GOING ONCE (25/?)
 

Buffy led Willow to the couch, smiling a thankful smile at Riley for moving
to a chair. "What is it, honey? What's wrong?"
 

"Spike," Willow said, sniffling as she sat down and looked at her friends.
She felt a bit embarrassed to be talking about this in front of Riley and
Xander, but maybe they could add a guy's perspective.
 

"Ah, why doesn't that surprise me?" Anya said, shaking her head. "What's the
fangless dunder done now?"
 

"Wait a minute. Spike? With Willow?" Xander asked, scowling when Anya glared
at him and hissed for him to shut up. "Where the hell was I? Oh wait, I know.
The gym!"
 

"Willow, you look like you haven't slept. Did something happen? Did he hurt
you?" Buffy asked, trying to remember her stake was just in case.
 

"I didn't sleep last night," Willow said, running a hand over her face.
"Goddess, I must look awful. I was up all night thinking and yelling and I
don't know."
 

"You don't look awful," Anya said, wondering if lying to a friend was still a
terrible offense as normal lying was.
 

"Yes, I do," Willow said, smiling a small smile. "It's just, I'm so confused.
I don't know what to do anymore."
 

"What happened? You said it was Spike," Buffy said, trying to get enough
details to try to help her best friend.
 

"He's ignoring me!" Willow said, realizing she was whining. "He has his door
locked and when I tried to get his attention he turned his radio up. I've had
to hear the damn Sex Pistols, the Ramones and the Clash all night and into
today. He won't leave his room, he won't answer me when I call to him. We're
supposed to do adventurous tonight but he won't leave his room."
 

"Confused here," Xander said, waving his hand. "His room?"
 

"Spike moved in with Willow last week. Actually, he was pretty much living
there before that, but it was official last week," Buffy said, studying
Willow. There was something the redhead wasn't telling them.
 

"He's living with her?! And no one felt it necessary to mention to me, her
best friend?" Xander said, glaring at them all.
 

"Do you think that's smart? I mean, sure he's become part of the group, but
living with Willow?" Riley asked, shaking his head.
 

"Oh shut up and quit being so protectively male," Anya said giving them both
a look. "They want each other, let it be. Willow, honey, why is Spike
ignoring you? What happened?"
 

Willow gulped as she looked at the floor, "I don't know. I really don't. We
were out last night playing miniature golf and something happened that
shouldn't have happened. He left and when I got home, he was hiding in his
room. When I knocked, wanting to talk to him, he turned the damn music up.
Friends are supposed to be able to talk about things, aren't they? Why is he
shutting me out? It's not my fault what happened happened!"
 

"Spike playing miniature golf?" Buffy repeated, her lips twitching at the
image. Oh yeah, he had it bad.
 

"Did he lose? Is that why he's mad?" Anya asked, beginning to get a headache.
Willow was upset, which upset her, but she wasn't getting the answers that
she wanted.
 

"We never finished the game!" Willow said, looking around. "See, he was
really doing bad so I thought I'd help show him how to put. But, after he got
the hole in one, he dropped his club and kissed me. It wasn't like the first
kiss, the one that he doesn't remember, or the second which was pretty chaste
and friendly, but he's ignoring this one like that first one and I don't know
what to do. And when he was kissing me, their were hands everywhere and a
tree and scrapes against my back that still hurt and thrusting, there was
lots of thrusting, and kissing, we kissed the entire time, and then there was
just explosive wow and weak knees and wet jeans and he bit my lip and that
hurt but it was all so exciting and then I heard kids and pushed him away
even though I didn't want to and he was adorable with this confused slightly
startled look in his eyes and he tried to touch my lip where he had bitten me
and he seemed upset that he had hurt me but I couldn't let touch me so I
pulled back and his eyes changed and they became cold and he was so mean,
telling me that he was sorry and that he hadn't meant it to happen and when I
was trying to think of what to say, he left. I walked home and was still not
able to think of any answers. When I got there, he was locked in his room and
has been ever since."
 

All four friends looked at her with wide eyes, astonished first that she had
managed to get all of that said without stopping to take a breath and
secondly because they realized what had happened between her and Spike. Buffy
was the first to recover, asking softly to clarify, "You and Spike um you
know against a tree in the miniature golf course?"
 

"NO!" Willow said, her face flaming. "I mean, sort of but with clothes on."
 

"Why couldn't I have been at the gym today?" Xander asked no one in
particular, trying to rid his mind of the image of his best friend getting
shagged, with or without clothes, by Spike of all people against a tree in a
public place.
 

"You pushed him away afterwards?" Riley asked, having actually been able to
follow all of Willow's story.
 

"No," she said, shaking her head then frowning. "Oh Goddess, did I?"
 

"You said you did," Anya said softly, watching the redhead. "You said he was
worried that he had hurt you, reached to touch your lip, then you pushed him
away."
 

"Will, that's kind of harsh," Xander said quietly, giving her a wry smile.
"The guy was concerned and you won't let him touch you."
 

"But, I didn't mean it like that," she protested, looking at Buffy. "Is it my
fault? Did I do the wrong thing?"
 

"Honey, I don't know what to tell you. I've been telling you for weeks that
he was interested but you claimed it was just a friendly thing. It sounds to
me like he finally gave in and took what he wanted without thinking about it.
I mean, Spike doesn't really seem the type to want to fuck in a place
crawling with humans, you know?"
 

"Buffy's right. I think he finally got to the point where he couldn't resist
it anymore and had to have you," Anya said with a sigh. "In a way, it's
really romantic that he was unable to keep his control around you. For a
vampire, control is everything. If you make him lose it, he's probably scared
to death."
 

"Spike scared?" Willow repeated, shaking her head. "No, he said he was sorry.
That he hadn't meant it to happen. That isn't scared."
 

"Will, he probably had some big ideas of seducing you and making it all
dreamy. He seems to be the romantic type, for a vampire. I would guess that
doing it up against a tree was not his ideal situation for the setting to his
opening up to you about his wants or his feelings. I may not like him very
much, but he's always been very devoted to those he loves," Buffy said.
 

"Do you know how embarrassing this is to sit here with you guys and explore
my feelings for Spike?" Willow asked, smiling sheepishly as she realized the
absurdity of the situation. "I cannot believe that I just told you that he
and I almost had sex against a tree. I can't believe I actually said sex
without blushing!"
 

They laughed, Anya saying, "Willow, if you can't tell us all the explicit
details of your sex life, who can you tell?"
 

"Wait, no details. No explicit. Just stop at vague descriptions," Xander
said, with a smile.
 

"Do you guys really think I messed it up?" Willow asked, sighing. "I'm just
not used to this stuff. I don't know how to react after something like that.
And he apologized and I let my self esteem decide it was because he hadn't
wanted me instead of thinking of other reasons he might apologize. And now
I've ruined it all and we had two more dates before that stupid auction and
now he's ignoring me and I don't know what to do."
 

"Dates?" Buffy asked, looking at Willow. "What does the auction have to do
with it?"