Chapter Two-

Stupid women. Xander thought as he hit the white ball and watched it miss every other ball on the table. They messed with your head, convinced you that kissing them would be the right thing to do, then they ran off into their houses and didn’t answer the phone any of the fourteen times you tried calling them the next day!

And they seriously distracted you from your pool game!

“What’s with the moping tonight?” His playing partner asked confused, “Bloody Giles would be a barrel of laughs compared to you!”

Xander shot the blond vampire a dirty look. “Just take your shot.”

Spike rolled his eyes, “I’ve won the last three games, it’s really not much fun.”

Xander wondered for the millionth time why he was here at the Bronze with Spike. Perhaps he just wanted to be at the Bronze because it reminded him of last night being there with Buffy, or perhaps it was because Spike’s whole obsession with Buffy reminded him of her, or maybe it was because playing pool kinda reminded him of Buffy because of the cute way her arms were short and she struggled to hit the ball when they played together….

“I think maybe I’ll go.” He said quickly. He had to find somewhere that wouldn’t remind him of Buffy!

“We could go patrol?” Spike suggested.

Xander grinned, “Sure!” If they patrolled they might bump into Buffy….

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Buffy was beginning to wonder if there was some big vampire party going on that she hadn’t heard about. Three hours of patrolling and not a single vamp, not even Spike! She was beginning to wonder if she should give up and go home but the thought of sitting around alone obsessing over the craziness that was her life.

You could go to The Bronze, it was Friday night, Xander might show… She thought to herself, but she wasn’t really sure if she wanted to see him or not. After last night…

That kiss had been crazy, they were friends, kissing was definitely wrong! But it had felt so right, and all evening it had felt so natural to be there with him.

Stop it, she told herself. He probably didn’t even like her that way. All the times that day he’d phoned and she hadn’t answered, that’d probably just been to check their friendship was alright. Friendship, why did she suddenly hate the sound of the word?

I need to talk to him, she realized. One last cemetery and I’ll go over to his apartment on my way home.

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“Man, it’s dead tonight.” Xander grumbled. Why was it when he could really do with a bit of a fight none of the vampires in town were around to help him out?

“Sssh!” Spike hissed. “I see something.”

The two of them crouched behind a large headstone and peered out to see who or what was approaching. It was quite small… and blonde… and Buffy. Xander felt his heart rate suddenly speed up.

He punched Spike lightly in the arm, “It’s just Buffy, you idiot!” And he stood up and stepped out from behind their headstone. “Hey Buff.”

Her eyes widened when she saw him, she was surprised but not too unhappy looking, in fact she was even smiling. Xander grinned.

“Xander, what are you doing here?” She asked, then she noticed Spike standing behind him, “Spike, you too, what is this, a lad’s night out?”

“Patrolling, luv.” Spike said. Xander noticed his voice seemed a little sad, he frowned slightly, maybe Spike wasn’t totally over his pathetic crush on Buffy, good thing he knew she’d never touch Spike!

“Oh.” She said. “Been busy?”

“Nothing.” Xander told her.

“I was just heading home.” She looked Xander in the eye, “Well actually I was going to pop round yours to talk about that thing that… uh… we were talking about last night.”

Xander smiled again, “The thing? Well why don’t you come to mine for coffee so we can talk?”

“Great idea.”

He headed over to her side, “Bye Spike.”

And the two of them walked off together.

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It didn’t take long to get to the apartment. Xander went to make coffee while Buffy sat awkwardly on his couch. She’d been to his apartment a zillion times, been alone there with him plenty of times but now this felt strangely different.

She was relived when he re-appeared from the kitchen with two large mugs of coffee. He set them down on the table and sat down next to her. For a moment there was an awkward silence.

“Xander.” She blurted out suddenly.

“Buffy.” He replied with a nervous smile on his face.

Then another awkward silence. What should I do? Buffy thought. She knew what she wanted to do… kiss him…

“Xander, I…” She trailed off.

“I like you a lot Buffy.” He said suddenly.

He slowly reached out a brushed a stray strand of hair out of her face, she felt her cheeks heat up at his touch.

“I like you too.” She whispered.

“And you’re one of my best friends but I think I like you in a different way too.” He told her.

He leaned forward, as though he was going to kiss her, but then he hesitated again.

“I like you as more than a friend too.” She said shyly desperate for him to kiss her.

He smiled and leant forward, his lips brushed against hers. She wrapped her arms round his neck and he drew her closer to him.

Their kiss seemed never ending, and she wished it never would…