Chapter 12
Elizabeth collapsed back on her bed and sighed. To say that the last week had been hectic would be an understatement. Which was grossly unfair given that she’d finished midterms and all.
Apparently, the disaster had started while she and Spike had been safely away in Boston. They had come home late Sunday night, arguing good-naturedly about whether size really did matter…of their trophies, of course. Halfway up the spiral stairs to Westing House, they’d been practically bowled over by a frantic Willow and Oz – yes, Oz had been frantic – before the pair dashed into Oz’s van and took off.
Confused and more than a little bit worried, the bleached pair had hurried up the stairs to find Tara, Xander, Anya, and even Jonathan all in the lounge, looking like they were waiting for the call to hear that their grandmother had died.
A brief panic attack had followed when it was revealed that Devon and Faith were both in the hospital after OD-ing, and that Willow had had to rush down to the hospital in order to fend off the police. The Shady Glen police of course knew that most of the college students experimented, but they were still required to investigate any students so foolish to have gotten themselves into the hospital.
Although exhausted from their trip and the tournament, Elizabeth and Spike had stayed up to wait for the news, anyway. This finally came in around three in the morning when Willow called to report that it hadn’t actually been an OD, just food poisoning, and as a result the police were willing to overlook anything else the doctors might have found in the pair’s bloodstream. Just another of the top ten reasons that campus police were so much easier to deal with than county police.
Assured that Devon and Faith would both be all right, everyone had finally gone off to bed. That gave Elizabeth less than five hours of sleep before class. Two, since she couldn’t fall asleep for the longest time, no matter how tired she was.
She still did go to class, however, and regretted it for the rest of the day. Spike had quite obviously just slept straight through the morning for which she was slightly grateful, given that she really couldn’t have put up with both Riley and Spike in history.
Riley had, of course, not realized that she’d had such a stressful time and thus had been cheerful and perky, planning their weekend outing together. Elizabeth had snapped, more due to lack of sleep than anything else, and she could tell that she’d actually hurt Riley. She’d been guilt tripping and overcompensating ever since.
Of course, this was all on top of having to deal with the results of her midterms…
OK, Elizabeth knew that she was probably pampered and spoiled and everything else, but she’d never gotten anything below a B+ in her life. And even that was only when she was slacking. So, she’d kind of freaked when she’d gotten a B- on one paper and a C+ on another. Apocalypse-world’s-going-to-end kind of freaked.
Willow and Tara had been unavailable for the comfort session she so desperately needed on Wednesday because whatever mess Faith and Devon had gotten themselves into was still occupying all their time. The recalcitrant pair had appeared in the house again early Monday but had both retreated to their respective rooms and not come out since. And Oz had also returned from the hospital with a black eye, of all things, which he refused to discuss with anyone. Elizabeth had absolutely no clue what the hell was going on, and being left out of the loop annoyed her more than anything.
As a result, she’d gone quickly from Xander to Anya to Spike for support. Xander got discounted because his grades were worse than hers, and she didn’t want to make him feel bad. Anya was no good since her philosophy was that grades only mattered when they pertained to her future acquisition of wealth. Plus, Anya hadn’t had the freshman slump.
Spike, however, had finally managed to convince her that everyone got B’s and C’s at first because, yeah, college papers were harder to write and the teachers expected more of you. But, apparently, it was pretty standard for teachers to look at improvement throughout the year for freshmen and grade them on that instead of strictly based on numbers. Given that Spike’s parents were professors, Elizabeth had eventually been convinced.
But that meant that she had to study extra hard to make up for it all. The end result was that all work and no play made Elizabeth a very cranky student. This led to general all-around bitchiness, accidentally snapping at Riley again, and, as a final crown to her new title, Queen of Patheticness, this latest sulk session in her room.
In short, life was not good.
“Hey, Elizabeth,” Tara said softly, slipping into her and Willow’s room, a towel still wrapped around herself from her shower.
“Mmf,” Elizabeth retorted disinterestedly.
“Rough week?” Tara bit her lip and dug through the closet, searching for one of the dresses she kept here.
Elizabeth just groaned and buried her head deeper into her pillow. “Life. Sucks,” she summarized succinctly.
