The Girl Across the Hall
by: Fashiongrrl
Chapter 2: PartyingIt had been nearly a week since Spike had seen Buffy. Delivering babies and doing surgeries kept him too busy to pay attention to his own life, let alone find time to see others. It was the most stressful year of school, except for all the others. Next year he'd have to concentrate on getting a residency and figuring out what career path to choose. The year after that would be his intern year, and there wouldn't be any time for fun then either. Spike's life was well mapped out from day to day, and unfortunately he didn't have control on more than 2 or 3 of those days every month. But that was the price to pay for doing something you loved and helping others.
He came home one night to find a note taped to his door and lots of noise coming from Buffy's apartment.
"Hi Spike!
I haven't seen you all week, I'm guessing you're probably very busy. I just wanted to say thanks for helping me out last week. If you get this message, I'm having a party tonight. Please come if you're free!
Buffy, from 1206"
He had to smirk at the last part. She lived across the hall, Spike was sure he could find it. Looking down at his normal hospital attire he figured he should probably throw on something more suitable. His plans for the evening had revolved around sleeping since he miraculously had the day off tomorrow, but when in Rome... He jumped in the shower for 5 minutes to try and wash the smell of hospital soap off. He relished being able to throw on something other than dress up clothes and reached for a pair of jeans and a black t-shirt. If he had his way, he'd live in jeans and t-shirts like he had for most of his life since high school, but apparently that wasn't professional enough. There had been a time when he'd been forced to go to wear school uniforms, complete with matching ties and vests, and when his family moved to America he learned quickly that public high schools were no place for tweed suits.
Walking across the hall Spike rang Buffy's doorbell. The door opened to find a bubbly Buffy in a red tank top and a pair of jeans, her hair pulled back from her face on one side by a shiny red clip.
"Hey! You got my note!" she said smiling. "Come in!"
"Hi. Thanks for inviting me, I could use a night off," he said. Spike entered to find a room full of at least 20 people. "So what's with the shindig?"
"We're celebrating! This is my bestest friend in the entire world, Willow," Buffy said, putting her arm around the redhead standing next to her.
"Hi!" Willow said with a very shy wave.
"Ahem!" said a dark-haired boy as he stepped forward next to Buffy.
"Oh, and this is my other bestest friend in the whole world, Xander," Buffy continued, throwing an arm around him as well. "Willow just finished her medical school interviews and we're celebrating!"
"That and we're celebrating Buffy's new found freedom from Mr. Tall, Dark, and Forehead!" Xander said quietly to Spike.
"Angel?" Spike mouthed to Xander, a little confused. Xander nodded in response.
"Want a drink?" Buffy said, offering Spike a beer. He accepted gladly. Twisting off the top he took a large gulp.
"Spike goes to UCLA Med," Buffy offered, nodding in his direction.
"Really? Wow. Do you like it? What's it like?" Willow asked.
"Some days more than others. Right now the bloody hospital has made me its bitch, but otherwise it's not too bad. So you're applying, eh? I suppose congratulations are in order, Red! How many places did you apply?" Spike said, turning to Willow.
"Fifteen," Willow said. "Of course only 8 decided I was interviewing material, but who's counting?"
"Not too shabby. I applied to 20 and I got interviews at 5, and luckily - or maybe unluckily at this point - someone decided they wanted me," Spike laughed. "It's not easy to get in, but with 8 interviews I'm sure you've got a bloody good chance."
"Thanks!" Willow replied.
"I'm sure our Willow has a better chance than that," another British voice offered up. "Wesley Wyndham-Pryce," the voice continued, extending a hand in Spike's direction.
Spike looked up to find himself looking at a light-brown haired, bespectacled young man. He offered is hand in return, "Spike Giles."
"Manchester?" Wesley said, cocking his head to the side as he tried to place Spike's accent.
"Good guess. London?" Spike replied.
"You are correct," Wesley smiled.
"Ahhh, I see the boys who talk funny have met," Buffy said, entering the conversation.
"Talk funny? Hardly. It's your voice that sounds rather odd, my dear. You and your Yankee speak!" Wesley joked.
