Chapter 48
“Done!” Willow squealed in delight as she sat down at the lunch table. “Completely and utterly done! I never, ever have to write another lab report! Or take another final!”
“Until next year in grad school,” Oz pointed out with his usual droll tone.
Willow refused to let this curtail her enthusiasm in the slightest. “I get to sleep! Actual, real sleep! Wow, I’m not even sure I remember what it’s like…”
“Yeah, sleep,” Spike agreed with a nod. “’S been what ‘ve been doing all week. It’s very nice.”
Anya elbowed him pointedly in the ribs.
“Oi!” he complained, looking to Elizabeth for support.
Elizabeth elbowed him in the ribs as well. “This is one of those situations where you’ve exceeded the bounds of annoyingness to the point where other people are allowed to whap you, too,” she informed him with a falsely sweet smile.
He proceeded to sulk with all the maturity of a six-year-old and refused to relent until her hand squeezed his thigh affectionately under the table. His pout softened then, and he leaned back in his chair, tilted slightly towards her so that their shoulders were just brushing.
She smiled at his abrupt mood changes. He was always unpredictable, her love. It made him all the more fascinating to her…
“So, everyone’s done then, right?” Willow asked of the assembled house.
“Well, technically I took an incomplete in one class…” Xander began.
“You’re writing that paper this summer,” Anya informed him in a no-nonsense manner.
Xander groaned. “Work over the summer?” he managed in a petulant whine.
“Get used to it,” Devon advised. “Especially if you take incompletes.”
Xander was pouting now, too, and swirling the corn around on his plate in a disappointed manner.
“But we’re not too busy freaking out about some test or other to do official house business?” Willow inquired, turning the conversation back on track.
“By all means, Fearless Leader,” Xander joked.
Willow grinned and turned to the papers in front of her. “We have to submit room assignments for next year by Tuesday, and—”
Groans across the table.
Willow cast annoyed looks at Cordy and Spike – the two most egregious offenders – and returned to her task. “It shouldn’t take that long,” she insisted with what she knew was foolish optimism.
Elizabeth, Xander, and Jonathan all cast each other confused looks.
“Room assignments always turn into a logistical nightmare,” Anya provided helpfully.
“Especially when we’ve got people being pulled into the house,” Devon added, gesturing to Oz and Andrew.
“Has anyone heard from Faith?” Elizabeth asked. “’Cause if she’s coming back…”
Willow frowned. “She’s saying winter quarter now. You all can worry about that when – or if – it comes up.”
“So, uh, what’re we doing?” Jonathan asked curiously, watching Willow sort meticulously through the pile of papers in front of her.
Willow sighed. “OK, so we’ve got two pull-ins. We’ll need to stick them in the doubles initially, which means…” She looked to Cordelia.
The brunette gave her a weary nod. “What do you want me to do?” she agreed.
“Well, first,” Willow began, biting the end of her pencil. “Who wants to live where next year? Everyone give me your first choice, and then we’ll work about fixing things right.”
“Oz and I are good with the double again,” Devon provided. “Unless someone else wants it…”
“Good,” Willow nodded. “That part should be easy. What about you two?” she turned to Jonathan and Andrew.
“Singles would be better,” Jonathan said nervously.
Andrew nodded vigorously. “Definitely,” he agreed.
Willow continued to jot down notes. “Spike? Anya?”
“Prefer to keep the same room,” Spike shrugged.
“And Cordy and I were talking about taking the second double together,” Anya added.
Willow’s scribbling turned more frantic. “OK, so that’s the upper classmen. Xander? Elizabeth?”
Xander shrugged. “As long as I’m in the house…”
“I’ll probably end up just living in Spike’s room again, anyway,” Elizabeth concurred.
Willow nodded. “OK, Cordy’s got official first pick, so initially she’ll have to choose… One of the singles. Probably a freshman one.”
All the freshmen blinked. “I thought she wanted the double,” Xander ventured, somewhat confused.
