The back door to the Bronze was propped open when Spike and Buffy arrived. She caught a glimpse of a dark-haired man as he carried a handful of cymbal stands and a long, thin gig bag into the building.
"Xander," Spike called after him. "Wait up."
Xander stopped and waited for them to catch up. He gave Buffy the once-over and then grinned at Spike.
"And who might this be?" he asked a little too eagerly as they continued walking together.
He set his hardware down when he got to the stage, propping the stands up against the back wall of the drum riser. He laid the small gig bag next to his already set-up shells. Buffy figured he carried his sticks and brushes in the small bag. It looked about the right size.
"This might be my girlfriend, Buffy," Spike told him with a warning glare.
"Might be?" Xander pressed. He shot Buffy a mischievous smile. "That might mean she's available, then."
"I don't think so, Bub," Buffy teased right back. "And what's with this might stuff, huh Will?"
Spike tightened his grip on her waist and growled softly into her neck before lightly nipping it.
"Mine?" he asked making her giggle.
"So barbaric," she breathed. "Of course. Yours."
Spike turned back to Xander who was busily twisting the bolts around the snare head with a chrome key. He tapped and made a face before tightening down the head a little more.
"Buffy, this is Xander Harris," he introduced. "Harris, my girlfriend Buffy Summers."
Xander smiled up at her, continuing to tune his snare drum.
"Well, any girlfriend of Spike's is a girlfriend of mine," he said with a wink. Spike scowled and he amended his earlier remark. "Emphasis on the friend part, of course. And you're obviously a girl. Girl. And friend. Not without the space between."
Buffy nodded her head to indicate she got it as she watched him continue to coax the head even tighter.
"You should try Evans," she told him.
He looked up, puzzled.
"Yeah, if you're looking for a crisper tone out of your snare. Evans makes a really good dry head. Gives it a real nice snap. More so than the Remo hydraulic you're using," she observed.
Xander dropped the key on the ground and stared up at her slack-jawed.
"I,uh, play snare in marching band," she explained quickly. "Just an observation. Don't mind me. I didn't mean to imply that--"
"I love you," Xander squeaked out and then darted his eyes to meet Spike's. "I love her, dude. If you ever break up, can I have her?"
Spike shook his head and chuckled. Break up? He had no intention of ever ending his romance with Buffy. She was the one. Harris would have to go find his own girl.
"At least tell me you have a sister just like you," Xander pleaded.
"Nope. Just me," Buffy said apologetically.
"Well, I'm glad you like her so much, Mate," Spike said, deciding to test the waters with Xander. "I was thinking we might give her a go on vocals."
Xander looked from Spike to Buffy and back to Spike again.
"She sings, too?" he asked.
"Who sings, too?" asked a young man with blue-tipped hair.
"Oz, good to see you Mate," Spike smiled at his bass player. "This is my girlfriend, Buffy. Buffy, Daniel Osbourne... Oz."
Oz laid his gig bag on the stage and turned to extend his hand to Buffy. He was about the same height as she was with spiky light red-hair with cobalt blue tips.
"Buffy," she nodded with a tight smile. "Short for...?"
"For Buffy. Just Buffy," she told him.
"Hmm.... interesting," he said with a smirk. "Right, then. You sing?"
"That's what Will tells me," she joked.
Oz nodded.
"Will is...?"
"Me, you stupid git," Spike ground out at him.
"Riiiiight... right." Oz was nodding his head looking at the two blondes, his face etched with curiosity.
"You!" he suddenly said, pointing at Buffy. "The Damned concert."
He had an uncharacteristically huge grin on his face. She was the girl who had made Drusilla look like an ass. He'd had to hear Dru bitch about Little Miss Sunshine all the way home. He definately liked Buffy.
"Hmm," he said, his face pensive once again. "Good. Very good."
He began busying himself with his bass rig while Spike filled in Buffy on the finer aspects of Oz's laconic demeanor.
"He's a man of few words, but he always makes his point loud and clear," he explained.
"So... I should take it that he likes me?" Buffy asked, hopeful.
"Oh, yeah. He definately likes you, Baby," Spike told her. "You're the girl who knocked Dru down a few pegs. Remember?"
Buffy remembered.
"Spike!"
Buffy's head turned to identify the female voice that was squealing her boyfriend's name. A slight red-head came bounding up tugging a shy blonde girl behind her.
She let go of the girl's hand long enough to pull Spike into a warm hug. The other girl gave him a quick hug, too, and then turned to Buffy with a little smile.
"I'm Tara, Willow's girlfriend," she told Buffy, not wanting to let the girl think that either of them was after her new boyfriend. "You must be Buffy."
"I am," Buffy smiled back. There was something about Tara that immediately put her at ease.
Willow turned to her and pulled her into a hug. Friendly thing, she was. She looked at Buffy with a wide smile and then back to Spike.
"Oh, Spike! She's perfect! Just perfect!" she gushed. She turned to Tara and grabbed her hand. "Isn't she just perfect, Baby? They look so good together!"
Tara smiled and nodded in agreeance. They were a very attractive couple. Willow was just so happy that her best friend had finally found a girl who was worthy of him.
"And I can tell that she loves you, Spike. It just radiates off of her!" She turned back to her girlfriend again. "Can't you see it in her aura, Baby? It just glows. Look at the both of them!"
"Willow and Tara are Wiccan," Spike leaned down and whispered to Buffy. "Into all that New Age mumbo jumbo... crystals and spells and auras and all that rot."
"It's not rot, Spike!" Willow said in defense of herself. "Haven't we talked about you being more open-minded before, Mister?" She looked back at Buffy who was a little overwhelmed by the red-head's exuberance. "Buffy is open-minded. Just look at her! You can tell. She has honest eyes. And a pure energy buzzing around her."
