Shades of Something Blue
Chapters One ~ Three
Chapter One
“As these words of peace are spoken, let this harmful spell be broken!”
William opened his eyes to find himself in a lip-lock with a petite, green-eyed vampiress. One hand was buried in the lush fall of her golden hair; the other was under her top, cupping a small, perfect peach of a breast.
Buffy looked down her body to where the newly bleached-blond Slayer’s narrow hips were nestled between her legs, the sizeable bulk of his erection prodding insistently against her. Her green eyes widened in horror as she looked up into the Slayer’s equally horrified ocean-blue eyes. Both froze for a heart stopping second as the memories of the past day assaulted them. Touching. Kissing. Planning their wedding…
WEDDING?!
“Wuagh! Bloody hell!” William leapt to his feet, making a big show of wiping his hands across his mouth and making gagging noises.
Buffy jumped up as well, spitting and sputtering. “Slayer lips! Lips of Slayer!” She spat some more and scrubbed at her tongue with her fingers. “BLECHH!”
Willow flew to William’s side and threw her arms around his neck, casting a look of hatred at Buffy. “Oh my God, William! What happened to your hair?”
“What do you mean, what’s wrong with my…” His hands flew up to his head, fingers seeking the honey-colored mop of curls he’d been cursed with. Instead, he found it much shorter and slicked back with gel to tame the curl. He glared at Buffy. “YOU CUT MY HAIR?” he screamed.
“She bleached it, too!” Willow chirped. Anything that pissed William off at the little blond vampire was all for the good in her book. “It’s completely white,” she informed him helpfully.
“YOU BLEACHED IT?”
Buffy covered her sensitive ears. “Don’t you even try to pin the blame on me for this!” she cried. “We were engaged and there was no way anyone would believe I would marry you with your hair looking the way it did. You look a hundred times better like this, anyway. Besides…” She jabbed a finger at her chest. “Innocent victim of Teen Witch’s stupid spell, here! Chained to a wall and minding my own business? Ringing any bells here, Slayer?” she finished, glaring at Willow.
“Willow, how could you?” Xander chided. He watched as Buffy paced the floor, keeping a safe distance from the Slayer. Occasionally her eyes would flick up to his platinum hair and her eyes would go all wide and starey for a second. Poor thing. Now she had to live with the memory of William’s mouth all over hers instead of the Xand-mans. He’d have to remedy that as soon as possible, he thought with a leer.
William pulled Willow’s choking arms from his neck and put some distance between them. “Wills, I can’t believe you’d do something like this. I know you’ve been miserable since Oz left, but still…”
“I know. I feel so awful!” She buried her face in her hands and sobbed. A quick peep assured her that both men were rushing over to give her some much needed comfort. Once she was enveloped in a smothering dual hug, she shot the vampire a smug little smile of triumph.
Buffy rolled her eyes and flashed her some fang. What a drama queen. Anyone could see that those tears were totally faked. Well, anyone but THOSE two dorkwads.
MEN!
“You do realize that she’s getting entirely out of hand with this magic bullshit, Slayer?” Buffy looked down in disgust. There was a scuff on the toe of one of her prized Jimmy Choo suede boots. Lifting first one leg and then the other, she tugged the outrageously expensive footwear off to inspect the damage. “Normally I’d be all paralyzed with not caring, but this time I got dragged into it.”
Willow turned her nose up. “Like you know what you’re talking about,” she scoffed, snuggling between her two favorite guys. “I know exactly what I’m doing.” She flushed under three disbelieving stares. “Most of the time?” she finished with a weak smile.
“Excuse me, ‘Sabrina’,” Buffy snapped caustically. “I’ve been around a lot longer than you three boneheads. The thing about magic? There’s always consequences. ALWAYS. If there were even half a brain between the three of you idiots, you’d realize that.”
“Hey! I resemble that remark!” Xander said. Damn she was hot, even if she was an evil, undead creature of the night. He stared at her bare toes. “Care for a little foot rub, Buff?”
Buffy withered him with a glance. “Don’t even think about it, Krispy Kreme.” Her eyes narrowed as she realized that for once the Slayer wasn’t paying any attention to her. He was too busy muttering and running his hands over his cropped and processed hair to notice her. Not one to let a golden opportunity pass by; she tucked her boots under her arm and began to sidle towards the door of the crypt. She was desperate to get away from the Slayer and his merry band of morons. One more day in his basement with the smell of his laundry all around her and she was likely to fly right off the edge of reason.
