"Ha, ha, laugh at my expense," Xander said, playfully slapping Willow in the back of her head. "Okay, Fred Astaire I'm not, but I always manage to stay away from my partners tootsies."

"Not always, so says my tootsies," Buffy lied, giving Xander and impish grin. "Well, I'm parched. I'm gonna get a Coke. Ya guys want?" Willow nodded, but Xander shook his head, holding up his still unfinished drink.

When Buffy turned to make her way over to the bar, she let out a yelp as she bumped straight into Oz. With wide eyes, Oz grabbed at Buffy's arms to keep from falling to the ground with the force of their connection. Buffy held onto him until he regained his footing, giggling at the appreciation radiating in his eyes. "Gee, Buff. Are you on a personal mission to screw up my cool-guy persona?" Oz asked, running his fingers through his perfectly mussed hair.

"Little ol' me? No way!" she said with a smile, and moved passed him.

Oz made his way over to Willow, placing a sweet kiss at the top her head. Smoothing his hand over her silky hair, Oz stole Buffy's seat. "Well, she seems to be in a good mood," Oz commented, his surprise not betraying his voice.

"I know!" Willow said excitedly. "I can't get over it. I mean, it's only been three months since Angel left. I figured the mourning period had at least another two months or so."

"Tis a pleasant surprise, but while we're on the subject of Angel, let's remember not to be on the subject of Angel," Xander said, taking a sip of his Coke. Both Willow and Oz were giving him a confused look. "What I'm trying to say is, let's not talk about Deadboy when Buffy's around. She might fall right back into the whole depression thing. And I hate when she does that. It's so depressing."

* Buffy drummed her hands on the counter top to the rhythm of the new song that was blasting through the speakers, bobbing her head as she waited for hers and Willow's drinks. She tensed suddenly when she heard someone say, "Hey," right in her ear. She relaxed as soon as she recongnized the voice.

"Hey," Buffy said, turning to see Devon standing directly behind her. One of his hands was shoved deeply in his pocket, with the other he leaned against the bar, trapping her on one side. "H-how's it going?" she asked, as she noticed that the bartender had set her drinks down in front of her.

"Welllll," Devon drawled. "A lot better now that you're here," he said, cocking an eyebrow.

Tensing a bit, Buffy took her drinks up and said, "Glad I could be of service." With that, she picked up the drinks and pushed passed him. Devon's look of self-confidence fell as he watched her walk away from him. Pushing himself up on a barstool, he watched her rejoin her group of friends. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

When Buffy got back to the table, she was trembling slightly, but no one seemed to notice. Oz got up for her to take her seat again before wandering off to find one of his own. While he was gone, she joked around with Willow and Xander, who were taking advantage of her change of moods as much as possible.

"Does he call everyone 'pet'?" Xander asked. "The other day he even called *me* 'pet'." Buffy and Willow laughed along with Xander as he continued to make fun of their new ally. Even as they joked, Buffy still felt slightly tense. The hackles on the back of her neck were at full attention. Usually that meant that there was a vampire nearby, but Buffy knew that this time it had nothing to do with anything involving the supernatural. This time the person that was watching her was human. Human and unbelievably male.

"No, actually he saves that phrase for people he *really* likes," Buffy played, wriggling her eyebrows suggestively.

Xander paled and got a sick look on his face. "Okay, raise your hand if 'eww'," Xander said, raising his hand. Buffy and Willow looked at each other, turning back to Xander with matching grins, neither raised their hands.

"I don't know, Xand," Buffy said. "I think you and Spike might make a cute couple."

"Okay, excuse me if I yak in your Coke," Xander said, covering his stomach with his hand and looking like he might seriously be sick.

"Uh, Buffy," Oz's voice broke into their conversation. "Um, someone wanted me to give this to you," he said as he scooted a chair in next to Willow.

"Ooo, a chair of my very own," Buffy quipped, but her smile dropped when he slid a napkin across the table to her. Picking up the napkin, Buffy unfolded it. Written with a bold black Sharpie pen were the words, 'Meet me outside'. Sighing, Buffy pushed her chair out and stood, leaving her friends behind her to watch with a great amount of interest.

"What was that all about?" Willow asked, looking to Oz for some answers.

"Sorry, baby. Can't say," he told her.

"Oz!" she cried, jumping up and down in her seat with frustration.

"You're just going to have to ask Buffy when she gets back."

"That's right, Oz. You gotta take a firm hand when your woman steps out of line," Xander said in a fake gruff voice.

