Well it was time. This semester she had bitten the bullet and signed up for Communications 101. The only class on her required list that really scared the devil out of her. Public Speaking, also known as Speech Class. Exactly why did A Computer Tech need public speaking?
Ok, maybe if she needed to address a group of big wigs on exactly where the on button was on their computers or possibly to explain a new protocol, but really she had no intention of entering a job that would involve speaking in front of any large groups of people, ever. With a capital E.
But here she stood, waiting outside of the classroom and swearing death to the idiots who decided that this form of torture was the best plan for her educational career.
And like many of the students waiting, she had gone for comfort as best she could. Well worn blue jeans and an oversized T-shirt was her fashion statement of the day. She’d given up dressing up for class about a year ago when she caught herself mentally berating a woman in gold heals a short black leather skirt and a halter top trying to carry her books while straining to keep her left breast in her top.
Buffy then looked down at herself, reminded herself she was on her way to her first day of a computer repair class that was most likely going to be male populated.
Without a second thought she dashed down to the school store and bought a UC Sunnydale T-shirt. Thankfully she’d worn jeans and boots that day. The red miniskirt and heels would not have been good.
But that class was over, and now it was time for another. At least she wasn’t alone, the group waiting along the walls seemed to mirror her thoughts. Many of the assumed classmates were her age, a few younger and a few older. That’s the way college is these days.
Fresh High School graduates pushing forward to their next four years of grueling work and study. Some older people probably returning to add a few credits to a degree they already had, and maybe a few like her who after staying home with family, finally was getting her turn to reach her goals.
She hadn’t minded. After her mother died she’d worked to support her sister. It had taken some time and a large amount of patience but after Dawn graduated with her degree in Psychology, Buffy decided it was her turn.
A slight shuffling sounded from down the hall as a professor lumbered down the hall. Buffy assumed it was their professor as all the other class rooms had been unlocked and just these 20 or so people hung by the entrance of the only empty Communications lecture space.
He was a good looking gentleman and had a kind face. Although his briefcase was shut there were a few stray pieces of paper clearly from a yellow legal pad sticking out from around the edges. As he came closer the man began to apologize. “I do hate to keep your bright minds waiting, but as happens in life, I seem to be running off my schedule.” He mustered another smile over the group of slightly impatient adults before opening the door.
Without any order whatsoever they strolled into the room trying to search for a seat they would be comfortable with for the next 16 weeks.
She took a quick mental picture of her surroundings. Unlike many classes, this one was set to be intimate. The room was simple with tables that could seat 3, each of which were set in rows of four front to back on both sides. 8 tables in all and a desk with a podium up front where the professor was laying his folders.
Buffy wasn’t a brown noser, but several semesters had taught her that a seat close to the front was a decent choice, just not THE front row. So she took second row back directly to the right of the small room. That tactical spot that said, I’m here to learn but I’m not trying to kiss ass.
Just as she settled her book on the desk another handful of stragglers came in and found seats as well while Mr. Giles, the instructor, began his introductions and explained his expectations to his students.
As she eyed the syllabus, pure cold fear encased her. She knew she’d have to give a speech, but this set out 4 separate speeches. “I’m doomed.”
“I should say not, Miss??” The Englishman queried for her name.
“Summers.” Buffy quickly provided trying to look ready for the learning.
Just then one more student came in and she turned to see who’d interrupted. Right then and there her brain fazed out as she watched him head up the isle to the only vacant seat at the very front. “Sorry bout bein’ late. Had a car thing.” The unbelievably gorgeous man said before he let his duster fall over the back of his seat and sat legs sprawled.
Buffy was trying very hard not to look like she was looking, but she was so-o looking. Who wouldn’t? He was sleek and muscular and obviously younger. When he walked by her he had smelled like no other man had. It had to be some specially formulated scent he made himself or, maybe is was just his natural musk. That alone was cruel enough but the beauty of his face only made matters worse.
