Buffy’s POV:
I smile as I walk out to the hallway. She’s coming with me!
Okay… That’s important. Because… Whoa. That training session was intense! Not like… I mean… I didn’t break a sweat or anything but… Whoa. That connection. It was creepy.
Well… Almost. It was just really intense.
She comes out of the library and smiles.
“That was wicked, huh?”
I smile back and nod as we make our way to the bathroom.
“It was like… I just knew, you know?” I attempt to explain.
“Yeah, I know.” She nods back.
I smile to myself as I push open the bathroom door. We’re connecting again!
Oops. I don’t need to be here. I need to take a shower.
“Don’t you need to take a shower, B?” Faith asks me.
“Yeah… I just needed to ask you something.”
She raises an eyebrow. I sigh.
“Completely non-related to the Christmas thing.”
She relaxes her stance and shrugs.
“Then shoot.”
“Wanna patrol tonight?” I ask.
“Uh… Yeah, I’m on duty, remember?”
“Yeah, yeah, I know. But I mean, together?”
Her eyes widen a little in surprise but she quickly recovers.
“Uh… Sure. Yeah. That’s cool.”
I smile.
“Okay, great. Meet you at Restfield? At seven?”
She grins and nods.
“Cool. Your call on the food, alright? My treat.” She opens her bag and takes out her clothes, heading towards a stall.
“Right, you just end up eating everything they have and I just get the freebies anyway.” I tease her.
She enters the stall but pops her head out.
“How about that time we went to Mickey D’s? Never knew you had a thing for plain old cheeseburgers, B. You ate like fifty of ‘em. And you know it’s the truth.”
She looks at me, daring me to deny it.
“Shut up.” I narrow my eyes and stick out my tongue for good measure. She promised she wouldn’t mention it again after she kept on about it for hours and hours.
She smiles and laughs before closing the stall.
“See ya at seven then, B.”
“Alright. Bye.”
Yeah, that was a good moment. That training session was intense. I’ll have to talk to Willow about that little… meditation thingy. Because wow. Was it because of that?
After showering and changing into fresh clothes, I walk into Spanish and spot an empty seat next to Xander.
“Olà, Xander.” I grin.
“Olà, Buffy.” He grimaces. “Wanna skip Spanish?”
“No, Xander.” I say solemnly as I sit down. “I’m the slayer.”
I notice a jock look at me funnily and slide his desk a little further away.
Great. My crazy Buffy rep just got a boost.
Xander looks a little like he’s questioning my sanity too.
“What’s that got to do with Spanish? Do you have to be multi-lingual for the job? Don’t you just kinda… slay ‘em?” He whispers the last part.
“True. But I don’t wanna fail another class. I wanna get into college, you know.” I smile, thinking back on going to college with Faith. That would be so great.
“So you don’t want to just join me into the bum life?” He wipes away imaginative tears.
“You got into that college, Xander!” I remind him.
“But it’s in Seattle! I can’t go to Seattle. I gotta stay here.” He says.
Very familiar words.
“I get that.” I answer.
So we drop the issue and decide to behave, going to all our classes all day. Although the urge to go see Faith was enormous, I kept myself in check by reminding myself of our seven o’clock appointment. Appointment… Date? No. No. Appointment. Meet-up. Not date.
Yeesh, Buffy. Get over it already.
As Xander and I make our way to the library after school, we see Willow and Oz. They spot us and wave.
“Hey, my little geniuses!” Xander slides between them and wraps his arms around their shoulders. “How’d it go? Were they worthy of your superior brains?”
Willow laughs and shoves him off good naturedly.
“I already told you last time, I’m staying in Sunnydale.” She reminds him.
Oz nods and wraps his arm around Willow instead.
“Same for me.”
Xander places his hands on his chest and looks at me dramatically.
“See that, Buff? That’s what I call friendship.”
I roll my eyes but smile at Will and Oz.
“You might still change your mind after we investigate this Mayor guy.” I start up the walk towards the library again.
“Oh, we still have their numbers.” Oz replies.
I laugh and open the library doors.
“Always good to have a back-up plan.” I agree as we approach Giles at the counter.
“Hey, Giles.” Willow gives him a little wave.
Oz and Xander settle themselves on chairs around the table.
“Ah, good afternoon. How are you?” He looks at Oz and Willow curiously.
