*~*A Touch of Jealousy*~* By Echidna

Chapter 22

Mrs. Summers never knew what hit her. Suddenly, out of the blue, her daughter materialised before her.

“Buffy!” She exclaimed surprised.

“Hey, mom!” The blonde teen replied over enthusiastically while at the same time awkwardly trying to close the door behind her. “You’re home early!” She continued, with a plastic smile on her face.

“Early? It’s 12 o’clock.” Mrs. Summers frowned.

“Oh… Yeah, b-but you said you weren’t coming home for lunch.” Buffy stuttered, anxiously digging her nails into the palm of her left hand.

“I missed you.” Mrs. Summers gave her daughter a sweet smile before asking: “Why are you still in your nightgown?”

“Hum…” Buffy looked down at herself. “I stayed up late watching movies.” She lied.

“Oh, is Spike here?”

Buffy froze at the question. To lie or not to lie… Hum… Let’s play it safe:

“Why do you think that?”

“I saw his car parked out front.” The older woman answered tilting her head towards the lower level of the house.

“Oh…” Buffy nodded slightly, but then frowned: “How’d you know that was Spike’s a car?”

It was Mrs. Summers’ turn to blush and stammer nervously:

“I-I… I just assumed. A car parked in our driveway and you and Spike being so close lately.” She tilted her head slightly and held her breath waiting for her daughter’s reaction.

“Oh… Well… yes it's Spike’s car.” Buffy answered vaguely.

“So he’s here? In there?” Mrs. Summers waved a finger toward the bedroom door.

“Yes… He’s… hum… He was… hum…” Her daughter struggled for an explanation and suddenly blurted out: “He was upset and needed to talk… you know. Teen stuff! Emotional problems, identity crises and all that… teen stuff!”

“Is he having problems at school? With the rest of the students?” Mrs. Summers questioned worriedly.

“Yes!” Buffy lifted her hand towards her mother. “That’s exactly it! He’s been having problems with the guys.” She blabbed in relief.

“Is it because of Angel?”

Buffy froze up again.

“Angel?!” She repeated wide-eyed.

“You know… Angel and he…” Mrs. Summers awkwardly tried to hint.

“Hum…” Buffy’s mind raced. ‘What the hell is she talking about? Does she know about Dru? How?’ “Yes…” She finally opted.

“Oh, Buffy I’m so sorry. Poor thing, he must feel awful.”

“Well… yes.” Buffy was still kind of edgy with the direction the conversation was taking. Since when did her mother know about the whole Dru and Angel story?

“I mean, being hurt by the person you love.” Mrs. Summers continued to sympathise and Buffy continued to nod under a furrowed brow. “You know honey… Boys at your age feel very threatened by people like Spike… they don’t understand it yet, and that might make them act… wrongly towards Spike.”

Now Buffy was lost. What the *hell* was her mother talking about? To play it safe she simply proceeded with looking intently at her mother, silently listening to every word.

“Angel will eventually learn how to deal with Spike… a-and Spike will find someone else… Someone worthy of his affection.”

‘Oh. My. God! My mom thinks Spike is in love with ANGEL? Oh, my God, oh, my God! Breathe, Buffy! Breathe!’ She commanded herself.

“But it’s good that he has someone like you to talk to.” Mrs. Summers reached out to caress her daughter’s suddenly pale cheek. “Well, I’ll be downstairs if you need me.”

Buffy watched unmoving as her mother walked down the stairs. She snapped out of her daze a few moments later and turned around to enter her bedroom.

“So? Are we dead yet?” Spike anxiously asked. He was now fully dressed, except for his duster and shirt which were still bundled up on the floor.

“Not yet.” Buffy answered calmly, with a strange sparkle in her eyes.

“What happened?” Spike insisted as he watched the blonde girl slowly walk over to her bed and sit on it.

“My mom…” She started with a mischievous smile on her lips.

“Yes…”

“She thinks… hum… how do I put this in a way that will not bruise your fragile male ego?”

“Summers!” Spike angrily exclaimed as the waiting began to dig into him.

“She thinks you’re in love with Angel and that Angel hates you!” She blurted out with a peppy tone as she cocked her head sideways. She had to swallow back the chuckles as she saw the bleached teen turn various shades of purple before crying out:

“What?!”

“She thinks you’re suffering from the gay blues because of your unrequited *love* for Angel.” She let the L sound roll off her tongue in a childish tease.

“What?!” He repeated, still frozen in place, eyes wide and mouth gapping open.

