Chapter 5
“So, how was the non-date arrangement with mysterious, potentially non-psychotic Parker?” Willow asked with huge eyes, sipping from her cup.
The two best friends sat in the campus coffee shop chatting away during their break from classes.
“Rescheduled for today.” Buffy replied.
Her voice was still a bit froggy and she hadn’t completely recovered from the flu yet, but insisted on going to classes.
“You excited?”
“Kinda.” Buffy lowered her gaze to the mug she held in her hands, but when Willow giggled excitedly she added, looking up: “It’s just coffee. I don’t know if I’m completely ready to start seriously dating again. It’s still a bit… strange.” Buffy said in a weaker voice, staring at the cup once again when past memories flooded her mind and caused her stomach to twist painfully.
Willow gave her a sympathetic look as a long pause filtered between them.
“Cordelia’s in LA too.” Buffy spoke finally, looking up to meet her friend’s stare.
“Oh.”
“I overheard Miss Perky talking to her on the phone earlier this week.” Buffy swallowed hard, fingering her mug for a few seconds. “Do you think they’ll meet?” She suddenly blurted out.
“It’s a pretty big city, I doubt they’ll meet.” Willow noted.
“Yeah, you’re probably right.” Buffy pressed her lips together and nodded.
“Are you afraid that Cordy and…”
“No, no! A-and even if they did, Angel and I aren’t together anymore so…” Buffy trailed off as the knot in her throat seemed to strangle her and make it impossible to speak.
“They’re probably not going to see each other at all.”
“Yeah, exactly.” Buffy nodded once more, trying to convince herself.
“And even if they did, Angel would never go for her. She used to hit on him all throughout high school and he never even spared her second glimpse.” Willow continued to point out.
Buffy nodded and paused for a second before continuing:
“Plus, I shouldn’t even be thinking about this. Angel has the right to have a relationship with someone else. I mean, it’s time to move on, right?” She looked at her best friend for support.
“Right. And if you think Parker’s nice a-and funny, you should just go out with him and have fun.”
“And that’s what I’ll do.” Buffy decided. “I’ll go and have coffee with him and if it all goes well, we’ll go on an official date.”
“Good.” Willow smiled, happy to see her best friend turning things around.
~+~
Buffy sprinted across the street eyeing her watch. She was late. Very late.
“God, I hope he’s still there.” She spoke under her breath making her way to the coffee-shop.
When she reached it, the café was packed. It was the social hotspot to be at on late afternoons on Fridays. She stood in the corner, on the tip of her toes, hugging her books against her chest while she scanned the crowd. She sighed and let her shoulders slack when she failed to find him.
“I was starting to think you had stood up me up.”
She jumped up at the familiar voice coming from behind her. She turned around to find a smiling Parker standing there.
“Hey. I’m really sorry. Professor Adam thought it would be a great idea to have an extra class today and I really couldn’t miss it and-” The words rushed out of her mouth.
“It’s ok.” Parker gently cut her off. “The important thing is you made it.”
“Yeah.” She gave him a shy smile, dropping her gaze.
“I never thought this would be so crowded.” Parker noted eyeing the crowd.
“It’s cause it’s late afternoon. Sorry.” She apologized again.
“It’s ok. Really!” He assured her. “Come on. I know this great place just around the corner. I’m pretty sure it’s not this crowded.”
She nodded and followed him out of the coffee shop.
~+~
Two long hours later…
Buffy walked slowly alongside Parker, her fingers busy pulling at the edges of her sleeves.
“Are you going home for the weekend?” He questioned, his hands buried deep in his jeans’ back pockets.
“Probably not. Don’t have enough laundry pilled up.”
He chuckled at that.
They came to a stop when they reached the familiar building.
“Ready to return to the roommate from Hell?” He asked.
“Don’t remind me.” She grumbled and rolled her eyes. “With any luck she’s gonna bring lover boy over again. God, I hope she goes out tonight and doesn’t come back home before ten am!”
“I’ll keep my fingers crossed for- Ouch.” He was cut off when a blur of blonde hair swung the door open and crashed into him.
“Hey!” Harmony protested standing up straight.
“Sorry.” Parker automatically apologized when he regained his equilibrium.
She looked at him from top to bottom and gave him a leer.
