Some Things Are Meant To Be
by MorbiskRav
Chapter 4
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Chapter 4
Xander's hand was clutching the dashboard as Cordelia maneuvered her way out of the parking lot. She had barely gotten on the open road when her cell phone rang. She held the wheel with one hand as she fumbled in her purse. Not finding it on touch she took her eyes off of the road receiving a panicked 'eep' from the teenager next to her.
"Watch the road, Cordy." He yelped "Car, left, turn left. LEFT!" he practically squealed. Cordelia gave him a bored look before turning her eyes at the road as she picked up her phone.
"Talk fast; I got a scared kid next to me." She gave the boy next to her another look as she talked in the phone.
"I'm not scared, I'm just not suicidal. I love life, just not you in your car." Xander shrieked as the brunette next to him barely missed another car.
'Whatever, look, I've solved our problem.' The chirpy voice that belonged to Harmony. *Did she really have to call me?* Cordelia thought, not in the mood to deal with Harmony's obnoxious almost-stalking and Xander's panicking.
"What problem? I didn't even realize we had a problem." Cordelia replied, frowning slightly. She noticed Xander was growing very silent but before she could ask Harmony answered.
'Buffy's problem with Willow. I solved it.' Cordelia almost hit a kid crossing the street, praying that Harmony wasn't talking about what she thought she was talking about.
"What the hell are you talking about?" She asked harshly in the phone, making Xander flinch a little. *Don't hit a car, don't hit a car. Don't hit ANYTHING.*
'Let's just say that Buffy won't be turning to their side any time soon.' The brunette could feel Harmony's smirk over the phone. *Shit, she did.*
"What did you do?" Cordelia asked through gritted teeth. This was too much, even for Harmony this was just over the top.
'I had a chat with Willow after school, just before she went to Buffy. I saw the way Buffy dragged you out of school so she could see Willow. We were losing her, Cordelia.' Harmony replied like it was nothing at all, like Buffy was getting obsessed with Willow.
"You did WHAT?" Cordelia hit the brakes so hard Xander thanked whoever was up there for inventing seatbelts. Several cars honked behind Cordelia but she heeded no attention to them. Xander turned in his seat and waved apologetically to the drivers.
'I told her some of the very juicy rumors, and then added some. That geeky little redhead and her friend are so history.'
"You don't EVER mess with Buffy's personal life! She's going to kill you, Harmony!" Cordelia shouted in the phone and hung up. She turned to Xander, glaring him in his seat. *Oh god, the death glare, why do I have to be at the receiving end?* Xander cowered and shifted nervously in his seat. "Tell me you don't believe anything Harmony told you and Willow."
"I don't, I swear." Xander held up his hands and relaxed when Cordelia sighed relieved. He was so going to regret this "But..."
"But? There's a BUT?" Cordelia turned her glare back on him, clearly not happy with Xander's 'but'. She was still standing in the middle of the road as cars went around her just to pass the brunette.
"Willow got spooked and she doesn't believe me because I'm Buffy's friend, too." The brown-haired teenager tried to get as far away from Cordelia as he could in the expensive Mercedes daddy Chase bought her.
"Fuck." She hit her head on the steering wheel. "Are they bad?"
"What?" Xander asked confused. Cordelia turned her head, still resting on the steering wheel, and gave him an annoyed glare.
"The dents you made with your clammy hands on my dashboard. The things Harmony told you, for God's sake, what else?" She threw her head back against the head support on her seat.
"Well..."
-STAMTB-
"Now that was unexpected." Buffy murmured with her eyes still closed from the kiss she just shared with the redhead in front of her. When she opened her eyes she could see Willow smiling cockily and opened her mouth to say something but Willow beat her to it.
"Yeah, well, that's all you're going to get from me." Willow's eyes turned colder making the blonde frown. *Where did this come from?*
"Huh? Come again?" Buffy asked, not seeing where Willow was getting at. *I thought things were going good? I like her, I apologized, she kissed me.*
"You didn't actually think I was going to sleep with you, did you?" The redhead crossed her arms defensively as she stared hard into hazel eyes.
"Yeah, I mean no." Buffy shook her head. At some point she did kind of expected some sex but what Willow was implying didn't make any sense "Wait, what?" The blonde questioned confused.
