|
|
by Chris Kenworthy (scoobyhq@fcmail.com)
Disclaimer: Okay, let's see. I didn't make up the characters of Buffy, Xander, Willow, Faith, etcetera and cannot call them my own. (I can't love them and hug them and call them George, either. :-D )
"Well, we're more than a half an hour early," Xander said with a sigh as the approached the ticket cubicles for the Wilkins plaza theatre, the second biggest movie house in Sunnydale. (They hadn't gone near the largest, the Sunnydale Mall Multiplex, since the final battle with the unbeatable demon Judge a year ago.) "So much for taking a relaxed and slow walk over. And it's after nine, everything's closed."
"So?" Willow asked, smiling. "We can have a nice long talk while we wait. That's part of the point, isn't it?" She gestured toward a bench nestled up against the wall. "Care to join, me, sir?" She giggled cutely as she said that.
"After you," Xander replied gallantly, taking a the chance to give Willow a once-over as she walked over and turned around to sit down. Willow's shiny red hair bounced with every little motion she made. The peach spandex top and tight blue jeans, casual and demure though they were, showed off her slender and well-constructed figure in a way that took Xander's breath away.
Is this really the little Willow I grew up with? Xander asked himself rhetorically. All this time I've spent with her, hanging around with her every day, but it's like I only really started to see her... He broke off - the 'isn't it funny how you can see someone every day and not really see them?' riff still had traumatic associations for Xander. It was the marching call of every girl who had started to psychotically, jealously, pursue him after Valentine's day, hit by mistake with a love spell gone wrong. Every girl but Willow, Xander qualified him.
She hadn't have to - they both knew by then that Willow had had a crush on Xander for many long months. Disappointed by Xander's continual lack of interest, and the relations he had started with Cordelia, Willow had turned to soulful Oz.
And now, here they were, him Xander and her Willow, having broken the hearts of their respective significant others with a secret smoochie, (well, maybe not broken Cordelia's heart - it wasn't even agreed whether she had one.) And Xander and Willow were trying to figure out if they had something worth pursuing together.
Xander looked at Willow, only to find that she was staring back at him with concern in her dark green eyes. "Oops, sorry," Xander muttered, blushing. "Kinda zoned out there, didn't I?"
"Just a bit," Willow chuckled, nudging him playfully in the ribs. "What were you thinking about?"
"Mushy stuff," Xander said, smiling, "about our history together, and how much of a mess I've made of it. I probably shouldn't tell you more now, you'd get embarassed."
"Okay," Willow said, unable to hide her own grin. "Well then, what should we talk about?"
"Uh, I dunno..." Xander thought furiously. "Hacking?? Broke into any interesting websites lately??"
"Xander!" Willow elbowed him again. "You don't really want to hear me rattle on about government databases and TCP/IP codes, do you?"
"Well, now that you mention it," Xander began, then winked. "Oh, I could listen to you talk about anything, Willow. Or, better yet, just look at you." Willow blushed. "Have I mentioned yet how much I like that outfit?" He reached his hand out to touch her sleeve. "Spandex, isn't it?"
Willow's face seemed as red as flame now. "I, uh, I know how much you like it," she whispered.
"Okay, sorry," Xander said, patting her one the hand. "New topic. You pick one this time."
"Huh?" Willow said, her flush fading as she put her mind to something she and Xander could talk about without embarassment or trouble. "Uh... Dawson's Creek? I can't believe how stupid Joey's being. She breaks up with Dawson, she dumps on him every week even though she's really still in love with him..." Willow trailed off, uncertainly. "Wait a second, that sounds almost familiar."
"Don't talk to me about Dawson's creek," Xander sighed. "They've got that weird Chris guy on almost every week now. Is it just me, or does her look a whole lot like that wannabe vampire guy? Billy Fordham??" Xander paused a second, then added in the spirit of fairness. "Jen's hot, though."
Willow couldn't help laughing at that. "Jen? Jen?? Oh, that's just like you, Alexander Lavelle Harris! You would pick the slutty big-city tramp over sweet, sensitive Joey or smart, sassy Andie, wouldn't you??"
Xander knew that he'd put his foot in his mouth. "Uh... uh... no comment??"
"Okay," Willow said, smiling. "So much for television. Uh, em... Oh, hey!" Willow brightened, and started rummaging through her little purse. "I know what we can do to pass the time. I've got a pair of dice in here. They're used for certain warding rituals. We can play craps!"
"Craps??" Xander said, smiling. "Every time I think I have you figured, Willow Rosenberg, you surprise me again. So... how does this game go, anyways?"
"Just roll the dice," Willow said. "I'll explain as we go. It's more fun that way." Shrugging, Xander tossed the white cubes across the bench between them. "Okay, a five. That means if you hit a five, you win, if you hit a seven, you lose, and with anything else you keep rolling."
"I do?" Xander said, his face showing the intensity of his thoughts. "What about you?"
"Me?" Willow shrugged. "Well, I could bet against you, or for you, or just sit back and wait until you've done with your turn and I can play."
"This doesn't seem like a very interesting game," Xander admitted, tossing the dice and getting a two on one die and a five on the other. "Seven, so I lose. Your turn."
"You really need to be betting stuff, for it to be interesting," Willow thought aloud.
"Hmm... we could think of some interesting things to bet, I think," Xander started, chuckling nastily.
"Don't even!" Willow told him. "Maybe we could make our own game."
"Isn't that just what we're doing already, about you and me?" Xander asked her teasingly.
"Maybe," Willow admitted. "Hey, it's after nine-thirty already. Let's go and get our tickets now, that way we can have first pick of the seats. You wanna sit in the front or up back?"
"Definitely up back," Xander said with a wide smile. "I thought you knew that about me."
Click here to go to the fanfic discussion board.
Go back to Tales of the Scooby Gang.
Or click here to go to the Destinies Lost index.
|
|
|
|