“Yeah,” Tara agreed with an amused little smile before a slightly worried frown crossed her face. “It sucks even on the weekends?” she asked.
“Yes,” Elizabeth sulked defiantly.
Tara heard the slight waver in her voice, however. “Oh,” she said with a sly smile. “Well, if you want something to do tonight…?” she trailed off.
Elizabeth managed to crack a small grin at that. “Going out with the boyfriend this evening,” she informed her. “Fun, fun,” she added unenthusiastically.
“Not fun?” Tara sat down on Willow’s bed, fully dressed, and began combing through her honey-brown hair.
Elizabeth sighed. “I owe an apology,” she explained. “I suck at apologies. Quite probably because I hate making them.”
Tara gave her an understanding little nod. “What do you have to apologize for?” she asked curiously.
“Being a bitch,” Elizabeth shrugged. “Really bad week,” she said in response to Tara’s curious look.
“Ah,” Tara nodded with a sage smile, “well, good luck…”
“I don’t suppose there’s any chance you could apologize for me?” Elizabeth mock-requested.
“Sorry,” Tara laughed, “I only have to do the apology thing to Willow. You’re stuck apologizing to Riley yourself.”
Elizabeth made a goofy pouty face. “Betcha don’t have to apologize to Willow often,” she retorted. “And I’ve already had to apologize to Riley twice this week.”
Tara shrugged. “More often than you’d think,” she answered simply. “Everyone has their bad days. Besides,” she said with a quirky little smile, “apologizing can be…um, fun…” Her cheeks flamed slightly.
“ ‘Fun’?” Elizabeth had never heard Tara make a remotely sexual statement before, and the opportunity to tease her was too good to pass up. “Do tell,” she requested with wide, innocent eyes.
“You’ll figure it out for yourself,” Tara retorted, demonstrating her usually hidden ability to be both sly and cagey at the same time.
“Hmm,” Elizabeth pondered the question, trying to seek out the mysteries in Tara’s eyes…
* * *
Unfortunately, Elizabeth’s plans for a nice, romantic evening with Riley to make up for her past transgressions stumbled upon a rather large hurtle. Make that a monumental hurtle.
Elizabeth didn’t even notice until they’d been seated down in the one Chinese restaurant in town. She and Riley had been making idle chitchat, and then suddenly a shock of peroxide blond hair caught her attention from a table at the far side of the restaurant. A very unmistakable shock of peroxide blond hair.
“So, you had fun on your little karate thing, huh?” Riley continued to ask about the topic, more because he knew she liked to talk about it than because it actually interested him. In his mind, at least, it wasn’t a real sport if it didn’t involve a team, a ball, and a cheerleading squad.
“Lots of fun,” Elizabeth kept her attention focused entirely on Riley. Damnit! They’re ALL here! Please, don’t let them see me…
“How was Boston?” Riley asked.
She shrugged and took a sip of her water. “Didn’t see it. Too busy with the tournament.” A little excited glint came into her eye, and she leaned forward on her elbows to recount the tale. “You remember that girl Glory I told you about?” she asked.
Riley strained his mind for a second. “You fought her, right?” he hazarded a guess.
“She’s the one who beat me,” Elizabeth reminded him, her voice still a bit bitter at the defeat she’d suffered. “Well, anyway, she’s fighting the final match against this girl from Bates, and—”
“E!” a voice suddenly exclaimed in delight.
Elizabeth turned to see Faith waving at her across the room. She hazarded a little wave back, and Faith nearly bounced out of her seat to come over to her before Devon caught her arm and pulled her back down to sit at the Westing House table. Elizabeth tried to decide what had Faith acting all ultra-happy and decided that it quite possibly involved the alcohol she was currently consuming.
Riley had turned at the exchange as well and finally noticed the group of people he hated but who also happened to be Elizabeth’s friends, albeit without his knowledge. “You know that junkie?” he asked her in disbelief.
Elizabeth bit her lip. Faith had been a pretty good friend to her during orientation, but they’d kind of drifted apart over the last month. Especially since Faith had stopped coming to class. “She lives in my house,” Elizabeth said casually, hoping the conversation would end at that.
Riley rolled his eyes. “Why am I not surprised?” he commented sarcastically. “Let me guess, one of Giles and Osborne’s friends?”
