Thank you so much for the feedbackBuffyandAngelForeverinLove, xxdawnbreakerxx and Anapeque. I wasn't so sure about the last chapter but you all reassured me about posting it! I hope you like this chapter too, it doesn't have smut in it but I think it's still enjoyable.
I am currently working on chapter 16 and hope to have it up soon! Thanks again! You guys are amazing!
Chapter 15: Rents
Angel sat on Buffy's couch with her next to him, he was reading a book for his English class and eating a snack while she flipped through a magazine. The Electrician had finished Buffy's house Saturday , Sunday they went to the store then to her house since his parents were coming home soon.
"When are your parents getting home?" Buffy asked Angel.
"Soon." He said not looking up from his book.
Buffy looked up at him from her magazine. "Should you be home when they get home?"
Angel shrugged taking a bite of his cupcake. "Maybe but I'm not done checking out your new wiring."
"You are only eating all my newly bought snacks." She joked.
"Do you want me to go home?" He smiled at her.
Buffy shook her head. "I like it when you are here but didn't you say your mom has been riding you about being home more? Maybe she will want you there when they get back."
"Well they shouldn't be back for another couple of hours." He smiled putting his arm around her. "We should find a way to kill the time."
Buffy nodded giving him a kiss.
"Shit!" Angel ran to the living room to get his shirt when he heard his parents pull in next door. His clothes could be anywhere. "Babe, where are my pants!"
"Um... I think upstairs." She called from the kitchen. "Are you leaving?"
Angel nodded and jogged upstairs. "My parents just pulled in."
A few minutes later Angel came back downstairs buttoning his pants.
"You know it's kind of cute when you walk around in your boxers. See you later?" She asked giving him a kiss.
"Mmm." He mumbled in agreement kissing her again.
Angel went over to his house as soon as he walked in the door his mother came downstairs.
"Angel, where have you been? You are never home anymore." His mother asked. She was starting to worry that he had fallen in with the wrong crowd.
"Next door." Was his cryptic response.
"Next door?" His mother asked. "At The Bakermens?"
"No. The other next door." He said annoyed that his mom would think he was spending all his time with a old couple.
"Who lives there?" She asked him.
Angel took a deep breath, here goes nothing... or everything. "My girlfriend."
"Girlfriend? I wasn't aware. How long has this been going on for?" Jenny wanted to know.
"A few months." He told his mom.
"Why don't you have her come over sometime so we can meet her!" His mother was excited that her son had his first girlfriend.
"What's up son?" Angel's dad asked coming downstairs after putting their luggage away. "No wild parties? I'm disappointed."
Jenny gave her husband an annoyed look. "Don't encourage him. Did you know he has a girlfriend? And that she lives next door."
Ethan shook his head. "No. I didn't." He turned to his son with an amused smile. "She hot?"
"I told him to invite her over sometime." Jenny told Ethan.
"Sound good." He nodded at his wife. "How about tonight?"
"Tonight?" Angel asked.
His dad nodded again. "Yeah, I mean we do have to eat. Why not have dinner with your girlfriend."
"Ahhh, I will ask her. She may have other plans." Angel tried to lie.
"What is her favorite food?" His mother asked. "I could make something... if you didn't eat everything or we could order something."
"That sounds like a plan." Ethan smiled.
"Well, I have to talk to her first." Angel reminded his parents.
"So ask her." Ethan laughed. "What is her favorite food. I feel like ordering take out."
"Chinese." Angel answered. "Orange chicken, steamed rice and a vegetable egg roll."
Ethan shook his head with a smile. "How long have you two been together?"
"A few months." His mother answered for him.
"I'm going to go ask her." Angel turned towards the door then turned back to his father. "Order from Easy Wok. It's her favorite."
"That is your favorite." His father smiled.
Angel shrugged. "I got her in to it."
Angel walked into Buffy's house picking up his bag from her couch, he had left it there on accident. He heard Buffy in the kitchen, taking his bag with him he threw his bag on the kitchen table and walked to the kitchen. He got a bottle of juice out of the fridge. "My parents want to meet you."
