Chapter 10: Pink
Faith’s POV:
My bedroom walls are pink.
Two words?
Helllll no.
It’s so…pink. And all that ‘pink’ brings with it. Fluffy. Girly. Wussy … Pink!
So not my fucking color.
So, yeah. That’s gotta go.
I glance at my new cell phone. Cordy gave it to me as a ‘housewarming present’. Whatever, I’ll just use it as a watch till I get a new one.
Some vamps tend to scratch at your wrists before you stake ‘em, you know? I lost three watches to those inconsiderate bastards already.
Anyway, it’s only seven AM. Shit I only slept for like an hour.
Rough night.
Don’t get kinky; Cordy was asleep for half of it. I just couldn’t get used to sleeping next to someone. Barely got a wink.
I rub my eyes out of habit and get up. I throw on a t-shirt and some shorts while I make my way to the kitchen. Damn. Didn’t get a chance to do groceries yesterday.
And I’m outta milk!
Fuck. And I ate the leftover burger at four. Sigh.
I’ll just grab something before I head to SunnyD high since I’m up so early.
…
Early…. Cordy…
Where the hell’s Cordy?
I look around but don’t see any of her stuff. What the hell?
Although I know its empty, I open the fridge anyway.
Yup. Completely and desolately empty.
“Motherfucker, shit, fuck.”
Phew, got my morning swearing out of the way.
“Good morning to you too..”
I look around to see Cordy in the hallway with her arms full.
Are those… Are those donuts? And coffee?
I make my way to the living room.
“I borrowed your keys, I hope you don’t mind.” She says as she drops them on the table. She places the box of donuts and the coffee next to it, accidentally making my comics fall from the coffee table.
I flop down on the couch as she picks up the comics.
“No prob, Cor.” I hungrily eye the food. “Those for me?”
She leans against the couch as she looks into an X-men I borrowed from Xander.
She seems really into it.
“Cor?” I ask again.
She looks up funnily and nods.
“Yup. All for you.” She eventually replies.
“Hey, thanks, C. You’re the best.” I smile and dig in the donuts first.
Ooh, rainbow sprinkles! Uh-…I mean…
…
Ah, whatever, rainbow sprinkles!
“Before I forget.” Cordy says in a monotone voice.
As I happily swallow down half of the donut, she drops some more stuff on the table.
“Extra sugar.” She informs me.
That’s…great. But why does she sound pissed?
I pause before I finish my donut and place it back down instead.
“What’s wrong?” I ask her.
She crosses her arms and looks away, sighing audibly.
“Just… Just forget about it, Faith.” She sighs.
She turns around to briefly look at me one more time and then grabs her purse and walks away. I follow her just in time to see the front door slam shut.
What the…?
I rub my forehead confused and with what’s probably the beginning of a major headache.
Walking back to the living room, I notice the comic book she was reading. I pick it up and something falls out of it.
I look down to find B smiling happily in the Polaroid.
That…can not be good.
Buffy’s POV:
“Good morning, Buffy.” Giles smiles as he organizes some books on the table.
“Fabulous morning, Giles.” I reply sarcastically and collapse on one of the chairs.
Giles stops what he’s doing and gives me his worried look. His forehead gets all wrinkly. I nibble on my lower lip. Think, Buffy, think!
“Sorry.” I mumble. “We ran out of yoghurt again this morning.” I lie.
Giles sighs relieved. Relieved that I just ran out of yoghurt. I resent that but whatever.
“Oh. Well that’s a shame, Buffy.” He coughs and starts organizing books again. Always with the books.
Well duh…librarian. But still.
“You’re rather early this morning, aren’t you?” He comments.
“Yeah, just a little. I was up early.”
“And the others? Do you know who else might be joining us?”
“Umm… Will and Oz are taking a tour of that ‘special’ school today so they’re out. Xander should turn up some time though.” I reply.
He nods and walks to his office.
“What about Faith?” He asks.
