Chapter Nine

“No, really, Dad!” Elizabeth exclaimed with an exasperated sigh. “I’m fine. Honestly!”

“Are you sure, sweetie?” Hank Summers sounded unconvinced. “Because all I’d have to do is pull a few strings with the board of directors…”

“I like living in the dorm,” Elizabeth said very slowly and precisely into the receiver, hoping her father would finally realize that she didn’t want his ‘help’.

“Well, if you’re sure…” Hank said hesitantly.

“Absolutely positively,” Elizabeth said in as perky a manner as she could manage.

“All right then,” Hank finally agreed with a little shake of his head. Sometimes he just didn’t understand his daughter one bit. “So, how are classes going?”

Elizabeth groaned. “I’ve got midterms coming right up,” she complained. “Nonstop studying.”

“On a Saturday?” Hank shook his head. “You should be out partying, spending some time with that Riley Finn you’re so fond of…”

Elizabeth managed a nervous little laugh. The truth was that she kind of been distancing herself from Riley for the past week. She might be happier now that the whole Greek scene had rejected her, but it still hurt…

“I plan on going out tonight,” she informed him. “Halloween and all.”

“That sounds like fun,” her father agreed, obviously distracted and not paying attention to a word she said. Elizabeth could almost see him shuffling the papers on his desk.

“Yup,” she agreed brightly.

“That’s great,” he replied before his tone turned serious. “Buffy honey, can I talk with you about something?”

Elizabeth bit her lip both at the name and at what ‘talk with you’ usually meant. “Sure,” she tried to sound enthusiastic.

“Well, sweetie, were you planning on coming home for Thanksgiving?” he asked.

She rolled her eyes slightly. Like she hadn’t been expecting this for weeks. “Yeah, why?” she lied.

Hank sighed. “It turns out that I have to be out of the country that weekend, and your mom—”

“Stepmom,” Elizabeth emphasized.

Hank’s voice hardened. “This childish grudge you’ve got against your mother—” he began.

“She is my stepmother,” Elizabeth argued, cutting him off. “Now, what were you saying?”

He abruptly remembered that he was supposed to be buttering her up and let the subject drop. “Anyway, you mom’s going to be representing me at the charity dinner in Seattle that weekend, and, well…you won’t really have anything to come home to.”

Elizabeth sighed. “I suppose I could stay here,” she agreed glumly. “The dinning hall’s still open that night and everything…”

“Great!” Hank said happily. “I’m really sorry about this, sweetie, but you know…”

“ ‘Business first’,” she completed for him in a dull monotone.

“Knew you’d understand,” he agreed. “So, I’ll call you back in a couple of weeks to check up, OK?” She heard rustling papers in the background.

“Sure,” she sulked slightly.

“Daddy misses his little girl,” he said in a voice so saccharine she rolled her eyes.

“Miss you too, dad.”

“Bye, honey.” The line went abruptly dead as Hank Summers returned to the business world with his full force.

Elizabeth groaned wearily and rubbed her eyes. “Yeah, dinning hall food for Thanksgiving,” she grumbled under her breath before reluctantly dialing the next of her dreaded calls. “Is Riley Finn there?” she asked in a too sweet tone when Forrest picked up the phone.

“Just a minute,” he grumbled slightly before turning and yelling. “Riley! Your girl’s on the line!”

Elizabeth winced inwardly at his assessment of her.

There were several muffled noises at the other end, and then Riley finally picked up. “Hey, Elizabeth!” he said brightly. “What’s up? Are we on for tonight?”

“Sorry, Riley,” Elizabeth tried to sound disappointed. “I’m going out with some friends.”

“I could go with,” Riley offered.

Elizabeth flinched inwardly. A night with both Spike and Riley. The thought was too horrible to contemplate. “And miss the big Delta Phi party?” she pointed out. “You’ve been planning it for weeks. Halloween only comes around once a year, y’know…”

“You won’t feel…left out if I go to the party without you?” Riley asked, concerned.

“Not at all,” she assured him. “Give me some time to catch up with my friends alone…”

“All right,” Riley sighed. There was a brief pause. “You’re not mad at me, are you?”

“Of course not!” Elizabeth insisted. “Why would I be mad at you?”

“Well, you’ve been kinda…distant…” he began.

“I’ve just been caught up in classes,” she assured him. “Tell you what – next weekend we’ll do something together after I’m done with all my studying.”

“Really?” Riley said enthusiastically. “Great!”

“So you’d better plan something nice,” Elizabeth laughed. “After all, it’s out first technical ‘date’…”

“You won’t be disappointed,” Riley assured her.

“I’m sure I won’t,” she agreed with a smile. “So, I’ll see you in class on Monday?”

“Monday,” Riley agreed.

“Bye.”

“Bye.”

“Let me guess,” Forrest said sarcastically, arms folded over his chest as he watched Riley put down the receiver, “she’s not coming?”

“She has other plans,” Riley replied with a slight frown.

Forrest rolled his eyes. “That’s one hell of a girlfriend you’ve got yourself,” he said harshly. “Won’t even bother herself to spend time with you.”

“We’re going out next weekend,” Riley informed him, his eyes narrowing slightly. “She just wanted to hang out with her friends tonight.”

“Yeah, right,” Forrest rolled his eyes. “These ‘friends’ wear pants?” he shot back over his shoulder before turning back into his room.

