Chapter 16: Time With Friends
Buffy met up with Willow on her lunch break that Friday like they always did, but this time Veronica decided to join them also. It had been a while since all three of them hung and they all needed to catch up. Mostly, Veronica wanted to know how much of the Angelus stuff that Willow knew. Buffy told Veronica that she had talked to Willow about her date wit Ben and that Willow was okay with Buffy not being with him as long as she was happy and Buffy said she was. Plus Willow had the satisfaction that Buffy was in fact in a relationship with someone… not like that time when they were younger and Buffy and Willow didn't have boyfriends and everyone else did, they made up boyfriends. It was insane when everyone found out at the school dance that they didn't actually have boyfriends. Veronica still to this day wouldn't let them live that down. Veronica had joked with Buffy earlier that day that she hadn't actually seen Buffy and Angelus together or even met this guy so she might be making him up. Buffy explained to her that Willow, Xander and Tara had met him, so Veronica went on to saying that maybe Buffy didn't make him up but she might be making up the fact that she was dating him.
They once again met up at the Expresso Pump. Buffy liked this, they always used to hang out at the Expresso Pump and The Bronze when they were in high school and with everything changing so much and what seemed to her like so fast, she was happy to keep a few things the same. Now if only they went to The Bronze every Friday night.
They sat down with their drinks and sandwiches and started their girl talk. Buffy just hoped they would stay clear of her love life on this session of Spill The Beans To Your Bestie. Her love life was taking center stange far to much and with it still being in the early stages and maybe not even making it out of early stages because of the damn Army, she didn't want everyone focusing on it so much. Veronica didn't take to long to dive right into the relationship talk, but thankfully for Buffy, it wasn't her she was going after. 'Poor Willow.'
Veronica smiled at Willow. "So Wills, how are things going with Oz? Other then great like they always are."
Willow smiled back. "But they are great. You know how Oz is. There is never any fighting or drama and I like it that way."
"Except that time when there was drama… with Xander and then again with Veruka." Veronica got a kick under the table from Buffy. "… But that's besides the point." Veronica tried to mend.
"I know there were a few bumps in the road that is us but I think that just makes up even better of a couple." Willow smiled.
"Aww, yeah." Buffy said. "Its total cuteness."
"Any talk about the M word?" Veronica asked Willow. Willows eyes got big. "Oh, come on Will. You and Oz have been together for 6 years! Marriage is going to come up at some point. I mean you want to marry him right? That's the whole point in dating." Buffy couldn't believe what Veronica was saying. Marriage! She knew they had been together for 6 years, 6 years in a young persons life was about the same as 6 years in a actors, if actors were together for 6 years then that was more like 50 years… but they were only 21! And 21 is still 21!
Willow swallowed her food. "We like the way things are going right now. Its kinda like we are already married in our minds. We don't need a piece of paper to say we are married."
"Spoken like an actor." Buffy joked but no one understood it but her.
Veronica chose to ignore Buffy's comment. "So in other words you think your parents would freak?"
"No. Its just I'm still getting my career going and Oz often goes on trips with his band and once we are married people will start asking about babies and… yeah, your right. My parents would flip." Willow said nodding like she was on speed.
Swallowing her food, Buffy asked "So you do want to get married but your afraid of your parents or you don't want to get married because in your mind you are already married?"
"A little of both I guess…" Willow shrugged. "I just want things to stay the way they are."
Buffy then turned to Veronica with a small smile. "How about you, V? You and Logan have been together for what…. 7 months this time? That's equivalent to Wills 6 years for you two."
Veronica set down her sandwich. "You know as well as I do that Logan isn't the marrying type and right now I'm not either. Like Will said, after marriage people start pushing you about babies and I don't want babies! With my mom's history, my baby will have a 50/50 chance of being a lying cheating low life in need of AA!"
"So it skips a generation because you seem to have turned out fine?" Buffy returned.
"Hey, I'm still young, it could still be coming." Veronica said calmly.
Willow gave Veronica a serious look. "I don't think it is. I think you have a really good head on your shoulders and you wont turn out anything like your mom. In the past 21 years you have always been a good person. No lying, cheating, stealing or needing AA."
"Oh yeah, I forgot about the $5,000 that mom stole from dad the last time she came home. You know when I spent my college money for her rehab and then she skipped out on like step 4 telling us she completed the program? Likes for reminding me Willow. So add thieving to the long list of all the bad things my mom has done." She said.
"On the plus said, that's not you, V. Your more like your dad then your mom. And do you know why?" Buffy asked but without waiting for an answer she continued. "Because your dad is the one who has ALWAYS been there for you, there for you looked up to him more. You were always with him. He was a good influence in your life, hell in my life too! I'm pretty sure I would be rotting in a jail cell with Faith right now if it wasn't for your dad. He's the hero if the story, remember?"