Elizabeth flinched inwardly. By far the most difficult thing to deal about with Riley was his disdain for the people in her house, but she’d promised herself she wouldn’t rock the boat tonight… She just shrugged. “So, anyway, Glory’s fighting in the finals, and she’s kicking this girl’s ass in that stuck-up way she does…” she persisted in continuing her story.
“Bloody hell, Anyanka!” Spike exclaimed from across the room. It wasn’t overly loud, but Elizabeth and Riley could still hear it. And Riley had been listening for it.
“God, what is his problem?” he demanded, looking over his shoulder at the table across the room. “Doesn’t he have any manners?”
Elizabeth watched Spike fumble around with his napkin, all while exchanging remarks with Anya which were too quiet for her to hear, but undoubtedly snarky. “I think someone spilled something,” she put up a token defense for her closet friends.
“The man makes a scene everywhere he goes,” Riley continued on his rant. “I mean, what’s with the hair anyway? Who does he think he’s impressing?”
Elizabeth guiltily remembered that she’d had similar thoughts when she first met Spike. Although they’d been somewhat tempered by his inherent salty goodness. That, and the fact that she’d gotten to know him a bit since then, so she didn’t even really notice anymore. In fact, she was actually starting to think that the bleached white thing was kind of sexy.
“It’s just a look,” she said disinterestedly, hoping to change the topic. “So, how’s practice going so far?” That trick always worked.
“Exhausting but great,” Riley said with a wide grin. “See, we’re doing this new series of drills to give us the stamina we need over our opponents, and…”
Elizabeth tuned out after a little while, merely nodding at regular intervals. She quickly discovered that she could look over Riley’s shoulder and make it seem as though she were watching him. This gave her the opportunity to watch the table behind him.
Spike had made a quick bathroom trip after Anya’s little accidental spill, and in the interval a little argument between Devon and Faith seemed to have started up. Elizabeth frowned slightly as she watched what she thought had been a happy couple hissing angrily at each other just quietly enough that she couldn’t hear.
Riley noticed her frown and quickly misinterpreted it. “We’ve got good scouts, though,” he quickly reassured her, “so we shouldn’t have any difficulty replacing Kevin next season.”
Elizabeth did the obligatory smile and nod thing before continuing to study the scene behind her. Faith looked like she was trying to leave now, while Willow and Tara seemed to be trying to calm everyone down. Spike chose that moment to return, a frown on his face. There was obviously some kind of argument before Faith got up and stalked off. Another brief argument between those left behind, and then Willow went to chase after her.
Elizabeth was careful not to frown this time even though she was quite thoroughly puzzled by what seemed to be happening at the other table.
“So, what do you think?” Riley’s words suddenly caught her attention.
She stuttered slightly at having been caught with her mind drifting and tried to come up with a response that didn’t scream ‘oops, you caught me napping.’ “Well…I think you’re right,” she suggested hesitantly with a little smile.
“Great,” Riley said with a broad grin as the waiter arrived to take their orders. “It’ll be a lot of fun. I promise.”
Huh? Elizabeth’s mind tried to fathom what she’d missed. What did I just agree to?
* * *
Elizabeth decided that night as she lay in bed, listening to Willow’s soft snores from the other bed, that her relationship with Riley would work a lot better if they just stuck to the stuff that worked between them.
Like, he was actually a pretty fun guy to be with as long as they weren’t alone, they weren’t kissing, and they had something else to watch or do that they both liked. For example, she’d been all good with playing that volleyball game with him at the frat party. That had been perfectly fun. The football game had been all right, too, even though she wasn’t too fond of the game. But still, her, Riley, in open public situations equaled good.
The real problem was when they were alone for too long. Elizabeth realized that they had very different interests. Like, ‘all the things she was interested in bored him, and his stories put her to sleep’ kind of different interests. So the just plain one-on-one talking thing didn’t work too well for them.
This had been proved spectacularly on their date tonight. Riley had wanted to take a long, moonlit drive which, hey, major points for romantic, right? Or, at least, it would be if she actually liked driving. That had never really been high up on her list of fun things to do. She’d always been more of a walking person.