I lean against the counter and wait for my chance to speak to Willow alone.
Oz and her give a little summary of their day but end up stressing that they’ve decided to stay in Sunnydale and there was no use trying to talk them out of it.
I couldn’t wish for better friends.
I finally get to pull Will to the side and invite her for some girly talk at my place. She gets really excited and tells me she’s been meaning to have a serious talk with me for a while.
Should I be worried?
It feels good for it to just be me and Will again, we used to hang out more often. Just the two of us.
“I just need to stay, Buffy. You get that, don’t you?” She attempts to explain her decision again as we stroll into Revello Drive.
I link my arm with hers and squeeze it a little.
“I totally get that, Will.” I tell her. “I just don’t want your potential to go to waste.”
“I know.” She squeezes back. “But I have a different kind of potential too. And I think this might be the best place to maximize that potential.”
Oh, right. Magic. Or is it magick? Is there a difference? I never got that.
I let go of her arm to get out my keys.
“Point taken. I just don’t want you to get hurt.” I tell her again and open the front door.
“I appreciate that, Buff, I do. But I have two slayers to protect me now, right?”
I nod as we make our way towards the kitchen.
“And a werewolf.” I add.
“Yeah.” Will sighs. “Too bad it’s only by full moon though. It would be great if he could control it.”
I grab a cookie from the cookie jar and slide it over to Willow on the counter.
“Is that even possible?” I ask carefully.
Willow shrugs before taking a bite from her chocolate snack.
“I found some vague references about it in a scroll but I haven’t fully translated it yet.” She sighs.
“Oh, wow. Because yeah, obviously it’d be great if he could control it.” I agree.
It’s not easy to have a werewolf boyfriend.
We talk some more about Oz as we enjoy our cookies in the kitchen. Dawn’s arrival compels me to take our conversation upstairs though and we settle in my bedroom.
I prop my knees up as I lean against the headboard of my bed. Willow leans on her elbows as she lays on her stomach at the foot.
“Have you asked Faith about Christmas yet?” She asks.
I bite my lower lip. I asked her but I want to try again. I don’t know if I should though.
“Yeah, I asked her this morning.” I answer and sigh before she can get her eyes to fully light up expectantly.
“She said no?”
I nod sadly but shrug.
“I dunno, maybe I can still talk her into it. We’re patrolling together tonight.”
“Really?” She seems surprised. Happily surprised though.
“Yeah, we’re meeting up later tonight.” A little smile creeps up on my lips without my permission.
“Cuz I kinda thought…” Willow absently picks at a piece of lint on my bed. “You know…”
She looks at me shyly.
I urge her to go on.
“There was some tension between you and Faith.”
I raise an eyebrow carefully. Um… What exactly is she getting at? I knew I should’ve been worried!
“Um… What kind of tension, Will?” I ask.
“Well, you know…” She waves her hand in the air helplessly. “Tension.”
Right. Tension. Got it.
“I felt some bad vibes since Cordelia and Faith are hanging out so much.” She gets out in one breath.
Oh.
“Yeah. Me too.”
“But now you guys are okay? Voluntary duo-patrols again?”
I nod.
“I hope so. I dunno. We’ll see, I guess.” I lean my head against the headboard. “Will…about Faith…”
She straightens herself a bit and nods.
“Yeah?”
“Um.” Should I tell her? She’s my best friend. I should, right? I should. Yeah. I will. I’m so gonna tell her. “…She’s so weird, isn’t she?”
…Maybe just not today.
I laugh weakly.
“Weird Faith…” I shake my head. I am so lame. Will seems disappointed though.
“Right. And… well… Did anything happen recently that made you go all.. ‘Hey, Faith’s weird’?” She asks carefully.
Great. Now what do I say? Well… I guess there are a couple of things.
“There was the UCLA thing.” I shrug and then frown. “Which really was weird actually.”
“What about UCLA?” Willow asks confused.
“Well…When she first came to town, I mentioned once that if I wasn’t a slayer I would’ve wanted to go to UCLA.”
“And?” She urges me to go on.
“And..” My frown deepens. “And this morning Giles tells me that Faith wanted to stay and be solo-slayer so I can go to UCLA.”
