CHAPTER TWENTY

Buffy pulled the hand brake on as soon as she parked outside the high school, sighing when she realized that she was early. She had quickly ducked into the door of her lecture hall long enough to covertly catch Willow’s attention and wave to let her know that she was leaving. She’d avoided being spotted by her professor and hurried away from the classroom.

She’d intended to leave straight away, but a glance at her watch had told her that she still had a few hours before school let out and she had promised to pick up Dawn before heading back to Revello Drive. So instead she resigned herself to walking to the campus coffee shop, ordering herself an extra large mocha with a double hit of caffeine and two sugars. She’d settled herself in a corner of the cafe by a window. She’d spent the next two hours with her nose yet again buried alarmingly Willow-like in Giles’ book, diligently attempting to understand the old-fashioned English.

Despite her efforts, she had barely made any headway, but she still scribbled down everything she could remember about the demon into a notebook, along with any little thing that she could understand from the tome that seemed remotely linked to what had happened to Spike.

There wasn’t much.

Buffy might have made a little more progress with it if she hadn’t been interrupted by a guy from her history class. She didn’t really know him, not by name at least. She’d waved a dismissive hand when he’d asked her what she was reading, closing the book, and resting her elbow on it, smiling at him disarmingly. He dropped it pretty quickly when she told him it was something she hoped would help with one of her latest assignments. Instead, he’d invited her to a party at his frat house.

She had declined as nicely as possible, telling him that she had a crazy amount of studying to do for another course. He’d looked a little disappointed, but had given her a bright grin and written his number down on her notebook before walking away.

Buffy thought about revisiting the book while she waited for Dawn, but her brain felt fuzzy despite her jumbo coffee. She promised herself to call Giles as soon as she got home, to let him know she would do a quick patrol that night and skip the research. She’d done her part... and now she needed sleep.

The shrill ring of the school’s bell sounded, and Buffy straightened in her seat, beeping the horn when she spotted Dawn headed out of the school grounds with a group of friends. She waved as Dawn looked around, watching her sister smile as she spotted the car. She turned and said goodbye to her friends, and Buffy couldn’t help but raise a brow when she lingered with a boy a few moments longer.

She started up the car as Dawn reached it, turning on a grin as she hopped in next to her.

“Hey, Buffy,” Dawn smiled back at her as she clicked her seatbelt into place, dropping her bag in the back seat.

“He was cute,” Buffy said, reversing out of her park and switching to drive, managing to converge with the rest of the traffic without incident. Maybe she was getting the hang of it after all.

“Cute who?”

Buffy raised an eyebrow at her sister teasingly. “The guy you took twice as long to say goodbye to. Am I going to have to play the over-protective sister role at a dinner sometime soon?”

Dawn wrinkled her nose. “He’s my lab partner. He wanted to make sure I was still up for a study session next Tuesday.”

“Right,” Buffy nodded, a wry smile on her face. “Have you kissed him?”

“Buffy!” Dawn gave her older sister a shocked expression, humour sparkling in her eyes. “No!”

“Hmm... a gentleman, then,” Buffy asserted, as she turned off the main road and heading into the streets of residential Sunnydale. “Give it time.”

“He’s my lab partner, Buffy.”

“So? He’s just trying to be close to you.”

“He is not.” Dawn couldn’t help the blush that crept up her neck to blossom in her pale cheeks. “Xander was you’re lab partner,” she pointed out.

“Yeah, for about two days before he almost set me on fire,” Buffy shot back, a grin on her face at the memory. “Besides, he did want to be close to me in a smooch-y way.”

“That belongs under the title of Weird Thing.” She said, grimacing. “Harry is just my lab partner, okay?”

“If you say so,” Buffy teased, “But if he so much as flutters those manly eyelashes at you, he and I are going to have a talk.”

Dawn rolled her eyes, “Manly eyelashes?”

“Don’t want to threaten his masculinity.” Buffy shrugged, turning right. Despite the teasing and chatter, she was determinedly keeping her eyes on the road. No accidents for Buffy. “Manhood is very important to them, you know.”

“Speaking of manhood... have you checked in on Spike? Is he okay?”

It was Buffy’s turn to wrinkle her nose. “Okay, can we please never use the word ‘manhood’ as a segue to Spike, or anybody else?”

Dawn shrugged apologetically. “Sorry. It didn’t sound nearly as weird in my head.”

Buffy turned into Revello Drive. “He’s fine. Or as fine as he can be. I checked in with them a few hours ago.”

“Research tonight?” Dawn pressed, eyes on her sister.

“Not tonight. Well, not for me. Giles will, but I need to patrol and then sleep. Mom is heading back to the gallery though. Something about messed up shipping orders...” She glanced at her little sister as she turned into the familiar driveway of 1630 Revello Drive. “Think you can keep an eye on him while I fight some nasties?”

Dawn grinned. Buffy could see a little anxiety in her sister’s face, some worry, but she had the Summers’ spirit- she pushed it down for the sake of everyone else. I’m going to give my sister a complex before she’s eighteen, Buffy thought to herself as she switched off the engine.

“It’s cool,” Dawn said, her expression belaying her blasé tone. “I mean, you’ll only be gone a few hours.”

“If that,” Buffy assured her as they both stepped out of the car. “Just a quick sweep of the cemeteries and then I’ll be back.”

“It’ll be totally cool,” the younger Summers waved a hand, before glancing at her sister as they approached the front door. “But do you think you could warm him up some blood before you go out?”

Buffy smiled at her little sister, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. “I can do that.”