Central Perk

Central Perk
Chapter 3

Buffy and Spike walked into the local video store and Buffy immediately went over to the comedy section. She scanned the videos and grinned when she found what she was looking for. “Aha!” she exclaimed as she grabbed it off of the shelf, and did a little happy dance of victory. She handed the box to William who eyed the cover carefully.

“I have to agree with your earlier statement love.” He said as he held the movie in his hand.

Buffy stopped her happy dance in mid jiggle, “What?”

William held the movie in front of her face and smirked, “It looks like crap.”

“Uh!” Buffy gasped as she snatched the movie back from him. “I’m trying to enlighten you bleach boy. You don’t have to be so insulting.” Buffy stuck out her lip slightly to emphasize her pout with William’s attitude.

“Oh pouty,” he smiled. “Look at that lip.” Buffy smiled sarcastically in response and punched him lightly in the stomach. “Not nice to hit love.”

Buffy smiled and pulled on the sleeve of his jacket. “Come on, you pick something.”

William smiled at her as he started to walk through the video store. “She’s a breath of fresh air,” he thought to himself. He would be kidding himself if he didn’t inwardly admit that he thought that she was gorgeous. William’s mind began to wander to how adorably cute she looked when she pouted before. He shook his head quickly in an attempt to dismiss the thoughts. “That’s really good mate. You just moved Drucilla out of your flat today and you’re already drooling over the first new girl you meet. Real smooth.” He was pulled out of his thoughts by a quiet voice calling his name.

“Um, William?” William turned and saw Buffy standing behind him with a puzzled look on her face. “Did you want to rent something from this section?”

“Uh,” he stuttered, “I was just browsing love.” He told her as he turned back around and looked in horror at the display of movies that were now in front him. The room suddenly got very hot and William’s pale alabaster skin was tinged a slight shade of pink when he saw the titles before him. Pictures of men and women in all sorts of funky positions, looks of pleasure and some of pain adorned the boxes. His eyes were now fixated on a copy of “Forrest Hump” as he tried to k, “k, “Of course not pet, I didn’t…. I mean if I’d realized…I would never…” William took a deep breath to try to calm down and realized that there were no words to cover his embarrassment, “Oh balls.” He grunted as he shook his head in defeat.

Buffy couldn’t control the laughter that was building inside of her. “See anything you like?”

“Ha bloody ha.” William replied smugly rolling his eyes.

“Let’s just get this one for tonight.” Buffy grinned mischievously at William before she continued. “I think that we might need to get to know each other a little better before I let you pick.”

“Bloody hell!” William exclaimed as he snatched the video from Buffy’s hand and made his way up to the counter to pay. When they were seated in his car and on the way back to the apartment William finally spoke to her. “Buffy, I promise I didn’t realize I had wandered into that section. I didn’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable.”

“Um, William,” Buffy said as she continued to stare out the window, “Judging from the different shades of pink that your face discovered back there, I’d say that you were the uncomfortable one.” She turned to look at him and smiled. “Don’t worry about it.”

William smiled to himself as he continued to drive. “Good.”

***

“So what did you think?” Buffy stretched and looked over at William who was sitting in Willow’s comfy chair with an impassive look on his face.

William turned to face Buffy and stared at her for a moment before answering, “In a word pet.” He paused and in his best imitation of Keanu Reeves said, “Whoa.”

Buffy giggled at his impression and gave him a warm smile. “Thank you for sitting with me.”

“It’s been my pleasure sweet. Far better than what I had going tonight.” Spike answered shrugging his shoulders.

“Oh? What did you have planned?”

William nodded his head as he answered her, “Absolutely nothing.”

“I know the feeling.” Buffy replied turning her attention back to the credits that were still playing on the television screen.

A moment of silence passed between them and William couldn’t tell if it was comfortable for her or slightly awkward. He decided to break it when he asked, “So what’s your story pet?”

“My story?” Buffy asked quizzically, quirking an eyebrow in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, what brings you to New York.” William sat back in the chair as he continued to speak. “You went to school with Red, so you’re not exactly a hop skip and a jump from the home front.”

Buffy shook her head in response. “Trust me when I tell you that it’s an extremely long, unbearably boring story.”

