Life is Short
by TheBear
Chapter 2
[reviews]
Part 2
========== BtVS ==========
Buffy was in the ladies room, holding a damp paper towel to her face. Any thought she had of going upstairs to talk to Giles evaporated with that one touch. She didn't know what it was about Willow- "Sure, she's sweet, and beautiful, and shy and innocent and damn sexy..." Ok, maybe she did know what it was about her. But why was she feeling it so strongly? She'd never actually gone all the way before- with a boy or a girl- and yet all she could think about was how Willow would look with all that mass of red hair, disheveled and spread out against one of her pillows as she... "Oh God!" she whimpered as the mental images she was having caused her to begin to feel a damp, heavy, swollen feeling in her panties. "Jeeze, Lust much?" she asked herself in annoyance. She had never ever gotten this hot for someone before. Heck, she'd had serious make-out sessions that didn't get her as hot and bothered as one touch from Willow's hand. It had only been a couple of days since she'd... double-clicked her mouse. It felt like it had been weeks.
Buffy closed her eyes and tried to calm down. "Ok, Buffy." She muttered to herself, "You're going to put yourself together and go talk to her like a normal human being. Not some sex-starved maniac!"
Buffy opened her eyes to look at her reflection- wanting to make sure she didn't look as much the freak as she was feeling at the moment. Unfortunately, what she saw was Cordelia Chase and three other girls staring at her in shock. She shook her head and thought, "This one definitely goes in the 'bad-day' column."
"Oh My God!" Cordelia said dramatically. "You're GAY?"
Buffy closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Ok, how do I handle this?" she thought. She decided that her options were limited: She could deny it... "right, 'cause Cordelia seems the rational, non-judgemental type..." she thought. Besides, she kinda was, and since it seemed that she had the extreme hotts for a certain redhead, if she was successful, she'd be 'outed' eventually anyway, so... Option two, then. Honesty, and maybe a little bit on the offense.
"Actually, Cordelia. 'Gay' seems so... limiting. I'm completely bisexual. And, before you ask, you are *so* completely not my type. I prefer a girl who's soft, and sweet. Not hard and bitchy. If I want a self centered jerk, I'll go back to dating Varsity Football players. Sorry!" With that she walked out of the ladies room, head held high- hoping for the best, but having the gut feeling that before she made it to school tomorrow, everyone would know. She did, however, have to smile at the dropped jaws her little tirade had caused.
"Excuse me, I have to call *everyone* I've *ever* met!" Cordelia said as the door closed behind the petite blond.
The only way to salvage this situation would be to make it worth while. Buffy Summers set a goal for herself- the seduction of Willow Rosenberg was on.
========== BtVS ==========
Willow was still sitting in the same place, rubbing her hand, thinking... Why did she keep thinking about how beautiful Buffy looked? Why did she feel all warm and gushy like she did when Xander looked at her sometimes?
She was in the middle of these confusing thoughts when she felt a tap on the shoulder. She looked up and saw a nice looking guy, wearing a jacket with the sleeves rolled up.
"Hi there. My name's Thomas." He said, a big smile on his face.
Willow had never been approached by a guy before and had no idea how to react. In fact, she didn't even recognize that he might be hitting on her. She just said, "Hi."
Well, this wasn't going quite like Thomas had expected. "Uh, is this seat taken?" he asked, indicating the empty seat next to her.
Willow looked at the empty seat next to her. She didn't really think Buffy was coming back... "She said she would..." she thought. "Uh, yes."
Thomas was stunned. He picked this girl because she looked so pathetic, so lonely... he thought she'd be easy pickings. "Oh, ok..." he said. He walked away, but he didn't go far. Just because she blew him off, didn't mean he was letting her go...
Willow went back to her contemplation.
Buffy made her way back to the bar and was strangely relieved to see Willow still sitting there alone. She stopped a moment before Willow saw her, and just stared. That red sweater didn't do a thing for her, but the blue summer-dress was nice- if a bit conservative. Her long, beautiful hair was styled very simply- straight with a part. Nothing else, no curls, no bangs, no hairspray, no gel, no anything. Still, it was lustrous and shiny.