So, they’d driven around and… Yeah, conversations didn’t get much deader. And it wasn’t silence in the good, ‘we’re so comfortable we don’t even need to talk when we’re together’ way. It was just very awkward silence, occasionally interrupted by whatever lame comment either of them could come up with to break the tension.
Hence, the not so fun date.
Problem number two with their relationship seemed to be, at least for her, the physical thing. She’d never thought that her past bad experiences would’ve made her so trigger shy…
Oh, who was she kidding? It wasn’t her. The way her body thrummed every time Spike was near proved all too well that she was still capable of getting turned on by a guy.
But with Riley… She just wasn’t that interested in having a physical relationship with him. She’d let him kiss her, and a bit of soft petting had occurred, but… It was more like a task necessary to continue their relationship – something she had to work at, rather than something she really wanted to do.
That’s good, though, her mind insisted. You should have to work at a relationship to make it work. And you did a great job tonight of being a better girlfriend for Riley…
She was still slightly worried about this last one, though. It was pretty obvious that Riley was more into her physically than she was into him. And this had been their second official ‘we actually got dressed up and went some place nice’ date. Which meant that next weekend was the infamous number three…
Several crafty questions and logical deductive reasoning had finally managed to reveal to her what exactly she’d agreed to while the sight of Spike’s tight jeans had had her distracted. The college’s Autumn Formal Dance was next Friday, and Riley had asked her to go. This was a good thing. She’d really wanted to go to the dance, and she obviously wanted to go with her boyfriend, so there! She’d been all worried over nothing.
But, still, the dance would be date number three, and that meant that Riley would probably be expecting something a bit more…intense in the physical department. Elizabeth felt itchy and wrong just thinking about sex with Riley. Not that he wasn’t a good enough looking guy and everything, but… She just wasn’t ready for that. And, if she wanted to be perfectly honest, she knew way in the back of her mind that she wouldn’t ever be ready. It was quite a dilemma.
Not that she thought Riley would pressure her if she said she wanted to wait, but… Well, he obviously wasn’t going to wait forever. And since forever was going to be what it took for her to get ready, she might as well bite the bullet and not cause a scene on Friday, right?
A resounding NO! was the answer her subconscious had been throwing at her that entire night.
But if she listened to that voice… Have to try to make it work, she insisted. Riley’s absolutely perfect. So, yeah, there are some things in your relationship that you still have to work out, but…at least, this one’s honest, right? He won’t leave you like the others. He’ll…
The pang of one of her deepest fears passed through her at the thought of no man ever bothering to stick around for the next morning. She intuitively knew that all men weren’t like that, but… Good, stable Riley will still be there, she knew only too well. She had a chance with this one. A chance to make this work. All she needed to do was keep up the effort and put that patented Summers stubbornness to work and, voila! No more loneliness for Elizabeth.
Turning over onto her side, she closed her eyes and tried to let sleep overcome her once more. Usually Willow’s even – and slightly saw-like – breaths relaxed her right away. The redhead’s contented sleep was better than any sleeping pill she’d ever taken, in fact. But tonight it just wasn’t working. The whole Riley thing just had her too agitated and nervous.
Think about something else, she encouraged herself. ANYTHING else. Get your mind onto a less stressful topic…
So, what had happened that night in the restaurant? She’d actually been trying to puzzle that one out during some of the longer uncomfortable silences on her and Riley’s date. A part of her had hoped that Willow would still be up when she came in so that she could casually ask and maybe get some answers. Probably not, though, since Willow took her job as an RA and the confidentiality it implied very seriously. In a way, it was good to know that if she had any problems ever they’d be guarded that secretly, and at the same time it was annoying because… Well, because she was a bit of a curious busybody, she guessed with an amused little smile. Still…
Willow and Faith hadn’t returned to the table for the entire rest of the meal. Everyone else had tried to brighten things up a bit – Spike and Anya had gotten into one of their patented arguments, which Riley had stuck his nose up at – but the entire Westing Hall group had seemed a bit subdued. Especially Devon.
Probably just a little lover’s quarrel, Elizabeth decided with a yawn, finally feeling sleep come over her. Things will be all normal and happy again by tomorrow…
* * *
By tomorrow, Devon was so desperate for companionship that he had essentially condemned himself to living hell…for any male, that is.
