Chapter 24
"Bollocks!" Spike swore as his key missed the lock again. He'd been working late and now he could hear the phone ringing inside his flat, but the door seemed determined to stay shut. He finally managed to insert the key and he wrenched the door open before throwing his bag down and launching himself into a running dive, landing on the sofa and picking up the phone at the same time.
"'Lo?" he asked breathlessly. His answer was a spurt of giggles from the other end of the line.
"Did I interrupt something?" Buffy laughed. Spike frowned at her comment and then his eyes widened as he realised what she was insinuating.
"No. Hate to break it to you luv – I know how much you like to fantasise about me 'n' all – but I'm breathless 'cause I've just rushed in through the door to pick up the phone, so get your mind out of the gutter." Buffy just laughed and Spike decided to try another tack: he changed the subject. "So, how long have you been back then?"
"Oh, about two weeks," Buffy said casually.
"Two weeks?" Spike tried to hide the disappointment in his voice. Two weeks – she'd been back in the country for two whole weeks and she hadn't even rung to tell him. His heart sank as he realised that she was obviously coping very well without him.
At the other end of the line, Buffy was hoping that he would accept her casual tone without too many questions. It had been a test for herself to prove that she could live without him.
She'd done a lot of thinking over the summer and eventually decided that the whole thing that had been going on with Spike was actually just a rebound reaction to breaking up with Riley. She just couldn't see how it could be anything else – Spike just wasn't really her type. Her type was, well, 'not-Spike'. So she'd decided that, when she returned to England, she would prove how much she could do without him by not calling him for a set period of time.
She'd managed two weeks. There was only one problem.
The period she'd set for herself had been a month.
"So, how's Manchester?" she heard Spike ask her.
"What? Oh, oh, fine I guess..." she said without feeling.
"You don't sound too convinced about that one, pet."
"It's just really weird - how things can be so different, but so the same. Does that make any sense?"
"Possibly - what exactly do you mean?" Spike sounded a little unsure, so Buffy decided to elaborate.
"Well, you already know that we're still in the same apartment as last year. Oz has moved out and Tara's moved into his room instead." She paused. "Well, I say that she's moved in to Oz's room in as much as all her stuff is in there, but in reality she's moved into Willow's room - Oz's old bed is more of a spare now."
"Talking of Oz, what's he doing now? Last I heard of him he was thinking about looking for a job, but he seems to have dropped off the face of the earth. He hasn't answered any of the emails that I sent him over the summer." Spike asked.
"Oh, yeah. Well, according to Willow, he decided that the whole 'work' thing wasn't for him at the moment. Apparently, he decided he needed to 'find himself' and has disappeared off round the world. He's promised to write, send us postcards and stuff, but..."
"Yeah, it's Oz, so none of us'll hear a peep from him until one day, totally out of the blue, he'll appear on one of our doorsteps and pick up his life as if he's never been away, right?" Spike joked.
"Exactly!" Buffy laughed in reply.
"What about the other pair then? They still together?"
"Xander and Anya? Yes, unbelievably, they're still together and going strong. I mean, Willow and I had a little side bet that they'd kill each other in the first few weeks, but, strangely, they seem to be doing all right. I think it might be serious. I mean, really serious."
"God. Never saw that one coming, but each to their own – good luck to them I guess." Buffy could almost imagine the shrug that Spike gave with this comment and smiled quietly into the phone as she pictured him. "So, how's you then?"
"What?" she asked, shaking the image out of her mind and concentrating on what Spike was saying to her.
"How's you?" he repeated. "Final year 'n' all - how's it going?" Buffy sighed.
"Hard work. I only started two weeks ago and already they're piling on the work! I have two books to read for next week's seminars and an assignment due in two weeks. I mean, if this is what it's like at the beginning of October, I just can't imagine what it'll be like come March!" She scowled into the phone, not caring that he couldn't see her face. "I've decided that I don't want to do it. It's just not worth it!" she declared.
"You don't mean that and we both know it. Trust me - it'll be over before you realise. Just take some advice and don't fall behind or you'll never get back on top of it." Spike told her patiently.
"Ooh. Now that you mention it - tell me, tell me - how did you do?" Buffy asked excitedly as she remembered that Spike had now graduated.
"Got a 2:1 in the end. Not bad, especially considering the work, or lack of it, I put in!" he declared proudly.
