they did it together, but he had left early for work that night, ensuring that he wouldn't have to be alone with Buffy for too long. Childish and petty, sure, but the more he was around her, the less he felt the need to hide away. For his own good and survival, he needed to keep his distance.

Will gathered everything up, and nabbed his pouch of change before leaving the apartment and heading for his car. There was a laundry room in the building, but it was small and quite often the few machines were filled. Instead, they always went to a laundry mat down the road.

"I'm so sorry to bother you, but could I trouble you for bit of soap?" A perky brunette was standing in front of Will, holding out a cap from her own empty bottle of soap. "I ran out with only one load left."

"Sure, ducks." Will took her cap and poured some soap into it before handing it back, and turning back to the rather boring, 2 year old copy of Cat Fancy. She hung around looking at him for a moment, and then turned back to her own laundry. His mind was on Buffy still, wondering what she was doing, what she was thinking.

No, he had to forget about her that way. She was a roommate, nothing more. With a resigned sigh, he set the old magazine down, and stood up to nab his laundry from the washers, and take it over to the dryer. He could feel the girl watching him again as he put the clothing into the dryer.

He smiled towards her as he sat back down, and she wandered over towards him again. He watched her advance with mixed thoughts. The girl was cute, not like Buffy, but cute in her own right. She was someone he might even have asked out once upon a time.

"I can't believe these things are so old here," she said as she held up the copy of Cat Fancy. "I mean, can't they at least spring a few bucks for something new?"

Will laughed and nodded as his mind started churning. Maybe the best way to forget how Buffy felt in his arms was to put someone else in them.

"So, you wanna grab some lunch after our laundry's done?" Will asked her. Her smile showed that she had been waiting for the question.

"I'd love to," she replied.

"Name's Will, by the way."

"Anya," was her response.