Chapter 18
His feet were propped up on the coffee table, his arms crossed over his chest as he lay on the couch. His eyes were focussed on the screen, but it was clear that his mind was elsewhere.
His leg slipped between hers, parting them and partially opening the robe. He pressed against her pelvis and felt her moan into his mouth.
‘What am I doing?’ He thought, but his body just kept pushing hers against the wooden frame of the door.
God, the way she tasted was… It was the most-
“I can’t believe you’re watching that crappy show again?” Harmony’s sharp voice snapped him from his memory as she walked into the living room in her robe and plopped down next to him.
“It’s not crappy. It’s Passions.” He mumbled between his teeth, not even dispensing her a glance.
“It’s crap.” She insisted cuddling up against his side.
She laid her head on his left arm, staring jadedly at the TV screen. It didn’t last long. Soon her lips were trailing along his skin, making their way up to his neck. Spike remained unaware of her actions. Even as her tongue swept up the column of flesh to reach his earlobe, his eyes and attention remained focused on the flickering images.
He turned his head to the right, pushing deeper into her mouth, frantically caressing her tongue with his while his hands drug into the fabric of her robe that covered the small of her back.
‘Is she naked under that?’ He felt his heart skip a beat at the question.
Trying to provoke him, Harmony moaned against his ear. He always liked that. But there was no reaction.
She moaned as he continued to kiss her.
“Spike!” She whined; sighing loudly as she reluctantly sat up straight.
“Uh?” He muttered without so much as a glance in her direction.
“Are we gonna spend the entire weekend watching TV?” She grumbled.
She waited a while for an answer, when it didn’t come she moved in and bit his earlobe.
“Oy! Watch it!” He protested, with a deep frown over his eyebrows as his fingers came up to nurse his wound.
“I said: ‘Are we gonna spend the entire weekend watching TV?'” She repeated, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Course not.” He replied, his eyes back on the screen.
“Well, that’s all we did last night.” She grumbled. “Correction! That’s all *you* did last night.”
He didn’t answer.
“SPIKE!” She shouted.
“Hey! Stop it!” He yelled back, while his hand covered his tender ear.
Before he knew it, Harmony moved forward, grabbing the remote from the table and turning the TV off.
“Oy! I was watching that!”
“And now you’re not!”
“What do you want?” He asked after a few seconds of staring at her.
“I wanna make love.” She whined.
Spike cringed, he hated when she called it that.
“We haven’t done it in over a week. A *week*.”
“Well, I wanna watch my soap.” He said, reaching for the remote, but Harmony quickly hid it behind her back. “Harm, give it back.”
“No.”
“Harm!” He warned her.
“Nope.” She repeated with a giggle as his body covered hers in his attempt to retrieve the remote.
“Give it-“
He wasn’t able to complete the sentence as her mouth attacked his; her arms circled his neck, forcing him closer. He struggled a bit, but eventually succumbed to her assault. Maybe sleeping with her would help get his mind off… her.
Crawling over Harmony’s body, effectively burying her under his weight, he parted his lips and slipped his tongue inside her mouth. She smiled into the kiss. Finally some action! It had been a long week!
She moaned against him as he abandoned her mouth and trailed down her neck.
“Oh! Spike!” She gasped.
He stopped at that. God, her voice was annoying. But as her legs wrapped around his waist he sighed and resumed kissing her.
Seconds later.
“Spike!”
That was it! In a flash he was sitting up straight, remote in hand and turning on the TV.
“Hey! What are you doing?” Harmony asked still a bit breathless.
“Watching telly.” He answered, eyes focused on the screen once again.
“But-“
“Later, Harm!” He replied.
“But I wanna make love.” She pouted, crawling across the couch and straddling his hips.
“I don’t.” He replied curtly.
“Well…” She started in a babyish tone. “I know someone who wants to.” She said mischievously, as she slipped her hand into his pants. “I know little Spikey wants to play, doesn’t he?”
Her smile crumbled in a flash when she failed to find little Spikey ‘ready for action’.
“I guess little Spikey wants to watch Passions too.” He retorted with a smirk, pushing her off of his lap and onto the spot on the couch next to him.
~+~
“Hey, sweetie. How did you sleep?” Mrs. Summers asked when she saw her eldest daughter dragging her feet into the living room.
“Not so great.” She replied with a sleepy yawn.
“Not so great? It’s one in the afternoon.” Joyce noted as she continued to fold the laundry.
“Well, that’s cause I only fell asleep at 6 am.” She explained, plopping down on the couch.
“You’ve been having trouble sleeping?”
“A little.”
“Is something wrong, honey?” Joyce asked a bit concerned, stopping her folding.
Buffy paused a bit, considering what to do. What was she supposed to say? That she wasn’t able to sleep because a stupid kiss insisted on popping into her head and robbing her to have any peace of mind. It probably wasn’t a good idea, especially considering that said kiss was shared with her roommate’s boy-toy. Definitely *not* a good idea!
“Nothing’s wrong, mom. Just too stressed to sleep, you know? College and such.”
“Are you sure?” Joyce insisted, running her hand over her daughter’s forehead.
“I’m sure.” Buffy smiled, resting against her mother’s warm touch.
~+~
The cold water splashed against his skin as he brought his hands against his cheeks. Shaking his head he looked up to find his mirrored image looking back at him. He stared at it for a few seconds. What was happening to him? He picked up the towel and dried his face and put it back on the metallic rail. He let out a long sigh before leaving the bathroom and heading for her bedroom.
Carefully, he turned the knob and pushed the door open. The room was completely dark except for the frail lines of cobalt light that filtered between the window shutters. The lighting wasn’t much, but enough for him to find his way around the familiar room. Silently, he walked the small distance to the bed, where the covers twisted over a sleeping form.