"Ah, that's great - I'm so pleased for you. So, you're now Mr William Giles with letters after your name." She paused for a minute in thought. "What letters do you have now?"
"BSc (Hons)," he helpfully supplied.
"So, Mr William Giles BSc (Hons). Very posh."
"Yeah, whatever, but it doesn't mean you can go around calling me some poncy name like 'William' - the only people who call me that are my parents."
"I wouldn't dream of it - Willie!" she laughed.
"Oi!" he said, pretending to get annoyed. Buffy just laughed harder.
"You know, it's just so easy to wind you up! Has to be one of my favourite things to do!" She giggled as she could hear Spike sulking down the phone line. "Anyway, how's life as a working man?"
"Fine," he said, obviously still in a funk.
"Spike, don't be like that. Stop moping and talk to me. How's work?"
"I'm really enjoying it actually," he said, coming out of his bad mood and back to his normal self. "More than I thought I would."
"What do you do again?" Buffy asked - he'd told her before in one of the many emails they'd traded over the summer, but she'd forgotten.
"Okay, I'm going to start off vague and you tell me when I'm getting too complicated for you. I work with computers," he started.
"Okay, that's all I need to know!" she stopped him quickly.
"You're joking, right?" he asked incredulously.
"Nope. I know enough about computers to know where the 'ON' button is, how to operate Word to do my essays and how to send emails and do internet stuff, but that's all I know and probably all I'll ever know and so, if you tell me anymore, it'll be all 'nod and smile' and I won't be any the wiser at the end of it."
"That's awful! How can you..." Spike was lost for words.
"Let me put it another way - are you able to tell me all about the intricacies of social etiquette in Jane Austen novels?"
"Never read any of them."
"Right - so that's me and computers then."
"But, what if something goes wrong? There's not much call for errors in Jane Austen novels."
"If something goes wrong with my computer?" she smiled sweetly into the receiver and put on her most seductive voice. "Why, then I'll just call you to come over and fix it for me, won't I?"
"And you expect that I'll just come a running eh, pet?"
"Of course you will," she said confidently and Spike decided that, that being the truth, he really didn't have a comeback.
"So, when you coming to visit me then?" he asked instead.
"Dunno."
"What you doing this weekend?"
"Spike, it's 10pm on Friday night."
"So?"
"So, I think my weekend might already be planned..." Buffy argued, hoping that he won't notice that it was Friday night, and she wasn't out but in, talking to him. She didn't have anything planned for the weekend, but he didn't need to know that.
"...Which is why you're in talking to me instead of out partying with y'mates..."
Damn! He noticed! she thought to herself.
"Come round," he asked again.
She took a deep breath. She couldn't go round – she was trying to prove to herself that he meant nothing to her, something that was hard enough without having to see him face to face. He was the rebound guy and a relationship with the rebound guy could lead to nothing but heartache. It wasn't worth getting into.
"No."
"Please."
"I have too much work – final year, remember? I have books to read and essays to write."
"So, bring the books with you..."
"No."
Spike sighed. She obviously wasn't going to come over and he was starting to sound desperate and that wasn't good for the image. He laughed to himself – not that he had an image when it came to her. Everyone else fell for the 'big bad' thing, with the leather and the black clothes. She'd looked at him for the first time and immediately seen through it, she saw him. It'd left him feeling quite vulnerable at first – which is where most of their 'arguments' had stemmed from. She always managed to get him on the defensive, which lead to almost continual verbal sparring between them. Still, he'd got used to it, and now it was nice not to have to keep up the act he put on around everybody else, nice just to be able to relax, let go and be himself.
"So, where's everyone else then, pet?" he asked, deciding to change the subject.
"Willow and Tara have gone out for the evening and Xander and Anya, well, I haven't seen them around all day, so I s'pose they must be out too – they're definitely not here anyway. It's strange; I'm suddenly the single girl living with two couples. They're always in pairs. I guess that's what I was like with Riley last year." She sighed.
"You sound a bit off about that, luv."
"Not really, it's just an odd thought. Never really gave much thought to how I was like as one half of a couple before. Now I seem to be on the outside looking in."
"Yeah, know what you mean. Anyway, girl like you doesn't stay single for long – would have thought you'd be back out on the pull by now," he remarked, trying to distance himself from the fact that he'd like to be the one to stop her being single.
"Not really looking at the moment – am being happily single," she said, trying to sound cheery.
"Which is the reason that you're home all alone then is it?" he asked with a smirk.
