A/N Dark fiction! This story has a very big Spike/Other and Buffy/Other warning!! There will be nothing graphic with the couples, but it does warrant a warning. If you don’t think you can handle it, this isn’t the story for you. It will eventually get back to the Spuffyness, but this is a story exploring the different aspects of relationships and rebuilding trust in each other.
Chapter 1 – Cause For Concern
When Sunnydale High’s most elite couple walked through the cafeteria doors, everyone backed out of their way and let them through so they could reach their usual table in the corner. Buffy Summers and William Giles were undoubtedly the king and queen of their high school, even though they were only juniors. Everyone knew them, respected them, and would’ve given anything to be them.
When William and his father moved from England to Sunnydale the summer before eighth grade, it was practically love at first sight for both him and Buffy. It wasn’t much of a surprise to anyone when they started dating a month later, and after almost three and a half years passed, they were still together and going strong. As far as everyone was concerned, they were young, in love, and happy. It wasn’t even a stretch to say that Buffy planned on marrying him someday in the near future. No one had ever made her feel the way William did, and she couldn’t be happier with the relationship.
William pulled out Buffy’s chair for her and made sure she was seated before sitting beside her, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. She cuddled up against him, thankful that they could at least spend lunch together because they didn’t have any of the same classes that semester. Their friends started to trickle into the cafeteria and sat with them, filling the round table. Willow Rosenberg, Buffy’s childhood friend, sat beside her, and Xander Harris claimed the spot beside his redheaded friend. Daniel Osborne, otherwise named Oz, joined them, followed by Riley Finn and his girlfriend Sam. Cordelia Chase was the last to join the table, sitting down and promptly pulling out a compact so she could touch up her make-up for the afternoon.
The table fell into conversation almost instantly, everyone gossiping or catching up on the latest events. William noticed that Buffy wasn’t eating anything. “Aren’t you hungry, luv?”
“I’m fine,” she answered, showing him her diet soda. “This will fill me up.”
“I hope you’re not on another diet,” he replied, frowning. “How many times do I have to tell you that you’re perfect just the way you are?” She smiled at him before giving him a chaste kiss. “If anything, you could gain a few pounds.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Do you think I’m too thin?” she asked, looking at her body. “Am I undesirably skinny?”
He smiled. “No, I’d desire you no matter what,” he said in a low tone, curling his tongue behind his teeth. She playfully smacked his arm and went back to talking with Willow.
It was minutes later when William felt like someone was watching him. Casually looking around the cafeteria, his eyes settled on a raven-haired beauty looking at him from a few tables over. He smiled slightly at her before focusing on Buffy again. Out of the corner of his eye, Will could tell that the girl was still looking at him. He gently nudged Buffy to get her attention.
“Who’s the girl over there that’s looking at us?” he asked, not wanting to address the fact that she was blatantly staring at him only. Buffy smiled and waved at the girl.
“That’s Drusilla Evans,” she answered. “She’s my lab partner in Chemistry class. Do you want to meet her?”
“Sure, why not?” he replied. Buffy motioned for the other girl to come over to their table. She did, never looking away from William, who began to feel somewhat uncomfortable from Drusilla’s intense gaze.
“Hello, Buffy,” Drusilla said, and William was surprised to hear that she, too, was British.
“Hi,” Buffy smiled. “I wanted to introduce you to my boyfriend. Drusilla, this is William Giles. Will, this is Drusilla.” He extended his hand, and she shook it, their hands staying joined seconds longer than they should have been. Buffy noticed but shrugged it off.
“It’s nice to meet you,” William said. “Where are you from?”
Drusilla smiled. “Another Englishman,” she replied. “I’m from London. And you?”
“I’m from London, too,” he answered, smirking. “Quite a coincidence, eh?”
“Yeah,” Buffy said, surprised. “It’s hard to believe that two Londoners would end up in a place like Sunnydale.”
“Yeah,” William agreed. Drusilla smiled before looking at Buffy.
“Well, I won’t intrude on your lunch anymore,” she said. “But I’ll see you in class tomorrow, Buffy.”
“That you will,” Buffy said. “Bye, Drusilla.” The other girl walked away, returning to her table. Buffy looked at her boyfriend. “So, how do you like her? She’s nice, isn’t she?”
“Yeah, she seems nice,” he said, hoping that Buffy wasn’t trying to set a trap for him.
‘Girls always bloody do that,’ he thought. ‘They ask you trick questions that end up making you look like the bad guy no matter how you answer.’ He noticed her nod before she grabbed her soda and delved back into the table’s conversation.
William tried to pay attention to what everyone was saying, but when his eyes traveled over to look at Drusilla, he was somewhat happy to see that she was once again looking at him. He quickly averted his gaze and ducked his head. Buffy noticed that he was acting kind of funny and looked at him.
“Are you alright?” she asked quietly, taking his hand in hers and giving it a gentle squeeze. He quickly smiled at her and kissed her temple.
“I’m perfectly fine, kitten,” he answered. She smiled and began talking about the latest spring fashions with Cordelia. He made sure that she wasn’t looking when he focused on Drusilla, talking with several girls at her table. He studied her, taking in every detail of her clothing, the way her lips moved when she talked, how her eyes sparkled when she laughed.
‘She’s flawless,’ he thought as she looked at him again. Buffy noticed that he was looking elsewhere and followed his gaze, realizing that his eyes were locked with Drusilla’s.
‘What’s going on?’ she asked herself, looking at him and the dreamy expression on his face. Willow nudged her, and Buffy looked at her friend, quickly dismissing the doubts that began to arise in her head at the thought that William was attracted to Drusilla. ‘He and I’ve been through a lot together, and he’s my soulmate- nothing’s going to tear us apart.’
