Awards Won
Summary: Angel has a tough life. It gets tougher when he moves to Sunnydale and falls for Buffy a local surfer. The problem is her boyfriend, the Sunnydale surfing hero.
Distribution: HAVE IT!!!
Feedback: Feel free to tell me what you think!
Disclaimer: I don't own any of it, but the plot.
By: Sara
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"Hurry up boy!" His father yelled from outside. Angel stuffed what few pieces for clothing he had into his duffel bag. Then he threw it over his shoulder and walked out of the apartment. The apartment he had called home for the last three months. Moving from town to town and apartment to apartment wasn't new to him; it was a way of life. Angel walked up to his father's red pickup truck and tossed his duffel bag in the back. Then he hopped into the truck.
"Where are we going?" He asked plainly. Like it really mattered to him, they would probably only live there for a few months, until they ran out of money to pay the rent. It was always the same. It was hard for Angel to remember when he had a solid place to call home.
"A place called Sunnydale. I think you'll like it." His father grinned and started the truck.
They had been driving for two days, only stopping for food and to switch off driving. The truck was starting to get cramped and Angel hoped Sunnydale wasn't too far away. After Angel had been driving on the highway for a few more hours, finally they had hit the coast. He could see the beautiful blue-green ocean and smelled the salt air.
"How much farther?" He groaned and his father took out his map.
"Almost there." His father grinned showing his yellow teeth, which made Angel shudder. As he kept driving he could see the ocean stretch out from the corner of his eye, which only brought back bad memories of his past he would have rather forgotten. They pasted a few single beach houses, until they pasted a sign, which said 'Welcome to Sunnydale'. From what Angel could see Sunnydale was a pretty small town on the coast of California, which had great surfing waves. (AN: I'm not sure how close Sunnydale is suppose to be to the water, but in this story it's right on the coast)
He would have asked his father what they were going to do, but he already knew the drill. He would pick out what looked to be the cheapest motel. They would stay at the motel till they both got jobs and enough money to rent a place for a month or two. Angel found a run down motel that had its name faded so that he couldn't even tell what the name of the place was. Perfect, Angel though and pulled into the motels parking lot.
"You stay here while I get us a place." His father said and got out. Angel watched his father stroll into the motel and he sighed. After a few minutes his father walked out of the motel with a grin on his face.
"Room eight." His father told him and threw him the key, which had a big plastic key chain that had the number eight on it. Then Angel got out of the truck, feeling happy to finally get out of the cramped truck. Angel walked to the back of the truck and grabbed his duffel bag and a few of his father's bags. Afterwards Angel followed his father, who was looking for the room. It wasn't hard to find room eight because there were less then sixteen rooms in the whole motel. Angel turned the key in the lock and the door swung open. His father pushed Angel out of the way and walked into the room.
"Not bad, not bad at all." His father grinned; it was obvious that his father got a discount on room eight. The window was broken and had tape over it. The ceiling had mold on it and one of the bed's covers had a huge stain on it. Angel didn't want to know what the bathroom looked like.
"Just wonderful." Angel muttered under his breath once he noticed that the room didn't have a TV. Angel tossed the bags on the bed with the stain.
"Watch it with my bags." His father hissed and Angel held back the urge to roll his eyes at his father's threat.
=======Next Day=======
Angel got out of the motel room and decided to go job hunting. He wasn't really looking forward to it, but it was better then hanging out in room eight with his father. If he didn't then he was sure he would die of second hand smoke. His father had a huge smoking problem, Angel was sure he would be buried with a pack of cigarettes.
He had been turned down at a few tourist shops and was about to give up and try another day. Then Angel noticed a shop, which had the name North Shore Surf Shop paint over top. He decided to go in and give it a shot. When he walked in the first thing he noticed was the smell of surf wax. The whole left side of the shop was covered with long and short boards from different makers. He resisted the temptation of looking at the boards because he knew he couldn't afford a board.
"Need any help?" A voice asked him and he turned around. He saw a beautiful blond girl around his age behind the counter. She was wear a pink tank top and jean shorts on. She was giving Angel a bright smile and he couldn't help but smile back.
"Yeah, I was hoping I could get a job here." He stated hoping he didn't sound too much like a dork.