He was still distracted. Good. Just a little bit more…
With a burst of vampiric speed, she was out the door and tearing through the tombstones. She heard shouting and the pounding of feet behind her, but she wasn’t worried. The only one that could even come close to matching her speed was the Slayer, and she counted on his little red-haired damsel in distress to slow him down.
Once she was certain that she wasn’t being followed, she slowed her pace, eyes darting around as she searched the shadows for any sign of the khaki-clad commandos that now haunted the darkest corners of her nightmares. As if implanting her with a behavioral modification chip wasn’t bad enough, she’d had to endure the unspeakable things they had done to her while she had been completely powerless against them…
Buffy shuddered, one small hand lifting to rub her head were the crippling pain was always centered. She had been as close to dusting from lack of blood as a vampire could get when she finally got away from the lab. In desperation she had attempted to bite Xander, the Slayer’s goofy-assed roommate. All she got out of it was a FUCK of a migraine and said goofy-assed roommate following her around in a happy haze of puppy-lust.
Most of her time since escaping that hell-hole had been spent chained to a wall in the Slayer’s basement, sipping that wretched pigs blood through a straw. The wise-ass had even put a pink paper umbrella in her glass one day, handing it over with a smirk. Stupid, wimpy-looking, smart-ass of a Slayer. Dorky, poetry-spouting Slayer and his wicked pretty eyes.
Whoa.
Where the hell had the last part of that rant come from? Sure, she’d always been attracted to the Slayer, but there were some lines a self-respecting vamp didn’t cross; especially if she didn’t want to meet the business end of a stake. Tossing her head, Buffy decided to blame it on Teen Witch’s botched spell. She licked her lips and frowned. She still had Slayer taste in her mouth.
Mmm.
Mmm? No! Not ‘Mmm’. Blech! That was the word— ‘Blech’!
Her pink tongue swept over her lips once more, her footsteps slowing as she allowed her thoughts to wander to a certain newly bleached-blonde pain in her ass. When she had first rolled into town, she had set out to discover as much as possible about her nemesis. After all, she had a reputation as a slayer of Slayers to uphold. He came off as extremely shy and introverted-- not exactly admirable qualities in a Vampire Slayer. She quickly found out differently.
What she had anticipated as an easy kill had turned out to be anything but. After William had disposed of her diversionary tactic with pathetic ease, she had stepped from her hiding place in the shadows. Her eyes had swept from the top of his floppy curls to the soles of his sneakers, lingering appreciatively in between.
“You’re not at all what you seem, are you sugar?” she had drawled. The sight of the dark-haired boy and the redhead huddling behind him had brought a derisive smile to her lips. “A Slayer with family and friends. That sure as hell wasn’t in the brochure.”
“Who’re you?”
“You’ll find out on Saturday,” Buffy had told him, exuding an air of boredom as she inspected her manicure for nonexistent chips.
“What happens on Saturday?” William had demanded.
She had forced herself to laugh, puckering up and blowing him a little kiss as she’d backed away. “I kill you.”
Of course she hadn’t had the patience to wait until St. Vagisil or whatever the Annoyingly Anointed One had been clamoring about. Parent-Teacher Night. Yet another in a long line of memorable ass-kickings from the Slayer.
To say that she had underestimated William was an understatement of monumental proportions. Her only comfort was the fact that she wasn’t the only one to do so. Since the chip and subsequent interaction with the group, she had discovered some disturbing facts. Those so-called friends of his—the scoobies, and how stupid was THAT name?—treated him like a bad joke. Xander could be especially cruel. Even the Watcher seemed to find him inadequate, often berating him for daydreaming instead of researching some obscure demon folklore.
Buffy shook her head with a grin. It seemed that no one but the chipped vampiress with a yen for killing his kind could see beneath the many murky layers that made up this particular Slayer. And far be it from her to give them a head’s up. Let him surprise them as he had surprised her.
Determinedly shrugging off her wayward thoughts, she finally reached her old lair and stomped inside, her conflicting thoughts about the Slayer making her a tad bit cranky.
“Parker, you here?” she called. Finding no sign of him in the living area, she made her way to the bedroom. “Parrrrrkerrrr?” Her only answer was silence. Stupid, idiot vampire. Whoever had turned him should be boiled in Holy Water at high noon on the first day of summer.