He was giving the professor a smile after his lackluster reason for his tardiness. But it was such a wonderful smile, of course he had to be forgiven. If that didn’t work then maybe the clear crystal blue eyes might.
“Yes well, let’s not make a habit of it, shall we?”
“On my honor.” The black clad embodiment of the perfect man replied.
~~`~~
Her back pack was lying on the seat beside her as usual for Tuesday. The bus rolled along its regular route that brought her closer to the dread class. To her surprise though, she really enjoyed her speech class. Mr. Giles was a crack up when he got going about the students in the high school he worked at during the days.
He also seemed to have a personal vendetta against “bloody yanks destroying the English language” and so he tried every trick he could to get his pupils to drop the slang from their American tongues.
In short, the weeks were passing quickly in a class that she began looking forward to instead of avoiding. She had to admit to herself that some of that had to do with William. She was resigned to admire from afar, but she really enjoyed the brief times she had a chance for the admiring part.
The only damper at this point was the bus. It was a great way to travel most of the time in Sunnydale, but in some crazy twist the forecast was showing rain, rain and more rain in the future. The Umbrella was working overtime lately.
In no time she was dropped at her stop and seated in her claimed spot with Mr. I‘m-good-looking-and-here-to-tempt-your-lusty-thoughts on the other side of the room in front just as he had sat the first day.
“Now who in class can give an example of Communication As Action?” Giles peered over the heads of the people in the room.
Buffy quickly responded. “Well, you’re the speaker, so you’re the Source, and, um, I guess your lecture is the Massage.” She paused and looked around the room as all faces peered back. She moved her gaze past HIM, who was quietly texting someone on his cell under the desk before clicking it shut with a grin, She looked back at Giles. “Your in person so that’d be the Channel and we are the audience, the Receiver.”
She finished and gave the Professor a half hearted smile. “But I’m missing something.” She admitted.
All the sudden, the man with the killer grin and mesmerizing musk spoke up. “Noise, pet.”
Even Mr. Giles was shocked. William almost never spoke in class, and all heads whipped in his direction.
“Damn, I knew that one too.” Buffy berated herself, then smiled at her thoughts before perking up. “So that makes him the Noise.” She declared pointing at the peroxide blonde.
~~`~~
And just when the rain finally let up, the temperature dropped. It was wholly unfair. Buffy wrapped her coat close to her skin and silently wondered who up there hated her? Her teeth were chattering when she dropped into her seat not even caring about the unladylike fashion she had dumped herself into the chair. “I just want to know who ordered a Midwest winter? We have ice for pity sakes!”
She sat up and noticed for the first time there was only she and a few spare students. She was more than surprised, and if they all skipped cuz it was rotten weather for driving she was going to be even more agitated. They didn’t have to take an hour bus ride to go essentially 5 miles. “Damn bus route.” She mumbled.
“You live out there on Main, yeah?”
She was setting her book and notes on her desk when the soft British voice spoke up. “Near that petrol station?” She was looking right at him. She really tried to avoid that because he was apparently the holder to the Off button on her brain.
“I’m sorry? Where?” She asked, quite proud that she’d managed that much with him staring at her, and the smiling, and even the way he leaned to talk to her was too sexy to be legal in most states.
“That day I saw you waiting, it was at Main.” He continued like conversation was something people did all the time.
She tried to remember what day? What station? Had they at some point discussed him seeing her waiting for the bus?
“Um, no, actually I live across the street from the high school.” She managed an entire sentence. Well, maybe she was a brilliant actress and could give up this whole college thing. But probably not.
He seemed to brighten at those words. “Really, so do I.”
And then it came easier, the thinking and the words forming with a bit more comfort. It took a some time but before the Professor walked in they found out they lived about 5 streets from each other.
Giles was setting up at the front of the room and most of the class had filled while they had been talking. “Well if you ever need a ride, just let me know.” William finished and turned in his seat.
“Sure thanks,” She barely got out of her mouth. She’d always wondered what dumbfounded would feel like. Now she had a pretty decent idea.