Buffy jumped. "Oh my god! Angel! You don't do that to me! Can't you make noise when you walk?"
Angel laughed. "and here I thought you could tell when I was around. Isn't it like a super power of yours."
Buffy playfully narrowed her eyes at him. "Now what did you say when you gave me my first heart attack."
"My parents want to meet you." He repeated taking a drink from the bottle of juice in his hand.
"I don't do good parent." She told him seriously. "But I will do it for you. When?"
"Tonight." He replied taking a drink again.
"Okay, I just had my second heart attack!" She exclaimed. "Tonight? That doesn't give me much time to you know... flee the country."
Angel laughed as he walked closer to Buffy, stopping in front of her. "I didn't mean for this to happen. I just mentioned that I had a girlfriend and my mom said she wanted to meet you sometime. Tonight was my dads idea."
Buffy took a deep breath, Angel put his hands on her hips. "They are ordering Chinese."
"Easy Wok?" She asked pouting.
Angel nodded. "They asked for your favorite."
"My favorite?" She asked him. "So this is going to be friendly? I mean if they want to know something that I like it can't be bad... right?"
"Lets hope." Angel sighed. "Let's just stay away from the topic of your age."
Buffy nodded. "What time?"
"Dad likes to eat exactly at 6:00. Don't ask me why." He shrugged. "Just always has."
At 5:50 PM Angel went to Buffy's house to walk her over. They stayed at her house until right before 6:00. Buffy was so nervous she was fidgeting, she didn't like to meet parents. She always thought they were going to look down on her. Like she wasn't good enough, this time it was worse because she loved Angel, even if she hadn't told him yet. Then there was the fact that she was older then him.
"Just to warn you, my mom has this thing where as soon as you are in the door she is all over you." He told her. "... Well, me anyway."
"Right." Buffy nodded taking a deep breath. She didn't know if she was ready for this.
Just like Angel had said as soon as the door closed behind him his mother went straight for the door.
"Buffy, hello! You are my sons girlfriend? It didn't even register in my mind that you lived next door to us. We should have done a Welcome Wagon type thing for you!" His mother gushed.
Buffy looked up shocked when she heard her friend's voice. "You know I didn't even realize that you lived here either." Buffy told her.
"You two know each other?" Angel asked.
Buffy nodded. "I actually met your mom my first day here. I bought a bunch of stuff from her store."
"Well thank you for contributing to my college fund." He smiled. "...turned car fund."
"Not a problem!" Buffy laughed.
"I am going to go check on dinner." Jenny said heading to the kitchen. "Do you need help putting the take out in dishes?" Angel heard his mother call to his father.
Buffy looks around and picked up a picture of Angel and his mom. "Has this always been here?"
Angel nodded.
"Oh... how did I not notice that?" She asked him worried. "Angel this is really weird. I mean your mom is my friend."
"Yeah, it is." He put his arm around her waist. "I'm sorry. Do you want to go?"
"That would be rude." She said biting her lip. "I don't want to be rude."
Angel nodded. "Okay, that's good because I think my mom is going to kill me so stay as long as you can."
"Son, do we really need dishes?" Ethan asked walking out of the kitchen. "Your mother says we need dishes."
Angel shook his head motioning to Buffy. "We normally just eat out of the carton."
"Jenny! No dishes. We are eating like men tonight." Ethan smiled turning back into the kitchen.
"Men? You mean cavemen right?" The couple heard Jenny say to her husband.
Jenny and Ethan brought the Chinese food out to the table, setting the Orange Chicken in front of Buffy and the Bourbon Chicken in front of Angel. Jenny watched as Angel took some of his Bourbon Chicken and placed it in Buffy's carton and she took some if her Orange Chicken placing it in Angel's carton. It was like they had done this so many times before, like they had been together for years instead of months. Jenny didn't know what to make of it, Buffy was older then her son she knew that for a fact but she liked Buffy. They were friends. This was going to be hard.