“It’s ok.” Her voice was pure saccharine and it made Buffy’s blood boil.
The shorter girl cleared her throat and caught Harmony’s attention.
“Oh, hey Buffy. Didn’t see you there.” She greeted dismissively turning her gaze back to Parker. “Hi, I’m Harmony!” She outstretched her hand.
“Parker.”
“Nice to meet you, Parker.”
“Um, Harmony? Don’t you have anywhere to be?” Buffy cut in on their conversation.
Harmony’s eyes widened as she seemed to remember something.
“Oh! Right! Gotta go!”
Without another word the ex-cheerleader was jogging down the street.
“So that’s the roommate from Hell?” Parker questioned, turning to face Buffy again.
“Yeah.” She mumbled; her eyes lingering on Harmony’s departing form.
“I guess you got your wish. Or at least part of it.”
“What?” Buffy snapped out of her daze and looked up at him.
“She’s out of the house.” Parker pointed out.
“Right.” Buffy smiled.
An awkward silence stretched between them, standing there at her doorstep as she began to wonder whether or not to ask him upstairs.
‘He’s sweet and nice. And college *is* about experimenting and being different. And it’s been so long since…’ A part of her mind tried to convince her. On the other hand she was still a bit hoarse and kinda weak, even though she was sure her horniness would take care of that. The truth was that deep inside she still didn’t feel ready and no matter how sweet and perfect Parker seemed to be, this was still their first date. She had given up on pretending it wasn’t a date after the first hour of giggling and laughing at the bar he had taken her to.
“So…” Parker broke the stillness.
“Yeah…”
‘What if Harmony comes back? What if she brings the boinking-boy with her? God, how embarrassing would that be?’ That last thought tipped the mental scale in her mind.
“I better go. I’m pretty tired and still kinda groggy.”
“Of course. Better get some rest.” Even though he tried to sound encouraging, the disappointment was evident in his voice.
“But I loved the coffee!” Buffy quickly added. It seemed to give Parker renewed hope:
“There’s this frat party I have to go to next week. It’s kinda lame but a friend of mine is hosting it and he insists on me being there. Do you wanna go? It would sure help to make it less lame and more interesting.” He blurted out.
“I’d love to.”
“Great. It’s on Friday. I’ll pick you up at ten?” He offered.
“Ten it is.”
“Ok, then. See you on Friday…” He trailed off but remained in place, staring at her.
‘Oh, God! The dreaded to kiss or not to kiss moment of the evening.’
Buffy winced inwardly when she instinctively leaned in and placed a soft kiss on his cheek. Once more, the disappointment was clear on his features.
“Goodnight, Parker.” She said pushing open the door.
“Goodnight.” He replied walking down the steps and away from the building when she entered.
Buffy leaned on the closed door for a second, her heart slamming in her chest. God, she hated first dates. It was all so weird. All the expectations, all the doubts and awkward silent moments were intolerable.
With a long sigh she pushed herself off the metallic structure and walked over to the elevator.
“It’s working!” She couldn’t help exclaim when she pressed the button and the doors opened.
Harmony was out, the elevator was working. Things were looking up for this weekend.
A high-pitched sound announced she had reached the desired floor and the doors glided open again. She slid the key into the lock and entered her apartment.
Not bothering to turn on the lights, she made her way down the hall, dragging her tired feet across the living room. In the dark corridor, she blindly reached for the doorknob and opened the door to her bedroom. With a long sigh she flicked the lights on and threw herself on the bed.
“Tired, tired, tired…” She mumbled as she stared up at the ceiling. “Thank God it’s Friday!”
After a few minutes she forced her body to move and pushed herself off the mattress. Opening one of the drawers in her closet, she searched for a towel, finally settling for a white one. Rolling her sore shoulders and stretching her neck, she unbuttoned her shirt and let it slide down to the floor while she simultaneously kicked her shoes off. Her fingers went for the fastening of her jeans and quickly undid them, letting them pool down to meet the discarded shirt. Finally, her thumb hooked into her socks pulling them off before reaching behind her back to work on her bra.
Wearing nothing but her panties, she wrapped the towel around her chest and walked out of the room. She entered the bathroom and turned on the water. A nice, warm shower was all she needed.