I clench my jaws a little but try to remain neutral looking.
Fat chance.
“Wouldn’t have a clue, Giles.” I manage to get out chipperly.
He comes out of the office, diary in hand, looking at me strangely. Oh, yeah, I wasn’t supposed to be chipper today. Ugh… I’ll just shut up for now.
“Hmm…” Giles perches on the table pensively. “There’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you, Buffy.”
He taps his chin. “Have you thought about which college you’d like to do to?”
What is he talking about? Was there another college in Sunnydale I wasn’t aware of?
“UC Sunnydale, Giles. Unless the hellmouth decided to up and move.” I shrug.
He takes off his glasses and cleans them.
“Well you see, with Faith here, you could go to any college you’d like. Preferably somewhere nearby still so we could call on you for emergencies. But you have more possibilities now.”
“What?” My eyes widen and I’m truly shocked. “What are you saying Giles? Leave Faith with the hellmouth? I can’t go, I need to stay! I can’t just leave her behind!”
Giles looks surprised and replaces his glasses.
“Buffy, she’s quite capable of keeping things under control by herself. You did so yourself for quite some time, remember?”
I-… That’s not what I meant.
“I just… I just want to stay, Giles. Is that okay?”
“Well…” Though I’m looking at his shoes, I can feel he’s looking at me. Trying to figure out what’s going on in my head, I guess. “…It’s your choice of course, Buffy.” He finally says.
I sigh, relieved he’s letting it go. I wonder what Faith would think if she knew. God, like I could go and have a life while she takes the brunt of it. What was Giles thinking?
“Giles, how could you suggest just leaving Faith with the slayer duty? “ I suddenly burst out. “Like she doesn’t want a normal life either!”
He looks at me thoughtfully before answer.
“Actually, Buffy, Faith came up with the idea. She brought it up a few weeks ago.”
What the..?
He stands up and walks behind the counter.
“You might as well know; I approached her that day about letting me tutor her for her GED so she could perhaps get into UC Sunnydale in the near future. She seemed not too enthusiastic. But she seemed confident about the hellmouth and asked me if that way, you could go to… UCLA?” He looks at me questioningly.
I don’t really know what to say right now.
“But since you’d prefer to stay in Sunnydale, perhaps you and Faith shall go to the same school some day.” He takes out his tea mug. “Tea?”
I shake my head. “No thanks, Giles.”
She agreed to tutoring? College? With me? We’ll go to the same school and maybe have some classes together and-..
“Hey have you seen Cordy around?”
I whip around in my chair and see Faith.
“Good morning, Faith. And no, sorry, I haven’t seen Cordelia this morning.” Giles replies.
Cordy and Faith. I feel sick. I try not to look at her and just gaze around.
“B?”
I bite my lower lip. Damn it. I turn to look. Ugh…
“I… I saw her this morning.” I answer. This is going to be embarrassing.
“Yeah? Where was she? When?” She looks shocked and steps nearer.
“Um… Around seven.”
Her eyebrows furrow in confusion. She looks adorable but I look away, hoping she doesn’t ask where I saw Cordy.
“Where’d you see her?”
Crap. I sigh…
“In your street.”
I hear Giles choke on his tea and I grimace. This is so painfully embarrassing.
“Err…” Faith begins awkwardly. “That’s… Um… At seven, huh?”
I nod affirmatively. Yup. Your street at seven. Doesn’t have to mean a thing, does it Faith? She’ll ignore it like she always does. I’m repulsive, aren’t I?
“Okay, well… Is the meeting done already?” She asks Giles.
He looks up in the middle of cleaning the spillage on the counter.
“Oh, no, we haven’t even begun yet. You’re both early.” He answers.
Yeah, what’s up with that? Why is she looking for Cordy? Shouldn’t they be all eating donuts and drinking coffee and making out around now? Eww..
“Well, what’s the meeting about anyway? I reported to you last night.” She doesn’t sit down anywhere and just leans against the counter.
