An hour and a half later Buffy sang to the radio while doing her housework when the telephone rang. Strolling over to the it, she hesitated before picking up. “Oh god, what if this is Lorne? I really should get a phone with caller ID.” Clicking the receiver on, her heart sped up as she chirped out her usual “Hello?”
“Hey Buff its Willow.”
Damn. “Hey Wills, what's up?”
“Well, I was wondering if you wanna maybe hang out tonight at my place? I know its Sunday and all, but we haven’t had much girl time lately, what with the dating of Riley and all. I’ve got movies and junk food and AH… ice cream.” She sounded her usual up beat self.
“Sounds like fun but no, can’t. Alas I’m waiting on a phone call from a, um, ahhhh a new company I might be buying from.” Whewww, quick thinking Buffy. She may be your best friend, but telling her you might be buying a man-whore she’d freak; besides I’m not completely lying.
“Oh. Really? I mean they would be calling this late… and on the weekend?” Damn Willow and her sharp mind sometimes.
“Well, they’re overseas… Europe, ya know… time difference and all. But hey, depending on when they call I might be able to show afterward.” She tried to sound hopeful for her friend, guilty that since dating Riley she’d let him monopolize most of her free time. Nice recovery, she mentally patted herself on the back but felt awful at the same time for the blatant lie.
“Let’s hope they call soon, I don’t want to enjoy the Haagen-Dazs all by myself. So maybe I’ll see you later?”
“You betcha. Well, gotta go, you know...free up the phone. I’ll see ya later then maybe, ok?”
“Sure thing Buff, bye.”
“G’bye.”
Clicking the receiver off, she let out a long sigh. “Whoa, that was…” Ringgggg. The phone cut her off, startling her to the point of dropping it. Ringggggg. “Damn it.” She fumbled trying to pick it up only to kick it three feet in front of her and under the couch. Ringggggg. “Fuck!” Buffy cursed. Lunging towards the couch, she dropped to her knees and frantically groped underneath to find it. Ringggggg. After she’d managed to grab hold of it she stood up fast, banging her knee hard into the coffee table in front of her couch. Clutching her injury and closing her eyes to suppress a groan she answered with an agitated “Yeah?”
“Well hello to you too princess. I’m looking for a Ms. Desperate… and judging from your voice I presume it’s you?”
Her eyes went wide. No way, Noooooo way She started to stammer, unable to form words. To an observer she would have looked like a fish out of water, opening and closing its mouth. Breathe Buffy, breathe. After all, you wanted this.
“Yes, H-hi. I’m sorry I-I just... God is this for real? Are you Lorne?”
“The one and only cupcake. I gotta tell ya, I was reading through your submission and just KNEW I had to call you right away. It breaks my heart when a filly doesn’t have enough pasture to run in. And the answer is yes.”
“Yes…a-answer? I didn’t ask anything… yet.”
“The question is can I help you, the answer… yes. You are clearly a woman in need and I got your breed darlin, pardon the pun, but really…in all honesty I have just the guy in mind for you honey. Not only does he have plenty of pasture but the saddle to ride you with. Minus the whip of course, I remembered that part.”
“OH. MY. GOD, I’m so embarrassed, I just, I didn’t think this was…” Buffy smacked her hand against her head, feeling her cheeks flush.
“Now now, don’t be.” Lorne said reassuringly. “I’m glad you were blunt and to the point deary and ol’ Lorne here has the cowboy for you. How does that song go now? Oh yes, save a horse, ride a cowboy” he crooned.
“Oh I’m not really into cowboys. N-not that cowboys are bad, I just meant…”
“Don’t worry your pretty lil’ head over anything, daaarlin” he quipped in a southern accent. “Lorne likes to see his customers happy and I AM a professional after all. Now, as I said I have just the guy in mind for you, and no I’m not a cop though I do have quite a few of L.A.’s finest as clients and they like my business just the way it is… discreet.”
“OH…. oh my, really? Wait, forget it, TMI. I so don’t wanna know.” Buffy pushed those thoughts out of her mind. “Uhmm, how does this work actually, I mean… well, kinda my first time here.”
“Well, since your area code clearly tells me you’re in southern California and I’m in LA, I’m hoping to convince you to come out to my night club so we can meet. You might have heard of it, ‘The Hide-a-way’ on the corner of 1st and Willard. If not you can look it up on the web, its thehideaway.com. I’ll show you the time of your life AND put any remaining fears of yours to rest. Whaddya say sugar-pie?”
“Well it’s a bit of a drive, but I guess I could always use a night out… when should I come? I just said that didn’t I? Rewind, when should we meet?”
“The sooner the better I say sweetie. Tell ya what, I can arrange for you to have a room at the Raffles L'ermitage Hotel in Beverly Hills so you don’t have to worry about driving back if you’d like. I happen to have, well… connections if you catch my drift, so it will be at no charge to you. Does tomorrow night work?”
“Um, sure. Tomorrow works for me, but I’d rather go home afterwards, no offense.” The place Lorne wanted to have her stay was a four star hotel. Although it was tempting, she thought better of it.
“None taken. Now let’s just set a time so I know when to expect you and I’ll give you my personal cell number as well. Boy, ha ha, I am simply thrilled to bits with the idea that we can chat in person. I wanna know all about you. What makes Miss Desperate tick? And I want specifics.”
“Alright then. And please call me Buffy, no need for nicknames, and well, it’s a pathetic nickname.”
They continued talking on the phone for a little over 10 minutes and agreed on a time before hanging up. She liked this Lorne guy already. He was animated, funny and sounded legit as far as she could tell. Unable to stop the shit-eating grin now plastered on her face she let herself feel excited about the prospect that he was indeed exactly what he advertised himself to be.
Skipping around the house she sang ‘nana, naaaa, na naa, na, I’m getting a man-ho’. Not in a million years would she have thought she’d be doing something like this, but if men could, hey why not her? She decided to forgo seeing Willow as she knew her perceptive friend would not only notice her mood and question her on it, but could also tell when she was lying, at least face-to-face. I’ll tell her if and when this actually happens, then just hope she doesn’t wig-out on me too much.
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Ok, here it is as promised. It's the last 'short' chapter you'll see I promise, so if you like this one as much as the first, your gonna love chapter 3 once I finish. Enjoy. Oh and to those who are interested I did just join the LiveJournal via my friend Kar. I haven't had a chance to interact there yet, but will soon.