Chapter 11: Buffy's Buddies
Buffy met Cordelia at the mall, she had called Cordelia to see if she wanted to hang out. She also didn't exactly know why Cordelia had told her about Ms. French, she wanted to find out why.
As they walked through the parking lot of the mall Cordelia stopped next to a car. "Oh god, Percy is here."
"Things not going well with Percy?" Buffy asked then looked at the car that Cordelia was looking at. "This is Percy's car? Did he get a new one?" It was the Land Cruiser that she and Oz had seen at Ms. French's house.
"Yeah, He kind of had to." Cordelia told her.
"Do you want to go somewhere else?" Buffy asked her.
Cordelia shook her head. "No, I'm sure we wont even see him."
Both girls went straight for Bloomingdale's, they discovered that they both had a love for the store.
"So Angel is still in Florida?" Cordelia asked Buffy while she was looking at a dress.
Buffy nodded. "Yeah, he went with his parents to spend Thanksgiving with some family."
"Have you heard from him?" She asked.
Buffy nodded again. "Yup, he calls me every night."
Cordelia smiled. "I wonder why."
Buffy looked up from the skirt in her hand and smiled at Cordelia.
"And you went to LA to be with your mom for Thanksgiving?" The brunette asked the blonde. "Angel told me before he left."
Buffy wrinkled up her face, she didn't know why Angel would tell Cordelia that. "Ahh, yeah I did. My mom, her boyfriend and my best friend."
"Your mom has a boyfriend?" The brunette wondered.
"Yeah, I didn't see that one coming." Buffy laughed putting the skirt back.
Cordelia looked up at her. "Do you not like him?"
"The opposite. I love him. I hate to go all elementary on her but I loved him first." She smiled.
"You... loved him first?" Cordelia asked confused.
Buffy laughed. "He was my high school librarian, he kind of guided me through high school. If it wasn't for him I wouldn't have my own company right now."
"He sounds pretty cool." Cordelia smiled.
"Yeah, he is." Buffy nodded. "Cordelia, why did you come to me? To tell me about Mr. French..."
Cordelia held a few dresses in her arms. "I figured Angel was like all the other guys and was keeping it from you. Little did I know that you knew all about it."
"He didn't." Buffy shook her head. "I confronted him about it."
"So he is like all the guys." Cordelia joked.
Buffy shook her head again. "I don't think he is. He said he wanted it all to stop but he didn't know how but that doesn't answer my question. You didn't have to tell me that what was going on."
"Because Angel saved my life." Cordelia whispered.
"What?" Buffy asked confused.
Now Cordelia was confused. "He didn't tell you? Percy was driving drunk one night and we went off the side of a bridge. Angel jumped in and saved me.. both of us. I told him I would find a way to repay him, he said I didn't have to but I wanted too. I guess I still have to find a way. I thought telling you about Ms. French would help you and Angel. I thought I was repaying him, but I didn't do anything."
"No." Buffy smiled at her. "You did something."
"And what was that?" Cordelia asked as she walked to the fitting room.
Buffy grabbed a dress to try on. "You almost restored my faith in the female race."
"Considering my boyfriend thinks you are a total hottie what do you think?" Buffy asked holding up a strapless white dress. "Theia strapless or.." She held up a black one shoulder dress. "a lipsy?"
She was a fashion designer, she didn't know why she was asking a high schooler about fashion. Oh right, her boyfriend is in love with said high schooler.
"He doesn't think I am a hottie." Cordelia said looking the dresses Buffy held up. "Your his girlfriend, you are the one that is a hottie in his eyes."
"No really." Buffy said. "He said your hot."
"Really?" Cordelia asked. "I feel bad about this now Buffy but when Angel first joined the basketball team I did try to get him to notice me. I think he was thinking about you the whole time though. He didn't react to me the way other guys do."
"Let me get this straight..." Buffy said. "You tried to steal my boyfriend?"
"Well..." Cordelia winced. "He was just I don't know, hot all the sudden but I totally see now it was you. You made him hot! He had this new confidence, he carried himself in a different way. He had this new air of cool about him. I think you brought that out in him."
"Clear this up for me." Buffy laughed. "You wanted Angel because he wasn't acting like Angel?"
Cordelia nodded. "Well yeah, know I know that he is still Angel- all smart and stuff but he is cool too. I think maybe that is why Ms. French went after him."
"Great, I made hoe bag want my boyfriend." Buffy sighed. "Speaking of hoe bag... you can't tell anyone though."
"Hey, if it's something image shattering about Ms. French then I want to know!" Cordelia put her hands on her hips.
"Well I don't know about image shattering... since she doesn't seem to care about her image." Buffy laughed. "But me and my friend well we kind of went to Ms. French's house not to long ago and she totally had a naked kid on her couch!"
