Chapter 21 – Ladies Night

On Friday night, the girls all went to Willy's to see 'Dingo's Ate My Baby!' perform. Xander wasn't working that night, so he sat with the girls.

"So Buffster, glad to see your actually hanging with us tonight. Anya told me you were hanging out with some Frat boys last weekend." Anya quickly elbowed Xander. "Ouch! What I do!"

"Well not tonight. Willow's been raving about the new song Oz wrote, so I figured I better come down here and check it out." Buffy smiled. She was not going to let any memories of Angel ruin this evening. She was feeling truly relaxed and calm fort the first time all week and she was going to enjoy herself.

Buffy and Willow went over to the pool tables and set their coins down for the next game. Buffy thought the guys playing looked familiar, so she went over to one of them and said, "Have we met?"

"Yeah, your Fred's friend. Betty, right?"

"Actually it's Buffy."

"My bad. I'm Gunn."

"Oh, yes, I remember, from the party last week."

"Yep, so are you here with Fred?" he asked.

"No, I don't think this is Fred's type of place." Buffy laughed.

"You'd be surprised. Fred plays a mean game of pool."

"Really? Well I'll have to invite her down here sometime." Buffy then remembered where she had seen the hairless white guy Gunn was playing with. "Hey Willow, look, it's Clem, from Professor Snyder's class. He's the other T.A."

"Hey ladies!" Clem waived at them before taking his shot.

"So would you ladies like to partner up and play the next round with us?" Gunn asked.

"Sure." Buffy and Willow replied.

After they were done playing, Gunn invited them to a party he was having on Saturday. Willow and Buffy promised to come and asked if they could bring some friends.

"No problem, the more the merrier. See you tomorrow." Gunn and Clem went to sit at the bar.

Buffy and Willow went back and joined Xander and Anya at their table. Oz was on break and sat down as well. They told everybody about the party invite.

"Oh, I know Gunn. He's cool." Oz grabbed his beer and drained it. "Okay babe, I have another set." He kissed Willow on the forehead and went back on stage.

Buffy went to find the ladies room and found there was a really long line. She really had to go so she waited. While she was waiting the conversation of some girls in front of her caught her attention.

"… after that. Cecily, your crazy if you don't. William has wanted you for years. Years. And now, with your families financial situation, you need to think about your future."

"I know Kennedy. But it's William! He's beneath me." The curly haired girl wrinkled her nose up with her distaste.

"But he's rich. Far richer than your family ever was. And he's changed a lot. He's not that same nerdy boy he was at Brighton. He's actually quite attractive now." The dark haired girl who was Kennedy giggled.

"That's all an act, you know that nerdy little boy is still in there. I don't know if I could bear listening to his bloody awful poems." This caused Kennedy to snicker. Buffy wondered who they were talking about and how could these girls be so shallow. They must be some big time ho's if they would actually go after a guy for his money. Buffy looked at the girl named Cecily. She was cute, but she wasn't all that. And the one named Kennedy, she was pretty as well, but there was something off about the way she looked at Cecily, it was like…'oh never mind' Buffy thought to herself.

Finally there was a free stall. When Buffy finished, she went back to the table only to find Willow and Anya were on the dance floor. Buffy went and joined them. As she was dancing she looked up toward the balcony, which she hadn't really noticed before. She gasped at what she saw. Angel was leaning on the railing, next to a pretty blond girl. He began to whisper something in the girl's ear that made her laugh. Buffy shuddered thinking about what that girl was in for. She tried to keep dancing, but Angel being there was too distracting. She went and sat back at the table and sipped on her coke. The more she thought about Angel, the more knots her stomach formed. Then Buffy noticed that the girl Angel had been talking with had come down the stairs and was headed to the bathrooms. Buffy jumped up and followed her. There was still a line for the bathroom, so Buffy got in line behind her.

"Hi." She smiled at the girl.

"Uh, hi," the pretty blond replied, looking a little surprised that this stranger was talking to her.

"I saw that your here with Angel."

"Yeah, and?" The girl visibly tensed, wondering what was up.

"I just wanted to warn you to be careful around him." Buffy stated earnestly.

"Why would I need to be careful around my boyfriend?" the girl asked, hands on hips.

"Your boyfriend?" Buffy sputtered, shocked.

"Yes, my boyfriend of the past two years." The girl said smugly. "Who are you anyway? How do you know Angel?" she asked, her eyes narrowing.

"Uh, never mind." Buffy mumbled, stepping back.

"Hey, wait!" The girl grabbed Buffy's arm. "You're the one who started this – now finish it," she looked angrily at Buffy, "What's your problem with Angel?"

Buffy wrenched her arm free and turn to run away, cursing herself for getting herself in this situation, but instead of getting away, she ran smack into Angel.

"Well hello Buffy. I see you've met my girlfriend, Nina." Angel smiled at her.

Buffy let out a sound that was a mix between a gasp and a whimper. She had to get away now, before she totally freaked.

Angel appeared to take no notice of Buffy's discomfort. "Nina, this is Buffy. Her grandmother is a very close friend of my father. Our families are very close." Angel was still smiling at Buffy, but had now wrapped his arm around Nina.

