Despite having been woken up when Lindsay came home loudly at three am and very much not alone, he had managed to feel like he had a half decent sleep.

After a quick shower and a breakfast, he plugged in his new phone and waited, hoping that the automatic transfer of data would happen. Along with having all his photos and documents, it also had Buffy's number.

Angel nodded as he saw the option to transfer data, although the screen was almost fully smashed, he pressed carefully on where he could make out the transfer button was, and it somehow worked. He was thankful that it would be mere minutes and he would have all the essentials back in the palm of his hand.

Once everything was transferred and the apps re-downloaded, the notifications came bouncing in. The phone shimmied across the table as it vibrated with each alert. Linds, his mom and dad, they had all left him messages, but he skipped them in favour of hers.

It was great seeing your room – you have to tell me more about your days on the ice xx

.

Enjoy heading out to the art gallery, hope it inspires xx

.

I've had a horrible day with Professor Walsh and now I'm going to be all alone tonight, Will's going out with Oz xx

.

Hope you're having a great time xx

.

Miss you xx

He hadn't replied to any of these texts, this was the first time he had seen them, and it brought a smile to his face, he had missed her too and he cursed his idiocy at dropping his phone on the concrete. Rather than waiting to buy a new phone, he probably should have done it back home, but he didn't think. At all.

She had also called him but left no voicemails from what he could tell, so without thinking any more on it he pressed the call button and brought the phone to his ear.

As the phone rang and rang, the smile on his face slowly fell but eventually the line connected and he was met with silence "Buffy, can we talk?" He looked at the phone then brought it back up to his ear when he heard nothing. Just before the call cut off, he heard her dainty sigh.

Frowning, he tapped his thumbs off the screen in careful thought

Buffy, could you call me back please? Xx

Within seconds the little ticks changed colour as message had been read, so he waited but nothing came. Immediately he began another message.

I don't know why you aren't speaking to me; I've not done anything wrong? Xx

He could see the little ellipses bubble appear as she began her message, then it disappeared. After a minute it popped back up then went again, still with no reply to his message.

Angel grabbed his water bottle and took a long drink, the longer that there was no reply, the drier his throat became. A sickly feeling gripped hold of his insides, twisting and turning, making him feel even worse than he already did.

Looking at his time, he cursed the fact he was due in class within the next hour. He decided that after that he would stop by her dorm, he knew she had classes today but hoped that she would drop her room in between.

Oooooooooooooooo

Placing the phone back on her dresser harshly, she closed her eyes and bit back a sob. He hadn't done anything wrong? That was rich.

The more she thought about it, the more he probably thought everything was peachy. Sure, they talked almost every day but once again, they hadn't defined what they were.

Even it they were just seeing each other as casual at best, it was still a bit of a dick move to treat her as if she was a stranger. He hadn't even been courteous enough to talk. Not to mention the illicit PDA-adjacent activities he was engaged in that night at The Bronze with that trampy looking woman.

She felt her throat tighten, she had made sure that she would keep her heart and her head safe, and she had for years. All until Angel came along and stole her heart, the fact that she freely gave herself to him, giving into passion, cut her to her core.

"Buffy? We've got to get to class" Willow came back in and saw her friend hold on to her composure, barely. "What's wrong?"

Buffy slid her phone over to her for her to read and remained silent. Willow perused the chat and frowned, how dare he! "Have you called him?" When Buffy shook her head no, she smiled lightly "Good, I know he seemed different but he's just a big poophead!"

A laugh escaped from Buffy as she wiped at her eyes again, hoping that her mascara was still in place. The last thing she wanted was to look worse for wear.

"Let's get going!" Willow gave Buffy one last hug before they grabbed their bags and headed towards Professor Walsh's lecture. On the way Will was overly chatty, she could be like this sometimes but today was on overdrive, she wanted to keep the air around them as light as possible and truthfully, Buffy was thankful.

Taking their seats, Buffy slumped back and pretended to listen. Each time Walsh began her speech she felt herself zone out until she felt her phone. Each time her it vibrated in her bag; she fought the urge to see who had messaged her. Deep down she wanted it to be Angel but on the other hand, she didn't, what would she even say to him?

Once the class finished, she checked her phone to see that it was her mother who had messaged her multiple times. Sometimes Joyce would forget that she actually attended class, whereas in high school, skipping was the norm. Sending a quick reply to ease off the hounding, Buffy slipped her phone back into her purse.

She said bye to Willow and headed towards the library, whilst the redhead had another class, she had some free time before her next one.

It not only was major sulk-mode that she was in, but she began to feel like you could notice it from a mile away, the slump in her shoulders and droop of her head being a dead giveaway. Each step she took felt heavy, she couldn't remember the last time she felt like this, it felt like she had concrete in her shoes.

Before entering the building, she stopped and looked around, feeling like someone was watching her. That prickly feeling on the back of her neck had been around for a little before she fully took notice, and it was unsettling. Looking around the quad, nothing was out of the ordinary… students, cars, nope, nothing strange.

Shaking off that feeling she waved to the older librarian and went deep into the stacks to find what she needed for her next assignment. Looking up each shelf, she frowned as the section she required of course was out of reach due to her petite stature.

She looked around and couldn't see the little step that she really needed to reach the shelf. Before she knew it, she felt someone come up behind her and trap her against the wall of books. She flinched at the brazen attitude of the unnamed coed and sighed.

As she tried to turn, she felt his large hands circle her waist, holding her in place. He nuzzled against her neck before placing a light kiss on her earlobe "Buffy"

She froze and closed her eyes, apparently not replying to his messages wasn't enough for him "Angel…" her voice betrayed her hurt, it still came out that dreamy way as always. She cursed the way she sounded, she was mad, and she wanted to sound like it.

