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Author's Chapter Notes:
I think you all will like this chapter. :)
William’s sense of victory did not last long. By the middle of the next day he realized that the laws of high school dating meant that Angel agreeing to go to the dance with Buffy meant that they were suddenly a couple and that meant they had to do gross couple things in the hallway. The cheek kissing that had nearly given him a heart attack the day before was now full-blown-on-the-lips-kissing. William didn’t see why anyone would want to make out in the hallway. It was disgusting.

On Friday, he decided to stop looking. He even refused to attend the dance and take photographs for the newspaper. The journalism teacher had stared at him, bewildered, for several seconds as though he’d misunderstood. William finally made up an excuse about promising to help his mother with something very important. He wondered if he should have said it was a wake. He really wasn’t used to lying.

Even his best intentions couldn’t keep him from watching her get picked up for the dance though. His parents weren’t home yet, so he watched from the dark living room.

Liam O’Brian parked his car in the exact spot William usually pulled into to drop Buffy off after school. Of course, Liam’s car was nicer. William wondered if Liam’s parents had made him pay for his own car and insurance. He doubted it.

He watched the other boy get out of the car and walk up to the front door. Angel was wearing a suit. William wondered if Joyce would be impressed by that. He knew Buffy would. Joyce let him in and William couldn’t see anything for several minutes. He could guess at what was happening though. He could imagine Angel chatting up Joyce before Buffy floated down the stairs. William was shaking by the time the door opened and the couple came out. He couldn’t tell what color dress Buffy was wearing but he could tell that the dress was short and her heels were high. Buffy’s hand was on Angel’s arm for the entire walk to the car. William hated Angel’s arm. He watched with an impending sense of horror as they both got into Angel’s car and drove away.

William stared at the empty spot on the street for several minutes before turning away. It had happened. Buffy was well and truly with someone else and he’d never even had a chance to make his pitch.

His parents called soon after that to tell him that they’d decided to go out with some clients and that he should break open the kitchen cash stash and order a pizza or some Thai food for dinner. He ordered both and ate them in the living room with the television on at a volume his mother considered gratuitous and the lights still off.

When he heard the car stop outside only a couple hours later he didn’t want to go look. He didn’t even really think it would be Angel and Buffy home that early and if it was he didn’t want to see her kissing him and telling him that she’d had the very best time ever. He found himself staring out the window anyway and watched in surprise as Buffy opened her own door and climbed out of the still running car. She turned to say something to Angel, but he just reached across the front seats and closed her door. He hit the gas too hard as he left.

Buffy stood shivering and watching the car drive away for a moment before she sat down on the curb. He face was down and her shoulders were shaking.

William snatched his jacket from the hook by the front door and walked over to her. He sat beside her on the curb and held out his jacket. “What happened?”

Buffy took his jacket with trembling hands and slowly pulled it on. She shook her head. “It’s too humiliating.”

He nodded and stared at the ground for a few minutes. “Do you want to go for a drive?”

She didn’t say anything for a while and William started to think that she wanted him to leave, finally she nodded. “Yeah.”

He stood up and held out his hand to help her up. She stood up without taking it and followed him across the street to his car.

“Umm…” He pointed towards her thigh. “My keys should be in the pocket.”

Buffy’s eyes widened and she looked up at him. “Oh.” She pulled out his keys and dropped them into his hand.

William quickly opened the passenger side door and waited for her to sit down. “I have to lock the front door. I’ll be quick.” He closed the car door carefully before sprinting across the lawn to lock up the house. His heart raced and he hoped she wouldn’t change her mind before he got back. When he got back to the car he gave her a shy smile and turned the key. The stereo came on, blaring loudly, when he turned on the car. He gave the knob a quick turn and glanced over to see if it had bothered her.

Buffy laughed softly.

As he pulled out of the driveway, he wondered if she knew how sweet her laugh was. “Your dress is…pretty.” It was. He saw now that it was green and had a skirt the swished around her thighs when she walked. The fabric looked soft and smooth and he imagined for just a second what it would have been like to dance with her while she wore that dress.

She looked surprised. “You’re being nice again.”

He shrugged, not knowing how to respond.

“Are you going to tell me that you told me so?”

His brow furrowed. “What about?”