"Well I don't mind, I think it's cute," came from a dark-haired girl, her voice accented slightly with a Texan twang. She put her arm around Wesley and said, "Hi, I'm Fred."
"Nice to meet you, ducks," Spike replied.
"Spike I'm sorry, I haven't even bothered to introduce you to anyone. Hey room!" Buffy said, trying to get everyone's attention. "This is Spike, my neighbor from across the hall." Buffy proceeded to rattle off the names of her friends.
"And by Buffy's second beer, she won't remember a single one of those," Xander quipped.
"No way! Buffy and alcohol are decidedly unmixy tonight. I've got my one bottle of Bacardi Silver Raz, thank you very much," she said.
"Oh yeah, can't forget the 'Raz'," Xander said, tickling Buffy's side as he mocked her.
"Hey! Shut up!" Buffy laughed.
"Sweetie, there's nothing wrong with the 'Raz,' it's better than that cheap beer you normally drink down at my place," said a voice from the door. A brown-haired man in a brightly colored shirt walked in.
"Meet Lorne, our favorite bartender. He works at Caritas, a couple blocks away from campus. Fred used to waitress there," Xander offered.
"Mmm, Buffy who is this delicious dish? Do we have a new someone?" Lorne said.
"Lorne!" she laughed. "I'm sorry, ignore him," she said, turning to Spike. "Spike's a new friend. He lives across the hall in 1207."
Spike really hadn't thought of Buffy very much over the past week, but now that he saw her again a fleeting attraction raced through his mind. He couldn't help it, honestly every new member of the opposite sex he ran across had some potential in his mind. All of his friends were getting engaged or married, and Spike had been single for 2 years now. His ex-girlfriend Drusilla had made certain that his first year of medical school was going to be a living hell. She kept their relationship on a yo-yo, calling things on and off as she pleased until he finally put his foot down and said that if she didn't want to treat him with respect, she should sod off. That did the trick and he rarely heard from her afterwards.
After meeting Buffy in the condition she was in last week, it seemed wrong to think about her as someone to pursue, but then again opportunities weren't presenting themselves left and right. There were no girls clamoring at his door, but not so oddly enough there were several female and male nurses who took a chance to flirt with him whenever possible. He did cut an attractive figure, tall, blonde spikey hair, shocking blue eyes, and he obviously worked out as was noted by his arms sticking out from short-sleeved scrub tops. There was even one older patient who'd seized the opportunity to grab Spike's backside as he walked past in the ER one day and said, "I want that doctor to treat me!" He'd been so shocked but couldn't help laughing at the memory.
Buffy's light words left him slightly jolted inside. But he shook it off realizing he was talking about someone who had just broken up with a boyfriend, someone who was at least 5 years younger than him, and someone who lived in his building. And after all, he liked Buffy. Maybe not necessarily "like-like" as people used to say when they were kids, she just seemed like a nice person. Spike had time for a new friend at the moment, and realistically nothing more.
"Oh, just a friend! Tell me, why do they call you Spike?" Lorne said, flirting with Spike and letting his gaze start to wander south. Lorne was only joking, his "gaydar" letting him know Spike was into girls. But he loved having his fun.
Spike laughed knowing Lorne's game was all in good fun, "I've got a fetish for spike heels," he winked.
"Mmm, racy!" Lorne said, as another party go-er grabbed him and wheeled Lorne onto the makeshift dancefloor created by pushing Buffy's dining table up against a wall. Usher's "Yeah" pumped out from Buffy's speakers and the room was lost in chaos dancing to last summer's number one jam.
A few hours later the party began to wind down, and Buffy's guests thanked her, congratulated Willow once again and filtered out the door. Spike, Xander, and Willow helped Buffy clean up. With the four of them it didn't take very long and soon Willow and Xander were on their way out the door as well. They hugged and Buffy told her friends she'd see them later that weekend.
Buffy turned to Spike as he got up to leave, "Um, listen Spike. About the other night... thanks. I really appreciated it. I was in kind of a bad place. Okay, a really bad place, and..." Buffy said as she sat down on the couch.
"No explanation necessary, luv. We've all been there at one point," he said, sitting back down.
"That was just really nice of you to help me out, someone you barely even know."
