"Make me your Aphrodite
Make me your one and only
But don't make me your enemy, your enemy, your enemy
So you wanna play with magic
Boy, you should know what you're falling for
Baby do you dare to do this?
Cause I'm coming at you like a dark horse
Are you ready for, ready for
A perfect storm, perfect storm
Cause once you're mine, once you're mine
There's no going back"
~ Katy Perry ~
Chapter 6 – Dark Horse
In the middle of the dance floor, Dawn started to giggle a little at Xander, who was trying his best not to embarrass himself with his bad dance moves.
"I'm pretty sure that's not how Patrick Swayze was grooving in Dirty Dancing." She shook her head at him in pity. It would've been almost too painful to watch if it weren't so funny.
"Alright, fine. I lied about knowing all the choreography from the movie, but hey, that doesn't mean I can't dance!"
"Are you sure about that, Xander? Frankly I think you should be taking a few lessons from me instead." She gave him a lopsided grin before turning her back on him, barely letting her body touch his as she moved to the rhythm of the music, accentuating her womanly curves as she swayed from side to side.
In her new position, Dawn was able to see their table clearly and noted that the Dingoes had finally gathered around. The newest member of the band, that wickedly gorgeous platinum blond, Spike was talking animatedly while everyone else at the table looked amusedly between him and Buffy. Even from a distance, she could tell that her sister was scowling at him and looked exceptionally red in the face.
While Buffy did have a tendency to behave like a drama queen every now and then, she was seldom affected by the provocations of others. Dawn broke into a wide grin at the sight of her majorly pissed off sister. Given how they both seemed to have a natural talent at aggravating the hell out of Miss No-Fun Buffy, Dawn had a very good feeling that she and Spike would get along absolutely fabulously.
She spun back around to face Xander, switching her focus back to him and the music. "So how about it, Xan-Man? Are you up for some dance lessons?" She teased, adding an extra swivel of her hips for effect.
Unbeknownst to her, the close proximity of their bodies had been sapping every last ounce of his self-control since Willow had practically shoved them both onto the dance floor. Seeing the playful way she was flirting with him now, Xander was sure that he would spontaneously combust right then.
In spite of the pain he was going through, he still managed to give Dawn a genuine smile. "Hey, if a pretty girl wants to offer me a dance lesson or two…How could I ever say no to a beautiful creature such as you?"
"You know, that's quite the smooth talking for a guy with two left feet. And wow, that actually rhymed." Dawn cocked an eyebrow at him, placing her hands above her head while her hips gyrated to the tempo, never missing a beat. "But you wouldn't be using dance lessons as an excuse to ask me out, would you?"
Xander's own movements slowed for a minute. He stared at her with mixed feelings of hope, fear, and caution, "Well, if I were to ask…not that I am, mind you, but let's say I did…would you want me to?"
Dawn stopped dancing completely and placed one hand on her hip. She tilted her head slightly towards the opposite side and looked at him seriously.
Feeling a minor panic attack coming on, Xander fought the urge to squirm. He knew deep down that he'd blown his chances. All that up close and personal dancing had undoubtedly driven him to a moment of temporary insanity and now he was about to experience the pain of rejection once again.
"Are you aware of the infamous Summers-girls-aren't-ever-allowed-to-date law?"
He blinked in surprise. It was certainly not the response he was expecting. "I suppose I might've heard something about it."
"Well, Mr Harris, seems it just might be your lucky day then because the law got reformed, and there may be some hope yet if you're really thinking of asking me out." She winked saucily.
"What exactly do you mean by reformed?"
Dawn broke into a cheeky grin, eyes alight with the same mischief that reminded him of that first time he'd seen her from afar. "Let's just say that if you want me to be your Patrick Swayze, you're going to have to come up with a plan and find us a willing victim who'd be nuts enough to go out with the other Summers."
