"It looks like a...like a," She snapped her fingers as she tried to think of the words.
"A what?!" Angel asked in an impatient whisper.
"Like a little bear! With tentacles." She remembered. Angel's face twisted as he tried to imagine it.
Cordelia hesitated as they descended deeper and deeper into the basement. The last thing she wanted to do was be any closer to the hellmouth than she had to be. The school was also very much deserted by then, adding to Cordelia's feeling of terror.
"Are you sure it came down here? Im not really sensing anything." Angel said.
And almost the second he finished speaking, the heavy metal door behind them slammed shut, locking itself automatically.
Cordelia screamed and clung to Angel's side as they were enveloped in complete darkness.
"Found it!" Cordy yelled to Angel, pulling the long string that hung from the roof. The room was suddenly flooded with light.
Angel took a step back and shielded himself from the bright light with his hands.
"Relax Michael Jackson, its not sunlight." Cordy said as she sat down on a blue crate.
"We need to think of a way to get out of here. Are there any other entrances to the basement?" Angel paced back and forth as he thought.
"How should I know?" Cordelia scoffed as she looked through her Prada bag.
"Because you go to school here." Angel told her.
"Can't you just..." Cordelia said as she waved her fists in the air.
"Might take some time, " He answered as he thought about actually punching his way through the thick, metal....iOn second thought./i "Maybe we should just wait for help?"
"Are you crazy? Im not gonna sit here and start looking like your next meal" Cordy argued.
"That's not going to happen."
"Oh please. You would iso/i bite me if you still bit people" Cordelia said.
"This is ridiculous" Angel stated before finally sitting down.
"Well, its true" Cordy said, flipping through her Cosmopolitan magazine.
Angel looked over at her when he heard pages turning.
"What's that?" He asked.
She looked at him in disbelief. "Its a magazine" Cordelia held it up for him to see and he snatched it from her.
Angel flipped through it for a few minutes. He cringed, held it sideways a few times, and scoffed as he scoured the pages.
He pointed to a page and looked over at Cordelia "How would a girl get into - how could she-"
"Alright! Lets find something else to look at," Cordy said, a little disturbed, as she took back her magazine.
"Your boyfriend surprises you with a romantic-" Cordy started.
"I dont have a boyfriend." Angel said.
"Whatever then. Girlfriend. Your igirlfriend/i surprises you with a romantic dinner on the same night you have big plans with your friends. Do you: A, Cancel on your friends, even though you know they will be mad; B, Try and fit them in on the same night; C, Tell your girlfriend another night."
"Thats a rididulous question."
"Um, why?" Cordy asked.
"Because I-" Angel started
"Dont have a girlfriend bor/b friends?" Cordy finished for him.
"I have plenty of fr-"
"Its okay...I dont either." Cordelia said, having a rare moment of honesty with him and herself.
They sat together in silence for a few moments, a new level of comfort settling in between them.
"Anyway.." Cordy started, flipping to a new page.
"This," She pointed at the page "looks like fun."
Angel buried his head in his hands. "What."
"What kind of kisser are you?" She asked herself in an unnecessarily loud voice.
He studied her for a few minutes as she asked the questions outloud and said 'that is bsooo/b not me' numerous times.
iWhat the hell./b
"Let me see that." He said, taking the magazine away from her again.
"Hey! I was almost finished!" She whined. And pouted.
He smiled.
"You are a," Cordelia laughed as she read Angel's results "Soulful Kisser."
"W-what? It says that?" He asked, grabbing the magazine.
"Soulful Kisser: You never kiss someone for the hell of it. If it doesnt mean something to you, its not worth it. Your ideal matches would be the Passionate Kisser and another Soulful Kisser like yourself." Angel said slowly.
"Gee. What a surprise." Cordelia rolled her eyes. "What does imine/i say?!" She took it back and read her results aloud, face just inches away from the page.
"You are kisser. You know when someone wants it and you arent afraid to make the first move because you bknow/b you're a pro. Ideal matches are a Sensual Kisser and a Passionate Kisser.
She smiled to herself. "That sounds about right."
Angel scoffed at her "You cant be serious... these quizzes dont really bmean/b anything."
"Yeah?" She challenged.
Angel raised an eyebrow. A very curious eyebrow.
Cordelia walked the few steps toward him and got right in his face. She looked him straight in the eye as pressed her lips against his softly.
He didnt respond.
bAwkward. Awkward. Awkward.Awkward./bi Confidence waning./ib Awkward. Awkward. Awk/b-ihey wait a minute./i
He parted his lips incredibly slowly, giving her permission to continue.
She moved her hand behind his head and tried to make a bit more of the extremely gentle and silent kiss. He responded this time, only slightly.
iIs he kissing back?/ib Holy crap,/bi is he kissing me back?!?!?!/i
And then the heavy metal door swung open, causing both Cordy and Angel to jump away from eachother.
And then they heard footsteps.
It was Buffy. Of all the people in the world it could have been, it was Buffy.
Angel wiped the evidence of her kiss off of his mouth with the back of his hand, but the throbbing of his lips remained. By the time Buffy got down the stairs, It was as if nothing had happened.
She was taken aback at the sight of him, having lost contact since their breakup a few days earlier. She called out to him instinctively, wistfully, "Angel..."
"Buffy.." he said, taking a tentative step toward her and squinting slightly.
Cordy rolled her eyes once again and pointed at herself. "Cordelia. Im glad we all showed up to kindergarden on get to know eachother day." She was back to her normal self, fueled slightly by jealousy but more so by general annoyance.
Buffy looked from Angel to Cordelia."What are you two doing down here?"
"We uh...We were hunting this- this tentacle demon an-and-and the door shut behind us an-" He rambled.
"What about you, Buffy? What are you doing down here?" Cordelia asked.
"Same reason, actually. Im hunting the, um, tentacle demon and all the evidence, well, actually, blood, led me down here."
Cordy looked at Angel smugly with the -Itoldyouitcamedownhere- look.
And then there was a loud bang and clatter and crash coming from up above. Buffy immediately ran to it.
Cordelia and Angel looked at each other for a moment. She half-smiled and grabbed her purse, leaving without saying a word.
He watched her go, walking with poise and grace. Venom and elegance.
The magazine, now on the floor, was left behind. He picked it up and turned to the quiz they had taken minutes before.
i"Soulful Kisser"/i. He thought to himself,i"That sounds about right."/i