Chapter 19

It was over.

She had lost him for good now.
Tears fell down her cheeks. His words had been a slap in the face. A wake up call.

If only I hadn't been such a jealous bitch. No wonder Spike doesn't want me anymore.

"Dawnie? Are you gonna come down?" Buffy called from downstairs.

Dawn tried to catch her breathe in between her crying so she could answer.

"No thanks!" She managed to reply.

"Don't be stupid, Dawn. It's your birthday!"

"Well, I haven't got any friends anyways" She declared, knowing that wasn't entirely true, but she hadn't invited Melinda.
She had told Melinda that she wasn't gonna celebrate it this year.

"I'm coming up!" Buffy announced. Dawn heard her high heels clicking on the stairs. She knocked on the door.

"Please, leave me alone" Dawn said in a sad voice. She couldn't bear to see Buffy right now.
It would remind her even more of what Spike had said. Her sister opened the door.

"What's wrong, sweetie?" She asked, sitting down on the edge of Dawn's bed. "You've been in here for two days in a row now"

Dawn looked at her sister with her wet eyes and then wrapped her arms around Buffy's neck, crying loudly.

"I do love you, Buffy. I do!" She claimed as if she truly had to prove it.

"I know that, Dawnie. What's happened?" Her sister gently pushed her off to look her in the eye.

"I've been so jealous of you. I know I haven't been nice at all sometimes"

"Oh well, that is what sisters are for, isn't it?" Buffy faintly smiled. "Where did this come from?"

"I can't tell you. You'll be so pissed off"

"It can't be that bad"

"It is" Dawn sobbed. "I'm in love with Spike. No worse. I love Spike" Buffy examined the look on her little sisters devastated face.
She couldn't deny it didn't hurt. But it hadn't come completely unexpected. She had been reading the signals.

"That's alright, Dawnie. If you want to"

"And I used to think Spike didn't really care for me, but it turns out that he does. And now I've just chased him away"

"I think he does care…" Buffy bit her lip.

"What are you saying?" Dawn asked in big surprise.

"I've been noticing things" Buffy admitted. She rose, walked to Dawn's closet and started to rummage to a pile of clothes. She handed over the little wrapped box to Dawn. "Here"

"It's..?"

"Yeah, Spike left it" Buffy told her. "I'll leave you alone with it for a while. If you want to come down for cake, you're free to."

Dawn studied the little box for a little minute. A few seconds she was on the verge of opening it.
But she was afraid of what she'd find.
She decided to wait and put it under her pillow.