"I can hear that smirk you know!"
"Bollocks! It's down a phone line – you can't see my face!"
"I guess I just know you too well!"
"Whatever. So, you're home all alone then are you?" Spike asked, lowering his voice to a slow drawl.
"Yes..." she responded, frowning slightly and wondering what he was getting at.
"What you wearing?" he asked teasingly.
"My yummy sushi pyjamas," she answered, humour filling her voice as she began to realise what he wanted - and how disappointed he was going to be.
"What do they look like?" he said, smiling into the phone, thinking that he'd got her playing along.
"Well..." she said in her sexiest voice.
"Yes?"
"They're white..." she continued.
"Go on..." he said, obviously interested.
"Made of thick cotton, long pants and an over-sized shirt with a sushi pattern on," she said matter-of-factly, bringing Spike smartly out of his fantasy.
"Oh," he said, not even trying to contain his disappointment – he'd thought that he was on to a winner.
"Yes."
"Couldn't you be wearing something sexier?" he sulked.
"What, like a black lace negligee, laced up the front, a little small so that my ripe, firm breasts seem to spill out of the low cut top?" she asked, returning to her previous sexy drawl.
"Oh, God, yes!" Spike breathed.
"Sorry, no."
"Please?" he practically begged.
"No – we are so not going there."
"Why not?" Buffy had to laugh at his tone – he sounded like a little boy.
"Drop it Spike," she warned, laughingly.
"But you're all alone in that big flat..." Spike said in his most persuasive tone.
"With housemates that could come back at any time" Buffy argued.
"So..." he persisted, encouraged by the fact that she'd resorted to excuses rather than flat out refusing him.
"So, I don't want to be caught in a compromising position in the middle of our living room by the people I have to live with."
"So, go to your room..." he wheedled.
"Right. So, when Xander gets home he can pick up the other handset and have a heart attack when he hears us heavy breathing down the line at each other. I really don't think so."
"You're no fun – you know that'd never happen."
"It could so..."
"So, you're not saying 'no' to the whole idea, just 'not here'?" Spike asked.
Buffy sat there silently for a minute as she realised that that was exactly what she was saying. They'd been dancing round the subject all night, but she knew that he knew that she wanted him.
He's just the rebound guy, remember. And you know better than to get involved with the rebound guy – that way leads to pain and heartbreak. It'd never work, Spike and I and sex – great. Spike and I in a relationship – never work, she told herself firmly. She took a deep breath.
"We're not having this conversation, Spike."
"What? Yes we are!" He wouldn't let the subject drop. He had her and he knew it – he could hear it in the way that her breathing had been quick and uneven ever since the conversation had turned from heavy flirting into definite possibility.
He could almost sense her indecision and could imagine her chewing at her bottom lip as she tried to decide whether to give into him or not.
"Come round," he proposed invitingly once more. This time he smiled as his request was not immediately denied.
"What? Now?" he heard her ask him breathlessly.
"Yes, now."
"I can't..." she began reluctantly.
"Why not?"
"It's late."
"Tomorrow morning then?" he asked, trying to sound reasonable, but in reality desperate to see her again now that there seemed a chance she might capitulate. The other end of the line was silent and he smiled, as he knew she was giving it some serious thought.
"I'll think about it," he finally heard her quietly promise. "But I have to go now. Bye."
At the other end of the line, Buffy hung up before he had a chance to answer and sat there for a moment, wondering what had just happened.
Was I really just about to have phone-sex with Spike? What was I thinking? I don't do that, I'd never, not even, well. Her thoughts ground to a halt before starting up again. In all the time I was with Riley, all that time miles apart, we never even thought about it. We wouldn't. But, God, Spike made it sound so tempting.
She chewed nervously at her bottom lip as she thought about the whole conversation, about Spike, about all the reasons she should just cut him off and forget about him – get on with the rest of her life.
I'm not going to get involved. I don't want a relationship, and definitely not one with him, she told herself again, firmly.
Who said anything about a relationship? the little voice in the back of her head piped up. He certainly didn't...
Buffy slumped back against the sofa. She wasn't going to think about this any more. She was going to watch some trashy show on TV and then organise her weekend with the others when they got in. She looked at her watch – 10:30. They shouldn't be long now.
A/N – Okay, so some of you might be wondering what the hell a 2:1 degree is. I think that the US equivalent is about a 3.0 GPA, but that probably
makes more sense to some of you than it does to me!
