Chapter 31

"C-!" Xander threw the sheets of paper down on the coffee table in disgust.

Willow and Buffy looked up from their movie to where their friend was standing, fuming. Willow raised an eyebrow. "What was that sweetie?" she asked before grabbing another handful of popcorn.

Xander frowned and threw himself down on the sofa, squeezing in between the two girls, appropriating the bowl of popcorn and hugging it to his chest like it was a security blanket. "I worked really hard on that assignment and what do I get? A C-. Sometimes I don't know why I even bother - my grades never seem to change."

"Aww, it's not that bad," Willow commented as she ruffled Xander's hair affectionately.

Xander batted Willow's hand away and attempted to smooth out his hair. "Well, it's fine for you, little Miss Brainbox. Have you ever got less than an A in your life?" he asked sarcastically.

"Might have dropped down to an A- once..." Willow retorted, eyes sparkling with humour.

Buffy rolled her eyes as she recognised the beginning of the long standing and oft repeated 'grades game' and she turned back to the film.

"But really," Xander said a few minutes later, suddenly lapsing into one of his rare moments of gravity. "I did try really hard on that assignment, and it is depressing that it's made absolutely no difference."

"What you need," Buffy said, not taking her eyes off the TV as she continued to munch from the rapidly disappearing bowl of popcorn. She recognised the tone of his voice - they'd had to deal with this Xander in the past and there was one guaranteed solution. "What you need is some distraction. How 'bout we go out tonight?"

"Nah - don't know if I've got the energy," Xander sighed, slouching further down into the sofa and batting Buffy's hand away as it delved in for more popcorn.

"Oh, come on! We can't just leave you in a depressive funk - it's so not like you. I insist - tow, taxis, a few drinks, a bit of a dance maybe - it'll make you feel so much better..." Buffy persuaded.

"I guess, fine. We'll go out then," Xander reluctantly agreed before suddenly seeming to cheer up dramatically. "But I get to pick where we go!"

"Sure, no problem," Buffy agreed as she deftly avoided Xander's defences and move in to grasp the final handful of popcorn with a cry of triumph.

The pub was packed, much busier than was usual for a Wednesday night, but the three friends had arranged to meet Anya here and Tara was arriving later once she'd finished her mediation class so they had little choice but to go inside.

Buffy stopped just inside the doors and looked around, a small smile playing across her lips. Willow looked back at her as Xander moved further inside the pub.

"What's up?" she asked as she noticed that her friend had stopped.

"What?" Buffy was pulled out of her daze by Willow's words. "Oh, nothing - come on, let's go." She linked arms with the redhead as they hurried to catch Xander, but Buffy's mind still wandered slightly as it had been doing ever since they walked through the doors of the pub and she realised that they were in the same pub Spike had brought her when she'd broken up with Riley.

That realisation had immediately summoned up memories of the weekend they had spent together, just over a fortnight ago now, and that always made the blonde smile.

They managed to catch up with Xander after pushing their way through the crowds.

"You seen Anya?" Willow asked, having o raise her voice above the throng.

"Nah, have to keep looking."

"You go look - I'll get drinks. I'll meet you over there by the pillar, okay?" Buffy shouted, indicating a thick pillar, painted dark red which reached from floor to ceiling in the middle of the room. The other two indicated their consent and moved off in search of Anya. Buffy started through the crowds towards the bar, the mass of bodies meaning that she had to twist and push herself through the gaps as she thanked however might be listening that she wasn't any bigger.

She breathed a sigh of relief as she finally managed to get to the bar and leaned against it, determinedly holding her ground against the people behind her who were trying to place their orders. She looked around for a barman, but with no luck - they were all obviously busy taking orders further down the bar.

Suddenly, she felt someone tap her shoulder. "Can I get you a drink?"

She looked round and met the eyes of the guy standing next to her. He was tall, even slouched as he was against the bar, and handsome, in a dark and moody way. She eyed him up and down thoughtfully. He was well dressed in a pair of dark trousers and a dark blue silk shirt under a three-quarter-length leather jacket. Finally she looked up into his eyes and swallowed, suddenly a little nervous. They were the biggest brown eyes she'd ever seen and the way he was looking at her, she suddenly felt as if she were the only girl in the room. She took a deep breath.

"Sorry?" she asked, hoping she wasn't too visibly muddled by his very presence.

"I said - can I buy you a drink?"

Buffy took another steadying breath. My God - and he's got an accent! she thought to herself as she caught the vague Irish lilt to his question.

"Er, no - I'm buying a round, so it wouldn't really be fair," she explained apologetically.

"Oh, okay then. But can I at least know your name?" the guy asked hopefully.

Buffy laughed with an air of relief as she realised that this guy, as cool and collected as he might first appear, was at least a little nervous, a realisation that allowed her to relax and act slightly more naturally. "Sure - I'm Buffy, Buffy Summers." She held out her hand to him with a smile and he took it and shook it gently, his eyes never leaving hers.

"Liam. Liam O'Connor. Nice to meet you, Buffy Summers, but I think it's your turn," he said, gesturing towards the waiting barman.

Making her way back from the bar was slightly easier than getting there in the first place. Buffy had long since discovered that people had a tendency to move out of your way when they realised that you were carrying potentially staining drinks precariously in front of you. She saw Xander and Willow hovering near the pillar and smiled when she realised that Anya was with them.

"Hi guys. Okay drinks - one for you, you and you and finally, one for me." She took a sip of her drink and sighed. "S'pose there's no use asking whether there's anywhere to sit round here?"

"Yeah, right - that's why there are hordes of people just standing round!" Xander snorted sarcastically.

