Chapter 2

Willow Rosenberg had, after she heard her front door slam, ran out of her bathroom and to her window. Seeing her Xander shaped friend walking away from her house without looking back made her want to open up her window and call to him. His actions before she barricaded herself in her bathroom made her stop. With her best friends words ringing in her brain and tears welling in her eyes, Willow flung herself face down on her bed and saturated her pillow with tears. All of her dreams having been shattered that afternoon in one brief moment.

She couldn't understand what Xander saw in Cordelia, aside from her boobs and general figure. From everything she could see, Cordelia was still the mean, popularity-obsessed, vapid bitch that she'd always been. She was the one with the 'claim' to Xander, having been friends with Xander since they were children

What Willow would never understand was that Cordelia used that personality as armor, somewhat. Having seen the way her parents, their 'friends' and her peers acted as she was growing up and comparing it to how those less fortunate held themselves and behaved, Cordelia was envious of how free they were. However, not wanting to lose access to the perks her lifestyle gave her, Cordelia was forced to walk a very fine line to attempt to get what she actually wanted.

Working herself up to a good sob, Willows tears were abated somewhat by the phone ringing.

Looking at the Caller ID, Willow saw that it was Buffy. Wanting to know where she went wrong, Willow took some deep breaths to calm herself, picked up the phone and greeted her best friend.

"So how'd it go with Xander, were there lots of smoochies this afternoon?" The blond slayer commented as soon as Willow picked up the phone and said hello, wanting to know how successful her plan had been. To her great dismay, her question was answered with a keening wail of anguish, Buffy quickly tried to calm her friend down and get some answers out of her. Eventually, Willow began to speak.

As she listened to Willow, Buffy began to feel a fair amount of rage at her male friend. Didn't he understand how much he meant to Willow and how good they would be in a relationship? Not to mention how much better it would be for her, with Xander in a relationship with Willow he would hopefully stop tormenting Angel, be with someone who wouldn't eventually dump him, leading to Xander returning to moping after her as well as hopefully be distracted from this suicidal quest he seemed to be on, by helping with slaying. Also, Willow wouldn't be dating someone that she might have to someday put down, Oz being a werewolf and her being the Slayer. (Not that Buffy was consciously aware of this feeling, but with her personality, she had from being basically a combination of Cordelia and Harmony when she was at Hemery High it was something that was still in her subconscious, even if she would deny it if asked).

It made her angry, didn't Xander see the gift that she and Willow were giving him? Xander was going to get a big piece of her mind the next time she saw him. Realizing that she needed to calm down and reassure Willow, Buffy stop her musing and spoke.

"Willow, I know this is bad, but trust me it's only a temporary setback. Now that Xander has a taste of what he was missing; not being in a relationship with you, it will constantly be on his mind." Buffy confidently reassured her friend, while planning to let Xander have it the next time she saw him. Willow, her tears slowing to a sniffle, relaxed into Buffy's calm words, slowly falling asleep. Gently hanging up on her best friend, Buffy got up and gather her purse, she had a clueless male to go talk some sense into.

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