"Eww! By kid you mean at least hit puberty, right?" Cordelia asked disgusted.
Buffy nodded. "Most definitely! Wait... how young has she gone?"
"Who knows! That woman is so NASTY!" Cordelia laughed.
"Well, the said naked kid... I couldn't tell who it was when we were you know.." Buffy too a deep breath and then said quickly. "looking into her window."
Cordelia laughed. "Looking into her window?"
Buffy shrugged. "We couldn't see his face then but today when you said Percy was here... It was his car in her drive way."
"Figures." Cordelia rolled her eyes. "You know you are a fashion designer, which do you like?"
Buffy knew a change of subject when she saw one. Did Angel tell Cordelia what she did for a living? "The Theia. Do... do you and Angel talk about me a lot?"
"Good choice. Who would have thought." Cordelia smiled. "Oh yeah! All the time. You are pretty much all he talks about."
"Wow." Buffy smiled. "I didn't think I would ever hear that."
"I don't know why you would think that. He has it bad for you." Cordelia said going through some more racks. "Do you like the Theia line?"
Buffy smiled, Angel hadn't said anything serious about how he felt about her. To hear it from someone else was almost as good. "Yeah, I have pretty much the whole Theia line. I love the Slip Dress but I feel like living here in Sunnydale I don't have anywhere to wear it. It's just simpler to dress well.. simple."
"Yeah, this place is totally boring!" Cordelia said annoyed then pointed to the dress in Buffy's hand. "Where are you going to wear that one?"
"I don't know but I like it." She said with a shrug.
"How much is it?" Cordelia asked.
"$795." Buffy said biting her lip.
"Not bad." Cordelia shrugged looking through more clothes. "Oh! You know what? There is a shoe sale today!"
Buffy's eyes widened. "Why are we still in this section?"
Cordelia laughed. "My kind of girl."
Buffy grabbed a bottle of Orange Juice out of the fridge. She had just gotten back from shopping with Cordelia, it was odd having a girl to do things with. Other then Faith she never really had another girl to hang out with. It was actually nice to go shopping with someone who didn't want to shop in Hot Topic to get the new Gothic looking mini skirt. Taking a drink of her orange juice she looked towards the front door when she heard a knock. Who could be at the door? Oz had band practice for another hour.
Walking through the house she opened the front door. Seeing the dark haired man she smiled and hugged him. "Xander! What are you doing here?"
He walked in and shut the door behind him. "Well 5 minutes after you left LA I already missed you."
Buffy smiled. "Really?"
Xander looked around Buffy's house. "Remodeling?"
"I told you I was." Buffy shrugged.
"Right." Xander nodded, walking into Buffy's living room. "You want to be a good girl now."
Xander picked up a sign that used to hang in Buffy's living room it said Girls Night Out with margarita glasses. "You know, Faith might like that." Buffy smiled.
"Yeah, she would." Xander agreed.
Buffy took the sign from Xander. "Where is she living now?"
Xander walked into the dinning room. "She is renting a room with some college students."
Buffy laughed. "Well she can have all my old stuff then."
"Where is that boyfriend of yours?" Xander asked wondering into the kitchen to check it out.
"Out of town still. He should be back in a few days." Buffy watched Xander nosy around her house."Would you like the tour?"
"Nah, I think I can figure out where everything is. Hey! This goes right in a circle, we are back in the living room again!" Xander smiled.
Buffy laughed at her best friend. "How long are you staying?"
"Just a few days. Maybe I will get to meet your boyfriend before I go." He said pointing at Buffy.
Buffy gasped with a smile. "A few days away from work? Without you the whole construction world will crumble!"
"That is true! But Spike assured me that everything would be fine." Xander nodded making his way to the stairs.
Buffy rolled her eyes when her best friend mentioned her ex boyfriend. Did he want her to throw up?
"So what do you think of my humble abode?" Buffy asked Xander once he explored her whole house.
"It's nice." Xander said walking down the stairs in front of Buffy. "A little big for just you. I mean three bedrooms, Buffy?"
"My office is a bedroom and then I have a guest room." She told him.
Xander shrugged "Are you really going to give everything to Faith?"
Buffy shrugged. "Sure. I don't need it anymore." Buffy smiled and bounced a little. "Wanna help me get everything organized?"
Xander shook his head. "That is a lot like helping you move right?"
"No, it would be a lot easier." Buffy tried to entice him.
"I'm not going to get out of this, am I?" Xander knew for a fact she wasn't going to let him get out of it.
Buffy shook her head. She always got him to do everything she wanted, he learned early in their friendship that she could make him feel bad for turning her down. Buffy turned pouting into a art form.