"Sure let me get you an application." The girl said, bending over and shoveled through the back of the counter. Then she pulled out a piece of paper and a pen. The girl handed Angel the paper and pen, while he was in a daze for second looking at her ocean green eyes.
"I don't remember seeing you around before, what's your name?" The girl asked, as Angel started to fill out the application.
"Angel." He said and looked up from the application for a second.
"Hi, Angel. I'm Buffy." The girl told him. After that Angel started to think maybe his father was right, maybe he would like Sunnydale.
After Angel filled out his application he left North Shore Surf Shop. He didn't really want to leave Buffy, but she was getting busy and he didn't want to annoy her. That was the last thing he need to do was to annoy Buffy, he had a really good feeling about her. She had told him to come back tomorrow to see if he had gotten the job.
Angel snapped out of his thoughts once he heard waves crashing. He turned to see the beautiful dark blue waves hit the beach. He headed towards the beach and his eyes never left the water. Not many people were at the beach and he only saw a couple of surfers. When he got to the beach he took off his shoes and felt the sand between his toes. It had been a long time since Angel had been to the beach and saw the ocean. He walked out to the water and felt the cold ocean rush over his feet. He held back to urge to plow into the water.
Then Angel backed up and sat down in the sand. He pulled his knees to his chest and kept his eyes glued on the waves. He watched the waves curl and crash with explosions of white foam. As he stared at the ocean memories of his mother fled back into his mind. He wished she were there with him; she would have loved the waves. She was the one that taught him how to surf. It hurt Angel to think he would never see his mother again. He watched a surfer catch an awesome wave and wished he could have been out there; it was a great day to surf.
"Yo," He heard someone say from behind him. He turned his head slightly to see three guys walking up to him. One had platinum blond hair and was carrying a short board under his arm. Another one had dark hair and had a long board. The last one had red hair and also had a short board.
"Just visiting?" The dark hair guy asked curiously realizing he didn't know who Angel was.
"I'll be in town for a while." He shrugged; he wasn't sure how long a 'while' would be. With Connor, his father a 'while' could be five months to three weeks.
"You surf?" The red head asked and Angel wondered why they were asking him so many questions.
"Yea, but I don't have a board." Angel groaned, a board, the one thing keeping him from catching an awesome wave.
"Dude, that sucks." The dark hair guy said with sympathy. Then the guys all looked at each other, and after a second the blond nodded his head. Angel wondered what they were doing, but didn't say anything.
"I'm Spike and these losers are Xander and Oz." The blond joked.
"Welcome to Sunny Hell." Xander told him and Angel grinned. He hung out with Spike and his new crew for a while. They talked for a while and he watched them caught some awesome air. When Spike, Oz, and Xander got back to the beach two expensive trucks pulled up to the beach each with two boards in the back for each truck.
"Well, look whose here." Spike said coming up next to Angel as he kept his eyes on the trucks. Spike had a grin on, but he didn't look too happy to see the guys in the truck. Two guys got out of one of the trucks and a few minutes later one got out of a red truck.
"Who are they?" Angel asked, though it was obvious that they were locals by the way they looked like they owned the beach.
"That guy's Riley Finn," Oz said pointing to the guy with dark blond hair that had gotten out of the red truck.
"Local surf hero." Spike spit out in disgust. "The guy wins every competition on the west coast. His dads a big time surfer too."
"Him and his friends, Graham and Forrest think they own the waves." Oz added and scowled.
"I wouldn't be surprised if they did, Riley's dad owns Sunnydale." Xander sighed in disgusted.
"He doesn't own Sunnydale, just most of it." Oz said and Xander rolled his eyes. Angel watched the two other guys; Graham and Forrest walk out to the ocean. They were going where the best waves were on the opposite of where Oz, Spike, and Xander were surfing. He had wondered why they hadn't gone over there, but he didn't want to ask before.
"Why don't you surf over there it looks rippin'." He gestured towards where the two guys were surfing. Angel never understood why anyone would think the waves belonged to them. The waves were meant to be enjoyed by all kinds of surfers, at least that's what he had been taught. Though Angel never liked competitions either, he surfed from the heart.
"Are you kidding? I treasure my stick too much to see in pieces." Xander exclaimed and pulled his board close to him.
