By Lily
A balloon vendor stood on the corner. Buffy and Xander saw the balloons before the vendor. A cloud of red, blue, and green was suspended in the air, the perfect compliment to the cloudless spring day. Then and there, Sunnydale was a place where a balloon vendor could stand on the corner and people would buy the balloons and it would be something that happened all the time. At that moment, Sunnydale was a happy town.Buffy and Xander walked down the street. They alternated talking and just enjoying the nice day in a pretty regular pattern. As they turned at the corner that the balloon vendor stood at, he reached out his hand and tapped Buffy on the arm. Instinctively, she whirled around, sinking into a fighting stance. She straightened immediately when she saw who it was. The balloon vendor looked like he could be anybody's Uncle. He had a round face, suspenders, and a look on his face that was so harmless that a smile crept across Buffy's face at the sight of him.
"Heya, little lady. Want a balloon? Come on, you're never too old for a balloon, are ya? Say what, since it's such a beautiful day, you can have it for free! What do you say, huh?" The balloon vendor held out a translucent red orb to Buffy. She took the string and smiled at the man.
"Thanks!" she said.
"Anything for you, Missy." he smiled and turned his back to them, handing a blue one to a toddler passing with his mother.
"Oz!" Willow gasped, in surprise. "God, you scared me! I didn't know you were there, and I turned around and I thought I'd bumped into...who knows what.”
"Sorry to disappoint you, but it's only me." Oz smiled and kissed Willow on the cheek. They turned together to go look for the others. Willow looked down at the flowers that she was still holding in her hands. Surprisingly, they weren't wilted in the least bit, even though they hadn't been in water all day. Maybe flowers that grew in cement didn't need water. It was all very odd. But, then again, in her life, many things were odd. A few years ago the fact that Oz, a guitarist, would be looking at her the way he was would have been unheard of. But it wasn't odd at all now. Now it was just nice. They paused as they stepped through the double doors that led out of Sunnydale High. She turned her head and smiled at him. He smiled back. They stood there, smiling, for some time. Neither of them kept track of how long it was. As if on cue, they began to walk down the steps. They didn't say a word, and they didn't need to. Love was nice like that.
"Hold this a sec, Xand?" Buffy held out the balloon. He took it and she reached down to tie her shoe. While they were stopped, he looked around at the street. It was empty, but it didn't seem that way. When he closed his eyes, he could have been sure that the people around him were pressed together so much in the crowd that the oxygen was leaving. It wasn't a bad feeling for some reason though. Xander breathed in deep, whether for the fresh smell of the spring, or to get the oxygen that his subconscience said was something to savor, he himself wasn't sure. The smell of the lawns infiltrated his nose, and he forgot whatever his sixth sense had been telling him. Buffy stood, and they continued to walk.
"Well, I guess this is your stop." Buffy said, motioning with her head to Xander's house, which was currently in front of them.
"Wanna come in?"
"No, I'm gonna go home. Maybe get some rest, or watch TV. I haven't had some downtime in forever, it seems." Buffy winced inwardly at the thought of her duties, which, unusually, hadn't crossed her mind since she left the library. It was true what they said. Oblivion was beautiful.
"Want me to walk you?"
"Nah, go on home. I can take care of myself."
“I never ever said you couldn’t.”
Xander went up the walk to his house. He turned at the door to see Buffy still standing on the sidewalk. He shook his head, smiling, and waved, before digging out his keys and opening the door.
Buffy continued on her way home. It didn't even cross her mind that Xander still had her balloon.
Cordelia stood next to the makeup counter at the drugstore. Normally, she wouldn’t be caught dead here, but something was different. She didn’t know what had made her come in the store in the first place, she had just been walking by and felt the need to go in. Wandering through the isles, with no intention of buying anything at all, she trailed her finger along the bottles of shampoo. Reaching the end of the shampoo isle, her eye was caught by a large sign with bright red lettering.
SPECIAL--LIPSTICK. She was now standing in front of the lipstick display, looking at the selection. Half, if not more, of it was junk. Not worth whatever special price they had on it. The rest of it might be of some quality, but it was only in hot pinks and odd colors like blue. Hot pink made her look pale and she would never wear blue lipstick. She was about to leave when she saw a tube of lipstick in the corner of the display. It was the perfect color. There wasn’t a brand name or a price, but it could pass for anything good. Satisfied with her pick, she went to the cash register to buy it. She handed it to the lady and got out her wallet, waiting to hear the price. No price being given to her, she looked up. The lady was looking at the lipstick like it was an alien.
“What’s wrong?” Cordelia asked, impatiently.
“It’s just that we don’t carry this kind. Must be a new shipment, or a left over from some time when we did carry it. It’s not our index. Nobody probably even knew it was there. Why don’t you just take it-on the house. It won’t be missed. And it’s not stealing if I said you could, right?” The woman pressed the tube of lipstick into Cordelia’s palm and smiled at her.
