Author: Holli
Email: summersfinn@hotmail.com
Willow looked across the room over at her extremely glum best friend. They were packing up their stuff for the summer since they wouldn’t be dorming it up again next year and Buffy didn’t look at all like she was enjoying it. She guessed that it had something to do with the fact that Riley would be thousands of miles away all summer long.
At least she wouldn’t have that problem. Graham was sticking around town to be near her. As a matter of fact they were going on vacation together for three weeks. She’d been ecstatic when he’d suggested it, but now as she watched her best friend, she wasn’t so sure it was a good idea. Maybe spending some girl time with her best friend would be better than being alone with her boyfriend.
Willow took her thoughts away from Buffy as she continued to pack her things. Buffy would come clean sooner or later about what was bothering her; she always did. So, all she had to do was wait.
Buffy picked up a red sweater, getting nostalgic as she folded it. She remembered when she’d bought it. The guys had taken her and Willow shopping one day and Riley was the one who had spotted the sweater, saying that it would look perfect on her. He was right. When she’d tried it on, he told her that she had to get it. He’d even bought it for her. Since the day that she’d bought it, she’d worn it at least a dozen or more times.
As she thought about it, about him, a tear slipped from her eyes unknowingly. He was leaving in less than a week. She knew that it would be hard to let him go, but she had no choice, but to let him go.
And as much as it hurt her, she had been pushing him away. If she spent time with him until he left, if she woke up in his arms, if they made love, it would only make the summer without him even more unbearable. She wasn’t sure if they would be able to stay true to one another over those two and a half months that he was gone.
A lot happened during summer vacation. A lot of things changed. The past two summers had been hell for her. The summer after junior year, after killing Angel, she’d fled Sunnydale for L.A., not being able to cope with sending him to Hell. Then, he’d returned and they’d resumed their relationship. For a while they were happy. Then, disaster struck and he had broke up with her. She still couldn’t believe that she’d been dumped by a vampire, but that didn’t really matter.
After defeating the Mayor, the summer after senior year was spent trying to move past Angel. There were a few little flings during the summer, but nothing worthwhile. Nothing could compare to what she’d found with Riley. Stability, love, trust, intimacy. Everything that she hadn’t been able to have before, he gave it to her. He gave her those things and so much more. That’s why it was so hard letting him go. And he hadn’t even left yet!
She looked across the room where Willow was busily packing. She couldn’t believe that she was going to be without Riley AND Willow. Though Willow would only be gone for a few weeks. Riley, though, would be gone for the entire summer. Pushing all of those thoughts aside, she focused on Willow. "So, Will, where’s Graham today?" she asked, throwing a few of Riley’s shirts into a box.
"He’s with Forrest and Riley. They were going to L.A. for something. Don’t know what for exactly, but it was a guy thing obviously," Willow said, then noticing the look on Buffy’s face, "Didn’t Riley tell you?" Willow asked, looking up from the things that she was packing to meet Buffy’s gaze.
Buffy walked to the window, peering out at the busy campus below. For some reason, in everyone else’s life, they were still living like it was a normal day, but for her, it was like the world she lived in had stopped. "Uh, no, he didn’t. I haven’t talked to Riley since Saturday," she told Willow.
Willow found that odd. Buffy hadn’t talked to Riley for four days. That was just…now she knew for sure that Buffy wasn’t happy about being away from him all summer, but she watched as she put on a happy face. She was about to open her mouth to ask why she hadn’t talked to Riley when Buffy changed the subject, asking, "Are you getting excited about your trip with Graham?"
Willow, despite Buffy’s solemnness, couldn’t hold back the flood of excitement that overwhelmed her as she thought about her vacation with Graham. "Yes, I can’t wait. I mean to be alone with Graham for three whole weeks is like a dream come true," Willow told Buffy as there was a knock on the door.
Buffy put down the sweater that she was folding and moved across the room to open the door. Throwing it open, there stood the person that she had been avoiding along with Graham.