"It's nothing, ducks. I live my life hoping that if I can do something good and help out someone, that someone out there will be equally good and help out someone I love when they're in trouble. It's all about good karma," Spike replied.
"Wow... that's deep," Buffy said, not knowing what else to say.
"Not really. It's just about doing what's right. By the way, bloody good party. I haven't had a chance to relax in weeks!"
"Thanks! It just seemed like a good time for some fun," she said.
"How's everything been since..." Spike trailed off.
"Some days are good and some days are bad. It's only been a week. He tried to call a few times but I told him to just leave me alone because I wasn't ready to talk. He might be a total skeeze, but at least he's willing to give me some space. I think he got the message after I kept hanging up on him and avoiding him at school. Something about Buffy's patented 'death stare' as Willow calls it," Buffy said, wringing her hands together and staring at the floor.
"I'm not going to lie. It's hell at first, but it gets better. Trust me, it gets better," Spike offered, putting a hand on Buffy's shoulder.
"Thanks," she said, looking up at him.
"Your friends seem like really nice people," he said, trying to lighten the mood.
"Yeah, they're the best. Will and Xand have been great all week. And I'm sorry about Lorne, he means well," she said.
"Don't be, he's bloody hilarious! That's bloke all right by me," Spike replied.
"You know," she said, running a hand through her hair. "It never really occurred to me that your name is probably something other than Spike! I mean, I just can't see a Dr. Spike running around the hospital."
"My real name is a secret that dies with me," he laughed.
"Oh come on! Tell me!" Buffy whined.
"Is Buffy short for something?" Spike asked.
"Being avoidy won't help! It can't be that bad!" Buffy said, hands on her hips.
Spike sighed, looking upwards. He smiled and said, "Fine. William Giles."
"Thank you, what that so hard? And Buffy isn't short for anything. My mom was just... in a phase. She wasn't quite ready to let go of the 70s when I was born," Buffy said, rolling her eyes.
Spike shrugged. "It suits you."
"Thanks. But why the name 'Spike?'" Buffy continued.
"Remnant of a former life, I guess," Spike said, glancing over at his new friend. She was facing him, arm on the couch, head on her arm, and a strand of blonde hair escaping from the clip.
"Former life?" Buffy looked at him, raising an eyebrow in disbelief.
"All right, it's the hair. I dyed it blonde and spiked it up in high school. I was going through a rebel phase and trying to royally piss off my dad. It worked. One day, I was being a smartass in one of my classes and a teacher called me out on it. He said something to the extent of 'Excuse me, Mr. Spikey, do you have something to add to the class?' and the name Spike stuck." He glanced over at Buffy.
"That's not a bad story," Buffy said. She stretched her arms up towards the ceiling and yawned. "Mmm, sorry. I didn't realize how late it was."
Spike yawned as well. "It's all right, time for me to throw myself into bed. I haven't had a day off in weeks. I think I'm going to sleep like the dead. Thanks for a damn good time!"
"Not a problem," she said, walking him to the door.
"Good night," he said.
"Hey Spike, are you doing anything tomorrow? A couple of us are going to the movies..." Buffy trailed off, slightly hopeful.
"I'd love to but I've got study all day tomorrow. We've got a test in a week, and I haven't had a chance to open my books much. I'm sorry," he replied.
"Oh, it's okay! No big deal. Maybe some other time," Buffy said.
"Sure. 'Night!" Spike replied.
"Good night!" Buffy replied. She closed the door and leaned against it, closing her eyes and shaking her head. Get a grip, Buffy! she thought. It's been a week since you broke up with Angel. No time for rebound boys, even if he is really cute... Rebounding equals much badness. Oh well, at least he's fun to hang out with. But as she climbed into bed, this time it was Buffy's thoughts that wondered to the blonde across the hall.
A/N: The butt-grabbing incident actually happened to one of my residents. He told us the story, and by looking at him it's pretty apparent that he's a total hottie. Hilarious! And I'm so sorry to everyone's whose stories I've fallen out of touch with. I've meant to read but it's been such a busy year - ie, as that third year med student - that it's going to be a long while before I can catch up with any spuffy fiction. Sigh...