New Hair Day by AineRose

Title: New Hair Day (1/1)

Author: AineRose

Rating: G

Feedback: Yes, please!

Distribution: All you have to do is ask!

Time Scale: post- Becoming.

Oh God. Oh God. He’ll hate it. He’ll think it’s horrible and ugly and he’ll think I’m ugly and he’ll dump me! Oh God!

“Oh God.”

“Oh, please.” Cordelia looked up from inspecting her nails. She scrutinised Willow closely. “I’ve done the best I can,” she sighed.

Willow didn’t bother to remind Cordelia that all she had done was drive her to the hairdresser, not cut the hair herself. And how did she manage to inspect her manicure when she was driving?

She squeaked again. They were nearly at the Bronze. 

Cordelia rolled her eyes. “Could you please stop sounding like a hyperactive mouse,” she snapped. “It takes a lot of concentration to drive.”

Willow nodded, “Sorry.”

Oh God. What is Oz gonna say? He likes my long hair. He kissed me with my long hair. Or, well, I kissed him first but he kissed me lots of time after that and… What if all he likes about me is my long hair? What if my hair is too short to cover my face and he takes one look at it and thinks I look like a bulldog?

Cordelia let out an exaggerated sigh. “Look, stop stressing; you’ll give yourself premature wrinkles. And stop messing with your hair! Oz is gonna be totally stoked, okay. There, I admitted it! I don’t know why but Oz is totally into you and he’ll love it.”

Willow removed her hands from her hair and folded then in her lap. She was quiet for a moment.

“You really think he’ll like it?” she asked suddenly.

Cordelia swerved to avoid an oncoming car. “Get off the road, a******!” she screeched. She looked over to Willow. “He’ll love it,” she assured. “I mean, all the gross blood is gone now, right? And the stitches are out. So, y’know, yeah. He’ll love it. Oz is a guy who appreciates good hair.”

Willow wasn’t feeling very certain.

Cordelia stopped the car. “We’re here,” she announced.

Willow didn’t move. Cordelia got out and literally dragged her to the building.

Willow’s heart was beating harder than ever. She was sure Cordelia could both see and hear it thumping.

“M-maybe I should go get drinks,” she offered meekly.

“No way, Rosenberg. You’re coming with me.”

Cordelia gasped suddenly.

“What?” Willow asked suddenly. “What’s wrong? Do you see Oz? Is there something wrong with my hair?” Her hands flew up to her hair.

“You made me break a nail!” Cordy exclaimed. “It’s no surprise, really,” she added. “How can you expect me to drag you all the way across the parking lot? You should lose some pounds, Willow.”

Willow gulped. Oz and Xander were sitting at the table. Not talking. Well, they were talking, just not comfortably.

Cordelia grabbed her arm and dragged her again before Willow could protest. Willow lost count of how many times she tripped. The table was nearing. Oz and Xander looked up. Then they stood up.

They couldn’t see her behind Cordelia. Cordy reached the table and flung Willow in front of her. Then she went over to Xander, leaving Willow standing directly in front of Oz. She could feel her face getting hot. She hoped she wasn’t actually red.

She stared down at the ground. Or, not at the ground, but at Oz’s chest, and his hands, and his shoulders. She wouldn’t look at his face. He was wearing a blue bowling shirt. She remembered buying him it for his birthday. She stared at his hands again. They were nice. She liked his hands. She liked the way they were all calloused from playing guitar but still gentle when they touched her. She liked the way he touched her. She liked the way he had that lop-sided smile on his face when he saw her. She hoped this wasn’t the last time that he’d ever smile at her.

Oz hadn’t said anything, but, then again, neither had Willow. He stepped in front of her.

“Uh, hey,” she squeaked.

Oz didn’t answer. Willow didn’t know what he was doing because she still hadn’t looked at his face. He picked up a lock of her hair and held it away from her.

“New hair,” he commented.

Willow looked at him, right in the eyes. She couldn’t read him. “Yeah,” she said quietly.

He grinned. “I like it,” he remarked.

She smiled. “Really?”

“Really.”

She beamed at him. Cordelia stepped on Xander’s foot.

“Ow,” he yelped. “What was that for?”

Cordelia shot him her icy glare. “It’s nice to know that you appreciate the fact that I spent the whole day dragging your best friend around Sunnydale just to get that gross blood cut out of her hair!”

Xander stared at her blankly. “Okay,” he said in puzzlement. He looked at Willow. “Hey, Will.” He went back to Cordelia

Then he looked back at her. “You look different. New sweater?”

“Hair cut.”

“Oh. S’nice.”

“Thanks, Xand.”

Cordelia huffed.

Willow rolled her eyes. “Thank you for helping me, Cordelia. I’m sorry you broke your nail.”

“You’re welcome,” she said dryly. She grabbed Xander and marched off to the darkest corner of the Bronze for some serious necking.

Oz wrapped his arm around her waist and kissed her on the cheek. He brushed her hair away from her eyes. “Wanna dance?”

“Maybe later, my feet hurt. Cordy made me go shoe shopping with her as a thank you.” They sat down instead.

“New shoes, too?” he asked, concerned.

“Please, new shoes couldn’t hurt this much. We went to twelve stores. Twelve! I didn’t know there was that many shoe stores in Sunnydale. I don’t think Buffy even knew-”

She trailed off. Oz stroked her cheek gently with his thumb.

“I couldn’t stop thinking about her today,” Willow confessed. “I felt, feel so guilty. She would have loved doing girly things like hair styling and shopping.” Hot tears spilled down her cheeks. “I’m sick of her not being here!” she whispered. “I’m sick of missing her!”

Oz gathered her in his arms. “I know baby, but she wouldn’t, doesn’t want you to be sad and to stop having fun. She’ll be back soon,” he assured her. “And then you can do all those things.”

“But I miss her,” she sobbed into his shoulder. “I miss her so much it hurts!”

“Sssh,” Oz comforted. “She’ll be home soon.”

“Sometimes I’m angry at her for leaving,” Willow confessed. “But sometimes I’m scared. I’m scared that she’s scared or sad or hurt and I can’t do anything!”

Oz didn’t have anything to say to that, so he held her tighter and kissed her forehead. “Buffy’s alright,” he said finally. “She just needs time to think. She ran away. That’s pretty drastic. You think we can’t so anything; we can. We can be there for her when she comes home.”

Willow gave him a watery smile. “You are the best boyfriend ever,” she told him.

Oz smiled. “I know.”

He leaned over and kissed her, very gently, on the lips.  She put her hands to her face and pulled him closer.

“My God, get a room!”

Cordelia and Xander were back, looking haughty. Or, Cordelia looked haughty and Xander looked dazed.

Oz grinned, “Good time?”

Xander nodded. Willow smiled and took Oz’s hand. “Who’s for soda?”

Xander’s head snapped up. “Soda?”

Cordelia muttered “pig” under her breath. Willow and Oz laughed.

Xander shot her a look. Willow laughed harder. Xander joined in after a while and even Cordelia half-smiled.

“So,” Xander said, wiping his eyes. “What about those sodas?”

“Go get your own.”

Xander gave her his best puppy dog eyes. Willow folded her arms. Xander groaned and stood up. He lumbered off, muttering under his breath. Oz tightened his hand over her hand. Willow beamed at him. He smiled his lop-sided-just-for-Willow smile back at her.

Cordelia rolled her eyes. They ignored her.

Willow smiled to herself. For the first time in months she was happy. Buffy wasn’t here, but that was okay. She had Oz and Xander and Cordy and Giles and they would be waiting for Buffy when she was ready to come home. When she was ready to be with her family again. 

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