Disclaimer - I do not own the characters from Buffy or Roswell. I also don't own the song quotes, which are by the ataris. There ya go...
"If only I had one wish, I'd want a million trillion lifetimes that I could spend with you. Fall in love with you, again and again…"
They looked at each other silently across a crowed room. Sounds corny, when describing what happened. Like a cliché, or an old romance novel come to life. But, for them, life worked like that. Her life did anyway. His was an "un-life", a shadowed, tormented existence. "Un-life", literally. Or un-death. Or whatever you wanted to call it. She turned away first. Broke from his penetrating, soulful stare. But then, he'd had more practice at this. For centuries he'd been a lady-killer, both literally and metaphorically. So it was no surprise that he knew exactly how to make her weak at the knees, how to make her stomach flutter and her breath grow short. And it did. His eyes remained on her long after she had turned away…
"Name's Spike. And you are?"
She turned suddenly to see him standing next to her. Despite the shock of seeing him, despite the sudden loss of breath she seemed to be experiencing, she managed to come back with a witty answer, instead of fainting there and then like she had expected to.
"Maria. But what kind of a name is Spike? Sounds like a dogs name, if you ask me."
"Did I ask what you thought, pet?"
"I'm no-ones pet."
"No. I can see that you aren't…" and with his reply, he looked her up and down with that same penetrating stare, the one that made her feel as if he was stripping her with his eyes, that screamed "I want you". The look that made her stomach flip a million times in the space of a second, that made her all hot and…
"Well, luv? Are you goin' to answer me or what?"
She realised she had zoned out while he was talking to her. It was his eyes that did it.
"Sorry, what did you say?"
"I said, what's a pretty blonde thing like you doin' in a shit hole like this? I'd a thought you'd be out partying with friends, or studying, not drinking in a bar filled with middle-aged alkies with nowhere else to go." His crisp, cockney accent sounded out of place in the small town of Roswell, New Mexico. In fact, so did his whole character. Platinum blonde hair, pale white skin, long black leather coat over black jeans, black t-shirt and blood red, open shirt, he looked more suited to a T.V. show about vampires than the bar that they were currently sitting in.
"Why does it matter to you why I'm here? I'm here, that's all you need to know."
"Sorry luv, just making conversation, is all. Didn't mean to offend you."
"Ok then. Anyway, you look just as out of place as I do."
"True. Tell you what, you tell your story, I'll tell you mine…"
"What's there to tell? It's the typical girl meets boy, girl falls in love with boy, boy breaks her heart. Girl ends up in sleazy bar stinking of cheap booze and cigarettes, pouring her heart out to handsome stranger over shots of rum." Only replace 'boy' with 'alien', Maria thought with an ironic laugh.
"Want some advice luv? Any bloke who'd walk away from a hot little number like you has gotta be short a few brain cells, if you catch my drift. He's not worth it."
"Yeah, well, 'he's not worth it' is good advice but doesn't stop the need for cheap alcohol to take the pain away."
"Luv, there's a lot more fun ways to take away the pain than cheap booze. Good booze, for a start."
"Can't afford the good stuff. Anyways, I told you mine, so spill. What are you doing here? You don't strike me as the kinda person that would normally be found in a dive like this either."
"Well, you're right there. My story's similar to yours, in a way. Boy meets girl, boy hates girl, girl worms her way in and boy falls in love. Girl still hates boy, but uses him for casual sex until she realises what she's doing. Girl then tells boy she never wants to see him again. Boy ends up in sleazy bar stinking of cheap booze and cigarettes, pouring his heart out to cute little blonde number over shots of rum." Only replace girl with 'vampire slayer' and boy with 'blood-sucking creature of the night with inhibition chip', thought Spike.
"Well, any girl that would throw away a guy that looks like you, has gotta be either gay or just plain stupid."
"Thanks. Hey, luv, what d'ya say we at least find a place where the booze isn't half bad? My treat?"