Riley’s brow furrowed further for a second before he shook his head. There was no way. Elizabeth had made her interest in him all too apparent…

* * *

“Well?” Willow demanded as Elizabeth hung up the phone.

“I’m all yours tonight,” she joked. But she looked at Spike as she said it, the tiniest hints of a flush brightening her cheeks.

He licked his lips in response. “Glad to hear it, luv,” he said with a sly, sexy smile. “’Cause this’ll be one Halloween you’ll never forget…”

The promise in his eyes made her gulp slightly.

“Great!” Willow said with a bright smile. “We’ve got lots of people this year… I don’t suppose anyone’s seen Jonathan?” she asked.

Spike shrugged. “’E’s not in his room.”

Willow bit her lower lip. “Oh well,” she sighed, “I’m sure that means he’s got plans then…”

“So,” Elizabeth tried to look unconcerned as Spike sat down on her bed next to her, “who’s coming then?” Oh my god, gorgeous Spike on my bed! Her mind was going into hyper panicky aroused overdrive.

“Everyone but Jonathan and Devon and Faith,” Willow answered from her own mattress. “Pretty good house turn out this year…”

“Only in Westing House would seven people count ‘s good turn out,” Spike commented wryly, leaning back on his elbows as he settled back further onto Elizabeth’s mattress.

“What are Devon and Faith doing?” Elizabeth asked, trying not to notice that Spike was now lying on her bed beside her and that the indentation he was making on her mattress was causing gravity to slowly pull her in his direction. She fought the evil universal force with all her might, resisting the urge to fall into him. Two bodies are naturally attracted to each other… The quote from some long-forgotten high-school science lecture popped abruptly into her mind.

“Some band/rave/party thing,” Willow shrugged. “My guess is they’ll be crashing all tomorrow…”

“ ‘Band/rave/party thing’?” Spike repeated, mildly bemused.

“Like I can tell the difference!” Willow exclaimed, somewhat flustered. The sound of feet on the spiral staircase caught her ear then. “It’s Tara,” she said with a little smile. “Be right back!” And with that, she raced out of the room.

Elizabeth blushed slightly when she realized that she and Spike were now alone together in her room, on her bed…

“Can identify ‘er girlfriend by the sound of ‘er feet on the stairs,” Spike commented with a little smirk. “Now that’s…intimacy…” The last word was spoken in a breathy whisper.

Elizabeth felt goosebumps rising all over her body in response. “So,” she said, desperate to keep things casual while they were alone since she was so sorely tempted, “where are we going tonight?”

“You know I can’t tell you that, kitten,” he said with an enigmatic little smile. “Would ruin the surprise.”

“Spike has a surprise,” she teased lightly. “Should I be panicking right about now? You’re not going to make me listen to your crappy music, are you? ‘Cause it is Halloween, and that’s about the scariest thing I can think of…”

“ ‘Crappy music’?!” he repeated in an outraged tone. Not even Elizabeth could quite tell if he was serious or not. “’ll have you know that the punk movement—”

“—Is a) lame, and b) dead,” Elizabeth taunted him, leaning a bit closer so he could perfectly see her smug _expression.

He scowled up at her. “Oh, you’re askin’ for it, missy,” he practically scowled.

“What are you going to do?” she retorted with a satisfied little smile. “You fight like a girl.”

“Can kick your ass any day,” he shot back out of force of habit.

“You know, Spikey,” she teased, “that would be a lot more convincing if I didn’t kick your ass every we—eep!” She squealed in surprise when he abruptly caught hold of her pillow and whapped her in the head with it. “Y-You…jerk!” she exclaimed at the smug smirk on his face. “You girly-fighting jerk!”

“Gotcha, din’t I?” he said, lying back and enjoying the view of Elizabeth Summers, face flushed red with anger, hovering over him.

She promptly grabbed hold of her other pillow and hit him in the head as well. “You are so dead!” she announced, hitting him again.

Things quickly deteriorated from there as they each continued to attack each other, Elizabeth’s squeals and giggles and Spike’s grunts carrying into the hall.

“Hello?!” Anya’s voice suddenly called through the door. “Are you having sex in there? ‘Cause we’d really like to get going!”

They both froze, mortified by Anya’s usual casual bluntness.

The blond promptly opened the door and looked inside. “Oh good,” she commented off-handedly, “you’re not naked.” She turned back to the outer room. “It’s all right!” she shouted out. “They didn’t get past the foreplay!”

Elizabeth wondered if there was a convenient small, dark corner anywhere where she could curl up to die. Although, given the look of Spike’s face, she’d probably have to fight him for it.

“Anyanka!” Spike managed to gasp out, too horrified to form any other coherent thoughts.

Anya merely gave him a little victorious smile. One that clearly said ‘Nyah-nyah, got you…but I’m too mature to actually say that out loud’. “You can wrestle some more when we get back,” she informed Elizabeth with a wry smile. “You should enjoy it. He’s very well hung.”

Elizabeth developed a sudden hacking problem which, unfortunately, brought her head forward so that it was right level with the area of Spike’s anatomy in question. If it were possible to die of embarrassment, she was sure she would have done so on the spot. Hell, spontaneous combustion didn’t seem like such a bad idea right about now…

“Anya, quit torturing Elizabeth and Spike!” Willow, the voice of reason, came in to save them. She gave them a goofy little smile and a wink as she pulled Anya away, though.