Nina was still eyeing Buffy suspiciously, but played nice. "Hello Buffy." She said coolly.

By this point, Buffy was shaking.

"Buffy, is something wrong?" Angel asked, sounding very concerned. "Do you want to go back to our table with us and sit down? I can get you something to drink." He offered and started to reach for Buffy's arm to guide her. Buffy jumped back.

"I have to go." She turned and ran out of Willy's. She kept running until she was a couple blocks away. She found herself at a small park. She sat down on one of the benches and started to cry. She felt so stupid. Not only did Angel rape her, he had a girlfriend the whole time he was seeing her. He degraded her and used her in every way possible, and it was still going on. She didn't think she could handle this anymore.

A hand touched Buffy's shoulder and she screamed and jumped up. As she jumped, it flashed through her mind how stupid it was to be sitting alone at night in a park. She turned to see who had touched her. It was Spike.

"Buffy, what's wrong? What are you doing out here?" Spike. He was beginning to think this girl wasn't the brightest bulb in the bunch. Sitting out here was just asking for trouble.

"Spike, you scared the crap out of me!" Buffy wiped away her tears with the back of her hand.

"Your lucky it was me and not Jack the Ripper! Why are you out here all alone? And why are you crying?" He reached out and wiped away a tear she had missed.

"It's nothing. I'll go home now." Buffy started to walk away, embarrassed that he caught her at her lowest low again.

Spike started after her. "Luv, it's not safe for you to walk alone. I'll walk you back."

"I'm fine Spike. I'll be just fine."

"I'm not letting you walk by yourself." He stated firmly.

"Fine, let's go." She said, exasperated.

They walked in silence for a while. Finally Spike couldn't take it any more.

"Buffy, what happened?"

"Nothing." She said softly.

He stopped and gently pulled at her arm, bringing her to a stop. "Buffy, I want you to trust me. I want you can tell me luv, you can tell me anything." He reached out and gently stroked her cheek with one finger.

Buffy sighed. She didn't want to admit how silly she had been, but she realized Spike may be thinking something worse had happened. And he seemed so sincere, with his head tilted, looking at her so kindly, yet so intently.

"It was Angel, he..."

"What did he do now?" Spike almost growled out.

"Well, I kind of started it. I saw him with a girl over at Willy's. And when she went to the ladies room, I went after her to warn her about him, but it turned out she was his girlfriend."

"Oh, Nina." Spike hadn't realized Buffy didn't know about Nina. He should have figured though. Why else would she let herself go up to Angel's room, unless she thought he was truly interested in only her. Buffy didn't seem like the type of girl who would mess with another girl's bloke.

"So you knew." Buffy sighed. "Well I didn't. And then when I was trying to save face and leave, Angel showed up and started introducing me to her as a family friend." Buffy shuddered. "I just freaked and ran. I ended up in the park you found me in. I just was feeling so stupid!"

"Buffy, there's no reason to feel stupid." Spike pulled her to him and stroked her hair. She felt so good in his arms and smelled so sweet.

Buffy let him hold her for a few moments, relishing the feel of his strong arms, and the comfort of being so close to someone. But then she pulled away.

"Spike, I should feel stupid. I went up to his room willingly. I thought he was really interested in me. Even if he didn't… well, he still would have just used me."

"The road to love is a learning process. Hit or miss. Sometimes you just have to accept the misses and move on." Spike paused a moment, as if contemplating something. "Angel is a right stupid bloke. Always has been. You just need to move on luv. Plenty of men would be right lucky to have you."

"But how can I move on Spike? I don't think I can ever trust another guy again."

Spike felt terrible for her. He had to admit he understood. He had been through heartache before. But he had to give her hope. "You'll learn, just give it time." He squeezed her hand and smiled at her. Buffy smiled back and they started walking again. They reached her dorm shortly.

"Well, ta luv."

"See you Spike. And thanks." Buffy hugged him quickly and ran into the dorm.

Spike looked after her for a moment before heading back to town.

When Buffy reached her room, Willow was already there.

"Buffy, I was so worried! What happened? Where did you go? Why didn't you say you were leaving?" Willow babbled.

"Willow, calm down!" Buffy sat down on the bed opposite her. "I had an Angel freak out moment."

"Oh no, did he do something?" Willow asked worriedly.

"Actually, I kind of started it." Buffy filled Willow in on what happed with Angel and Nina. "So where's Anya?"

"She's spending the night with Xander."

"And where's Oz?" Buffy asked coyly.

"At home." Willow replied.

"And why aren't you with him?"

"Oh, I'm not ready for that yet." Willow blushed.

"Willow, just because you spent the night doesn't mean you have to sleep with him. You can just be close."

"Uh, I'm still not ready for that."

"Willow, have you and Oz even kissed?" Buffy asked, afraid the answer would be no.

"Well, kinda." Willow was a bright shade of pink now.

"Kinda – what's kinda?" Buffy prodded.

"Well, it was a peck."

"So, no tongue?"

"Nope." Willow squeaked out.

"Girl, you are a trip!" Buffy laughed. "Between you and Anya!"