Xander looked at the shot glasses with the picture of a penis on it, shaking his head. "Are you sure you want to give away these gems?"
Buffy looked up at the shot glasses and smiled. "Yeah, I got new ones."
"Please tell me they are classy." Xander joked.
"Oh yeah! Totally! I mean, the knew ones have boobs on them!" Buffy gestured to her chest.
Xander smiled shaking his head and put the shot glasses in a small box.
"But really, they just have cute little saying on them." Buffy said putting more of her stuff in a box to take to Faith.
Xander laughed. "Like what?"
Buffy looked up at the ceiling. "Well my favorite one is 'Sarcasm is just one of the services I offer.' See, cute."
"And so true." Xander playfully rolled his eyes.
Buffy walked over to the bar area she created on the other side of the living room, picking up a shot glass she made her way back to Xander tossing it to him. "I got this one for when we drink together."
Xander looked at the shot glass. "I'm with... stupid." He looked up with a hurt look on his face. "Hey!"
Buffy laughed when he tossed the glass back to her. When she set the glass back down she turned her head in a questioning look, who was knocking at her door? Xander shrugged at her and closed the box he was packing.
Buffy opened the door and smiled. "Oz! Hey!"
"Hey." Oz said walking in.
Xander saw Oz, taking a few steps towards him.
"Xander, this is my friend Oz. Oz, this is my friend Xander." Buffy introduced the men.
"Best." Xander held his hand out to Oz. "She forgot to say Best in front of friend."
Oz let out a short laugh, he liked this guy already. "What are you two doing?"
"I'm going to give my old stuff to Xander's old fling." Buffy said walking back over to a box.
Xander held out a box to Oz. "Wanna help?"
Looking over at Buffy, Oz asked. "Do I have a choice?"
Xander laughed. "She's got you trained already, huh?"
"How are you going to fit all this in your car?" Buffy suddenly wondered.
"I have a okay sized trunk." Xander said unsure.
"I could drive it." Oz offered.
"Really?" Xander said stacking a box on top of another one.
Oz nodded. "Yeah, I have a van and nothing to do."
"Oz, you have a job." Buffy said stating the obvious.
"True, but as long as it's at night." Oz said closing a box.
Buffy, Xander and Oz ordered Pizza and each picked a movie to rent. Oz' pick was The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Buffy picked The Exorcist and Xander picked Zombieland. Watching Regans head do a 360, Buffy was regretting her pick. She wanted to watch scary movies because she didn't get to watch them with Xander on Halloween. Buffy snuggled closer to Xander remembering that she didn't like this movie very much.
"Wanna go to The Bronze?" Buffy asked her two friends.
Xander took a bite from his pizza. "What's The Bronze?"
"A club kind of thing... all ages." Buffy told her best friend. "Oz' band plays there a lot."
"Would we have to sit here while you change?" Her best friend asked.
Buffy nodded.
"Okay, cause I want to finish this pizza." Xander said grabbing another piece out of the box on the coffee table.
Oz reached over to grab a piece. "Sharing with me."
Buffy jumped up. "Okay! I'm changing!"
Xander and Oz sat downstairs eating pizza and started to watch The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
Almost an hour later Buffy came back down stairs wearing a light yellow high waist skirt, white sleeveless jersey tank and strappy black wedges with her hair up in a twisted up-do.
Xander saw her out of the corner of his eye and smiled. Getting up off the couch he walked over to where she was standing by the stairs taking a better look at her. "Am I sensing a little Pre-Faith here"
Buffy laughed. Her fashion sense had changed after she met Faith, now she was going for a softer look like before.
"Only a little shorter." Xander added nodding his head. "Changing your house, your clothes... love looks good on you Buffster."
Xander's comment made her think for a second, she never thought about the fact that she could be in love. She didn't want to think about that though, with everything that had happened with Angel and Ms. French and everything that may or may not have happened with Angel and Cordelia she really didn't want to let herself admit that she could have those kind of feelings for him. She was trying to play it cool but on the inside she was freaking out.
"Can we just go?" Buffy asked.
When they got to The Bronze Buffy pulled Xander out to the dance floor, knowing that Oz didn't like to dance she let him off the hook. Oz saw Devon Macleish, the lead singer of Dingo's at the bar and went over to talk to him.
Buffy laughed as she made her way to the bar with Xander. "I haven't seen a spazz attack like that in... well it's been to long."
Devon smiled at Buffy, he thought she was hot but Oz told him over and over again that she had a boyfriend. Problem was he never saw Buffy with anyone other then Oz, unless this other guy was her boyfriend. "Hey Buffy."
"Oh, hey Devon. What's up?" Buffy asked him then looked at Xander who was bobbing his head to the beat.
"Nothing. What's up with you... and your boyfriend?" Devon motioned towards her and Xander.