“We need the second double to pull Andrew in,” Anya provided. “Then, after the college officially assigns him to the house, Cordy and I will bump the two of them from the double.”
“Which means the two of you both need to pick back-up singles…” Willow frowned at her chart.
Two shrugs accompanied this request. “Does it really matter?” Jonathan asked.
Willow sighed. “Indifference – the bane of housing assignments…” She pondered the chart. “We want Cordy and Anya to pick singles that no one else is going to take. Which leaves out Spike’s room, and… Xander, where did you want to stay again?”
Xander sighed. “Can I have Anya’s current room?” he finally decided. “It’s probably the largest single left…”
“Right.” Willow was scribbling furiously again. “Which means…” A dramatic pause. “Cordy, I’m assigning you to the room you’ve got now.”
“All that effort just to end up in the same place,” Cordelia teased lightly.
Willow gave her a grimacing smile of agreement. “Next pick is Devon’s…”
“Double. Pulling in Oz,” he reminded her.
“Right,” Willow agreed, penning them in. “Anya’s next, so I’m putting her…in Jonathan’s current room…”
Anya gave her a disinterested shrug.
“Spike goes in his old room, and we’re down to the freshmen… Xander in Anya’s room. Elizabeth in… Where do you want?”
“Xander’s?” Elizabeth ventured uncertainly.
“Cut down on the neighbors that hafta put up with our racket,” Spike commented with a wry grin.
Elizabeth cast him an annoyed look…even if she had taken that into consideration…
“So, Jonathan picks my current room and pulls in Andrew, and then we’re all set until Cordy and Anya bump them out,” Willow concluded with a flourish. “So, Jonathan and Andrew have to pick back-ups…”
“Just give me my room again,” Jonathan shrugged.
“Andrew?” Willow inquired. “We’ve got Cordy’s and Faith’s old rooms left…”
“Cordy’s,” Andrew insisted quickly, blushing and intentionally looking nowhere near Elizabeth and Spike.
“So, the sole new freshman next year gets stuck with us as next-door neighbors,” Spike couldn’t help but tease wryly.
“Yeah, there’s not a lot of openings for new residents, are there?” Willow frowned slightly. “That settles it. You’re all going to have to be a lot more aggravating next year, so that more people want to move out,” she teased.
“Either that, or everyone has to go abroad at inopportune times,” Anya agreed.
Cordelia nodded slowly. “Glad I got it out of the way this year when I could still get back in the house.”
“Very wise of you,” Spike agreed with a quirk of his lips. “What would we ever ‘ve done without you draggin’ us onto sets to paint scenery?”
“Hey!” Xander and Cordelia protested in unison.
“Don’t forget corrupting my boyfriend,” Anya provided.
Cordelia and Xander both took up identical defensive positions.
Willow sniffed slightly before focusing intently on the last of her work once more. “W-We need to choose the RA for next year, too…” she added.
“Juniors?” Spike raised an eyebrow at the three members of the (hopefully) soon-to-be-graduating class.
“Not quite sure I’m graduating,” Oz provided.
“Devon or Cordy, then,” Anya concluded.
“Do either of you have a preference?” Willow inquired.
Devon and Cordelia exchanged a look. “Cordy,” “me,” they said in almost perfect unison.
Several chuckles followed the decision.
“What?” Devon said defensively. “Picking a major doesn’t mean I have to be all…responsible or anything…”
“Did you tell that to the Times?” Oz teased lightly.
Devon shrugged. “I can last for sufficient amounts of time without being stoned, you know. I mean, this semester…”
“Yeah, ‘cause Spike and I never had to drag you back home,” Xander retorted with a grin.
Devon gave him a sheepish look.
“OK, so it’s looking like Cordy right now,” Willow summarized. “Any objections?”
Deep, rich silence.
“OK, we’re doing the vote, then,” Willow concluded. “Everyone cover their eyes…”
A few confused looks from the freshmen, but everyone complied with the anonymous vote.