"Your lucky my dad still has pull in the law enforcement world or you would be rotting in there and so would Faith… and me for that matter." Veronica laughed.
"So the moral here is Veronica off spring will be okay… as long as Keith Mars in around." Buffy jokes and all 3 of the girls laughed.
"Speaking of dads… have you heard from yours Buffy?" Veronica asked, Willow looked at Buffy with wide eyes.
Buffy shook her head no. "Why would I? I heard mom telling Pam that he called to talk to Dawn last week but he doesn't want to talk to me. Also heard that he wants her to go spend the summer with him in LA but mom doesn't want her gone all summer alone. When I used to go it was different but without me, mom doesn't want her to go. She said maybe Dawn could go for a week or two."
Willow frowned "I'm sorry Buffy." and Veronica whispered "jack ass."
"Does your mom know about Angelus?" Veronica asked. Buffy's shoulders slumped in defeat. She was getting away with not talking about Angelus way to easy, she knew it had to end.
She sighed. "No. She doesn't. I will tell her.. Its just so knew, I don't want to jinx it or anything."
Willow looked confused. "Telling your mom will jinx it? This is your mom we are talking about Buffy, not mine."
"I know but then she will want to meet him and give him the 3rd degree and maybe even say she doesn't want me living there anymore because I am dating him." Buffy rambled out all the excuses why she hadn't told her mom, when actually it was just because she knew her mom would love Angel and she would also get attached causing them both to get upset when he had to leave. She would tell her mom though… maybe in 11 months.
"Uh, hello." Veronica said waving her hands. "I still have yet to meet this guy too! You could be making him up for all I know." she joked "and Willow is just covering for you like always."
"Shut up Veronica. Do you guys want to Bronze it tonight?" Buffy tried to change the subject.
Veronica wasn't letting it go though. "Only if I get to meet this guy. Oh and before you go introducing him to mommy, you might want to get to know him first too. How much do you really know about this guy?":
Buffy sighed. "I will talk to him about meeting you. And…. I know some stuff… like his name is Angelus, he is 26, he is in the Army… he can shoot a gun like really good. He has a sister who is Dawnies age, he has a cousin named Doyle…"
"Ok, but what do you really know about this guy?" Veronica asked taking a drink. Willow smiled lightly, she knew where Veronica was going with this.
"I thought 25 was to old." Willow commented with a smile remember what she has said about older guys.
Buffy was getting irritated. "I know stuff okay!"
"I think you should use it." Veronica said cryptically. 'Yup, there is was.' Willow thought.
"Use it…? Oh." Buffy was confused at first but now knew what Veronica was referring to. "No! Do you know how stupid that thing is. We did that stuff in high school and it was stupid back then, its stupid now! He's 26, its going to be like a huge joke to him. Even more then it is to me!"
"If he likes you, if he really cares about you, he would do it." Veronica said sliding her food away from her. "If he does it, no matter how stupid it is then he likes you… depending on how stupid it really is, because I don't remember half of the stuff in there, he might even love you."
"Veronica…" Buffy trailed off.
"You don't remember what's in there either? Its been a long time since I even looked. I mean, I only used it once with Oz but still, you guys used to do it a lot." Will smiled.
Veronica leaned forward putting her elbows on the table. "Tell you what. We can all met up at The Bronze tonight and I will bring it."
Buffy didn't want to but she really wanted to hang out at the Bronze with the gang again. The last time she had been there Ben had ruined it for her and she needed some happy thoughts. How will Veronica know if she actually did it or not? She wouldn't tell Veronica she didn't use it and Angel wouldn't know anything about it so its not like he would bring it up to her. "Ok, fine." Buffy agreed.
After Buffy got home she went straight to her room to look for something to wear to The Bronze that night. It wasn't like in high school because she wasn't looking for something sexy to wear to gets a guys attention because she already had the guy she wanted, even if he was on loan and the Army would be taking him soon. About 10 minutes after Buffy got home, Angelus had gotten home also. He saw her bag on the couch and went straight to her room. He knocked on the door and when she yelled 'Come in' He found her standing in front of her closet. He put his arms around her waist and gave her a kiss. Then told her that a few of his friends were here and they were all going to hang out. She kissed him again and told him to have fun.
Now here she was, 45 minutes after he left still looking in her closet. Getting frustrated with herself she grabbed a short black skirt, a black spaghetti strap tank top with lace on the top and black heeled boots . She grabbed her dark purple clutch purse and ran down the stairs.