That really did freak me out. Ugh. That training session totally messed with my mind. It’s like…There were these major things going on in my head. The college thing, the Cordy thing, the Christmas thing… And what the heck is she going to do at Christmas anyway? I hate her!
No I don’t.
Wait…I had a point. Right; so I had these major things going on in my head. And after that training session… It was just like… I dunno. I forgot? It didn’t matter. Like I was high or something.
“Oh my god, she said that?” Willow exclaims and sits up on the bed.
She smiles, her eyes wide open and she looks like she’s about to say something but doesn’t.
“That’s basically what Giles said she said.” I nod, eyeing her suspiciously. “Isn’t that weird?”
“She remembered what you said.” Willow states. “All those months ago.”
“Um…yeah, I guess she did.”
She did remember. Oh god, I want to be with her so much. I hate this.
“Will… This morning…” I have to stop kidding myself and start facing the facts. “I was going to Faith’s place, before school.”
I pause and see I have her full attention.
“And I was in her street and… Then Cordelia was there.”
Her eyes widen.
“And I think I have reason to believe she stayed over at Faith’s.” I raise my eyebrows and give her a look.
If possible, her eyes widen even more and then she frowns in confusion.
“Stayed over at Faith’s? Or…” She gives me a look. “Stayed over at Faith’s?” She says in a lower voice.
I give her another look.
“Stayed over at Faith’s.” I answer. Although I try not to make it sound too sad.
She gasps and looks at me urgently.
“You mean Faith and Cordelia… They…?”
“Pretty sure, yeah.” I pick at a piece of…nothing. It just gives me something to do.
“Wow.”
Uh huh.
“Well you know… We kinda saw it coming though, right?” I shrug. “The signs were all there.”
She raises her eyebrows in surprise.
“What? You saw the signs, right? All the flirting and…closeness and stuff.”
She raises one eyebrow and kinda shrugs. But there’s more to this.
“There was flirting!” I insist.
“Yeah, there was.” She agrees finally. “But it’s Faith.”
“Well yeah, it is Faith. So we shouldn’t be surprised she fucked Queen Cordelia, should we?”
Ooh, did that sound bitter?
“Maybe. But I am anyway.” She shrugs.
“Although you saw the flirting?”
She nods.
“Why are you surprised then?”
She opens her mouth about to say something, but changes her mind and just shrugs. That girl is hiding something! My own best friend trying to hide something from me!
“Will, I know you’re hiding something. And you know I won’t stop bugging you until I find out what it is.”
She contemplates this and then looks at me doubtfully.
“I’m just saying… There were other signs as well.” She raises her shoulders as if that’s all she could say.
“Right.” I nod. “Other signs.”
Hmm.. What the hell does she mean by that?
“Sorry, Buff. That’s all I can say.” She looks at her watch. “Oops, better get going. I have to get some homework done before dinner.”
I roll my eyes and get up from the bed with her.
“Will, you can’t just leave it like that! What do you mean?” I whine and pull a little at her sleeve.
“I can’t say, Buffy.” She insists and gives me her resolved look.
“Aww…” I whine some more but let go of her anyway.
Fine. Whatever. She knows something about Faith, damn it. And I don’t know what it is.
She pauses as she’s at my door.
“Buff… Just… give her some time, okay?” She gives me a sad little smile, sighs, and then leaves.
“Will!” I follow her down the hall. “What does that mean?”
She raises her arms in despair.
“You’ll figure it out.” She hurries down the stairs and opens the front door.
I follow her down feeling very frustrated.
“Bye, Dawn!” She calls out to the living room.
“Bye, Willow!” Dawn shouts back.
“Will, seriously, you’re going to have to explain this some day.” I sigh.
“Yeah, I know, Buff. Sorry.” She gives me a little hug before smiling and going out the door.
“Have fun tonight.” She calls out one last time.
I close the door and lean my forehead against it.
Give her some time. Me give Faith time? Time for what? She’ll be late tonight?
You know everyone always complains about how Faith is always late for appointments but she’s never late for slaying. Ever.
Oh, crap! I forgot to ask Will about the meditation thingy! Stupid Buffy. Argh.
It’ll have to wait then.
Faith’s POV
Weird-ass training session. Intense. But weird.
I flick my pencil against the table a couple of times.
Giles looks up from his own work.
“Problems, Faith?”
