A Plethora of Possibilities
by fantagismo
2
[reviews]
2.
Willow was at her house, in her bedroom, staring at her wardrobe struggling to find something to wear, something that said "grrrr", but not in a scary way. She was struggling because she had yet to find the hidden inner strength that said yes, you look good in that because you wear it well, and she didn't have that confidence because the years that people had told her she was less than what she was had done a number on her self esteem. She sat down on her bed and thought for a while, going through her personal itinerary of what had happened today. Buffy flashed across her mind, and a spark of the famous "resolve face" came to the surface, glinting in her emerald green eyes.
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Buffy had run across the corridor to see Willow at her locker at the end of the day. Willow was taking some books out of her locker when she saw a breathless and glowing Buffy besides her. Smiling, she bent over to retrieve her bag, starting a little when she saw where Buffy's eyes had lingered as she stood upright again. Buffy grinned, although inwardly she was cursing herself for being just so darn obvious.
Her smile widening, Willow greeted the breathless as-yet-unknown-to-her-slayer. "What's up Buffy? You seem kinda bouncy..." Willow obviously didn't mean to, she was praying for it not to happen because the instant she even thought about the verb "bouncy", she knew where her gaze was going to lie. And slowly, but with gaining momentum, her sights shifted south, towards the breasticle area, just as she had uttered the word out loud. Buffy seeing this, knew that this conversation was a forgone conclusion if she asked the question she had agonised about asking. Sure, she had a lot of other stuff to worry about at present, but where would the harm be in asking a girl - an incredibly beautiful girl to whom she felt a definite and strong attraction to - out tonight to the bronze?
"Will, you know I was thinking... if you're not doing anything tonight that is, if you want to come out, with me, to the bronze? We could go for coffee first, I saw this sweet coffee place on the way into Sunnydale."
Willow smiled, and didn't even hesitate as she spoke. "I'd love to. Pick me up around seven?" Both girls were slightly bewildered at this sudden, bold, not to mention gay exchange. Similarly, both girls decided not to care.
They swapped addresses and other specifics about the evening, and although neither of them said it out loud, they both knew they were partaking on a date, and a rather anticipated one at that.
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Remembering this, Willow now made a pact with herself. She'd be damned if she was going to let Buffy see her the way everyone else seemed to, and she'd be doubly damned if she didn't face up to her insecurities and take some initiative with Buffy. Tonight was going to be the playing ground for a whole new Willow, and she'd be triply damned if anything was going to stop her.
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At the Buffy side of town, things were going in much the same way in regards to the wardrobe situation. She ignored a couple of dresses, one of which made her look particularly slutty, the other had made her look as though she wanted to sell copies of The Watchtower magazine. Things weren't going right, and her mother had made the whole situation seem a lot more intense than it had actually been. Truth was, Buffy had been thinking a lot about her duties as the slayer, and whilst she wasn't exactly overjoyed about the whole prospect of the limited lifespan, it did give new meaning to her endeavours, and her self proclaimed new philosophy, carpe diem. She didn't want to lose her social life, but at the same time, she didn't want to be out at the cost of someone else's life. She was fraying her mind trying to come up with some kind of happy medium, whilst also trying to decide on a suave and sexy outfit when her mother came in, chatting about the new possibilities this town could give them. **She sounds pretty excited about her art gallery,** Buffy couldn't help but notice, and it gave her new things to think about. How am I going to balance all of this out?
She found her stomach was running itself round in knots, and she was needlessly worrying herself. Unbidden, an image of Willow popped into her head, and Buffy discovered her body relaxing and focusing on the redhead. She was inexplicably drawn to her, and could feel herself blushing when she started thinking about the girl's lips, her soft hair and sparkling eyes. **Willow smiles with her eyes,** Buffy thought, thinking about why she could so easily recall the scenes of the day that starred her new friend. She couldn't believe that she had asked Will out, but when she had noticed the other girl checking her out, she knew she wasn't alone in this.