As she sat on the toilet, waiting for the water to heat up, she felt her stomach growl.
‘Right, I didn’t have dinner.’ She realised.
After the first hour at the bar, Parker had suggested they go eat somewhere but, for some reason, the thought of going out to dinner with him had freaked her out a bit. So she had graciously declined even though she was pretty hungry.
“I actually consider asking a guy up to my apartment on the first date but the thought of having dinner with said guy is out of the question. Oh, I’m very healthy, no doubt.” She mumbled to herself when she realised how ridiculous the situation was.
Shaking her head, she left the bathroom and was making her way through the corridor when she suddenly became aware of rustling sounds coming from the living room, quickly followed by footsteps.
Her heart skipped a beat when a male shape came into view. Instinctively, she hid in the shadows of the corridor, heartbeat racing, her palms growing sweatier by the second as she watched the man walkabout in the room. He seemed a little disoriented as if he was looking for something.
‘Oh, my God. It’s a burglar!’ She realised, cowering against one of the walls of the corridor and clinging to the towel that was wrapped around her body. ‘And I’m naked!’ She suddenly realised.
She held her breath when she heard the man mutter something incomprehensible as he continued to walk around the room.
‘I have to do something. 911. Call 911!’
Mentally she tried to remember where she had left her cell phone and almost cursed out loud when she recognised the outlining of the small device over the kitchen counter. ‘Great, just great!’
Her mind raced, trying to figure out what to do when suddenly, just as the stranger turned his back and faced the front door, she went on automatic. In an instant the metallic jug that was on the coffee table materialized in her hand as she crossed the living room and BAM!
A loud but dull sound filled the silent room when the copper connected with the stranger’s unprotected skull. It took all of two seconds for the man to fall flat on the floor; head tilted limply sideways, eyes closed.
Buffy’s hands immediately went to cover her partially-open mouth, the jug tumbling loudly to the linoleum floor.
“Ohmygod, ohmygod, ohmygod!” She practically screamed the mantra hysterically, standing over the unconscious body. “I killed him, I killed him. I killed a man.”
Her breath was coming in short, urgent pants when she began to move erratically around the room, her brain too tired and shocked to know what to do next. Finally, she settled for lighting up the place so she could actually assess just how much damage she had inflicted. She crawled clumsily over the couch, clutching the towel against her chest as she reached for the small lamp on the other side, closer to the window. A soft orange glow flooded the previously darkened room.
Awkwardly, she trembled her way back to the unmoving stranger, kneeling next to him she hesitated. She eyed him, trying to figure out just by looking if he was alive. He was dressed in black from head to toe which contrasted with his bright white, clearly bleached hair.
‘Not very discrete for a burglar.’ Buffy noted; tilting her head sideways when she realised that looking at him wouldn’t solve her problem.
Even so, she stared at him for a few seconds more. Her shaky hand slowly started to hover over his chest, making its way to his neck, while the other remained gripping the towel.
“Please don’t be dead. Please don’t be dead.” She muttered constantly, just as her fingers reached their goal. “Please don’t be-AHhhhhh!”
Ice-blue eyes stared up at her for a brief second before she found herself lying on her back, on the floor, arms pinned at her sides, trapped under the full weight of the stranger.
Without another thought in mind but her own safety she bucked her hips wildly against her attacker, shaking her head like a mad woman, her hair flying in every direction succeeding solely in covering her face and in making it impossible to see the stranger that still lay on top of her.
“Ah!” She continued to scream, shaking her entire body, pushing and pulling her arms trying to free herself but failing miserable. “Let go of me, you creep!”
“Bloody hell, woman! What are you doing?!” She heard him shout at her.
“LET GO!”
“Stop screaming!” He commanded. “Will you just – Hey! Watch it!” He warned her when she managed to free her left leg for a fraction of a second and her knee came very close to his groin.
“Let go of me, you perv!” She yelled one last time before she stopped rattling.
She stood still, her face completely covered by her hair, yet he could see angry-hazel eyes staring murderously up at him.
“You touch me or try anything, I swear to God I will hunt you down and castrate you!” She growled between clenched teeth.
He frowned at that.
“What?”
With a violent motion of her neck she succeeded in pushing away most of the strands that covered her face and green and blue eyes met each other under the dim orange light for the first time.