Buffy was trying to restrain herself from giggling inanely as the conversation carried on. She felt about fourteen sitting next to the cutest boy in school.
Spike was amused at how eager she was to show off her two and a half months of higher education. She bantered with him playfully about how much she disliked the character Syme and how twisted the children were in the book. He insisted the most interesting bit was the Anti-Sex League and that they were in charge of producing pornography for the Proles.
Buffy wrinkled her nose in pretend disgust and Spike felt like his heart began beating again.
Then a shadow loomed over them, blocking out the sun.
“Buffy? I thought that was you.”
Buffy stared up at her Psychology class T.A in a mixture of surprise and horror. The guy had been bothering her for a while, but he was officially now ruining her first real time alone with Spike.
“Um, it's Riley, right?” She hazarded weakly.
She nearly bit her tongue when he sat down next to her. She watched dazedly as he extended a hand to Spike, “I'm Riley Finn, I'm a T.A. in Buffy's class.
Spike automatically shook the offered hand, he vaguely remembered the bloke from his weeklong stint as Tara's personal secretary, “Er, I'm Sp- Will. I'm one of Buffy's…”
“Friends!” Buffy burst out, “He's one of my close and personal friends and we really should be going-“ Oh, please dear God don't let Spike think I'm with this guy, she thought feverishly.
Spike was actually thinking how much he liked being called one of the Slayer's friends and how poncy it was that that meant so much to him.
“I'm glad to finally meet some more of your friends. I know Willow from class of course.” Riley continued, seemingly oblivious to Buffy's distress.
Finally what? Why would he want to meet my friends? Who is this guy? Buffy thought, trying to get him to leave through pure force of will. Go away, she thought strongly, trying to implant the idea telepathically into Riley's brain.
Jaw clench and eyes slightly watering from the effort, she floundered searching for some hidden Slayer talent that would vaguely resemble a Jedi mind-trick. She then thought maybe she and Xander had officially spent too much time together.
Riley continued talking about the class, as though she or Spike should be terribly interested. He brought up how he had helped Professor Walsh decided on the fourth edition of Psychology In Modern Times instead of the third edition of Psychology Today.
Buffy was practically vibrating with frustration. She had been having such a good time. She was getting somewhere. They had been almost bonding. She was finally getting a taste of the fun Willow always described when she had spent time with Spike and Tara.
Why was he still here? Didn't he have any friends to go bore? Tara and Willow were going to be out of class soon and they were going to swoop in and take Spike away. They go do fun things like surfing and drinking flavored coffee and discussing culture-like things and she wasn't in the inner circle yet, so she wouldn't be invited.
And Spike would be gone. And Tara and Willow would get to see his cherry-stained lips. Not that they would appreciate them the way she appreciated them. Willow had brought up the 'hey, guess what? Gay now!' and Buffy was still a little staggered.
Spike had realized that the boring wanker was talking much more to Buffy than he was to him, so he cracked open 1984 because he was almost at the sexy bits. He glanced up at the clock tower and noted that Tara and Willow would be out in a few minutes. Good, then they could go home and he wouldn't need to listen to Buffy's new boyfriend blather on about the genius of Freud when Spike had met the creepy little man himself and knew him to be full of crap.
Spike convinced himself quietly that he did not care if the Slayer had a new lover. It was good she was at least getting over the Great Poof anyway. A bleeding train wreck that relationship had been.
Buffy felt like throwing a truly loud and obnoxious tantrum. This was unbelievable. There was no way of getting out of this looking good. If she freaked out, she made herself look like Bitchzilla to Spike and the weirdo was in charge of grading her papers this term. If she tried to back out politely, which she had several times, he just didn't seem to hear it.
Buffy noticed Spike had simply gone back to his book and his cherries, giving up on their conversation entirely. Buffy felt strangely like crying. She wanted to shake him and scream, 'you be rude! It'll be O.K if you tell him off! He means nothing to me! Don't give up on me now that I'm so close!'
Then the inevitable happened, Spike nodded a polite goodbye to her and went off with Willow and a slightly suspicious Tara. Buffy heard them laughing in the distance and wondered what they were talking about. She felt like she would never laugh again. The guy next to her had sucked the fun right out of her with his constant nervous chatter.
Riley, it seemed, hadn't even paused for breath.
She shook herself out of the trance she'd entered when she watched Spike walk away. He had a truly watchable ass, after all. It seemed Riley was asking her something.
“I'm sorry, what?” She asked tiredly.
“So I thought we could go for coffee and I could explain Jung's early theories a little more thoroughly. The next paper is on his early work, you know.”
“I'm sorry, I have to go. Right now. I just remembered I have somewhere to be and it's very important. “ Buffy bolted across the grass. She didn't even look back. Bizarrely she worried he might be following her.
* * *
“So, what were you and Buffy talking about?” Tara asked, trying not to judge. But she didn't trust that girl, not a bit.
“Oh, about 1984 because I've been reading it. And she sort of made up for that time at the Bronze.” Spike flipped through the mail, and excitedly opened a Future Shop flyer.
“No more electronics! The living room already looks like Ground Control. You have a T.V, you have TiVO and a DVD player, and you have THREE different game systems and a huge stereo. We don't need anything from that store, don't get any ideas.” Tara dropped two Tension Tamer tea bags into the pot with finality.
“You never let me have any fun.” He grumbled.
“Anyway, back on topic, how exactly did she think she could make up for the Bronze?" Tara voice had an almost catty edge that Spike found sort of unnerving. Tara in a less than calm mood always made him worry. She could be right scary when she wanted to be.
“Well, um, she said she overreacted.”
“Oh, is that what they're calling it these days?” Tara turned on the stove with such vigor that the knob came off in her hand.
Spike edged around the counter warily, “I guess so.”
Taking a few deep breaths, she turned to him, “I sorry. I'm just still a little upset about that. You're free to talk to who ever you want to. But I wouldn't trust her to ever be looking out for your best interests, Spike. I got a good look at her at the Bronze. She was only concerned for herself. You really don't need her influence.”
“She's not like that all the time, pet. You should see her when she's doing the saving the world bit, she's down right selfless then.”
“I don't measure people in that way, Spike. I'm sure she can be a wonderful person when it suits her. But she is a bully.” Tara sat down with the teapot and started pouring, “We should just stop talking about his. You're right that I don't know her that well. Maybe I'm judging too quickly. I just don't want her to hurt you again. Don't listen when she says those things. No one has the power to take me away from you and you have the right to change and for it to be acknowledged.”
They both took a sip of tea and Tara cleared her throat, “So, what are you reading next? You know we could start a little book club, we read so many of the same ones.”
“Um, I was thinking we could try Slaughter House-Five by Vonnegut. I've heard it's good…”
* * *
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