Elizabeth and Spike practically ran for the door, both eager to save themselves from any further embarrassment.

“See?” Anya said brightly. “My way got them to hurry up faster.”

“’as anyone ever told you that you’re a bleedin’ menace, luv?” Spike asked rhetorically.

“You,” she crossed her arms in front of herself and scowled at him. “About a thousand times.”

“So, yeah,” Oz watched the exchange, blinking very slowly as he did so. Elizabeth had long since determined that the rate of his blinking described his mood; this rate indicated mildly impatient. “Let’s go then.”

The seven students made their way down the stairway, shoes clamoring like elephants on the old steps. For the safety of her own sanity, Elizabeth moved to walk with the Willow-Tara-Oz group; she could tell that Xander and Anya were both teasing Spike mercilessly in front of them.

“So, where are we going?” Elizabeth asked curiously.

Willow and Tara exchanged a conspiratorial little giggle. Oz’s eyebrow moved a few millimeters.

“It’s a surprise,” Willow insisted. “You freshmen don’t get to find out till we get there.”

Elizabeth sulked. “That’s what Spike said.”

“Wow,” Oz said in a complete deadpan, “Spike was right about something.”

Tara giggled. “Go easy on him,” she teased lightly. “I think Elizabeth’s got, um…feelings…”

“What Elizabeth’s got,” Elizabeth corrected with a raised eyebrow, “is a, um…boyfriend.”

“Where is Finn tonight anyway?” Oz asked out of morbid curiosity.

“Frat party,” she shrugged disinterestedly. A sudden laugh broke out from the group in front of them, and instantly her eyes snapped to Spike.

Willow and Tara exchanged a knowing little glance. Oz blinked twice in quick succession.

Elizabeth didn’t notice, however, because at that moment, Spike and Anya veered off to the left, guiding a still hysterically-laughing Xander along with them. The street they were now going down was dark and twisty, most of the streetlights dulled by the tree branches that obscured them.

“Very Halloweeny,” Elizabeth commented just as the trio before them stopped in front of a large, old house. “Wow,” Elizabeth gasped slightly; she’d never seen a house that looked more likely to be haunted in all her life.

“They say everyone who lives there goes mad within a year,” Spike said in a husky voice, whispering right into her ear with only a trace of his usual innuendo.

“Wh-Who lives there now?” Xander’s voice was slightly shaky as he, too, was apparently affected by the house’s atmosphere.

“No one,” Anya said simply, even her normally chipper tones dulling to a quiet whisper as she got into the mood of the holiday.

“Shall we?” Spike extended a hand to Elizabeth with a ghost of his usual smirk on his lips.

That snapped her out of it, and she brushed his hand aside before walking up the old steps. “How exactly are we supposed to get in?” she demanded sarcastically.

Spike rolled his eyes and turned the doorknob. The old wooden door creaked on its rusty hinges as it swung inward. “After you,” Spike teased lightly. “That way you can protect me from all the nasties inside,” he added with a little wink.

She gave him a fond little smile in response and went in.

“This place is so cool,” Willow repeated her sentiments of the previous year as she went inside, too.

“Doesn’t it make you feel like a kid again?” Tara asked. “Back when you would try to scare yourself by staying up late at night and watching horror movies?”

“Too bad we don’t have any now,” Xander agreed.

“Au contraire,” Oz said with a little smile. He opened his bag and pulled out a familiar white and blue Blockbuster Video bag for everyone to see.

“We have a TV?” Elizabeth asked in surprise.

“And a VCR. And a popcorn popper,” Anya agreed, leading the way into the living room. “All the bare necessities.”

She flopped down on a couch there, and Elizabeth raised an eyebrow at the absence of dust.

“Actually,” Spike admitted with a slightly sheepish smile, “an old friend ‘f my parents owns it, but ‘e’s a visitin’ professor over at Macalester for the next few years, so we kinda watch ‘is house for him.”

“Why didn’t you just tell me that in the first place?” Elizabeth teased, sitting down. She wasn’t the slightest bit surprised when Spike took the seat directly next to her. “A professor’s house is way scarier than a haunted house any day. Why, he could come right in and assign us more midterms!” she gasped in mock-horror.

Spike huffed slightly. “Spoilin’ the mood is what you are, pet,” he slouched back into the couch.

“Poor Spikey,” she replied lightly, patting his head in a condescending manner. Ooh, SOFT hair… Gotta find out what conditioner he uses to counteract the bleach… She retracted her hand and scowled slightly at the disobedient appendage. Bad hand! Quit providing me with more reasons why Spike’s sexy!

“So,” Willow said, pulling the movies out of Oz’s bag as the sound of the popcorn maker sounded in the background, “what are we watching? We’ve got ‘The Shining’ and ‘The Haunting’ and ‘The House on Haunted Hill’.”

“Yeah, I’m not detecting any theme here,” Anya said sarcastically, digging through the candy Oz had also brought and quickly snatching up as many Kit-Kats as she could find.

“Oi!” Spike complained. “Those’re my favorite!”

Elizabeth watched the two bleached blondes fight over the candy like a couple of kids and couldn’t help from giggling slightly. “ ‘The Haunting’ and ‘The House of Haunted Hill’ are already out on video?” she asked surprised.