The lecture went on as usual, with the anecdotes from Giles and ideas on how to research their upcoming speeches, all the while Buffy was throwing an idea around.
Next week were demonstration speeches. Basically anything you could share as a tool in life. One girl was going to explain how to tie a tie and another was going to demonstrate a technique for saddling a horse. She had overheard one guy thinking about showing how to golf, or maybe it was a golf swing?
She herself had agonized over what to do because about the only thing she could come up with was how to do simple maintenance on your computer, but that meant lugging the computer all over with her on the bus.
Now she had an offer. But riding in his car, that might be tempting her ability to keep her dirty thoughts to herself when it came to the obviously younger man. And in an enclosed space, alone with him? She wasn’t sure if she could handle it. But she really couldn’t let an opportunity to skip the bus and also have a way to get her things to class with such ease pass by. Could she?
After class was dismissed Buffy took a deep breath and walked over to William. He was packing up his things and spared her a glance before wrapping himself up in the leather he brought everyday no matter the weather.
“I was wondering, if you really don’t mind,” She started. “If you could give me a lift next week. I need to bring some stuff in, and I really don’t know how to manage on the bus.
“Yeah sure.” He did that darn smile thing again. “Why don’t I give you my mobile number, and you can call, give me directions, alright?”
And it was that simple, which only made the situation more difficult.
Keeping men as friends had always been pretty simple. There was no casual flirting with male friends, no stringing along or teasing. There was this invisible line she’d drawn after the dismal end to her last relationship a year ago to the boring, smothering, annoying Riley. He’d taken up so much of her time she started feeling guilty for going to class or having to study, but that only lasted for about a week before she just got pissed off at him.
After that mess and the months after when he kept calling and emailing, asking if she’d had enough time to herself, at which time she finally blocked him from all communication she decided she was done. No more men for Buffy. She was here to learn, gain her degree. She was in no way here for boys.
Admittedly there were some tough days, and the first few months were no picnic but now it was just a given. She had pretty much gotten to the point where the males she did associate with never even registered on her radar as good looking or not. They were all just friends, looks didn’t matter.
It was never a problem before William walked into class, but on that first day he picked her up, sitting in her drive with the Desoto’s engine running, she knew it was going to be a bigger challenge to hide her thoughts of him.
Her computer case and a box with several bits of hardware sat in the backseat, while she took the front passenger. His driving as he pulled out roughly and the bench seat made her grateful she’d strapped on her seatbelt with automatic ease. If she hadn’t her rear would have slid all over the place.
She held back her laugh when she noted the track playing. One of those old grungy punk bands. She actually liked most music from the 50’s to modern, but she couldn’t place the tune.
He was bobbing his head to the music by the time they left the housing addition. He turned onto the streets that would take them to the college, now filled other vehicles. “So, are you nervous about your speech?”
He hadn’t really spoken till then, so the question caught her off guard. She gathered herself though, and decided to be honest. “No, I usually feel fine right until I’m up there.”
The memories from speeches required in high school bombarded her. She really hated the idea of getting in front of a group of people and talking, speaking at them. A discussion was fine, but speeches were just something she would force her way through, be grateful for a passing grade and try to forget later.
He chuckled. “See, I’m a mess now but I’ll be fine after I talk for a bit.” He confessed just before his cell phone started a techno ring that just seemed to contrast the man. “Yeah, this is Spike.” He was now holding the phone in one hand, steering with the other and his head was leaned back like he was relaxing for the time being.
There was a giggle trying very hard to get out of Buffy, after all, what the hell kind of name is Spike?
“Yeah mate, say around 7.” He was still talking on the phone and straightened up when the traffic began moving again. “Right.”
She kept her eyes looking out the windshield as the other cars wound through the streets. It was the closest thing she could do to provide him some kind of privacy while he spoke on the phone. Her eyes caught a banner over The Bronze, some concert was coming up.
“So you goin’ to go first or wait?” William asked her.
She faced him again, his phone now tucked away. “I’m not sure. I kinda want to get it over with, but I would rather just avoid the whole thing.”