"Bollocks!" Spike swore as his key missed the lock again. He'd been working late and now he could hear the phone ringing inside his flat, but the door seemed determined to stay shut. He finally managed to insert the key and he wrenched the door open before throwing his bag down and launching himself into a running dive, landing on the sofa and picking up the phone at the same time.
"'Lo?" he asked breathlessly. His answer was a spurt of giggles from the other end of the line.
"Did I interrupt something?" Buffy laughed. Spike frowned at her comment and then his eyes widened as he realised what she was insinuating.
"No. Hate to break it to you luv – I know how much you like to fantasise about me 'n' all – but I'm breathless 'cause I've just rushed in through the door to pick up the phone, so get your mind out of the gutter." Buffy just laughed and Spike decided to try another tack: he changed the subject. "So, how long have you been back then?"
"Oh, about two weeks," Buffy said casually.
"Two weeks?" Spike tried to hide the disappointment in his voice. Two weeks – she'd been back in the country for two whole weeks and she hadn't even rung to tell him. His heart sank as he realised that she was obviously coping very well without him.
At the other end of the line, Buffy was hoping that he would accept her casual tone without too many questions. It had been a test for herself to prove that she could live without him.
She'd done a lot of thinking over the summer and eventually decided that the whole thing that had been going on with Spike was actually just a rebound reaction to breaking up with Riley. She just couldn't see how it could be anything else – Spike just wasn't really her type. Her type was, well, 'not-Spike'. So she'd decided that, when she returned to England, she would prove how much she could do without him by not calling him for a set period of time.
She'd managed two weeks. There was only one problem.
The period she'd set for herself had been a month.
"So, how's Manchester?" she heard Spike ask her.
"What? Oh, oh, fine I guess..." she said without feeling.
"You don't sound too convinced about that one, pet."
"It's just really weird - how things can be so different, but so the same. Does that make any sense?"
"Possibly - what exactly do you mean?" Spike sounded a little unsure, so Buffy decided to elaborate.
"Well, you already know that we're still in the same apartment as last year. Oz has moved out and Tara's moved into his room instead." She paused. "Well, I say that she's moved in to Oz's room in as much as all her stuff is in there, but in reality she's moved into Willow's room - Oz's old bed is more of a spare now."
"Talking of Oz, what's he doing now? Last I heard of him he was thinking about looking for a job, but he seems to have dropped off the face of the earth. He hasn't answered any of the emails that I sent him over the summer." Spike asked.
"Oh, yeah. Well, according to Willow, he decided that the whole 'work' thing wasn't for him at the moment. Apparently, he decided he needed to 'find himself' and has disappeared off round the world. He's promised to write, send us postcards and stuff, but..."
"Yeah, it's Oz, so none of us'll hear a peep from him until one day, totally out of the blue, he'll appear on one of our doorsteps and pick up his life as if he's never been away, right?" Spike joked.
"Exactly!" Buffy laughed in reply.
"What about the other pair then? They still together?"
"Xander and Anya? Yes, unbelievably, they're still together and going strong. I mean, Willow and I had a little side bet that they'd kill each other in the first few weeks, but, strangely, they seem to be doing all right. I think it might be serious. I mean, really serious."
"God. Never saw that one coming, but each to their own – good luck to them I guess." Buffy could almost imagine the shrug that Spike gave with this comment and smiled quietly into the phone as she pictured him. "So, how's you then?"
"What?" she asked, shaking the image out of her mind and concentrating on what Spike was saying to her.
"How's you?" he repeated. "Final year 'n' all - how's it going?" Buffy sighed.
"Hard work. I only started two weeks ago and already they're piling on the work! I have two books to read for next week's seminars and an assignment due in two weeks. I mean, if this is what it's like at the beginning of October, I just can't imagine what it'll be like come March!" She scowled into the phone, not caring that he couldn't see her face. "I've decided that I don't want to do it. It's just not worth it!" she declared.
"You don't mean that and we both know it. Trust me - it'll be over before you realise. Just take some advice and don't fall behind or you'll never get back on top of it." Spike told her patiently.
"Ooh. Now that you mention it - tell me, tell me - how did you do?" Buffy asked excitedly as she remembered that Spike had now graduated.
"Got a 2:1 in the end. Not bad, especially considering the work, or lack of it, I put in!" he declared proudly.