"Wow Buffy, I knew you were spunky but I didn't know you had super strength too." Sam, the drummer and occasional keyboardist of the band gawked at Buffy in awe, his brown eyes filled with both fear and admiration. "I mean, damn. I thought Spike got his bruises in a bar fight or something, especially that huge one on his back. Ouch."
"Don't you know that Buffy is the bar fight, mate?" Spike chuckled, looking at her with a twinkle in his eyes. The comment earned him another glare of daggers from his not-so-new acquaintance. "Take it easy, pet. I say that as a compliment."
"I'll say!" Chester grinned; he was the bassist and final band member of the Dingoes. "Remind me to stay out of your way at all times, especially if you've got a hardcover book with you. I'm not as tough as Spike is and I really don't fancy the idea of getting bones or other delicate parts of mine broken."
Buffy huffed and rolled her eyes. "If you bunch of wussies don't shut up right this second, I am going to break something fragile and then you'll really understand the meaning of pain."
"Given that feisty rep of yours, I would be sorely disappointed if you didn't." Oz smiled, before taking a gulp of his beer.
Just then, Dawn arrived back at the table, followed quietly by Xander who stood slightly away from the group. "Hi guys!" The youngest amongst them greeted.
The band waved back and with the adrenaline still flowing through her system from all that dancing, she gave them her best megawatt smile before launching into a glowing review of their earlier performance.
"Wow, seriously, is it me or did the band get a whole lot more awesome? I mean, you guys totally killed it out there! And whose idea was it to do that opening song? That was really freakin' genius! Like, who would've figured that some old seventies retro song could sound so amazing?"
"Woah. Okay, slow the heck down, chica. Take a breath before your fan girl balloon bursts." Buffy raised a disapproving eyebrow at her overzealous sister. "You didn't happen to consume any illegal substances while you were out on that dance floor did you?"
Dawn trilled with a smile that was bordering on maniacal, "Why, yes Buffy, I had a whole cereal bowl full of party pills and now all I can see are rainbows and flying unicorns everywhere!"
Spike smirked at Dawn's interesting choice of vocabulary, impressed at her snappy comeback. He gave her a surreptitious wink and thumbs up when their eyes met.
Dawn returned the wink and giggled flirtatiously, inadvertently letting the cat out of the bag. She hurriedly clamped her mouth shut when she saw her sister's face, but it was too late. Despite the hand that flew to cover her mouth, a muffled "Oops." escaped.
Buffy didn't have to ask to know who the culprit was. She gave him a withering glare, "Spike, do not encourage her, or so help me, I will punch you in the face."
The platinum blond shrugged his shoulders innocently, holding his palms up while shaking his head, mouthing the word, "What?"
The younger Summers frowned at her sister and voiced in a solemn manner, "Buffy, you're being a big ol' meanie to him. And seriously, could you quit sucking the fun out of my happy fan bubble?"
"You mean balloon," Buffy corrected gravely. "It was your fan girl balloon almost bursting. And no, I'm not a big meanie!"
"Whatever." Dawn rolled her eyes again in irritation. "The rainbows and winged unicorns couldn't care less."
"Ooookay," Willow hurriedly interjected before her best friend could get arrested for strangling her own sister. "Dawnie, we haven't properly introduced you to Spike yet, have we?"
Not waiting for her to respond, Willow nudged Spike closer to Dawn, "Dawn meet Spike, and Spike meet Dawn, who also happens to be Buffy's sister in case you haven't already guessed from their witty repartee."
"So the nibblet is as fiery as her big sis, yeah?"
He noticed Buffy's eyes widening and for a second it looked as though she was about to comment. Whether it was about to be said in anger or pleasant surprise, Spike would never know. Dawn beat her sister to the punch as she smiled at Spike with girly adoration, extending her hand forward. "It's a Summers thing, Spike. If you ever meet our mom, you'll totally get what I'm saying. Anyway, it's super nice to meet you."
He chuckled and shook her hand, "Likewise, Dawn."