“The original ones, you silly bint,” Spike muttered under his breath as he retrieved his candy.

Elizabeth decided it was time to play dirty. “I like Kit-Kats, too,” she informed him softly, batting her eyelashes a couple of times for good measure.

“Chivalry’s dead,” he informed her with a little smirk. “Get used to it.” He did toss two of them into her lap, however.

“So, votes?” Willow asked.

“ ‘The Shining’,” Xander shrugged. “ ‘The Haunting’ and ‘The House on Haunted Hill’ sucked…or, at least, the new ones did.”

Elizabeth nodded. “I’ve never seen ‘The Shining’,” she agreed.

Spike slapped himself in the forehead. Before changing his mind and batting her in the forehead. “’aven’t you seen any movies made before 1990?” he demanded.

“I saw ‘The Princess Bride’,” Elizabeth pointed out.

“Only after we all made you watch it,” Spike retorted.

“ ‘The Shining’s a classic,” Oz agreed. “Not exactly good, but a classic.”

“I wouldn’t feel right if I let you go all the way through college without seeing it,” Willow nodded mock-solemnly. “Spike? Anya?”

“I don’t care as long as I don’t have to pay for it,” Anya said matter-of-factly. “Being agreeable is likely to encourage people to give me more free food and free movies in the future.” She flashed them all a bright smile.

Spike rolled his eyes. “What she said,” he agreed, “only less capitalistic.”

“ ‘The Shining’ it is,” Willow agreed with a bright smile as Oz moved to slip the movie into the VCR.

Tara reentered the room with the freshly-popped popcorn then. She set the two bowls down on the table before giving Willow a quick kiss. “Did you manage to subtlety manipulate everyone until they voted for my choice?” she teased lightly.

“Of course,” Willow replied, scootching over and making room for Tara on the loveseat beside her.

“We ready then?” Oz snatched up the remote and took the empty seat beside Spike.

“Play,” Xander agreed with a mouth full of popcorn.

Despite the occasional scuffle for the candy and the rather frequent quotes of the Simpson’s parody of the movie, Elizabeth found herself getting caught up in falsely-bright, creepy, empty atmosphere of the movie. She lay back and was briefly startled when her head came into contact with Spike’s arm which had been resting on the back of the couch behind her.

He gave her a sheepish little smile and gave her back her headrest.

The room grew silent as the strange shots and eerie setting built up the tension on screen. Elizabeth felt her entire body tense up, just waiting for…

“Aiee!” she screamed, covering her eyes with her hands and burying her face into Spike’s shoulder when the twin creepy little girls suddenly appeared.

Spike, obviously enjoying this turn of events, let his arm slip around her shoulder, holding her against him as the scene progressed.

By the time Danny started reciting ‘Redrum’, she was practically in Spike’s lap…although, in all fairness, she wasn’t exactly paying enough attention to the movie to really be scared. She was far too absorbed in the feel of Spike’s arms around her. In fact, if she wanted to be really honest, she hadn’t really been all that scared the first time she’d shrieked. A little surprised, sure, but horror movies never really got to her all that much. Usually because she was convinced that if she were in the movie, she’d be able to kick the ass of whatever the monster was.

But there was no way she would have passed up this great opportunity to get up close and personal with Spike, without any of the nasty repercussions.

She heard Anya squeal against Xander again and timed her own flinch to coincide with it, breathing in the scent of leather and smoke and musky, male Spike as she did so.

Slight problems occurred when Jack started attacking his wife as she batted at him helplessly with the baseball bat. “Puh-lease!” Elizabeth rolled her eyes. “Why on earth is she holding the bat in the middle like that? She’ll never knock him out that way!”

Spike chuckled, the rumbling of his chest sending wonderful vibrations throughout her body. “Check this out,” he flinched slightly in anticipation.

Elizabeth watched Jack fall down the stairs. His wife cautiously approached him and… “Oh my god!” she exclaimed in outrage. “There wouldn’t even be any suspense in this scene if that woman had half a brain!” she ranted. “Look at that! All she has to do is give him a little kick right there, and he’ll be unconscious for hours! But, no! She has to be all meek, holding the bat the wrong way, and—”

“Movie?” Willow gently reminded her.

“Oops, sorry!” Elizabeth quickly put her hand over her mouth and buried herself back into Spike’s leather duster, although this time out of embarrassment. She knew it was a lame excuse, but she’d just blown the ‘scared’ one, and it was the best she could do on such short notice.

The humorous comments took over again as Jack Nicolson began to chew the scenery, hamming up the psycho role as much as possible, but everyone still clapped when the movie ended.

“I don’t get it,” Anya said with a slight frown. “The preview had blood coming out of the elevator. I wanted to see the blood come out of the elevator, dammit!” She stamped her foot in a stubborn way.

“It happened,” Xander insisted.

“Yeah,” Anya sulked, “but it didn’t have anything to do with the movie. I could sue.”

“And, on that note,” Willow said with a little chuckle, “let’s head back home.”

Elizabeth yawned and was surprised when she checked her watch and found out that it was almost one. Spike yawned in response and rested his head against the top of hers for a brief second before moving to get up.

“Like the movie, Summers?” he asked with a rakish little grin, offering her a hand up.

She brushed it gently aside and stood up under her own powers. “Yeah,” she shrugged, “it was all right.”