Buffy looked at Xander then back at Devon. "Uh... nothing. He is actually out of... wait, you don't think.." she pointed to Xander. "No! This is Xander, my best friend."
Devon sat up straighter on the bar stool. "Oz told me you had a boyfriend."
"I do!" Buffy said a little loudly to get her point across. "My boyfriend is just out of town right now."
"With her boyfriend gone right now I am taking over as protector of Buffy's virtue." Xander narrowed his eyes at Devon.
Buffy leaned closer to Xander and whispered. "Do I have any virtue left?"
Xander nodded. "We are trying to reclaim it, aren't we?"
"Right!" Buffy nodded. "We are!" she turned back to Devon. "I really do have a boyfriend though. He is visiting family in Florida."
"Maybe I could meet him sometime." Devon nodded. He wasn't so sure she actually had a boyfriend.
"Hey Devon, there is Harmony." Oz said nodding in the direction of the blonde high schooler. "Your.. friendly with her arnt you?"
Devon looked over at Harmony. "I'm just going to... leave the building."
Buffy laughed when Devon kept looking over his shoulder to make sure Harmony hadn't seen him. "I hope those two crazy kids are together forever."
Buffy sat in between Xander and Oz on a couch at The Bronze. They had finally gotten Oz out on the dance floor, he was pretty good.
"I love my buds!" Buffy smiled putting her arms around both of her friends.
"Here I thought you were dating that high school kid." Parker smiled as he walked up in front of them."And now you are with two guys? You shouldn't be pissed at the kid for having a younger thing on the side."
"Excuse me... who are you?" Xander wanted to know.
"Parker Abrams." He smiled smugly.
Xander got up from the couch. "Well Parker Abrams, you don't need to be talking to my friend like that."
Oz smiled while Buffy just watched, she really didn't want Xander getting in a fight over her again.
"I'm just saying. Besides she can do better then that guy." Parked told Xander.
Xander took a step closer to Parker. "Well maybe she can but that is up to her and a little bit of information for you, she can do a hell of a lot better then you."
"Please, if I really wanted her in my bed, she would have been." Parker said.
Xander really didn't like this guy, he was to cocky. "No, I don't think so. See Buffy has class. A prick like you wouldn't get the time of day from a girl like her."
"Class? Then why it is that she gave me a blow job under the table..." Parker started.
Xander let out a short laugh right before he punched Parker. Buffy jumped up from the couch and pulled Xander out of The Bronze, Oz stood up and smiled at Parker as he got up from the floor.
"I didn't do that." Buffy said on the drive back to her house.
"I know." Xander said as he drove. "You wouldn't do that to Angel."
"Agreed." Oz said from the back seat of Xander's car.
Buffy looked out the window. "I really don't like that guy."
When they got back to Buffy's house Oz went home saying he would be back in the morning to load up his van with the boxes they packed earlier and he would drive them to LA after work. Buffy and Xander both got changed for bed, she got in to her bed and looked over at her phone that was sitting by her bed. This was when Angel would normally call her.
"Waiting for your phone sex?" Xander joked leaning against the door from to he bedroom.
Buffy smiled. "Oh yeah and you are totally ruining it for me."
Xander walked into her bedroom and sat on the other side of her bed. "Don't let me spoil your fun."
"Shut up." Buffy slapped his arm. "Shouldn't you be in your room?"
"That's the guest room." Xander whined. "I want to be in here with you, like we used to. Don't you miss those times, Buff?"
Buffy smiled. "Yeah." She leaned her head on his shoulder. "I miss being little."
"We are totally the real life Dawson and Joey." Xander said leaning his chin on her head.
"Are you Dawson or Joey?" She joked.
Xander wrinkled his face, thinking. "I would rather be Joey, she isn't a little whinny bitch like Dawson."
"I always knew you had the hots for Pacey." Buffy laughed.
"And you end up bitter and alone." Xander closed his eyes to go to sleep.
Buffy and Xander had a lot of fun together while he was there. They went to the movies, went out to eat every night and rented their favorite movies. It was just like when they were younger. Buffy was sad to see her best friend go but she knew he had to get back to work.
"It's to early for you to go, your still half a sleep!" Buffy tried to get Xander not to leave.
Xander help up a paper cup with a lid. "I have coffee for that. As much as I hate to go I have to, Buff."
"I know." Buffy pouted. "Doesn't mean I have to like it."
"Don't!" He pointed at her. "Do NOT pout. I always cave when you pout!"
"Well did you cave yet?" Buffy asked.
He shook his head and walked towards the door. "Gotta go Buffy." He kissed her on the forehead. "I will call you. Love ya!"
"Love you too." Buffy smiled as he walked out the door.