A/N: A few things. First, I apologize for taking so long to write something so short! Problem is, I find Riley almost as boring as Buffy does, so this chapter was torture to write and it took me days! It’s all Spuffy (albeit a little skewered) from next chapter on! And as for the lack of Spike in this chapter…well, I think we all know where he is, and it was imperative that he stayed there for a while. He’ll be back next chapter, and he’s not leaving again, if I have anything to say about it…
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When my blanket was yanked out from under me and I was unceremoniously dumped on the floor by my roommate, I knew what was coming.

“Intervention time,” Willow said sternly, giving me her resolve face. “I couldn’t ask anyone else to join me because they all remain happily oblivious to the whole vampire thing, and if I told Dawnie about this, you’d be really pissed, so it’s just me.”

“Will…” I groaned. “Please. I’m okay.”

“’Okay’ is going to class for the past three days, which you haven’t. And ‘okay’ is actually leaving the room once in a while.” Willow held out a hand, and I reluctantly let her pull me up. “I don’t know what happened that night, but I’m here to listen and help you move on.” She frowned at me. “You know, after the first day, I pressed a cross to you when you were sleeping to make sure that you hadn’t been turned? I’ve been worried. And you were shutting me out.”

I looked down guiltily. “Sorry,” I mumbled. “It’s just…” Spike. “Nothing. I had a close call, that’s all.” A vampire jumped me and nearly killed me, and I did nothing but get turned on. And said vampire is probably still out there, on the prowl for me. “I guess I’m just shaken up.” I cast a longing glance at my bed, then straightened. “You’re right. I need to get a grip.” Willow smiled. I smiled back. “I’m going to take a shower.”

I kept the smile plastered on my face until I was safely in the shower.

--

It took another day for me to venture out into the real world again, and even then, I was leery about going out at night. But Spike didn’t seem to be around campus at all, and when I casually mentioned it to Dawn, she remarked that she hadn’t seen him since, either. After a week, I was finally recovering from the ordeal.

“Riley li-ikes you,” Willow sang out as I returned to the dorm one afternoon.

“So you say.” I rolled my eyes. Willow mentioned Riley at least once a day. She seemed pretty fixated on hooking me up, for reasons unknown to me.

“No, he really, really does!” Willow grinned. “He came by again today. And he told me!”

“He told you he likes me?” I echoed doubtfully.

Willow nodded vigorously. “Yup! He came over to find out what you like, so he could start a conversation with you, and he said that he’s interested in you…” She beamed. “I think you guys would be really great together!”

I shrugged. It was flattering, but I didn’t really feel a spark. Frankly, I was more attracted to Dawn’s pedophile vampire boyfriend than to Riley. Hell, even Spike made me tingle more than Riley did.

“Well?” Willow looked at me expectantly.

“Riley’s just so…boring,” I said finally. “I mean, in an all-American normal guy kind of way. And…” My voice trailed off as I considered it.

Normal. Normal was good for me. I’d been working with weird for the past week and a half, and it hadn’t gone very well. Maybe all I needed was to throw myself back into normalcy.

“And?” Willow prompted me.

I forced a grin. “And normal’s definitely the way to go. Riley seems like a nice guy, I guess. I’ll give it a try.”

Willow practically squealed, and I inwardly sighed.

--

Riley did ask me out the next day, and I was receptive to his plan. So a few days after Willow had first spoken to me, he and I were sitting on a blanket in the quad, having a picnic.

“So back home in Iowa, I used to play some football,” he droned on, and I tried to look interested. If he said “back home in Iowa” on more time, I would probably stab him with my fork.

To be fair, it wasn’t that he was such a bad date. He did listen when I talked, but half the time he just kind of stared at me with this adoring look; and the other half, he’d try to look politely interested but came off as almost as bored as I was. Clearly, we just weren’t compatible.

So it surprised me when, when we shook off the blanket, he smiled and said, “I had a really great time with you. Any chance you’d want to do this again?”