"It's Wednesday night - where did all these people come from? People have no right to be out on a weekday night - don't they have jobs to go to in the morning?" she whined as she realised that she was wearing her least practical shoes and would be dying by the end of the night if she couldn't sit down.

"So, what took you so long at the bar?" Willow asked in an attempt to distract Buffy.

"Apart from the thousands of people I had to fight my way through to get served? Oh, there was this guy..." she said nonchalantly.

"A guy? Was he good looking and possibly rich?" Anya asked, suddenly showing interest. "Not that I really care because I have Xander and I wouldn't want anyone else," she clarified, clinging onto her boyfriend's arm and looking at him ingratiatingly.

"Yes, a guy. And I s'pose he was good looking. Rich, I couldn't say," Buffy laughed.

"Potential boyfriend material?" Willow asked encouragingly.

"Will, we've talked about this - I'm not looking for a boyfriend at the moment. So, I would have to say, no."

"But, Buffy, you've been single for months. I know that you were with Riley for ages, but don't you think it's time you started dating again - I mean, you've hardly looked at another man since you broke up with Riley."

"Yes. I agree. And you must be missing all of the wonderful orgasms that he gave you," Anya said in her usual forthright tone.

Buffy blushed slightly, she would never get used to Anya's comments. "Anya..." she hinted.

"What? Oh, come on - you must miss the sex..."

Buffy blushed still further at this as she was once more thrown back into her memories of the weekend with Spike and she sighed slightly, a ghost of a smile playing across her lips.

"See - she does. I can tell!" Anya declared, catching the look that passed across her face.

"Okay, that's it! We're changing the subject right now!" Buffy declared. "No more talk about my sex life and no more talk about strange men being potential boyfriends!"

"Buffy?"

"Yeap, Will?" Buffy asked, looking up from her completely uninspiring bowl of pasta and sauce that was today passing for lunch as her bank account steadfastly refused to stretch to anything more elaborate or exciting.

"You remember that hottie from the bar the other night?" Willow continued, flicking through the newspaper absentmindedly as she sat across the table from Buffy.

"Which one?" Buffy smirked - Wednesday night had turned into a nomadic wander round some of the pubs of Manchester, mostly in an effort to find somewhere to sit down and soothe Buffy's aching feet.

"Tall, dark, handsome, kinda broody - kept turning up wherever we were. Your own personal stalker guy..."

"Oh, Liam. Yeah, what about him?" Buffy asked, taking another bite of pasta.

"You get his number?" Willow asked casually.

"No. I told you - not really interested right now. I mean, he seemed nice enough had I been looking, but..." she trailed off.

"Didn't think you did..."

"Will, where's this leading?" Buffy asked, suddenly getting the feeling that there was something going on her she wasn't quite aware of.

"Ikindatoldhimthatyouwouldgooutwithhimtonight," Willow garbled out.

"What? Say that again, and more slowly this time," Buffy said warningly.

"I, er, well, that is, I sorta told him that you would go out with him tonight..." Willow said hopefully.

"Will. You know that I had no interest in dating this guy..."

"I know, but, like you said, he seems like a really nice guy. And one date wouldn't hurt and he already thinks you've agreed to this - you can't let him down!" Willow pleaded.

"Watch me."

"Please?" Willow asked, putting on her best persuasive expression. Buffy felt herself wavering in the face of this and thought desperately for another way out.

"I can't!" she exclaimed as inspiration struck.

"Please?"

"No, no - I really can't. I'm going away this weekend," she said, as if she'd just remembered a plan that had been organised for weeks rather than seconds.

"Where?" Willow asked surprised.

"Spike's. Yep, that's it - I'm going to Spike's. Can't get out of it." She looked at her watch. "I fact, my - is that the time? And it's Friday. I really need to pack and get going." She hopped off her stool and moved towards the stairs.

"You've never mentioned going to Spike's this weekend before..." Willow said doubtfully.

"Haven't I. Oh, must have slipped my mind," she called back over her shoulder as she started to accelerate up the stairs. She ran into her room, shutting the door firmly behind her and grabbed the phone, dialling quickly.

"Come on, come on. Pick up the phone."

It rang and rang and finally Buffy threw it onto the bed in frustration before joining it and staring up at the ceiling for a moment.

"Ah ha! Mobile! I know I have the number around here somewhere..." She rummaged through the pile of papers on her bedside tale and finally brandished a slip with a number scrawled on it. She quickly dialled the number and it was picked up in the second ring.

"'Lo?" Spike's familiar drawl answered.

"Spike, thank God! Say you're in this weekend - you could just save my sanity. I need to come over, tonight, for the weekend. Please say you're in." Buffy pleaded.

"Oh, pet. Sorry, I'm not there this weekend - I'm at the folks'," he said, sounding genuinely apologetic. "What's the big deal anyway?"

"Willow's trying to set me up. She's decided it's been far too long since I had a boyfriend and she's 'arranged' a date for me tonight. I really didn't want to go and so I kinda, said, that I was visiting you..." she said, hoping that he would change his mind.

"Oh. A date? Hmm, I'd love to help, pet..." Spike sounded genuinely apologetic.

"You would? Well, you could maybe go away another day and I could come over..." she wheedled.

"No can do, pet - I'm already there..."

"Oh. No, that's all right. It doesn't matter. I guess I'll just go on the date. I mean, I might actually like the guy - who knows," Buffy sounded disappointed, but she knew that she was playing the final card and cringed inwardly at the low blow. It worked.

"No, pet - you don't have to do that. Tell you what, why don't you come down - mum and dad won't mind. They'd love to meet you. I mean, it's a long drive, but..."

"Really no, that's great. Give me directions then..." she said excitedly, grabbing a pen.