She laughed. “So, that’s a maybe?”

“No.” He shook his head. “Not if you don’t want me to.”

“You were right about my not knowing Angel. He was…he…”

William glanced over and realized that she was crying. His breathing sped up. “Oh. Don’t…don’t cry. Please, love.” He pulled into the empty parking lot of a movie theater that had closed years before he moved to town, parked and turned off the car. “Do you want to tell me what happened?” He undid his buckle and turned towards her.

She looked over at him with wide, wet eyes. “I feel so stupid. He…he thought I’d sleep with him, like tonight. He got angry.” A small sob escaped her throat. “He said I was a tease, that I’d thrown myself at him and that he should never have taken…”

“He’s an arse. Buffy, please don’t—he doesn’t deserve you. Don’t cry.” He spread his arms awkwardly. “Do you…umm…come here, yeah?”

She quickly slid across the seat and pressed her face against his shoulder. He wrapped his arms around her loosely and waited to see if she would protest. When she didn’t, he tightened his hold and pulled her a little closer.


“He’s the one who bollixed it up. His loss.” He really hated to hear her cry. In that moment, he actually wished that Angel had been the perfect date, that she’d had a great time and had come home dancing on air.

She sniffled quietly and let him hold her for longer then he’d dreamed possible. Finally, she pulled back a little and looked up at him with a small frown. “Did you know that he was like that? Is that why you were acting so strange?”

He snorted. “No. If I’d known he was going to do that I’d have shot him.”

“William!” She grinned and shook her head. “You’re ridiculous.”

He shrugged and tried not to smile too broadly. She hadn’t pushed away his arms.

“So why were you so mad at me?”

“I wasn’t—was just…jealous, I guess.”

Her eyes widened and her voice grew quiet. “Why?”

He stared at her. “The girl I wanted to go with didn’t ask me.” He shrugged, let his arms fall back to his sides and hoped he’d sounded casual.

“Who did you want to go with?”

William shook his head slightly. “Doesn’t matter.”

“I think it does. Who did you want to go to the dance with?”

He swallowed hard and pretended to look at the dashboard for a few moments before meeting her eyes. He could barely hear his own words. “I wanted to go with you.” He held her gaze for only a few seconds before turning away, wondering if she could tell that his hands were shaking.

“William.” She reached up and placed her hand on his cheek very lightly. “I didn’t know.”

He laughed hoarsely and continued to look at his knees. “Yeah. I didn’t know how to…I mean, it’s not like you’re into scrawny, British guys with floppy hair anyway, so…”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. I have a lot of Hugh Grant movies.” Her thumb brushed across his cheekbone. “Will you look at me?”

William took a deep breath and forced himself to meet her eyes. He couldn’t tell what she was thinking. She just looked at him with this confused expression for what felt like forever. He was about to look away when she suddenly surged forward and pressed her lips against his. Instantly, he moaned deep in his throat and pushed into the kiss.

When he lifted his hands to grab hold of her shoulders, she pulled away and frowned. “I’m not going to sleep with you.”

“Ever?”

She laughed. “I mostly was thinking about tonight.”

He nodded. “Right. Brilliant. Didn’t expect you to…I’m pretty much used to taking care of myself.” His shoulder came up and then dropped back down.

“Too much information. I mean, seriously, why do you say things like that?”

“I don’t know. I just…I don’t want you to think that Liam O’Brian wants you more than I do. I do, you know? A lot. I just…I love you, so…” He realized suddenly what he’d just said and panicked. He turned to look out the window, afraid to see what she was making of his revelation.

“Are you…do you mean it?”

“Yeah.” He continued to study the pavement outside. “I’d do anything for you, wouldn’t I?”

“Oh.”

He waited for several seconds before chancing a quick glance in her direction. Once again she was unreadable. “Are you…do you wish I hadn’t said it?”

“No. I just—I guess I don’t really know what to say back right now.”

“That makes sense.” He nodded.

“I should go home soon. I’m pretty sure I’ve already blown my curfew and my mom might have seen Angel drop me off.”

“Oh. Right.” His head tilted to the side. His eyes narrowed. “Could I kiss you again, first?”

Her cheeks blushed prettily. “Yeah. That would be...nice.”


Chapter End Notes:
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