Short update; pretty pointless. I'm giving the story probably 2 more chapters before it must end.

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Chapter 15 : Almost There, Going Nowhere

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The dress was a simple dark navy color. It was a pretty depressing shade and I wondered why he picked it. Shrugging, I pulled it on and headed downstairs, not even bothering to put any makeup on or to check my reflection. I probably look good anyway, I thought to myself. Yeah..

"I knew it'd fit you well." I peered down and saw the forest green bush of hair waiting by the open door. He was laughing to himself, the idiot.

"What the hell do you mean by that?" I asked, brushing past him roughly and pulling him along, out of the doorway.

"Nothing. You're always so uptight, Faye. Relax and take a compliment." He shook his head and started up the car.

"Well. If that was your idea of a compliment, then I'd rather you make fun of me," I said honestly.

--

"And…where exactly are you taking me again?" I asked as we drove down a yet another shady alleyway.

"A friend of mine who lives around here." He tried to sound reassuring, but frankly, we both knew we were lost.

"You moron. I swear to God, after this is over I'll kill you for wasting my time," I hissed under my breath, but right then, he made a left and we found ourselves in a deserted parking lot.

"What do you know. I wasn't lost after all." Spike chuckled and got out of the car before I could smack him in the head.

We went up a musty elevator and walked down a dark hallway. He knocked at the last door and we came face-to-face with a muscular dude.

Spike and this guy immediately started slapping each others' backs and laughing like old-time friends. I had no idea there were more idiots like him that actually existed. Also, this weird cat came out of nowhere and kept purring against Spike's leg. It was really irritating me for some reason and I felt like kicking it.

Bored, I coughed loudly and they paused to recognize my presence. I raised my eyebrow. "I'm here for a license plate, if the two of you forgot."

His voice was pretty deep and scratchy. "Oh right, right, Spike called in earlier. I have it ready." He immediately handed me a brown box. "It's in there."

"Thanks, VT," Spike said. "I owe you one." He tossed the guy a few woolongs and we left, the cat still purring after Spike.

Back at the car, I asked him how he knew this "VT" guy. Spike burst out laughing and told me she was a woman.

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Instead of going straight home, Spike took me to a nice freshwater lake. We sat down next to each other and just enjoyed breathing in deeply and then exhaling. However, my stomach began to growl after this spiritualistic breathing session.

Spike cast me a sideways smirk. "I'm guessing that means you're hungry."

"Wrong. I'm starving." I patted my stomach as if to prove my point. Spike proceeded to get up, head to his car and return with a picnic basket.

"Where the hell…did that come from?" I asked, a little dumbfounded. I watched him spread a red checkered cloth on the floor and sit on it.

"I prepared it earlier." He patted a spot next to him. "Now sit here."

Rolling my eyes, I sat next to him anyway and he handed me a sandwich and a juice box.

"You're really funny, you know that, Spike?" I remarked, taking a bite out of my sandwich.

"Yeah. I kind of knew that already."

I guess he didn't find it funny for us to be drinking out of juice boxes. Or that he bothered to cut the crusts off the white bread. Spike was always thoughtful. Just in weird, contradictory ways that I couldn't figure out back then.

By the time we got back home, it was around five in the evening. We installed the new license plate on my car and I was glad to see it had no obnoxious lettering or phrases. Just random numbers and letters.

We went inside and found Julia already preparing dinner, whistling to a rather melancholy tune in that little cynical head of hers.

"Julia, we're home."

I glared at Spike. His girlfriend wasn't supposed to know the "we" part. I took a wild guess to say Spike forgot about that little piece of information.

Julia turned around. I could tell she had been thinking about something deeply for a while now just by the look on her face, but the expression was fleeting. She switched to a faked look of surprise.

"What's for dinner?" I questioned, hoping she wouldn't ask why we took so long just to get a license plate. That was if she remembered our conversation at the dinner table the night before. An awkward conversation, at that.

Julia pointed to the oven. "I'm baking lasagna."

"Ah… so is Vicious coming for dinner again?" I smirked at her.

She shrugged. "If he stops by, I have no choice but to let him in for the meal."

Spike unexpectedly cut in. "You know that's not true."

Before a full-fledged argument started, I began chuckling nervously and pulled Spike's sleeve, dragging him up the stairs and leaving Julia who turned back to her cooking.

"Shit Faye, what are you doing?" He gritted his teeth and pulled out of my grasp.

"I was only trying to avoid a lover's dispute. We have quite a love square going on here."

He scoffed. "Thanks to me, I presume."

I looked away, pretending to think about it. I looked back at him. "Yeah, you're right. It actually is all your fault."

Spike narrowed his eyes. "I was being sarcastic. And how was I supposed to know that she was your sister? It wasn't supposed to be like this." He was practically fuming. It was funny.

"So maybe it's Julia's fault. Okay, let's stop pointing fingers for tonight because I'm tired. I guess I'll see you at dinner, Mr-Ex-Boyfriend." And at that, I walked into my bedroom and closed the door at his face.

There was thick mahogany wood between us now, but I swear I could see the look of frustration etched on his features. He absolutely hated it when I called him that.

Which is precisely why I said it.