“Hum… Honey? We just covered the ‘what’ part, remember?” She mocked with fake concern.

“Your mom thinks I’m in love with that wanker?” He finally snapped out of his lethargic state of mind.

“Yep!” She smacked her lips together for the P sound as she lay back on the bed, resting on her forearms.

“With that wanker?”

She nodded.

“Personally I thought you would be more concerned with the fact that my mom actually thinks you’re gay, and not with the particular detail that you want Angel to be your hot, sex slave.” She continued to joke, but regretted it when she saw the fierce look in his eyes.

She yelped when suddenly he was on her. His hands rested on her shoulders, pushing them gruffly against the mattress, his chest crushing hers making it almost impossible to breathe.

“I thought I made it clear who I wanted to be my hot, sex slave last night.” He snarled, running his tongue over his teeth.

Buffy caught her breath as his knee brusquely pushed between hers, forcing her to spread her legs. His hand never gave her the opportunity to make a move as it snaked under her nightgown, hitching it up to quickly find her core; expert fingers parted her lips, roughly caressing the tender nub they found.

Buffy’s eyes widened her mouth opening to let out a ragged moan.

“Maybe mommy dearest would change her mind if she heard you scream out my name right now.” He purred in her ear as his hand continued to work on her.

Buffy moved her lips trying to speak, somehow the sound refused to come out. Eventually she managed to whimper:

“Spike… don’t… Ah!” She arched off the mattress as he drove one long finger into her.

“Don’t what, pet?” He asked with a lascivious tone.

Buffy struggled with the words as she felt him move inside of her, exploring and rubbing just the right spot.

“Don’t what?” He repeated this time with a less cocky voice as his own desire grew at the mere sight of her contorting under his touch.

“My mother… please… Spike… Ah!” Her trembling hand travelled down her body to reach his, still buried between her legs.

She pathetically pulled at it, not really wanting the feeling to stop.

“Please stop… please…”

She gasped when he actually pulled out of her and sat up on the mattress. Shaking her head slightly, she droopily propped herself up on her forearms. She expected him to have that annoying smirk on his face but instead, she found him looking at her under hooded eyelids.

“Better stop now. Don’t think I could if we took it any further.” He said with a faltering voice as he stood up.

Buffy sat up straight on the bed, tugging her nightgown down to cover her legs as she pulled them against her chest. They stayed in silence for a while, until Spike broke it.

“So…” He started awkwardly. “What are we going to do on Monday?”

Oh, God! The talk. They were having the morning after talk. She wasn’t ready for the talk, not now that her hormones were still raging inside of her.

“I-I don’t know… what do you want to do?” She threw the ball into his side of the court, forcing him to make a decision.

“I don’t know, either.” Spike shrugged sitting down at the chair next to her desk.

Silence filled the room again. Bad, extremely uncomfortable silence. Suddenly, Buffy stood up and started pacing around the room in front of him.

“Do you wanna…” She began. God, this was hard! Why was this hard? “… I don’t know? Do you wanna…” She exhaled sharply, letting her arms fall to her sides. “What do you wanna do?”

“I don’t know.” He shrugged again.

“You don’t know. So whatever I choose is fine by you?” A hint of anger started to creep in her voice.

“No… it’s just… It’s not like I planned this!” He sighed waving his hand at the bed.

“Fine! You know what? We’ll just go back to whatever we were doing before.” She hissed as she continued to walk around in circles. “We’ll pretend like none of this happened and-“

She stopped in mid sentence as she turned around to find him towering in front of her.

“No.” He said in a low, angry voice.

She looked up at him, swallowing as she waited for him to say something. She watched as he closed his eyes for a second, trying to gather himself, when he opened them again shaky fingers came to brush over her cheek.

“I don’t want to pretend it never happened.” He whispered.

Suddenly, a light knock on the door was heard. The two teens immediately jumped away from each other just as Mrs. Summers’ head popped in.

“Hey! Hi, Spike.” She greeted.

“Hey, Mrs. Summers.” He responded with little enthusiasm.

“I ordered pizza.” Turning to Spike she added: “You’re having lunch with us, right?” She asked.

“Hum…” He looked at Buffy, trying to read her expression. He was about to answer when she stepped in:

“Yes, mom.”

“Ok, pizza should be here any minute.”

“We’ll be down in a second.”

Mrs. Summers gave them a light smile before closing the door.

Spike turned to look at Buffy as she nervously twirled her hair.

