By Cricket
********************7:00pm******************
It was nearing seven when the young teens made it to the beach. Willow recognized the majority of the faces admediately. Tonight there was going to be one hell of a bonfire. She just knew it. She could see Michael, and Larry cuddling near a life guard stand. Harmony was semi plastered and drooling over Devon's chest as the two lay on the beach quietly, and...Principle Snyder? Oh man. She nudged Buffy in the ribs and pointed towards the troll. Buffy's mouth dropped open when she noticed his attire. He was wearing black swim trunks, a white t-shirt, and a bright colorful Hawiian flannel over that. Buffy quickly nudged Xander and Cordelia and Willow informed Oz. They all stood there, mouths hanging wide open, shocked to the core to see Snyder wearing something other than a cheap buisness suit.
"What happened to him?" Willow asked.
"A door fell on his head?" Xander suggested, shrugging his shoulders. They watched in amazement until a bright colorful woman came up behind Principal Snyder and hugged him. The teenagers inwardly winced.
"Okay now I know I'm seeing things." Buffy said. Snyder turned around to look at the beautiful young woman hugging him and he kissed her. Willow shuddered, and Oz hid his eyes in Willow shoulder.
"Oh my god." Cordelia said, taking in the appearance that the sight was to overwhelming and she was about to cry. One of the Seniors from 2002 came up behind the group and decided to take pitty on their tortured faces.
"Its amazing what a little money will do for a guy." The young man said. Everyone turned to look at the newcomer.
"What happened to him?" Oz asked.
"He won the lottery. That young lady he's making the smoochies with, is a model from Kentucky. You should see how loose he is around the students now. He even convinced the school board to making passing periods between classes 10 minutes longer because the necessity of learning was socializing. So he said anyhow." The guy said. He smirked when he realized that he wasn't going to get a comment out of the teenagers, nodded his head so they knew he was leaving, and stepped out of their line of site.
"Oh wow." Cordelia said. A little bit of the worry etched on her face disolved into a mask of confusion.
"I can't believe it." Xander said shaking his head. "Snyder?"
"Yes Mr. Harris?" Snyder said from behind him. Xander whooped around.
"Principal Snyder...what a pleasant surprise, and surprise indeed. Nice attire. Since when did you start wearing it?" Xander asked. Principal Snyder smirked. A feature displayed on his face that no one thought to be possible.
"Nice to see you too Harris. Miss. Summers." Snyder said nodding his head. Buffy put on a tentative smile and sheepishly waved. He then turned to meet Willow's eyes.
"Ah yes. Miss. Rosenburg. Or is it Mrs? I had the liberty of speaking with your parents just a month ago, and they said they weren't sure what you were up to."
"Well thats understandable." Willow said in a quiet voice.
"Well I see I've said my hellos'. Good day...er..night." He nodded towards Cordelia and Oz.
"Miss. Chase...and...what was your name again?" Snyder asked. Oz raised his eyebrows and nodded his head as he spoke.
"I'm Oz. This is Jesse. My co-worker in the record buisness." Jesse leaned forward and shook hands with the man.
"Nice meeting you." Jesse said.
"Like wise." Snyder said. He nodded his head once more and turned around quietly to search for his beloved model. The gang moved over towards a bonfire in silence and found themselves some seats in the sand. Willow's silver necklace shimmered bright trinkets of light on everyone elses faces. It was more of a disco ball spinning round and round, and the florescant lights would bounce off of it and the floor would naturally be a thousand spot lights. Instead it shined on everyone elses faces and on the dark sand behind them. She giggled lightly when she noticed Xander's eyes trying to follow one of the little lights dancing across his face.
"What are you doing Xander?" Willow asked.
"I'm trying to catch this fire fly. I think its a fire fly. Its a little big for a fire fly." Xander said clapping at the wild light as it steadied on his nose. "Oww!!!" Xander said as he clapped his nose. "I think I broke my nose. Stupid firefly." Xander said sulking.
"Uh...Xander?" Willow asked.
"What?" Xander asked acknowledging Willow's presence.
"That wasn't a fire fly." Willow said smiling sheepishly.
"What was it?" Xander asked panicked.
"It was the light reflecting off of my necklace." Willow said. Everyone else laughed, Xander included.
"I'll get you back for that." Xander said with a promising smirk.
"Get me back for what?" Willow asked. Xander was about to reply, until he suddenly realized that he didn't remember what he was planning revenge on her about.