I look down at the math problems he gave me to solve.
“Uh…No, Giles. No worries. Just uh… Math’s not one of my strongest areas.” I shrug.
“Hmm…” He takes out another pack of papers. “Perhaps you’d prefer English?”
“I ain’t got nothin’ against English, G. I does like English. It’s just I don’t think English likes me.” I shrug.
“Your work so far has been quite good, Faith.” He purses his lips and looks impressed.
Riiight.
“That’s cuz you keep giving me this elementary stuff. I still went to that shit, Giles.”
“What about those problems you’re working on now?” He asks.
I sigh and look down on them again.
“I’ll take another crack at ‘em I guess.”
I try to concentrate and stop myself from flicking my pencil against the table again.
I sneak a peek at Giles. He’s looking real busy with whatever he’s doing. Better not disturb him.
Although…
I look back at my own crap and start up a rhythm with my pencil on the table.
Giles looks up again and I hold back a grin.
Too British to tell me to stop. Hehe. Although I shouldn’t be torturing him too much, he’s been cool. I quiet my pencil and take another shot at the math.
Giles is pretty serious about me getting my GED. He keeps talking about my ‘potential’ and ‘capacities’.
But I dunno if I can take this the whole day. Specially after that training session. Damn. Gotta talk to Red about that when I see her.
There were some weird vibes there, I swear. It was… intense.
All day Giles keeps giving me shit to fill out and read. But every once in a while I think about that training session. Cuz man… that was.. Yeah well, you get the picture.
Around two-thirty though, I have had more than fucking enough of it.
I slide the Shakespeare books away from me as Giles places them on the table.
“No way, Rupert. No more.” I shake my head.
He shakes his head too, although he seems more amused than anything else.
“Alright. I actually didn’t expect you to last this long.”
“Huh?”
“Have you been a closet-bookworm all this time, Faith?”
Did he just say that!
“What the hell, Giles? Closet-bookworm? Take it back!”
He laughs.
“I’m sorry, Faith. I take it back.”
Yeah well, he better.
“You really should have seen your face though.” He says as he carries back the books.
Old man still has some tricks. Yeesh. Good for him.
“Yeah, good one, G.” I roll my eyes. “But that means I can go, right?”
“Yes, go ahead. Thank you, Faith, for doing your best again today.”
I grab my jacket and head for the doors. How the hell do you respond to that shit?
“Whatever, Giles. See ya.”
He smiles and nods.
I shake my head as I walk down the mainly empty hallway. I exit the school and stroll down the front stairs until I hear my name called out.
“Faith!”
I look to the right and see Will and Oz approaching.
I finish my way down the steps and wave as they walk towards me.
“Hey guys, how’d they take it?” I ask.
“I think they’re in denial.” Oz shrugs.
“They kept saying ‘Please call us if you change your mind.’ And they gave us a dozen cards.” Will rolls her eyes.
“Can’t blame ‘em for trying to get the best brains of the country in their school though, huh?”
“I guess.” Will says shyly.
“Oh, Red, can I talk to you for a while maybe?” I ask her but look at Oz, if he’s cool with that.
“Sure, Faith.” Will answers and looks at Oz too.
“No problem. Meet me at my locker?” He answers and offers his arm to carry Red’s books.
Wolfboy’s such a gentleman. I should be disgusted but he’s cool too, so more power to him.
They kiss and Will gives him her bag.
“Thanks man, see ya.” I wave.
“See ya.” He smiles and leaves.
Willow turns to me.
“So what’s up?”
“Um… So… How’s Buffy been.. lately?”
She looks at me strangely. Don’t blame her. But I feel like I never know how Buffy’s doing. Keep saying wrong shit. And I don’t wanna fuck up patrol with her tonight.
“She’s… alright I guess. She was sorta worried about you though.” She answers.
“Worried? Why? About me? Worried?”
“Yeah, because you’ve been… Distant I guess.”
“Oh.” B’s been worried about me? Huh.
“Yeah.” Will nods.
“Um… Anyway…” I attempt to steer the conversation to another direction and tell her all about the training session. She listens attentively as I mention the weirdness that was going on during the meditation.
“Well… have you been using that blocking technique?” She asks.