"Come on, Buffy, I've heard what they said about you." Willow sighed heavily, rolling her eyes at the slightly stunned blonde.
"Rumors, those are just rumors." Buffy pointed out. *What the hell is going on? I thought she was better than that? When did she start believing rumors?*
"Maybe, but when you hear a lot of them, it does get hard not to believe them." The redhead shrugged slightly and tightened her arms when Buffy showed some sorrow in her eyes. *No wonder she's good at getting girls, she's so convincing. Maybe... No Willow, she's a player and she's just going to use you.* Willow angrily shook her head.
"Willow, no, Nathalie's just getting back at me." Buffy tried to reach for the redhead but Willow pulled back like she was about to be burned.
"Who said it was Nathalie who told me?" Willow asked defensively. Buffy was right that Nathalie probably was the one who started them but it wasn't Nathalie who told Willow. No, it was one of Buffy's friends that blabbed. That had to say something right?
"Ask Devon, I've been talking to him in class and-" The slim blonde had no idea what was happening. *Karma or just some vindictive ex-girlfriend?*
"Don't drag my friends into this." Willow cut off the blonde shaking her head with a mix of anger and disappointment. She gave Buffy a final look over before turning from the blonde and walked away.
"Willow, wait." Buffy called after the blonde. She grabbed her bag from the bench and went after the blonde. Willow turned around and faced the blonde. Buffy looked at her quizzically, wondering what she heard that made her change her mind and why Xander didn't tell anything.
"For you? I don't think so." Buffy watched the redhead walk away. When Willow was out of sight she grabbed her phone and dialed a familiar phone number, one that had some explaining to do.
*Pick up, pick up.* She gritted her teeth as she glared at the people looking at her for just standing in the middle of the sidewalk. "Cordy, my house in twenty minutes. Be there." She spoke in the receiver and hung up before Cordelia could answer.
-STAMTB-
Cordelia arrived a little over twenty minutes later at Buffy's house. She parked her car but stayed seated for a several seconds. *She's going to be so dramatic. God, I hope she's not too angry.* She grabbed her purse and exited her car, walking to the front door. She rang the doorbell and smiled at Joyce opening the door.
"Hey Joyce, how are you?" She asked the older woman as Joyce let her in. It was a habit of calling the woman by her first name, Joyce never wanted anything else. Luke, however, sort of demanded being called Mr. Vanawater.
"Hello, Cordelia, I'm just fine, thank you. Buffy is upstairs, you know the way." Joyce smiled warmly. Cordelia nodded her thanks and went up the stairs. She could hear the music blaring from Buffy's room and sighed heavily. *She's going to reek of sweat, I know it.* Cordelia thought annoyed. She admired Buffy for working out but she hated the stench of sweat.
"Hey Cordelia." She heard someone say from behind her. She turned around and saw Dawn leaning against the doorjamb.
"Hi, Dawnie." Cordelia smiled. It wasn't like she didn't like the younger Summers, there was just something about the tall blue-eyed brunette that scared Cordelia just a little bit. It was almost like Dawn could see right through her and Cordelia hated that.
"She hasn't been working out long, so I doubt she'll be sweating already." Dawn nodded to Buffy's room before retreating in her own. See that was what Cordelia hated, she never told Dawn that she didn't like Buffy sweating and still she knew. *Weird kid.*
"Okay, I'm here, what's the big emergency?" Cordelia announced clearly as she entered the blonde's room and shut off her music. Buffy turned to her from her punching bag and glared at the brunette for shutting off her music.
"You're late." Buffy snapped heatedly. She pointed to the bottle of water next to Cordelia and waited for the brunette to get the hint.
"Geez, I'm two minutes late." She rolled her eyes and threw the water at Buffy who caught it with ease. Cordelia crossed her arms and waited for Buffy to tell what was wrong.
"Willow rejected me. She fucking rejected me and all because of some rumors." Buffy answered after she took a drink from the bottle then threw the bottle against her wall in frustration. She threw herself on her bed and buried her head in her pillow.
"It's always because of the rumors. I wanted to tell you but Harmony stole your attention by telling you Willow was looking for you." Cordelia replied, rolling her eyes at Buffy's back. *I knew she'd be dramatic.*
"You can tell me now." Buffy turned around on her bed with a pained groan and sat up, tucking her legs under her. Cordelia sighed and joined the blonde on her bed.