"Besides surfing against them is like a life and death situation, they don't take kindle to other surfer taking their waves." Oz warned. Just then Angel saw Buffy get out of Riley's truck. He watched her get her board out of the back. She was wearing a pink bikini and her blond hair fell down her shoulders, he gasped at how beautiful she looked. Then he felt his heartbreak into a million pieces as he watched Riley wrap his arms around Buffy and gave her a kiss. Angel sighed knowing a girl like her without a boyfriend was to good to be true.
"Buffy.." Angel whispered and stared at the couple as they walked out to the beach.
"Yea, definitely a looker, figures the surfing hero would get the hottes girl in town. Plus she's one of the very few girl surfers in Sunnydale too." Spike mumbled looking at Buffy. Angel wondered if he should go and say hi to her. He was about to when he saw her turn her head towards him. Then their eyes meet for a second and then Buffy gave him a disgusted look and turned back to her boyfriend. After that Angel was shocked for a second by the way she looked at him. All a sudden he got really pissed off. What the hell was that girl's problem, he though angrily. Afterwards Angel stood up and brushed the sand off his legs. He decided he had had enough; he didn't want to watch the girl of his dream surf with her boyfriend. "See you guys later." Angel said and started back to the motel.
"Later man." Spike shouted to him.
"Bye," He heard Xander and Oz call to him.
Angel slowly made his way back to the motel. He tried not to think about Buffy, but his thoughts kept drifting back to the blond. Finally he made it to the motel and walked over to room eight. He past Connor's pickup truck and saw that the room's door was open. He walked in and a blur pushed him against the wall. Before he knew it his father had pinned him against the wall.
"Where have you been boy?" Connor hissed and Angel could smell alcohol on him.
"Getting a job." He said keeping eye contact with Connor. He knew he shouldn't be scared of him. Though it didn't matter how much he tells him self and the fact he is big then his father, his old man still scares him shit less. Whenever his father threatens him thoughts of beatings he had been given come back to hunt him. He had lived with his father since he was ten, even though he hadn't got a beating in a while it had been really bad when he was a kid. Connor never gets violence now unless he is drunk.
"A job. Good, good." Connor slurred and let go of Angel's shoulders. Once his father let go Angel sighed deeply and walked over to his bed. He dropped into the bed and the springs groan as he did. Then Angel drifted to sleep.
Angel woke up hearing some noise outside. He looked over at the digital clock, which had the numbers 2:15 displayed on it. He groaned and turned on his side. Once he did so he could see his father. Connor had fallen asleep sitting up on his bed with his head slumped to the side and a beer in his right hand. Angel let out another groan and flipped over so that he looked up at the ceiling. Just one more year, he thought. One more year of this torture and he would never have to see Connor again. Angel decided once he was eighteen that would be it for him moving from town to town with his father. He didn't have much money; Connor never let him have any. Though he knew he could find a job somewhere and a place to stay. Angel knew he could take care of himself, hell he had been practically living on his own since his mother died when he was ten. He smiled at the thought of no more beatings from Connor, no more moving, and no rude remarks. Once again Angel fell fast asleep, but this time with happy thoughts of finally getting away.
=======Next Day=======
Angel made his way North Shore Surf Shop. He wasn't really looking forward to seeing Buffy. Knowing she could never be his. Though he didn't want to hang out in room eight, Connor was still asleep and he wasn't about to wake him up. He knew his father was going to have a major hang over and he didn't want to be in the middle of it.
Angel walked into North Shore Surf Shop and saw Buffy at her post behind the cash register. She was looking down reading a magazine. He walked over to her and stood there in silences as he studied her. He looked at the few pieces of hair that covered her face as her head was tilted down and her lips move as she read. Then she finally realized he was hovering over her and she looked up for a second. She looked embarrassed, until she realized it was Angel. Buffy gave him an uneasy look and went back to her reading her magazine.
"You got the job. You start tomorrow, be here by ten." She said not looking up from her magazine. Angel didn't understand why she was ignoring him; he hadn't done anything to her. He sighed and decided he wanted to know why she was acting his way to him, she wasn't like this the first time they meet.
"Listen, Buffy we got to talk." Angel said and took the magazine away from her. Then Buffy lifted her glaze to meet his.
"We have nothing to talk about." Buffy said softly and tore her gaze away from Angel's angry stare. She had a feeling she knew what he wanted to talk to her about. She wished he wouldn't have brought it up.