When she was almost to the door she heard someone whistle at her. She turned around feeling a sense of déjà vu, it seems like they always stop her at the door when she leaves at night. This time though it wasn't one of the normal guys that were her room mates. It was a guy she had never seen before. He was sitting with two other guys that she also had never seen before. They had beer, chips and cards scattered all over the coffee table which right now it was most likely being called the beer table. She smiled at the thought of Angel when he told her about the beer table- the first night they kiss.
Angel walked into the living room with more beers. He saw the guys looking at something over by the door and followed their eyes to find Buffy there. "Man, if she is free, I don't mind if I do." He guy who whistled said.
"Shut up!" Angel told him walking over to Buffy. "Hey Baby, where you off too? A date?" He joked kissing her. "Its not a date, right?" He asked seriously.
"Damn it!" The guy cursed. Another guy laughed.
"Serves you right, Sherwood!" The other guy yelled.
'Sherwood? That's the guy Angel was telling me about.' Buffy thought. "No. Not a date. Are you crazy?" She asked him wrapping her arms around his neck. "I'm just going to meet up with some friends."
"Can I be one of those friends?" The third guy asked getting a glare from Angelus.
Angelus turned around and gave Buffy a questioning look. "The guys. The gang." She amended. "We always used to do this Friday night get together thing but Riley wasn't really into it so we kind of stopped doing it and when we broke up the gang just never got back to do it again but tonight we are… it's the first time we have done this in a few years…"
Angel smiled at her. "And because I'm such a nice you, since your dating me its okay for you to start doing Friday nights with your friends again…?
"Are you objecting to it?" Buffy asked dropping her arms from around his neck,
"No! Not at all. I want you to have fun with your friends. I just want to put it out there that I'm a nice guy and better then Riley." Angel said taking her hands in his.
"You are better then Riley. In EVERY way." She smiled standing up on her tip toes to kiss him. The kiss got a little more heated then expected and two of the guys started making comments about how hot and heavy they were getting while the other one who was Sully told the two guys to knock it off.
Buffy and Angel broke apart. "I'll miss you." Angel said resting his forehead against Buffy's.
"Your sweet." Buffy said giving him a quick kiss. "I will see you later." Opening the door she walked out still holding Angel's hand pulling him out the door with her so he was almost outside. "Be a good boy"
Angel smirked. "Your kidding right? You like it when I'm bad."
"Your right. I do, but not when your friends are around, lover." Buffy whispered stepping closer to him.
Angel leaned in closer about to kiss Buffy. "You be a good girl too then."
"I'm always a good girl… until you get me horny." She whispered again kissing him softly.
Buffy walked into The Bronze, the music pumping loudly. God, she missed this. She spotted Xander, Willow, Tara, Anya and Oz sitting around a table. She walked over to them and took the empty seat by Tara. "Hello friends."
"Hey Buffy, how are you?" Tara asked.
"Awesome!" She replied with a big smile.
Anya moved closer to Xander. "Awesome like you had sex with Willows friend or awesome like you don't really want to talk to us about how much your life sucks so you are lying?"
Buffy looked down at the table and then back up at Anya with a smile. "Awesome like I had sex with my own friend."
"You finally got a vibrater? Good for you Buffy!" Anya said happily.
"Noooo." Buffy said. Willow, Oz and Tara were smiling because they already knew what Buffy was talking about. "When I say my own friend, I mean I have a boyfriend, Anya."
"What? Who would date you? No offence but.." Anya trailed off when she saw the look Xander was giving her.
"Thanks bunches." Buffy replied sarcastically. She then told Anya and Xander a little about Angel without actually telling them to much. Xander was a little surprised to hear that it was Angelus she was with but he was happy if she was happy.
Just then Veronica and Logan walked up to the table, Veronica had a small wooden box that looked like it was a keep sake and decorated by a bunch of pre teen girls… which it was. She put the box down in front of Buffy with a pointed look.
"I don't know why she brought that and I don't think I want to know." Logan said.
Veronica was annoyed with Logan already for all the time she had already explained it to him in the past 2 hours. "I told you. Buffy has a new boyfriend and she's doing this."
Oz stood up and picked up the box. "I'll put it in the van. We giving you are ride?"
"Yeah, that would be cool. Thanks Oz." Buffy replied.
The gang stayed at The Bronze until closing time at 2AM. They had fun talking, dancing, eating, drinking and joking around. It felt like old times. They all agreed they should do it again the following Friday as long as everyone wasn't busy. Xander had suggested to plan on doing it every Friday like they used to unless something came up in their new grown up lives of course.
Buffy got home at 3AM. She walked into the house and she could still hear the guys but they had moved their little party into the room where all the video games were. 'Figures' Buffy thought. She walked into her room and clasped onto the bed. Sleep sounded good right about now.. And so did getting out of her heels!