Confusing Competitions..
by phantom
Rules of the Game
[reviews]
At the Bronze
BUFFY'S POV
'Hmm, so this is the Bronze huh? Pretty cool for a small town hangout... but, why is everything pink? Nevermind, must go find Willow and show her what a charming, witty person I can really be. And this time I'll leave the whole falling to the ground thing out of my entrance.'
Buffy takes a quick look around the Bronze and spots Xander and Willow sitting on one of the couches.
"Hey, hey Buffsters here."
"Hey guys. Where's the third amigo? And why does this place seem to be covered in everything pink?"
Buffy sits down next to Willow while taking the offered drink from Xander.
"Valentines next week remember?, big thing here at the Bronze, probably because they couldn't come up anything better as a theme. Plus they seem to have acquired a lot of pink things through the years." Xander tells her.
"And to answer your other question, Faith's over there trying to get the bartender to serve her alcohol." Willow says slightly leaning over Buffy as she pointed toward Faith and the bar. Buffy takes a quick breath to catch the redheads scent.
'God she smells so good, would it be weird if I asked her what perfume she wears? I mean we're both girls right? So it shouldn't matter... unless she didn't wear perfume at all. That would be weird. Then she'll just think I'm into sniffing her. I'm so retarded! Shut up brain shut up!'
"So Buffy, is Dawn coming along tonight?" asks Willow breaking Buffy's babbling train of thought. Which she thought was a good thing considering it was about to crash into Grand Central and explode.
"Uh no, mom kinda found out about the whole hitting and multiple detention thing."
"Snyder called huh?"
"Yep. Even before we got home. She was totally busted."
"Snyder's got this thing about causing people trouble. I think it gives him a happy." Says Xander with a thoughtful look.
Both Willow and Buffy laugh at Xander's serious expression when said the last sentence.
"Hey gang, what's the what?" Faith saunters over confidently wearing her usual white tank top and tight fitting leather pants.
"So Faith, get anywhere tonight? Or is it just the usual coke and coke?"
"One day Xand, I'm telling ya, that bartender guy is gonna serve me some of the hard stuff and your ass will be mine. Now scoot over man. You too Red geez." Faith gives Willow another one of her patented 'go get the girl' looks coupled with an encouraging smile."
'Hey, what the heck was that? Faith isn't hitting on Willow is she?' Buffy frowned at this thought and was grateful when another, less disturbing thought entered her head.
"What connection does the bartender have with Xander's ass?" Buffy said before doing a double-take. "Wait that came out wrong."
'And that wasn't nearly as non-disturbing as I originally thought it was.'
"They have a bet on." Says Willow who was a little worried that Buffy might notice the looks Faith has been giving her and freak out at the thought that she was interested.
"Well, to restate that, this is another one of the many bets they have on. If Faith can get the bartender to serve her before we're actually legal, then Xander has to be her slave for a week, and if she can't..."
"Then I own your ass baby!" Xander states smugly grinning at Faith.
"Please Harris, I got this all under control... just wait for tomorrow night."
Faith and Xander get into an in depth conversation about who will be owning who's ass and the kind of thing that entails when a handsome young guy comes up to the couch with Buffy in his sights.
"Hi, my name's Scott. I was wondering if you'd like to maybe have a dance with me?"
'Well, he seems like a nice enough guy... and saying sorry no you shouldn't bother 'cos I'm gay and might also be in love with the redhead sitting right here, who I've known for all of half a day might be a little too out there for me so...'
"Yeah sure." Buffy says as she takes the hand offered and allows herself to be lead onto the dance-floor.
Faith gets up and sits on the seat Buffy just vacated on Willow's other side.
"What are you doing Red? You should have asked her to dance first! It's obvious you're into her!"
"I know alright! Geez, and stop giving me those looks, you're making me nervous! Anyway it doesn't matter now she's with Scott." Said the redhead with a pout.
Xander furrowed his brow.
"Did I miss something?"
"Red's totally into Buffy."
"Faith!!" Willow hisses. "People might hear you and judge! I'd like to avoid the judging!!"