Spike and Xander had promptly fled in horror when Willow announced that the girls were going shopping, to get Elizabeth a dress for the dance among other things.
But, poor Devon had decided to tag along anyway, subjecting himself into the role of pack animal and endless questions about how various dresses made various women look, any of which could have gotten him attacked en masse if he provided the wrong answers. Although they probably would’ve cut him some slack since he was looking so glum.
“What’s up with Devon?” Elizabeth finally managed to ask Anya none-too-subtly when the two of them ended up all by themselves in a small designer store in the mall. Elizabeth held up two dresses before her. “Red or black?”
Fortunately, Anya didn’t give much of a damn about subtlety. “Faith broke up with him,” she rolled her eyes. “Again.” She frowned at the two dresses. “Depends on what you’re looking for,” she commented. “Black says ‘I’m a successful, sophisticated businesswoman’. Red says ‘I’m a successful, sophisticated businesswoman who’s willing to screw her way to the top’,” she joked.
Elizabeth laughed but returned the red dress to the hanger anyway. Anya promptly snatched it up, giving Elizabeth an unashamed little smile.
“Faith and Devon have broken up before?” Elizabeth continued to press what could be the only willing source of information in the house. “When did this happen?”
Anya let out a derisive little snort. “Well, let’s see… The first time was back in October when he caught her dancing with that guy at the rave, and she got really pissed off when he got mad. That was followed by the little fallout over Faith’s ‘groupie’ friends. And then there was the whole methamphetamines thing…followed by the impromptu hospital trip…”
“I’m sensing serious trouble in paradise?” Elizabeth guessed.
“Relationships are all doomed,” Anya said matter-of-factly. “They all start out with nice sex, and then before you know it it’s all one big vengeance bloodbath… Do you think this color works with my complexion?” she abruptly asked, pulling a yellow-orange dress from the rack.
“You’re too pale,” Elizabeth shook her head, “and your hair’s too light.”
“Figured as much,” Anya sighed, putting it back. “A pity, though. Bright colors just scream confidence…plus, it’s fun and sexy.”
“What does blue scream?” Elizabeth asked with a grin, holding up a deep azure dress. For a second it reminded her of the color Spike’s eyes had been right before their almost non-kiss…
“ ‘I’m dour and moody’,” Anya replied. “Unless you’ve got the blue eyes to pull it off…”
“Ah, the joys of hazel eyes,” Elizabeth sighed. “Don’t set off anything.” She kept the dress in her pile of potentials, though. After all, she really liked the color… “So, what’s the point of a relationship if they’re all doomed?” she turned back to the conversation.
Anya gave her a ‘duh’ look. “The sex, of course,” she said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world…
* * *
“No, seriously,” Xander insisted, leaning back in Spike’s armchair, feet propped up on the desk chair, staring up at the ceiling, “would you, like, kill someone?”
Spike snorted derisively and took another quick drag of his cigarette, dangling it back in front of the open window by his bed when he was done. The crisp November chill bit at his hand slightly, but it really was just common courtesy not to fill the room with smoke while Xander was there with him.
“What kind ‘f a question ‘s that?” he retorted, staring up at the same spot on the ceiling Xander was as he continued to lay back on his bed.
Apparently, cracked plaster was incredibly fascinating right now to the two, very bored men.
“A pretty straightforward one, I thought,” Xander joked. “One night of mad passion with Elizabeth – would you kill someone for it?”
“Do I get to choose who I kill?” Spike joked back.
“Nope,” Xander shook his head, “it has to be someone you don’t know. Like, a six-year-old kid or something.”
“Christ, Harris!” Spike’s eyes widened in disbelief. “You’ve been hangin’ ‘round Anyanka too much. Startin’ to come up with the same weird stuff she does…”
“Would you?” Xander pressed.
“’ell no!” Spike said, mildly annoyed.
Xander shrugged. “Your turn,” he agreed. Spike took another quick drag from his cigarette, and he sighed inwardly. The Get Spike To Quit Smoking Campaign number fifteen had just recently failed, and they were all cutting him a bit of slack for a while before Campaign sixteen began.