“Well… I better get dressed and… hum… take a shower.”

“Yeah… right.” He nodded awkwardly as he watched her move towards her wardrobe and take out a grey robe before closing it.

Her feet found their way into the fluffy bunny-shaped slippers she had been wearing the night before and she slowly walked towards the door.

“You can go downstairs to watch TV. I know how you love our cable.” She gave him a soft smile and left the room.

~+~

She rushed down the stairs, her wet hair framing her flushed face as she entered the kitchen.

“Hey!” She greeted a bit nervous.

Spike looked up from his cup of hot chocolate to stare at her. She was wearing old, worn out jeans and a red turtleneck sweater. His eyes widened as his stomach turned, it felt like he had a thousand butterflies flying around in it. Glancing at Mrs. Summers he quickly looked back down into the mug he held between his hands.

Buffy sat down on the stool next to Spike and nervously tapped her fingers on the counter.

“So… Did you have fun last night, Buffy?” Her mother asked when she finished putting away the groceries she’d bought on her way home.

Buffy swallowed hard and glanced at Spike for a second but he was still immersed in staring into his cup of chocolate.

“Yeah, it was fun.” She answered anxiously.

“Good.”

A ringing sound found its way into the kitchen.

“That would be the pizza. Be right back.”

And with that the older woman walked away leaving the two teens alone.

“Did you throw away the… thingy?” Buffy immediately asked.

“What thingy?” The Brit asked with a frown.

“My mom cleaned up my room and made my bed. Please tell me you threw out the…” She leaned in and whispered. “… the condom.”

A smirk settle over Spike’s lips as he answered:

“Don’t worry, luv. I was the one who made your bed. You’re mom stayed down here the whole time. Left my duster and shirt in a plastic bag under your bed. You gotta give me a backpack later to take them home without your mom noticing. And yes, I did take care of the…” He came closer to her, mimicking her actions in a jokingly manner: “…condom.”

“You made my bed?” Buffy asked surprised, ignoring his mocking.

“Sure.”

“You made my bed?” She repeated still not convinced.

“Yeah, what of it?”

“Nothing… It’s just so s…”

“Pizza’s here!” Mrs. Summers walked into the kitchen carrying two family-sized pizza boxes.

“Mom, why did you order so much. We’re never going to be able to eat that.” Buffy protested, self-consciously rubbing her stomach; it was still a little queasy as a result of her alcohol binge.

“Nonsense, of course we are. Now eat up.”

~+~

RING!RING!RING!

One heavy arm was flung out from under the covers to hit the irritating alarm clock into silence.

Buffy groaned as she sat up on the bed. She really hated Mondays. Especially the Mondays she had to go to school and face… Spike! Her heart raced at the thought of finding him in the halls. What was she supposed to do? Kiss him hello? Not kiss him? Ignore him? What? And if they did kiss, were they kissing because of the deal they had between them or was it something else?

“God, this is extremely frustrating!” She growled as she walked into the bathroom.

~+~

‘Hum… History class. Good old, boring as hell but safely Spikeless history class.’ She thought to herself as she tapped her pencil on her desk.

She had successfully avoided the dreaded encounter between them. It wasn’t as if she was hiding from him or anything. She was just intent on walking very quickly through the halls without looking up… ever again. She just wanted to get to class in time. ‘Right, keep telling yourself that…’

She felt her heart slam against her chest when the bell rang.

‘Oh, my God! I’ve got English next! Damn it!’ She grumbled mentally as she stood up and started shoving her books into her backpack.

“You ready?” Willow asked, coming to lean on the desk next to Buffy’s.

“Just a second.” She replied, throwing her pad into the large bag and flinging it over her shoulder.

The two teens walked out of the class together and down the hall. Buffy stopped dead in her tracks when she saw him. He was leaning against her locker, his eyes scanning the crowd, clearly looking for something or… someone. She didn’t know why, but the sight of him eagerly turning his head left and right, possibly looking for… her, made her throat close up, her heart rapidly race in her chest and in her stomach… ‘Oh my God! I’m having butterflies in my stomach over Spike? Since when? Oh right, since the scorching hot sex we had.’

She inhaled sharply and continued to walk towards her locker. ‘Time for the moment of truth!’ She thought as she reached him.

“Hey!” He jumped off the locker when he saw her.

“Hey, yourself.” She said with a smile trying to mask the panicky feeling that seemed to be eating her alive.

She watched out of the corner of her eyes and waited for him to move.

