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Willow sat on her bed, deeply engrossed in a difficult calculus problem. She was interrupted by the insistant ring of her telephone, and quickly reached over to answer it.

"Hello?" she said into the receiver, flopping down stomach-first on her bed.

"Hey Will," said the voice of the Slayer.

"What's up Buffy?"

"Not much. I went to the church to try to find out something about Spike and Drusilla."

"Are they dead?" Willow asked, playing idly with her pen.

"I'm not sure. There's really no way to confirm it. The whole place was on fire so there are ashes everywhere, but strangely enough none of the ashes were labelled either Spike or Drusilla. I don't see how they could have survived though...that organ was completely burnt to a crisp."

"Well I guess if they start causing trouble again we'll know that they're still alive."

"Yeah, that's a cheerful thought," Buffy answered. Willow could picture her friend's wry smile. "So what's up over there at the casa de Rosenberg?"

"Xander came over..."

"And?" Buffy prodded.

"And we talked."

"About?"

"Things...like Cordelia."

"Really?" asked Buffy curiously. "What did you tell him?"

"I told him to stop pretending he isn't attracted to her. He said he'd call her."

"So you're really giving up on him?"

"I'm trying. Hey, he's my best friend and I want him to be happy...even if he can't be happy with me."

"Sometimes, you are all together too noble Will," said Buffy. There was a silent pause, which Buffy broke by suddenly exclaiming, "I thought I was your best friend!"

"You're my best GIRL friend," Willow said pacifying the Slayer's wrath with a giggle.

"Well ok then," Buffy replied, a grin evident in her voice. "That's better."

"So did you see Angel today?" asked Willow rolling onto her back. A happy sigh was her answer. "I'll take that as a yes."

"Yes, I saw him."

"And?" Now it was Willow's turn to prod.

"And...he is amazing." Willow grinned, picturing the silly smile she knew Buffy wore.

"What did you two do?"

"Stuff."

"Kissing?"

"I seem to recall some of that."

"Anything else?"

"There may have been some heavy petting..." Willow squealed after hearing Buffy's coy response.

"Details," she demanded.

"Let's just say the hormones were flowing...and having over 200 years of experience is a good thing."

"So I take it he's feeling better."

"Yeah...vampires heal fast. But it'll be a while before he's as strong as he was before."

The voice of Willow's mother floated into her room, "Willow...dinner!"

"I gotta go Buffy, dinner calls."

"See you tomorrow then...we'll plan your outfit and stuff."

"Sounds good. You'll come home with me after school?"

"I'll walk you home."

"K, bye."

"Bye." Willow hung up and dashed down the stairs to eat with the family. She pushed the conversation to the back of her mind. There would be plenty of time to think about it, and the upcoming date after dinner.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Outwardly Oz was practicing one of the songs that Dingoes Ate My Baby was planning to play at the Bronze Friday night. His fingers found the chords as they ran through the number again in Devon's garage. The sling was a hinderance, but he could still play. Inwardly, his mind was on Willow. His mind rarely seemed to be off her.

Since the moment he had seen her bundled in her Eskimo contume, barely mobile, at the dance for the foreign exchange students, her face was always staring at him from the depths of his mind. He couldn't explain exactly what it was that had made him notice her. Something in her had called out to him that night, and then again when she had strutted past his van on Halloween in an outfit that was as skimpy as the Eskimo costume was snug. She was just THE girl. He had known it the minute he saw her. He knew that others didn't consider her pretty. But to him she was beautiful, all big eyes and sweet smile. Innocence and intelligence wrapped in one. She was smart, kind, loving, and in his eyes...perfect.

She had said he saved her life, and he supposed it was true. But it wasn't because he was heroic. He had simply reacted. She was in danger, and he could not let the bullet hit her. It was as simple as that. He hadn't weighed the consequences or thought about the fact that he could die himself. His entire world had focused down to her and the bullet. He had put himself between them.

And now she had agreed to go out with him. He hoped that she had agreed because she wanted to be with him, and not out of a sense of gratitude or pity. The more he thought about it, the more he doubted. She had hesitated before saying yes; she had said no first. < Did she remind herself that she owed me and force herself to go out with me? >

"Oz," he heard Devon call.