"Which ones? The ones that Nathalie started or the ones that Willow heard?" The brunette asked. There were a lot of things going around about Buffy but it really was her own fault. She never wants to hear them, if she can't hear them, they can't bother her. Now they all came biting her in the ass.
"There's a difference?" She wrapped her arms around her waist, biting back a groan. She really hoped the pain would've been gone by now, it had been almost three days.
"Not really but still a little. Willow doesn't believe all the rumors, just a few really bad ones." The brunette responded, pretending she didn't care.
"Like what?" Buffy asked curiously. Cordelia looked at her amused; this was the first time Buffy asked to hear some of the rumors.
"Like you only want to sleep with her to get back at Nathalie." Cordelia started receiving a snort from Buffy as she lay back on the bed pulling Cordelia down next to her "That you actually have the hots for Spike and you thought that if you played your cards right, you could get Willow into joining a threesome with Spike."
"Spike? Oh my god, no. He probably doesn't even cast a reflection in the mirror, are you kidding me?" Buffy laughed heartedly, trying to imagine her being together with Spike. Then imagining Spike being a vampire made her even laugh harder, causing her to grab her sides in pain. *Spike probably started that one himself.*
"Willow found that fishy as well." Cordelia gave a small laugh "There are a lot of rumors going around but there's one that you're really going to hate." She turned to face Buffy, propping her head on her hand, leaning on her elbow.
"What?" The blonde turned her head, noticing the serous tone in her best friend's voice.
"Nathalie's been spreading you used to beat her if you didn't get your way." Silence filled the room after that statement. *That's what scared Willow, I just know it, not the using her, well, not just that.*
"Who told her all these things?" Buffy finally asked after a few minutes of silence.
"An even bigger thing you're going to hate." Cordelia sat up, knowing she had to say this but also realizing that Buffy was going to hurt someone when she told this.
"Please don't say it was you." Buffy sat up, fearing her best friend had betrayed her.
"What? God no, I just found out half an hour ago." Cordelia snorted then smiled at Buffy.
"If you tell me who it was, I promise not to hurt you." Buffy said not really realizing she just sort of threatened Cordelia.
"God, Buffy, overdramatic much? Of course I'll tell you. It's Harmony."
-STAMTB-
Buffy stood up from the bench seeing Willow arrive. After calling several times Willow had finally picked up the phone and after another half an hour of begging she had agreed to meet the blonde at the park. Buffy was really nervous, she hardly knew Willow but knew there was something about Willow that she needed in her life.
"Thanks for coming, really." Buffy said trying to look in the redhead's eyes but Willow wouldn't look at her directly. *Wow, this is harder than I thought*
"You said you wanted to talk so talk." Willow crossed her arms and stared at the blonde. *Just say whatever you want to say and leave me the hell alone. At least there are enough people around.*
"I have a very bad reputation; I never paid any attention to the bad things 'til today. There are rumors going around school that never were nor will be true." Buffy said softly, still trying to get Willow to look at her. *Why are you making this so fucking hard on me?*
"Of course you'd say that, you want to sleep with me." Willow replied coldly, finally looking at Buffy. The blonde flinched briefly at the hardness in the redhead's eyes but shook it off.
"I'm going to be honest with you. I do want to sleep with you," Buffy started, receiving a snort from Willow "But just you, and when you're ready. I want to date you and see where things go." Buffy noticed how Willow's eyes traveled to her hand that looked like it had been bleeding, like she just got into a fight.
"Yeah and when things don't-" The redhead cut caught off by the blonde balling her fist and bringing it up to take a closer look. Buffy chuckled bitterly and ruffled through her hair.
"You want to know the truth about THAT rumor?" Buffy asked with a very unamused chuckle. Willow nodded matter-of-factly and waited for Buffy to continue. "I hit Nathalie, once. Then I ran like hell. I should've run faster and further."
"What do you mean?" Willow was confused to say the least. *Why would she first hit Nathalie then run away? Don't people who hit someone by accident say sorry?*
Buffy sighed heavily and looked around to see if anyone was looking in their direction. She looked at Willow one more time before she started opening her jacket and pulling it off. She gave one more glance around the park then lifted her shirt, revealing large bruises around her ribs, making their way to the blonde's back.