Spike took a step closer and she felt her heart jump to her throat. ‘Is he gonna kiss me hello?’ She thought hopeful.

But suddenly, he moved away and leaned back on the locker. He was about to say something when he felt a heavy hand come down on his back.

“Hey, bleach boy!” Xander’s enthusiastic tone carried through the entire hall.

“Hey, whelp.” Spike grumbled, his eyes never leaving the small girl that was now opening her locker.

“And how is our little Buffy? Hang over free?” Xander mocked.

“Don’t start, Xander.” Buffy answered with a little too much anger in her tone.

“Oh!” Xander put up his hands in a clear sign of surrender.

“She doesn’t want to talk about it.” Willow piped up.

“Thanks for the heads up, Will.” The brown haired boy replied sarcastically.

Buffy pushed her locker closed and leaned on it. She felt her stomach turn and the anger start to boil up inside of her. ‘He wants to ignore it? Fine. By. Me.’ She thought as she pressed her lips together.

“Hey, guys.” Oz showed up worming his arms around Willow’s waist before giving her cheek a light peck.

That only served to heighten Buffy’s growing rage.

“Hey, Oz. Buffy doesn’t want to talk about it.” Xander quickly warned him.

Oz simply gave him a nod and continued in silence.

“Where’s Cordelia?” Willow asked.

“Cheerleading practice. Big practice for big homecoming match.” Xander rubbed his hands together. “Are you guys going to the game? Please tell me you’re going to the game. I need company.” Xander practically begged.

“Xander, you know we hate going to the games.” Willow protested.

“Yeah, but it’s homecoming and… Cordy is gonna kill me if I’m not there to see her shake her moneymaker.” Xander explained with a pleading tone. “I thought this year you guys were gonna come, what with Buffy dating the star quarterback and all, but then there was the whole… hum…” Xander came to a conflicting stop, his mind racing to find a way to avoid the sensitive subject. One glance at the blonde duo gave him a clear message - nope, there was no way to avoid it, not now. He was dead meat, especially with the evil looks Buffy was currently throwing him. “You know what? Better not go to the game at all. Be my own man. Show Cordy who’s the boss in this relationship.” He suddenly changed the direction of the conversation, inflating his chest to hysterical proportions as he tugged at his jeans, pulling them upwards in a highly manly fashion. “Yep! I’m no woman’s man.” He frowned a little. “Ok, that sounded wrong. Worked much better for the bald Scottish chic.”

Willow’s brown furrowed.

“It’s from Sinead O’Connor’s song ‘No man’s woman’.” Oz explained before turning to Xander and adding: “And I think she’s Irish.”

“Oh! Good thing I have my musically-skilled boyfriend to help me out with the obscure song references.” Willow said giddily giving Oz a quick peck on the lips.

“She’s Irish?” Xander frowned. “Are you sure?”

“Pretty sure.” Oz replied monotonically.

As the debate went on, Spike desperately tried to catch Buffy’s attention, throwing various ‘what did I do wrong’ glances at her in a feeble attempt to find some eye-contact; Buffy simply crossed her arms over her chest and angrily stared at the floor. Everyone was oblivious to the tension building between the two of them as Spike nervously inched closer to her.

“Irish, huh?” Xander repeated. “I just saw the Behind the Music on Sinead O’Connor last night and she had like this weird accent. She’s gotta be Scottish.”

“The Irish have the weird accent too. Not the same, but still weird.” Oz replied.

“Are you-“

“Fascinating conversation guys, but I really have to go to class.” Buffy cut Xander off, letting her hands drop to her hips.

“The bell hasn’t even rung yet.” Willow noted.

“Buffy, you’re not becoming Miss ‘Responsible, have to be on time every time goody-two-shoes’, are you?” Xander asked cocking up an eyebrow.

“Yeah, that’s my role, remember? You’re the funny-hot-chic; *I’m* the funny-nerdy-chic.” Willow half whined.

Buffy was about to speak when she felt Spike’s hand worm its way around hers. She froze; her heart pounding erratically as he ran his thumb over her skin for a subtle caress.

“Hum… I…” She drew a blank, all of her nerve endings focusing on the circular motion of his finger.

Thankfully, the school bell rang and she was snapped out of it.

“We better go luv, don’t want to get on Mrs. Kennedy’s bad side.” Spike uttered tilting his head.

“What? Hum… Yeah… Right.” She mumbled confused.

“Bye, guys. See you later.” Spike called out as he walked down the hall dragging a  stunned Buffy by the hand.