"So, remaking 'In the Summertime' into a rock song, was it your idea to do that?"
Spike hesitated for a moment, sounding almost bashful when he replied. "Just thought we should kick things off with something lively and fun is all."
"Fun and then some." Dawn grinned, her eyes were wide with wonder and Buffy found herself fighting the urge to roll her eyes.
Xander, who certainly didn't like the star-struck way Dawn was looking at the new lead singer of the band, interrupted by coughing a little louder than necessary. When the group turned to look at him, he gave a sheepish grin.
"Oh! I'm so sorry, Xander!" Apologized Dawn, feeling rather guilty that she forgot he was even there. She stood aside and pulled him forward so that he was standing beside her.
Oz introduced Xander to the rest of the band, save for Spike, and the group eased into a comfortable flow of banter. While Dawn was hogging most of Spike's attention, Buffy was pointedly ignoring him, chatting mainly with Willow and Xander. Shortly after, the Dingoes had to return to the stage for the second part of their performance.
While the band launched into one of their original songs, Xander tried to think of a solution to his how-to-date-Dawn predicament.
If the prerequisite for going out with Dawn was that Buffy had to start dating first, then he was determined to do everything he could to find a suitable candidate that would interest the older Summers sister. The girls gathered at the end of the table that had a better view of the stage, so Xander settled at the opposite side and watched Buffy from the corner of his eye, scrutinizing her as inconspicuously as he could.
In contrast to Dawn and Willow, who were both bobbing along to the catchy beat of the song, Buffy was standing perfectly still between them. Her arms were folded together at the waist and she was nervously chewing on her lower lip. It took Xander a while to realize that she was really only watching one particular person. Her gaze was locked on Spike as he fell to his knees at that corner of the stage with both hands clutching the mike. With a pained expression, he sang something about getting his heart ripped out by a vindictive, heartless bitch who left him for another man.
In that moment, he knew that while Buffy seemed mostly annoyed by his antics, she was also undeniably attracted to Spike. Xander let out a sigh as he analyzed the earlier interactions between both blondes. When Buffy wasn't threatening him with bodily harm or telling him to shut up, she had spent the rest of the time mostly ignoring him. Spike, on the other hand, seemed to really enjoy provoking and getting a reaction out of her whenever the opportunity presented itself.
He bent his head for a second, staring at his shoes and frowned. If he was right about this, then it was obvious that she wasn't going to give Spike any inkling that she liked him, especially not after all his teasing. Assuming that was the case, then the next logical step would be to come at it from another angle.
To have Spike court Buffy instead.
He looked at the lead singer on stage, swaggering and strutting about, full of cocky attitude with a hint of danger. Xander tried to convince himself that the bruise was the only reason that made Spike look dangerous. The brunet snorted in jealousy as some girls at the front of the stage screamed wordlessly when Spike did a move that involved a hand wandering south towards his crotch.
Looking at the throng of female fans, it wasn't hard to believe that if they could, just about all of them would kill for a shot at doing the horizontal limbo with him. Spike was also probably aware that the chances of getting his nose busted by any one of these girls would be much lower than the risks posed by simply talking to Buffy. Given the factors, Xander knew that it was going to be a hard sell to convince Spike to go after the one girl who was not throwing herself at him.
He looked back and forth between the two, trying to figure out what it would take to make it happen when the song reached its bridge. Oz advanced to the front of the stage beside Spike, taking on the solo with ease. His fingers danced with speed and grace across the neck of the guitar as he strummed the melodic rock tune out of the instrument effortlessly. Xander's jaw dropped in shock at the red head's sudden transformation from relaxed and regular guitar player to confident and skilled guitar god. Who would've thought that the regularly laid back and seemingly mild mannered guy had that much talent?
An epiphany struck him at that point, and a small smile crept onto his otherwise unassuming visage. As part of his strategy to make Spike an offer he couldn't refuse, he'd found the perfect partner in crime to help him with his mission.