“I still say ‘s a girly game,” Spike huffed slightly. “We should be doin’ somethin’ more manly like…”
“Drinking and whoring?” Xander joked.
Spike laughed at that. “Soddin’ truth or dare it is then,” he sighed. “Would you ‘ave a go at Anyanka?” he finally asked after a brief pause.
Xander’s face flushed a deep crimson in response.
Spike caught the reaction out of the corner of his eye and turned on the bed to face his friend. “You’re kiddin’ me, right?” he said, slightly surprised. “You’ve got a fancy for Anyanka?”
“She’s…fun…” Xander began to babble, still a bit embarrassed…
* * *
“Can I ask you a blunt question?” Anya called over the top of the changing room door.
“Do you ever ask any other kind?” Elizabeth couldn’t help but tease.
Anya’s mouth formed into a pout for a second before she shrugged and conceded that Elizabeth was right. “No,” she answered simply. “So, can I ask you?”
“Shoot,” Elizabeth agreed, slipping out of her jeans so that she could try on her latest dress.
“Why are you dating Riley?” Anya demanded.
On the other side of the door, Elizabeth let out a long sigh. “Why not?” she countered.
“Well, I guess he’s well-formed enough,” Anya decided, “but you don’t really seem to like him all that much. And you seem to have a strong desire to have sex with Spike.”
For once, Elizabeth’s deep blush was hidden from all eyes…well, unless this was one of those changing rooms that had the hidden cameras where perv security guards watched women change… She shook her head and got her mind back on topic.
“I like Riley,” she insisted. She wasn’t even quite willing to acknowledge she’d heard that last statement yet…
“Do you really?” Anya pried. “Because you don’t really ever hang out with him unless you have to. And you don’t ever talk about him. Plus, the two of you really are nothing alike.”
“We get along just fine,” Elizabeth insisted.
“Only ‘fine’?” Anya pressed. “Because you seem to have a lot more chemistry with Spike. Like, ‘I’ve actually thought the two of you would rip off all your clothes and start rutting right on the dinner table’ kind of chemistry.”
OK, that visual really shouldn’t have been so appealing. Elizabeth now had several compound blushes all built up on top of each other. At this rate her face would be permanently red.
“The dinner table is safe,” she managed to reassure Anya in a wry voice that belied the butterflies fluttering about in her stomach. “Besides, you’re the one Spike hangs out with all the time…” she trailed off, wondering if she should finally ask Anya exactly what her relationship with Spike was. It was a question that had confused her for a little while now.
“Yeah, but I can’t have sex with Spike,” Anya said matter-of-factly, checking her fingernails for dirt. “He’s like my annoying little brother…or, maybe more like older brother…” She frowned for a second. “Annoying twin brother!” she finally decided with delight. “And, yeah, he’s gorgeous as all hell, but even I draw the line at incest…”
“Then, er…you and Spike haven’t…?” Elizabeth trailed off, embarrassed that she was even asking this question.
“Spike like a brother. Incest bad,” Anya repeated. “And how long are you going to take to try that dress on, anyway?”
Elizabeth opened the door and stepped out, showing off the dress to Anya with a little twirl. “What do you think?” she asked, fingering the white silk fabric.
“I still say white says ‘Ultra-pure virgin who’s not willing to kick the balls necessary to reach the top’,” Anya joked. “And, given that you can pretty much kick any guy’s ass…”
“Without the business commentary?” Elizabeth demanded, both annoyed and amused at the same time. Oh yeah, sometimes the not-quite-family resemblance between Anya and Spike was all too apparent.
“It would look nice if it wasn’t white,” Anya insisted, her brow wrinkled slightly. “It’s just so…fluffy!” She gesticulated wildly.
“That’s not necessarily a bad thing,” Elizabeth countered, looking at her reflection in the wall-length mirror.
Anya shrugged. “I like the black one better. Spike would like it, too. He thinks you’re very sexy in black.”
And Elizabeth’s face flamed once more…
* * *
“I can’t ‘xplain how you know; you just do!” Spike exclaimed in mild irritation.
“Try,” Xander insisted.
Spike looked at him through narrowed eyes. “Since when did this conversation turn from your li’l crush on Anyanka to my ‘opeless one on ‘Lizabeth?” he demanded.
