Chapter Eight – Friendly Competition

"Sarah?!"

"Oh hey, Buffy."

"Oh hey nothing. What the hell were you doing macking on my man? I assume it's not another tip, unless he saved your life too?" Buffy said sarcastically.

"No actually, I didn't even realise he was the guy you wished about. It's just a happy coincidence." Sarah replied with a sweet smile.

"What do you mean?"

"Well you've wished him into pretty much the perfect guy. I mean I was looking for a quick roll in the hay, but with all the things you put on that list, I think he's definitely a keeper." She smirked.

"You bitch! I thought this was a tip, some kind of reward for saving your life. I didn't think you were going to ruin my chances with Spike."

"Yeh, next time I'll just give you 10 of my life. It'd probably be less painful."

"What?"

"You don't get it, do you? It's always everyone else who's the bad guy. That's why you changed Spike, wasn't it? After all you could have wished for anything, but really all you needed was the courage to be honest about your feelings. From what you told me, he was a good guy anyway. You just couldn't resist changing him though; you were so obsessed with appearances and things that don't even matter that it never occurred to you to wish he'd love you."

"That's because you tricked me. I told you I wanted him to have everything that made him who he is. That means he has to love me."

"No. Love is a choice. People fool themselves that they'll feel the same way forever but they don't, not by feelings. They have to choose it; every day, after every row, every fight and every disappointment. You didn't choose to love Spike the way he was before, why should he choose to love you now?"

Buffy's mouth fell open, but there was no answer. Tears started to swell up in her eyes, and she put her head in her hands.

"I've done a terrible thing."

"Yes. You have, and nothing can change that now. You know that. All you can do now is help Spike by being his friend. Help him to be a man again. You owe him that much."

"But he knows that I want him to be my man." Buffy said weakly.

"He'll forget. He's my man now, after all. My willing slave instead of just you slave."

Buffy winced at the comparison to the words she'd so easily put aside when he'd sung them to her just a few short days ago with all his metaphorical heart. Then she nodded.

"He's yours. If you hurt him, you'll have me and my sister to answer to, and believe me; she's way scarier than me."

"Be seeing you around then, Slayer."

"Count on it."

Buffy sighed. She needed to get out of here. She would explain to the others tomorrow, confess everything about the wish, and then she would do everything she could to reverse the spell, like Spike wanted. Right. Nothing to do with him being in love with her before. Nothing at all. Damn, Sarah was right. She'd been playing with Spike's life and feelings for so long now that she rarely gave it a second thought, but surely if he meant that much to her it was time to let go, let him be happy. Tears ran down her face at this, but she walked out of the Bronze resolved. She would be his friend, just his friend, if he would ever have her back as that.

Spike approached the pool table in time to hear Xander crowing about beating Dawn at pool.

"It's nothing to be ashamed of, Dawnie. Stronger opponents than you have fallen against the mighty Xan-man!" Dawn rolled her eyes, but smiled at his bragging.

"So how's about the mighty Xan-man opens his wallet and buys me my next drink when I wipe the floor with his sorry behind?" Spike asked with a grin.

"You're on, but I'm having 2 cokes if I win cos I'm driving."

"I think we should make a quick exit. There is definitely too much testosterone around here." Willow said with a giggle to Tara.

"Wanna go dance?" Anya asked brightly. The others agreed and left Spike and Xander to their game. Spike broke, potting a ball from the break. He took his time with the next shot, which just missed. Xander then spent a long time sizing up a shot before eventually missing. As Spike stepped up again, Xander began the conversation.

"What are you going to do about Buffy?"

"Not a lot I can do about her." Spike took his shot, but missed badly.

"I know she did a terrible thing, but she'd a good person. She's been my best friend for years now. I mean, she may not be that bright, but deep down she means well." Xander potted two balls before missing a third.

"I know. In a way that just makes it worse. If Anya had done to you what Buffy's done to me…" Spike let the hypothetical consequences draw themselves.

"Besides…" He continued as he potted a second. "I'm surprised that Xander Harris of all people hasn't been partying none stop since he found out that I'm not interested in his precious slayer anymore." Spike grinned as two more balls were potted in quick succession.

"The fact that she was willing to do that to you just tells me how much she wanted you, and how much she cared about what the rest of us thought. If I'd known that before, maybe I would have felt differently." Spike missed his shot on hearing this.

"Although I guess I'd feel differently if you were still trying to get into Buffy's pants."

"Well I most definitely am not. And you owe me a drink."

"Huh? Oh right." The mighty Xan-man realised that he'd been successfully thrashed at pool.

"So what's it to be?"

"Coke." Spike muttered almost under his breath.

"Come on, I won't have people saying that Xander Harris isn't good for a drink. Have a proper drink."

"I can't. Apparently it was on Buffy's little wish list." Spike said tightly. Xander immediately started laughing.

"Brilliant. That's brilliant. She's really got you with that one."

"Tell me about it. Worse than ­- ,she is."

"Worse than -." Spike opened his mouth to say the name, but it wouldn't come out. Xander looked on as he pulled a series of hilarious faces teamed with even funnier sounds until he finally stopped, opening his mouth slowly in realisation.

"That girl wished that I wouldn't be able to say my exes' names. That… that… that..!" Xander burst into very unmanly giggles at this, which were only made worse by Spike's new swearing handicap. Finally regaining composure, Xander bought Spike the promised coke.

"It could be worse; she could have wished you unable to say any other girl's name." Spike's eyes went wide at this.

"Dawn, Tara, Willow, Sarah. Oh thank God." He said relieved.

"So who's Sarah?"

"Nobody."

"Wouldn't happen to be the same nobody I saw you with at the bar, by any chance?"

"More observant than the others think, aren't you?"

"Thought so. You know, you should ask her out."

"I don't know. I mean, I don't know if she'd be interested."

"Well you won't know unless you ask her. You have her number, right?"

"Well yeh, but I'm still getting used to using a phone again, it's doesn't exactly bring out the best in me.I mean, what would I say?"

"Why don't you throw a house warming party at your place, then you can invite her to it."

"Yeh, that sounds like a good idea… Wait, oh no! No, God, it can't be…"

"What's wrong?" Xander asked off Spike's horrified expression.

"It is. I know what happened. It wasn't a wish at all." It was Xander's turn to look shocked.

"What is it? What's happened?" He demanded, worried.

"It's the only explanation. I must have been staked. And now I'm in hell. Why else would I be taking dating advice from Xander Harris?" Spike finished with a wide grin, receiving a light-hearted punch on the arm for his trouble.

"So anyway, when are you going to have all the lads round for beer and wide screen goodness?"

"How do you know…?"

"Women talk about these things. Tara told Willow, Willow told Anya and Anya told, well everybody, even customers at the Magic Box who didn't manage to escape quick enough. Anyway, we could always come over in 3 weeks for the soccer championship."

"Don't you mean soccer?" Spike asked snidely.

"Err yeh, that's why I said soccer."

"What? You can't call it soccer."

"Soccer." Spike replied in a very forced American accent.

"Oh this just gets better and better. Now you have to call soccer 'soccer' like a real man, instead of 'football'." Xander realised with a laugh.

"Oh my God, no. No, no, no. Of all the low, dirty, evil things that girl has done, this is the worst, the most terrible. She's reduced the beautiful game to a poncy yank phrase. That's it. That's the last straw. Buffy Summers, you are going to rue the day you messed with me. You are going to pay for this." Spike shook his fist in the air, trying to hang onto his last remaining scrap of dignity as Xander cried his eyes out with laughter.