Cordelia smiled back and left the store.
Oz hopped out of the van and went around to the passenger side. He opened the door and held his hand out. A slender hand reached out and took it. The person belonging to the hand jumped out of the van and shut the door behind her. She smiled and him and kissed him lightly.
“What was that for?” he asked.
“Since when do I need a reason to want to kiss you?” she was pretending to be confused and biting her lip a bit in an attempt to keep a straight face.
“Did I say you needed a reason? Ms. Rosenberg, I do believe you’re twisting my words.” Oz slipped his arms around her waist and she leaned back a little bit, one hand on his chest and the other holding on to his arm so she wouldn’t fall, yet trying not to crush her flowers.
“Is that so horrible?” Willow brought her head a little closer to his and just a bit to the side so that their cheeks almost touched.
“I never said that either...” he whispered in her ear, which had moved just close enough for that to be possible. She brought her face back a bit and then in again, but this time aiming for his lips.
Still kissing Willow, Oz began to walk backwards towards her house. She followed, holding tighter and swinging a bit from side to side, trying to walk without taking her lips off of his. They reached her door and Oz leaned back on the wall right next to the door. Their kiss broke only momentarily. Eventually, they pulled away. Their foreheads pressed together, nose to nose, they stood without talking. Willow inhaled and spoke.
“Well, I guess I better go in now.” Her voice was full of disappointment. She stood up straight and pecked him on the cheek before turning towards the door.
“G’night then.”
“Night.” he said, and turned to walk back to the van. Before going around to the driver’s side, he looked back. Willow was still on her porch, watching him. She waved and whirled around, going into her house.
She locked the door behind her and headed up to her room without even turning on a lamp in the family room. She put down her bag on her computer chair and then remembered about the flowers in her hand. They still weren’t at all wilted. She went into the kitchen to get a vase. She filled it with water and arranged the flowers, then put it on her desk. She checked her e-mail, took a shower, then got into bed. She fell asleep instantly. The fan whired, making a steady, soothing sound. The faint breeze blew across the room, fluttering the curtains a bit and rearranging the flowers in the vase. The scent of the flowers wafted on the gently moving air, always towards Willow. It was beautiful and it spread over Willow like a blanket, encasing her in a bubble of spring. Willow dreamt.
Xander closed the door to his room. Or rather, he tried to. There was something jamming it. He looked again and realized why he hadn’t seen it before. The thing jamming the door was a thin, white piece of string that blended perfectly with his wall. He opened the door again and followed the line. Buffy’s balloon floated at one end and the other end was tied to his wrist. He must have tied it there on instinct, it was something he had done when he was little. Willow had taught it to him when he cried because he let go of his balloon and it flew away. He cut the string and let the balloon float to the ceiling, where he left it. He liked it there. Buffy would probably forget about it, and if she wanted it back she would just ask and he would give it to her. Tired, he flopped down on his bed, not bothering to take his clothes off. He fell asleep faster than usual. In the corner, the balloon floated– a harmless reminder of easier days. Buffy would not get her balloon back for several reasons. First of all, they would both forget. Secondly, there wouldn’t be a balloon to have. As if someone had punctured the balloon, but hadn’t made a big enough impact to pop it, the air came out of the balloon. It shrunk, sure and methodical. The air from the balloon drifted at the top of Xander’s room, pressing the oxygen down. Xander inhaled and a little oxygen moved, allowing the balloon’s air to come toward Xander. Little by little, this went on, invisibly, until the alien air reached Xander. It was soft and welcoming, like he supposed a mother should be. As he breathed it, it drew him into its arms, surrounding him. Xander dreamt.
Giles woke up with a splitting headache. He wasn’t sure where he was or how he got there, only that his head hurt. Hands on his temples, he sat up. He must have been inside somewhere, because it was very very dark. Then he realized why it was dark. It was quite simple, actually. His eyes were closed. He opened his eyes slowly and the bright sunlight blinded him for a few seconds. He was sitting in the middle of a flower garden in front of a large house, and he was currently crushing half of the daffodils. The house was huge, white with dark gray shutters, and there was a circle drive way. He thought it might qualify as a mansion even. He looked at his watch and was relieved to find that it was still very early. His car was parked down the block and he made a dash for it, sure that the people who lived in the house would not be happy to find a man sitting in their daffodils. Once he was in the car, he shook his head and tried to remember how he got there. He looked over at the seat passenger seat and noticed the flower that Willow had given him yesterday morning for him to check out. It was still vibrant and yellow after sitting on his car seat for a whole night. He remembered seeing it on the filing cabinet, then picking it up, then...nothing. His mind was a complete blank. He picked up the flower again and held it to his nose. What was it he had been wondering?
Continues.