“It just did,” Xander countered with an amused grin. “Live with it.”
Spike let out a little sigh and let his head fall back against his pillow, studying the ceiling intently through the ring of smoke he’d just blown. “’S like whenever she’s around you feel…I don’ know, alive. Every cell in your body just feels energized, an’ ‘s all tellin’ you to jus’ get a li’l bit closer…jus’ so you can feel ‘er warmth an’ breathe in ‘er scent an’… Oh, bloody hell! ‘m turnin’ into a soddin’ poof!” Spike slapped himself on the forehead.
“Yes, your intense romantic interest in a woman indicates that you’re gay,” Xander couldn’t help but tease.
Spike gave him an annoyed look. “You’re not jus’ actin’ like Anyanka, you are Anyanka,” he accused good-naturedly.
Xander blushed slightly at the reminder of his own current interest.
“Bet she’d go for you, if you made a move,” Spike commented, rolling over on his side to face Xander. “She’s pretty open ‘bout those sorts ‘f things…an’ we already know she likes ta hang out with you…” He took another quick drag of his cigarette before stubbing it out in his ashtray. “’d say if you’ve got a chance in hell, go for it. Hell, I don’ even have a chance in hell, but ‘m still chasin’ after my girl…”
* * *
“It’s not that I have anything against sex with Spike,” Elizabeth insisted, taking a sip from her latte. “It’s just that I already have a boyfriend, and a life!”
“But you don’t love your boyfriend, and you’re slowly turning your back on the life you used to have,” Anya persisted, flopping down in the chair of the small mall café across from her. “Your rush of Tri Xi really was pretty intentionally pathetic, and you even admit that you’re trying to run from the future your dad’s got planned from you… So, why on earth are you following his advice on men?”
Elizabeth sighed. It sucked getting into an argument with someone just as stubborn as she was. “Riley’s a good man…” she persisted.
“But you aren’t really interested in him as a boyfriend,” Anya repeated her own earlier words. “And Spike’s a good man, too.”
“Did he put you up to this?” Elizabeth suddenly accused.
“No,” Anya said with a quickness and assuredness that made it impossible for Elizabeth to doubt the truthfulness of this statement. “He’s just a really good friend, and he really likes you.”
“But…”
“And I think you like him, too,” Anya cut her off. “Anyway, your pupils dilate and your cheeks flush whenever he flirts with you, and you’re always checking him out when you think no one is looking, and—”
“OK, OK!” Elizabeth cut her off, her cheeks flushing in just the manner Anya had described. “So, he’s…attractive…”
“ ‘Attractive’?” Anya repeated, delighted that she’d finally gotten an admission out of the too-stubborn blond.
“Yeah,” Elizabeth shrugged. “I can think a guy’s attractive without it meaning anything, right?”
“So, you don’t like him them?” Anya pressed, a conspiratorial little smile on her face.
Elizabeth lowered her eyes, but a smile played at the edges of her lips, too. “He’s…nice,” she admitted softly, “sweet… When he’s not pissing me off, that is.”
Anya chuckled at that. “We stubborn, irritating people have to stick together,” she teased lightly. “So, let me get this straight then. You think Spike is ‘attractive’, ‘nice’, and ‘sweet’?”
Elizabeth fiddled with a lock of her hair and took another sip of her latte. “Sometimes,” she agreed softly.
“But you still wouldn’t date him?” Anya demanded.
Elizabeth thought about that one for a minute. “Promise you won’t tell him I said this?” she suddenly requested.
“I’d sooner hand over my entire bank account to you,” Anya swore.
Elizabeth laughed at this before leaning in over the table and lowering her voice to a whisper. “If I didn’t have to worry about all this stuff,” she began, “Riley, my father, my family…my reputation…” She winced slightly at that last one.
“Yeah?” Anya asked excitedly.
“If I didn’t have any of that stuff to worry about,” Elizabeth repeated, “I’d be all over Spike in a heartbeat…”
* * *
“I mean half the time I think she jus’ hates me,” Spike sighed, “and then…” He closed his eyes wearily. “’m beginnin’ to think ‘s just completely an’ utterly hopeless…”