What Buffy didn’t get to see was the wink that Drusilla directed at William before talking with her friends again and the blush that crept up in his cheeks.
* * * * *
Buffy walked through campus a few days later, talking and laughing with
Willow.
“So you and William are set for the Christmas Dance?”
“Willow, it’s still two weeks away,” Buffy replied with a smile, her
friend’s excitement already rubbing off on her.
“I know, but I can’t help it,” Willow said with an excited hop. “I just
love these school dances, and Oz is already set to be playing with the
Dingoes, so I can’t help but look forward to it.”
“I know what you mean,” Buffy said, fiddling with the strap of her backpack.
“Dances are always a hundred times better when you’re there with someone.”
“How would you know?” the redhead teased, pushing her friend’s shoulder. “I
bet you’ve never had to go stag in your life.”
“Not true! There was a Sadie Hawkins dance in eighth grade, and I was
absolutely mortified when I asked Billy Fordham and he said no. But I
walked in that gym with my head held high.”
Willow smiled at her overly dramatic friend. “And what happened when you
walked into the gym?” she asked with a knowing smile.
Buffy immediately bit her lip and lowered her gaze. “Okay…so I danced a
lot…big deal.”
“And why?”
“Because guys kept coming up to me and asking me…happy now?”
“Almost,” Willow replied. “I’ll be happy when you tell me what happened
after all those guys asked you.”
Buffy sighed before answering. “William asked me to go out with him,” she
said with a sheepish smile, biting her lip as she tried to hold back the
smile that automatically coincided with the happy memory.
“Now I’m happy.”
Buffy gave her friend a mocking glare, not wanting to give her the
satisfaction of being right.
“Where is William, anyway?” Willow asked, looking around the campus. “He
usually meets you before you set one foot on the campus.”
“I don’t know,” Buffy said, looking around with a puzzled frown. “Maybe
he’s running late this morning.”
“I still don’t get why he doesn’t just pick you up in the tank that he calls
a car.”
“I’ve told you, Wills. He complains that I’d procrastinate so long that
I’ll make us both late everyday. At least with Mom bringing me to school,
she gets me motivated to get up and get dressed. If Will picked me up, he
would want to keep me in bed.”
“Too much information!” Willow shrieked, covering her ears as Buffy laughed.
“I so don’t need to know that!”
“Oh please!” Buffy said between her giggles. “You already know more than
that. Don’t pretend that you don’t. I seem to remember after the first
time, you asked me for, and I quote, ‘a blurry watercolor’ of what
happened.”
“I know, I know,” Willow said with a grin. “But you were the first out of
our group, and that means you were obligated to let those of us who were
inexperienced live vicariously through you…okay, that came out completely
wrong.”
Buffy giggled, looking across the campus. Her smile soon faded when she saw
William sitting at one of the picnic tables with Drusilla. In general,
Buffy was not a jealous person, but the flirty smiles and the body language
made her feel uneasy as she watched Will lean into the other girl and listen
intently to whatever she was saying.
“Wills, I’ll see you in Chemistry, okay?” Buffy asked in a soft voice, not
paying attention to her friend’s response as she got closer to the table.
She could hear William’s chuckle before she even reached the area, and it
tied her stomach in knots. She was the only one who Spike privileged with
that laugh, and Buffy felt a little selfish for not wanting him to laugh with
someone who was one of her good friends.
Shrugging off her doubts, she approached the table. Trying to keep the
tension out of her voice, Buffy clutched her books to her chest, hoping that
Will wouldn’t see how white her knuckles were.
“H-hi, guys,” Buffy said with a timid smile. Her nerves only got worse when
she saw William jump up from his seat, a guilty look on his face. ‘Why would
he feel guilty?’
“Hello, pet.”
Her forced smile turned into a frown. Every other girl that William knew
was ‘pet’. Buffy was supposed to be ‘luv’ or ‘sweetheart’ or ‘Princess’.
“Hi,” she replied, her hold on her books tightening. “What are you two
talking about?”
“Oh, nothing,” Will said a little too fast.
“It must be something, considering you didn’t meet me,” she said, trying to
keep any accusation out of her voice.
“Lost track of time, that’s all,” he said, brushing a kiss on Buffy’s cheek.
The jealous look that flashed on Drusilla’s face did not go unnoticed by
Buffy, making her feel even more uncomfortable. “Are you ready to go?” she
asked Will.
“You’re not even going to say hi to Dru?”
“Dru?” Buffy asked, her jaw tightening.
“William’s little nickname for me. It does make more sense,” the brunette
said with a smile that was directed at William.
Buffy nodded, trying to keep a fake smile on her face. “Good morning, Dru.”
The hostility in her voice almost made Buffy cringe, and it was her voice.
“We should get going,” she said, turning her gaze to William.
“Uh, yeah…I’ll see you later, luv.”
Buffy’s jaw clenched so tight, she thought it would crack under the
pressure.
The couple walked in silence for a long moment before Buffy finally spoke.
“Is there something going on that I should know about, Will?”
“No,” he replied too quickly for Buffy’s taste. “I was just trying to make
her feel welcome.”
“Well…that’s nice, but it would have been even nicer if you’d said hi and
then actually ‘welcomed’ me, since I’m your girlfriend.”
William noticed the anger beneath the surface and wrapped an arm around
Buffy’s waist. “I told you, sweetheart. I lost track of time…sorry.”
Buffy forced another smile at the insincere apology. They continued to walk
toward the school in silence as Buffy worried her bottom lip.
‘Will has never given me a single reason to mistrust him. Just because one
little situation makes you uncomfortable, don’t act like a spoiled little
girlfriend. You trust him.’
Then why was there still a nagging feeling in the pit of her stomach?
A/N Based on Sierra's idea in the Idea Factory- thanks so much for the inspiration for this story!
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!