Cordelia had to bang on the door and call his name twice before Wesley answered. She cursed herself for leaving her purse at home. It would have been so much easier to just walk in the apartment, than to waste her time out here in the hall.
When he answered the door, he was quite disheveled, wearing a t-shirt and boxers. He had managed to put his glasses on correctly.
"What happened to you?" She asked, inviting herself in. She sniffed and looked at Wesley. "Have you been drinking?"
"What I do on my time is not your concern, Cordelia. Why are you here?" He answered her roughly.
"I found out why Mitch went mental and passed out in class. Apparently, Jared thought if he could get Mitch out of the way, I'd be free for the taking. Wesley, are you listening to me?"
Wesley had his body turned towards Cordelia, but his head kept glancing back toward his bedroom.
"Yes, of course I am."
"Well act like it, OK? I don't know how this whole magic thing works, so you've got to do the counterspell."
"How do you know if I have all the ingredients? And how do you know it will even work?"
"I don't know. But I figured, you're the mojo man. I'm sure you could figure it out, and who is that skank standing in your bedroom doorway?"
Cordelia was gawking at Miranda, who was wearing one of Wesley's bed sheets for a dress.
"Cordelia, this is…" Wesley trailed off, at a loss for words.
"I'm Miranda, a friend of Wesley's from England."
"Wow, Wes. You certainly didn't waste any time when I told you to find someone you had something in common with. What'd you do? Call her after our little talk this afternoon?"
"Actually, I found Wesley."
Cordelia felt the venom rise in her veins. "I don't remember asking you anything, Miranda."
Wesley stepped toward Cordelia. "Cordelia, calm down."
Cordelia jerked away from Wesley. "I am calm. Trust me, if I wasn't, Little Miss Bed Sheets over there would have already been on the business end of my fist."
Miranda gasped and went back into Wesley's bedroom, closing the door behind her. Wesley glared at Cordelia.
"What is wrong with you?"
"Me? I'm not the one who just had a sudden lifestyle change. Oh wait—yes I did. But I didn't go jump into bed with the first person I saw."
Wesley groaned and rubbed his eyes beneath his glasses. "We're going to have to discuss this tomorrow, after we've both had some rest, and time to cool down."
"Please be kind enough to spare me the sordid details."
Wesley took the book from her. "Let's go into the kitchen and see if I have everything we need to reverse Mitch's spell."
"Fine," Cordelia said, not moving from where she was standing.
"Then let's go," Wesley countered, who was not moving either.
"After you. I want to make sure you don't go running back to her the minute my back is turned."
Wesley sighed. "I assure you, that will not happen. Now, can we please finish this?"
"Gladly. Now go on."
He sighed and headed for the kitchen.
Wesley stood in the middle of his kitchen at one in the morning, staring at Cordelia, who was sitting cross-legged on his table. Just minutes before, there had been a bright flash of light after Wesley had chanted a reversal prayer to the goddess Sema, asking her to release Mitch from her grasp.
"Did it work?" Cordelia asked impatiently. She was holding Jared's book in her lap, and had read off the list of ingredients needed to perform the spell.
"Hmmm," Wesley murmured as he thought. When he did speak, an odd smirk crossed his lips. "Seeing as how I lack psychic abilities, I would suggest going to the hospital and checking to see if your friend is awake."
Cordelia's eyes narrowed. "Oh, yes, I'll just rush right out of here so you can get back to romancing Miss Bed Sheets."
Wesley ran his hands through his already unruly hair and sighed heavily. "Cordelia. I understand your jealousy towards Miranda, but out of courtesy for our friendship, and your respect for me as your Watcher, I ask that you would please abstain from referring to her as 'Miss Bed Sheets'."
"Wow. You understand that you just used the words 'abstain' and 'Miranda' in the same sentence? Cause I don't think you know what it means to abstain from Miranda." She hopped off the table and handed Wesley the book of spells, who looked at her blankly. She rolled her eyes. "Fine. I'll call her Miranda. Just don't expect us to become best friends, OK?"
She walked toward the kitchen door and stopped. "You think I'm jealous of her?"
Wesley smiled and asked her coolly, "Aren't you? Isn't that what this outburst has been about?"
"No," she answered him. "I don't get jealous. Jealousy occurs when one person wants what another person has. And she doesn't have anything that I haven't had for quite some time."
She walked out of the door, leaving Wesley standing in the kitchen, dumbfounded.
END