She definitely doesn’t wanna be here. Run, Faith, run! I wonder what happened between her and Cordy.
I can’t believe I still have to ask her for the Christmas thing. I am so doomed.
Faith’s POV:
Well… It’s just like any other Thursday morning. Except it’s not.
I slept with Cordelia. She disappeared on me. Buffy was skulking about my new neighborhood. And since we’re both so damn early and B has first period off… Giles has decided to squeeze in some extra training.
So… Not exactly any other Thursday morning. But I can still act like it. Right?
B doesn’t seem to have any trouble in doing so. Does she hang around my neighborhood every morning? That’s just creepy.
Maybe I should ask her about it anyway.
I hesitate before putting on my training T-shirt.
Yeah… I think I’ll ask her.
I gather up my clothes and shove them in my gym bag as I get out off the bathroom stall. Still can’t believe she makes us change in different bathroom stalls. I’m not saying we should change in the same stall. Although… give me time. But we’re both girls! And it’s not like I haven’t seen her naked before.
With all her privacy issues, you’d think she’d remember to lock her stall. The slayer connection isn’t infallible you know.
I lean against one of the sinks to prepare myself for the inexplicable lengthy wait I’m about to endure. How can it possibly take so long for her to get ready for training?
But it’s like she heard my thoughts and refuses to admit I’m right, cuz she’s suddenly exiting her stall. In track pants and a really tight top. She rearranges the semi-folded clothes hanging on her arm and doesn’t meet my eyes once.
“Hey, B?”
She still doesn’t look at me and instead looks at herself in the mirror as she ties her hair back.
“Yeah?”
Guess I just ask her then.
“What were you doing around my place this morning?”
She freezes and her arms drop by her side. Her eyes dart to my reflection in the mirror.
“This morning?”
Don’t play stupid with me, B.
“Yeah. This morning. Around seven? When you saw Cordelia?” I remind her.
“Right. This morning.” She nods slowly. “I was just… I was going to… ask you something.”
She nods again, faster, and then smiles and turns to me. I wait for her to continue and then raise my eyebrows when she doesn’t.
“And…?” I press on.
“Oh, right. And what I wanted to ask you was… if you wanted to come over on Christmas eve.”
Uhhh… Who on the what now? Christmas? Isn’t it a bit early to be talking about Christmas?
Oh wait… It’s the seventeenth already.
Umm…
“Your mom made you, huh?” I smirk.
Her mom makes her invite me to her house sometimes. Mrs S is cool and I rarely pass up a good meal but… well I have my reasons. Besides, Christmas isn’t my thing anyway.
I pick up my gym bag and swing it over my shoulder.
“Tell her I appreciate it, but I got plans, B. Let’s train.”
Well I didn’t exactly have plans because I didn’t exactly know Christmas was coming up. But it’s just Christmas anyway, so whatever. Do I ever have plans on Christmas?
Oh yeah… There was this huge ‘Filthy Heathen Bonfire’ last year in Boston. But I don’t remember too much about that. I dunno. It’s just Christmas.
“What kind of plans?”
I turn around in the hallway to see Buffy looking like a girl.
Don’t get me wrong, Buffy is most definitely a girl. As in not a boy. But sometimes she looks especially girly. Because although B’s tiny, she doesn’t usually look it. She’ll pout and bat her eyelashes and try to play innocent if she wants something, but I can pretty much see through it. I’m not always as successful in ignoring it, but at least I see what she’s doing. Anyway, she’s tiny but usually she looks like she can kick your ass good anyway.
Although this time…
She walks up to me and I resume my way back to the library.
“What kind of plans?” She asks again from beside me in a small voice.
“Just plans.” I reply and audibly sigh as I shove open the double doors.
“Okay…sure. You’ve got plans. Got it. What kind of plans?”
“Just plans. Christmas is a family thing, you know?”
