Chapter 1: My Life

"I just don't know Buffy, I want to do it, I guess, I mean a modern character would be interesting, but all the ideas I come up with they don't seem right. My publisher is pushing for someone like these action heroes in the movies, Bad asses… I'm not sure I can pull that off, although my early period characters are considered roguish for the time period they would be considered very strait laced nowadays I can't write what I don't understand and a bad ass is something I never learned how to be…" he sighed. It had been three years since Riley went off to the military, and although at first contact with his best friend was good, it started to get less and less, his letters just basic over views as he wasn't able to talk much about what he was doing. He'd caught the eye of the right people and had been put in a special forces unit. Now it was rare his family heard from him outside the yearly holidays letter, much less William receiving anything. Some how the lack of his best friend in his life had brought him closer to his best friend's sister. Not that he ever thought they had any chance on any romantic level he was starting to consider her a good friend. Which meant he started to open up to her finding she was much more receptive to his internal musing then her brother had been. As he slumped back in his chair holding his cell phone to his ear.

"Common, Willy I've heard stories about you and my brother at collage…" Buffy on the other end was kicked back on her bed in her dorm room. Her head hanging off the foot of the bed as her sock covered feet were crossed at the ankles near the head of the bed. She held her cell phone to her ear with her right hand as her left one dangled off the bed. She ended up going to the same collage William worked at as Professor Giles's research assistant. Which meant her and William stayed in pretty good contact. Although they didn't hang out or anything, they talked on the phone often occasionally meeting for coffee on campus.

Although his book sales would allow him to quit his job and write full time, William still worked as a research assistant because he actually enjoyed the work. And secretly gave him a reason to stay near the collage, although he did trade his small apartment that was a half hour drive away for a nicer one just off campus.

If one listened closely you could swear you could hear a soft growl coming from the other end of the phone. "Buffy you know I hate that nickname… If you must shorten my name call me Will…" he preferred William but could live with Will, she'd called him Willy since she hit Jr. High and decided William was just too uncool a name, how Willy was any better was beyond him….

"I told you before I can't call you Will anymore… I call Willow, Will. It would get confusing…." she sounded pouty but she had a big grin on her face as she said it, knowing he couldn't see it. She'd started calling him Willy as a joke, figuring he'd just maybe blush and shrug it off like he did with most things that bothered him. But he actually got defensive, after getting over the shock he spoke up she decided she liked the nickname and used it when ever she tried to get him riled up, "now stop changing the subject…"

"I'm not. Collage… well collage was collage. And going to a few kegers watching everyone get drunk and disorderly while I sat in the corner writing sipping on a wine cooler does not a bad ass make…." his voice laced with a bitter tone. Quick to cover that bit of insight his tone might have revealed he spoke again his voice controlled again, "Besides, although outgoing, I wouldn't really classify your brother as a bad boy… He got his work done attended all his classes. And even when he did drink, he didn't get smashed. And he never engaged in that stupid stuff most of the futurity guys did."

"oh, ya he's a saint…" she said dryly. After a few moments she thought out loud, "Well, maybe you can get in the right mind set, I mean it's not like your all naive or anything. I'm sure there was a time you at least thought about being naughty…" She always felt William could be so cool if he just got a little confidence in himself. She'd hear him and her brother talk when he didn't know she was there and his mask he showed the world was off, he was smart and witty and had an insight that most people lacked. Sometimes it annoyed her when her brother would make a witty comment that he'd heard from William. And instead of taking credit for it William would just let Riley bask in the lime light. She loved her brother and knew he didn't do it on purpose, but she felt bad for his friend that wanted so desperately to be seen and just didn't know how to do it. She knew that part of what made him such a great writer was these qualities he hid from the world. Although she would never admit it, she read all his books. Keeping them carefully hidden in the false bottom of her trunk. After a few moments she noticed the silence on the other end. "You still there?"

She heard him sigh again, "yeah, I'm still here…." After the initial shock and blushing her phrasing brought forth realizing what she meant he began to think but still didn't see the solution, "You know how my parents raised me… besides, being friends with your brother is the closest I got to cool, and even he fell way short of being a bad ass… And let's face it, your mom would have known if he acted up even that far away from home. Your mom I swear, it's like she has a built in B.S. detector…"

Buffy smiled at his obvious attempt to change the subject, at least it was obvious to her. She knew he hated talking about himself in the first place. So dwelling on the subject of him was definitely out.

That's when she got an idea, "well, maybe you could do a little research. There is a club me and Willow go to. It's somewhere to start…"

"Buffy, clubs aren't really my thing…." even in collage Riley couldn't get him to go clubbing. Being dragged to keggers was bad enough without paying $15 to confirm what a looser he was. He wasn't much of a drinker, and those places were too dark for anything but dancing and making out. Also, he couldn't dance other then formal. Having learn formal dancing because his mom insisted he take lessons as a kid. Riley had one of his many female admirers try to teach him once. The girl got frustrated every time she tried to get too close like was popular in modern dancing he would take a step back. At first it was because he found the situation uncomfortable. But the girl was so annoyingly forward after a while it was just to piss her off, the best part was when she finally had him backed against a wall he stepped down on her foot, not hard enough to seriously hurt her but hard enough for her to give up. Of course he foreigned innocents, but deep down he was sure Riley knew he was doing it on purpose, cause he never tried to set something like that up again. Besides, he never stepped on a foot accidentally even when learning formal dancing, he had a natural grace on the dance floor. Too bad no one ever got to see it. Cause even though he had a use for it at family functions like weddings and such, he had a knack for blending in to the background.

"Look meet us at Bean Scene 8 o'clock Friday. If your not there I will go to your apartment and drag you out!" she said in her 'I mean business' voice.

"ok ok I'll be there…." they chatted a bit more then hung up. Only then did he drop his head in his hands and wonder what the hell did he just agree to?