Is This the End?

Chapter Fifteen

It was a quite a while before anyone told her why they were throwing her a birthday party early. She didn’t really mind because all of her friends where there together again. She was just glad that the whole fighting with Spike thing was behind her. They’d all be going to college soon, which was actually pretty frightening. Dawn was cuddling on the couch with Connor, Willow and Oz were in the floor, Xander and Anya were in the kitchen talking, and Angel and Cordelia had decided to cut out early. Buffy knew that Spike was up in his room, but she went out onto the porch to be alone. She sometimes wondered if she and Spike were rushing into this whole marriage thing. She’d never admit it to anyone, but were they? She loved Spike so much that it hurt sometimes, but what if they both met other people when they got to New York? She sat down on the swinging chair, when Willow came out. She smiled at Buffy and went to sit down beside her.

“ I cannot wait at all for this all to be over. Do you know we’re only three weeks away from graduating? I hope you don’t mind us moving your party up, it’s just with finals and prom, we thought it would be better.” Buffy nodded and leaned back to look up at the stars.

“ It’s totally fine, I wasn’t even expecting this big of a deal anyway. Wils, I can’t wait to get out of this town. Soon, we’ll be soaking in the New York air, and we’ll be independent.” Willow sighed and leaned back as well.

“ That’s true, we’ll be independent, but why does it seem like it’s looming? It seems like we’re going to our doom or something.” Buffy chuckled softly, but didn’t answer. She understood what she meant completely. They would be out on their own, but why was that such a good thing? It wasn’t really, necessarily.

When everyone had finally gone home, Buffy grabbed Dawn and practically shoved her out of Spike’s house. They said their goodbyes, but Spike knew that something was wrong with her. She’d been really quiet all evening, and she’d stayed outside for the majority of the party. He just wished that she’d confide in him, he was after all her fiancé. He knew that she was worried about school, and how they were going to live. They both had separate dorm rooms, but they were engaged? What kind of engagement was that? He’d told her that they needed to keep the arrangement, and after their freshman year, they could look into living off property. He just hoped that she wasn’t angry with him because of that. She’d been cordial and had kissed him, but something was definitely wrong with his beautiful girlfriend.

** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***

Buffy had found the absolute perfect prom dress, but she didn’t know if she could afford it. It was a baby blue color, very simple with no sequins. It had spaghetti straps and went well past her feet. It was the most beautiful dress she’d ever seen, and she couldn’t wait to try it on. She asked one of the employees if she could try it on, and they helped her take it into a fitting room. When she got it on, she knew that it was meant to be. She took it back to the lady, and told her she wanted it. She didn’t know why she’d waited until the last minute to buy it, but she was glad that she’d waited. When she was leaving the store, she saw Drusilla across the way. She sighed, hoping that the girl didn’t see her. She wasn’t afraid or anything, she just didn’t want a confrontation right then. She headed in the opposite direction, towards her car and made it out free.
She knew that Spike was wanting to talk to her about her attitude last night. Actually, it was her attitude all week. Even after the part, through the school week, on up to now, she was very distant. Dawn had even asked her what was up, but she couldn’t tell her sister. Her mother had gotten a call from Hank about where Buffy would be going to school. He told Joyce that he had a problem with her living so far away and about her being engaged to Spike. He’d threatened to sue for custody, but Buffy had just turned eighteen. So, he was coming down for a few days during graduation week to harass her about different things. She was really pissed off that he all of the sudden wanted to play daddy to her when he’d already missed so much. She climbed into her car and headed off to her house. When she got home, Spike’s car was out front and Buffy sighed. It wasn’t that she wasn’t glad to see him, she was. She just didn’t feel like explaining anything right then. She got out of her car and headed up the steps, but Spike opened the front door and closed it behind him so they could talk.

“ Hey, where you been?” Buffy smiled at him, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes.

“ I went to the mall to get my dress. I don’t why I left it so late, but I found the perfect one for Saturday.” Spike grinned and grabbed her hand. He moved them to the porch swing.