The place was a mess. Her precious clothes and all of her make-up were flung all over the filthy floor, and the entire lower level smelled like Parker had brought home a snack and left it to rot in a corner somewhere. Buffy’s nose wrinkled in disgust. Gross! No way was she staying here. This would probably be the first place the Slayer would check, anyway. She grabbed up a duffle bag and started stuffing in her clothes and trinkets. She knew the perfect place to hide out. Grabbing all she could carry with her for now, she set off at a jog towards Crawford Street.
Chapter Two
The sun was just breaking over the horizon when she leapt up on the porch. So intent was she on getting inside, she didn’t see or ‘feel’ the shadow behind her. She kicked open the door and staggered inside, dropping her heavy bundles haphazardly at her feet.
“Whoa! Way too close, Buff,” she chided herself aloud. She was bending over to pick up her prized stuffed pig when a body slammed into her from behind. Strong legs straddled her hips while hard, punishing hands pinned her arms behind her back.
“OW!” Buffy cried, spitting out a big mouthful of her long hair. “Wait. Not ‘ow’…You feeling okay, Slayer? This stuff usually hurts.”
William gave her a shove as he climbed off of her. “Get up, Summers. I’m takin’ you back to the basement.”
“Um…How ‘bout ‘no’?” She scrambled as far away from him as she could get, tossing her tangled hair back and brushing dust off her knees. “Or wait, let’s try ‘fuck no’. Make’s a much bigger statement.”
“What a little mouth you’ve got on you, pet. So ladylike,” he said, folding his arms across his chest and staring her down.
Buffy braced her hands on her hips. “You didn’t seem to mind my mouth earlier, Slayer,” she taunted. “Matter of fact, you couldn’t get enough of it.”
His fair skin flushed red. “That was the spell talking. Trust me, without a spell, I’d just as soon stake you as kiss you,” he sneered.
She ignored the twinge of pain his words twisted in her gut and lashed out at him. “Yeah? Well, without a spell, I’d save you the trouble and stake MYSELF before I let your lips near mine again!”
They glared at each other, circling warily. Buffy finally held up her hands. “Okay, this is stupid. Incredibly stupid, and childish to the extreme. Look, I’m waving the white flag, here. I appreciate all the help you’ve given me since…since…”
“Since you became the one and only neutered vampire girl?” he finished helpfully.
Buffy turned her head quickly, pretending to study the dust-covered furniture so he couldn’t see the hurt in her eyes. That was twice in less than five minutes with the feel-bads from his sarcastic barbs. What was the deal? Usually she gave as good as she got with him. Better in fact. She drew in a cleansing breath and whipped her emotions under control once more.
“Right. The thing is this; as 'two star',” she made little quotation marks with her fingers as she spoke those words. “As the accommodations in your basement have been, I need to have my own place. Your so-called friends are really getting on my nerves, not to mention your whiney, fat-assed girlfriend, Hillary.”
“Harmony.”
“Whatever.” She rolled her eyes. “Look, I need to figure out a way to survive with this stupid piece of scrap metal in my head. I can’t bite, can’t feed, and can’t fight, so there’s no reason for you to be worried that I’m going to go all damage bound on the God-fearing citizens of Sunnyhell. I just need to…adapt, somehow. I can’t do that chained to the walls at Casa de Slayer and being spoon-fed glasses of pigs blood with little paper umbrellas.”
William stared at her, pursing his lips thoughtfully. Can’t bite, can’t feed, and can’t fight. For the first time he thought he might understand the magnitude of what had been done to her. How would he react if everything he had ever known had been stripped from him? That one time when he turned eighteen was bad enough. What if it had been a permanent situation? As William, he was a hopeless case, but as the Slayer he had power. He was a formidable force. Demons cowered in fear of him. How would he react if all of that were taken away?
“I s’pose this is as good a place as any for you to hole up.” He glanced around. He hadn’t been back here himself since Faith had left town on Graduation Night. Strange. Her memory didn’t hurt nearly as bad as it should.
”Don’t think I’m stupid though, Summers,” he continued, pinning her with a glare that was all business. “Just because you can’t bite or kill someone yourself, doesn’t mean you couldn’t entice or pay someone to do it for you. Until we figure out this Initiative mess, I want your promise that you won’t try aiming any smoking guns our way.” He leaned back against the door and crossed his arms. “One step out of line and I’ll dust you quicker than you maxed out Xander’s Visa.”