"Ah, that's great - I'm so pleased for you. So, you're now Mr William Giles with letters after your name." She paused for a minute in thought. "What letters do you have now?"
"BSc (Hons)," he helpfully supplied.
"So, Mr William Giles BSc (Hons). Very posh."
"Yeah, whatever, but it doesn't mean you can go around calling me some poncy name like 'William' - the only people who call me that are my parents."
"I wouldn't dream of it - Willie!" she laughed.
"Oi!" he said, pretending to get annoyed. Buffy just laughed harder.
"You know, it's just so easy to wind you up! Has to be one of my favourite things to do!" She giggled as she could hear Spike sulking down the phone line. "Anyway, how's life as a working man?"
"Fine," he said, obviously still in a funk.
"Spike, don't be like that. Stop moping and talk to me. How's work?"
"I'm really enjoying it actually," he said, coming out of his bad mood and back to his normal self. "More than I thought I would."
"What do you do again?" Buffy asked - he'd told her before in one of the many emails they'd traded over the summer, but she'd forgotten.
"Okay, I'm going to start off vague and you tell me when I'm getting too complicated for you. I work with computers," he started.
"Okay, that's all I need to know!" she stopped him quickly.
"You're joking, right?" he asked incredulously.
"Nope. I know enough about computers to know where the 'ON' button is, how to operate Word to do my essays and how to send emails and do internet stuff, but that's all I know and probably all I'll ever know and so, if you tell me anymore, it'll be all 'nod and smile' and I won't be any the wiser at the end of it."
"That's awful! How can you..." Spike was lost for words.
"Let me put it another way - are you able to tell me all about the intricacies of social etiquette in Jane Austen novels?"
"Never read any of them."
"Right - so that's me and computers then."
"But, what if something goes wrong? There's not much call for errors in Jane Austen novels."
"If something goes wrong with my computer?" she smiled sweetly into the receiver and put on her most seductive voice. "Why, then I'll just call you to come over and fix it for me, won't I?"
"And you expect that I'll just come a running eh, pet?"
"Of course you will," she said confidently and Spike decided that, that being the truth, he really didn't have a comeback.
"So, when you coming to visit me then?" he asked instead.
"Dunno."
"What you doing this weekend?"
"Spike, it's 10pm on Friday night."
"So?"
"So, I think my weekend might already be planned..." Buffy argued, hoping that he won't notice that it was Friday night, and she wasn't out but in, talking to him. She didn't have anything planned for the weekend, but he didn't need to know that.
"...Which is why you're in talking to me instead of out partying with y'mates..."
Damn! He noticed! she thought to herself.
"Come round," he asked again.
She took a deep breath. She couldn't go round – she was trying to prove to herself that he meant nothing to her, something that was hard enough without having to see him face to face. He was the rebound guy and a relationship with the rebound guy could lead to nothing but heartache. It wasn't worth getting into.
"No."
"Please."
"I have too much work – final year, remember? I have books to read and essays to write."
"So, bring the books with you..."
"No."
Spike sighed. She obviously wasn't going to come over and he was starting to sound desperate and that wasn't good for the image. He laughed to himself – not that he had an image when it came to her. Everyone else fell for the 'big bad' thing, with the leather and the black clothes. She'd looked at him for the first time and immediately seen through it, she saw him. It'd left him feeling quite vulnerable at first – which is where most of their 'arguments' had stemmed from. She always managed to get him on the defensive, which lead to almost continual verbal sparring between them. Still, he'd got used to it, and now it was nice not to have to keep up the act he put on around everybody else, nice just to be able to relax, let go and be himself.
"So, where's everyone else then, pet?" he asked, deciding to change the subject.
"Willow and Tara have gone out for the evening and Xander and Anya, well, I haven't seen them around all day, so I s'pose they must be out too – they're definitely not here anyway. It's strange; I'm suddenly the single girl living with two couples. They're always in pairs. I guess that's what I was like with Riley last year." She sighed.
"You sound a bit off about that, luv."
"Not really, it's just an odd thought. Never really gave much thought to how I was like as one half of a couple before. Now I seem to be on the outside looking in."
"Yeah, know what you mean. Anyway, girl like you doesn't stay single for long – would have thought you'd be back out on the pull by now," he remarked, trying to distance himself from the fact that he'd like to be the one to stop her being single.
"Not really looking at the moment – am being happily single," she said, trying to sound cheery.
"Which is the reason that you're home all alone then is it?" he asked with a smirk.