"So, Buffy what would you like to drink?" Jenny asked. "Soda... Wine?"
"Um... water is fine." Buffy said looking at Angel quickly. "I have to work tomorrow."
"Oh. Don't forget your vegetable egg roll." Ethan smiled handing her the carton with egg rolls in it.
Buffy smiled nervously. "Thanks." She was friends with Jenny, she had gone out with Jenny and Ethan before. She was completely comfortable with them but now everything was different. She was dating their son and now everyone knew it. Maybe ignorance really was bliss.
Jenny had been polite and civil the whole time but she would drop a few hints that she didn't like the situation. A comment here and there about Buffy's age was enough proof for Buffy. Ethan on the other hand acted completely normal like it didn't faze him at all that his 18 year old son was dating a 22 year old.
Angel stepped out on the porch with Buffy when she was about to leave, shutting the door behind them.
"Was that okay?" Buffy asked her boyfriend.
Angel nodded then shook his head. "I don't know." He shrugged. "I have never introduced my 22 year old girlfriend to my mother who just happens to be a friend of my said girlfriend. Next time I will know what to expect."
"So in other words you know nothing?" Buffy asked. "Must be new territory for you- not knowing something." she laughed then turned serious. "What are the odds I will ever see you again?"
Angel wrapped his arms around her waist pulling her close. "Depends on how much my dad can talk her down."
"Oh." Buffy put her hand over her mouth when she let out a small burp.
Angel laughed. "That second egg roll going to make another appearance?"
Buffy pouted. "Hey!"
"Your so cute." Angel smiled kissing her softly.
Ethan looked out the dinning room window at his son on the porch holding his girlfriend. He saw how they acted together, how they acted towards together. Angel was happy, they were good together. When his son kissed his girlfriend he decided to give them some privacy and went upstairs to find his wife. She was most likely having some kind of an attack. Weather it was a panic, anxiety or heart attack he was sure she needed him... or some medication.
Angel sat in his room waiting for his parents. He knew something was going to blow up, his mom had known Buffy since the day she moved to Sunnydale. It wasn't going to be pretty.
"Buffy! I can't believe this! She's my friend! After all these months I find out the boyfriend she had been coming to me for advise about is my own son!" Angel heard his mom yell. Yeah this wasn't going to be pretty at all.
"Do you think that is why she helped you? She knew it would be her boyfriend getting the new car?" Ethan asked, his voice sounded like it was getting further away. They must have been walking down the hallway to go to their room. Wait, Buffy was the friend they had mentioned that helped them?
"No, she was just as surprised as we were to see her." His mother said closing their bedroom door.
Great, now he couldn't hear them. Now he had no clue what his fate would be... or if he even had a fate because his parents might just kill him.
Jenny took a deep breath, sitting on the bed. "I can't believe this!"
"Don't freak out, I'm sure there is some kind of medication to get you through this." Ethan joked.
Jenny looked at her husband, he could tell she was annoyed.
"She is 22, Ethan. He is 18." She said. "This isn't really something to joke about!"
"I know how old they both are." He said sitting next to his wife. "I know this is hard, but he is 18. A legal adult now. We cant tell him what to do."
"Why not? He's still our son." Jenny pouted.
"Your right. He is. That is why we have to trust him. When was the last time Angel actually did something wrong?" Ethan said rubbing his wife's back.
Jenny sighed, hiding her face in her hands. "Apparently whenever he started dating a 22 year old woman... and who knows what else they did since then!"
Ethan nodded smiling, earning a smack from Jenny.
"What? I can't be happy that my son is a man now? And I mean really a man." He laughed.
Jenny hit him again. "Can you just take this seriously?"
Ethan shook his head. "It's not in my nature."
"I could kill you both! You and that man of a son of yours." Jenny shouted agitated.
"You could." Ethan nodded. "You would be a lot richer considering we both have life insurance policies."
Angel's eye got large when he heard his mother yell "I could kill you both!" Yeah, the no future thing was option number 1. He looked out his window towards Buffy's house, her bedroom was dark. He wished she was in there, he wished he could go over there. If he was going to die tonight at his mother's hand then he wanted to at least die happy.