Yeah, I asked Will about how to block something like say… the slayer connection. If that was possible. She mentioned some books. Which I read. And I tested it out. It was hard at first. Cuz you have to like… Ignore the weird warmth and everything and just push it away.
“Uh…yeah.” I answer.
“And how’s that working out?”
It fucking sucks.
“I dunno. Okay I guess.” I shrug.
She looks at me as though she’s waiting for me to say something else.
“I don’t think you should be doing it though, Faith.” She tells me.
“Uh…Why not? It’s distracting, I told you.”
“Some things just can’t be blocked, you know. Some things just shouldn’t be.” She seems to stop herself from going further.
“What are you saying? The slayer connection’s too strong to be blocked?”
She shakes her head and sighs.
“Buffy didn’t have this with Kendra, you know. At least not… well… Like you two.” She seems exasperated.
“Right.”
Maybe I should give her a break.
“Anyway, thanks, Red. You better get to your boy.” I grin.
“Right. Call me if you need anything else, okay?” She pauses before turning. “Think about it, alright?” She then waves and makes her way up the school steps.
I nod distractedly.
Red’s weird.
I head back to my place contemplating tonight. I hope it’ll go smooth. No weird silence or ‘kind of but not really’-fights.
It takes me ten minutes in the wrong direction to realize that I’ve moved. Twenty minutes later, I’m letting myself in and smelling a whole lotta Cordy.
Not cuz she’s particularly smelly or anything. It’s just… slayer senses you know?
Forgot to open some windows this morning.
I go to the bedroom first. The sheets are still messed up and her scent is everywhere.
I’m such a fucking idiot. How could I do that to Cordy?
I clean up the apartment for like half an hour and change the sheets. I take a quick shower and sit down on the bed to dry my hair.
And that fucking wall is still pink.
It’s really gotta go.
I let my hand wander over the fresh sheets on the bed. I fucked things up with Cordy big time.
I wander around my apartment aimlessly until six. I get dressed, watch some TV, eat some food and watch some more TV. But with all the shitty shows, it’s hard to get my mind off Cordelia. And Buffy. At six I start to get fidgety and decide to get an early start.
I just hope B won’t be early.
Buffy’s POV
I’m early.
It’s only six-twenty. But whatever. Faith’s gonna cruise by a little before seven and I can pretend I just got here three minutes earlier.
Or something like that.
I hop up on a huge tombstone and swing my legs against the marble-like surface.
Suddenly I feel like Faith’s nearby.
It’s barely six-thirty; she’s usually early but not this early.
The connection fades away and I begin to doubt myself until suddenly the connection is fully back.
I hear some rustling between the trees behind me and a few moments later she steps out from the shadows.
“Hey, B.”
She approaches me and leans against the tombstone I’m sitting on.
“How’s it going?” She asks.
She looks good. I hold back the urge to push her hair back behind her ears a little. I don’t think it’s a good idea to be picking at her hair. Urges are stupid, see?
“Good.” I swing my legs again a little. “You?”
She lights up a cigarette and shrugs.
“Same.”
“You’re early.”
“So are you.”
I stop swinging. That’s true.
She looks down and takes another drag from her cigarette. She looks sexy.
“So you wanna hit Restfield now?” She asks.
I hop down.
“Sure.” I walk away, hoping the darkness hides how I’m blushing.
I hate it when I do that. It’s not even justified. It just happens. I should get that checked out.
“You shouldn’t be smoking, you know.” I add.
She laughs and finally decides to follow me. She jogs up next to me, nodding and grinning.
“I know.”
We systematically clear out Restfield from five vampires. Which is an averagely low amount. We usually get six or seven. But we hit a nest at the next one, which counts for six. Plus another three stray ones.
Making a nice full total of fourteen by nine o’clock.
“You’d think the vamps would start protecting themselves around here.” Faith grunts as she stakes another stray vamp.
“What do you mean?” I ask and watch her pat the dust off her clothes.
“I dunno… start investing in some armor around the heart area.” She shrugs.
Hmm..
“Like bulletproof armor?” I muse as we continue to make our way through the cemetery.
“Yeah. Which reminds me… Why couldn’t we have those cool guns and shit like in Blade?” She gets excited and her eyes light up.
“Oh, and that sword too. Cuz that was wicked hot. Plus the leather gear. We’d look fucking hot, B!” She continues.
