Part Three
"Are you going to the library after school today Dawn?" Buffy questioned. She had spent most of the night thinking about how to handle this situation with Dawn. But in reality there was really nothing to handle.
"Yeah, Alyson is still having some problems in math so I'm going to go help her." Dawn never looked up from her breakfast. She didn't feel like seeing the eyes of people this early in the morning.
"Why don't you invite Alyson over for dinner tonight?" Buffy said suddenly. It shocked everyone around.
"Uh, she's probably really busy but I'll ask." She didn't think that she could handle having everyone around to scrutinize Alyson now. It was too early in the friendship, or relationship, for meeting the family.
"Okay." Buffy answered back.
"Alyson!" Dawn called out to the girl ahead of her. Alyson turned around to see Dawn. A smile immediately formed on her face. "Here." Dawn shoved a piece of paper towards the girl.
"Thanks." Alyson knew what it was. She turned and left with her friends. Slowly she opened the note to see the box checked under "yes."
Dawn was tapping her pencil against her leg. So she was totally nervous about asking Alyson to dinner. Actually she was more nervous about what would be said to her and Alyson when everybody found out that they were dating. They were dating now weren't they? Dawn did check the yes box on the paper.
"You want me to give you some space so you can finish your drum solo?" Alyson came up and sat down in front of Dawn. "Looking a little nervous there kid. Have I done something to bother you?"
"No, not all. Its just that my sister knows."
"Knows what? The secrets of the universe?" Alyson tried to make Dawn smile but it wasn't working.
"I told her about me...us."
"Whoa, you told her that we are dating?" Alyson put her hands up like she was trying to stop a moving car.
"Not exactly. I told her last night that I really liked you. And she invited to dinner tonight."
"So, do you want me to come over for dinner?" She grinned.
"I do but I'm telling you that my family is extremely weird and they'll embarrass me to death." She smiled.
Alyson placed a hand over Dawn's. She moved Dawn's hand until they could interlace their fingers. Nobody paid them any attention. "I'd be honored to meet my girlfriend's family." Dawn raised her head slightly to see her girlfriend.
"Okay here's the deal, nobody picks on me. Nobody makes embarrassing comments. No dragging out baby pictures. No telling things that I done when I was little." Dawn went over the list of instructions for the family.
"Dawn chill, we got it okay?" Willow placed the plates on the table.
"Its just that I don't want you all to embarrass me. This is really important to me." Dawn was pacing around. She heard a car pulling up and felt her heart stop. Alyson was here. Dawn rushed to the front door to see Alyson sitting in her car. She was still facing forward, her hands gripping the steering wheel. She took a deep breath and emerged from the car.
"Hey, Dawn-girl." She came walking up the steps. Dawn was taken aback by her looks. Alyson's hair was let down, as it usually was. She had her contacts in, which were a bright blue. Her shirt was long sleeved and the same color blue. To finish it off, she wore jeans.
Dawn was wearing a khaki shirt that came down to her knees and a white short sleeve shirt. Her hair was let down, the only way she would wear it.
"Hey, you're looking gorgeous today." Alyson added.
"Thanks, and so are you." Dawn stepped outside and shut the door. She didn't want anybody to hear what she had to say. "I told them about us dating and they're okay with it. But just ignore them if they say anything stupid."
Alyson laughed. She reached out and ran her hand down the length of Dawn's arm finally grabbed her hand. "Don't worry so much, it'll be okay. If they drag out baby pictures or telling embarrassing stories, I'm not going to run away screaming. There's nothing that they can say that will surprise me."
If you only knew. Dawn thought to herself. "Now or never." Dawn held Alyson's hand tightly as they entered the house. Buffy, Willow and Tara were in the kitchen waiting to see Alyson. Though Buffy was the only one who hadn't met her yet. She just wanted to Dawn to be happy and if this girl made her happy, then so be it.
"Guys, this is Alyson." Dawn still held on to her hand, which Buffy noticed right away. Alyson briefly waved to the people. "Alyson, this is my sister Buffy and you've met Willow and Tara."
"Dinner will be ready in a little while." Willow spoke. She held a smile.
"I'll give a tour of the house then. Come on." Dawn took Alyson out of the kitchen. "I told them to be on their best behavior." She spoke low. But it caused Alyson to chuckle.
Cautiously Dawn took Alyson up to her bed room. She was nervous about being alone with her. Though she had been "alone" with her in public where they couldn't kiss or anything, now she was really alone with her. They sat down on her bed in silence.
"You don't have to be afraid of me you know." Alyson said softly. Dawn looked up with questioning eyes. "I know that you're afraid of this...of us. Of being in a relationship with a girl and everything that comes with it. But you can relax some when its just us. There's no need for barriers or walls or anything, just relax."
Alyson pushed some Dawn's hair out of her face to see her. Dawn turned towards her girlfriend. She felt this urge that she had to go with. She leaned in to kiss Alyson. It was Alyson who advanced the kiss by letting her tongue trace Dawn's lips. She was given access almost instantly. They were in a deep kiss when the door opened.
"Dinner's ready." Buffy's face was completely red as she shut the door.
"Oh dear god." Dawn whispered.
"Relax. It'll be completely fine. They'll pick on you after I leave." Alyson stated.
"I can't believe that I just did that." Buffy's face was still a little red.
"What's wrong?" Tara asked as she saw the very distressed slayer enter the room.
"I just sort of walked in on Dawn and Alyson...making out." She wasn't sure if that's what she should call it.
