The music played loudly in the club but the voices of the partying crowd rose above it, nearly drowning it out completely. There were green and gold streamers and decorations all over the place and there was even a bartender dressed up like a leprechaun. The best part, according to a drunken Faith, was the green beer.

Green. Beer.

Needless to say, it wasn’t Buffy’s kind of club but she happily followed Faith there when Faith couldn’t stop talking about how excited she was about St. Patrick’s Day.

Buffy looked around the place with a small smile on her face, taking in the many different types of people that were celebrating the day. She was pretty sure that neither Willow nor Kennedy was Irish, but the two girls were off in the corner playing a game of darts with Xander and Dawn, all wearing festive green shirts. Faith was next to her at the bar, fighting to get the bartender’s attention.

Naturally, it didn’t take her very long to catch his eyes.

He came rushing over and promptly filled her drink order, filling several plastic cups with green beer and one with Pepsi. Before moving on to the next customer, he popped the top off a bottle of Corona and slid in a wedge of lime before pushing the full tray towards Faith and accepting her money.

“I can’t believe there are so many people here,” Buffy shouted over the general clamor when Faith turned to her with the tray in her hands.

“You kiddin’ me?” Faith shouted back, unable to keep the happy smile from springing up on her face. She was in her element! “Back in Boston the bars are jam packed on St. Patty’s Day. I’m talkin’ wall to wall bodies.”

“Yeah, but I’ll bet that half these people here aren’t even Irish.”

They squeezed their way through the crowd and over to their friends, who happily accepted their drinks from the small round tray Faith was carrying.

“Not everyone can be perfect,” Faith said with a wink. “Doesn’t matter though. Everyone’s Irish on St. Patrick’s Day.”

“Not me,” Buffy replied, taking a short sip from her bottle of Corona. “Mom told me we’re English and German, fifty/fifty.”

“So you’re not even a quarter Irish?”

“Nope.”

Faith thought about it for a minute as she took a long swig from her cup of green beer. “You’re tryin’ to tell me that you don’t even have a little bit of Irish in ya?”

“None,” Buffy replied.

Faith grinned and held up her hands, then wiggled her fingers around. “Ya want some?”

Buffy had to clamp her lips together to stop from spitting her beer out. She chuckled and wiped the back of her hand over her mouth, then smiled playfully at Faith.

“Maybe later,” she said with a wink.