“Everyone who wants Cordy as RA next year, raise your hand,” Willow continued. A pause. “And opposed?” Another pause. “OK, you can all open your eyes now. Cordy’s the RA by unanimous vote.”
“Better watch it, Rosenberg, or I’ll steal your record as best RA,” Cordelia teased.
Willow grinned at her. “You still have to orchestrate housing for the next year, so don’t get cocky yet.”
“Yeah, ‘m impressed,” Spike agreed. “This hasn’t turned into the two hour fiasco of last year.”
“This is why you don’t have stoners for RAs,” Devon agreed.
“Well, then,” Willow scanned over the documents in front of her, “I think that’s it. I just need to hand these forms in, and that’ll be my last official act as RA…”
“I can’t believe this year’s over already,” Xander shook his head. “It went way too fast…”
“Wait until you’re a senior and you realize that all four years have gone by that fast,” Willow countered.
“We should probably do something tonight,” Anya commented, her face scrunched up in disgust as she stared down at the tray in front of her. “You know, as a house. We could go out and get real food, for instance.”
“And then I wouldn’t have to pretend to eat the mac and cheese,” Cordelia saw through the sentimental aspects of Anya’s plan and got straight down to the important parts.
“Give Red a send-off while we’re at it,” Spike commented, keeping the corner of his eye on their graduating senior who didn’t seem quite as composed about her leaving as she was pretending to be.
“Yeah, that’ll be fun,” Willow agreed with a bright smile. “We should definitely get together for dinner before people start flying home.”
“I’m leaving tomorrow night,” Jonathan provided.
“Tonight, then,” Anya nodded. “Any votes on where to go?”
“Anywhere but more pizza,” Elizabeth insisted vehemently.
“Well, that eliminates half the restaurants in town,” Xander joked. “So, we’re left with Italian or Chinese. Wills, it’s your last meal, so you pick.”
Willow chuckled slightly at the ‘last meal’ comment. “I’m for Chinese,” she decided.
“Sounds great,” Spike commented, still inconspicuously studying the redhead. “Lounge at seven, then?”
Murmurs of ascent followed as everyone half-heartedly picked at their food.
Elizabeth had picked up the odd note in Spike’s voice and noticed for the first time that he was observing Willow. She gave him a questioning little look, but he shrugged it off for the moment. However, Elizabeth’s attention turned in the direction of her roommate now as well, and she too spotted the underlying sadness in her friend’s demeanor. A quick look of understanding with Spike, and she quickly chased off after Willow as soon as the latter left the dining table…
* * *
“Gah!” Willow said in shocked surprise when someone tapped her on the shoulder.
“Packing’s that engrossing, huh?” Elizabeth teased lightly, sitting on the edge of her bed.
Willow managed a small smile and threw several more candles into the open suitcase. “Nasty thing about this year is that I can’t just put everything in storage. I actually have to lug all my textbooks with me.”
“You could always sell some,” Elizabeth suggested, her nose scrunched up at the rather heaping book piles that were scattered across the room. She was suddenly very grateful that she was just able to leave boxes in her room over the summer.
“You never know what reference you might need to look up, though,” Willow countered.
Elizabeth lifted up one volume. “Somehow, I doubt bio majors have much use of Plato’s Republic,” she countered.
Willow took it from her. “What kind of nerd would I be if I didn’t have at least one copy of Plato on my bookshelf?” she teased, dropping the tome into the bottom of one of the many boxes that littered the room. She paused for a moment to wipe the sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand. “I don’t suppose we can convince that well-muscled boyfriend of yours to help me lug all this stuff downstairs?” she asked with a little grin.
“Consider it done,” Elizabeth agreed. “Oh, and Anya’s already offered Xander as your second pack mule.”
Willow shook her head and laughed. “And I’ve already tricked Devon and Oz into helping…”
Elizabeth chuckled. “Now all we have to do is convince them to do all that heavy lifting shirtless, and we’re set.”
“I don’t suppose we could get some naked girls involved, too?” Willow teased.