Buffy felt and involuntary shiver go up her spine when she stepped out of the club. Not that it was cold out. In fact, it still being summer, it was rather warm for night time. She looked around, but he was no where in plain sight so she slowly walked down the alley. When she came to a turn in the alley, she looked to her left and saw him leaning casually against a wall.

"Hey," she greeted as she walked closer to him, still trying to keep some distance between them.

Pushing off of the wall, Devon turned to face her. "So, you wanna tell me what was up with the Ice Queen act in there?" he asked, his voice slightly tinged with anger.

Buffy's stomach twisted in anticipation of what was likely to come. She knew that they were going to have to have this conversation sooner of later, she was just hoping that she'd be able to put it off as long as possible. Well, here it was.

"I wasn't trying to be a bitch," she told him in a quiet voice.

"Well, you failed pretty miserably there," he pointed out.

Buffy squinted through the darkness, trying to make out his features. She could see that the wrinkles in his forehead were more pronouced as he frowned back at her. "Look, Devon, what happened between us-"

"Wait, let me guess. It was a good time. You like me. I'm a really nice guy, but you're just not looking to be tied down right now," he said, his voice harsh as he spat the words out at her.

"I'm sorry," Buffy said, wrapping her arms tightly around herself. Tears threatened to pop up in her eyes, but she forced them away.

"Hey, no need to be sorry. It's the story of my life," he said, swaggering closer to her until he stood only a couple of inches away. "I hang out with a girl, start to like her, one thing leads to another, things go a little too far, then it's 'I really like you, Devon, but we're so much better as friends'. Why should I have thought it was any different with you?"

Buffy looked up at him, the shock apparent on her face. "But I thought-"

"What? It was all me? That I'm just some asshole out for a good time? Well, let me let you in on a little secret. Get *your* heart broken enough and that's what you become," he said cooly. Buffy tensed at his words. Is that what she was becoming? It sort of felt that way.

"I didn't know," she whispered.

"How could you?" he asked, shrugging. "My mask is well-fashioned."

He tried to brush passed her and out of the alley, but Buffy's hand shot out and grabbed him by the crook of his arm. He spun around on her, anger radiating in his eyes. "Hear me out," she pleaded, and she felt him, as well as saw him, relax. He shrugged her arm off and leaned against the wall again.

"So, talk."

Buffy took a deep breath to prepare herself for the long speech she felt coming on."I'm sorry if you feel like I used you," she began. Devon cut in before she got a chance to continue.

"Didn't you?"

Buffy struggled to find the correct words to apease him, but after a few moments realized that there weren't any. "I suppose I did." When he pushed off the wall and tried to walk away again, Buffy put herself in his path. "But I didn't realize it at the time. Devon, you have no idea what you did for me or how much that night meant to me." Stepping further away from her, Devon crossed his arms over his chest to show her that he was listening.

"No matter what I say, it'll never be the right excuse. Lately my love life has been incredibly sucky and at first, when I was with you, I was really just trying to blot out all of the hurt. And you were so gentle and patient with me, that it just became more than that. Because of you, I realized that I don't have to go through life scared and sheltering myself from other people. And-and, by letting go of all of that and just being with *you* it all seemed to lesson. It's still there, but somewhere far back, where I don't have to deal with it every day. And it's all because of you," she finished.

When she looked back up at Devon, she saw that the anger in face had disappeared. Moving closer to her, he took her shoulders into his hands. "Well, if I can do that for you, then why do you want to push me away?" he asked with confusion.

Giving him a bittersweet smile, Buffy covered his hands with hers. "Because, Devon, I'm in love with someone. And that'll never go away. If I were to be with you, it wouldn't be fair to either of us."

Sighing, Devon looked down, removing his hands from her shoulders. "I understand. Hey, Buffy?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think I'll ever be able to be more than a one time thing?" he asked her. In a sudden surge of compassion, Buffy threw her arms around his waist and, burrowing her head against his chest.

"Only if you let yourself be," she said, her voice muffled by his shirt. After a few moments, Devon broke their embrace and looked down at her.

"So, is there where you say we can still be friends?" he questioned with a wry smile.

"Actually, I was hoping you'd say it," Buffy said, biting her lower lips and ducking her head cutely.

Sighing, Devon threw an arm around her shoulder and began leading her out of the alley. "This doesn't mean we can't still have sex, does it?" he questioned playfully as they swaggered back towards the Bronze.

"I never said that," she said with laugh.

The End

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