Buffy noticed that Willow was contemplating her hand, looking at it while lost in thought. Buffy wondered what was going on in that head. She realized that Willow was stroking the back of her hand- the one she'd been touching a few minutes ago. "She's not... she couldn't be..." Buffy thought. It seemed unlikely that Willow was sitting there thinking about Buffy touching her hand the whole time she'd been in the bathroom, wasn't it? Nevertheless, Buffy felt a warm-fuzzy feeling at the thought that she might have been as affected by that single contact as she was herself. "Enough looky, go talky now!" she muttered to herself. "Don't blow this!"
Willow was still trying to sort out her feelings when someone sat down next to her. She started to look up as she said, "Oh, that seat's saved..." she stopped when she saw who it was.
Buffy raised a single eyebrow. "Saved? For me, I hope?" she said with a goofy smile.
That smile! Willow just melted, her own features unconsciously reflecting Buffy's smile. She sat there for several seconds, lost in Buffy's smile. Only when it started to falter, did Willow snap her eyes up to meet Buffy's. She could feel her face get hot and she started to get flustered. "Oh, I... you... er..."
Buffy tried not to laugh as Willow got tongue tied. She suddenly understood what the girl had meant when she had talked about 'making vowel sounds'. She was thrilled that Willow was behaving in exactly the manner she had said she did when she was with a guy she liked. Plus- the blushing thing? Even more adorable!
Willow moved from flustered to extremely embarrassed and afraid as she had a typical Willow spaz attack. And it had to happen when she was sitting with Buffy! "Now she'll never want to be my friend!" she raged.
"This must mean she likes me!" Buffy's smile faltered as she remembered the rest of Willow's explanation of what happened when she was with a guy she liked... the whole 'then I have to leave' part. She reached out and grabbed the redhead's hand before she could take off.
Willow was just about to do that very thing, when her impulse to flee was cut short by Buffy's touch. She looked down in wonder at her hand, wrapped in Buffy's much smaller, yet quite strong hand.
"Please don't," Buffy said. "Don't go, ok?" She was stricken by the thought that Willow would take off, and then when she found out through the grapevine that Buffy was bi, she might avoid her. Buffy needed to have tonight to try and win the girl over- at least as a friend- before any of the crap hit the fan.
Willow had never made it past the 'then I have to go' part of the equation before, not without having fled, anyway. She found herself completely clueless as to what to do. Especially seeing as how this wasn't a guy, and therefore why was she having these issues in the first place? Tentatively she said, "Uh, ok?" and settled back down into her seat.
Buffy smiled at her, and then suddenly had visions of a certain Watcher, or worse- Cordelia prowling around. She stood up abruptly.
Ok, Buffy was going to leave now- that was a more comfortable situation for Willow. She was used to rejection, it felt normal. Much less confusing than this weird feeling she was having for this... really pretty... girl. Sadly, Willow didn't even contemplate how pathetic it was that she would be more comfortable being abandoned, than she was with the threat of closeness.
"Uh, Willow?" Buffy began.
"Oh, that's ok, don't worry about it," Willow said as she tried to pull her hand away. She didn't want Buffy to feel bad about taking off on her. Especially when she'd been so nice to her- she didn't call her names or make fun of her at all, "Not even when I spazzed out!" she thought.
The apparent non-sequitor threw Buffy for a loop until she realized Willow was trying to reclaim her hand, "Oh my God!" she thought as she figured it out. "She thinks I'm taking off on her!" Buffy suddenly felt a combination of overwhelming pity for this obviously damaged girl, and burning rage at Cordelia Chase, and anyone else who had helped to tear this girl down so badly. She also felt a momentary pang of shame as the thought, "she'll be easy to win over," floated through her mind.
Willow was surprised at the gamut of emotions that ran across Buffy's face. She was also confused by Buffy keeping a hold of her hand. She tried to ignore it, but she felt that warmth creeping up inside her at the prolonged contact. "This is wrong! Buffy's a girl, she's not interested in me that way, and why am I even... I'm not interested in her that way!" she thought, confused. "I mean, she's a girl and I'm a girl and so why did I even think about that? And how could I be interested... I mean I'm not interested... am I? And why is she still holding my hand and just looking at me like that and why am I suddenly thinking that maybe I wish she was interested in me like that and how sad is my life that I'm thinking these things at all..."
Willow was so lost in her internal babbling that she missed what Buffy said.
"Willow!" Buffy exclaimed, giving her hand a little shake.