His hands trailed lightly up and down her thighs causing her breath to catch in her throat "Angel, I told you I didn't want to see you again" she tried to clear her throat the best she could, but her skin tingled under his touch.

He chuckled against her ear and thrust against her, after a pause he nuzzled her ear with his nose "and why don't you want to see me again?" his voice was a touch above a whisper, full of desire and longing but even still it had an edge to it.

Buffy closed her eyes, trying her best to sound certain and confident, not the wreck she was in on the inside "That night meant so much to me and then you were with someone else…" she blinked away the mist that had formed as she spoke, all she could picture was him betraying her.

Seconds later, he spun her around and crushed his lips against hers, at first, she fought it then found herself wrapping her arms around his neck as their tongues duelled. She was mad, but oh boy, that tingly feeling was rearing its head. He pulled away and smirked, his tone full of condescension "What? It's not like I haven't been there before"

Outraged, she tried to slap him, but he caught her hand, placing a kiss on her wrist, just above her pulse point. Her eyes darted from his passionate gaze, down to his lips and he came close but not touching.

He pulled her closer and reached down to kiss her, stopping mere millimetres away. His fingers ran up and down the slither of skin that peeped out from between her shirt and skirt, making her skin tingle again. She let out a barely-there gasp as the goosebumps rose all over her.

When she tried to stand on her tip toes to bridge the gap, he leaned his head to the side to inhale her sweet scent. "So easy…" her bottom lip started to quiver from his words. His eyes slowly moved from her pouty lips, up to her dull, tear-stained eyes, his tongue came out to wet his bottom lip then dragged his brilliant white teeth over it.

Her pain was inviting, almost exciting. He ran his thumb over her lip then trailed it down her cheek, tilting her head to the side before the side of his mouth twitched into a sadistic smile. His dark eyes bore right into hers, then he kissed her nose mockingly "See you around, lover"

Buffy watched as he strolled out of the stacks calmly and out of sight, fresh tears burned in her eyes as she muffled a cry with her hand. Sliding down to the floor she wrapped her arms around her knees and let the tears fall.

How could he go from being sweet and caring to being harsh and demanding, it was like he was a different person. That kiss was something that was exciting, but it just wasn't right. It was not how he normally kissed. It just felt wrong.

She didn't realise that she had remained on the spot for so long until Willow sent her a text asking where she was as she was late to her next class. Picking herself back up, she dusted down her clothes and wiped at her face, there was no way she could go to class now. Taking a deep breath, she ran, hoping to make it back to her room in one piece.

Oooooooooooooooo

Looking at his watch again, he sighed and got up from his position on the floor in front of the door. He had been waiting for a good half hour, sitting against her door and he'd received several strange looks from others who lived here.

He was about to leave when he saw her as she rounded the corner and his heart constricted, she looked so wounded and upset. When her eyes met his she froze for a second before her shaking hand tried to unlock her room door.

"Buffy, tell me whats wrong?"

He went to touch her shoulder and she shook his hand off violently and screeched "Don't touch me!" When he raised his hands and stepped back, she cried again "Why are you doing this?"

Angel looked at her in shock then caught sight of the crowd that they were drawing the attention of. He wanted to reach out to her but the whispers around them stopped him, he remained silent as she fumbled with the lock again and swooped inside, slamming the door in his face for the second time within 24 hours.

Under the harsh glares of the surrounding group, he solemnly left the building and headed back to his apartment. His mind was racing, he replayed all their conversations, both in person and in text to try and understand what in the hell was going on.

He trudged up the stairs and went straight to the kitchen to pour himself a drink. He bypassed Lindsay who was looking at him as if he was an idiot "You gonna tell me what in the hell is going on?"

Angel downed the shot then poured another as he shrugged his shoulders "I don't even know what's going on, Buffy won't reply to my texts, hell, she won't even speak to me, and I went to see her and she's yelling that I'm doing something to her?"

He felt his heart rate increase, his pulse thudding away under the skin as his eyes became glassy. The way she seemed to be terrified of him made him uneasy. Never in his life had he ever given any girl a reason to be afraid of him, he was raised to respect and treat everyone with kindness.

Lindsay frowned, Angel was one of his best friends and in the few years that they met and became close, he could vouch for him on being one of the most genuine and nicest guys around. Something was definitely off.

Even when dumping previous one nighter, or short-term girlfriends, he was always pleasant and made sure they were okay as they parted ways, so him treating Buffy with anything less than respect wouldn't cross his mind.

One thing that stood out was the appearance of his asshole of a brother. He could count on one hand the number of times they had met and each time it wasn't the best of times. From what little Angel had spoken of him, they weren't close at all.

"I saw your brother last night" he watched as Angel slowly looked up from his drink, his eyes looked almost on fire "He was at The Bronze and by the looks of it, seems to know his way around town pretty well"

Angel gripped on to the edge of the counter with such force that he was surprised that the unit didn't break. Of all the things that could have upset Buffy in the way she was, he would be the reason.

They might be family; they might share almost all of the same DNA but one thing they didn't share was their morality. Whilst he was always playing by the rules, his brother was breaking them left, right and centre.

It didn't bother him that they weren't close, he had long gotten over that they wouldn't be the best of friends. In all his time he spent away, they had never bothered to meet up and see what Sunnydale had to offer.

If he had his way, he would never have said where he went to College in attempts at keeping the distance between them but unfortunately their mother believed that it was just childish sibling rivalry and despite their feuds, they were flesh and blood. This was much more than that.

One of the major things that he hated about his brother was that they were Fraternal twins. They looked almost identical but had enough minute differences that would tell them apart to the people who knew them best. Unfortunately, they could pass as each other if you were none the wiser.