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February 1, 1999 Saturday.
Buffy woke up slowly. She stretched her arms above her head, and she opened her eyes to stare at the ceiling. Her mind swirled around the events that had happened in the past few months. It was mind boggling how much everyone's love lives were changing.
First there was Spike's aborted attempt at getting a love spell to get his ho-bag undead girlfriend back. I don't even want to ponder on why this upset me. Then there was her own total breakup with Angel, followed by Cordelia and Xander's breakup and Willow and Oz's near breakup. It seemed that their entire group was having the worst of luck with love this year, and why had she just included Spike in their group? He wasn't one of them!
Buffy decided to switch off that line of thinking, and she rolled over. She came face to face with a stuffed animal. It was a female pig shaped stuffed animal that matched her very own Mr. Gordo. Around the animal's neck was a beautiful silver charm bracelet with a cute little pig charm already attached. A satiny black colored envelope with blood red writing on the front leaned against the pig.
Buffy sat up before she reached for the envelope. She caressed the glossy paper taking in the deep rich colors, and she caught her mind drifting to her peroxide pain in the ass mortal enemy vampire. Buffy mentally slapped herself for that line of thought. Why can't I get him out of my mind? She ripped the envelope open and pulled out the card. It was also black with the same blood red lettering.
Even a pig needs a mate. Your secret admirer. Interesting with the underlining and quote marks, Buffy thought to herself. She grabbed up the two stuffed animals, and she sat them facing each other.
"Mr. Gordo meet Mrs. Gordo." Buffy unclipped the bracelet from around Mrs. Gordo's neck. "I believe I will keep this for myself, Mrs. Gordo."
"Buffy, I need to go in to the gallery for a few hours," Joyce's voice sounded from the hallway. She knocked gently on the bedroom door.
Buffy rushed to open the door, "Mom, thanks for the stuffed animal and the bracelet, but the note sounded kinda weird."
"I didn't give you anything, honey. What are you talking about?" Joyce asked. She spied the bracelet Buffy was swinging by one finger. Joyce put her hand out and examined the jewelry after Buffy gave it to her. "It's beautiful, though. Let me help you put it on."
Buffy held out her arm to allow her mom to fasten the bracelet to her wrist. While her mother secured the clasp, Buffy studied her face carefully. Well, there's one person marked off my so far nonexistent list.
"It is quite lovely, isn't it?" Buffy sighed softly. "I have a secret admirer." She chewed her lip, and her body was infused with a sense of happiness. "I think I am going to call Willow and have her come over. We can go over all the possibilities of who it could be."
Joyce smiled and nodded as she watched Buffy bounce around the room getting dressed. Her daughter pulled some clothes out of the closet and put them on. Joyce realized that Buffy hadn't even noticed that she was dressing exactly like a certain blonde vampire more every day. Buffy had pulled out tight black pants, a black spaghetti strap shirt and a filmy red overshirt. Joyce chuckled to herself, Maybe Buffy's secret admirer wont have as hard of a time winning her heart as he thought as he would.
"I'm off to the gallery, honey. You and Willow have fun, okay?" Joyce didn't wait for Buffy to answer as she rushed around getting ready to leave. She was out the door and gone before Buffy even had a chance to get downstairs.
Buffy swept through the foyer towards the kitchen. She grabbed the portable phone off of its cradle. She quickly dialed up Willow's number and talked to her friend while she bustled around the kitchen making herself some toast and juice.
"Willow, you'll never guess what happened." Buffy barely paused a moment before she continued, "I have a secret admirer. He, well, I assume it's a he, left a girlfriend for Mr. Gordo and a charm bracelet for me. Wanna go over the possibilities with me?" Willow's eager agreement echoed in her ear. "Okay, see ya in ten minutes, Wills."
By the time Willow arrived, Buffy had finished her breakfast, and she was putting her dishes in the sink. Willow examined the bracelet, which she oohed and aahed over. The two girls raced upstairs to look at the stuffed animal and the note.
As soon as Willow saw the handwritten note, she exclaimed, "I can do a spell and find out who did this."
"Really?" Buffy pondered this idea for a moment. "No, let's do this the old fashioned way. It'll be more fun that way. Grab the notebook out of the nightstand, and let's go to work."
Willow opened the drawer and pulled out a pen and a notebook. She sat on the edge of Buffy's bed, one leg curled up under her body. Willow flipped open the notebook to a blank page, and she poised the pen ready to write. In about 15 minutes the two girls came up with a list of 15 names, all male.
"Great," Buffy drawled, "I think I need to get out and meet some new guys. Every male I know is either older than dirt, undead, evil, so not my type or any combination of the above."
"Well, I'm pretty sure you can cross my boyfriend off the list, Buffy," Willow giggled. She crossed Oz's name off the list before putting the notebook aside on the nightstand.
"Yeah, you're right. No Oz as my secret admirer. So, you two have big plans for Valentine's day? Diss the dirt, Wills." Buffy crossed the room to settle herself next to her best friend.
"He keeps telling me he has a big surprise for me, but he won't spill any of the secrets. He just told me to go to the mall and buy a nice dress." Shopping made Willow a little nervous. Heck, being around that many people made her nervous. "Wanna come with? We can get some of that coffee you like from the Expresso Pump on the way." She wasn't above bribing her friend to get some help shopping.
"Sounds like fun. Let's." Buffy practically bounced out of the house with her best friend Willow for a little shopping goodness.