"Oh! What?" she asked, confused again still.
Buffy couldn't help smiling at the dazed look on Willow's face. "Ok, I asked you if there was somewhere we could go. Somewhere that's else? Where it's not so loud?"
She would have blushed at missing the question, if she wasn't still blushing from Buffy holding her hand. "Oh, I... uh, there's an, uh ice-cream bar that's, uh, not to far..."
Buffy's smile brightened back into the hundred-watt range, and she said, "I like ice cream."
Willow couldn't help but smile back. "Uh, me too. I like ice cream too," she said. "And that was about the most inane thing I could have said right then!" she thought.
But, Buffy just smiled even more, said, "Good!" and began walking toward the exit, leading the redhead by the hand.
Neither noticed a young looking man with a somewhat dated taste in clothes moving to follow them.
========== BtVS ==========
Xander was strolling toward the Bronze, hoping that he'd see the new girl, Buffy, there. He'd had a couple less than suave moments with her, but he was hopeful. She hadn't blown him off so far... There was the whole thing about her and that librarian guy talking about vampires and stuff that he'd overheard earlier. Slayer... they had both talked about her being the Vampire Slayer, and he had to admit that he kinda got wigged by that. Of course, in a sixteen year old, a pocket full of hormones beat a head full of wiggins, hands down.
He was, at first, happy to see the object of his latest fantasies come walking out of the Bronze, then not so happy when he noticed she was holding someone's hand, then completely confused when he saw that the aforementioned hand belonged to his bestest bud since kindergarten- Willow Rosenberg.
He was still nearly a block away, and was momentarily too stunned to shout after them. "Girlfriends hold hands, right? Friends that are girls I mean, not the other kind..." he thought. His thoughts then briefly degenerated into a fantasy involving Buffy and Willow and there was kissing and touching.
It took him a moment to snap out of it. As he changed his direction to follow the two girls, he saw another guy step out of the Bronze, look around and see the girls, and start walking after them. There was something definitely off about the guy, and Xander started to walk a little faster.
========== BtVS ==========
Buffy was listening to Willow describe all the different subjects and stuff that she was going to help Buffy with in order to get her caught up at school. She was amazed by how confident Willow sounded when she was talking about school-work stuff. She couldn't help but think that this was one more reason they'd be good together; Willow was good with the learning and schooling- not Buffy's strongest areas- and Buffy could help Willow with the whole social life thing, assuming everyone eventually got over them being girlfriends. "Whoa Buffy- it might be good to actually get to the girlfriends point before you worry about how people were gonna deal with the girlfriends thing..." she chastised herself.
Buffy's thoughts, and Willow's explanation of Plank's Constant were interrupted by an arrogant male voice, "Well, this is perfect. Two little lovebirds. You'll make a nice gift to the Master...
Buffy and Willow turned around, causing them to let go of each other's hand for the first time since they left the Bronze- not that either of them had noticed that fact until they actually let go.
"Thomas! W- what do you want?" Willow said nervously, recognizing the guy that had talked to her at the Bronze.
Buffy took one look at the guy, taking in the arrogant stance, the contemptuous look, and the horribly out of date fashion, and immediately concluded, Vampire! "Crap!" she thought. "Here we... hold on, Thomas?" her mind whiplashed back as she realized Willow had called this thing by name. Turning toward the flustered girl, she raised one eyebrow archly and said, "Thomas? You know this guy?"
Willow was unreasonably discomfited by the look on Buffy's face and the tone of her voice. She began to babble, "Know? No, not know. He... while you left," she gestured towards the Bronze. "Before you came back... he said he was Thomas, and I told him no, your seat was taken, 'cause, you know... it was... and... ok, shutting up now." She finished, embarrassed.
Despite the fact that she was about to get outed as the Slayer, as well as being bisexual, all in one night, Buffy couldn't help but grin at the babbling redhead. "You're so cute when you babble..." she said under her breath.
Willow's eyes widened as she heard what Buffy said, but Buffy missed it because she had turned back to the vampire.
========== BtVS ==========
Xander got close enough to hear what was going on just as Buffy began to verbally lay into the guy that had followed them. "Aha!" he thought. "Here's my chance to be Debonair Xander- I'll swoop in and save the day!"
========== BtVS ==========
"God, could you get anymore obvious? That outfit isn't just dated, it's carbon-dated!" Buffy said contemptuously.