“Hey!” Buffy yelped. “That was totally his fault. He shouldn’t have said that I dressed like I shopped at Goodwill. And besides, anyone stupid enough to leave their credit cards lying around like that is just asking for it.”
“Buffy, you stole his wallet right out of his pocket…”
“I SO did not! Like I would put my hands anywhere near his sweaty, puffy person.” She shuddered.
“FINE!” William spat through gritted teeth. “Back to the topic at hand. I also need to know exactly what went on while you were in there. I know there’s a lot you aren’t tellin’ me, but you need to stop holdin’ out. This is for your benefit too, so no more ‘memory lapses’, okay?”
He didn’t think it was possible for her to become any paler, but she did. The mere mention of the government interlopers had her face blanching and her eyes darting around looking at everything but him. She was so visibly upset that he doubted she was even aware that her demon was flickering in and out. “Yeah, sure. Okay, Slayer. I promise.”
William frowned, moving a cautious step closer to her. “You alright, Summers?”
“I’m fine! Never been better,” she smiled brightly. “Why do you ask?”
“’Cause you’ve got your bumpies on, luv.”
Buffy’s hands flew up to her face. “Oh! Um…sorry? It happens sometimes when I…it’s like a nervous reaction,” she finished, lamely. She forcibly pushed the demon back down.
Shrugging, William lit a cigarette and gazed at her through the smoke. “Doesn’t bother me, though I have to say yours are a damn sight prettier than most.” It was true. The first night he had seen her game face had been the night of the parent-teacher fiasco. He had come up behind her after the Anointed One’s minions had raced off in pursuit of Faith and Xander. Scenting him, she had turned to face him.
He had been startled to see that instead of the usual yellow-amber, her eyes were a brilliant shade of peridot green. Her bumpies were minimal, hardly distorting her human face at all, and her fangs were much smaller than the average vamps. She was astonishingly beautiful, he had thought as she had moved towards him with feline grace.
“Do we really need weapons for this?” he had drawled.
“I just like them,” Buffy had replied, running her hand caressingly down her neck and over her breast as she arched her back. “And they make YOU look all manly.”
William smiled at the memory. He looked up to find Buffy looking at him with her mouth agape.
“You think my bumpies are ‘pretty’?” she asked clearly amazed.
“You don’t?”
She laughed outright at the foolishness of his question. “Hello? Vampire, here. Not big with the whole reflection thing.”
He laughed self-consciously, reaching up to push his hair out of his eyes. Hair that was no longer there thanks to Buffy. The look of chagrin on his face when he realized what he had done was priceless. His eyebrows drew together in a fierce frown.
Buffy gave him a sheepish smile. “Uh, I really am sorry about the hair, Slayer. I’d blame the witch for it, but I’ve wanted to get my hands on you since the first time I saw you,” she confided. Her eyes widened comically when she realized her verbal slip. “On your HAIR I meant to say.” Dammit, Buffy! She chided herself. Will you never learn?
“What are you, a beautician?”
“No, but I ate one once.” She laughed at his expression. “Kidding, Slayer. Ha, ha? Just kidding.”
“You BLEACHED it, Summers!” He groused, running his hands over it once more. “I can just imagine what my dad is going to say, not to mention my girlfriend.”
She waved her hand airily. “Oh, don’t be silly, Billy. Helga will love it. It’s very stylish as far as the cut goes. The bleach was just my own personal touch.”
William gritted his teeth. “Her NAME is HARMONY,” he ground out. “And don’t call me ‘Billy’, or I’ll start calling you ‘Chip’.”
“Whatever. Have you even looked at it?”
He rolled his eyes. “No,” he said with forced patience. “I’ve been busy chasing down a rotten little pain in the ass vampire who is more trouble than she’s worth.”
Ignoring his insult, she glanced around until she located a draped mirror above the sitting room fireplace. Without giving it a second thought, she ran forward and grabbed William’s hand, dragging him over to it. Positioning him in front of the glass, she whisked off the drape. “Ta-daaaa! Meet the new and improved ‘William, the Vampire Slayer’,” she giggled.
William was shocked at the difference in his appearance. Last Christmas his father had gifted him with a prescription for contacts. He had felt that he looked a lot different without his wire-rimmed glasses, but this…this was…amazing.
Without the heavy curls falling over his forehead, his face was completely exposed. The new, shorter style was extremely flattering, drawing attention to his sharp cheekbones and the stubborn line of his chin. William smiled. He looked damned good! Harmony was going to be thrilled with his new look.