He nodded, and turned down the music when the car pulled closer to the campus. “I just hope I get a good grade.”
“Oh you’ll be fine.” She tried to assure him. After all, for some reason Mr. Giles seemed to like him. Not that he wasn’t likeable, but he rarely spoke in class. Though now that she considered it, when he did speak up it was usually intelligent.
They stepped out of the car after he parked in a spot near the building. She could see her usual bus stop and was again grateful she hadn’t had to lug all of this on the bus.
She moved to the back seat and grabbed the computer tower after shoving the box on top. It was going to be tough but she had the short stack balanced.
William came beside her with an ironing board, neatly hung dress shirts and an iron. “You sure you got all that?”
“Yup, one thing they don’t tell the average Joe, computer geeks have good upper arm strength from lifting these suckers all the time.” She tapped her trim nails against the metal of the computer tower.
“Alright.” They headed into the building.
~~`~~
She sat on her bed staring at the phone. Got to love caller ID. Such a modern convenience. It tormented her right now because Spike’s number was on it. Maybe only the fourth call down because she never really gave out her cell number, so her received list was fairly short.
He’d had to call her about the next speech, something about drawing up the outline so she’d tried to help him out. In the end it turned out he knew what he was doing, but just needed some help with the order in which to put everything
So now she had his number, and the weather still sucked. Why in the world did Sunnydale decide to mimic Sandusky, Ohio this year. There had been snow. Freaking Snow!! Who ordered the snow?
But really, was that any reason not to wait at a bus stop? A little frozen water never killed anyone. Ok well maybe people died in avalanches and frost bite wasn’t really something she wanted, but it wasn’t so bad really. So did she really need a lift from William, or was it Spike now, just to get to class tomorrow?
With another look out her window and seeing yet another wave of light flakes falling she decided and clicked through the ‘quick keys’ on her phone to ’Recent Calls’ before pressing SEND.
~~`~~
She took note of how few of the students were left in the class. It had started with around 30 people and had shrunk to an embarrassing 10 or so, depending on who showed up.
This happened about four weeks ago when it was time for the actual Speech part of Speech Class. And as she held the note cards in her hands looking over the few faces left she did her best not to look at the seat next to hers, because now that is where he sat.
With the shrinking of the class people had began grouping themselves in mini cliques. Nothing as scandalous as the groups in high school, but people who were more familiar with each other now sat at 5 tables. The two rows in the far back to her right were full and the last 3 on the left, not including her now empty chair, were used bay another 4 people.
Giles sat in the back, a patient look on his face. There was still some talk on the previous speech, and her thoughts were random even as she thought about the ride she would be having home with him. He’d agreed to help her out till the end of classes. It was really nice, and he wouldn’t take gas money from her, which was unnerving.
She didn’t know why but she really didn’t want to feel she owed him a debt for the chauffeur duties. So instead she considered why he was being so nice, and trying to make sure her inner slut understood that her thoughts were evil and badness.
He was just a polite well raised gentleman, and not only was he too young for her, not that she’d ever asked his age, but they were in two different leagues. Hell they were different sports. Like the NHL versus the NFL, very unmixy.
“Aright Miss Summers. Whenever you’re ready.” Giles politely encouraged and held the stopwatch used for each speech.
She stood up a little straighter and took a breath just as she felt the pit of her stomach tighten and the shaking began. All normal for her. It was time to battle through .
~~`~~
She was laughing now with Spike as they drove closer to her house. “I’m just glad I only have one left.” She kept laughing. “But I swear if Xander keeps counting everyone’s ‘Um’s’ I’m going to have to become violent. Pen stabbing seems appropriate.” She nodded to herself as the giggles subsided.
The quirky man sitting in front of her had taken teasing to a new level after an open talk before class about Mr. Giles counting the number of times people said ‘and’, ‘you know’, ‘like’ , and ‘Um’ during their speeches. Apparently Xander liked ‘Um’ best and decided to keep his own count.