Thomas was taken aback by the unexpected sartorial assault.
"Hello?! Miami Vice is calling, they want their wardrobe back!" Buffy said, just getting warmed up. She hadn't had a chance to use her Cordelia like skills for a while now, having renounced using such powers on mere mortals- saving them for the undead. "l mean, come on! You look like DeBarge!"
At that moment, Xander entered the fray, saying, "Hello ladies. This clown bothering you?"
It would have been a great line in other circumstances. His delivery was just right- very smooth, very stylish; just not appropriate in this particular situation. Instead of welcoming his help, followed by throwing herself into his arms in appreciation- that's how his fantasy went- she yelled at him!
"Xander! Get away from him!" Buffy shouted urgently.
Xander chuckled and joked, "Oh, I hope he isn't a vampire! Then you might have to slay him!"
The joke fell flat when Thomas, deciding the jig was up, put on his game face and spun around growling at Xander.
To say Xander was shocked would have been a serious understatement. He yelled, "Gaahh!" and fell back on his butt, looking up in terror at the demonic visage.
Buffy ran up on the vamp before he could attack Xander, and distracted him with a roundhouse kick to the side of the head.
Thomas found being flung across an alley and into a brick wall to be very distracting indeed.
Buffy took a moment to help Xander up and said, "Find me something wood! Preferably pointy."
You had to give points for quick recovery, as he said, "Where's your self-defense stake?"
Buffy spared him a glance and said, "Where am I going to hide a stake in this outfit?"
Taking in the snug tank-top and short skirt, he had to agree. "Right, wood..."
The vampire got back up to his feet, and Willow saw his true face for the first time. She let out a loud "Eeep!" as she took in the frightening features.
Buffy's head snapped back to the vamp when she heard Willow's cry. Before he could so much as think about attacking the redhead she was on him with a flurry of kicks and punches, She grunted out as she beat on him, "Don't... you... dare... even... *think*... about... touching... her... you..."
Xander interrupted, "Buffy, Here!" he tossed her a plank from a pallet he found down the alley. "It's not pointy, but it's all I could find," he explained.
Buffy caught it without even looking. "Not a problem," she said. She twisted the wood along it's length, loudly shattering it into splintery shards. Taking the biggest remaining piece, she shoved it neatly through the creature's unbeating heart."
Both Willow and Xander's jaws dropped as the guy exploded into dust.
Buffy brushed the dust off of her hands and turned back to Xander. "Is there anybody in this town who doesn't know I'm the Slayer?" she demanded. "Was there a, uh, school bulletin or something?"
"Thomas is a vampire?" Willow was in a daze.
Xander said, "Was, Will. I think the operative term is 'was a vampire'... and I can't believe I'm having this conversation." He shook his head. He turned to Buffy and said, "I only know that you think you're the Slayer. I was in the library today when you and the English guy were arguing about it." He was still kinda in denial about the whole thing. Sure he saw what he saw, but he was trying not to think about that right now.
Buffy didn't respond to Xander, she noticed that Willow seemed a little dazed still and went over to her, "Willow, are you gonna be ok?" She took hold of Willow's hand when the girl didn't answer. "Willow?" There was fear in Buffy's voice- she was really worried that this had ruined things for her. It would have been tough enough if Willow had found out once they were closer, but now- she was going to have to absorb the fact that Buffy was bisexual, a vampire Slayer, and 'oh yeah, I've got a huge crush on you too, wanna date?'
Willow heard the fear in Buffy's voice and was confused by it. In any case, it distracted her from her own near-brush with death, at least for a moment. "Yeah, I think so."
Xander was also confused by the tone of Buffy's voice. Then he took in the hand-holding, the look in her eyes as she stared at his best friend... His eyes got wide as he thought he figured out what was going on here.
Buffy thought, "Well, she isn't pulling away... maybe..." "Willow? I don't know if you still feel up for ice cream? Or did you just want me to walk you home..."
Willow looked into Buffy's eyes again. This girl just saved her life, "She's like some kind of superhero or something!" she thought. She couldn't believe Buffy was interested in even hanging out with her. "Uh, I don't know? Ice cream seems kinda weird after..." she gestured toward where the vamp was now dust on the asphalt.