"I can hear that smirk you know!"
"Bollocks! It's down a phone line – you can't see my face!"
"I guess I just know you too well!"
"Whatever. So, you're home all alone then are you?" Spike asked, lowering his voice to a slow drawl.
"Yes..." she responded, frowning slightly and wondering what he was getting at.
"What you wearing?" he asked teasingly.
"My yummy sushi pyjamas," she answered, humour filling her voice as she began to realise what he wanted - and how disappointed he was going to be.
"What do they look like?" he said, smiling into the phone, thinking that he'd got her playing along.
"Well..." she said in her sexiest voice.
"Yes?"
"They're white..." she continued.
"Go on..." he said, obviously interested.
"Made of thick cotton, long pants and an over-sized shirt with a sushi pattern on," she said matter-of-factly, bringing Spike smartly out of his fantasy.
"Oh," he said, not even trying to contain his disappointment – he'd thought that he was on to a winner.
"Yes."
"Couldn't you be wearing something sexier?" he sulked.
"What, like a black lace negligee, laced up the front, a little small so that my ripe, firm breasts seem to spill out of the low cut top?" she asked, returning to her previous sexy drawl.
"Oh, God, yes!" Spike breathed.
"Sorry, no."
"Please?" he practically begged.
"No – we are so not going there."
"Why not?" Buffy had to laugh at his tone – he sounded like a little boy.
"Drop it Spike," she warned, laughingly.
"But you're all alone in that big flat..." Spike said in his most persuasive tone.
"With housemates that could come back at any time" Buffy argued.
"So..." he persisted, encouraged by the fact that she'd resorted to excuses rather than flat out refusing him.
"So, I don't want to be caught in a compromising position in the middle of our living room by the people I have to live with."
"So, go to your room..." he wheedled.
"Right. So, when Xander gets home he can pick up the other handset and have a heart attack when he hears us heavy breathing down the line at each other. I really don't think so."
"You're no fun – you know that'd never happen."
"It could so..."
"So, you're not saying 'no' to the whole idea, just 'not here'?" Spike asked.
Buffy sat there silently for a minute as she realised that that was exactly what she was saying. They'd been dancing round the subject all night, but she knew that he knew that she wanted him.
He's just the rebound guy, remember. And you know better than to get involved with the rebound guy – that way leads to pain and heartbreak. It'd never work, Spike and I and sex – great. Spike and I in a relationship – never work, she told herself firmly. She took a deep breath.
"We're not having this conversation, Spike."
"What? Yes we are!" He wouldn't let the subject drop. He had her and he knew it – he could hear it in the way that her breathing had been quick and uneven ever since the conversation had turned from heavy flirting into definite possibility.
He could almost sense her indecision and could imagine her chewing at her bottom lip as she tried to decide whether to give into him or not.
"Come round," he proposed invitingly once more. This time he smiled as his request was not immediately denied.
"What? Now?" he heard her ask him breathlessly.
"Yes, now."
"I can't..." she began reluctantly.
"Why not?"
"It's late."
"Tomorrow morning then?" he asked, trying to sound reasonable, but in reality desperate to see her again now that there seemed a chance she might capitulate. The other end of the line was silent and he smiled, as he knew she was giving it some serious thought.
"I'll think about it," he finally heard her quietly promise. "But I have to go now. Bye."
At the other end of the line, Buffy hung up before he had a chance to answer and sat there for a moment, wondering what had just happened.
Was I really just about to have phone-sex with Spike? What was I thinking? I don't do that, I'd never, not even, well. Her thoughts ground to a halt before starting up again. In all the time I was with Riley, all that time miles apart, we never even thought about it. We wouldn't. But, God, Spike made it sound so tempting.
She chewed nervously at her bottom lip as she thought about the whole conversation, about Spike, about all the reasons she should just cut him off and forget about him – get on with the rest of her life.
I'm not going to get involved. I don't want a relationship, and definitely not one with him, she told herself again, firmly.
Who said anything about a relationship? the little voice in the back of her head piped up. He certainly didn't...
Buffy slumped back against the sofa. She wasn't going to think about this any more. She was going to watch some trashy show on TV and then organise her weekend with the others when they got in. She looked at her watch – 10:30. They shouldn't be long now.
A/N – Okay, so some of you might be wondering what the hell a 2:1 degree is. I think that the US equivalent is about a 3.0 GPA, but that probably
makes more sense to some of you than it does to me!