Chapter 4

Buffy shook her head and stared at Bam. They were sitting at a red light in LA heading for the Paramour Mansion. Filming on The Return had wrapped the day before and Buffy had flown home today and Bam had picked her up. They dropped off her luggage at her house, which was spotless, and then headed over to the Paramour Mansion to see Ville and the band.

"Why won't you tell me?" Bam asked.

"Because! You don't need to know." Buffy retorted again.

"I think this type of thing requires a best friend's input, so fucking spill!"
"Shut up."

Bam shook his head and drove into the driveway of the Mansion. "Somedays..."
"Listen, if I wanted you to know, I'd tell you. It's nothing, ok? He's just a nice guy I met that was fun to talk to."
"Ok, this is what I'm getting," Bam and Buffy got out of the car and headed towards the front door. "He's a guy that you met in Austin who has NO idea that your Buffy Summers, Superstar Extrodinaire and everytime you hear or say his name, your face does this funky scrunch thing like you're trying to hide a smile. Doesn't seem like nothing."
"Bam!"

"What? I'm just trying to wrap my poor head around this."

"Around what?" Ville asked as they walked into the room. "Buffy!"

"Ville!" Buffy ran up to him and hugged him tightly.
"I'm trying to figure out what's up with this guy she met in Austin." Bam said, plopping down on a chair.

"A guy?" Ville asked Buffy.

She rolled her eyes and kicked Bam's shin. "It's nothing."

"But you smile every time his name comes out of someone's lips." Bam said.

"I do not!"

"Angel." Buffy tried to hide the smile, but failed miserably. "For such an awesome actress, you suck at lying."
"That's not fair. It's not like I fucked him or anything! It was just a night at the park."

"The park! How many guys take a hot chick to the park on a picnic and not expect to get laid? None, that's how many."

"You're over reacting Brandon Cole Margera."

"Oh, don't even bring out my middle name Buffy Anne Summers."

Ville shook his head. "Hold on. I'm getting confused."

"I'm getting a headache and I'm not even in the room!" Mige said, walking in. "Hey Buffy."

"Hi Mige." Buffy hugged him and then decided to sit across the room from Bam.

Ville noticed of course and he came over to sit next to her. "So, you went on a date with a guy you met in Austin, but you didn't fuck him?"
"Yeah!"

"Well, there's nothing wrong with that."
"Except that she's got a boyfriend." Bam said. "Or do I need to remind you?"

"I'm sure you don't, Bam."
"Thank you." Buffy said.

Ville looked at her. "But this smiling thing isn't right."

"What? You're supposed to be on my side here!"
"I am on your side, but Bam's got a point. You do have a guy that you've stated more than once that you love, yet a smile just bursts across your face when his name is mentioned. That's never a good sign."
"And she's got his phone number." Bam said.

"You hush." Buffy snapped at him.

Ville put his arm around Buffy's shoulders. "Calm down, sweetheart. No one here is judging you." He kissed the side of her head. "Come on, take a walk with me."

"Ok."

Ville took her hand and led her out of the Mansion. They strolled around the grounds for a moment before Ville said, "Do you like him?"

"Who?"

"This new guy... What was his name again?"
"Angel."

"Nice name. Well...?"

"He's a sweetheart. I ran him over on the sidewalk and then I ran into him at a coffee shop and we talked. It was a lot of fun, so he asked if we could continue the conversation later and I said yes. We went to a park, ate dinner, talked, and took a walk. It was harmless fun. And he's a really interesting guy."
"Tell me honestly, is he someone you can see yourself with?"
Buffy paused for a moment, contemplating the weight of Ville's question. She did like Angel a lot. And he liked her for her, not her celebrity status like so many other guys. She could see herself with him until she thought about Orlando. She loved Orlando a lot. He made her smile, everyone thought they looked good together, but when she let herself really think about marriage to Orlando, she wasn't sure. She wasn't sure of anything anymore. Buffy let out an exasperated sigh. "This is so... UH! I really like this guy. He's different. He didn't know who I am, so it was genuine! I can't help thinking that maybe..." She looked up at Ville who was watching her patiently. "Maybe Orlando just isn't the guy for me. But I really do love him. God! Why does life have to be so damn complicated?"

"Welcome to something I like to call 'growing up.' It's hard and it's confusing, but you have to go through it."
"I'd like to stop now."

Ville nodded with a small smile. "So, what are you going to do?"

"I don't know. I can't just throw away what I have with Orlando. But... I want to find out if there's something special between me and Angel."

"I can't tell you what to do. I wish I could, but this is strictly up to you."

Buffy shook her head. "I don't have the slightest idea about what to do. Cheating on Orlando is..." She paused.

"No. No cheating."
"I wasn't thinking that."

"Yes you were. You can't lie to your best friends. You suck at it." Buffy realized they had walked around the entire property and were now back at the rear entrance. Ville gently grasped her shoulders and looked her in the eyes. "Be honest. That's the only advice I can give you on this one."

"Honesty is... Hard in this situation. I don't want to hurt anyone."

"Someone's got to get hurt. I gotta get back to recording."

"I'll stay out here a little while longer."

Ville nodded and kissed Buffy's forehead before walking back into the Mansion. Buffy didn't want to break it off with Orlando, but she wanted to try a relationship with Angel. Unfortunately, the media would follow her every move... She was in one hell of a predicament.

Angel sat in his office in Sunnydale, CA talking to his brother about his tenure in Austin. "She was one hell of a woman." He said. "I've never met anyone quite like her. She's mysterious and beautiful and smart... She's exotic!"

"Like she's from the Caribbean?" Xander asked.
"No! I mean... She's been everywhere and she's done so much and it shows. She's witty too. I mean, she's quick. And she's funny. She's got this dry humor..."

