Willow Rosenberg was getting really frustrated. Summer was nearly over and she'd hardly seen her two friends, Jesse and Xander since the beginning of the summer. Every time she called their houses or went over to see them, their parents would tell her they over at Xander's Uncle Rory's, working. Working on what? Rory was a mechanic who owned a junkyard, were they helping him fix up a car? Working a part time job at the junkyard? How hard was it for them to take five minutes and tell her what they were doing? At this point it had been more then two months since she'd last seen either of them in person. She was feeling very left out. So she took herself to the Bronze to mope by herself. Which is when she discovered that Xander and Jesse were already there. They'd gone to the Bronze without inviting her. Now she felt even more left out. She headed over to the table they were sitting at, but before she could get there, Xander got up and headed towards the back, where the bathrooms were.
"I haven't seen either you or Xander all summer, Jesse. What have have you two been doing?"
"Oh, just hanging out with Xander's Uncle Rory." Jesse said vaguely, keeping an eye out for Xander, who'd spotted a vampire following a girl back to the bathrooms.
"And you couldn't take five minutes to tell me that yourselves?"
Jesse focused on Willow and saw her hurt expression. "Sorry, Wills, we've just been really busy. We didn't mean to ignore you, but we really haven't had much time to just hang out this summer."
"But you're here, hanging out, right now and didn't invite me."
"We came straight here from Uncle Rory's, Willow. We really aren't trying to ignore you. You're our favorite psuedosis after all."
"Psuedosis?"
"Substitute sister."
"Psuedosis isn't a real word and you think of me as your sister?"
"Of course, both Xander and I do, you know that."
Willow felt her heart crack at the idea that Xander, her secret crush, thought of her as a sister.
"Jesse, you want to dance?" A girl's voice asked. Willow turned to see Amy Madison, a school mate.
"Yeah, sure." Willow frowned, since when were Jesse and Amy interested in each other? The last Willow knew, Jesse was obsessing over Cordelia. That's when she saw Xander returning from the bathrooms and to her horror, he stopped at Cordelia's table to talk to her for a few minutes. What could he possibly have to talk to her about? Once he was finished, he headed back to the table he and Jesse had been sitting at.
"Oh hey, Will, what's up?" He asked when he saw her at the table.
"What's up? You and Jesse have been ignoring me all summer and since when is Jesse interested in Amy and why were you talking to Cordelia, of all people?!" Willow demanded.
"Okay, first off, Amy starting asking Jesse to dance with her a couple of weeks ago, guess she noticed he's put on some muscle the last couple of months. Second, we haven't been ignoring you, we've just been busy and I guess didn't really think about you, which happens when you have a lot going on and third, what's wrong with talking to Cordelia? I know we tend to snark at each other a lot, but we've kind of been toning down on that."
"You've seen Cordelia enough this summer to tone down on snarking at each other, someone we hate, but couldn't take five minutes to just talk to me?"
"I don't hate Cordelia and I've only really seen her a few times at the Bronze this summer, mostly and like I said, I just didn't think of you because I've been busy. Kinda, out a sight, out a mind. Sorry."
Willow decided this conversation was just frustrating her even more, so she changed the subject. "Why isn't Jesse fawning all over Cordelia?"
"She told me he makes her uncomfortable, which I told him and I advised him to back off and give her some space. He agreed and then Amy started showing some interest in him and I think he's moving on because he's been enjoying spending time with Amy.'"
"Why would Cordelia even tell you that? And it was obvious she didn't like him."
"Well, it wasn't obvious to Jesse and Cordelia made it clear that subtle is more attention getting than over the top. So, what have you been up to this summer?"
"Bored, we haven't done any of the things we normally do during the summer."
"Well, we can't keep doing the same things, Willow. The stuff we usually do is kinda getting boring. Anyway, school starts soon and we'll be sophomores. You all ready? Got all your supplies and everything labeled and color coded?"
"Yes, I'm ready. Do you need any help getting ready for school?" She asked hopefully.
"Nope, I may not be anal enough to label and color code my stuff, but I've still got everything I need."
"I'm not anal, just organized. You'd do better in your classes if you were more organized."
"I do just fine, Willow. Anyway, I'm going to head home. I'll see you later, unless you'd like to leave now, I could walk you home."
Eager to spend time with him and thinking maybe Xander was starting to notice her, Willow agreed.
Xander eyed the vampire hanging out near the entrance of the Bronze and herded Willow out. He'd deal with the vamp later, right now he wanted to make sure Willow was safe. He wondered if the vamp had been working with the one he'd dusted just before finding Willow at his table. Another night in Sunnydale.