"Oh, yes we do. I want to know what was your problem at the beach." He said and Buffy looked up at him again in shock, his angry tone surprised her. Buffy didn't know he would have been so upset about her cold shoulder at the beach. She knew it had been wrong, but she had been stuck.
"Angel, I'm sorry about that, but it's just that Riley said..." She started to say, but couldn't finish. She decided she shouldn't repeat what Riley said about him. She didn't agree with Riley's thoughts about Angel, but she's didn't have much of a choice.
"So now your boyfriend's got a problem with me. God I don't even know the guy." Angel grumbled. He was so confused it look like Buffy wanted to tell him something, but she was too.... afraid to tell him. He wanted to know what was going on. She had hurt him and he wanted to know why. He didn't like being hurt, he had been hurt enough in his life. He didn't need it from a girl whom he didn't even understand his feeling towards yet.
"Angel, you're a great guy, but you should just stay away from me." Buffy sighed, she thought if he stayed away from her he could also stay away from the mess the surf was becoming.
"Why is something wrong with me, do I have a third eye or it is that you have a thing against brunettes?" He question furiously. Her statement made him snap.
"Angel, its nothing like that...it's just..." She tried to explain, but was cut off by Angel's rage.
"Just what?" Angel asked annoyed.
"I can't explain it." Buffy said finally giving up. She didn't like the way Angel was acting towards her.
"Sure you can go ahead I'm all ears." He announced and tapped his fingers against the counter, he was so lost in his own thoughts he missed the hurt look flash a crossed Buffy's face.
"I thought you would understand." She said hurt. She had really started to like Angel, he had been so nice to her the other day. And now he was just being a jerk, she had it with jerks all Riley's friends were jerks, even Riley was a jerk. She just wanted a nice guy, was that too much to ask for?
"Understand what? That I'm too low for you, princess." Angel hissed and Buffy suddenly got angry .
"Geez, no need to be rude about it. Looks like I thought wrong, I thought you were a good guy." She told him, deciding she could take no more. He was a jerk, like every other guy she had meet.
"Looks like you did think wrong." He said and stared at her for a long time.
"See tomorrow at work." He said coldly and walked out of North Shore Surf Shop.
"Damn!" Angel cursed himself. After he was almost to the beach, guilt for yelling at Buffy was starting to come over him. He kept telling himself it wasn't his fault, she deserved it for ignoring him. Though telling himself that didn't help so he finally decided to blame Buffy's coldness to him on her boyfriend. Now he was going to have to apologize to her.
Angel took his spot on the beach and watched the waves crash in. He was starting to get bored of watching other people catch awesome waves, he wished he could catch. So he began drawing swirls in the sand, to past time until he had to go back to the motel.
"Hey, dude!" He heard Spike come up from behind him. Then Spike set his board down and sat next to him.
"Man, you look bummed." Spike announced once he had sat down and saw Angel's sad look. Angel didn't feel like talking to anyone, so he sat quietly and kept drawing in the sand. Spike also stayed quiet for a second like he was thinking about something.
"Here," Spike finally said and handed Angel his board.
"What?" He looked at Spike board in confused.
"I figured anyone would be bummed sitting on the beach when the swells that big are out there. Go ahead take a few rides, just don't forget I'm sitting here, waiting." Spike ginned. Then Angel stood up with Spike's board. Everything he had just been thinking went away once the board was in his hands.
"Thanks, dude." Angel said and turned to Spike.
"No problem." Spike said and looked out into the ocean.
Angel paddled out to a place in the water where there weren't many surfers. Once he settled himself on the board he looked over his shoulder to see what was coming. When he spotted a promising wave, he looked around to see if anyone was going to take it. The guy closes to him nodded letting Angel know he could have the wave. He started paddling into the wave and took off, zigzagging down the wave. He could feel envious eyes on him and he couldn't help but smile.
He felt good being back on a board, it had been too long. Surfing had always been like riding a bike to him, once he had he would never forget it. Surfing was Angel's passionate, which had been taken from him. Surfing also brought back some dark memories of his past, but he kept it in the corner of his mind. He enjoyed riding a few more waves and then paddle back to the beach.