“Maybe,” Elizabeth bit her lip in a mock-thoughtful manner, “but only because you’re graduating.”
“Lucky me,” Willow agreed with a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes.
Elizabeth sighed. “Will?” she began.
“Yeah?” Willow was intentionally not looking at her.
“We’re all going to miss you, y’know?” Elizabeth assured her.
Willow didn’t answer for a minute, too busy trying to disentangle two sweaters. “Yeah, I’ll miss you guys, too,” she finally agreed.
“You’ll have to e-mail us,” Elizabeth insisted. “And come visit. Often.”
“I will,” Willow promised. “I mean, I have to make sure open war doesn’t break out in my absence, now don’t I?”
Elizabeth managed a wry chuckle. “We’ll make Cordy’s life hell for you,” she teased.
The smile reached Willow’s eyes this time, but so did the tears. “Th-Thanks,” she sniffed slightly.
Elizabeth felt her own eyes tearing as well. “You were a great roommate,” she insisted, “even though we, y’know…”
“…didn’t really live together for most of the year?” Willow suggested with a grin.
Elizabeth’s face flushed slightly. “Yeah, sorry about that,” she agreed sheepishly.
“It gave me and Tara a lot of alone time,” Willow assured her. “Besides, I don’t begrudge you or Spike your happiness.”
Elizabeth gave her a soft smile. “I’m glad you and Tara got some time,” she agreed.
Willow let out a wistful sigh. “Yeah…” she agreed. She returned to packing in silence for a while. “You know, I feel like there’s still a lot I missed here,” she finally spoke up, startling Elizabeth with her sudden words.
“Yeah?” Elizabeth pressed curiously.
“Well, I mean, it would have been nice if Tara and I had been able to work something out,” she clarified.
“You still love her?” Elizabeth inquired softly.
Willow nodded. “And I get that our lives are going in very different directions right now, but… It would’ve been nice, you know? Having something comforting to fall back on…”
“You’ll make new friends in no time,” Elizabeth insisted before wincing. “Which was meant to sound a lot less dismissive than it actually was,” she hastily amended.
Willow grinned. “You’ve been hanging around Spike too much,” she teased.
“What?” Elizabeth gave her an offended look.
“You’ve both developed this mutual ‘foot constantly in the mouth while being sensitive at the same time’ thing,” Willow explained. “It’s kind of hilarious.”
Elizabeth huffed slightly. “Spike’s the one who constantly sticks his foot in his mouth,” she insisted stubbornly, even though she really didn’t believe that was entirely the case.
Willow laughed. “I’m really going to miss you guys,” she repeated, studying the folded jacket before her with a distant sort of nostalgia.
“It’ll be fun,” Elizabeth insisted. “New place, new people, plenty of new hot girls…”
Willow chuckled at that. “Yeah,” she agreed, even though she still didn’t seem quite convinced. “I guess I’m sort of just not quite ready to leave this place yet.”
“So you say now,” Elizabeth countered with a wry grin. “But by your first week, I’m sure you’ll realize what a lot of annoying, juvenile delinquents we all are.”
Willow laughed and then gave Elizabeth a suspicious look. “You know, just because you’re cheering me up doesn’t mean you’re exempt from helping me pack,” she informed her roommate.
Elizabeth’s eyes widened in fear. “I have to…er…” she began lamely.
“Here,” Willow plopped a pile of books into her arms. “You can fit those into the box by the closet.”
Elizabeth let out a resigned sigh. “I’m sure there’s some rule against the RA using freshmen as slave labor,” she teased lightly.
“Undoubtedly,” Willow agreed cheerfully, “but it won’t help you now.”
Elizabeth staggered over to the box with the pile of books that well passed her chin.
“Besides,” Willow countered, “before you know it, it’ll be you hijacking your neighbors to move out.”
“What goes around, comes around?” Elizabeth summarized with an ‘oof’ as she unceremoniously dropped the stack of books into the cardboard box and began arranging them.