Chapter 23

Buffy nervously tapped her pencil on her desk as she rapidly skimmed through the pages of her textbook. Occasionally, she’d throw a glance at the bleached teen sitting next to her, but she’d quickly look back down to bury her gaze in the small black letters in front of her.

They hadn’t spoken a word after they had left the gang to head for class. They’d simply walked down the hall; her small hand wrapped in his until they reached their destination and entered the room to take their seats.

Buffy jumped up when she felt something lightly brush over her shoulder.

Spike immediately retracted the offending hand and looked at her from under a frown:

“Are you ok, Summers?” He asked.

“I-I’m fine.” She quickly answered staring back down at her book.

The bell rang causing her to jolt up again.

“Oh, you’re just fine.” Spike mocked sarcastically in a low voice as all the students around them started standing and packing their things.

‘God, this is so weird. What the hell is this?’ Buffy wondered closing her book and placing it in her backpack. Standing up, she continued her mental babbling: ‘Is this like official? Are we dating? Or is this just… What the *hell* is this? What are-‘

Buffy’s thoughts froze as she felt a strong arm worm itself around her waist. She looked up to see Spike picking up his notepad and pencil before glancing at her.

“Ready?” He asked.

He looked so at ease, so comfortable. Maybe he knew what the hell it was that they had between them. Buffy swallowed hard and nodded before they walked out of the classroom together.

“So, are you gonna tell me why you’re all jumpy?” He questioned, tilting his head as he looked at her.

It took a while for Buffy to process the information as her mind still dwelled on the thumb that was hooked on her denim skirt and the arm, which came attached to it.

“Sorry, I didn’t hear- Ah!” She cried out as someone crashed straight into them.

When she regained her balance she looked down to see Andrew on the floor, desperately trying to scramble up to his feet.

“Are you ok?” Spike asked Buffy. When she nodded, he turned his attention to the nerdy boy that had already managed to stand up.

When he finished gathering his things, Andrew looked up at the blonde couple; a hint of fear in his eyes.

“I-I’m sorry- I didn’t mean to- I’m- I-I was running and I-“ He stuttered wildly.

“It’s ok. Don’t worry.” Buffy quickly reassured him. She frowned when she saw the fear in Andrew’s eyes was mostly directed at Spike. Her gaze travelled from the one boy to the other, trying to decipher what ever it was that they were silently communicating through their eyes.

Suddenly, Andrew was off, running through the crowd of teenagers, leaving a stunned Buffy behind. She looked up to find Spike still looking into the distance, after Andrew.

“What was that all about?” She questioned.

That seemed to snap Spike out of his thoughts. Shaking his head he looked down at Buffy and shrugged:

“Beats me, luv.”

Buffy furrowed her brow, not convinced by his answer. She was about to say something when he wormed his fingers between hers taking her hand into his and pulling her down the hall.

~+~

Xander dropped his tray on the table and let out a frustrated groan.

“Meatloaf! Yummy!” He said with fake enthusiasm.

“God! That thing looks like it’s been rotting for weeks.” Cordelia said disgusted as she brought her hand to cover her mouth.

“I know this is gonna sound very weird, but I’m gonna say it anyway.” Willow warned. “I agree with Cordy.”

“Well, I’m hungry. I can’t just eat a bar of chocolate like you two.” He said pointing at Willow and Cordelia with his fork before digging into his food.

“Hey guys!” Buffy greeted as she and Spike took their seat on the table.

“You guys are risking eating that?” Cordelia asked pointing at Buffy and Spike’s plates.

“Don’t have a choice. Didn’t eat breakfast.” Buffy shrugged and inhaled sharply before picking up her fork. She jumped up when she felt someone kick her under the table.

She frowned and looked up at Spike when she realised the pleasantry had come from him. He simply glared at her with a semi-angry look.

“What?!” She quipped.

“You’re too skinny. You gotta eat better.” He mumbled before shovelling a piece of the meatloaf into his mouth.

Buffy frowned, but inside a tingling feeling took over her stomach. ‘He’s worried about my eating habits?’

“Where’s Oz?” Spike asked between bites.

“Rehearsing for the party on Saturday.” Willow answered brightly.

“Party?” Buffy questioned.

“Homecoming?” Xander tried to remind her.

“What about homecoming?” The petite blond continued in the dark.

“The party that Cordy gives every year after the homecoming dance. This year we get to go, since I’m dating the beautiful hostess.” Xander explained as he leaned in to give the brunette sitting next to him a quick peck on the cheek.

