By Monica Corcoran (InStyle Magazine)

Thanks to a loving fiance' and a great group of girlfriends, Sarah Michelle Gellar has finally learned to enjoy her treasured downtime.

"Hey, that's the place where we shoot 'Buffy'! Her house is right down there," says Sarah Michelle Gellar, pointing out the window of the big, black SUV going south on the 405. The L.A. beach town flies by in a blur, but she doesn't look back. After all, it's Saturday - and Gellar's first full week-end off in almost three months. The actress best known for kicking vampire butt just wants to kick back, so she and two friends, Nicole and Marisa, are taking a quick cruise down the coast to Laguna Beach, where they've planned 24 hours of rare self-indulgence, spending the night in a luxury suite, getting a massage, staying up late to watch "Saturday Night Live" (Kylie Minogue in on!), and then shopping the Sunday away.

"We talk fast," warns Gellar, who is in the backseat, sipping a vanilla ice blended coffee, and she's not kidding. Topics zip by faster than the odometer can click off the miles - despite the fact that these three talk on the phone about a dozen times a day. Within the first few minutes they cover everything from the sublime (Gellar's fiance', Freddie Prinze Jr., and the gang's recent trip to Mexico) to the, well, not so sublime (Nicole's recent flu bout). "Sarah offered to clean up my throw-up so my boyfriend wouldn't see," says Nicole from the driver's seat. Gellar shrugs, "It's gross," she says, "but I'm a girl, and girls should do that kind of stuff for each other."

She may sound like an old pro at this female bonding thing, but the 25-year-old Gellar says such camaraderie is new to her. "My whole life I didn't have girlfriends like this," she says. "I'd see movies where the girls have a slumber party and giggle, but I never had that."

That may be because Gellar has been acting since age 4, when she was discovered in a Manhattan restaurant. The only child of a divorced mom, she quickly landed work in commercials before getting her first part in a TV movie at age 6. By 16, she had scored a role on "All My Children", which ultimately garnered her a daytime Emmy. "Even when she was a teenager, she seemed in her 30's - and she was very talented," says "All My Children" co-star Kelly Ripa, whom Gellar considers a friend and mentor. "She was so much more sophisticated than a typical 16-year-old, I assume girls her age had difficulty relating to her. I always thought, 'When I grow up, I want to be like Sarah' - and she was younger than me!"

The SUV swings into the drive of the St. Regis hotel, and Gellar and her two pals hop out, stretch their legs and head in for lunch. Having already dubbed it a "Juicy weekend," they're all wearing sweatpants by Juicy Coture, jeans jackets and no makeup. "It's the worst when everyone agrees to go casual and then one girl shows up in a cute dress and full-on makeup," says Gellar, characteristicaly blunt.

In fact, she's never shy about expressing her opinion. "My mom always taught me to write a letter when I get mad, and I do," she says. She is particularly proud of one she wrote to the "New York Times Magazine" in 1999 in which she took issue with its story about hard-partying Young Hollywood. "It made us all look bad," she says. "People like me and Katie Holmes - we're homebodies. We're too busy."

Take, for example, Gellar's schedule last spring, when she was shooting both "Buffy" and her latest film, "Scooby Doo" - in Australia. "She'd leave the set of "Buffy", fly 17 hours, get off the plane, go into makeup and be ready to roll. I don't know how she did it, " says "Scooby Doo" director Raja Gosnell. "And she was always upbeat and excited to work."

Perhaps that had something to do with her co-star: Prinze. "It was like working with the greatest partner," she says of the experience. "We became friends when working on "I Know What You Did Last Summer" and we have similar working styles. That's what our friendship was initially based on." The couple, who have been engaged for a year, have yet to set a wedding date, but Gellar doesn't seem to mind. "We just want to enjoy this time," she says.

Her friends say Gellar's intense personality has mellowed since she began dating Prinze, whom she met in 1997, the year she landed "Buffy". "Sarah doesn't worry about things the way she used to," says Marisa. "She lets it go, whether it's business or an article about her or whether her clothes match. She's just like 'Whatever...'."

Gellar agrees. "When Freddie and I first got together we were so different. He's a true partner in every sense of the word. We do everything together. If I come home cranky, he makes me laugh and the stress disappears," she says, fingering her emerald-cut diamond engegement ring. "And he's teaching me to play pranks on people. He loves pranks."

Last Christmas Prinze tried to pull one on her by giving her a hot pink bag he thought she'd hate. "He even left the receipt in the box because he thought I'd return it," she says. But the joke was on Prinze; Gellar loved it. "I carry the bag all the time, and the earrings I really wanted were inside."

Even so, when his birthday rolled around in March, Gellar tried to get even. "He opens his gift and inside is a shirt that says 'It's My Birthday and All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt'," she says. "He kind of shrugged it off. Then he noticed the back, which said 'Oh Yeah, and Season Tickets to the Clippers Too!' He screamed so loud. I got him!"

After polishing off a second communal plate of fries, Gellar leans back and rubs her belly. "Are you getting a Buddha?" asks Nicole. Gellar nods, then explains, "We have these eating competitions to see whose tummy gets the most Buddha-like." Petite as she is - Prinze calls the 5'3" Gellar his "little carry-on" when they fly - she loves to eat. Macaroni and cheese, peanut butter and jelly, steak sandwiches - Gellar likes it all. But her favorite is sushi. "We are connoisseurs," she says. "If someone orders a California roll, we have to kick them out." Prinze also makes elaborate dinners for friends in their new home in West Los Angeles. "He'll say it's a casual dinner and then, all of a sudden, he's using truffle oil and pancetta," says Gellar.

After lunch the three are back in their suite when Marisa pulls out "If... (Questions for the Game of Life)". She poses a few to Gellar, who is curled up on the couch next to her.

"If you could overhear one conversation between two people, who would it be?"

"Britney and Justin," says Gellar of the since broken-up couple. "Or John Kennedy and Jackie talking about Marilyn. Now that would be interesting!"

"If you could trade your derriere for someone else's, whose would it be?"

"Kylie Minogue, no question. I'm obsessed with Kylie."

"If you could treat your mom to a romantic night with someone, who would it be?"

"Harrison Ford - but that's because I love him."

"If your children..."

Gellar's cell phone rings. It's Prinze calling from Florida, where he's visiting the Dodgers training camp. "We just got kicked out of the hotel for making too much noise," she wails, winking at her pals. "I don't know what to do!"

She waits for his sympathetic reply, then an impish grin spreads across her face. "Got you!" she says, laughing into the phone before joining Marisa and Nicole in a victory dance. There are high-fives all around, but she'd better watch out: Revenge is sweet, and it's Gellar's turn next.

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