“You’d be surprised how fast,” Willow agreed…
* * *
That evening, Willow had seemed a bit more cheerful about the prospect of saying her good-byes. Of course, that probably was largely because they had convinced Tara to come to dinner with them as well. The celebration had turned into something of a good-bye for the both of them since Tara in her own way had also helped guide Westing House through the year.
Elizabeth had found herself seated between Willow and Xander at the conglomeration of tables that had been pushed together to accommodate the large group. This had left Spike and Anya unsupervised at the far side of the table, and naturally war had broken out.
Amidst shouts of “don’t call me Anyanka!” and the clashing of chopsticks, Elizabeth had managed to prod Tara about how she’d been doing for the past month or so. Like Willow, Tara seemed a bit nostalgic about leaving the college, but both had been excited about the programs they would be entering the following year. The only real moment of sadness had been when Tara had given Willow a quick good-bye hug before turning off into the direction of her own dorm.
“We kept promising to keep in touch,” Willow had commented to Elizabeth as they’d walked through the warm June night back to Westing Hall, “but it seems kind of hopeless, you know?”
Elizabeth had given her a sympathetic nod.
“I mean, we’ve both kinda got this wish that eventually we’ll get together again, but…” Willow sighed. “It doesn’t really seem all that likely.”
“People move on, move apart,” Elizabeth agreed.
“It’s kind of frightening that all this stuff that seems to mean so much could eventually turn out to be nothing,” Willow shuddered slightly despite the heat. “It sort of makes everything I feel right now seem false.”
“It’s real right now,” Elizabeth pointed out. “Just because things change doesn’t make the past any less real.”
Willow smiled. “Where’d you get so smart?” she teased.
“College?” Elizabeth joked before frowning. “No, wait…that doesn’t seem right.”
She and Willow had burst out laughing in response and had received odd looks from Jonathan, Andrew, and Spike who had been walking ahead of them in response.
“Women,” Spike shook his head.
“There’s a reason why I don’t bother with ‘em,” Andrew agreed.
It had taken Elizabeth half the evening to get revenge on Spike for that little comment, but once she’d finally cornered him in their room after the rest of the house had gone to bed, there was no escape.
“Asshole,” she informed him matter-of-factly as she slid into bed.
He groaned and turned over to face her. “What’d I do now?” he demanded.
“Just being your usual assholic self,” she informed him, brushing her lips over his temple before settling down on her own side of the bed.
He shrugged it off and propped his head up on one elbow, obviously in the mood for a little evening chat. “How’s Red doing?” he asked curiously.
Elizabeth sighed and rolled over on her side to face him. “She’s a bit sad that she’s leaving,” she admitted. “And she regrets that she and Tara never managed to sort things out.”
“’S always rough,” he agreed.
“It could be us in another two years,” she commented a bit morbidly.
“Nah,” he said with a quirky little smile. “You don’t graduate for three years.”
Elizabeth gave him a scowl. “You’re graduating in two years,” she informed him.
“If you say so,” he teased.
“Spike…” Her voice had a definite warning tone.
“I know, I know,” he sighed, turning back to the topic at hand. “Not much we can do ‘bout it, now is there?”
Elizabeth shrugged. “Not worrying about it day and night’s probably a good start.”
“I’ve been tellin’ you this for how long?” he ribbed her.
Another scowl, but this time she snuggled up against him nonetheless. “I don’t want to lose you,” she decided.
“Then you won’t,” he decided with a yawn.
“Try to sound more sincere, why don’t you?” she teased.
He gave her an annoyed scowl and then yawned again. “’S all up to us in the end, kitten,” he informed her sleepily. “Our decision to make ‘bout what’s most important.” He shut his eyes and rolled over to bury his head in the pillow.
Elizabeth shook her head. “I love you, you know,” she murmured with a yawn herself. “Even if you are a lazy slacker…”
He mumbled something into his pillow that was either “I love you, too” or some rather creative invective. In either case, it caused Elizabeth to smile as she drifted off into sleep…