Angel jerked slightly, startled when his bedroom door burst open.
"Nice job, Son! She's hot!" His dad held his hand up for Angel to slap it. He looked at his dad confused. "Come on! This is when you high five me back." His dad held his hand up again for a do over.
Angel looked at his mom who looked annoyed but had a small smile on her face as she looked at his dad. She often had that look when his dad was around, so that didn't tell him much but he did know he heard her say she was going to kill him. Maybe this was all part of her master plan. He looked at his dad who was still smiling with his hand in the air. Angel uncertainly lifted his hand and slowly hit his fathers hand.
"All right!" His dad laughed. "Score for young Sawyer!"
Angel didn't know if he should speak, his mother gave him life she could take it away. Tonight he wouldn't be surprised if his mother did just that.
"How long?" She asked crossing her arms.
Angel looked from his mom to dad then back to him mom again. "Almost 4 months."
His mother turned away from him and ran her hand through her hair, turning back to Angel. "So since she moved here!"
Angel nodded. "Pretty much."
"Wow, who would have thought." His dad smiled.
Jenny slapped her husband for the third time that night then turned to Angel. "Your grounded."
"How long?" He asked wearily. His mother was totally going to kill him and just tell people he was grounded as a cover.
"Well as your father has told me over and over again tonight, you are 18, there for I can't really ground you for your mistakes now.. but I can ground you for what you did when you were still a minor." She told him sternly. That was her logic and her husband was at least allowing her that much.
Angel nodded.
"How long?" Jenny asked Angel. Was that the question of the hour? That was the third time in five minutes those words were spoken.
"I told you... almost 4..." Angel was confused.
"Son, she means how long do you want to be grounded." His father spoke up.
Angel looked at his parents oddly. "I get a choice?"
"You have never been in trouble before so this is my gift to you. Plus..." His father then mouthed the words 'She's hot.'
Angel looked unsure. "Um... a week?"
"I would have gone with less, but whatever," His dad shrugged with a smile.
"What?" Angel asked. "What!"
"Let the grounding begin." His mother said with a sarcastic smile.
His parents left his room, before his father shut the door behind him he smiled again. "Nice job."
Angel nodded giving his dad a half smile. "She's hot."
"Oh yeah!" His dad nodded back, shutting the door.
Buffy heard a knock on the front door, she didn't know who it could be. When she opened the door she saw her boyfriend's mother. "Jenny, hey."
"Why? Just tell me that much. Why would you enter a relationship with my son?" She asked walking into Buffy's house.
"With all due respect, I didn't know he was your son." Buffy told her friend.
"And that makes it okay? He was just a kid. He still is! He's is grounded right now." Jenny told the blonde.
"He's 18." Buffy said
Jenny nodded. "Your right, he is. I have never had to ground him before, he was always such a good kid."
"I know." Buffy whispered. "I'm sorry."
"Did you ever even tell yourself that you should end it?" Jenny asked.
Buffy nodded. "To be honest, I did. Not in the beginning because I feel like I was a different person then but somewhere along the line being with Angel... it changed me. That is when I started to tell my self to run, run as fast as I could and not to look back."
Jenny crossed her arms over her chest. "Why didn't you?"
"Because.." Buffy whispered. "My heart was telling me no. I was in to deep and I knew it."
"You love him?" Jenny questioned.
Buffy nodded. "But he doesn't know."
"Why?" Her boyfriend's mother asked.
"Because he is only 18." Buffy said on the verge of tears.
"Which brings me to my next question. Why on earth would a 22 year old smart successful woman with a business start a relationship with a 17 year old boy in high school? Do you ever think that maybe he isn't ready for that kind of relationship?"
Buffy looked up at Jenny with a questioning look. "What kind of relationship do you think we have?"
"Sex, I presume." Jenny stated.
Buffy nodded. "Yeah, but not as much anymore. And to answer your question, I don't know.. it just happened. When I first met Angel I knew he was younger and I was just teasing him, I mean he was looking through my bedroom window every night..."