“Definitely ‘ad it’s perks,” he teased before following Willow and Tara into the hallway.

“Pig,” Elizabeth rolled her eyes at him for the umpteenth time.

The walk back to the dorm was filled with amusing mockery of the movie they’d just watched, and before Elizabeth knew it, they were back in Westing House, waving good-night before they all retreated into their rooms.

“You had fun, right?” Willow asked slightly nervously, crawling into her bed. “It wasn’t too geeky or anything?”

“Way more fun than the Delta Phi frat parties,” Elizabeth assured her, burrowing into her own blankets.

“Well, we haven’t gotten to the scariest part yet,” Willow added with a wry smile.

“Oh?”

“Tomorrow morning, it’s back to studying for midterms,” Willow said before turning off the light.

Elizabeth groaned. “Don’t remind me,” she managed to get out through another yawn before her eyelids fluttered shut and her mind drifted off into a wonderful world of chocolate, strawberries, and peroxide blondes…

TBC

Chapter 10

“I mean, I’m still kind of in the ‘ooh! Draw pretty plants!’ stage,” Elizabeth said with a nervous little laugh, “but I just didn’t feel like using green. I mean, it does kind of get boring after a while…”

The two guys that had also been drawing houseplants with her for the past week cheered in agreement, and Professor Devereux couldn’t help but smile in amusement as well.

“So, anyway,” Elizabeth leaned back into the comfy couch in the critiquing room and gestured to the five pieces she’d hung up on the wall for the midterm discussion, “I started playing with color…and then I decided to go with texture and depth, too. And then all these weird perspectives started popping into my head and, well…” She shrugged, still slightly nervous.

“I like the one you did from above,” a shy girl in the back of the room commented. “It has a nice…symmetry to it?” Her face flushed a bit red, and she immediately ducked her head.

“Yeah, I fiddled with that one a bit,” Elizabeth nodded. “You know that five-sided Celtic knot painting that’s on the second floor right outside the bathroom? Well, I kinda tried to do that…but with a plant.”

“It’s cool,” the jock-guy who’d also gotten kicked out of Steinberg’s class commented.

“So, yeah,” Elizabeth said. “That’s it.”

She was greeted with brief applause, and she moved to take her pieces down.

“That’s everyone then,” Professor Devereux said. “We don’t have anything else for this class, so feel free to take a freebie on this next hour… And don’t be too enthusiastic now,” she teased lightly when everyone ran for the door simultaneously.

She got a couple of sheepish grins before the class vanished. Fortunately, the one student she wanted to talk to was still busy taking down her work. “Elizabeth,” she began with a little smile.

Elizabeth gulped. “Yeah?” she winced inwardly.

“Your work is…truly unique, for lack of a better word,” Devereux said, taking in the painting Elizabeth was taking down at the moment.

“Yeah, I kinda got a little bored and wandered from the assignments, but I swear it won’t happen again, and—” Elizabeth was quickly entering a panic attack fit to rival any of Willow’s.

“I like it,” Devereux hastily corrected her. “Actually,” she said, leaning in conspiratorially, “you’re one of the most promising students I’ve had in years.”

Elizabeth’s eyes widened in disbelief. “Me?” she repeated incredulously.

“You have such an original way of looking at things,” Devereux nodded, “of exploring new possibilities…and even when they don’t turn out right, you still seem to learn from them and work them into your later pieces.”

“I just draw whatever I feel like,” Elizabeth insisted.

“And that’s art,” Devereux said with a catlike little smile. “Anyway, I was wondering if you would be interested in starting your own project? Like you said, you’ve been wandering from the assignments more and more, and…well, if there’s something you would like to do…”

Elizabeth looked down to the floor and bit her lip. “Well, I kind of had this idea for a painting…a landscape thing but also, y’know, something about my life? But, I mean, it’s not really…”

“Maybe it won’t be good,” Devereux conceded, “but maybe it will. Why don’t you just try it? See where it takes you…”

“Yeah, I guess so,” Elizabeth shrugged, a little excited about the prospect. “I mean, if you think it’s a good idea…”

“I do,” Devereux insisted confidently.

“Great, then,” Elizabeth managed a little smile. “So, I’ll see you Monday then?”

“You’ll probably be the only student on time,” Devereux agreed with a grin.

Elizabeth rolled her eyes at this as well. “Bye, then!” she said before dashing off down the hall, a little skip in her step.

Professor Devereux shook her head and jotted a few more notes down in her grade book. Paradoxically, it was the students with the most talent that always seemed the most uncertain of their abilities. But she had a feeling that if she just kept encouraging Elizabeth, that young woman could do great things…

* * *

“Hey, Jonathan!” Elizabeth said perkily as she caught their elusive housemate right as he was leaving his room.

“H-Hi,” he said back nervously before practically fleeing down the stairs.

Elizabeth shrugged. She frowned slightly when she popped her head in Spike, Anya, and Xander’s open doors in quick succession and found that all three rooms were vacant. Surprisingly, however, the door to the house lounge was closed. She raised an eyebrow at that before she slowly opened the door and…

“What. The. Hell?!” Those were the only words Elizabeth could come up with to describe the scene before her.

Spike and Xander were in the center of the room, stripped down to nothing but a pair of boxers each – yellow smiley-faced and pink hearted boxers, respectively. Spike was kneeling down on the floor right in front of Xander, and Elizabeth sudden felt irrationally jealous of the dark-haired man.