She’s actually smiling, she’s so cute with her dimples and everything and I laugh.
“You just wanna get that car.” I smile and she laughs.
“Oh, yeah. That was wicked.” She agrees.
We joke around about freaking Giles out with my Spanish babble. And how Faith’s TV actually works now. Amazing.
But then Faith gets a little quiet.
I decide to move away from Angel’s mansion and hit the smaller cemetery in the south for dessert. We were always up for a midnight vamp snack though.
“So you like your new place?” I ask her. Hoping to get something out of her again.
“Yeah, it’s great.” She massages her neck like she does when she’s worried about something. “You should check it out some time.”
“Really?” I bite my lower lip.
I suddenly get flashes of Cordelia and Faith together. In her apartment. I don’t know if I want to go now.
I grip Mr Pointy a little tighter and look around the cemetery.
“Yeah. You know, if you wanna.” She takes a few steps away from me, also scanning the area.
“Did Cordelia like it?”
Oops.
I clench my eyes shut. I can’t believe I just asked that.
No, wait. I’m cool with her and Cordelia. I am. I swear. If that’s what Faith wants.
That was a legitimate question to ask, right? … Right?
She’s taking a long time to answer though.
“I dunno. Maybe.”
I turn around to face her. She nods her head to the side.
“We should head west first.”
I sigh. I hate it when she ignores me.
“Look, Faith…” I stop her from walking further. “You and Cordelia…I’m cool with it, you know.”
I try to say it in happiest way possible.
Her shoulders slump a little, which surprises me. But then she turns around.
“Are you, B?”
I flinch and take a step back. Just a little one.
“What?”
“Duck!” She yells.
What! I’m not a duck! What does that mean? Faith’s got some serious issues-
And suddenly I’m thrown to the ground together with a huge stinking weight on me.
“Now you die, Slayer!” It breathes out in my neck.
But all I can think is: ‘Phew, almost thought she had Tourettes or something.’
Faith hurls him off me with one strong kick. She has crazy boots though and I bet several ribs got cracked along the way.
“I’m alright.” I answer before she can ask.
She jumps over me, stake in hand and the vampire crawls away, coughing violently.
I’m about to get up when a knife plants itself in the ground just two inches from my face. I look up and see a scraggly little punked out vampire already aiming another one.
Uh oh.
I take out the knife next to my cheek and roll to my side as another knife is planted right where my head was. I pull that one out the ground too and grin at him.
“Shit!” He lets out and jumps behind several trees.
Ugh. I check how Faith’s doing with hers and she’s just about to stake him.
I run after my vampire and am suddenly surprised by another, big vampire hurling itself on me. I try to kick it off but it grabs my leg and bites me!
I grunt and kick him off forcefully but yelp in pain as I try to get up.
Fat bastard!
“B!” Faith runs to my side but the big vamp jumps on her and they fall to the ground.
I try to get up again as they violently roll around on the ground.
“You fucking stink, asshole!” Faith says, offended. And she pounds on him.
I attempt to walk and the pain’s alright so I run towards them. Faith sees me and grabs him by his shirt and rolls so that he’s on top of her.
That’s my cue. So I stake him.
Poof.
Faith closes her eyes and mouth tightly as the dust falls over her. I hold out my hand to help her up and she’s about to but then points behind me.
“B!”
I turn around and see the punk vamp jumping out of the trees and making a run for it.
I hurl a knife before his feet and he comes to a screeching halt. He looks at me, panicking, but I’m the least of his worries because Faith has gotten up and is nearing him rapidly.
His face twists in fear and he gives the running away plan another shot.
I don’t think so.
I plant the other knife before his feet again and he lets out a strangled scream as he turns around and sees Faith behind him.
She punches him square in the face and before he even hits the ground a stake is protruding from his chest.
Poof.
Faith picks up her stake and turns around, grinning. I grin back.
“We kick ass, B!”
I pretend to think about it and then nod admittingly.
“Yeah, we pretty much do, don’t we?”
“Hell yeah.”
I go over to her but wince as I’m suddenly reminded of the wound in my leg.
Ouch.
“Hey, how bad did that big one get you?” She jogs over to me.
“It wasn’t that deep really but it stings.” I shrug.
“Gotta disinfect it…” She looks around the cemetery. “My place is closest, wanna go?”