“And Oz’s band is playing.” Willow quickly added enthusiastically.

“Oh… right.”

“I really don’t feel like going to the dance. I mean, who thinks of those horrible decorations?” Cordelia cringed at the thought. “But I guess I have to be there to accept my crown.” She sighed audibly.

“Don’t worry, honey. It’s not your fault you’re so damn sexy.” Xander winked at her.

Buffy stared blindly at her plate, her face cringing at the sight of the ungodly mush.

“Quit shoving your food around and eat.” Spike said noticing she had barely eaten anything.

“Suddenly, I’m not that hungry.” She grumbled pushing her tray away from her.

“You have to-“ The Brit started but Buffy quickly cut him off.

“Spike! Forget it, I’m not eating *that*.” She said pointing at her plate with disdain.

“Buffy-“ Spike stopped in mid sentence when he felt someone run a finger down his chiselled cheek.

Everyone’s jaw practically fell off when they turned to see Dru leaning on the table right next to Spike.

After the initial shock, the bleached teen lightly nodded as he muttered:

“Dru…”

“Missed you at the Bronze on Friday. You took off so quickly. You silly bad boy. You know you shouldn’t run out on a girl like that.” She looked at him from under hooded eyes as she lightly slapped him on the forearm, her fingers lingering there afterwards.

“Hum… Sorry bout that, I…” Spike trailed off and simply started up at her.

“Well, I hope you don’t do that again at the Homecoming dance. I would be very-“

“Hey! Vapid ho! You wanted something?” Buffy’s angered tone cut her off.

“Oh… Hi, Buffy.” Dru practically spat the blonde’s name, giving her a dirty look. “I didn’t see you there.”

“Yeah, well - I’m here.” Buffy put on a plastic smile and tilted her head at the black haired girl.

Dru looked her up and down and then turned her attentions back to the teen next to her, ignoring Buffy.

“So, Spike… About homecoming…”

Buffy’s hand came flying out of nowhere and Dru suddenly found herself covered in a brownish mush which slowly dripped its way down her long raven hair.

“Buffy!” Spike quickly jumped to his feet.

“Oh, my God!” Dru cried out in horror as she desperately tried to get the thick, slimy mixture out of her hair.

“Buffy, what are you doing?” Spike asked as he awkwardly tried to help Dru by handing her all the available napkins.

“I’m doing what she was asking for.” Buffy growled as she began reaching for her tray once again.

Spike caught her action out of the corner of his eye and snatched her wrist in a tight grip.

“Stop it!” He ordered.

Buffy looked up at him in disbelief.

“You’re taking *her* side?”

“Buffy, I-“

She never gave him a chance to answer. With a violent move of her hand she freed herself from his grip and marched out of the cafeteria.

~+~

Buffy furiously stomped her feet on the floor as she walked her way home. Four hours had passed since the cafeteria *incident* but she could still feel her blood boiling in her veins. ‘He took her side! I can’t believe he took her side. Bastard!’ She cursed him in her mind as she turned into Revello Drive. She was shoving her hand into the pocket of her backpack to grip the keys when she looked up to find *his* car parked in her driveway. She stopped dead in her tracks as the rage made her stomach turn. She took in a deep breath and continued to walk towards her house.

She ignored him when she saw him exit the car and start moving towards her.

“Buffy!” He called out when she walked past him and jogged up the steps of the front porch.

Angrily, she shoved the keys into the lock, blocking out his words, entering and quickly slamming the door in his face.

“Ow!” She heard him howl as the wood hit him right in the nose. “Bloody hell!” He grumbled opening the door and entering the house. “Summers!” He called out again.

But she refused to acknowledge him, climbing to her room, taking the steps two at a time while he quickly followed her. She entered her room and proceeded to do the same thing she had done with the front door of the house, but this time he was prepared, bringing his foot up to keep the wood from crashing into his face.

“We have to talk.” He stared.

“Do you mind? I’m trying to get dressed here!” She grumbled taking off her shoes.

“Oh, sorry!” He mumbled, quickly stepping out of the room and closing the door behind him.

He stood outside for what seemed like an eternity.

“Pet, are you done yet?” He asked exasperated, but had no answer. “Summers…?”

Once more there was silence. He swallowed hard and slowly moved to open the door, sneaking his head in. He frowned when he found her lying on the bed, idly flipping through a magazine, wearing the exact same clothes she had for school that day, minus her shoes.