“Did you two come out of the closet and me not hear about it?” Elizabeth couldn’t help but laugh, giggling slightly at the sight before her.

Spike rolled his eyes and rose to his feet.

“Hey!” Xander exclaimed. “I’m not gay! I only agreed to this under the provision that everyone realized that I’m not gay!”

Elizabeth abruptly realized that the spectacle of the two, nearly-naked young men had monopolized her attention and that they were far from the only ones present.

“Xander’s not gay,” Devon provided from where he was holding a small video camera and leaning back against the TV stand.

Next to him, Oz – in a similar state of undress as Xander and Spike – nodded.

Anya, who was wearing an illegally short miniskirt, high-heeled shoes, and a bra, rolled her eyes. “Can we hurry it up already?” she complained. “I want to be the sandwich meat already!”

“Huh?” Elizabeth blinked several times. “OK,” she shook her head, completely baffled, “what the hell is going on here?”

“It’s a movie for Devon’s media studies class,” Willow hastily explained.

Elizabeth turned to her and couldn’t do anything but stare stunned at the fact that both Willow and Tara were wearing skimpy little nightgowns and cuddling up on the couch together.

“Of what?” Elizabeth couldn’t stop the sarcasm from seeping in. “A bordello?”

Devon rolled his eyes heavenwards. “It’s a discussion of heterosexual stereotypes of homosexual relationships,” he explained patiently.

“Uh-huh,” Elizabeth didn’t sound convinced.

“It’s actually really funny,” Tara giggled slightly. “See, me and Tara and Spike and Xander get to be the gay couples—”

“Falsely gay couples,” Xander corrected.

“—Falsely gay couples,” Tara amended.

“Gay couples,” Willow corrected, giving Tara a cheeky grin.

Tara mock-pouted. “Now you’re just being difficult on purpose,” she accused, swatting at Willow’s shoulder playfully.

“So, Xander’s gay,” Elizabeth couldn’t help but tease. “And?”

“I’m not—!” Xander began before throwing his hands up in the air.

“Acceptance is the first step to coming out of the closet,” Spike said mock-solemnly, patting the other man’s shoulder.

“Oh, you are so dead!” Xander announced before tackling Spike to the ground. Elizabeth watched the two wrestle around on the ground, bemusedly.

“See?” Anya said with an evil little smile. “You can’t fake like kind of UST…”

Xander flopped down onto his back in surrender. “Everyone’s going to think I’m gay for all eternity for this, aren’t they?” he said with a resigned sigh.

“You could always, um, make some manly grunting sounds and guzzle a whole case of beer w-while screaming out ‘Delta Phi rocks!’,” Tara’s speech stuttered progressively more as she tried not to laugh as she said it.

“Delta Phi sucks,” Spike announced, sitting up from where he’d ended after his and Xander’s little play tussle. “And prob’ly not well, either,” he added with a little smirk.

Elizabeth couldn’t help but giggle at that. “So what?” she asked curiously, hopping up to sit on the TV stand beside Devon. “They just make out?”

“At first,” Devon was chuckling slightly, “but then Oz jumps in the middle of Willow and Tara and Anya jumps in the middle of Spike and Xander, and it turns into a goofy orgy.”

“I helped write the dialogue,” Anya added proudly.

“Anyanka’s got a secret callin’,” Spike agreed, flopping back down on the carpet again. “Humorous porn…’s a whole new genre…”

Anya stuck her tongue out at him. “You’ll be crawling all over me in a few minutes,” she retorted.

“Yeah,” Spike said sarcastically, “for a movie.”

“And Spike’s a movie whore!” Anya announced perkily.

“So, yeah,” Devon looked mildly annoyed, “can we start again now?”

“I get to watch, right?” Elizabeth said with a little smile, intentionally raking her eyes up and down Spike’s body and loving the way it made him squirm.

“Sure, just try not to laugh too hard,” Devon spared her a little smile. “OK, places, people!” He turned back to the ‘set’ before them.

Xander rose to his feet, and Spike kneeled before him once more so that, to the camera angle, it looked like he was doing something very naughty.

“Action!” Devon announced.

Elizabeth was quickly biting her hand, trying not to giggle at the ridiculous lines Anya had concocted for them. “Only another cunt can satisfy me!” and “Xander, fill me with your throbbing man-meat!” were the only ones that had her in serious danger of cracking up, though – like, she was convinced she was about to split her side, cracking up.

The plot fizzled out abruptly after that when no one had any idea what to do, and they all shrugged at the camera in unison before Devon stopped the video.

“The ‘not being able to come up with any more lines’ part was intentional, right?” Elizabeth was still giggling.

“Straight people usually don’t bother to think much beyond the ‘jumping into the sandwich’ part,” Devon agreed, laughing slightly himself.

“Are you sure you’re actually getting credit for this?” she demanded. “Or is this just blackmail for later?”

“It’s an actual class,” Devon insisted. “This is my midterm.”

“Lucky bastard…” Elizabeth grumbled under her breath. Why couldn’t ogling half-naked Spike be part of one of her midterms?

“That it then?” Oz asked, extricating himself from between the giggling Willow and Tara.

Devon watched the replay of the tape. “Looks good,” he agreed.