I quickly debate that in my mind.
“Um… Sure, yeah.” I decide.
Although not whole-heartedly enthusiastic, I must admit.
A couple of minutes later we’re walking to her place at a slow pace.
“I can’t believe you’d accuse me of that, B.” She says, offended.
I shrug innocently.
“You have to admit, it is pretty convenient.”
“That you happen to get hurt and we have to disinfect the wound?” She holds a hand to her chest incredulously.
“It’s not that bad!” I protest.
“Oh come on, B! You really think I’m that cheap? That I’m trying to get out of paying for the pizza? We can still order in, you know.” She shakes her head and glances at my wounded leg again.
Hm. Good point.
“Fine.” I give in. “But it really isn’t that bad since, obviously, I can still walk on it.”
“Sure, that’s great. Better be safe, though.” She shrugs and pretends she hasn’t been glancing at my wound all the time.
For little miss rebel wild girl, she’s being really safe lately.
We’re almost in her street and I breathe out deeply.
Here we go.
Faith’s POV:
I take out my keys as we get out of the elevator and walk up to my door.
She looks around, impressed.
“It’s a lot cleaner than that motel place.”
“Definitely.” I agree.
That neighborhood was a dump. Although this place isn’t perfect either. Which reminds me.
“The other day though,” I tell her. “there was coffee and donuts all over the sidewalk.”
I was kinda tempted to look in that box to see if any donuts survived it, but I held back. It was a sad sight to see though. What a waste.
I look up as I unlock the door. Buffy’s blushing and looks away. What the…?
“Uhh… My wound does kinda sting.” She says.
Oh, right. And I open the door, flicking the lights on as I enter and hold the door for her to come in.
We settle in the living room and she looks impressed again as she takes in my kitchen too.
“Not too shabby, Faith. Not too shabby at all.”
“Thanks, B. I’ll give you a grand tour later on if you want.” I take out the first-aid kit and put it on the coffee table in front of Buffy.
I wonder what she’s thinking. She’s acting weird. I think. I dunno, that’s what’s weird.
Briefly, I consider whether I should offer to clean the wound for her but she’s already opening the kit and taking out what she needs.
“Need some help, B?” I ask anyway.
She looks up strangely.
“No, that’s okay, thanks. Done it a million times…”
“Okay. Want something to drink then? While we wait for the pizza.” I walk over to the kitchen.
I grab some glasses and glance to see her dabbing at her wound.
“Um…Sure, some water would be good.”
“Yeesh, B. Don’t you want anything stronger?”
I grab myself the bottle of JD and shake it in front of her.
“I have some beer too, if you prefer.” I add.
She looks at me doubtfully and her lips pucker up in thought.
“What are you having?” She asks.
“Jack, of course.” I shrug.
She nods.
“I’ll taste some of that.”
“Cool.” I grin.
She’ll hate it. The first couple of sips at least.
I pour a little bit in her glass and fill mine up. Slayer metabolism, you know? Then I grab a third glass and fill it up with water.
I put the drinks on the coffee table and sit with mine on the lazy chair as she finishes up with her wound.
“All done.” She rolls down her jeans. “Doesn’t even need a bandage.”
“Yeah, well, better safe than sorry or whatever.” I drink from my glass and lean back.
She takes the glass of Jack Daniels and sniffs it suspiciously. I roll my eyes and smirk.
She sips from the glass carefully and makes a face.
“Yummy.” She manages out unconvincingly.
“Right.” I put my glass down and light a cigarette.
“Er… Do you have some water anyway?” She chokes out.
Didn’t go down real smooth apparently. I nod towards the glass of water on the table and she grabs it eagerly.
“Thanks.” She says between gulps.
And then the buzzer goes off and my face lights up. Pizza! I guess having a cell phone does bring certain advantages along. We ordered a couple of pizza’s on the way here.
“Hope you’re hungry.” I grin as I put my drink and cigarette down and jump up, hurrying to the door.
Damn, I know I am. I love it when Buffy and me patrol together, we work well. Those were a lot of vamps. And two of those Wolverine-like demons. But even hairier than Wolverine. Those H&H’s are not to be underestimated after a big slay like tonight. I glance at Buffy as I open the front door.
She always looks so fucking good.
“Hey, that’ll be…” The dude looks up from the bill and sees me for the first time.