"It's not the end of the world Buffy." Willow added. "Let's just get through dinner so that we can get to know Alyson a little bit better."
Dawn and Alyson descended the stairs slowly. Both were very nervous about this night. Alyson more so than Dawn. She hated meeting her girlfriend's family members, mainly because most families weren't that accepting towards her stealing their daughters.
"Okay, sit wherever you want." Willow announced when she saw the two girls. Alyson took a seat on the right side of the table in the very last spot. Dawn, of course, sat next to her right. Buffy, Willow and Tara took their seats on the other side so that they could face Alyson. It was sort of an attack, or that's how Alyson felt.
Food was distributed to everyone. For a while everything was quite. Everybody was off into their own little discussions until Buffy couldn't stand it anymore.
"So Alyson, how old are you?" She questioned the girl.
"I'll be seventeen in a couple of months." She said calmly, though she didn't feel it. Inside her stomach was doing flips for two reasons. One being meeting the family and the other was being with Dawn. That was the affect that Dawn had on her, it mad her nervous because she didn't want to upset Dawn due to the fact that she liked her so much.
"Seventeen, really? Wow, so you drive now?" Willow was a little surprised that Dawn would date somebody almost two years older than her.
"Yeah, I have my own car." Alyson smiled before going back to her food.
"What do your parents do?" Tara questioned. Dawn was mouthing 'no! no!' and waving her hands but she stopped before Alyson saw her.
"Actually both of my parents died last year. I'm living on my own now."
"Oh, I'm sorry." Tara apologized for asking.
"Don't be, its not your fault."
"So what do you do in your free time?" Willow wanted to put this on a lighter note. Death was not a dinner time subject.
"Alyson is a very talented writer. She's on the school paper. And she's in all the advanced English classes. Her poetry was published in the New York Times, and the Sunny Dale Community paper." Dawn was proud of those facts. Alyson was grinning.
"Wow, that's amazing." Buffy knew that this girl must be major smart.
"Yep, I just don't understand how a girl with her smarts can fail math." Dawn had to pick on her for that.
Everybody was starting to relax. "Hey now, not everybody can be perfect. But I'm as close as anybody's ever gotten." She pretended to polish her nails on her shirt.
"With your schedule I don't see how you have time to worry about anything else." Over the time that they had spent in the library, Dawn learned of all the things that Alyson did during the day.
"I usually don't have time to remember to tie my shoes." Everybody else was pretty much lost. "A typical day for me is getting up early and going to school; come home for about an hour then taking off for work where I work for four hours; go to either violin or piano practice, just depends on what day it is; come home and do housework which I never get done. In between housework I write my short stories for English or my poetry. And god forbid if I have to pay bills or something because it just makes it more hectic. I have gained a new respect for adults."
"Do you even have time to breath?" Buffy was smiling. This girl was definitely responsible. She liked that Dawn was with somebody who could at least have her priorities in order before anything else. It might possibly teach Dawn some responsibilities.
"So I think that everything went very well tonight." Alyson and Dawn were standing outside. Alyson was holding one of Dawn's hands. The girl nodded. "The family seems to acknowledge me and like me. That's more than I've ever gotten from any of my other girlfriends."
"Let's hope that this is the last time you ever have to meet another family." Dawn laid her head on Alyson's shoulder. She wrapped her arms around one of Alyson's arms.
"Oh, promises, promises."
"When's your next concert for your piano?"
"Next week. I'll be doing a set with the violin and a set with the piano. I've got to skip out this week on our library time so that I can go and practice more."
"What about your job?" They were finally standing in front of Alyson's car.
"I work with some laid back people, they'll be alright with me being going for two weeks. I'll still get paid."
"Can I come to your concert?"
"Yes baby girl. I'll get you some tickets. Will the family want to go?" Dawn shrugged her shoulders. "Just let me know when they decide and I'll get them." She sighed. "I guess its my time to go for the night. But there's something I want to let you look at." Alyson reached into her car and pulled out a notebook. "Its some of my poetry." She handed the book to her girlfriend.
"Thanks." Alyson kissed Dawn briefly, knowing that if she stuck around any longer things would get heated. "Goodnight and sweet dreams." Dawn whispered as Alyson turned to get into her car. Again Dawn waited until she couldn't see the car anymore before going back in the house. She held the book close to her as she entered the house.
"I liked her. I think that you made a good choice with her." Buffy said. "What's that?"
"A book of Alyson's poetry."
"So read us something." Willow was interested in knowing what made this girl's writing so special.
"Okay but just one:
Sunday Morning:
The TV on cartoons,
Breakfast in bed,
The covers pulled over us
As we find something perverted to say
About the cartoon hero.
We hear the phone ringing,
Then the answer machine.
It was your mother,
We didn't care.
Our day off,
And we spend it in bed,
Groaning about what is to be done tomorrow,
And the chores that should be done today.
Laughing at our own jokes,
Yawning away the sleep,
We turned over and held tight
As we drifted off to sleep.
"Wow." Dawn stated after she finished reading it.
"That was really good. I know I've felt like that before." Willow smiled over to her girlfriend.
Dawn was up most of the night reading all the poems that she could. Each one was different and better than the last. She could really feel the pain and happiness that Alyson went through in each poem. It was hard to believe that it was her girlfriend who wrote this. But it was still weird to Dawn that she had a girlfriend at all. She never thought that she would have a girlfriend.
Now it was late and she needed to sleep.