Riley was the first to speak. "Hi," he greeted her. Graham gave her a heads up, then moved into the room, plunkering down beside Willow after giving her a kiss. She, though, stood there in front of Riley who had yet to move.
"Do you wanna come in?" she asked him, knowing that she couldn’t leave him standing in the hall. He nodded, walking past her into the room. As if on instinct he sat down on her bed.
She glanced at her watch. "Oh! Look at the time. I forgot there’s something that I have to do…somewhere else that’s…not here," she said. She grabbed her purse, told them bye, then bolted out the door.
Riley stared at his hands. "Is it me or does she not want to be around me?" he said more to himself than to the two people across from him.
Riley lay on his side in his bed, staring at the spot where Buffy usually lay. For five days he had tried to sleep alone. Tried. He couldn’t hack it any longer, though. He was used to having her soft body in his arms. He was used to going to sleep after they’d made love.
The only logical reason had to be that she was upset over his going back to Iowa. That had to be the reason. It would make sense. If he didn’t miss his mom and his sister so much he wouldn’t go back. If he didn’t need to get back to the ‘real world’ that was his hometown he’d stay in Sunnydale just so he didn’t have to say goodbye to her.
But he needed the normalcy that was Iowa. He wanted to forget everything that had happened in the past three months. If he could he would stay the summer with her, but after everything that had happened that year, he needed to just go home and be Riley Finn for a while.
Kicking off the sheets, he lay there clad only in boxers in the darkness, staring up at the ceiling, thinking of her. He just had to see her. He had to talk some sense into her. He didn’t want to go to Iowa with them being at odds. He was leaving Sunday and he wanted to spend the remainder of his days with her.
Hopping out of bed, he pulled on a pair of jeans, a shirt, grabbed his keys and was out the door, not bothering to care about the time. All he cared about was drilling some sense into that girlfriend of his. The fact that it was raining didn’t even seem to bother him. All that mattered was talking to Buffy.
He was halfway to Stevenson when he saw someone running through the rain. He stopped, peering through the rivulets of rain beating down on him at the figure headed toward him.
She had to see him. She had to explain why she’d been so distant. She didn’t want him to go to Iowa and meet someone else just because she’d screwed things up at the last minute. It was late, this she knew, but she didn’t really care. She just needed to…She stopped running when she saw him standing there.
They walked slowly toward each other, bridging the gap that had formed between them in the past week. They stood in front of each other for a few minutes just staring at the other. Then, Riley spoke, "What do you think you are doing? You can catch pneumonia or something!"
Buffy was taken aback by him. "Excuse me? The same goes for you! Besides, I don’t get sick. I’m immune to sickness, remember?" she reminded him. Not wanting to fight with him over this, she asked, "Where were you going?"
A smile on his face he simply said, "To see you." Watching her start to shiver, he took her hand, leading her back toward Lowell House. It was closer than Stevenson was anyway.
Once there, he led her up to his room, encouraging her to strip out of her wet clothes as he did, handing her one of his shirts to put on. She looked a little hesitant at first, but remembering that he’d seen her naked before, then just started stripping. He gathered all the wet clothes together and told her, "Wait here. I’m going to go run these through the dryer."
While he was gone, she climbed into his bed, snuggling into the sheets. His bed had always been warmer and more comfortable than hers had. That was probably why she’d opted his room over her dorm all those nights. The pillow smelled wholly of Riley; a mix of sweat, his deodorant, and his Hugo Boss cologne. She didn’t realize until that moment just how much she’d missed him.
"Comfy?" she heard him ask. She turned over watching as he closed the door to his room. Standing there, she admired him. He looked good, as always, his golden skin accentuated by the glimmer of light that his small bedside lamp was giving off. His chest was glistening from where the rain and his clothes had wet his chest. Just sitting there staring at him made her want to jump his bones.