"Yeah," he answered.

"What the hell are you doing man? You're totally off tempo."

"Oh sorry..I must have missed a chord in there somewhere."

"Well pull it together."

"Right...let's go again."

The band started up again and Oz forced himself to focus, burying the doubts for the time being. She wasn't the kind of girl who would lead a guy on. He was sure of that.
And she did seem to genuinely like him. He had made her laugh. He loved to see her laugh. < She would have a good time tomorrow, > he promised himself. He would try his hardest to make her happy.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
"Hello?" Cordelia said into the phone.

"Hey," Xander answered.

"Who is this?" she asked impatiently.

"Uh..it's Xander," he said implying with his tone that she should have recognized his voice.

"Could you hold on a second?" she asked before abruptly putting him on hold.

"Sure," he said to the empty air. After a few minutes he was tired of waiting and had decided to hang up.

"I was on the other line," she said, her voice suddenly cutting into the silence.

"Great," he said, telling himself calmly that anger was not the answer.

"So why're you calling here?" she asked, as if she couldn't think of one good reason that he would even HAVE her number, much less use it.

"To talk to you," he replied. "I think that's a pretty obvious one."

"I guess we do need to talk," she admitted grudgingly.

"Right. I called to talk to you about what's been going on between us the last couple of days."

"You mean the making out," she filled in bluntly.

"Well, yeah."

"What do you want to thank me or something? Because that's really not necessary."

"I need you to shut up before I change my mind about this," said Xander through clenched teeth. "You are the LAST person on earth that I want to be dating. But for some reason my body wants to be with you, so I'm doing it a favor and giving you a chance."

"A chance to do what? Go out with you?" Cordelia answered, nearly laughing. "Like that's some big chance. I don't want to go out with you."

"And I don't want to go out with you so that works out great."

"Look Xander, I'm not saying that the making out hasn't been fun. It's been great. But I have a rep to protect. Do you know what it'll do to my status if I date you?" Cordelia explained patiently.

"Like I don't have a rep?" Xander said angrily. "You think it would go down well with my friends, me dating you? You are the embodiment of everything we hate. It would destroy me!"

"Oh please..." said Cordelia, impatiently dismissing the thought of Xander really having a reputation.

"Look. I don't want to date you!" Xander protested vehemently.

"That makes two of us!" snapped Cordelia, feeling a little hurt by the fact that he wasn't fawning over her like the other guys. Although maybe that was what made him so damn attractive.

"So what're we saying?" Xander asked, beginning to be confused by the circular conversation.

"What do you mean?"

"So we're deciding to just forget everything then. And I'll just stay away from you...and we won't have what happened before happen again."

"I didn't say that," protested Cordelia.

"Say what?" asked Xander frustratedly.

"That I want to just forget the whole thing. I said I have a rep to protect." < What is she talking about? > Xander asked himself, as he resisted the urge to slam his head against the wall several times. < She doesn't want to go out with me...but she doesn't want to break this off. >

"What do you mean, we sort of go out in secret?" he finally ventured.

"No, how many times do I have to tell you that I will not date you. Boys can be so dense sometimes. I'll spell it out for you...just because we can't GO out doesn't mean we can't MAKE out. We won't tell anyone about whatever we do together. And then it'll be like none of it counts because nobody knows."

"I can live with that," Xander decided, after pondering a moment.

"So?" Cordelia said slowly.

"So, broom closet tomorrow at lunch?" Xander suggested.

"Ok. Bye," Cordelia said as she hung up the phone.

"Bye," Xander said to empty air

Cordelia held the dead phone in her hand for a moment before hanging it up. < This is insane, > she told herself. < Me dating Harris. Not dating, > she reminded herself, < ...just kissing. This is SO an unhealthy relationship, > she decided. But the thought of his lips on her, and his extremely well-defined body was too much for her to resist. < My therapist is going to have a field day with this one, > she sighed to herself as she tried on a new color of lipstick.


CONTINUES