"Dude, why didn't you tell me you could surfer like that." Spike questioned once Angel got back to the beach, he knew he had caught a few good waves, nothing special. He shrugged off Spike's question, but still had a smile on his face.
Angel watched Spike surf for a while, until it started getting late and he decided to head back to the motel. Once he open the door to room eight the smell of alcohol filled his senses. Angel sighed, alcohol and Connor weren't a good mix. He would try to stay out of his father's way, but he doubt it was possible.
"Your late." Someone hissed from the corner of the room. Angel shut the door from behind and spotted Connor sitting on the far side of his bed. He had a beer in his hand and his eyes were dark.
"Your late." Connor repeated this time more brutal.
"What am I five?" Angel mumbled and walked over to his bed.
"Give me some money, boy." Connor groaned as he got off the bed. Angel shrugged knowing when his father asked for money that meant he blown all his money at the bar. That also meant that Angel wouldn't have a descent meal for a while.
"I don't have any money, I start my job tomorrow. Why don't you get a job?" Angel suggested.
"A job...." Connor mumbled and looked like he was thinking about something.
"Yes, I think I'll get a job." Connor grinned.
"Ahem." Angel groaned and fell on to his bed. Though he was thinking the opposite, his father had a look in his eye like he had a plan. Which most of his father's plan were illegal.
=====
Angel woke up early the next day. Connor was snoring in his sleep, which was annoying Angel, so he got up. He still had three hours until he had to go to his first day on the job. Angel walked out of the motel room and started towards the beach.
Once he got to the beach there were more surfers then normal that early in the morning. The wind was blowing hard and the clouds were starting to darken. Angel could tell this was the surf before a storm. He scanned the waves trying to spot Spike, Xander, or Oz. He couldn't see any of them, but he did see Buffy's boyfriend catching an awesome wave, he wished he could have gotten. His mind drifted back to Buffy once he saw her boyfriend. He looked for her, but only found the others from Riley's crew.
After watching the surfers with envy Angel decided he better started walking towards the North Shore Surf Shop. As he made his way to the shop it started raining lightly. When Angel walked into the shop, it was quiet and he noticed Buffy restocking surfing wax in the corner. He tapped her shoulder and she turned around and frowned at him.
"Start stacking." She mumbled and handed him a box of wax. He did what she told and stayed quiet. After awhile of stacking wax with Buffy not even looking at him. He couldn't take it anymore and knew it was time to apology.
"Buffy, I just want to say I'm sorry about yesterday, I was out of line. If you don't want to tell me what your boyfriend said then that's your business." He told her as he stacked the last wax and faced her side.
"Your right, you were out of line." Buffy said still not looking at him. Angel frowned; he didn't want Buffy to stay mad at him.
"But I forgive you." She turned to face him with a smile and Angel's heart leaped. She walked over to the trashcan and threw away the empty wax box a walked back to Angel.
"We got off to a bad start, I'm Buffy Summers." She said and offered her hand to him.
"Angel O'Connor," He said and took her hand.
"So Angel, did you just move here?" Buffy asked trying to start a friendly conversation.
"You could say that." He said, deciding he really didn't know how long Connor and him would be in Sunnydale.
"Well then I guess I'll be seeing you around lot." She smiled at him and he started to like the idea of seeing her everyday.
"Looks like it." He winked at her.
Buffy and Angel talked and restocked things for the store for about an hour until it started to rain really hard and lightening lit up the sky. Once the lightning and thunder started all the surfers flocked into the store. When they couldn't surf, the surfers hung out in North Shore Surf Shop. A lot of them greeted Buffy when they walked in and went to look at the gear.
"Hey, baby." A voice greeted Buffy. Angel didn't even look up because he knew it was Riley. Riley walked up to Buffy giving her a kiss and pulled her into an embrace. Angel looked away telling him self, he wasn't jealous.
"Good to see you too, Riley." Buffy said uneasy and pushed Riley away. Riley laughed and turned to Angel with a grin.
"Well, look who it is. You must be the new guy. I'm Riley." He announced to Angel, but turned back to Buffy showing he didn't give a damn about getting Angel's name. Angel didn't seem to care though, giving Riley his name would be he actually had to talk to the bastard.
"Hey, Buffy how much is the Sharp Eye in the back?" A guy yelled to Buffy from behind them.