"I forgot." Xander said with a confused face. Willow smirked, ducked her head, and held on to Buffy's shoulder, desperately trying to hide her cry of laughter, behind the slayer.
"She short-circuited your brain man. She used to do that to me all the time." Oz said looking over to Willow. He spoke again, not once taking his loving eyes off of the girl sitting right next to him. "Than again...she never needed words to do it." Oz said smiling slightly, not realizing what he had actually said until it was to late.
Both Willow and Oz, blushed profusely, though neither could see the other one blushing due to the glowing fire swimming possessively over their faces. They both looked to Buffy to change the subject, but found her loving smirk officially plastered on her face.
They all sat uneasily for a few minutes, basking in the silence.
"I'm going to go for a walk." Willow said after a few moments of silence. Oz could see she was disturbed about something. Was it something he said? He decided he would follow her once she was almost out of the line of site. She rose quickly, looking somewhat saddly at the others. Her skirt flared slightly as she walked down the dark sandy beach. The others watched her walk away unnerved. All, except Oz. He hated it when he didn't know what she was thinking. Standing up himself, subconciously, his feet quickly followed his steady gaze. He soon caught up with her and was walking not more than 50 feet behind her in a matter of 2 minutes, yet it seemed like an eternity to him.
Willow sensed that someone was following her. Damnit, how could she forget to bring a stake, or holy water for that matter. Even though her stream of inner rants ran through her head, she was seemingly calm. Something about the scent of the air, told her that this someone wasn't looking for trouble. It smelled slightly of Oz....or was that cookies? She wrinkled her nose, trying to decipher the distant smell as she walked. By now she was practically out of site, from the bon-fire. One could probably see, the faint glow of red, at such a distance, but that was it. She felt a chill go down her spine, instantly warning her that her stalker wasn't but 10 feet away, now 8 feet, now 4 feet. She instantly stopped and turned around quickly to see who was following her. Her vision was blinded by the thick layer of flesh bestowed upon her face. She looked up an inch to see who she was touching. Her eyes did a double take, when she saw that she was in skin to skin contact with the man she loved most. Yet she didn't move. She didn't dare. She just stood there, silent.
Oz's strenuous voice, broke her from her trance.
"You, looked upset. I...I thought I'd follow." Oz said slowly, unknowingly breathing his desire flat out on her nose. Their lips were so close to one anothers, that the vibes of energy running off their bodies were almost tangible. Just as Oz's lips were about to part Willow found her wit to speak up.
"I just needed to get some air. Get away from the crowd." Willow said, pulling away a couple of inches to indicate at the bon-fire, about a thousand feet away from where the two were standing. She smiled tremulously.
"Did you want me to leave you alone?" Oz said, almost hurt. Willow took a moment to think, than simply shook her head no, and turned around. She cocked her head towards the direction she was walking, and smiled when Oz followed her.
"I was just thinking about NewYork. Its a bitch out there." Willow sighed.
"Than why are you still there?" Oz said. *Why would she live somewhere she hates?*
"I don't know. Samantha is there, and Kevin. I got my work cut out for me. Makes really good money. I don't know. I guess I'm not much for change" Willow said looking sadly at Oz's walking form.
"Whose Kevin? You told me about Samantha, when we were dating, but you never told me about Kevin." Oz said questioningly. She wasn't dating anyone was she? She said so herself at dinner that she wasn't. Willow looked over to Oz and noticed his troubled face.
"Oh he's adorable, very sweet. Sort of quiet. Kind of short though. He'll probably be that way for another 3 or 4 years." She said smiling. She looked over to Oz, noticing how shiny his eyes were. But in a sad way. Were those tears?
"oh." Was all Oz could say.
"You okay? You look kind of pale. Then again, being out here, in the dark, I can kind of see why." Willow said smiling slightly. She heard Oz sigh deeply. She could tell he was upset. In a way she felt good that it was because of her, but she still hated to cause him such greif.
"I didn't know you were dating. Thats all. Sort of a shocker. Kind of hard to think of you with someone else." Oz said quietly, unknowingly giving off his intentions towards Willow to Willow herself. *So this is what unrequitted love is like?* he thought to himself. She smiled saddly. She knew what she'd say next would make him feel better.
"He's 5 years old." Willow said smiling widely. She looked over to her side again and noticed that Oz had stopped walking. His mouth hanging wide open. He looked up from the sand and into her happy shining eyes. He soon found himself smiling himself. His smile turned into a wolf like grin, and he found himself looking side to side and then into Willow's eyes.