Buffy spoke from directly behind him. “See? It really brings out your beautiful bone structure. You could be a Gap model with these cheekbones, I swear. And look! No more shaggy curtain of curls means you can see those pretty baby blues,” she teased, pinching his cheek.
Her enthusiasm was infectious and William found himself trying to meet her eyes in the mirror. His smile faded as he looked at his solitary reflection. “Does it bother you? Not being able to see yourself?”
It did, but she didn’t tell him that. “Nah, not really. Faith used to help me with my hair and stuff, but I eventually got to where I didn’t need to ask. What’s with all the personal questions, Slayer?”
He shrugged as a faint flush crept up his neck. “Nothing! What, I can’t ask a few questions?” he asked defensively.
Buffy decided she didn’t care to answer that. Instead, she changed the subject abruptly, grinning up at him mischievously. “Wanna see something funny?” she asked.
Her enthusiasm was infectious; the sparkle in her green eyes captivating. He had always been fascinated with her; that he didn’t try to deny. William justified his interest by claiming an entirely scientific approach. Buffy was a paradox, totally unlike others of her species. It served his best interests as the Slayer to find out as much as he could about her. Or so he told himself.
“Sure.”
Moving back behind him again, Buffy clamored up on a footstool and began poking her fingers behind his ears, making them look like they were wiggling all on their own in the mirror’s reflection. Encouraged by his snort of laughter, she then started tweaking his nose. Her “don’t you dare blow snot on my hand, Slayer!” made him laugh that much harder.
She was laughing just as hard as he was when she realized how much of her body was draped over his; how their cheeks were pressed together as she hung over his shoulder. She smiled nervously, her eyes flicking to his lips and back up to meet his gaze. A girl could get lost in those ocean-blue eyes, she thought, mesmerized by the many varied shades of blue she found there.
William swallowed hard. Her slight weight rested against his back and the twin points of her nipples rubbed him through the protective layers of their clothing. When her eyes dropped to his mouth and lingered there like a physical caress, he was dismayed to feel his cock harden painfully against his zipper.
Buffy could smell his sudden arousal and hear the rapid acceleration of his heart rate. Startled, she hurriedly backed away from him, stumbling as she leapt off the stool. “Oh, sorry. I…uh…got a little carried away. Sorry.”
Her babbled apology barely registered. He knew without a doubt that if she hadn’t skipped backwards so quickly, he would have kissed her. What the hell was wrong with him? Turning his back to her, he surreptitiously adjusted himself and then moved with quick strides to the door. “I need to get goin’, Summers. We’ll talk about that Initiative business later.”
Just like that, he was gone.
Buffy stifled a sigh. And awaaaaay he goes with manly virtue a-flutter.
She really needed to get a handle on this…whatever it was with the Slayer. It was just…just wrong! Not to mention potentially fatal. It was one thing to find him attractive, to feel mildly protective of him because he had such lousy taste in friends. It became something else entirely when she felt a sudden surge of warmth inside whenever her eyes met his. She didn’t try to delude herself into thinking it might be some residual effect of Willow’s spell. No, some other force was definitely at work here.
Gods! She SO didn’t need this right now. Didn’t she have enough to deal with? First Pike, her sire and the love of her undead life, takes off with a Chaos demon. Then, she loses the Gem of Amara to the Slayer, who in turn gives it to Faith. And let’s not forget about the whole being tortured while getting foreign substances shoved into her brain. Wasn’t that enough? Obviously not, or she wouldn’t be pacing and tearing her hair out over it.
Peachy. Just freakin’ peachy.
Sometimes being a vampire just sucked beyond the telling of it!
She turned towards the mirror. Amazing. After all these years, she still expected to see the face of the girl she had been before Pike had turned her. With a snarl of rage, she raised a fist and smashed it into the glass. She was already cursed; what did seven more years matter when faced with eternity?
Chapter Three
William dragged his feet all the way to the Magic Box. An earlier phone call from his Watcher had made it perfectly clear that someone, namely Xander, had taken great pleasure in informing Joyce of Buffy’s escape. He considered lying; telling them that Buffy had been captured and was safely chained in his basement, but knowing his luck, the Watcher would demand he bring her in as proof. Besides, he was an abysmal liar. He tended to get all nervous and twitchy. Three people knew immediately when he was lying; his father, his Watcher, and Buffy.