"Remarkably," she said, forcing herself out of her stupor into a sitting position. She watched as Riley walked around the room, picking clothes up off the floor and putting them in their proper place. As he did that she wondered if he would be living in the frat again. She knew that Graham and Forrest were planning on getting their own apartment. She wondered if Riley was going to move in with them as well or maybe he was going to get his own by himself.
Riley sat down on the bed near the foot, distancing himself from her, making her wonder why. "So, wanna tell me why it is exactly that you were out this late at night, running in the rain no less?" he asked her.
"I was coming to see you," she said, kicking back the covers. Hopping out of bed, she walked to the window, peering outside at the falling rain. "We need to talk, Riley. About us. About this summer. About everything," she told him.
Watching her, he realized that she was wearing no underwear whatsoever underneath the shirt. It sent a wave of desire for her through his body. "Yeah," he succumbed, "I guess we do," he said as she fell down onto the bed beside him. She took his hands in hers as she started talking. With her holding his hands, it was distracting. He suddenly drifted off, thinking, remembering about those tiny hands all over his body: Running up and down his back as he thrust into her, cradling his face as she kissed him and he didn’t even want to think about what she did with them when she gave head.
He was snapped from his trance at the sound of her voice. "I know that things between us haven’t been all that great…and that is mostly my fault," she told him, pausing to take a breath. She was about to go on when he jumped up and overtook the conversation that had yet to begin.
"Buffy, let’s skip the pleasantries. Just tell me what this about and stop stalling," he said, suddenly aggravated with her. She was about to open her mouth to speak when he went on saying, "I know that this about me going back to Iowa." The look on her face confirmed his suspicions.
She sighed deeply, running a hand through her wet hair. "It’s not like I want to keep you away from your family, Riley, because I don’t. It’s just that the last few months have been great…I just don’t want it to end…" she told him.
Sitting back down on the bed, he moved closer to her. Putting his hand on her knee he said, "It doesn’t have to end just because I go away for the summer, Buffy. When I come back here next year, I want to know that I have something to come back to. I want to look forward to coming back especially if I’m coming back to you."
Buffy smiled at him then buried her head in a pillow. "God, what has come over me? I have never acted like this before. I just don’t want to lose you, Riley."
Riley pulled her up looking directly into her eyes. "You’re not going to lose me, silly. You have my heart. No one can replace that. No one can replace you. No one."
"But this summer. You’re going to be thousands of miles away and I’ll be stuck here in Sunnyhell. We’re not going to be able to remain loyal to one another for two and a half months," she managed to tell him before his mouth clamped over hers.
His lips. She’d missed those lips. Yes, the enmity between them had been because of her, but this felt right. Riley lowered her down onto the pillow, as their kissed became more passionate. She welcomed his tongue into her mouth as Riley’s hand slipped beneath the bottom hem of the shirt that she was wearing.
She sucked in her breath when she felt him slip a finger inside her. It was a nice, memorable feeling. "Did I surprise you?" he asked her, his voice breathy on her neck.
She nodded, staring deep into his eyes. "Riley, I’m sorry for my behavior the past few days…but I’ve missed you."
"Same for me, too. I’ve missed you, too. We have three days left Buffy. I want to spend every moment I can with you…kissing you," he said, pausing to kiss her lips softly, "…and making love to you," he said, adding a second finger to his ministrations.
Her skin was humming in anticipation. She wanted him, needed him. "I want that, too, Riley…so much," she told him as he bunched the shirt she was wearing in his hands, lifting it up her body. She raised her arms so that he could take it off.
They lost themselves in each other as they made love, making up for the few days spent apart. Those days didn’t seem to matter much after that; they barely remembered that they’d spent anytime apart at all. All that mattered was that they were together now and the time they had yet to spend together would be priceless.
Three days later…
Willow stared blankly at her best friend, arms crossed over her chest. Riley’s plane was leaving in less than an hour yet here Buffy sat in their dorm reading a damn magazine instead of being at the airport to wave her boyfriend off. Her priorities were really screwed, she thought.
Buffy looked up from the magazine article she’d been engrossed in for the past half-hour to look up at Willow, catching the glares her best friend was giving her. "What?" she asked the redhead.