Spike looked up toward the stage to see Oz and Xander almost done tuning and setting up.
"What's that, Lads? You're ready to play?" he called, pretending that they had said something to him. Anything to end this conversation about the abracadabra and hocus-pocus of his relationship with Buffy.
"Huh?" Xander asked, looking at him with brows furrowed in puzzlement.
"Salvaton," Oz said, turning his head back to look at Xander. He winked. "That's us. Yeah. Ready," he called back to Spike.
Willow and Tara took a seat at the high-top to the left of the stage.
"Come on, Buffy," Willow called. "Come sit with us and we can catch up while they do their musical thingy."
Buffy found herself bombarded with a litany of questions as the guys worked out a few new songs. Willow wanted to guess how they met. And then she wanted to know if she was even close.
"Oh, you met through Spike's step-sister?" she frowned. "Hmm... I just saw you meeting in a park. You know, you were sitting on a bench reading something by Anne Rice and he nearly tripped over his own feet when he saw you sitting there alone. So, that didn't happen, huh?"
"Not so much," Buffy admitted. "But he did come sit on the couch with me while I was doing my senior project on Dylan Thomas the other night. And we went to the beach the next day."
Buffy didn't know what it was about Willow that made her want to make her feel better.
"Oh, well... that's kind of... not the same, but hey. Books and outdoorsiness. So, maybe a little," Willow tried with a weak smile.
"Why don't you let her tell it, Baby?" Tara suggested. She smiled timidly at Buffy. "If you want to tell us, Buffy."
"I met Will five years ago when his Dad married my friend Cordelia's Mom," she told them.
"Was it love at first sight?" Willow asked excitedly. "I bet it was!"
"It was," Buffy admitted.
"Ooh! Goody!" Willow grinned. "I knew it! I have a way with these things."
Buffy couldn't help but giggle a little at Willow's excitability. She couldn't knock the girl for being so happy for her best friend. Willow seemed genuinely thrilled about Spike and Buffy's new relationship.
"And he loved you, too! But he just didn't know how to say it, right?" she guessed.
"Something like that," Buffy told her. "We just have a lot in common. And we've been able to become good friends over the years."
"What is it you love most about Spike?" she asked. "Is it his smile? Or, oh! His voice! That accent is pretty yummy. And I'm sure you've heard him sing! Or I know! Those gorgeous blue eyes of his!"
"His heart," Buffy stated firmly. There was no doubt about what she loved most about Spike. "It's always been Will's heart. Since the day I met him."
"Wow! So, that is just too cute, you know. Will. I don't think I've ever heard anyone call him that before," Willow told her.
Tara just gave Buffy a sympathetic smile as her girlfriend prattled on.
"She means well," Buffy heard Tara say. Her lips never moved, though. Her eyes widened as Tara winked at her. She realized that Tara was speaking to her telepathically! "Don't ask how," Tara silently answered, sensing Buffy's question. "I just can."
Spike set down his guitar and looked over to Buffy, shooting her his most apologetic smile. He could tell she was squirming a bit under Willow's nonstop banter. His best friend meant well. He knew that. But he also knew that she could be a little intense at times.
"I should probably go save Buffy from Red," he sighed to his bandmates.
"Or you could fill us in on when Buffy even happened," Xander replied.
"I could do that," Spike told him.
Oz had noticed that his strings were beginning to sound a little dead and took the opportunity to start unwinding them from the pegs at the headstock. May as well change them while he was thinking about it.
"Yeah. Do that," he nodded, not looking up from his task.
"Met her through Cordelia about five years ago," he told them, digging through his pockets for his cigarettes and a lighter. "When Da married Honey." He pulled out a cigarette and put it between his lips catching a raised eyebrow from Buffy. He took it back out and stuck it back into the pack unlit.
Honey. Xander remembered her all too well. Spike's step-mother scared him. She was all flirty and coy and it had creeped him out to no end.
"Take it you remember Honey," Spike smirked when he caught the sour look on Xander's face. "Anyhow, the Cheerleader's been using my girl for years. Invites her over and then leaves her to play secretary so that her mum doesn't catch on that she's out whoring around. She's been doing it since they were freshmen."
"As in high school?" Xander asked. "Just how old is Buffy?"
"Old enough. She graduates in a few months. Smarter and more mature than most of the birds at UC already," he said in her defense. "She's... she's not like other girls, Mate. She's..."
He wasn't sure if he should divulge the information to his friends. Then he looked over to where Buffy was sitting between Willow and Tara. She was laughing and had clearly been accepted by the two women.
"She's the one, Mate," he admitted.
Oz looked up from his bass and stared blankly at him. That had come out of nowhere. Not that Spike hadn't dated a few interesting girls since they'd met. There had been that girl Amy from Psych class freshman year. Too bad she had been a psycho. Then there was Dawn. He'd freaked out when little miss innocent had been busted for being an underage stripper at the Lucky Lady. That killed that relationship pronto. There had been Darla. She had seemed normal enough, but had paired off with Dru after a gig one night. There went her morals. Right out the window.
Spike had decidedly had very bad luck with women since Oz knew him. He looked over at Buffy and sized her up quickly. She was chatting animatedly with the other girls, looking over at Spike from time to time with nothing but love and adoration in her eyes. So, she was a little on the young side. She looked incredibly innocent, too. But Oz decided that there was something very wise about her, as well. She was confident but not cocky. And she was friendly without being overbearing. And she hadn't made a snarky little remark about his brusque use of the English language. Most people usually had something to say in response to his curt replies and direct questions. Hmmm, he thought. She is the one.