My Best Friend's Girl

Chapter 8

Buffy hated waiting in Angel’s law firm for him to finish up with a client, but she felt that they hadn’t been spending much time together lately. The lawyers he worked with were basically nothing but pigs, a few would leer at her as they walked by, and Buffy had never felt so exposed. These were the same morons who thought taking him to a strip club would be the appropriate thing to do. Probably the love ‘em and leave ‘em type, the kind who couldn’t understand why Angel was settling down. She got tired of waiting and decided to go for a walk around the office, stopping outside of the kitchen area when a familiar voice caught her attention, immediately recognizing it as Angel’s secretary.

“My date last night was such a disaster; I’m so tired of these rejects.”

A woman chuckled. “I don’t know why you keep getting involved with losers, Cordy. You could have anyone you wanted. It’s a shame Mr. O’Connor is taken, I know how you feel about him.”

Cordelia let out a sigh. “Don’t remind me, not that I have anything against Buffy. I’ve only met her a couple of times and she seems really nice, but I don’t think she knows just how lucky she is to have him. I would give anything for a man like that, but he only has eyes for her.”

“What about when you two locked lips at the office party a few weeks ago?”

Her eyes widened. “Would you keep it down? I don’t want anyone to know about that, Harmony. It was a one time thing, and we felt really awkward afterwards. I was just being drunk and stupid; we both swore never to bring it up again. I’m not the kind of person who would steal someone else’s boyfriend. I’ve been cheated on before, and I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy. It was a mistake.”

Buffy heard enough, quickly heading back over to where she was sitting before. She was originally supposed to go to that office party with him, but wasn’t feeling well at the time. If Buffy found out about the kiss when it happened, she might have been able to deal, but him choosing not to even tell her about it proved that it meant something to him, and it wasn’t just a mistake like Cordelia thought. If it was, he would have come clean about it. She was too lost in her thoughts to notice that Angel was now standing in front of her, a big smile on his face.

“Hey, you ready to go?”

Buffy nodded as she stood, still in a daze, but not too much that she didn’t notice the longing expression on Cordelia’s face as they left the building together.


* * * * *


“All right, what’s wrong? You’ve been quiet ever since we got back, and you hardly said anything at lunch. You’re not still mad about the strip club, are you?”

Buffy shook her head, taking in a deep breath. “Are you in love with your secretary?”

That was the last thing he expected to hear. “What? Where the hell did that come from?”

She shrugged. “It’s just a question, one that should have an easy answer.”

“I don’t know how you could ask me that. You’re the one I’m engaged to, Elizabeth. How could you even think that I would be in love with someone else?”

Buffy shut her eyes, moving away from him. “That’s the wrong answer,” she mumbled, but he heard her.

“Well, why don’t you tell me what the right answer is? I feel like I can’t win with you anymore. It’s like everything I say is wrong, and I would rather avoid getting into another fight,” he claimed.

“Why didn’t you ever tell me about the kiss? I overheard her talking about it today.”

Angel let out the breath he’d been holding. “I’m sorry, I should have told you, but I didn’t want to upset you. It didn’t mean anything.”

“No, if it didn’t mean anything, you would have told me. I’m not stupid, Angel. She’s obviously in love with you, and I don’t think she’s alone in that. I’ve noticed the attraction for a while now, but I just figured it was all in my head. And then when Spike…”

He threw his hands up in the air, cutting her off. “Spike, I should have known. You do see what he’s doing, don’t you? He’s trying to break us up.”

“He’s your friend, why would he do that?” Buffy wondered, even though she had a pretty good idea.

“He may be my friend, but I don’t trust him where you’re concerned. I know he’s not over you. Spike has this annoying habit of going after the women in my life. Everything I have, he just has to have, too. He had his chance with you, but he blew it. I’m finally happy and he can’t handle that.”

Buffy shook her head. “I don’t believe that. If that was the case, I doubt you two would be such good friends at all. He may have made some mistakes, but there’s no doubt in my mind that he cares about you.”

“This isn’t about Spike, we’re talking about us. I think the better question is, are you still in love with him?”

She didn’t know how to respond to that, instead choosing to lash out. “Don’t turn this around on me; you’re the one who kissed another woman.” Buffy regretted that the second it left her mouth, knowing she was just as guilty.

“That’s the wrong answer,” he replied. “Why don’t you let me know once you’ve figured out what you feel? I’m going for a walk.”

Buffy watched as he left the house, wondering how to make things right, but he wasn’t completely wrong in asking that question. It was obvious that Buffy still had strong feelings for Spike, but like Angel, she didn’t know if she could ever trust him.


* * * * *


“You just couldn’t wait to tell Elizabeth about Cordelia, could you?”

Spike was taken aback when Angel entered his apartment without knocking first, and it was obvious the man had been drinking. “I didn’t realize there was something to tell. All I said was that I noticed a spark between you two, just making an observation.”

“An observation that you hoped would break us up,” he spat.

Spike shook his head. “I was only looking out for her.”

Angel laughed. “Like you’ve been doing for the last ten years, right? You have never mentioned her in all the time I’ve known you, and now you suddenly care about her wellbeing? You let her go, Spike. If you really loved her, you could have made things work, but you didn’t. She told me all about how you broke her heart, and I won’t have you do that again. She feels for you, I know that, there’s still a part of her that will always belong to you, but you’re not the type to stick around. I’ve seen girl after girl come out of your apartment, never have I seen the same one twice. For months I have devoted everything to that woman, and I’m not about to give her up now. Yes, I might feel something for Cordelia, I can admit that much, but it’s nothing compared to what I feel for Liz. I want you to back off, Spike. If you were really my friend, you would do that. If you can’t, then this friendship is officially over.”

“I can’t make any promises. I’ll keep my distance, but only if that’s what she wants. If she chooses to come see me, I won’t turn her away. The last thing I want is to get involved in your relationship. I care about you both, but I love Buffy. I’m not going to stand here and tell you I don’t. She means everything to me, and all I want right now is to get back her friendship.”

Angel couldn’t tell if he was being sincere or not, but anything else he would have said was put on hold by a new presence in the apartment.

“I’m sorry; I didn’t realize anyone was here.”

Angel shook his head, turning away from the woman to glare at his soon to be former friend. “Oh, yeah, you really love her.” He left the apartment then, not bothering to look back once.

Spike clenched his jaw, a small hand settling on his shoulder.

“Is everything okay? I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

He gave her a strained smile. “You didn’t, love. Everything is just fine.”