Wordless Apologies
Thursday, August 31, 2000
The sun was high in the sky, and strong. Xander could feel it melting his
bones as he lay ass-up in the sand. Eyes closed behind his sunglasses, he
relaxed with his arms folded under his head, his chin propped on his fist. The
waves lapping the shore provided gentle background music to his lazy afternoon.
"Hey."
"Hey," Xander returned the greeting. Lack of fear made any surprise at
suddenly hearing a voice physically unreactionary. Besides which, he'd known
Spike would show up sometime. The vampire was loyal to a fault. It was one of
the few things Xander admired about him. "Cooler's moored in the water."
"Right." Xander heard Spike's belongings thump in the sand, then the rasp of
clothing being removed.
A few minutes later, Xander felt Spike settle in the sand beside him.
"Sunscreen?" the vampire requested.
Blindly, the brunette plucked the two sunscreens from beneath the sand by his
elbow and passed them to Spike. "Here."
"Ta," Spike said. He greased himself up, then lay back in the soft sand. The
sun was high in the sky, and strong, and Spike could feel his bones melting as
he relaxed beside Xander, listening to the gentle sound of the waves lapping
upon the beach. No apologies had been spoken, but they were heard loud and clear
anyway.
Everything was back to normal.
End
