That night was one of the worst nights of sleep she had ever had… or never had, to be precise. It was a fitful sleep, constantly shifting, moving with hurt and emotional pain. Each time she managed to get some shut eye she would have flickers of what happened earlier that night that would snap her back to reality.
She analysed everything from the moment they met until their last date, searching for signs, clues, anything that would explain why she was in this situation. He had never pushed, he had never tried to manipulate her into doing anything she didn't want to do, so why now was he acting like such as ass?
The only thing she could think of was that he had played a long con, he had bided his time, until the time was right. He made her feel for him, happily give herself to him and now he could brag about his conquest of the shy little freshman who gave it up so soon.
She thought she had picked a good one, girl code meant that those who had been jilted by ex-lovers would share their cautionary tale. She had been warned of Parker from many, who had tried it on but thankfully she knew better and when going for a second date with Ford, a quiet girl called Anne took her aside. Since dating Angel, most didn't have a bad thing to say, so was he just better at it than them?
By the time Willow had woken up, she was all cried out, there was nothing left for her to give. Buffy was sitting on the edge of the window, looking out into the quad with a coffee in her hand. She held the warm cup in the hopes that it would make her feel, something.
Carefully getting out of bed, Willow crept over to her by the window "Buffy, I'm sorry…" she ran her hand up and down her friends back then wrapped her arms around her "How are you feeling?" she sat down on her bed and crossed her legs underneath her. Buffy went over to the coffee machine and poured a fresh cup, plus one for Willow.
Buffy sat on the bed beside her friend and sighed, her voice barely coming out "I, uh… I can't believe how stupid I was…" her eyes glassed over which came as a surprise, she thought she was all cried out. Taking a sip of coffee, she sighed loudly "he said he liked me…"
Willow placed her hand on top of Buffy's, letting her know that she was there for her "I mean, we never did say that we were exclusive… but he… he" taking a deep breathe, she continued "He made me feel like I was the only one for him, he even showed me his bedroom back home"
With a forced smile, she thought back to that videocall, where she pestered him into showing her his teenage bedroom. He had relented and took her on an in-depth tour, showing her his bookshelf, the posters on his wall and what his closet looked like. If he wasn't interested in her, he wouldn't have bothered at all, wouldn't he?
"I'm sorry" Willow leaned against Buffy and sighed; she couldn't describe how bad she felt for her friend. With everything that Buffy had told her about Angel and the short time they had dated before this, it sounded like it was going in such a good way.
She felt a rage begin to simmer within, along with hurting her friend, she knew how special an evening that they had shared and what it meant to Buffy. How he could treat her like that was unfathomable, she knew there was guys who were like that, but she was promised that he was different.
"Do you want to do something today?" she wanted to keep her mind off of what had happened but when Buffy shook her head no, she felt deflated "Come on, let's go get some…"
Buffy stood up abruptly "NO!" she frowned at Willow and shook her head slowly "No, I just want to be left alone… please, Will" wrapping her arms around herself, she laid down on her bed and pulled the blanket over her and snuggled in.
Willow sighed "Okay… I'm going to meet up with Oz, if you want to come out for a bit and join us, you can" seeing that Buffy had closed her eyes, she picked up her bag with shower items and fresh clothing and left the room to go freshen up. Closing the dorm room door over she leaned back against it and frowned, this was turning out to be a horrible week.
Oooooooooooooooo
It had been a disastrous trip home, not only had his phone been smashed but he had called the insurance company and said he would just have to suck it up and buy a new handset. With his phone being wrecked and it being privy to all his numbers, he cursed the fact that he hadn't memorised her number yet.
Landing back in LA, he made a stop to pick up a new phone and then made the journey back to Sunnydale. Looking at his watch he decided that he would stop by the dorm before doing anything else, hopefully Buffy would be in. Although he didn't know her schedule fully, he knew that she should have some free time round about now.
He slung his overnight bag over his shoulder and made his way to Stevenson Hall with a smile on his face. It had been so long since he had spoken to her and couldn't wait to see her. He was thinking back to the last time they had spoke and felt almost what could be described as butterflies.
He knocked sharply on the door and as soon as it opened her saw her wide green eyes look at him in shock "Buffy!" Next, rather than see a smile grace her beautiful face, hurt worked its way over her features and it worried him "Is everything okay?!"
As he reached out to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear, she batted his hand out of the way and shook her head "Don't"
A frown deepened on his face "Buff…" he was stunned into silence as her hand made contact with his cheek, making it sting like hell. The sound of the slap reverberated around the long corridor that he was standing in, drawing the attention of some passersby.
He cupped his cheek and looked back at her, fresh tears were pooling in her eyes, making them look bigger than normal. They built up until one escaped, rolling harshly down her cheek which caused pain to take a hold of him.
"Leave, I don't want to speak to you, I don't want to see you…" despite the tears that were now running freely down her cheeks, her voice was firm and cold. She folded her arms over her chest and tried to stop the sag in her shoulders, standing tall in front of him.
His face twisted into one of confusion and he shook his head, surely, she wasn't upset over not speaking for a couple of days, she didn't even give him time to fill her in on his phone situation. "Buffy, I don't know what is going on…"
She could hear the emotion in his voice and the grief stricken look on his handsome face, but it didn't change a single thing. He had hurt her; more than she thought she could be.
When he tried to reach for her again, she slapped his hand away, stepped back and slammed the door in his face without saying anything else. His bag dropped from his shoulder as he stood in shock, he was confused and frustrated, what in the hell had happened.