I throw my bag over the counter and push one of the tables out of the way. She just stands in the middle of the room.
“You… You have plans with family?”
Yeah, right. Last time I was with ‘family’ on Christmas…. Shit, I don’t even wanna go there.
“Don’t you?”
She’s quiet as I clear out another table.
“I just… I didn’t know… Where are you going?” She asks unsurely.
Great.
I sigh and gesture to the two other tables.
“You just gonna stand there?”
I’m sure she would be fiddling about with her sleeves if she was wearing any. She helps with the last table anyway and I ignore the warmth of her proximity. I also ignore her uncharacteristically toned down demeanor. She’s acting like a puppy that got yelled at! I didn’t yell at her. And she’s not a puppy. So she should get over it.
“How about Christmas morning?”
“Isn’t that the most family-oriented part?”
She shrugs and sits on one of the tables.
“I guess.”
I walk over to G’s office and pop my head in.
“We’re ready.” I inform him and he nods.
“Good. Why don’t you and Buffy begin with a little warm-up sparring while I drop these papers off at the office?” He takes a last sip of his tea before nodding one more time and leaving with his very very damned papers.
“No problem…” I mumble to myself.
Back in the library, Buffy’s putting the last of the mats on the floor.
Training. Right. No problem.
We circle each other at first. As always. Usually, I get impatient and jump right in. But once in a while, B decides to take the initiative.
I duck away from a well-aimed kick to my head.
Like today, apparently.
I block two punches and move to the right and kick the back of her calf to make her leg buckle.
She does, but only for part of a second and she’s already turning around when I try a slide-kick. Slayer speed ain’t a joke though cuz she jumps to dodge and a fist is already heading my way.
I duck and go for a couple of punches which she deftly blocks. She throws back with quick but powerful little jabs which I in turn block. We’re getting way too good. I suddenly grab her wrist and move around her, twisting her arm with me.
Ooh…that’s gotta hurt. But she’s not even giving a peep.
I move closer to her and move my face to her neck. But then I move to her ear.
“Gotcha.”
I let her go and she quickly moves away, massaging her sore wrist.
“Did I twist it too hard?”
She shakes her head.
“Where are you going for Christmas?” She turns to face me again.
“What?” I spread my arms for effect. “B, we’re training.”
Whoa, I better block that fist!
“So train.” She grunts as she knees me in the gut.
Oomph! That’s gonna hurt in the morning. … Well… This morning anyway. And it should be gone by noon. But uh… well it hurts.
I kick her legs from under her but she’s so fucking quick! I’m on my back before I know it and she’s getting up and moving towards me already. I roll away and jump up.
“Damn, B…You’re on fire.” I wink.
She moves towards me and I jump up on my toes a little, fists up. Gotta feel the Rocky in me… Although I could take him any day.
We exchange a flurry of fists again and I have no idea who’s winning. Block, block, punch, kick, punch, block, punch, block, block, block.
She gets me right in the jaw and then holds me in a back-grip as I’m briefly disoriented.
“Gotcha, F.” She leans in next to my ear. “Why don’t you ever tell me things? Like about your family?”
She sounds kinda pissed. She tightens her grip around my neck and arm for a second and I wince but she lets go.
I shrug dramatically to make sure she knows I am not getting what this is about.
“I dunno! I dunno, B. Did ya ask?”
I go back in a fighting position.
“Ah… Have you both warmed up, then?”
I whip around to see Giles walk back in. He nods distractedly and then notices our unresponsive behavior.
“Is everything alright?”
I breathe out to try and calm down and nod.
“Yeah, it’s cool, Giles.” I mumble. “Training?”
“Oh, well… All right, then.” He takes a last look at me and Buffy but nods again and moves towards the counter. “I thought today we could focus more on the…” He holds up the two blindfolds from behind the counter. “Blind combat.”
I fight the urge to turn around and raise my eyebrows with B, like we usually do when this comes up. But she’s pissed at me. For some reason. Not sharing with her? I dunno.