"I'll be right back." Buffy stated and stared at Riley. Her glaze stayed on Riley for a second as a warning not to start anything with Angel, while she was gone. Then Buffy spun around and went into the back of the shop.
"Got a great ass on her, doesn't she?" Riley asked just daring Angel to answer. Angel wanted so badly to break Riley's nose, but kept his rage in not wanting to cause a scene. Angel ignored Riley's question and started to walk towards the cash register. Riley stopped Angel half way to the cash register, stepping in font of him sending Angel a cold stare.
"You stay away from her." Riley threatened Angel. Angel sighed Riley didn't frighten him. He had been through enough shit in his life to know not to fear a blond All-American, rich boy.
The threat had taken Angel by surprise. Sure, he liked Buffy, but he never saw a serious relationship in his future.
"Did you hear me, punk?" Riley spit out and pushed his finger into Angel chest. Finally Angel had enough of staying quiet.
"Was the suppose to be a threat?" He asked coolly and pushed Riley's finger away.
"Maybe," Riley said giving him an evil grin.
"I'm just going to let you know that you really suck at threatening people." He told Riley and smiled. Riley just stood there stunned. Before Riley had time to think of a come back Buffy came up from behind them.
"Angel, can you check Richard out for the Sharp Eye." Buffy told Angel and he just nodded.
"I'll see you later, baby." Riley said and kissed Buffy goodbye. Then he walked out of the North Shore Surf Shop. Buffy came up from behind Angel once he was done checking out Richard.
"I'm so proud of you. You gave the right change back." She joked, but frowned once she saw the serious look on his face.
"What's wrong?" She asked him. Buffy liked having Angel as a friend and she was already starting to worry about his wellbeing.
"Your boyfriend doesn't seeming to be very fond of me." Angel finally announced. He wasn't sure why he even cared about what the jerk thought, but he did really wanted to know what the Riley guy had against him.
"Riley doesn't like anyone new. He has this thing against outsiders. He thinks people are going to steal his surf or something." Buffy shrugged, she really didn't know how her boyfriend's mind worked.
"That makes me feel so much better." Angel joked.
"Just so theirs no hard feelings when we get off work I'll buy you ice cream." Buffy winked. Angel smiled down at her. He was glad that she wasn't still mad at him for the day before.
"You think your boyfriend will get jealous?" Angel teased.
"Riley can think what he wants." Buffy said obviously not wanting to talk about Riley anymore and Angel couldn't be anymore happier about it.
Chapter 5
After work Angel walked long the sidewalk staring out into the ocean. It was still raining, but it didn’t seem to brother Angel. Then he turned down a road and started walking towards the motel, though he was walking very slowly. He studied every house he passed wishing one day he would have a stable home. He came to a halt when he saw a run down house on the water. Though it wasn’t the house that caught his attention it was the surfboards in the front yard. There were mainly short boards, but a few long boards in the mix. Angel wondered why anyone would leave the boards in there front yard. The fence door was slightly open and Angel was tempted. He walked into the yard and went right to a blue short board.
“Hey, kid!” A man’s strong voice yelled at him. Angel immediately spun around to where the voice was coming from. There was an older, British man with a shotgun in his hands aiming at Angel. Angel didn’t move a muscle and just stared at the gun.
“Move away from the boards.” The man growled roughly and Angel just stared. After a few second he got his common sense back and moved away from the boards. Angel decided the man must be the owner of the boards.
“What don’t you understand about ‘Private Property?” The man asked and pointed at the sign on the fence. Angel sighed realizing he was to dazed by the boards to see the sign.
“I didn’t see it.” Angel said truthfully, but the man didn’t seem to believe him.
“Who are you boy? I’ve never seen you around here.” The man stated as he studied him.
“Angel,” He told the man his name.
“Well, you aren’t such an Angel are you, no get off my property.” The old man said and grabbed Angel by the shoulder. Angel’s size didn’t seem to effect the old man. Once he grabbed Angel’s shoulder he saw a scar on it.
“How did you get that?” The old man stopped and looked at the cut. Angel didn’t say anything; he didn’t like to think about the scar.
“Hit a reef pretty hard didn’t you?” The old man said and took Angel by surprise. Angel didn’t know how he knew, but he pulled his shoulder away from the mans grip.