Buffy's smile dimmed, even though she tried not to be hurt by Willow's words. She sighed and was about to say, 'ok I'll take you home' when Willow continued.
"But still... ice cream is pretty good under almost any circumstances..." she half-smiled at her 'savior'.
Buffy's smile lit up the alley like a floodlight. "Excellent!" she said, happily. She then remembered Xander was there with them and felt obligated to invite him, even though what she really wanted was to have some alone time with Willow. "Xander, do you want to go with?"
Xander could have almost laughed at the look on Buffy's face. She clearly didn't want him tagging along, which would have annoyed him, cause he definitely was interested in her, but since it was pretty clear that she was gay... no to mention equally clearly after Willow... "Nah," he said. "I'm gonna see if I can go find Jesse, maybe watch him get shot down by Cordelia again." He didn't miss the dark look both girls got at the mention of the žber-personable Ms. Chase.
Buffy smiled her thanks to Xander, and turned back to Willow, all dark thoughts of Cordelia replaced with bright thoughts of this sweet, beautiful redhead.
"Uh, Buffy?" Xander asked.
Buffy wrenched her attention away from Willow again, "Yeah?"
"Um, could I talk to you privately for just a second before you guys go?" Xander asked nervously.
Willow's eyes instantly narrowed at her long-time best friend. She suddenly thought that Xander might be asking Buffy out, or something. That thought made her mad and jealous; mad at Xander, but... She couldn't at that moment decide who she was jealous of.
Buffy looked at Willow, saw the unhappy look on her face; looked at Xander, saw the pleading look on his, and decided that she owed him at least that much, seeing how he was letting her have Willow to herself. Especially in light of the fact that they had both just been introduced to the truth about vampires and vampire slayers. Besides, she did want to be friends with the guy... "Ok," she said. She turned to Willow and said, "Be right back."
Xander took her aside just a few meters, and said, "Three things:"
Buffy said, "Shoot."
"First, I've known Willow since before kindergarten... I'm pretty sure she's straight."
Buffy's eyes widened and she had to look away, muttering, "Am I that obvious?"
Xander smiled and couldn't help but tease her, "Pretty much, yeah."
Buffy blushed mightily
Xander laughed and said, "I don't think she's figured it out yet, if it's any consolation."
"It's really not." Buffy muttered, causing Xander to laugh again.
"Look, Maybe tomorrow you can explain more about this vampire thing?" he asked, changing the subject.
"Why don't you meet us in the library before school. Giles will probably explain it better than me anyway." Buffy said.
"And Giles is the librarian guy?" Xander asked.
"Yeah, sorta." Buffy muttered, still pissed off about the whole thing.
"Ok." Xander said.
"You said three things," Buffy reminded him, eager to get back to Willow.
"Right. I love Willow. She's my best friend. So... whatever happens, or doesn't..." he said, gesturing towards Willow and back to Buffy. "If you hurt her, I'll kill you."
Buffy knew Xander couldn't make good on that threat, and she knew he had to know it too, after seeing her fight; but, nevertheless, she felt a lump in her throat when he said it. Mostly because she thought it was awesome that Willow had a friend like that. She hoped she and Xander could be good friends too. That kind of loyalty was something she'd never experienced before.
She couldn't help but hug him, briefly. "That's so sweet, Xander!" she gushed. "I've never been threatened like that before! Don't worry- hurting Willow is not on my list of things to do, in fact- it's now on my list of things never to do in a million years!"
Xander was bemused by her reaction. "Well, ok. Just so long as that's clear... I guess," he said. Looking over her shoulder at Willow, he waved and said, "Have fun Will! See you in the morning." He couldn't help himself as the next thing came out- it was just too good, "Don't do anything I wouldn't do!"
Buffy, who had already made it halfway back to the redhead, spun around and said, outraged, "Xander!"
Xander laughed as Buffy blushed even harder.
Willow was confused again, still. She bristled when Buffy and Xander had hugged, again not sure of whom she was jealous, but definitely feeling the green monster. Now, Xander was teasing her, and Buffy was blushing... "What was that about?" she asked Buffy when the blond made it to her side.
"I'll tell you later," Buffy said, tabling that discussion for now. "Right now, there's some sweet creamy goodness waiting for us!" she said she once again claimed the redhead's hand in her own, and turning on her hundred-watt smile.
========== BtVS ==========