"You did that on purpose didn't you." Oz said grinning wildly. A heavy load had been lifted from his tortured heart.
"Did what on purpose?" Willow asked innocently, while walking Oz back to the party. Instead of answering her, he broke into a run and pounced on her, tickling at her rib-cage, and making her cry out in laughter. The two soon found themselves rapped up in one of the most intamate positions, yet neither one of them made any attempt to move.
Oz had pinned Willow to the ground, or sand for that matter, with his body, holding her arms up above her head with one hand, and another hand was trapped between her lower back and the sand. Willow found herself wriggling against his talented fingers as she desperately tried to take the upper hand and win him over. She arched her back, desperately trying to pry his fingers from her ribs. The two soon found themselves exhausted, and they stopped for a moment to catch their breath. Willow's eyes roamed through the sky, desperately trying to avert her eyes from anything but the matter at hand. Her chest heaved wildly, once her eyes finally settled on the pair of eyes staring at her inches away. Her throat went dry as she gasped for air. She could hear her own heart beat. She could hear Oz's heartbeat. She could feel his breath against her skin. He had that far off look in his eyes again, the look he got when he felt compelled to kiss her against his will. It was as if he had no will of his own.
He soon found himself lost in her eyes again. What he wouldn't give to make things right between them. Even if they were in a comfy position, there were still thousands of issues unresolved. Her lips parted for an intake of breath. He found himself back in the past, with Willow at one of their weekly trips to the beach. His eyes were closed peacefully and Willow looked on in fear and desire. *I can't kiss him. I can't. I want to. But I can't. He's dating Lisa. He has a son that I'm not ready to tell him about. Oh god. Oh god* Willow thought. Her brain was on overload. There were only two emotions though. Fear, and wanting. Unknowingly she began breathing faster and faster and soon to be hyperventilating. *What would Buffy do? Aha...*
"We....should..probably get back to bon-fire. The others are going to be looking for us." Willow said desperately. Oz's eyes opened up and they squinted at her through the dark light. He nodded his head sullenly, realizing that he almost lost it. He almost kissed his old flame. His ex-girlfriend. *What were you thinking man. Lisa. Your still going out with Lisa. And...look at her. She doesn't want you. She's breathing fast, and her lips...no...hold that thought. Stop it. Okay. Now I'm going to stand up, help her up, and we are going to head back to the party.* Oz thought to himself.
He looked into her eyes one last time before letting go of her wrist and sitting up slowly. A look of a relief and disappointment crossed her face. Why was that? She looked down in the sand. She couldn't quite meet his eyes. They both knew what almost happened. He helped her up silently.
"So you excited about the wedding tommarow?" Oz asked, his voice lacking his usual enthusiasm.
"Not really. Its just like every other wedding. On the other hand...I can't wait to see Katlin again." Willow said smilingly into the fool moon.
"You really like kids huh..." Oz said wishing he had one of his own.
"Oh yeah. Kevin is like a son to me." Willow said.
"Well at least you have something to care about." Oz said.
"Why so sad?" Willow asked.
"Well...you have a life. I don't." Oz said. Willow stole her gaze from the moon to look at Oz. Her eyes were wide. Is he serious?
"Are you serious? Please. Your one of the top musicians in the country, no doubt you've done a few world tours...." Willow began but was interupted by Oz again.
"Nope. Not until summer starts." Oz said.
"Anyways...you got a...well I wouldn't say sweet girlfriend, but she's beautiful. She's a model. You have a good reputation, and I wouldn't trade that for anything in the world.
"1.) Lisa is beliemic. Don't tell anyone. 2.) She's not sweet. She's after my money. 3.) Last time I remember walking into the house while she was in it, she was sleeping with some French artist that apparently she conned 14,000 dollars from and asked him to buy a painting for her and once she was through with him she sold it at the nearest art gallery for 30,000 by sleeping with the guy who was helping her sell it." Oz said rather steemed at the thought. He looked back over to Willow to notice her eyes were wide from shock.
"and your still with her because?" Willow asked.
"Cause I have no one else." Oz mumbled rather sadly. He glanced at her through the corner of his eye to see a hurt look on her face.
"Why would you even think that. You could have anyone." Willow said shaking her head at him and frowning. A tear leaked from he eye and landed on the sand below her feet.