**Concentrate on her, not creepy librarian or my mother issues. Just her...** Buffy found she had no trouble following her own advice when she began to organise her outfit, searching through her wardrobe. Seduction was the one thing she had in mind, and she had to dress to achieve it.
"Now where did I put my leathers?"
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Willow was putting the finishing touches on her make up - smokey eyes will never fail - when she heard a knock at the door. Looking at her watch resolved that it was not yet seven, and so it was not a happy hacker that opened the door to reveal Xander, with some videos and a pizza.
"Xander! What are you doing here?"
Xander, however, had gone non verbal and slack jawed at the sight of his best friend. She was wearing a summer halter neck dress, emerald green, that clung to her curves and showed the promising of cleavage. There was a lingering spice in the air, a feisty, fruity perfume that he couldn't recall associating with the redhead before this seeming transformation, and for once in his life, he was truly, amicably, speechless. Nearly.
"Will, wow... you look, wow, amazing, er, did I mention the wow?"
Willow blushed, and stammered a little, not used to the attention. "R-really? Not too...?" She left the question hanging in the air, and Xander, best friend that he was, picked up on her insecurities immediately.
"Will, no. You look," he paused, searching for the right words, "...simply perfect."
Seeing the sincerity in his eyes, she hugged him, and was about to pull back when he tilted his head to meet her lips. Willow, not a little shocked, quickly ended their embrace, stepping out of the 'intimate zone', and looking a little surprised, happy, and a little more sad. Xander, for his part, was looking confused, hurt, but mostly embarrassed, and he waited for Willow to speak, but not before muttering a quick apology that she caught.
"Xander, you don't have to apologise, it really is ok. I think we should talk though, for a few minutes. Do you wanna sit down?"
"...Yeah..." Came the somewhat mumbled response from a rather humiliated Xander.
Willow stopped for a moment to gather her thoughts and think about what she wanted to say to her best friend, what she'd been wanting to talk to someone about - if not simply just to vent - for a while now.
"Xand, I'm gonna need you just to listen to me for a bit, ok? I've got a bit I want to say."
He nodded, prompting Willow to start.
"For a while now, I've been pretty pissed off. Pissed off at the way everyone treats me as though I'm below them, and pissed off at the way I've been picked on by the people my friends fawn on-"
"Hang on Will, we didn't mean-"
"Xander! Me now!"
"Sorry," again came the somewhat abashed reply.
"As I was saying, I'm not a particularly happy Wills right now, made less happy considering I just referred to myself in the third person. I don't particularly mind it when you guys try it on with Cordelia, I guess mostly because you seem to never learn from your past humiliating forays into rebukes, and it's kind of entertaining to watch. But it's not a fun place for me at school, you know? I've been getting uptight really easily, I feel like I can't relax, and it's starting to take its toll on me. To be completely honest, I've been thinking less of myself, and in my current frame of mind, that simply isn't acceptable!" Willow paused when Xander raised his hand, and rolled her eyes at him but gesturing he should speak.
"So, the million dollar question seems to be, what's brought about the sudden change?" Xander grinned, glad that he was having a heart to heart with his friend, glad that she was still being willow-y around him. He was back on his feet now, with something to prove.
Willow shyly smiled, and Xander knew immediately.
"Oh My God! You met someone!"
One look at the blush on Willow's face that was so rarely absent from her complexion gave him the answer to his accusation, and he began to put the pieces together. "That's why I couldn't find you after school... and the sultry make up with the intoxicating ness of you... and the non kissage! That's why you wouldn't! It must be! Is it?"
"A lady never tells Xander Harris, but there is something else I want to talk to you about that's kinda related... well, I guess I should just say this, but I'm pretty sure I'm feeling some fairly strong attraction to the lesbian side of the force. Don't make me say that again!"
And for the second time in one night, Xander went speechless.