Good. She was asleep. Finally! He thought she’d never give up. He had stayed glued to the TV set all day and well into the night. He looked to his right to find the red lights from the alarm clock. It read 4:32 am. He had never watched TV for so many hours in a row. 14 hours – it was a new record for him. The first three had been easy, but after the fourth it had been torture. It was amazing just how much crap was on TV nowadays.
He really didn’t know why he simply hadn’t up and left the apartment. It would be a perfect resolution to his problem. No more Harm hanging around his neck, trying to sleep with him every single second of the day.
“You’re off your rocker, mate.” He said to himself in a low voice as he unbuttoned his shirt. Passing up opportunities to sleep with someone like Harmony was definitely not a habit of his. And not one he wanted to pick up either. But ever since… “Bloody hell!” He growled a little too loudly, causing the sleeping figure lying on the bed to stir.
He stood perfectly still, waiting. When he felt sure that she was still asleep he continued to undress and carefully slipped between the covers. She moved again and he held his breath.
‘Bugger. Why the hell am I holding my breath?’ He asked himself angrily. ‘I should be waking her and shagging her brains out, not staying up late watching telly so I can sneak into bed without her knowing. Bloody idiot!’
He lay perfectly still when she came to spoon against his side.
‘You’re doing it again, you bleeding poof!’ He scolded himself.
Inhaling sharply he forced himself into action. Turning on his side, he faced her. Giving himself one last mental push he came closer, brushing his lips against hers. She stirred and he wrapped his arms around her, bring her closer to his body.
“Um…”
He seized the opportunity and slipped his tongue into her mouth when she moaned.
Harmony partially opened her eyes to find a glimpse of blonde hair caught by one of the few lines of light that lit the darkened room. She responded as he deepened the kiss and rolled her over so she was lying on top of him.
His hands brushed down her back, around the curve of her hips and over the smooth skin of her outer thigh to slip under her slick negligee. He tried to ignore the annoyance growing inside of him when he heard her moan out his name and continued kissing her.
She parted her legs, straddling his hips while nibbling on his lower lip.
“Oh, Sp-“
He attacked her mouth just in the nick of time, his hand finding the back of her neck and pushing her against him.
“Ah!” She gasped when he finally let her up and started trailing kissed down her neck. “Oh, Spike. I missed you so-“
She was cut off once again as Spike suddenly flipped them over. His fingers twisted around the string of her thong and pulled it down her thighs leaving her in only the negligee.
She smiled and let her hands roam over his chiselled chest, dropping lower to feel his hard abdomen before diving between his thighs.
The smirk crumbled when, once again, she found that even though big Spikey seem to be up for action, little Spike still seemed as uninterested as that afternoon.
Something was definitely off. Ever since they had started going out, Spike had always been up for it. Always! In the morning, in the shower, in the kitchen while they were heating up lunch, in the car, everywhere and every time he was always up for it. And now all, of a sudden…
But she wasn’t about to give up that easy. Oh no!
Her hand dove between his thighs again; fingers smoothly brushing over the sensitive skin, toying with him.
Five, ten minutes went by and…
The two lay on the bed, staring up at the ceiling which was painted in shades of orange by the light coming from the bedside lamp. The warm colour conflicted painfully with the bright pink surface.
“What happened?” Harmony broke the horrible silence that had been building up for the last minutes.
“Don’t know.” He grumbled between clenched teeth.
Silence…
“I-it’s normal. That’s what people always say, right? I-it’s normal?” Harmony tried again.
“Well, not for me.” He growled as he stood up, picking up his clothes and putting them on.
“Where are you going?” She asked, sitting up and hugging the blanket against her chest.
“Home.” He replied curtly turning around and leaving.
“Spike.” She called out in the empty room as she heard the front door slam closed.
~+~
Buffy pushed the door open and entered the apartment. She dropped her heavy bag next to the kitchen counter and walked into the darkened living room. The TV was on and flickered light into the room.
“Harmony!” She called out shoving her keys into the back pocket of her jeans.
“Hey.” A muffled voice came from the couch.
Buffy frowned when she found the ex-cheerleader sprawled on the sofa, a big bowl of “Cookies ‘n’ Cream” in her hand and a variety of chips and chocolate bars scattered over the coffee table.
“Harmony? Are you ok?” Buffy asked coming to sit next to her. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” She grumbled.
“What do you mean nothing?”
“I mean nothing!”
“Oh! So binge-fest is just because this month’s Vogue announced that the malnourished drug addict look is out and big fat cow is in?” Buffy asked sarcastically.
“You think I’m a big fat cow?” Harmony questioned looking up with tear-filled eyes.
“What? No.” Buffy changed her attitude instantly, but it was too late.
“You think I’m a fat cooow!” Harmony suddenly bawled.
“No, that’s not what-“
She wasn’t able to finish her sentence as her roommate got off the couch and scurried into her bedroom, but not without take the bowl of ice-cream and a couple bags of chips with her.
“Harmony!” Buffy called after her, standing up and rushing over to the closed door.
She knocked.
“Go away!” Was the cried out reply she got.
“Harmony!” Buffy insisted.
When she tried to turn the knob she found that the door was locked.
“Harmony, open the door.” She asked.
“No! Go away!” Harmony repeated.
“Harmony, let me in.”
“Go away, go away, go away!”
“Harmony!”
This time there was no reply.
“Harmony!”
Nothing.
After a couple of minutes Buffy gave up, walking towards the living room.
What had happened?
‘Probably boinkboy’
She paused. What was she thinking? Probably? Of course it was boinkboy. What else could upset Harmony like that? Nothing and no one but boinkboy.
She sighed as she started picking up the empty cartons and bags of chips.