"No not that", adds Xander. "I totally got that, geez come on now I'm slow but not that slow. I meant why are you guys worried that she's with Scott? Isn't he gay?"
The three of them look over to the dancing couple someone asks a question.
"Hey umm, you're Buffy's friend right? I think I saw you with her at the uh, incident in school today?"
Willow turns around to see Dawn standing there with a blonde friend.
"Yeah. Hi. I'm Willow, these are my friends Xander and Faith. And you're Dawn, Buffy's sister."
"Yep and this is my friend Anya. She's an exchange student from Sweden. She's kinda weird."
"Hello young Americans! I find it very much interesting to meet with you all." Anya states over enthusiastically with a lot of inappropriate nodding and smiling. "You" she points at Xander. "Boy with goofy yet pleasing face. You will dance with me!" She then drags Xander off onto the dance floor.
"Kinda weird huh?" Asks Faith with a glint in her eye as she looked the youngest Summer's up and down just as Dawn was doing to her.
"Yeah, just a little." Dawn says with a smile.
Willow could feel the tension between them and decided she needed to say something before one of them jumped the other.
"Hey Dawn, aren't you grounded? Buffy said she didn't think you could come tonight."
"Minor detail Willow. You see there's this conveniently placed tree next to Buffy's window... it works out well for the both of us."
"So Buffy has a little naughty in her?" asks Faith.
"Oh yeah, it runs in the family."
"What does? And what are you doing here?" Buffy says walking back towards them surprisingly Scott free.
"Hey Buff. You should really be more pleased to see your sister you know."
"When mom finds out, I don't wanna be around."
"Relax, ok? I've got this covered. I'm here to have a nice, fun normal evening with no trouble.
"Hello Dawn." Says Spike who had just apparently appeared out of nowhere.
"God why do I always speak too soon?"
"Dawn, I just wanted to ask you something... I don't know if you're aware of this but there's this Valentines Dance that happens here and I was wondering if maybe you'd like to be my..."
"Now now, Spikey. You know the rules. You can't ask a girl out verbally. Gotta write down the invite bud. That's the whole point of the whole Valentine theme! Aren't you supposed to be good at that? With the whole poetry thing?" Faith says while walking over and putting some space between Spike and Dawn.
"But I.." he stammers.
"Off you go! Bye Spikey!" With that Faith gives him a slight nudge towards the general direction of away from their couch. She then gives Dawn an 'aren't you glad I just saved you' look.
"Thanks for that." Says Dawn.
"Anytime, so you didn't wanna go dance did you?"
"Of course I do! But only if you come with." Dawn says walking past Faith, but not without giving her a shining smile.
Buffy shakes her head at her younger sisters actions.
'Never afraid to get what she wants, maybe I should learn something from her..."
WILLOW'S POV
'Alone with Buffy again, God why can't I be a little more like Faith, confident, charming, less nervous and sweaty. I'm such a spaz!'
"So, Willow, tell me more about this Valentines Dance." She scoots a little closer to the redhead on the couch, happy that the two of them have gotten more alone time.
"Well, it's always here at the Bronze, it's all in costume. People like to come as famous couples and things like that. There's this rule that you have to invite your partner via a written Valentine. Apparently it makes things more romantic, plus it gives people like me who are less eloquent a fighting chance."
"People like you?, I don't think you need the help at all." Buffy tells her with a smile.
'Aww, that was so cute! She just complemented me! Talk about warm and fuzzy! And that smile!'
"You don't have anyone in mind do you Wills?"
'Nickname! She just gave me a nickname! Ok, ok, gotta get a grip, doing that mental spazzing out thing again..'
"Umm, no. Not really. Do you? I mean... well Scott's probably already asked."
At that the blonde just flashed her most winning smile.
"Written invites only remember?"
Willow catches Faith and Xanders eyes on the dancefloor. They smile at each other all thinking the same thing. This Valentines dance might be a lot more interesting than they originally thought...
A/N -
cheers for the reviews guys. Thank God the update system here is simple!! Can't ask for more than that! :)