The expression on Willow’s face was priceless. "What! Your boyfriend is at the airport right now about to leave for two whole months and you’re hear reading an article about…" Willow snatched the magazine from Buffy. Staring at the article momentarily, she threw it back on the bed. "Go to the airport, Buffy. He’d want to see you."
Buffy shook her head. "We’ve spent the last three days together, Will. Besides, Riley told me it was best that I not go to the airport. He said that if I were to go today and kiss him goodbye he was afraid that he wouldn’t be able to step on that plane."
Willow made a face. "Well, I still think that you should go see him. One last time, you know. I don’t want to hear you complaining the entire summer that you should’ve went with him to the airport because I’d have to kill you," Willow said, hopping off the bed.
LAX
His suitcases at his feet, Riley stared at his ticket. He had half a mind to call his mom and say that he was staying in Sunnydale. The last three days with Buffy had been wonderful. Physically draining, but wonderful all the same. Closing his eyes, he could see her convulsing beneath him. He could still here her panting and the sounds that she’d made when she’d cum. "Stop it, Riley," he told himself. If he kept thinking like that he wouldn’t have any willpower to get on that plane.
He would love nothing more than to spend the next two and a half months with her, alone with her for the entire summer, but he knew that his family was expecting him home. Besides, he hadn’t been home since Thanksgiving and he needed to show his family that he was still breathing.
He stood in the terminal, staring at the exits. He had been expecting her to walk through those doors at any moment. He sighed. Well, for once she had listened, he thought. She had stayed away. It’s safer that way, he reasoned. Less heartbreak for both of them. He grabbed his suitcase and moved in the direction of his flight’s gate. No need in missing it.
"Can’t you drive any faster?" Buffy asked the cab driver. She knew that she was beginning to piss him off. She could really care less right now. She just wanted to be there before he left.
"Look, lady, the freeway is busy today. I can only go so fast. What’s the big rush anyway? Your boyfriend leaving without you?" he asked jokingly.
Buffy stared out the window at the passing cars. "As a matter of fact he is…" she said sadly.
"Oh, sorry."
She smiled at him through the rearview mirror. "It’s okay. I mean, he hasn’t left yet. He’s going back home for the summer. He told me not to go to the airport, but I’ve never been one to follow directions. I want to see him before he leaves."
Suddenly he sped up. "Well, I know that if my girlfriend was leaving me for the entire summer, I’d want to be there to see her off."
Fifteen minutes later the cab pulled to a stop in front of the airport. Buffy stumbled out of the cab, running for the doors of LAX, muttering to herself, "I hate when Willow is right." She ran through the airport terminal, looking up at the flight information. "Where are you, Riley?" she asked herself, searching for his flight. There! Flight 785 to Des Moines at Gate 46.
Buffy ran in the direction of Gate 46, hoping and praying that he hadn’t boarded the plane yet. She stopped to catch her breath, searching the terminal for her boyfriend, but came up empty. Then, the crowd standing in front of her split and there he was standing there in all of his handsomeness, his suitcase in one hand, his ticket in the other.
Riley chanced a look up and there she was. Her blonde hair cascading around her shoulders dressed simply in jeans and a t-shirt. Said t-shirt happened to be one of his, but that wasn’t really what mattered. What mattered was that she was there. He muttered the one word that had been on his mind since she’d left him last night: "Buffy?" He dropped his bag as they ran for each other at the same time.
She launched herself into his arms, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck, burying her face in the crook of his neck. "I couldn’t let you go without seeing you once more," she told him, closing her eyes to will out the tears that were threatening to spill over. Don’t cry Buffy. Don’t cry, she told herself.
"I’m glad you came," he whispered in her ear as he smoothed back her hair. And he was. He didn’t want to leave without seeing her. It was bad enough that she’d left him last night after he’d fallen asleep. If she hadn’t had come he probably would’ve caught a later flight just so that he could see her one last time
When he pulled back, he noticed that her cheeks were wet with her tears. "Don’t do that because you’ll make me cry. Do you know how hard it is right now for me to leave? To leave you, I mean."
