Feedback: it's like oxygen.........
Part Five
"Dawn! I'm not gonna tell you again..."
"Okay, okay... I'll put it away."
Buffy frowned to herself at her sister's quick surrender. Usually it took a far bigger argument than that to get her to admit defeat. Carrying the bundle of laundry she held over to the doorway of the teen's room, she watched as her sister gently - almost reverently - returned her guitar to its case.
"Okay, I'll bite." She smirked to herself as Dawn jumped slightly at the unexpected intrusion. "What's going on?"
"What do you mean?"
"This. Giles.. the guitar... the lessons... the endless racket... need I continue?"
"Racket? What racket?" Dawn assumed a defensive pose, glowering at her sister. "I've only been practising my scales."
"Sure you have," Buffy agreed with a grimace. "Over and over and over and -"
Dawn rolled her eyes in exasperation. "Well, duh! How else am I gonna learn them? And by the way, it hasn't been as bad as that... it can't have been 'cause the strings hurt my fingers if I practice too much."
"Well, it sure seems like it." Buffy countered with a small frown of annoyance. "Can't you take it somewhere else?"
"Uh... like where?"
"Um..."
For a second, there was silence and Dawn grinned at her sister as she tried to come up with a suitable suggestion.
Finally, Buffy shot her sister a triumphant grin. "What about Will and Xand's? You can torture - um, serenade - them."
"No way!" Dawn watched as Buffy's eyebrows shot up in surprise at her vehement rejection of the mere suggestion, before adding in a slightly softer voice, "You know how accident prone Xander is, and trust me when I say that Satan's gonna buy himself a pair of ice-skates before I do anything that might risk damaging this baby." She patted the guitar case still beside her protectively, for added emphasis.
The eyebrows almost disappeared into the hairline for a brief moment, before they lowered again, this time furrowing into a frown. Setting the laundry on the floor to stall for time, Buffy considered how to phrase her thoughts. At last, confident in her decision, she crossed the room to perch on the edge of the bed.
"Seriously, Dawn... what's going on? And don't give me 'what do you mean?', because I think you know what I mean. First you buy this guitar - which someone must have lent you the money for because those things don't come cheap -"
"Actually -"
Buffy continued as if she hadn't heard her sister's interruption, pausing only long enough to draw breath. "And then there's all this bondage with Giles and... and... well, not to mention you practising every night for the last two weeks... which is a big enough shock in itself... you know, 'cause you're actually taking responsibility for once. So, you wanna clue me in? Or is this part of some huge secret?"
Dawn grinned at her sister's rambling. "It's not a secret; I just haven't gotten around to telling you about it yet."
"Ah." Buffy smiled as a thought occurred to her. "I see."
The grin faded into confusion. "See? Huh? What's there to see?"
"What's his name?"
The confusion deepened. "What's whose name?"
Buffy smiled sympathetically at her sister. "Come on, Dawnie, you don't have to hide it from me, so don't play the innocent card. You usually only go to these sorts of extremes for one reason. So... this guy you're obviously trying to impress... tell me about him."
"What? There's no guy." Despite the bafflement still evident in her voice, Dawn's words earned a disbelieving stare.
"Then what's with the secret smile? And all this hard work?"
"I know this is gonna sound weird, but, it's called studying. I have to learn the guitar... well, any instrument, actually... 'cause your ol' buddy, Robin, is forcing everyone in my grade to learn an instrument so they can perform for the cabaret at the end of the semester. Lucky me, huh?"
Before Buffy could respond, Dawn sighed and added thoughtfully, "Actually, I do feel kinda lucky. It's given me a chance to discover the fact that I might possibly have some sort of musical gift -and it's given me an opportunity to get to know Giles better. I mean, do you know how long he's had his guitar? Since he was about fifteen! That's a long time." She giggled at a sudden recollection. "And has he ever told you about the girl he had a crush on in high school? No? Well, you might wanna ask him about it... but take some tissues with you, 'cause if you're anything like me you'll be crying with laughter."
"Why, what happened?"
The giggle grew as Dawn answered. "He... I... oh... I can't tell you that. You're gonna have to ask him yourself. Oh, it's priceless..."
"Hmm... I think I will... when I get the chance and he's not otherwise... occupied." Buffy looked pointedly at her sister.
"Hey! There's no need to act all jealous.... I don't take up that much of Giles' time."
The pointed look transformed rapidly into one of shock, horror and something close to sudden awareness. "I'm not jealous! Why... why would I be jealous? I think it's good that you two are spending time together, you know... bonding, getting to know each other, learning stuff. We've all changed, Dawnie, and I think it's great that you have someone to learn from, to - to look up to, someone who - well, he might walk away one day - but otherwise he's a good and stable influence..."
"Buff-"
Buffy ignored the interruption and slid off the bed, deciding that now would be a good time to return to her former task. She shuffled quickly toward the door as she spoke, paying no heed to the whispers of realisation in her mind.
"And - and he's helping you discover this... talent... you know, this musical gift you've got... and he's showing you that you're special... which, I admit, is something that I haven't been able to do. So, me? I say 'yay for Giles' and 'yay for you' and 'yay' for the whole Robin/guitar/cabaret/Giles/lessons thingy that got you two to spend more time together in the first place. Everything's perfect... he's doing good, you're doing good, we're all doing good. Now, I'm gonna go get some work done." With that she hastily gathered up the pile of laundry and darted out of the room, leaving Dawn grinning to herself, as she stormed down the hallway.
"Sounds like you're jealous to me. Typical 'Babbling-Buffy' gives the game away every time."