“Willow suggested though, that meditation would perhaps help strengthen the ‘slayer connection’ and aid you in battle. So I thought we could test that out today. It’s a fairly simple exercise.”
Meditation? I dunno…
I turn around and see that B has the same skeptic look on her face.
“So sit down on the mat, facing each other. And then place your palms on each others.” Giles instructs us as he pulls up a chair and sits down with his book and a pen.
We sit down and hold out our hands but we have a little trouble with deciding who’s on top.
“No, I put my palms on yours.” She slaps my hands away. “You’re my other.”
Huh?
“You’re the other palm.”
Right. Whatever.
We finally settle as I give into her little palm thing. And our hands are touching. And hers are small and warm and soft.
“Hmm… Good, now you simply close your eyes and try to feel the other. Try to see them in your mind and simply feel each others presence.” He states.
Riiight. Simple. Um… So why don’t I wanna do it?
Buffy seems just as hesitant about it as I am. Giles is already writing something down in the book, whatever it is.
You know what? I’m just gonna close my eyes, I’m not gonna try and feel anything. I’m just gonna… think about… what color I’m gonna take for my room.
I take one last look at B’s kinda red but pretty face as she looks from me to Giles. And then I close my eyes.
… Blue? I like blue. Nah… Maybe like… Red. Or just black. But that’s so… black. I like black. But most of my stuff is already black. I wouldn’t see anything, you know? Maybe I’ll just go for… Pink.
What?
No, not pink. I don’t like pink. Blue. Yeah… Blue or red. I dunno. Ears. What about ears?
No, who cares about ears. Though B’s ears are nice. How about black and white? Maybe a christmas tree.
What the fuck is wrong with me? I don’t care about christmas trees. With Willow and Xander and Giles and Mrs S and Dawn. What? Why am I thinking about this?
I shake my head a little, my brain’s all funky today.
Then I hear Giles slide his chair backwards and clear his throat.
“Er, alright then. That should be sufficient.”
I open my eyes and let go of Buffy’s hands. But the loss of contact kinda stings. Just a little.
We both get up and Giles hands us the blindfolds. I wonder if B’s still pissed. I’m not so good with the blind, this could get dangerous. Wouldn’t be the first time. She has to let loose more so she stops having these little explosions. I take one last wary look at her and then tie the black cloth around my head.
I take another step back and breathe out deeply.
This time I’m really gonna have to concentrate or I’ll get my ass kicked real bad. I switch into a comfortable fighting position, knees slightly bent and fists in front of me.
I hear B swiftly move to my right, but not towards me. So I silently move to the left and face where I think she’s standing. I’m concentrating so much on my slayer hearing, I hear Giles scribbling something down in his goddamned book. My hearing automatically focuses on the only sound in the room and I’m flying through the air before I know it.
Not for long though, because the floor is waiting. I crash into it hard, my arms barely softening the blow, and my cheek doing not much better.
Buffy’s kicks are vicious, man.
I hear Giles coming closer.
“I’m alright, Giles.” I grunt.
I get up and rub the side of my face. Ouch. Anyway, I carefully walk back towards the mats.
“B?”
“Yeah?” She answers left of me so I walk to the right and turn to face her again.
“You know I’m going to get you for that, don’t you?” I smirk and fall back into fighting stance.
“Well… You’ll try anyway.” She taunts back.
I just hope she’s smiling.
Okay, round two. Ding!
I hear B move to my right and I mirror her again, keeping her at a safe distance. But then it’s quiet. Real quiet. Giles isn’t even writing anything. Where the hell is Buffy? Is she still in front of me?
I tense up a little, going into a more serious fighting stance and try to concentrate harder. Come on, B… Where are you?
The seconds crawl by in silence. And I have no idea where she is, which is not a good thing. She’s way better at this and it’s pissing me off.
