I won't let love disrupt, corrupt or interrupt me
I won't let love disrupt, corrupt or interrupt me

Yeah I won't let love disrupt, corrupt, or interrupt me anymore.

I want love to, walk right up and bite me
Grab a hold of me and fight me, leave me dying on the ground.

And I want love to, split my mouth wide open and
Cover up my ears and never let me hear a sound.

~ Jack White ~

Chapter 3 - Love Interruption

Making his way to the library, Spike was practicing his own version of the song in his head when what felt like a human sized cannon ball travelling at light speed collided with him. He registered a blur of sunny blonde and a high pitched yelp, followed by an array of books and notes flying in the air before a monstrous textbook scored a direct hit on his face.

"Oh, bloody hell!" he yelled in shock; thankfully his reflexes were quick enough, allowing his hands to fly up to protect his face, and he scrunched his eyes while turning his head to the side as the thick hardcover smashed into some of his fingers and his left cheek.

A second or two passed in silence before he groaned in pain, "Holy mother of all….oh, fu..." He was pretty sure something was broken or sprained somewhere.

To add insult to injury, the cannon ball itself added more weight by pressing onto his chest, causing a sudden stab of pain in his bruised ribs.

"Oi! Watch it!" He felt a pair of small hands clutch at his shirt and hissed at the added pressure.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry!" she squeaked, moving off him and removing her hands in a flash. When Spike didn't reply, she gingerly removed the textbook from his face. Buffy knew she'd certainly outdone herself this time. She could now proudly add murder to her rap sheet, and it'd be all over the news, "Former teen arsonist murders fellow student on college campus". Her mother would not be pleased with this, to say the least.

Spike could make out the shadow of his attacker moving in front of the bright overhead lights but he left his eyes shut for a few extra moments, the pain in his body prohibiting him from moving.

"That's gonna look really bad in a few hours." Buffy cringed apologetically. "You might wanna get that checked out." She kneeled by his side, close to his chest. She could see a reddish bruise already starting to form on his cheek.

She scowled at the passing students who were giving them a wide berth.

"What are you looking at?" she threatened the nearest one. The random girl's eyes widened in fear and she scurried off.

Buffy looked back down at the platinum blond who was now inching his head slowly over to her side.

"Do you want me to take you to the nearest hospital? You might have a concussion."

She watched in trepidation as he opened his eyes and Buffy found herself almost falling into the stormy blue glaring up at her. Despite the look of fury he was giving her, his angular jaw clenched tightly, making his cheekbones look sharp enough to cut glass, and his nostrils flared ever so slightly, she didn't fail to notice how gorgeous he looked with his perfectly carved features, even with the bruise forming on one side of his chiseled cheek.

Spike was admittedly amused to find that the cause of the collision was a cute, petite blonde with big hazel green eyes staring down at him. While he probably would have tried to flirt with such a girl under normal circumstances, Spike felt like he had to give this particular chit a piece of his mind about public safety.

"Do you always speed around with your head stuck up your arse?"

Although Buffy knew she sort of deserved that, she still bristled at his hostility.

"To be fair, you could've easily avoided me if you were actually looking where you were going, you know."

Spike pushed himself up into a sitting position now, one hand tentatively touching his swelling bruise, biting back a cringe as he did so. "Are you kidding me? You were like bloody Road Runner there, bolting from that stupid coyote. I didn't stand a bleedin' chance!" He shook his head, amazed at her audacity as he collected his fallen books and notes and stood up straight.

Okay, it was probably a bad idea to stand so quickly, he admitted to himself. Maybe he did have a concussion afterall. He leaned against the wall for support. His head felt light and he could see white spots dancing in front of his eyes. He squeezed his eyes shut until they faded away.

Buffy also gathered her things from the floor and stood up with him. She watched cautiously with an expression that was a cross between guilty and indignant.

"Look, I said I was sorry," she tried again. "Just let me take you to the doctor or something."

He held one hand up to stop her. "I'll be fine. Just do us all a favor and don't slam anyone else's face in with that textbook of yours, okay?

"Okay." She pouted dejectedly, which Spike actually thought made her look really adorable. "Unless they're named R.J. Brooks, that is, then I'd probably also throw in a knee to the balls bonus on top of a textbook slam to the face."

A small smile tugged up one side of his mouth and he raised a curious eyebrow at her.

Buffy smiled sheepishly and shrugged, "Dude got a little too handsy at the Spring Fling party last year."