Spike’s laughter had died down. What had ever possessed the brunette to start keeping a tally of peoples nerves while in front of the room, he’d never know. One thing was for sure, Buffy couldn’t stop laughing when he did it. And she’d tried to stop, he saw that. Doodling on her paper instead of looking up, for Xander sat right in front of her, usually turned to the side so his fingers counting were in plain view.
“And I still can’t believe you waited to write up your note cards till we were actually sitting in the classroom.” She added with indignity. “You know, they call it HOMEwork for a reason.” It was really wrong that she thought it was adorable that he’d put it off till the last second. What was worse was that she knew it was wrong that he‘d put off the preparations, but it had given her a decent excuse to watch him as he wrote down his notes.
Cripes! And she was doing so well until then, or so she thought.
The roads were still backed up and they currently were at a dead stop about four cars from a green light. She liked this time of day, they talked like friends and it was as close as she would let herself get.
“My ex keeps calling me.” He said out of nowhere.
She knew of his ex, but it really confused her. The ex wasn’t really an ex. He always seemed to be broken up with her, but he seemed to go out with her a lot in a very not ex way. Buffy had already decided it had to do with his age. Nothing was really permanent when you were that young. And the ‘ex’ lived in LA so that probably added to the situation.
“I tried calling her yesterday,” He started again. “But she ignored it all day. Didn’ call till late saying she’d been sleeping and not feeling well.”
Buffy drew her brows together not understanding where this was going. “Oh.” Was all she could manage.
“Yeah. It’s weird, right? She was supposed to be going shopping with her friends. Came into a bit of cash a few days ago.” He turned towards the blonde passenger who was still taking in the added details. “Now, what woman stays home sleeping instead of shopping?”
She giggled at his statement but really couldn’t come up with an adequate defense for his ‘ex’ at first. Then his first words caught her attention. “Maybe she really was sick.”
“Pfft.” He waved her off and traffic started moving again, finally.
They made it nearly a quarter mile before it was all stop time again. “Well now she’s callin‘, and I’m not gonna’ answer the phone.” He was apparently not finished. “She’s been ringing all day, but I’m not goin’ to talk to her if she’s gonna duck my calls and lie ‘bout what she’s doing.”
Childish was the first word to come to mind, once again proving to her that he had to be younger than her. Of course most men were fairly immature when it came to dealing with women, she’d seen too many of her friends do ridiculous things over a girl.
So she kept her mouth shut on this one, opting for the ‘If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all’ rule that came in handy from time to time.
“So what do you think?” He asked.
Well crap, that plan didn’t work. “Hmm,” She tried to stall as he mind whizzed through possible responses. “I, uh,” Oh look, April Fools is having a going out of business sale. Which has absolutely nothing to do with the subject at hand. “Well, Spike, you don’t really know she wasn’t sick. At least she did call you when she woke up.”
He didn‘t miss a beat. “But something’s not right. Why wouldn’t she answer at all? And all she said was that it was her time of the month, so she stayed in. Not feelin’ right.”
She’d had a friend like that in high school. Once a month, without fail, she missed a day of school. Personally Buffy never had any kind of cramps so it was always a little hard for her to believe having your period was a good reason to miss school.
Then she’d had a bad cycle herself. It was the only bad one she could remember but her hips hurt and her stomach had ached. She did go to work, but it was a miserable day of serving crappy fast food to fat people.
She may have been crabby that day too.
“I don’t know, Spike. Maybe she took one too many Midol and slept right through the shopping fun.”
He didn’t really say much after that, in fact she wasn’t sure if he’d heard her. But at least traffic was moving again, and it seemed like she‘d be home in no time.
~~`~~
She’d passed the class. Not that earning a B in the class was an amazing triumph but she hadn’t fainted during any of her turns to speak and the final had felt almost too easy. At the end of class Giles was sharing most their probable grade and telling them it was a pleasure to be their instructor.
Buffy and Spike walked out as was usual these days, together, and headed to the Desoto.