"Not who I want." Oz said. His heart froze for a second at what he said. Willow on the other hand couldn't think. She knew what he was saying, but she didn't want to embarrass him. She always got embarrassed when she said something that she didn't mean to say. On the other hand she didn't want him to think that all was not lost. What was a girl to do. She stopped in her tracks. Oz's hand tugged against hers and he turned around to see why she had stopped. She was looking at him with those sad eyes again, only this time she was determined. What was she thinking? "Why did you stop?" Oz asked walking back over to her. "You okay?" Oz asked noticing the shiny trail of a tear that had fallen down her face. She nodded her head. The two were only a foot away, face to face. Now that Oz had grown a few inches things looked a little different. She tugged at his hand and drew him closer. She leaned forward and tilted her head up, to plant a firm kiss on his lips. She held on to his lips for a while with her own and then pulled away to look into his eyes.
"I still care about you. I'll never stop." Willow said sadly. Oz smiled sadly at her before planting a kiss on her forehead.
"Ditto." Oz said giving his best friendly smile. He was to confused to do anything else. He was more in a haze once they neared the party. He looked at his watch. It read 8:56pm. Were they actually gone that long? He wasn't sure whether to be hurt or happy. She kissed him, but she said she cared about him. She didn't love him the way she promised she would 5 years ago. But that kiss. He just couldn't get it out of his head. Could you blame him? Willow...well she basically had the same thoughts on her mind.
*He still cares about me. He doesn't love me. He cares about me.* She was nearing tears, her nose was scrunched up and her forehead was creased. She was glad that Oz didn't see her. One more look into those eyes would make her cry, and this time, she wouldn't be able to stop. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Oz scratching his chin and then playing with his lower lip with his thumb. When she thought about what she did before, she couldn't help but notice that her lips were a little bit numb as well. She smiled at that. She noticed Buffy about 100 feet away.
"Buffy!.!.!" Willow hollered, startiling Oz from his visions and thoughts. Buffy turned around and waved, turned back around to excuse herself from Devon and Jesse who were apparently hitting it off, and turned back just in time to see Willow and Oz step forward.
"Where were you two? I was beginning to get worried. I told Xander that if you weren't back in...." Buffy started and then looked down momentarily to look at her watch. "30 minutes or so."
"How long have we been gone?" Willow asked.
"I don't know...say...two hours." Buffy said distracted. She was to busy sending flirtatious smiles to Jesse. Willow rolled her eyes. From the little ammount of time that she knew Jesse, she could tell that he had the hots for Buffy, and vice versa.
*Those two were meant to be together.* Willow thought.
Willow was then startled by a strong firm grip on her right shoulder. She let out a little yelp, earning a concerned glance from Oz and then a grin when he saw who scared her and then nodded at her telling her that it was none other than...
"Fuuudz wready." Xander said, a huge hot dog stuffed into his mouth. Willow turned around and then burst into giggles at the site of her oldest friends face turning a slightly red color because his skin was being stretched by such a food. His favorite food. The Oscar Myer Weener.
"Do you...-gasps for air- have any...-coughs at how hard she's laughinig- idea..-giggles- how rediculous you look?" Willow managed to ask just before bursting out into another fit of giggles.
Through the big piece of food stuck into his mouth you could still actually see his hurt expression. Than you could see his completely shocked expression when Cordelia came up behind him and hit him really hard on his upper back causing him to spit out the majority of the food in his mouth.
"What did I do now?" Xander asked in a whiney voice.
"I told you Alexander Lavelle Harris!!! I don't want a dead fiance with stretch marks all over his face, just because he couldn't chew his food." Cordelia said. Xander looked surprised, as if he never really heard her say that. He looked over out of the corner of his eye to see what Willow, Oz, Buffy, and Jesse were doing from his vantage point.
He earned curious stares from not only the gang, but from hundreds of curious on lookers and Blushed at the attention he was receiving. He waited a few seconds, figuring that the others would just lose their interest, but blushed even deeper when he found that they were expecting something. Than he could hear his fiance's voice ringing in his ears.
"...and if I ever have to redo make-up just because your drooling on my face...." Cordelia started but than noticed that she no longer held his attention. She looked to see what he was looking for and then noticed several of the onlookers curious gazes. She stared at them with angry wide eyes.