Spike gave a small chuckle and casually pushed himself off the wall, ready to resume his journey to the library. He gave her a playful wink and said in a smooth tone, "I'll see you later, kitten."

She blinked as she watched him swagger off casually, not quite sure what she was feeling.

Dawn looked at the scoop of the alleged macaroni and cheese in the ladle and grimaced. It looked far from any mac and cheese she ever had. In fact, it didn't look anything remotely pasta or dairy-like for that matter. It was really more like a disgustingly soggy, sloppy, possibly radioactive mess of luminescent orangey-yellow goop.

"Yeah, that's definitely not up to the standards of the culinary institute of good mac and cheeses." The guy standing in line behind her in the queue helpfully informed.

Dawn looked back and smiled at her fellow lunch diner, "Yeah, thanks, I can definitely see that." He grinned cheekily at her and she thought he looked rather cute with that boyish smile and messy dark hair.

"Do you trust me?"

"What?" Dawn narrowed her eyes in mild suspicion.

The guy laughed and shook his head.

"If you trust me, then you'll just go with the garlic roasted potatoes. Of course, you might get garlic breath but at least you can count on them in the taste buds department." He winked.

Dawn raised her eyebrows and picked out a small garlic roasted potato before moving further down the line, randomly picking food that seemed at least edible. "So you're the self-proclaimed food critic of the cafeteria?"

"Nah, just been here long enough to know better is all." He shrugged as he picked out his own items along the trays of cuisine. "You must be one of the newbies, huh?"

Dawn could feel her cheeks flush in mild embarrassment and silently hoped that she wasn't blushing too much. "Gee, that obvious, huh?"

"Nah, just never seen you before." He smiled warmly. "I would've noticed you by now if you weren't new here."

"Well, flattery will positively get you everywhere." She laughed quietly. "You can call me Dawn, by the way." she stuck her right hand out in a friendly gesture.

He chuckled and shook her hand in return. "Nice to meet you Dawn, I'm Parker. And um, I really hope I'm not being too forward here, but if you got the time and you're not meeting anyone for lunch, would you like to have it with me?"

Dawn felt her smile widen slightly.

"You know, if you really want to get to know Dawn Summers, you could hang out with us tonight at The Bronze. There's a good chance she and her sister might be there since Willow asked them to come along and provide her some moral support." Oz took a bite out of his sandwich, observing Xander with mild amusement as the brunet looked jealously at Parker and Dawn; the two were having what seemed like a most enjoyable lunch break at the other end of the cafeteria.

Xander made a face at the suggestion. "Uh, okay, moral support for what exactly?"

"It's going to be our first night performing at The Bronze so she's worried she'll have to beat all the other girls who're going to throw themselves at members of the band, especially the lead guitarist."

A bark of laughter escaped Xander. "Thanks man, I mean, I'd love to but I don't know if I want to listen to the Bleached One screaming his lungs out and killing my ears. No offense to the rest of the band, of course. Especially the lead guitarist, I'm sure he's really good." He quickly added.

The lead guitarist of said band just shook his head at his friend. "It's a small price to pay if it gets you ahead of Parker Abrams. And to be fair, the Brit does have a great voice. Dude can sing the freakin' phone book and make it sound good."

Xander rolled his eyes at the probable exaggeration.

"Hey, just keepin' it real, Xand." Oz shrugged. "And FYI, if you can't already tell, Parker's got a bit of a rep for being a player, so consider yourself duly warned."

"Thanks but shouldn't you be warning Dawn about that jerk?"

Oz just shook his head again. "It's not really my place, is it? Anyway, even if I did try to tell Dawn about Don Juan there, what makes you think she'd listen to me?"

"It doesn't seem right for us not to do anything though."

"Oh, I never said I wasn't going to do anything. Willow and Buffy are definitely going to hear about this."

Xander noted the suddenly serious tone of Oz's words and frowned, not liking the idea of Parker and Dawn together at all.

"If it helps at all, Dawn's really into dancing."

"Huh?" Xander's eyebrows furrowed. "Like with the music and the swaying, you mean?"

"Yep, exactly like that."

"Oh well, that's just fan-freakin-tastic!" Xander's eyebrows shot up as he grinned zealously, his arms flung into the air haphazardly.

"You're a dancer too?"

"Sure I am. You know what they used to call me back in high school? Tango the Terrible." The grin on his face turned into a grimace.

Oz didn't know whether to laugh or feel sorry for the guy.