William looked at his watch and studied it fixedly for a moment. “Well pet it would seem that I’ve got all the time in the world.” He dropped his wrist and smirked at her earnestly, “and hey, if you bore me, that’s totally okay. I’ve had lots of trouble sleeping lately so who knows this may just do the trick.”

Buffy chuckled quietly and shook her head. “Fine, just don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

1 hour later.(1 am)

“So you just left?” William asked her as he sat back into Willow’s comfy chair.

Buffy nodded, “Yup.”

“Did you tell them where you were going?”

“Not yet, I was thinking of saving that argument for tomorrow.” Buffy told him as she stretched out onto the couch, her head towards him.

“Uh, pet.”

“What?”

William smiled, “It is tomorrow.”

Buffy smirked at him in earnest. “You know what I mean.” Buffy sighed as she tucked one of Willow’s chenille throw pillows under her arms.

They sat together in a comfortable silence for only a few minutes before William decided to break the silence. “So tell me about this guy.”

(3 am)

“We were forever, Druscilla and me.” William sat on the floor in front of the couch in which Buffy still occupied. “We met shortly after I moved here. Hit it off right away.”

Buffy turned onto her side, propping her head on her right hand, “What happened?”

William sighed and replied in a soft whisper, “Forever came a little sooner than expected I guess.” Buffy nodded in reply. Spike remained silent for a while before continuing. “She didn’t want me anymore. I should have known that something was up when she didn’t want to sleep with me anymore.”

“So, you stopped having sex?” Buffy asked, prodding him to continue.

Spike nodded as he answered her, “More than that pet. Dru lived with me for the last year and a half of our relationship. 8 months of that, I spent sleeping on the couch.”

Buffy moved from her spot on the couch so that she could sit eye to eye with Spike on the floor. “8 months,” she asked.

“Yup,” Spike answered her. “See, Dru was abused by her foster father when she was younger. It…well…it affected her. She wasn’t what a sane person would call “all there”. She would have flashbacks and such. She told me that I was making her “uncomfortable” so I backed off.”

“I can understand that.” Buffy replied, “but for 8 months, isn’t that just a tad extreme?”

Spike nodded as he thought about his answer. “I didn’t think so at the time. I just wanted her to be happy. In the beginning she was still affectionate, so I could make the sacrifice.”

“So you move out of her bed…”

“My bed,” Spike interrupted “Wh “What?” Buffy asked startled.

“It was my bed. Dru move into my apartment, left all of her things with her roommate.”

Buffy shook her head in disbelief. “Okay, so then what?” she asked.

“Well,” Spike sighed, “then things started to go down hill. She wouldn’t let me kiss her. She’d pull away when I tried to hold her hand. Hell after a while she quit letting me touch her all together.” Spike noted the concerned look on Buffy’s face. She quietly shook her head as she listened. “I know what you’re thinking. “Why did I stay?” Valid question. I loved her. I know that I loved her and I wanted to do what I could to keep her, and if that meant backing off for a while so she could figure out her issues then I could give that to her.”

“And did she?” Buffy asked, “figure them out I mean.”

“Come to find out,” Spike looked away as he answered her. “It was all just a rouse. She was seeing someone else the whole time. Originally her plan was to keep me on the sidelines until she’d had her fun. You know, keep me around to fall back on.”

“So you dumped her?” Buffy asked

“Not quite pet,” Spike answered shaking his head. “She left me in the end. I was so busy giving her the “space” that she needed, I never noticed what was really going on.”

“Oh my god!” Buffy gasped, “That’s awful.”

“It wasn’t a good time. I loved Dru, I still love Dru, deep down, I think that I always will love her, you know?” Buffy nodded in reply and he continued. “It’s better this way. I miss her, sure, but I don’t miss how I felt when I with ith her. I’ve never been with someone who made me feel so…what is the word I’m looking for…”

“Alone.” Buffy whispered.

“Precisely, I’ve never felt more alone and yet surrounded by…” Spike trailed off when he noticed the distant look on Buffy’s face. He grasped her hand in his as he positioned himself to look her in the eye. “Something tells me that you know just what I mean, don’t you.”

Buffy looked at Spike and gave him a weak smile. “Yeah,” she whispered. “I know what you mean.”