“Where did you use to live?” The old man asked knowing he couldn’t have hit a reef in Sunnydale.
“Hawaii.” Angel said and looked down at the ground. He didn’t think much about Hawaii and his mother, but bits and pieces of life there were coming back to him.
“Got some great waves there.” The man nodded and smiled at Angel.
“I’m Giles.” The old man said decided he didn’t think Angel was half bad.
“So how do you like the waves in Sunnydale?” Giles asked and Angel could tell he hasn’t to talked to anyone about surfing in awhile and was eager to talk about it.
“Their not as good as Hawaii’s, though I really haven’t surfed the waves here very much.” Angel shrugged thinking he really hadn’t surfed in awhile and he felt bad always using Spike’s board. When he said he hadn’t surfed there very much Giles looked at him like he had sinned.
“I don’t have a board.” He explained to Giles.
“Maybe you could give that one a try.” Giles grinned at pointed to the blue board Angel had his eye on. Angel’s smile grew, as he couldn’t believe his luck. Luck was something new to him, but since Buffy he has been getting a lot of new feelings.
“But you can’t keep it, just borrow.” Giles said very quickly as he saw Angel’s eye light up. Angel nodded in agreement; he would be lucky enough just to have a board to ride.
“Come back for it tomorrow, the weather isn’t so good today and I’d like to keep all my boards in one piece.” Giles said as thunder rumbled through the sky. Giles set his gun down and looked at the sky, Angel took that as a clue to leave.
Angel walked out of the yard leaving Giles looking up at the sky. He made his way back to the motel. He slowly opened the room’s door, not wanting to draw attention to himself if his father was drunk. Once he had gotten completely in the room he noticed his father wasn’t even in the room. He let out a breath of relief. He knew his father was up to something, but the longer it’ll take him to find out the better. Angel walked over the cooler, which had been their refrigerator. He found a coke under all the beers. Then he lay back on the bed and opened his coke. He quietly listened to the thunder and the rain hitting the roof, thinking of better times.
=================================
The wind whipped Buffy’s blonde hair, as she got out of her car. She got to the beach early, so she would have time to get some waves in before she had to go to work and she needed time to think.
Before going out into the surf, she sat down on the beach looking at the waves. She use to think her life was so perfect and now it seemed to be following down around her. Her parents are always fighting, her friends never talk to her, and her boyfriend is always trying to control her. Right now in her life she felt closest to Angel and she didn’t even know him. She felt a real connected to him and she really wanted to be friends with him. Buffy had almost screwed that friendship up when she decided to listen to Riley. He was telling her that Angel was some kind of drug dealer that came to Sunnydale to start a gang; she wasn’t sure why Riley was feeding her all this crap. She didn’t know what was up with Riley lately; they had been fighting about everything.
She missed her friends most of all. She had blown Willow off when she had started dating Riley. Buffy just started to talk to her again, but Willow didn’t want to talk to her. She didn’t blame Willow though she had been a real bitch to her.
“Hey,” Buffy heard some one call her. She turned away from the ocean to see Angel coming up behind her. He had a board in his hand and he was smiling at her.
“Hey,” She smiled at him as he stood over her.
Chapter 6
“You got a board.” Buffy noticed as Angel came up behind her with a blue surfboard in his hands. She was happy to see him.
“Giles.” He muttered as he came up beside her.
“What’s Giles up to? I haven’t seen him in forever.” She was a little surprised to hear his name. She hadn’t seen Giles in a long time. When she was young he was like her uncle. He taught her how to surf. He was another person she blew off since she started dating Riley.
“He greeted me with a shotgun.” Angel shrugged and walked past her and put his feet in the water.
“Sounds like him. I’m surprised he let you use one of his boards.” She stated as Angel stared out into the blue ocean. The waves were crushing against the beach giving life and sound to the otherwise quiet beach that early in the morning.
“Me too.” Angel mumbled and he turned to face Buffy.
“Well, what are we doing here talking? Let’s get some waves in before we have to go to work.” She grinned and playfully hit his arm. He laughed and they both got into the water. They paddled a little offshore and gave each other a turn at catching a wave. They had both caught several awesome waves before deciding to take a break.
“Your not bad.” She said meaning his surfing, but in her mind she was thinking about his abs. She forced her eyes on his face and not his hard abs.