"You!!!" Cordelia said pointing a finger and marching closer to that person. Everyone followed her gaze. "Do you have a problem. Do I need to kick your ass. Do I need to get my father's AK 47 magnum to blow your eyes out. Thats right I'm talking to you. Whats wrong with you. Can't you mind your own buisness. This is a conversation I'm having with my fiancee and if I catch one more person looking at me, I'm going to open up a can of Buffy Summers up on your ass and make sure your body ends up in the dust. Do you get me?" Cordelia asked. The onlooker looked sort of ashamed and embarrassed, noticed everyones curious gaze towards his direction and decided to make a funny joke.
"Damn woman, is it your time of the month or something?" Cordelia's eyes grew even angrier at that and the man earned several warning signals from his girlfriend and other women, saying they were going to pounce on him if he didn't shut up anytime soon. Xander was apparently miffed and stepped into the conversation.
"Now you listen to me you little son of bitch. If I ever catch you talking like that to my fiancee, or wife for that matter, I'll kill you." He started in a grave voice. "If she wants to yell at you, she can yell at you. What goes on between me and her is none of your god damned buisness, and I'd appreciate it if you kept it that way." Xander said calmly. Inside he was steaming. "Do we have an understanding?"
The young man looked completely embarrassed at what he was about to do. Something he hardly ever did, because he wasn't used to being the under dog. He nodded his head, showing the others that he had more fear of Xander. "Yes sir."
"Now apologize." Xander said. The young man who was apparently 18 or 19, obviousley one of the younger people of the party, nodded his head and then turned to Cordelia Chase.
"I'm sorry mam. I meant no disrespect." The young man said. He looked into her eyes and saw her smirk. He didn't expect her to reply, so he turned his head and headed out towards the back of the crowd. Hundreds of gazes followed his retreating figure. When he was gone from site, their eyes followed back to the young couple that were fighting and smirked when they noticed that the only fight going on between those two youngsters were between their tongues.
"How come Angel never did that for me?" Buffy asked breaking the silence between herself, Jesse, and Willow and Oz.
"Excuse me? Come on Buffy..he practically did that every day. You should have seen his face when you went to that frat party."
"I know..but he never made any threats. Or warnings for that matter. He just wanted them to leave him alone. I swear...men..." Buffy said in a disgusted tone. "They are so fickel. She looked at Jesse and Oz again. Well..most of them are." Buffy said smiling. For some unknown reason, no one knew what to say. So they didn't say anything. Than the silence actually started getting to them.
"I'm hungry." Oz said breaking the silence.
"Than lets go eat." Willow chimed.
"and then Oz can play something off of his guitar." Jesse said gleefully.
"I thought I said that I changed my mind." Oz said smiling.
"Payback." Jesse said smiling devilishly.
"What did I do?"
"Nothing. I'm just making you do it anyway."
"Figures." Oz said sulking slightly, laying his head on Willow's shoulder and closing his eyes at the feel of her bony structure.
"It'll be fun. Besides I haven't heard you play anything in ages." Willow said smilingly slightly. Oz perked up to see her looking at him. He sighed, finally giving in.
"Alright. Alright. I'll do it." Oz said surrendering to everyones wolf/predatory like gaze.
"Yay!!!" Willow said excitedly, walking to the back of Oz and hugging him around his shoulders and neck, and bouncing up and down. He smiled lovingly at her and grabbed her hand as they walked back towards the grill to get what Xander called.."Energy Food".
After dinner, Oz played a few of his little dittys from his latest CD, that everyone was so adament about listening to. Willow found them more so like his life story. That is from what he told her. She had to admitt. He was alot better at the guitar than he was in highschool. It was nearing 11 by the time he was finished and Xander had his fill, and Oz had to admit that he was ready to leave.
"Buffy..do you want to drive me home? I had a couple of beers so I'm feeling a little tipsy at the moment."
"Sure thing." Buffy said sending a long look at Jesse, indicating that he wouldn't be driving her home.
"I'll drive you." Oz said while packing up his guitar. He looked at Buffy to see her greatful smile and smiled knowing that he did his good deed for the day.
"Okay. That will work." Willow said happily. She leaned in to whisper to Buffy so Jesse wouldn't hear her. "Have fun with the lover boy." Willow whispered grinning. Buffy rolled her eyes, and blushed.
"Witch."
"wannabee"
"Red headed.." Buffy began but was interupted by Willow's next witty remark.
"Bitch? Oh yes..I've earned quite the reputation at intel." Willow said smirking. The two girls laughed at that until they were practically dragged away by their safe drivers.
Continues
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