"He was looking through your bedroom window?" Jenny shouted.
"I thought you knew... he didn't tell you how it all got started?" Buffy questioned.
Jenny shook her head. "I'm asking you."
Buffy motioned for Jenny to follow her into the living room to sit down. "I had this feeling that someone was watching me at night... when I was getting undressed so I would never fully get undressed... not where he could see me at least."
"Why didn't you just close your blinds?" Jenny asked.
"Oh but that would have been the smart thing to do. I guess I liked the feeling... the thrill of the thought that someone was watching me. It was wrong, I see that now.. I just.. I'm not the sam..." Buffy didn't know how to explain it.
"I know." Jenny said with a small smile."Your not the same person you were when you moved here. I have noticed a change in you."
"Yeah, well that changes name is Angel Sawyer. He has made me a better person." Buffy gave her boyfriend's mom a small smile. "At first, I just wanted to help him. When I first actually met him, had a real conversation with him he looked so confused. He was invited to this party by a bunch of total jerks, believe me, I met them. He wanted to fit in, and I wanted to help him fit in. I showed up at the party just to make it look like we were dating so they wouldn't make fun of him. I even encouraged him to get with Cordelia. I knew he liked her and she is his age."
"Cordelia Chase?" Jenny raised her eyebrows. "I would rather he be with you. That girl has no sense of responsibility."
Buffy looked down and smiled. "Yeah well, she was who he liked. I did screw up that night though, I felt SO bad about it. All weekend I had my blind closed, I had never felt that much regret in my life. I knew I was in the wrong because I am older than he is... even if sometimes he acts older than me. I thought I would just help him again.. I had told everyone at the party that we were dating so I showed up at the school, I told him he could either get in the car with me and act like he left with his girlfriend or we could stage a break up."
"I take it he got in the car with you?" Jenny asked.
Buffy nodded. "Yeah, and he asked me out. Up until that point I was still trying to get him to ask Cordelia out but as soon as he asked me... I heard him say those words and I knew. I was already in to deep. I already had feelings for him and I barely knew him"
"You were in love with him after just meeting him?" Jenny questioned.
Buffy nodded. "I didn't know it at the time because I had never been in love, I just knew I had these feelings for him. After that we kind of got in to this old couple's routine. He would come over every day after school and do his homework and have a snack. We would hang out.. and do other things until he needed to go home."
Jenny looked grossed out. "You can leave that part out. At least he was doing his homework."
Buffy laughed. "Yeah, I kind of made him. Not that he wouldn't have done it anyway, he is really responsible and he likes school... the learning part of it anyway. But... that kind of changed when he joined the basketball team."
"Do you think he was taking on to much? His father and I thought he shouldn't join the team." Jenny told Buffy.
"At first, I encouraged it. I was the one that told him about the try outs but when he started to doubt whether or not he should be on the team I thought I should play the supportive girlfriend card and go with what he wanted." Buffy explained. "Things changed when he joined the team and I don't know if they changed because he was on the team or if it was some other reason. Our communication kind of crashed after that."
"What do you mean?" Jenny wanted to know.
"He acted different. He didn't seem like he wanted to talk to me about certain things, he wasn't coming over as much." Buffy looked down, one thing was for sure she couldn't tell his mother about Ms. French. "I wasn't sure he wanted to be with me."
"But you are still together." She noted.
Buffy nodded. "We talked it out eventually and I think we are in a better place because of it."
"Well..." Jenny sighed. "As my husband pointed out that son of mine is 18 now... he can legally do what he wants but he is still living under my roof so please, as long as he keeps his grades up and doesn't end up in jail then I guess I have to be okay with you two being together."
"You don't have to be okay with it but it would really mean a lot if you were." Buffy told her friend.
"Yes well... he is still grounded. " She told Buffy. "The grounding it just for doing it when he wasn't legal. He should have told us, he didn't even tell us he had a girlfriend!"
"Ouch! That hurts." Buffy joked.