"What does she do?"
"I don't know. She was really guarded about that."
"She's probably an assasin working with the CIA."

"She said she wasn't."

"Yeah, and all CIA agents are allowed to tell everyone what their actual jobs are."

"She's not a CIA assasin."

"Ok." Xander held up his hands in surrender. "Why was she so secretive about it?"
"I don't know. I was too caught up in her to care."
"Maybe she's an evil witch."
"Xander!"

"I'm just saying. She's put you under her spell. I've seen it on that show Charmed."

"It's just a show." Angel sighed. "You'd have to meet her to understand."

"Have you talked to her since you left?"
"A couple of times. They were pretty brief because she was busy..."
"Probably with her boyfriend."
"No, he's in New York."

"Maybe she's Buffy Summers."
"Who?"

"Buffy Summers, she's..."

"I know who Buffy is." Angel thought a moment. "No. That Buffy's blonde, this Buffy had dark hair."

"It's called hair dye, dude."

Angel rolled his eyes. "It looked natural."

It was Xander's turn to roll his eyes. "Hello Mr. Dense, she's got beaucoup Deniro! She has the money to make it look natural."

"Xander, I highly doubt that she's a movie star. She's probably a designer or a stylist or something like that. Those jobs take you all over the world."

"And you don't have a picture of her?"

"Of course not. Why?"

"I'm an entertainment expert. I could tell you if she's Buffy or not." Xander sighed. "Well, I guess I can say that I doubt she's Buffy because she doesn't sound like the movie star."

"What do you even mean 'she doesn't sound like the movie star'?"

"I've heard Buffy's not very social outside of her friends. You know, she hangs out with that Bam Margera guy and his gang. They're all real assholes. Bam messes with his parents real bad and his friends are usually helping him out."

"Really?"
"Yeah. I hear if you're not a friend of Buffy's, you're not on her be-nice-to-them list."

"Then she's definitely not Buffy the movie star. She was too wonderful to be that mean."

"Diva-ish. There's a big difference between mean and diva statis. Buffy's definitely at diva statis. I also read somewhere that she has a lot of different boyfriends."

"That sounds like tabloid crap."

"No! It's true. There's new rumors going around that..."

"Oh my God!" Buffy said, walking into her living room where Ville was seated, writing down lyrics.

"What's up?" Ville asked.

"Look!" Buffy held out the paper to Ville as she sat down next to him.

Ville read over the article Buffy pointed to and started to laugh. "That's hilarious!"

"I know! I can't wait for Bam to see this." The article from a gossip column in New York read that Bam and Buffy had recently been spotted shopping for baby things in Los Angeles and Buffy had the tale-tell signs of a baby bump and that the baby-bump might not belong to Orlando, but Bam. To prove the point, the picture that accompanied the article was one of Bam and Sarah in one of their typical greeting kisses. Buffy was wearing a large T-Shirt and the angle they shot her at did make her look like she had a slight bump. And, to add to it, Bam had his hand on her stomach. Orlando had e-mailed it to her, finding the article so funny he decided to "risk his life" getting online and trying to "swim the turbulant and scary waters" of the internet. Buffy told Ville the same things Orlando had said and he shook his head.
"You have to love the American tabloids. They have a way with putting outrageous stories to everyday pictures." Ville paused. "What were you doing in a baby store?"
"Shopping for Bam's unborn neice."

"Damn, I forgot about Jess becoming a father soon."

"It's ok. I picked something up from you."

Ville kissed her cheek. "Always on top of the game."

"That's me."

"So, what are you doing today?"

"Relaxing. I don't have any production meetings for Southland Tales until tomorrow. I'm free as a bird today."

"You should call Angel." Buffy shot Ville a dark look. He held up his hands. "Just to say hi. Maybe pay him a visit."
"Aren't you the one who said I shouldn't cheat?"

"I'm not telling you to cheat. I'm telling you to give Angel a call and have a conversation with him. Or better yet, you should call Orlando and tell him that you want to cool things off for a bit so you can explore before you settle."
"You make it sound so easy."
"And it's not. That's why I'm glad I'm not you."
"Jeepers, thanks."

"Jeepers? Where did you hear that word?"
"Some old Disney movie. Had the Pink Ranger in it."

"I'm not asking."

"The Pink Ranger? From Power Rangers?" He shook his head. "Right, it's an old American show that was styled to look like Japanese anime came to life. Really bad effects, but for some reason, it was highly addictive. I managed to take time out of my busy schedule to sit down and watch the whole half-hour."

Ville shook his head. "And it didn't rot your brain straight out of its skull?"

Buffy laughed. "Nope. I spent so much time on the ice, my brain it permantly frozen into my head."

"Well, that's a relief. Although, can you blame your blonde moments on that too?"

She lightly punched his arm. "Shut up." He laughed and kissed the side of her head. "So, what are you doing today?"
"I'll head up to the Mansion later and start finishing up with Tim."

"And then you're leaving me for New York."

"Yes, yes, but I won't be gone long."

"This house will be so lonely without you here." Buffy hugged Ville tightly and laid her head on his shoulder.
"I'll leave some things around here so it won't be so bad."

"Good. Hey, maybe I could go with you to New York. Or at least come see you."

"Maybe."

"Where are you staying out there?"

"A hotel, as usual. Why?"

"Well, why don't you and the guys take my apartment?"

"The penthouse Brad bought you?"

"Yeah. I don't use it that much and it's got plenty of space for all of you."

"Are you sure?"
"Of course."

"That's sweet."

"Remind me to get you the keys before you leave."

"Ok then."

"You know what? I think I'm going to go give Angel a call."
"You go right on ahead then."

Buffy got up and walked out of the room, headed for the privacy of her little office upstairs.