Although she was glad to have finished yet another semester, she wasn’t all that glad that this was the last time she’d be riding in the classic car. As soon as she opened the door she was assaulted with the scent again. It wasn’t so bad usually now. She'd gotten used to him sitting next to her but after class, opening that car door it always hit her for that first few seconds.
She took a last smell, trying to commit it to memory.
The ride home was somehow quieter and she wished she could come up with something to talk about. Something that didn’t scream ‘I really just wanted to talk to you cuz I’m a roll of flaming hormones that can’t stand that I won’t see you again’. She however drew a blank.
He flipped through the radio and stopped on something that surprised her.
A little more satisfaction,
a little more action please
“Oh my god, I love this song.” Buffy squealed and laughed. It wasn’t the original Elvis, but the remix that had come out and played as the theme song for that TV show, Las Vegas.
He cocked an eyebrow at her. “You know, Elvis has got to be alive. He keeps putting out songs. Dead men do not release songs.”
“Oh how little you know,” She shook her finger at him as if chastising a toddler. “Lest we forget Tupoc.”
“Amongst many others I’m sure.” He added keeping his eyes on the road but smiling nonetheless.
“It’s just crazy what they can do with sound bites these days.” She sat back and watched the familiar scenery go by quickly after they drove through the worst of the traffic. “Pretty soon they are going to just pull idiots off the streets, have them say a sentence, add some beats to it and call it the next hot thing.”
He snickered, nodding in agreement with her. “And forty years from now John Lennon, Tupok and Elvis will be releasing a new mix called, Dead Men Singing.”
They both chuckled at that one
The talk had distracted her, and when he pulled into her driveway she was surprised to be home. The giggles quickly vanished and she stared at her front door before grabbing her backpack and purse from the floor in the most nonchalant way she could manage. “Well thanks again for giving me a ride.” Even as she said the words her mind couldn’t help but think of a different kind of ride she’d rather have taken.
“Was no problem.” He gave her a nod and a smile. “I’ll talk to you later.”
It was the kind of thing you said, even of you both knew you’d probably never see each other again. “Yeah, you’ve got my number.” And why had she just said that?
Before anything else could slip from her lips such as; You are gorgeous! Can I keep you? What the heck is that cologne you wear? She decided to just get out quick, gave him a bright smile and shut the passenger door before strolling to her home.
She didn’t look back when she heard him back out. The tires making that little bounce off the curb of her drive was the last thing she heard as she shut the door behind her and looked over her empty house.
Despite herself, she smiled.
squawks
05/18/17 04:16 am
pj! I remember wishing one of your stories would be finished seriously about a decade ago. Amazing. I just tried an old password I used to use and amazingly got in too. Memories!
pj
03/20/17 01:20 am
10 yrs later, i finally rem my username and password. Pari, you rock. Hope you are well.
Rabbit_moon1
12/23/16 01:12 pm
I donate every month. Please donate to keep this site up!
AudryDaluz1
10/06/16 08:34 am
Great post.
Chrissel
08/31/16 03:45 pm
And anyone else who loves this site, it's worth mentioning there's a nifty little "Donate" option just below the shout box here! ;)
Chrissel
08/31/16 03:43 pm
Just wanted to take a moment to thank Pari and all the mods for maintaining such a great site!
05/18/17 04:16 am
pj! I remember wishing one of your stories would be finished seriously about a decade ago. Amazing. I just tried an old password I used to use and amazingly got in too. Memories!
pj
03/20/17 01:20 am
10 yrs later, i finally rem my username and password. Pari, you rock. Hope you are well.
Rabbit_moon1
12/23/16 01:12 pm
I donate every month. Please donate to keep this site up!
AudryDaluz1
10/06/16 08:34 am
Great post.
Chrissel
08/31/16 03:45 pm
And anyone else who loves this site, it's worth mentioning there's a nifty little "Donate" option just below the shout box here! ;)
Chrissel
08/31/16 03:43 pm
Just wanted to take a moment to thank Pari and all the mods for maintaining such a great site!