“I thought you were getting dressed.”

“I was.”

“Then why are you wearing the same clothes?” He asked annoyed.

“They’re not the same. They just look the same.” She quipped skimming through the pages, never bothering to look up.

“You did it again.” He finally realised as he remembered her using the same ‘I’m getting undressed’ trick a few days before.

“I don’t know what you are talking about.” She replied apparently completely oblivious to him.

Spike sighed audibly, closing the door behind him and moving towards the bed.

“We need to talk.” He repeated.

“There’s nothing to talk about.” She said with a forced smile, her eyes still buried between the pages.

“There isn’t?”

“Nope.” She let the magazine drop to the floor as she stood up. “You’re an idiot.” She continued with a fake good humour as she walked around him and exited her room.

“I’m an idiot?” He asked raising an eyebrow as he followed her.

She never answered, simply went down the stairs and into the kitchen.

“And pray tell, why am I an idiot?” He questioned as he leaned on the doorframe.

Buffy chuckled sarcastically as she took out a glass and poured orange juice into it.

“You shouldn’t have done it.” Spike tried to rationalize.

She took a sip from the juice and proceeded with ignoring him as she walked out of the kitchen and into the living room.

He groaned and rolled his eyes, searching for control as he trailed after her to find her sitting on the couch, flipping trough the channels.

“Summers, why are you acting this way?”

That did it. The anger which had been bobbling up in her finally spilled into her angered words:

“You took *her* side!” She cried out glaring daggers at him before looking back to the TV set.

“What was I supposed to do? Just let you pour your entire lunch down Dru’s shirt?” He exclaimed.

“That was an option.” She muttered between clenched teeth as her angry finger violently punched the buttons on the remote, her narrowed eyes glaring at the images coming from the TV.

“Buffy, will you just look at me? I’m trying to talk.” He exhaled.

“I don’t *want* to talk.” She replied, never so much as giving him a glance.

Suddenly, Spike snatched the remote from her hands and turned off the TV.

“Well, I do.” He growled.

“Give me that!” She ordered outstretching her hand.

“After we talk this through you can watch telly for as long as you bloody please. But now *we* are gonna talk about his.” He growled at her.

She stared angrily at him before standing up.

“Well you can just forget-“ She was yanked back down and forced to sit by Spike’s strong grip on her forearm.

“Buffy!” He snarled.

“Fine! Talk all you want. I’m not listening.” She replied crossing her arms over her chest.

“Will you stop acting like the spoiled little brat you are and just tell me what’s going on?”

“You took her side. *That’s* what going on! Why the hell are you even here? I’d think you’d be with the anorexic vampire wannabe right about now.” She started as she stood up and began walking about in the room.

“What are you talking about? I just did what I thought was the right thing. You were out of line, Buffy.” He augmented standing from his place on the couch.

“Was I? She was throwing herself at you and you were drooling all over her.” He was about to say something but she brought her hand up to silence him and she quickly continued: “And I know you are gonna say this is about me being jealous. Well, guess what? It’s not! It’s about me and the entire school seeing that you still have feelings for her an-and-“ She came to a halt as the anger seemed to erase all the words from her mind. “God, what the hell do you see in her? You talk about me and Angel and that I’m a masochist for still wanting him, but you’re the exact same thing! You’re even worse. You were actually drooling. You were- you were… God! I hate this! I hate not being able to say what I wanna say… I-I”

Spike slowly started walking towards her causing her to immediately take a step back. The few seconds that had gone by had helped her get a grip on herself and her thoughts. Her voice now was low and cold as she spoke.

“This is *not* about jealousy. *This* is about you and Dru making a fool of me in that cafeteria in front of *my* friends.” She paused looking up at him, taking deep breaths to keep from exploding.

“Buffy, I didn’t do anything. I was just talking to her. What was I supposed to do? Just ignore her.”

At his words the anger came crashing back down on her and she suddenly yelled:

“And what was I supposed to do? Just stand there while some skinny ho is batting her eyes and making the moves on my boyfriend?”

The two of them froze. She’d said it. The word they had danced around for the last couple of days – she’d said it.

“What did you say?” It was a mere whisper.

“Hum… My boy- I-I mean… You know, other people who-who think you and-and I are…” She tried to cover, bringing a trembling hand to brush away a few loose strand of her hair as she slowly backed away from him.

“Of course.” He agreed, but he continued to close the distance between them, his eyes narrowed.