Cramming his hands in his pockets, he allowed his thoughts to dwell briefly on the blond vampire. When he had managed to fall asleep last night, his dreams had been haunted by images of everything they had done during their faux engagement and that almost—but not quite-- kiss at the mansion. Even thinking of it now brought a rush of blood to his groin that had him shifting uncomfortably. He definitely needed to ask Willow if there might be any residual effects from her spell. The idea of asking her to do some sort of forgetting spell was quickly squashed. He wasn’t letting her anywhere near him with her bloody magic.
What he really needed to do was put his foot down with a certain Miss Harmony Kendall, and start demanding some girlfriendy attention. It had been weeks since she had allowed him to touch her. Hell, she hadn’t even bothered to return his calls for three days now. William sighed, heavily. He missed the early days of their relationship when they couldn’t bear to be apart. Now, since she had set her sights on joining the most exclusive sorority at UCS, he was lucky if he saw her once a week. Well, there was one way to put a stop to that, he thought.
He pulled his cell phone from his back pocket and punched Harmony’s key. When the mailbox immediately picked up, William cursed. He left his message in a deceptively calm voice and squashed the ‘end’ button so viciously he nearly cracked the faceplate.
There. That was one thing done. Now, time to talk to Willow. With a resigned sigh, he shoved open the door of the Magic Box.
Joyce was with a customer when he entered the shop. Willow and Xander were sitting at the back table; she had her head buried in some huge dusty book while he was enthralled with his Gameboy. Catching sight of him, Willow hurried to put her book aside and pat the chair next to her with a smile.
Returning her smile with an uneasy one, William took the chair. “Hey, Willow. About that spell…”
She turned as red as her hair and started stammering. “I’m s-so sorry, William! I can’t imagine how a-awful it must have been for you to have Buffy all over you like…like…”
“A saucy minx writhing in heat?” Xander helpfully supplied.
Willow ‘eeped’ and covered her eyes.
William scowled at him. “Makin’ things worse, here, mate.”
Xander shrugged. Not caring in the least, he dove back into his game.
“Remind me again why we keep you around, Harris,” William muttered. He turned back to Willow. “It’s fine, pet. Really, I just wanted to ask you if I can expect any residual…feelings from it.”
Her eyebrows puckered in a frown. “Why? Are you still having…feelings? For Buffy?”
“No! Hell no! I’m just bein’…cautious. That’s all.” Ha! William thought triumphantly. A lie without stuttering and makin’ an ass out of myself! The day was looking up.
Just then, his watcher cleared her throat. “William, I’d like to have a word with you about what went on last night. I heard that Buffy escaped after Willow reversed the spell.”
Xander looked up with a satisfied grin. William fought the urge to rip out his spleen and stuff it up his nostrils. Bloody wanker.
“Glad to see you’re feelin’ better, Joyce. Eyes feelin’ okay?” he asked.
“Yes, I’m fine. Were you able to find Buffy and chain her back up?” Joyce asked, hopefully.
William drew in a deep breath. “Found her, yes. Contained, um…not exactly.”
Three pairs of eyes stared at him. William fought the urge to squirm. “Oh, bloody hell! She’s shacked up at the Crawford Mansion, all right?” He plunged ahead before anyone could say anything. “I just don’t see the need to chain her up in my basement anymore. She’s told us everything she knows about that lab where she was held. Besides, she’s toothless now. We have no reason to keep her.”
“William, she’s a vampire. I should think that would be reason enough,” Joyce stated firmly, crossing her arms in front of her.
Rolling his eyes, William stood and began to pace. “So, I should start chaining up every vampire I see from now on? No offense, Joyce, but I’m gonna need a bigger house. Not to mention a heeeefty salary from the Council of Wankers in order to keep ‘em all in pig’s blood.”
“Alright, no need for sarcasm. You’ve made your point,” Joyce sighed. “Now, about this other matter-“
Willow interrupted. “I told her about the party Saturday night.”
“Party? What party?” William wracked his brains trying to remember what Willow was talking about.
“The end of semester bash. The keg party?” she hinted.
“Oh. Right. The keg party.”
“Do you even know what a kegger is?” Xander asked snidely.
Gritting his teeth, William turned to Joyce. “What about it?”
Joyce began stacking the books on the table. “I just wondered why you hadn’t mentioned it. You know, William, it IS alright to take an evening off once in a while.”