I smile and lean against the door frame, shaking my head a little to let my hair down.
“Hi.” I look him up and down and bite my lip like he turns me on or something.
“Uh…Hey. That’ll be…” He looks me up and down a little bedazzled. How old is this kid? “That’ll be twenty.”
I flash him another smile and wink. Nice discount. I grab a twenty out of my pocket and hand it to him, making sure to graze his fingers. He hands me the three pizza’s.
He gulps and smiles goofily.
“Alright, thanks dude.” I grin and close the door.
I hear Buffy laugh softly behind me and I smile.
“Time to pig out, B.” I walk over to her holding the pizza boxes carefully.
“You broke the kid’s heart.” She shakes her head but remains smiling.
I chuckle as I open the boxes on the coffee table.
“If anything, I don’t think it was his heart that I broke, if you know what I mean.” I grab the first of the many more slices to come and lick my lips in anticipation. “Dig in, B.”
And she does. And we all know I do, and pretty soon there is no evidence of there ever being any pizza whatsoever. Except for those boxes, but I quickly chuck them in the trash and resettle myself on the couch with another drink, feeling pretty much satisfied. Except for that one thing. But I don’t think humping B would be the best idea right now.
“How about that tour, Faith?” She suggests and stretches contentedly.
I shove back the wave of burning hot something from how beautiful she makes the simple act of stretching look.
“There’s not much more to see, really.” I shrug but get up. “ You already saw the bathroom.”
I swing the door to the empty spare room open and she looks from behind my shoulder.
“Hmm… Has potential.” She approves.
I massage my neck absently as I lead the way to my bedroom. It’s pink, you know. She’ll give me a hard time about it.
“I still need to paint the bedroom.” I tell her. “Like… as soon as possible.”
She peeks in as I open the door and it doesn’t take her long to enter all the way and notice the color on the wall.
She gasps and then almost squeals in glee.
“Oh my god, Faith! It’s pink!” She waves her hands excitedly.
I bow my head in shame.
“Yes, yes it is.” I admit sadly.
“That is so sexy!” Buffy almost purrs.
What the hell?
“You could add some dark furniture like black furniture or something…” She lets her hand travel across the bare wall. “With the right accessories…”
She turns around and grins. “Totally hot, Faith!”
…Right.
Hmmm…
I look around the room and try to imagine it with dark furniture and some cool posters and crap.
“Oh my god, what time is it?” Buffy asks suddenly.
“Uhh-..”
I take out my cell phone.
“Almost two.” I answer.
She looks shocked and then worried. Uh-oh. Just blew a curfew?
I follow her out to the living room as she collects her things.
“I’m late! I promised my mom I’d be home by midnight, sorry.” She pauses before putting on her jacket.
“Hey no problem, just explain to her about your leg, right?”
I open the front door for her and she hesitates before stepping into the hallway, smiling shyly.
“Um… About you and Cordelia-..”
“About me and Cordelia-..” I interrupt her. “…I think we both know it was a mistake.”
I sigh. Stupid Faith.
She looks confused.
“I just… I dunno, I’m kinda messed up right now.” I shrug helplessly.
Crap. I went to far there. She knows too much now. Fuck. Where did that come from?
Her eyes soften and she smiles gently.
“Don’t worry Faith, maybe… I don’t know. Maybe you just need some time?” She takes a couple of steps back.
Time?
Damn she looks good. It feels good when she’s around too. The way she looks at me, like right now. It just feels good.
…
Better not drag it on for too long though… I quickly cough to wake up from the weird just looking at her moment.
“Uh..Right.” I nod. “But uh…yeah, you’re late.” I remind her.
She nods.
“I am. I’ll see you, Faith. I had fun tonight.”
“Yeah, me too, B. See you tomorrow or something…” I nod.
She blushes and gives a little wave. “Alright, goodnight.”
“ ’Night, B.” I smile as I close the door.
I attempt to remove the smile in vain as I walk to my bedroom. Damn it. That’s just stupid. I massage my jaw and cheeks as I sit down on my bed.
Buffy messes me up real bad, I shake my head ruefully. I lean back on my elbows on the bed and look around the room.
Pink.
Doubtfully, I gaze at the walls.
Hmm… Maybe pink’s not so bad.