“Right. So… “ She held her breath when she felt the wall against her back, her eyes glued to the floor. “… that’s why I… did the…” She was at a lost for words when she looked up at him.

“…Pouring of meatloaf all over Dru.” He completed her sentence as he took another step and closed the distance between them.

Her heart raced as if it wanted to leap out of her chest when he leaned in.

“Well!” She suddenly clapped her hands together, startling him for just long enough to slip away from him. “That’s all-“

She let out a small cry when suddenly she found herself being turned around as Spike held a strong grip on her arm.

“Why do you keep running?” He whispered.

“I-I’m not running.” She tried to laugh, but it came out as a forced chuckle when he gruffly pulled her closer to him; her chest crushed against his, his arms wrapped tightly around her waist. “Let go…” She demanded unconvincingly.

“Are you sure that’s what you want, Summers?” He asked with a semi-cocky grin on his face, their closeness was getting to him and he didn’t know how much longer he would be able to restrain himself.

She opened her mouth to answer, but no sound came out, so she nodded weakly. Her heart sank when she felt him loosen his grip on her and step away. They stood there, in silence, looking at each other.

“Well, I guess we-“ She began, slowly turning away from him, when she heard him mutter.

“Oh, bloody hell!”

“Wha-“

Spike was suddenly all over her, never giving her a chance to finish. His arms wrapped themselves around her, his hands erratically moved over her back, her thighs in a desperate attempt to get her closer to him, while his mouth came down to claim hers in a demanding kiss.

After the momentary surprise she managed to push him away, just enough so she could ask:

“Spike…” She swallowed hard as his lips attacked her neck, placing a series of open-mouth kissed on the tender flesh there. “What are you… doing?” She breathed.

With his face still buried in her throat he answered her directly in a husky, low voice:

“What I’ve been wanting to do since Saturday.”

And then his mouth was on hers, never giving her a chance to answer as his tongue slipped between her lips to join hers in a tug of war. Spike pressed against her, backing her up against the couch until her legs reached the edge of the sofa and she was tipped over, bringing the black-clad teen down with her.

Buffy’s hands flew under the lapels of his duster and successfully pulled the item off him as they continued to kiss. Spike’s own fingers quickly found their way to the edge of Buffy’s denim skirt and tugged it upwards as they travelled up her tanned legs.

‘Oh, my God! What am I doing? We’re doing it again. Oh, God! Oh, God!’ she thought over and over again but, apparently, her body refused to follow her mind and all its doubts. Quite on the contrary, every fibre in her seemed to know exactly what to do as her fingers quickly unbuttoned his shirt, leaving his chest bare and exposed to her nails.

Spike let out a rough growl when he felt her graze her way down his abdomen to the waistband of his jeans. Her small fingers duelled with the belt buckle there while his own hand slipped under her sweater and pulled it upwards until it was over her head and discarded to the floor. He gasped when he saw her, laying under him, flushed face, glassy eyes focussed on the buttons of his jeans, her small breasts covered in nothing but a small lacy bra. Only then did he realise he had never seen her naked. The other night… she had managed to keep her nightgown on the entire time. ‘God, she looks-Bloody hell!’ He cursed in his thoughts, his eyes rolling back in their sockets when he felt her fingers encircle him. He braced himself on his forearms, on each side of her head as she began to slowly pump him.

She watched, amazed, as he occasionally let out small moans with his eyes closed and his teeth clenched only serving to sharpen his chiselled features. Slowly, he seemed to recover from the initial shock and was able to start moving.

It was Buffy’s turn to gasp when he leaned down and brushed his lips over her neck, while his fingers slipped between her legs. He languorously traced small circles on his way up her inner thigh until he reached the edge of her panties. Never giving her a chance to prepare he pushed the thin layer to the side and drove one long finger into her.

“Ah!” Buffy gasped closing her eyes and arching her neck into his mouth.

They both stopped for a moment and then began slowly moving their hands again. A mixture of moaned and muffled cries escaped them both as they rocked against each other’s fingers, pulling and pushing in a slow, mind-numbing pace.

As the desire grew inside of her, Buffy’s free hand came to push his away from her core, while the other lazily guided him to her entrance.

“Oh, God… Buffy…” Her name tumbled from his lips, when he felt her moist folds brush against the tip of his cock. He buried his face in the crook of her neck, pondering how to tell her…

When he refused to move his hips and slip inside of her, Buffy let out a frustrated moan and rocked her hips against his. Spike immediately rested his hands on her thighs pulling them down and away from him.