William stared at her suspiciously. “Who are you and what’ve you done with my Watcher?”
“I’m not that bad, William,” she said defensively. “I think it would be a good idea for you to be there in case…something comes up.”
Aha. The real reason she was being so accommodating. Like partying and work meshed well? Three hundred drunken coeds running all over campus, and he was supposed to join in the fun? RIGHT. He’d be lucky if he even got the chance to snog with Harmony in a dark corner. Judging by past events, most of his time was going to be spent staking any vampires that decided to do their drinking second hand by snacking on the inebriated students. William sighed. Such was the life of the Chosen One.
“I’ll go if Harm wants to. She hasn’t called me back yet.”
“What? You haven’t taken her to the newest debate over at the student union? ‘Which author was a greater influence in the 20th century, Steinbeck or Hemingway?’ The poor girl must be heart broken,” Xander quipped.
William glared at Joyce. “You’ve let him into the books without big shiny pictures again, haven’t you?”
“Hey! I’m just as smart as you are. I just don’t shove it in people’s faces, nerd-boy!” Xander yelled.
“Sure. This from the man that has ‘Would you like fries with that?’ in big letters on his resume,” William snarked.
Xander lumbered over and the two of them stood nose to nose, both breathing heavily with barely suppressed anger. “You might have all that supernatural strength, but by God I’ll get in one good hit,” he hissed.
“You might get two hits if I bounce you hard enough, dough-boy,” William didn’t back down an inch. He was tired of Xander’s bullshit attitude. When he had first moved here with his father, he and the brunette had been the best of friends. They had even shared a dorm room for their first semester, but around the time that William had started dating Harmony, Xander’s long-time girlfriend Cordelia Chase had abruptly broken things off with him and moved with her parents to LA. Xander’s whole attitude towards his friend had undergone a drastic change for the worst.
“ENOUGH!” Joyce bellowed. Both young men flinched and backed away from each other. “The two of you are worse than a pair of toddlers. I don’t know what has happened to turn you against each other, but it needs to stop right now!”
Willow sat in her chair, a silent witness to this exchange. She knew what had come between the two former roommates, and ‘it’ was coming through the door right now.
“Blondie bear!!” Harmony squealed as she teetered into the shop on her impossibly high heels. She completely ignored Willow and Joyce and only spared Xander a derisive smile before taking the time to actually look at her boyfriend.
Her mouth fell open and her eyes bugged out. “Oh my God, William! What happened to your hair?”
“Awww. Don’t you like it, Harmony? Buffy did it for him,” Xander said slyly.
~@~@~@~
Just when he thought the day couldn’t get any worse.
He had walked Harmony over to the children’s park so that he could explain the previous day’s nonsense without Xanders interference. Twilight was falling before he finished the whole quixotic tale. After forgiving him prettily, Harm had dropped her little bomb.
She now sat on the bench beside him, her arms folded across her impressive bosom and a pout on her glossy lips. “I don’t see what the problem is. It’s not like I said I wouldn’t go with you. I just want to see if one of these frat guys asks me first,” she sulked.
William stared at her in amazement. “The problem is that you’re supposed to be MY girl, Harmony. Or has that changed and you just ‘forgot’ to tell me?”
“You don’t understand, William. I’m pledged to the most popular sorority on campus. I need to be seen with the right kind of guy to make a good impression with these girls. Image is everything, you know that!”
“And I’m not the ‘right kind of guy?’” His voice was flat and emotionless. She had changed so much since this whole sorority business had started. She had gone from a sweet, slightly shy girl to the vapid, bubble-headed fashionista sitting beside him. They had nothing in common anymore.
She cast him a critical glance. “You’re a sweet guy, William, but I’ve outgrown you. I have ambitions now. No offense, but you’re beneath me.”
Her careless words shredded his heart. William stood up, jamming his hands in his back pockets as he stared out over the park. “So, this is it?” he asked.
Harmony nodded, not even bothering to manufacture a few fake tears for appearances sake. “It’s for the best.”
A black convertible roared to a stop a short distance from them. He recognized the two frat-boys that climbed out. Riley Finn and Angel O’Conner; both from Lowell House. They parked their asses on the hood of the ragtop and yelled for Harmony. Without a word of goodbye, she trotted over to them; squealing when the muscle-bound O’Conner picked her up and swung her into the car. They were all laughing as they sped past him down the street.
To be continued
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