Buffy stretched and rolled out of bed. Last night had probably been the best sleep she’d had in weeks and to top off her good mood for the morning she realised that she felt at ease with the idea of breaking up with Riley.
Buffy hummed along with her radio as she got dressed and did her makeup for the day, smiling brightly at Dawn when she noticed her sister leaning against the doorframe.
“You look like Mary Poppins on crack.” Dawn stated before moving to sit on her sister’s bed.
“I just feel good today, things are going to be different now” Buffy finished her mascara and grabbed her bag, bouncing down the stairs as Dawn watched her confused.
~/~/~/~
“Buffy!” Riley smiled at her and shoved a to-go coffee in her face.
“Thanks...Look...Riley, there’s something that I need to talk to you about” she took a deep breath and sipped her coffee, almost spitting it out again “Riley this is...what is this?” she opened her coffee and looked at the black liquid.
“It’s just how you like it, no milk, no sugar, and no cream.” He gave her a smile.
“Ok, this makes things so much easier already; Riley...you don’t get me. I mean I’m a sugar maniac, I hate coffee without milk and cream is one of my favourite things in the world.”
“Buffy I can get you another coffee...” Riley gave her a completely blank look, showing that he had no idea where this conversation was going.
“Riley I don’t want another coffee; I want you to listen to me. This relationship isn’t working for me anymore.”
Riley looked at her upset “...Buffy I, I can’t believe you’re breaking up with me.”
“Riley come on, lately you’ve been smothering me, it’s like you’re trying to overpower me. I can’t be with someone that doesn’t want me to be who I am because it freaks them out or makes them feel inadequate. I can’t be with you anymore, it’s over.”
~/~/~/~
“Well it’s over with me and Riley!” Buffy announced as she walked into her living room, plopping down onto the sofa next to a concerned looking Willow holding a bowl of popcorn.
“What? What happened?”
“It just wasn’t right, the way he was acting around me, the way that I was always the little girl that needed saving. I mean, I’m independent I don’t need to be saved.” Buffy sighed and took a handful of the buttery snack.
“I thought that was what you wanted? To be in the normal relationship with the normal guy and be the normal girl."
“The key word there being was. Look for a while it was great with Riley but you know me, I wouldn’t be able to live with normal forever. I’m not exactly the definition of a normal girl” Buffy commented dryly as her best friend nodded.
“Wait if you broke up with Riley then who are the flowers from?” Willow pointed to a vase in the corner of the room with ten dark red roses and a white note in front of them.
“Ooh pretty” Buffy walked over and read the card out loud to Willow “Buffy Anne Summers, every single rose here represents the number of days until you find out my true identity, today marks day one.”
“Buffy this is so cool, I can’t believe you’ve got a secret admirer, very romantic” Willow leapt up and read the card herself.
“Yeah I can hardly believe it either...but who would be my secret admirer I mean...I only talk to you, Xander, Dawn, Mom, Giles, Anya, Tara...and that’s it, I mean it’s not like I get random guys on the street coming up to me and going, wow you’re so beautiful I’m in love with you, I mean even Riley didn’t do this kind of stuff.”
Willow smiled “Yeah I guess, oh and don’t forget about the certain blonde haired vampire you talk to on a regular basis or rather pummel for information on a regular basis.”
“Oh please Willow you can’t even be considering Spike as a candidate he’d be the last person to be in love with me. Are you telling me you don’t remember the other day when he tried to get his chip out and rip my throat open? Not exactly what I’d call smitten kitten behaviour.”
“Well you are a bit of a vamp magnet” the red head smiled cheekily, she knew it wouldn’t be Spike but stirring Buffy up was still amusing.
“You can say that again, but still, there is no way in hell that Spike has any feelings towards me besides hatred and even if he did, there’s not even a smidge of feelings from my side, I mean come on...it’s Spike.” Buffy walked into the kitchen, trying to squash the thoughts that popped into her head of Spike doing sweet and romantic things for her.
~/~/~/~
Spike downed a whiskey at Willy’s bar, he wondered if Buffy had looked at the flowers yet. Ignoring the stare that Willy was giving him Spike stood and strode out of the bar. He’d have to make it to the shops through the drain system if he wanted to complete the next part of his plan.
Ten minutes later Spike climbed up through the grate at the back of the mall where no one could see him; luckily it was clouded over today so no sun rays would catch him and make him burst into flames.
Spike walked into Lady Fortunes Inc, one of the better chocolate manufacturers in Sunnydale’s only mall. Picking the giant fortune cookies in caramel lovers and cookies and cream he turned around to make his purchase.
“Spike...?” His eyes widened.
“Anya...” he froze, not knowing whether to hide the cookies behind his back or to make a run for it.
“Mind telling me what you’re doing at Lady Fortunes Inc?” She eyed the cookies in his hand critically.
“Just....Buying some stuff for home.”
“You don’t eat?”
“Sod it, why couldn’t you have just been the whelp then I would have just told you to bugger off” Spike ran a hand through his hair and chucked the cookies on the counter, paying for them and ignoring Anya’s stare.
“Alright what is going on? You’re out in the middle of the day – last time I checked, you don’t tend to do that. You’re buying cookies from Lady Fortunes Inc and actually buying them instead of stealing them and you actually look like you’d be producing sweat if you could.”
Spike smirked, had to love the girl’s honesty “Look you’re an alright bird, I like you better than most of the Scoobies and if I tell you what’s going on...Can you do me a favour and not let anyone else in on the plan love?”
She nodded and waited for him to continue “Right...so the thing is....I’m in love Buffy.”
“Go on” Anya looked at him expectantly as he tried to stop his mouth from falling open and looking like an idiot.
“You know about this?”
“Well I kind of guessed, I mean it was bound to happen, ever since Willow’s spell gone awry you and Buffy have been looking at each other differently. However this being said, I don’t think that she feels quite as strongly about you.” She gave him a sympathetic look, she knew what it was like to fall for someone who thought what you were - or in her case used to be - was wrong and evil.
“Well yeah pet I guessed that, but I have a plan” his eyes lit up like a little boy on Christmas day “I’m going to send her a different gift for ten days and then on the tenth day I’m going to tell her that I’m her secret admirer, I’m gonna show her the man I really am, the man that I could be for her...Will you help me out?”
Anya gave him a smile “Yes I will help you out with your conquest towards getting Buffy to love you and then having lots of passionate sweaty sex with her! Just tell me how.” She beamed and Spike chuckled. If he did this right, it just might work.
TBC
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!