When he heard her crying from behind the door he felt his heart ache, he tried the door handle but found that she had locked it. "Buffy?!" He rapped on the door softly, but he got no answer, all he could hear was her sniffling back tears "Please, let me in?" He heard her choking back emotion before crying loudly.
Angel closed his eyes and let his forehead rest upon the door, each time he heard her muffle her cries he felt his heart constrict. After a moment he picked up his bag and left, he took one last look at her door and sighed. Yeah, this trip had been a nightmare.
When he got to his apartment, he threw his bag down and sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose to try and stop the roaring headache he could feel was making an appearance.
"Didn't expect to see you so soon, thought you'd be over at that lil' hot things dorm, getting' it on"
Angel opened one eye to see Lindsay grinning away, he closed his eyes and groaned. He wasn't so sure about filing his roommate in on what happened as truthfully, he had no fucking idea what was going on.
Lindsay kicked his foot off the table and laughed "So how was your folks? They doin' okay?" He grabbed a beer from the fridge for himself and a second, that he handed to Angel.
Opening the beer, he took a sip but rather than relax him, it made him feel ill. He sat the bottle down on the edge of the table and nodded, not really caring to discuss his trip, or anything for that matter "Yeah, all good"
Looking at him from the corner of his eye, Lindsay glared "You sure all's okay?" He saw Angel nod slowly, not willing to give any further details about, well, anything.
Feeling like this conversation was like trying to draw blood from a stone he just shrugged his shoulders "Fine, well I'm headin' out in a few, more than welcome to join?"
Angel forced a small smile "Long day" hoping that Linds would take the hint. After a tense stare off between the two, his friend muttered suit yourself before slipping on his jacket and grabbing his wallet on the way out.
When he heard the door slam shut, he sat back on the sofa and let his head rest on the back, feeling heavy, almost as if he couldn't move. Each limb felt a ton weight and his chest felt uncomfortably tight, almost daring him to move and get hurt.
He must have sat motionless for a good thirty minutes or so before his stomach grumbled about the fact that he hadn't ate since early that morning. Grabbing a sandwich, he ate it quickly and tossed his washing into the machine, ready for the morning cycle to be put on.
Heading to his room he stripped down to his boxers and slid under the sheets, closing his eyes. The last night he had been here was when Buffy had spent the night and now?
His stomach turned; he was never one for being tied down to one female, his past seen to that. Sure, he had plenty of admirers, girlfriends, and flings in the years gone by, but Buffy was different. He knew it was different the moment his phone was broken and all he could think about was how he wouldn't be able to get in contact with her whilst he was away.
Seeing her cry earlier, hearing the pain in her voice as she told him she never wanted to see him again set a panic in him that he never thought he'd ever experience.
Angel ran his hands heavily over his face and groaned, tomorrow would be a new day and maybe a night of sleep would help clear his muddled head. He rolled onto his stomach and slipped his hands underneath the cool pillow, trying his best to close his eyes and get comfortable, willing sleep to take him.
Oooooooooooooooo
Lindsay made his way into The Bronze and headed straight for the bar, he ordered a drink that he sunk within seconds of it reaching his hand and then asked for another.
He clicked his tongue as he thought about how down Angel had been. He had never met this Buffy, he had only heard of her, lots about her, since his roommate never seemed to shut up about each time they spoke.
Angel was always pleasant; he never said a bad word about any female he went out with, but they rarely were heard of. Even when he dated Faith back when they started College, she was wild, just like him at the time but she was rarely seen.
It was funny, having known Angel for the past two and a half years and seeing that he was acting like a lovesick teenager meant Buffy must be special. He snorted and sank his drink, only fools fall so deep and act this way.
Heading over to the pool tables he waved to one of his classmates and nodded to say that he would join their next game. He laughed when Scott tossed the coin to see who should go first, rather than catch it easily it bounced off the table and onto the floor.
Lindsay waved off the second try and set up the table, as he was racking up the balls and ready to take the first shot, he spotted tall, dark and brooding just about to leave "Angel!" when he got to answer he whistled loudly.
Seeing that either he was ignoring him or maybe couldn't hear him, he laid the cue on the table "Just a minute, boys" and headed towards the exit.
Stepping outside he could see him a few feet ahead, casually strolling down the alley "Hey asshole! Thought you said you weren't comin' out?!"
He saw the figure stop and slowly turn his head with a wicked smile on his face "Angel, I know you're hung up on that lil' hotty but you used to be fun" a chuckle escaped as he turned around fully.
"Used to be fun? Nah, he never was" his dark eyes bore into Lindsay as he spoke, he watched as the Texan squinted then like a lightbulb going off, his eyes widened.
Lindsay clenched his fist to keep control of himself "Your brother know you're out prowlin' the streets of Sunnydale?!" Now that he realised who he was, he should have known something was up.
The other man shrugged casually before taking out a cigarette and lighting it "Doubt it" he took a long drag and let out a cloud of smoke "Was good seeing you, give Liam my regards"
Before Lindsay could say anything, he spun on his heels and sauntered down the alley and out of sight. He ran his hand over his long hair in frustration "Shit". Now he knew why there was a change in Angel's mood, he always would turn into an asshole when his brother was nearby.
Looking at his watch he groaned, there was no point heading home to warn Angel now, he'd most likely be brooding, asleep or asleep AND brooding. With one last look to the empty alleyway, he shook his head and went back inside.
In regard to Come Undone, I have completed the last chapter but started an alternative. One is tragic and one is happy, and I am swithering on what way to go but it will be up shortly x