She managed a smile, wiping away the tears. "I’m sorry. I know I said that I wouldn’t come, but I just had to."
He pulled her roughly to him, kissing her long and hard. Everything around them suddenly disappeared. It was just them. It was just Buffy. Buffy’s hair. Buffy’s back. Buffy’s lips. Buffy’s tongue.
"I…I have to go," he finally muttered to her, cursing that he had to go so soon. He wanted to haul her into a closet or something and have his way with her one last time, but knew that he couldn’t.
She straightened the collar on his shirt. "Don’t meet anyone. You’re mine, Riley Finn. I don’t want to have to go to Iowa and have to kick some farm girl’s ass because she was screwing around with you. You’re *my* man. Got it?" she asked him.
He liked the sound of that. Her man. He could certainly get used to that. It may have sounded possessive, but who gives a damn. "Yes, ma’am, I am all yours. Don’t worry your pretty little head off. I am going home to relax not to hook up with any of the girls. Besides, you’ll probably be haunting my thoughts the entire time I’m gone."
"Good because I am the only girl you should be thinking about," she told him.
"That goes for you as well, then."
She nodded, a lopsided grin playing on her lips. "Okay, I promise not to get involved with any other girls," she joked. Circling his neck with her arms, she kissed and nibbled on his neck until she was pretty sure she’d given him a hickey. Hey, if any girl wanted to hit on him, let them know that someone was there before them. "I love you," she whispered.
"Tell me about it," he whispered back, their lips meeting once more. They called for his flight. "Well, that’s me so I better go."
She nodded. "You better before I decide not to let you go," she tried to joke.
"So, um, what’s in the bag?" he asked her, just noticing the bag that was in her hand.
"Boy, Riley, you sure are nosy!" she told him, putting the bag behind her back, out of his reach. "It’s a present for you. But you can’t open it until you get on the plane. Okay?"
"Okay," he agreed, taking the bag from her. They called for his flight once more. "If I don’t go now, I’m going to miss my plane." She tightened her grip on his hands. "Buffy." She loosened her grip.
"Promise to call me when you get there."
"I promise. I’ll call you about once a week," he said. She quirked a brow. "Okay, at least three times a week. My mom won’t like the phone bill, but it can’t be any worse than Stephanie calling her friend Jamie in Seattle," he told her.
"Now don’t go meeting any surfer dudes or anymore vampires," he teased her. She kissed him once more, then urged him to leave. He stopped at the gate, then turned around to look back at her. He blew her a kiss, then disappeared.
She waited for his flight to take off before she left. Riley would be gone for two and a half months and Willow for three weeks. In the meantime she’d have slaying, her mom, Xander, Spike, Jules and Jill. She just prayed that the summer went by quick because she was already starting to miss him.
"Peanuts? Water?" the flight attendant, asked. "Excuse me, sir. Can I get you anything?" she asked him.
Riley looked up at the woman; he shook his head. "No, thank you. I’m fine." She went about her way. He toyed with the bag in his hand, debating whether or not to open it. His curiosity finally got the best of him and he succumbed.
He opened the bag to find another smaller bag and a note. He opened the bag, his mouth dropping to the floor. Inside were a pair of Buffy’s panties and a Polaroid of her naked. He grabbed the note and began reading.
Riley: I hope you have fun for vacation. You are a bad, bad man for leaving me here in Sunnydale all alone. But what’s that saying, "Absence makes the heart grow fonder?" In the meantime, here are a few things to remember me by. I love you and I’ll miss you. Love, Buffy PS. I want my panties back!
He laughed softly as he stared from her white cotton panties to the Polaroid. On the bottom of the Polaroid, she’d scribbled: For your eyes only, I love you. He smiled. At least if he needed to relieve some tension, he’d have something to look at. This was surely going to be a long vacation.
The End