“Are you sure?” Anya sounded disappointed. “Because I’d be happy to grab Spike’s ass again…”

Elizabeth bit her lip. No, that was absolutely not another little twang of jealousy…

Spike rubbed the firm posterior in question. “Can I vote against that one?” he requested. “’Cause Anyanka’s a bit more voracious than—”

“You can handle?” Elizabeth suggested, one eyebrow raised.

“Spike can’t take it rough!” Anya squealed in delight when she came up with yet another way to torture Spike.

“Oi, now!” he complained. “Dated Dru, din’t I?”

Anya’s face fell slightly. “Oh yeah,” she conceded. “But you could easily have gone soft since then!” she perked right back up.

“Thanks a lot, luv,” he cast a mock-annoyed look Elizabeth’s way, “now ‘ll have to hear about this for the next three months…”

She flashed him a bright, unrepentant smile. “If you ever need anyone to assist with the Spike torture…” she offered to Anya.

Spike groaned and knew he was beat.

“So, Elizabeth,” Tara settled into a more comfortable position on the couch, “midterms are done?”

Elizabeth let out an exhausted sigh and collapsed on the free couch. “Thank god!” she exclaimed. “I don’t think I’ve slept in…ever…”

“Wait till finals,” Anya commented matter-of-factly. “They’re even worse.” She bounced into the available seat beside Elizabeth.

“I’m not even close to done yet,” Devon complained, removing the tape from his camera and putting it in its case. “I’ve got a paper due Monday, and then I have to present this video on Tuesday…” He groaned and shook his head.

Elizabeth smiled up at him sympathetically. She’d rarely seen him this not-under-the-influence, and it was actually kind of interesting…

“I still say it would’ve been better if you could’ve gotten Faith to fight with me over the men,” Anya commented.

Devon seemed almost to flinch, and Elizabeth’s brow furrowed for a second, trying to decipher the reaction.

“Faith’s a bit wasted right now,” he shrugged it off, intentionally turning to his bag and routing around in it.

“Yeah,” Elizabeth agreed. “I mean, she missed the bio midterm and everything…”

Elizabeth noticed that Willow and Tara exchanged a frown at that as well, but shook it off quickly. After all, it really wasn’t her business…

“Her loss,” Xander joked, sitting down next to Willow. “Ah, sharing a couch with two lesbians… What guy hasn’t dreamed of that?”

“Humph.” Anya crossed her arms over her chest in mock-offense. “A real man would’ve sat with the straight women…”

“Don’ mind ‘f I do,” Spike said with a cheeky grin, landing between Anya and Elizabeth and slinging one arm over each of their shoulders. “Mmm…’s nice, mate,” he teased Xander. “Shoulda taken the opportunity while you ‘ad it.”

Elizabeth’s skin tingled where his arm was wrapped around her, and she had to fight the instinct to close her eyes and breathe in his heady scent when he squeezed her lightly to him.

Fortunately, the confusion that had previously accompanied all their physical contact was gone. She’d decided after their little Halloween party that Spike was one of those guys that was a good friend and you flirted with all the time, but would never get involved with. Because…

Well, because she already had a boyfriend… Who you’ve been avoiding for almost two weeks! And she and Spike could never work out… Because you won’t just DUMP Riley already! And…yeah.

OK, so maybe the confusion needed to be worked through just a little bit more… Like the whole conflict of having a flirty-guy-friend and a boyfriend at the same time, since you kind of didn’t need the first if you had the second.

Maybe if you were halfway attracted to Riley in the first place, it wouldn’t be a problem! The little voice at the back of her mind had been getting persistently louder lately, and it was starting to drive her crazy.

“We love you, Xander!” Tara giggled, moving to the other side of him and giving him a quick hug.

Elizabeth snapped her attention back to the conversation at hand at the absolutely hysterical goofy grin Xander had on his face as Willow hugged him, too.

“Don’t we, Willow?” Tara prodded.

“Of course,” Willow agreed. “We love you…we just don’t love your penis…”

Everyone cracked up at that. “That’s a house quote,” Oz announced, pulling the little notebook out of his bag that he used to write down the more hilarious things that were said.

“Anya an’ ‘Lizabeth love my penis, too,” Spike countered. “Innit that right?”

“The shorts kinda detract from its appeal,” she pointed out, gesturing to the yellow smiley faces that covered his boxers.

“They were a joke gift,” Spike huffed lightly. “Don’ wear ‘em normally.” He leaned in close and whispered huskily into her ear. “Don’ normally wear anythin’…”

Elizabeth blushed horribly and used her full willpower not to look at that region of his anatomy.

Anya gave his hair a playful little tousle, however. “I love your penis,” she agreed, “as long as it’s in someone else.”

Everyone in the room blinked.

“I’m not sure if that’s a quote…” Oz began uncertainly.

“Oh, c’mon,” Elizabeth said with a little giggle. “It’s about ten times more outrageous than the things she normally says.”

Anya gave Elizabeth a grateful smile for that comment. “It thought it was quite a gem myself,” she agreed.

“Anya manages to stun the room silent,” Devon commented with wry amusement, “a room that’s used to her usual sayings… I’d say it’s definitely a quote.”

Oz penned it in with a nod of agreement.

“So,” Elizabeth reluctantly returned to Spike, not quite sure she could face him without complete and utter embarrassment after what had just occurred, but trying anyway, “any chance I could borrow your body this afternoon?” she teased lightly.