“Hey, B?” I whisper so that only she can hear me. “Have I told you how fuckable you look today?”
I hear a small gasp, just two feet behind me and I dropkick her ass! I hear the very satisfying thump of her cute little butt hitting the mat.
“No fair.” She whines and moves to her feet.
I hear Giles hum thoughtfully a little way further and I slide up my blindfold. I see Buffy still has hers on and I smile as I see she’s got her arms crossed and is leaning sulkily to the side.
“That was good.” Giles tells us. “Very good actually. However, Faith, what would you have done if I had the radio on?”
I raise an eyebrow.
“I dunno. Probably wouldn’t have come in here in the first place cuz of your taste in music, Giles.”
He looks at me as if he’s waiting for me to give him a decent answer. I’m all out.
“Faith, I feel perhaps you’re relying too much on your extra developed hearing while you’re in the possession of another great weapon; your slayer connection.” He explains.
Right. Just try to feel the other. But feeling Buffy is distracting!
Giles glances at his watch.
“Perhaps one more try, and try to focus more on the slayer connection this time, alright Faith?” He nods matter-of-factly.
I shrug back and slide my blindfold back down. I turn to Buffy and steady my breathing. Just try to feel the other.
It isn’t difficult to find the connection. It’s always sorta pulling at me anyway whenever she’s around and it’s even worse when she’s in the room. It’s very distracting though so I usually kinda suppress it when I don’t think I need it. But I guess I’ll have to really focus on it now. Great. Here we go.
Here comes the warm fuzzy tingling.
And just like that, suddenly I know exactly where she is. Like I can see her although everything else is gone. She takes a careful step to her right and I do the same. We successfully circle each other a couple of times and I’m amazed at how I know what she’s doing. And then I feel her smiling and I can’t help smile back.
I speed it up a little and take a sudden move towards her. She moves away and I move back too. She shakes her head, smiling. Like she knows I was just testing how alert she was, like I usually do. I smirk, yeah but the next time won’t be a tester.
She suddenly lunges at me and I duck an incoming fist and at the same time attempt an elbow in her stomach. She blocks it deftly and pushes me back, making me falter and have to put my hand on the ground for balance.
The air makes a swooshing noise as she jumps towards me, a fist coming dangerously near. I drop to the floor and roll to the left, jumping back to my feet in a flash. This is like we didn’t even have the blindfolds on at all!
“This is like we didn’t even have the blindfolds on at all…” Buffy says.
What the hell?
I slide the black cloth back up. She’s standing right where I knew she was. Did she just read my mind?
“Yes, I saw…” Giles murmurs. “It was quite remarkable. I would’ve thought more training, practice and meditation would be necessary but apparently… Well, we’ll speak more of it next time. You’ll have to get ready for class now, Buffy.” He informs her.
She groans in protest and advances on Giles.
“But Giles! This is important training.” She places her hands on his shoulders seriously. “When another apocalypse comes and it’ll be very dark and the radio will be playing, you’ll curse yourself for sending me to Spanish instead of doing the much needed training.”
He raises an eyebrow, unconvinced. But Buffy doesn’t let up.
“I think training is more important than Spanish, don’t you? Unless you think it’ll be a Spanish speaking demon and I can just go, ‘ola señor Demon, habla español?’ ,and we could just talk about our problems.” She goes on.
Giles looks pensive. Probably wondering how crazy Buffy is, really. She watches him suspiciously.
“You don’t really think there’ll be a Spanish speaking demon, do you?” She asks.
He opens his mouth to answer, but seems lost for words.
“Oh my god. Okay. Okay, I don’t know any Spanish! I have to go to Spanish. Why didn’t you tell me?” She shakes Giles a little bit in her excitement but then lets go and picks up her stuff from the counter.
“Okay, I’m gonna get ready now.” She informs us. And then she looks at me expectantly.
“Uhh… Yeah, me too then, I guess.” I shrug and she hands me my gym bag as I walk over.
