Welcome to the Hellmouth (Book One, Buffy the Vampire Slayer) Dedicated 2 ckent7

chapter 7 - Angel

At the Bronze, a cockroach was being chased along the floor.

"Get it!" a boy said. "Go get it, right there!"

"I got it!" a girl said, holding the cockroach up to the bartender and dropping it into his jar. "Free drink, please."

The bartender nodded and went to get the drink.

Willow, Buffy and I were sitting together at a table.

"Ah, the fumigation party," Willow said.

"Hmm?" Buffy asked.

"It's an annual tradition," I told her. "The closing of the Bronze for a few days to nuke the cockroaches."

Buffy wasn't paying attention. "Oh."

"It's a lot of fun..." Willow trailed off.

I looked at Daydreaming Buffy. "What's it like where you are?"

Buffy looked up, smiling a small smile. "I'm... sorry, I was just... thinking about things..."

"So, we're talking about a guy?" I asked.

"Not exactly a guy," Buffy answered. "For us to have a conversation about a guy, there'd have to be a guy for us to have a conversation about. Is that a sentence?"

Willow smiled. "You lack a guy."

"I do," Buffy answered. "Which is fine with me, most of the time, but..."

"What about Angel?" I asked.

"Angel?" Buffy repeated. "I can just see him in a relationship. 'Hi, honey, you're in grave danger. I'll see you next month.'"

"He's not around much, it's true," Willow said.

Buffy looked dreamily. "When he is around... it's like the lights dim everywhere else. You know how it's like that with some guys?"

"Oh, yeah," Willow answered, looking over at Xander.

Xander was on the dance floor, making a fool of himself. He danced up to a girl. "Hey, Annie!" He saw her boyfriend. "Dino, just leaving!"

Xander backed away, bumping into Cordelia.

"Ouch!" Cordelia complained. "Please get your extreme oafishness off my two-hundred-dollar shoes!"

"I'm sorry, I was just..." Xander trailed off.

"...getting off the dance floor before Annie Vega's boyfriend squashes you like a bug?" Cordelia finished.

"Oh, so you noticed," Xander said.

"Uh-huh," Cordelia answered.

"Yeah, thanks for being so understanding," Xander said sarcastically.

"Sure," Cordelia told him.

"You know, hey, I don't know what everyone's talking about," Xander told her. "That outfit doesn't make you look like a hooker!" He laughed, leaving the dance floor, walking toward us, standing between Willow and Buffy. "Boy, that Cordelia is a regular breath of vile air. What are you vixens up to?"

"Just sitting here, watching our barren lives pass us by," Willow answered, looking down. "Oh, look, a cockroach."

Willow stomped on the bug.

Buffy lifted her eyes to see and then turned them back down.

"Whoa, well, let's stop this crazy whirling of fun," I said sarcastically. "I'm dizzy."

"All right, now I'm infecting those nearest and dear to me," Buffy said, standing. "I'm gonna call it a night."

"Oh, don't go," Willow told her.