Spike let out a little growl and sidled up closer to her. “All my…parts ‘re at your disposal whenever you need them, luv,” he replied, an amused sparkle in his eyes.

“Good,” she agreed, “because I need to beat you up early today since I have to leave practice early. Is three good for you?”

“My parts an’ I ‘ll be waitin’ in my room eagerly,” Spike retorted.

Her face flushed slightly. “I’ll pick you up on my way over to the gym then,” she agreed, getting up and lugging her bag up onto her shoulder.

“It’s a date,” he agreed with a cocky grin.

Elizabeth rolled her eyes but decided it wasn’t worth the effort to argue the point. Giving everybody a quick wave good-bye, she retreated into her room to crash from the Midterm Week From Hell.

“Do you want a pillow for your lap?” Anya asked off-handedly after Elizabeth was out of earshot.

Spike’s face flushed a deep red, but he snatched the offered pillow from Anya’s hands anyway. “Where’re my jeans?” he demanded gruffly. “Gotta get outta these poofy boxers…”

* * *

“Score!” the cry shouted out throughout the room.

Elizabeth fought the urge to yawn.

“Oh, oh! Turnover!” Riley cried out excitedly. “He’s got it…he’s got it… Yeah!” Cheers broke out once again.

Now, her evening with Riley had started out nicely enough. He’d taken her out to this nice little restaurant, and he’d pulled out her chair for her and ordered her food for her and paid the bill for her…although, in all fairness, she couldn’t quite decide whether those things were archaic and insulting or chivalrous and sweet. Given that she didn’t have to use up any of her spending money, however, she decided on the later. Feminism definitely allowed for the strategic advantage of acquiring free food…

The conversation had been all right. They’d bitched about midterms, and Elizabeth had explained her art project to Riley…who obviously didn’t get it. But, then, she didn’t really get his war stories or his basketball stories, so it kind of evened out in the end.

Unfortunately, once they’d gotten back to the frat, the first basketball game of the season had been on TV and, yeah, the evening had gone downhill from there…

“Great game, huh?” Riley said brightly, flashing her a wide smile and offering her a sip of his beer.

She politely declined. However, for once the memories didn’t assault her. Different memories were replaying in her mind at the moment…

“Yeah!”

The room erupted into applause again, shaking Elizabeth’s thoughts back to the present. She shook her head vehemently, trying to force all thoughts of Spike and their little sparring match earlier that evening from her mind.

“So,” Riley commented when a commercial created a break in the game, “are we on for next weekend too, then?”

Elizabeth gave him an apologetic little grimace. “Regionals is that weekend,” she explained.

Riley’s face fell. “Do you have to go?” he asked, disappointed.

“I’m part of the school team,” she insisted. “Gotta go.”

“But that’s only one day, right?” he said cheerful again. “We could go out on Friday.”

“Only one day,” she agreed. “In Boston. I’ll be on a bus all Friday evening…and all Sunday, too.”

Riley sighed. “Oh well… Weekend after that?”

“Sure,” she agreed brightly. But then the game was back on, and Riley turned back to it, and there was nothing left to distract her from…

“Great game, huh?” Riley nudged her elbow.

“Uh-huh,” she nodded numbly, her mind elsewhere.

“We play Penn State in two weeks,” Riley continued to give her a running commentary. “They’ve actually got a decent defense this year. But, don’t worry,” he gave her a little smile and a condescending pat of the knee, “we’re ready for them.”

“Uh-huh,” Elizabeth repeated, still not paying attention.

“Oh yeah!” Riley shouted out, pumping his arm in the air in a way that he thought would make him look cool but really just looked incredibly lame. She turned back to Elizabeth. “I’m hoping we’ll make the playoffs this year. We’ve got a great team.”

“Uh-huh.”

“You look tired,” Riley commented. “Maybe that nap didn’t refresh you as much as you thought it did.”

Elizabeth nodded blankly in response. “Uh-huh.”

Hence, the major, major guilt. “No, I’m fine!” she insisted with a brightness so false that every Riley saw through it.

“You’re tired,” he insisted. “Want me to give you a ride home?”

She gave in with a weary sigh. “Yeah,” she finally agreed.

The drive back to Westing House was made in complete silence. She supposed she was overplaying the tiredness excuse, and that made her feel even more guilty.

“We’re here,” Riley said softly. Perhaps even he was realizing that something momentous was about to happen.

Elizabeth turned to look at him…and saw a good guy. The kind of guy she’d always wanted. Only she didn’t want him now… Yes, you do! The last remnants of the girl that had been Buffy snapped at her. He’s absolutely PERFECT! How can you possibly let him get away?!

She gulped and made her decision. “I had a great time,” she said with a happy smile before leaning in to give him a quick kiss. “We’ll do something after Regionals, OK?”

“OK,” Riley agreed with a smile of his own. “See you later.”

“Later!” Elizabeth agreed with a wave as she dashed over into the dorm to escape the chill autumn air.

And, as she walked past Spike’s door, she couldn’t even bring herself to look in his direction. The pain of her conflicting emotions was too great…

* * *

Riley sat in his car and frowned for a long time. He hadn’t believed Forrest and the other guys at first, but the more he was around her…

There was something up with her, something she wasn’t telling him.

Riley’s car jerked back to life with an angry start before vanishing back into the night…

TBC

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