“Thanks.” He grinned and ran his hand through his wet hair. His grinned faded once he saw Riley and his friends pull a car up next to the beach.
Riley had a deadly look on his face once he spotted Buffy and Angel on the beach.
“What the hell is going on?” Riley shouted at both of them as he approached them on the beach. Graham and Forrest were close behind Riley.
“Hi, Riley.” Buffy said uneasy and looked over at Angel.
“Didn’t I tell you to stay away from my girlfriend?” Riley yelled at Angel. Then Riley gave Angel a rough shove. Buffy gasped, she couldn’t believe Riley did that. He was crossing the line, when he pushed Angel.
“Don’t touch me.” Angel stated coldly and stared at Riley. Buffy had never heard such coldness in Angel’s voice before. It scared her a little.
“Aww, what does the Punk not like being touched.” Riley grinned and winked at Buffy. Then Angel’s fist came in contact with Riley’s nose. Buffy heard a loud smash and knew Riley’s nose was broken. Riley tried to punch him back, but missed. Before Buffy could blink they were both rolling around in the sand. Graham and Forrest were cheering Riley on. Riley kicked Angel a few times in the stomach and gave him a bloody lip. Angel hit Riley in the eye and got up. Riley groaned once before getting up too.
Angel started to walk away and Buffy ran after him. She put her arms around him and asked if he was okay.
“What the hell, Buff? Are you cheating on me? Slut.” Riley yelled at her as he tried to stop the blood that was coming out of his nose. Graham and Forrest tried to help him, but he pushed them away.
Angel was ready to go at Riley again for calling Buffy a slut.
“Don’t call me a slut!” Buffy yelled at him and let go of Angel.
“We’re over!” She told Riley and walked ahead of Angel.
“You’ll get tired of that Punk and come crawling back to me.” Riley yelled back at her, but by then she was too far to hear it.
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“Have a nice day.” Buffy gave the customer his change and smiled. She had hoped work would keep her mind off Riley and the event at the beach, but it hadn’t. It also didn’t help that Angel was in the same room as her helping a customer.
He had already apologized to her. Saying he had gone too far by punching Riley. She could see in his eyes that he wasn’t really sorry. He just wanted to please her. Which she found very sweet in an odd way. Anyway he didn’t have to apologize, Riley deserved it.
“I think I’m getting the hang of this.” Angel smiled as a satisfied customer left the shop. Buffy just smiled at him.
“What’s wrong?” He wondered since Buffy was unusually quiet. Her smile grew at his question. Riley never cared about her feelings like Angel does, she thought.
“Nothing,” She mumbled and looked around the empty store. She sighed and looked up at him.
“Is this about Riley? Because I said I was s-,” He started to say, but Buffy cut him off.
“I know you did. He deserved a bloody nose.” She told him, which made him grin. He decided not to dig deeper into the subject. He hoped if something was wrong she would tell him. Though he did have one question he was dieing to ask her.
“What I want to know is why were you with that jerk for so long?” He questioned looking her in the eye, hoping for a straight answer. A jerk like Riley didn’t deserve a girlfriend like Buffy. She was too good for Riley. She was also too good for him, Angel thought.
Buffy just shrugged at his question. She didn’t really know why she stayed with Riley for so long. That was a question she often asked herself. The only reason she came up with was that if she dumped Riley she would be alone. Being alone wasn’t something she had to fear anymore, now Angel was in Sunnydale.
“How about we go surfing again tomorrow morning?” Buffy suggested to Angel. She enjoyed hanging out with Angel that morning and would have liked to do it again, minus Riley. She also hoped to get to know Angel a little better.
“Sounds good to me.” He agreed.
“I can pick you up. Where do you live?” She question. Then Angel gave her the address and name of the motel Connor and him were staying at.
“You live in a motel?” She wondered and gave him an odd look.
“Don’t ask.” He sighed.
“Okay, what room?” Buffy asked in a cheerful voice that Angel just have to love. Angel thought about telling her room eight. Then he decided against telling her the room number once Connor’s name flashed in his mind. He didn’t want Buffy to met his dad. Not now. Not ever.
“I’ll wait for you in the parking lot. Seven?” He said quickly hoping she would agree.
“Seven it is.” Buffy gave him a slight smile.
TBC.
Nominated
