The Hitchhiker
by Lumy
Chapter 2
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THE HITCHHIKER — CHAPTER TWO
As the miles churned beneath the wheels of the pickup, a faint radio signal crackled through the stereo.
Can't explain all the feelings that you're making me feel
My heart's in overdrive and you're behind the steering wheel
Touching you, touching me
touching you, god you're touching me
Despite the bad signal, Buffy turned it up believing it would help if she sang the guitar parts.
"Hee," Willow's amusement at the song and Buffy's singing was obvious.
"So what's your deal?" Buffy asked. "Why are you all the way out here?"
"I don't know," Willow sighed, turning the stereo back down. "I mean, I have a good life back home. Good job, nice apartment, great friends. But I don't know..." she trailed off, lost in thought.
"Something was missing?" Buffy assumed.
"I just had to get away," Willow shrugged. "Think about stuff without the distraction of worrying about other people. Selfish, I know."
"Not at all, I totally understand that," Buffy turned her eyes back to the road ahead.
"What about you?" Willow was still curious from the strange reaction she got the night before.
"I'm less trying to figure out who I am and more trying to run away from who I've become," Buffy's eyes drifted away from the road and down to her bracelet that she was now tugging at.
"What's so bad about who you are?" Willow couldn't resist asking such a loaded question, but as she'd enjoyed her time with Buffy so far, she refused to believe her first impressions of the girl could be wrong.
"I don't have any of that. No job, no home, no friends," Buffy returned her attention to the view as it sped past.
"Sounds like you've been running for so long you forgot what you were running from," Willow psycho analysed.
"I could never forget," she whispered, scratching at the skin on her wrist.
Willow decided to let the conversation drop. It was far too early in the friendship to expect Buffy to take her on the skeleton tour.
Miles turned into hours and hours turned into night, before the pair decided it was time to find somewhere to stay the night. Buffy immediately perked up when suggestions for dinner were thrown around.
They ended up at a steakhouse which was quite an improvement over where they had breakfast. The décor consisted of a lot of crazy crap nailed to the walls as if they were shooting for rustic but missed completely, hitting junk yard instead.
"Well, if I needed fake licence plates, this would totally be my restaurant of choice," Willow dead panned.
"Cmon," Buffy lead the way to a red leather booth. "I bet their steaks are huge!"
Willow fell into step behind the brunette before joining her at the table.
"So you're having half a cow," Willow confirmed to the waitress, waving the menu at Buffy. "And I'll have the chicken ranch salad."
As the waitress made her way back to the kitchen, Buffy watched Willow closely as she put the menu back and resettled herself in her seat.
The attention didn't go unnoticed. "What?" Willow asked, checking to see if she had something stuck to her shirt.
"Nothing," Buffy dismissed. "It's just..." she trailed off.
"Just what?" Willow looked confused.
"Nothing," Buffy shook her head and started batting the salt and pepper shakers back and forth in front of her.
Before Willow could query Buffy further, they were interrupted by the arrival of their drinks.
Willow absently stirred her drink with her straw, causing chaos amongst the ice cubes. "Do you ever get the feeling things didn't turn out how they were supposed to?" she asked letting her current thought slip past her lips without really thinking about it.
"Less so over the last twenty four hours," Buffy mused.
"Mmm, me too," the red head agreed. "Maybe we knew each other in a past life or something," she joked.
"Maybe we did," Buffy said with a more serious tone.
Buffy's furrowed brow was quickly forgotten as the same waitress dumped their meals in front of them.
"Booyah," Buffy said with glee while comparing the size of her steak to the plate it was on.
Dinner was a huge success in Buffy's book. Willow was still amazed at how such a tiny girl could eat so much as they made their way back to the motel down the street.
They both wanted to start off early in the morning and decided they should go straight to sleep. It didn't take them long to turn in. Willow was out like a light, tired from all the driving. Buffy watched Willow's sleeping form from across the room for a while before eventually drifting off herself.
The glow from the neon sign kept the darkness at bay outside their room, and the low hum from the ice machine outside was all that could be heard at 3am.
Buffy was sleeping restlessly; tossing and turning and muttering to herself before her eyes shot open and she leapt out of bed, rushing into the bathroom.
Breathing heavily, she stared at her reflection in the mirror. Eyes wide and full of fear, she could see the shadows getting bigger behind her. Closing her eyes tight, she slammed her fist into the glass, shattering it into pieces with an almighty racket.
Willow sat bolt upright, woken by the din. "Buffy?"
Turning on the table lamp, Willow got out of bed and made her way to the bathroom, where she found Buffy slumped over the sink letting her blood stain the white porcelain.
Horrified, Willow stepped past the broken glass to get a better look. "Buffy, what happened?" she demanded.
Buffy didn't move; her eyes still clenched shut. Willow took the injured hand and ran it under the faucet, diluting the blood as it was slowly washed away.
Satisfied the wound was clean; Willow wrapped it with a nearby towel. Brushing her fallen hair from her face, Willow tried to get Buffy to open her eyes. "Buffy, look at me?" she pleaded.
Reluctantly Buffy opened her eyes, allowing Willow to see the sorrow contained within. Willow silently ran her fingers across Buffy's pale cheek before helping her back to bed. Buffy clung tightly to the taller girls arm, still shaken by whatever it was that scared her.
"We can't stay here," Buffy declared, refusing to sit still.
"Why not?" Willow questioned. "Buffy, what's happening to you?"
Buffy threw the blood stained towel to the floor before she started to gather her belongings and stuff them back into her bag.
"Buffy..." Willow whispered. "Your hand."
Buffy paused and looked down at her already completely healed hand before making eye contact with Willow. "It's a long story," she sighed. "I'll tell you on the way."
TO BE CONTINUED...