Smart Buffy said, Don’t lead him on. You’re so not interested, and it’s not fair to him. Flirty Buffy said, “That depends. What do you have in mind?” and batted her eyelashes, just a little.

He grinned down at me with that dopey smile. “How about a long drive in my car?”

Even Flirty Buffy was taken aback by that. I mean, a drive? Was that like a metaphor for getting down and dirty? I doubted it. Riley seemed more straightforward and gentlemanly than that. He must actually mean a drive. Cars weren’t my thing, not at all. Technically, too, seeing as I’d never gained that little piece of plastic that made people like Xander my chauffer. And with a long drive, all we’d do was talk. And talk. And talk. And I might kill myself.

But I was trying to do this dating thing right, and Riley really didn’t seem at all interested in getting into my pants, which put him a step up from all the Parkers on campus, or in turning me into a vampire, which put him a step up from Spike, so I could at least give him a try.

“I’d like that,” I lied.

Willow was going to be ecstatic.

--

At long last, I had a date with Riley that didn’t involve talking! And I was actually excited. After the picnic, the drive, the dinner, and the second drive, Riley had invited me to an actual party at Lowell House.

Frat house parties. Gotta love them.

But that was tomorrow, and tonight was Buffy time. If I was ever going to totally overcome the whole Spike thing, I’d have to try a little personal therapy. And that meant, in my warped mind, wandering the woods with a stake in my hand.

“Here, vampy, vampy, vampy,” I whispered, peering around in the darkness for a target. “Potential victim just waiting…”

If Willow knew what I was doing, she’d kill me. If Dawn knew, she’d do even worse.

“Come on, vampires. I know you’re out- AH!”

I was slammed forward from behind, a fully vamped-out boy lunging at me. I remembered my kickboxing and tried a punch. “See, what I don’t get is that it’s always girls who go missing at the Bronze, but I’ve never seen a girl vampire!” I panted, dodging the guy.

He shrugged. “Hey, I’m new to this whole deal. Don’t ask me. Believe me, I’d turn all the hot little morsels I can find. Like you.”

“That’s kind of sweet,” I reflected. “What’s your name?”

“Rick.” The vampire stepped a little closer to me, and I backed up. I kept up the banter, aware that it was distracting him more than me.

“Rick! You used to go to college here?”

He shook his head, grabbing my wrist and trying to pull me to him. “I’m a senior in high school.”

I kicked him in the groin and he released my wrist. “Sorry, I don’t…date…down!” I jumped on him, knocking him backwards to the ground, and pulled back my stake.

“Aw, don’t be like that. We could have goo-“ Rick was dusty history.

I grinned like an idiot. My first vampire staking, and I didn’t need superpowers to do it! “High school boys. Never know when to stop.”

“Buffy?” an inquiring voice asked from behind me. I spun around, praying that he hadn’t seen anything.

“Riley!” I laughed nervously. “We have to stop meeting like this!”

He nodded absently, his eyes taking in my surroundings. “What are you doing out here?”

I gave him my best “innocent” grin. “You know me! I’m peculiar that way. Long walks in the woods and all…”

“Right.” Riley looked down at me worriedly. “There are all kinds of animals out here. I don’t want you going out alone at night.”

Later, I’d muse on that and wonder what he knew. But at that moment, I was pissed. “Excuse me?”

He seemed confused.

I clarified. “You don’t want me to go out alone? What, are you my father now?”

“Buffy, I just meant-“ He took my hand and gazed at me earnestly. “I worry about you. I like you a lot, and I don’t want you to get hurt.” He thought back to that sentence. “I really, really like you.”

I melted. I mean, he just stared at me with those puppy-dog eyes, and I remembered how much of an idiot he could be. It wasn’t his fault that he just didn’t understand me or my current fixation on the darker side of Sunnydale. And besides, I wasn’t going to put pretty much one of the only decent guys in college through the wringer just because he was worried about me. And he said he really, really liked me! So maybe for once, I was doing something right with a guy!

I smiled back and gave him a chaste kiss. “I like you, too.”