“ We haven’t gotten to talk much lately, and I thought we could just sit out here for awhile. It’s rather warm.” Buffy draped the wrapped dress over the back of one of the chairs and joined him on the swing.

“ I’ve been totally spacing lately, Spike, and I’m sorry about that. My dad called and you know how that goes.” Spike frowned.

“ You haven’t heard from your dad in almost a year, what’s he want all of the sudden?” Buffy had to smile at his concern. He’d been the one she’d cried to when her dad had stopped visiting for her birthday and holidays. He understood her anger towards him and he didn’t judge.

“ My guess is he wanted to know what kind of financial burden I was going to be now that I’m going to college. My told him that I had a partial scholarship and that she was handling the rest. He went off about...stuff.” Spike shook his head.

“ You can tell me, Buffy, it’s okay.” She didn’t know why she was closing off to him because she told him everything. She just didn’t want to have to tell him that his dad was probably going to boycott their wedding..whenever they had it.

“ He’s pissed that I’m going to NYU instead of UCLA, his alma mater. He’s also upset about...our engagement. So, he’s coming down a week earlier then scheduled to talk some sense into me. I just didn’t want you to be in the middle of that, you know?” Spike chuckled.

“ I don’t know what business of his it is. We’ll get through. It’s two days until prom, and it’s gonna be great. We’ve got the stretch navigator coming for us, and good news...Harmony will be riding with us.” This made Buffy squeal with excitement.

“ She finally got her mom to let her come with us? How did she pull that one off?” Spike shrugged.

“ I’m not exactly sure. She called Cordelia and told her that she and Warren would be meeting us at her house. She’s going to have dinner with us and bowl afterwards too. I’m actually getting excited. I guess it helps that there will be minimal supervision, no curfew, and it won’t be on school grounds.” This caused Buffy to giggle and lean in for a kiss. Spike responded instantly, but they were soon interrupted by her mother. She didn’t look pleased, in fact she looked pissed. She folded her arms and sighed.

“ Your father is on the phone, Buffy and he’s insisting he speak with you.” Buffy rolled her eyes, picked up her dress, and followed her mother into the house. She glanced behind her and smiled when she saw that Spike had followed her. She walked over to the phone and picked it up.

“ Hello?” Instantly her father was there.

“ There you are, your mother didn’t want to put you on the phone. I’m coming into town Saturday and I want to spend the day with you. I’ll have to leave of course, but I’ll be back a few days before your graduation. I’ll pick you up at Nine in the morning and we’ll spend the day together.” Buffy sputtered into the phone.

“ Dad, I won’t be here on Saturday for you to pick up.” There was a pause before her father spoke again.

“ Just where will you be, Buffy? This isn’t up for discussion, and you will come with me.” Buffy was tempted to slam the phone down right then. As it was, her dress fell to the floor unnoticed, and Spike picked it up.

“ Who are you to try and give me orders all of the sudden? You haven’t been around since I was fifteen years old, and you can’t just decide you want to play daddy. Saturday is the prom, and I’m sure you know that.” She could hear her father’s rage coming through the phone.

“ I know it’s your prom, and you won’t be late for it. I’m just wanting to spend the day with you.” Buffy scoffed at him.

“ Right, I’m sure all you want to do is spend time with me. Let me tell just what my agenda is on Saturday. At exactly 8 A.M. The girls and I are going to get our nails and feet done. We will then go to the mall at around 10 to get our make-up done. We’re then going to go to the salon to get our hair done, and at noon we’re going to get some lunch. Around 2 p.m, we’re going over to Cordelia’s house to get ready and just generally have a girly day. At 5 p.m. the boys and the limousine will arrive to take us to dinner. The dance actually starts at 7:30, and ends at midnight. After that, we’re going to a bowling alley we’ve rented until two in the morning. I will then go home and probably sleep until noon the next day. So you see, you will not fit into my busy day. I’ll see you in a couple of weeks dad, goodbye.” After making this statement, she slammed the phone down, unable to stop the tears from falling. Spike abandoned the dress then as well and gathered Buffy into his arms. Someday, him and her father were going to have it out.