Changing Lives by Mabel Marsters

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Chapter 37

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Spike stared at himself in the mirror and tugged ill naturedly at his tie.

“Sod it,” he growled and stalked out of his room.

“Rupert, I can’t do this bleedin’ thing.”

Rupert smiled at the boy in front of him. He’d been stressing all evening. He couldn’t believe why Spike seemed so nervous when he kept insisting it wasn’t a proper date.

“He must like Cordelia more than he realises if he’s this strung out.”

“Here, let me do it.” Rupert reached out to Spike and deftly tied the royal blue bow tie at his collar. “There you go. It really does bring out the colour of your eyes,” he joked.

Spike glowered at him with the intensity only a teenager can muster.

“Oh, Spike, relax a little, for goodness sake.”

“Huh! As if.”

Spike went back into his room and once more stood in front of the mirror.

“Bloody hell, is that really me?” he asked his reflection.

He studied himself carefully. Hair bleached to perfection - not for tonight but for the next evening, when he was going to see The Dingoes with his friends. With Buffy. His heart skipped a beat at the thought. Give Cordelia her due, she had sent them to the best place in town for the hire of his tux. It fitted perfectly. He put on the jacket and fastened it. Reluctantly he did agree that the blue tie suited him. The last time he’d worn royal blue was the night he’d gone to The Bronze with Buffy before the trip to London.

“Christ, William! Who would’ve thought you’d be going to a dance with a bloody cheerleader? Wot a joke.”

He heard a knock at the door and Rupert opening it.

“Okay, here goes. It’s show-time,” said Spike. He stuck his tongue out at his reflection, gave a big sigh and went to greet Cordelia.

When he saw her he had to admit that she did look amazing. The royal blue dress was full length with a slit to mid thigh. It skimmed her figure emphasising all the right places. Gold high-heeled sandals on her feet made her the same height as he. She was clutching a gold purse and he knew the diamonds at her throat and ears were real.

“Oh Spike, my, don’t you look gorgeous,” she cooed, and she enveloped him in a hug, kissing him on his cheek and leaving a slash of scarlet lipstick behind. “Look what a difference dressing properly makes, instead of all those old t-shirts and that dreadful leather coat.”

“Typical Cordelia. A compliment followed by a put down,” thought Spike.

“Um…thanks…er, so do you,” he stuttered.

“Of course I do.”

Rupert and Spike exchanged a glance at that remark.

“Shall we go then?” asked Spike, thinking the sooner he left the sooner he could get this freak show over with.

“Mr. Giles, will you please take a photograph of us?” asked Cordelia, handing him a tiny digital camera.

“Wot? We ‘aven’t got time. Don’t want to be late.” said Spike, trying to push her towards the door.

“Don’t be silly, we have plenty of time.” She pulled him to her and stood elegantly at his side.

“Smile, Spike,” said Rupert.

Spike duly obliged and the pair went out to Cordelia’s red, sporty car.

“God, this is going to be a long night.” For a moment he wished he could have had a vodka or two before he’d left the house. “No, don’t go there, Spike.” He cautioned himself, “It won’t be so bad.”

Ooooooo

It was worse.

He’d been in the school hall for fifteen minutes and it seemed like two hours. He’d lost count of the number of times he’d had to have his photograph taken with Cordelia and any number of her shallow friends. Their dates were all seemingly carbon copies of each other – all jocks. Which made Cordelia’s decision to be with him all the more puzzling. His eyes restlessly scanned the room.

“Oh. My. God,” Spike whispered.

Four people had just walked in but his eyes were on one to the extent that the entire room seemed empty of all but her – Buffy. But a Buffy he’d never seen before. He had never attended any of the school’s dances and so had never seen her dressed so elegantly. If the blue of his tie brought out the colour of his eyes then the deep green of her dress made her eyes so striking he could see their brilliance from across the room.

He’d known she was coming with Xander, Willow and Oz, but they hadn’t really talked about it. Neither was happy about the fact he was accompanying Cordelia. Their eyes met. Buffy giggled. Spike looked movie star handsome but for the fact his jaw was on the floor. Xander spotted the look on Spike’s face and laughed.

“I think he’s pretty impressed with how good you look, Buff.”

Willow and Xander had slowly become aware of a change in Buffy and Spike’s relationship over the past two weeks. They’d both correctly guessed that Spike was becoming smitten with Buffy but they weren’t so sure about Buffy’s feelings for him. She kept playing it pretty cool and they did think it was a little weird with him being William’s cousin and all.

Oz, of course, was more than merely aware of Spike’s crush. He’d had to listen to him moan about this Cordelia date for the past two weeks. Spike had refused to say why he couldn’t get out of it though.

“Um…Cordelia, would yer like some punch?” asked Spike, seeing his friends heading towards it.

“That would be lovely, Spike. It is non-alcoholic so you can have some too,” she replied to a chorus of laughter.

“Bitch,” muttered Spike as he walked away.

He reached the table just as the others did. Close up Buffy looked even more stunning. Her golden blonde hair was loosely tied up, tendrils framing her face. He opened his mouth to speak but his tongue wouldn’t cooperate, so he settled on just staring into her eyes and holding her gaze with an intensity he never had before. Put simply – he just couldn’t look away.

Xander, who had been filling their cups with punch, spoke, breaking the moment.

“Hey Spike, you’re looking especially cool tonight.”

“Huh?” Spike reluctantly tore his eyes away from Buffy.

“Oh, nothing,” said Xander, “Just complimenting you on how well you scrub up. I’m surprised you didn’t put your duster on over the tux.”

“Like that’d be a good look,” grinned Spike.

“You don’t know, it might have worked,” joked Willow.

They all laughed.

“Hey, man, I think your date is waiting for you,” said Oz, nodding his head in Cordelia’s direction.

“It’s not a bloody date,” Spike replied through gritted teeth, as he turned to see Cordelia scowling at him.

“You’d better go,” said Buffy softly. She was the only one who knew about the blackmail but she still didn’t know exactly what it was.

“I don’t want to,” whispered Spike, then he took a deep breath, “You look fantastic.” He leaned forwards and kissed her cheek before returning to Cordelia.

“Thank you,” Buffy said to his back as he walked away, fingers straying to her cheek.

“Earth to Buffster,” said Xander, handing her a cup of punch, “Come on, let’s party!”

Ooooooo

It wasn’t until he’d gotten back to Cordelia that Spike realised he’d returned without the drinks.

“Oh crap.”

“Where’s my drink?” snapped Cordelia.

“I…um…forgot it. I’ll go back, sorry.”

She caught his arm, “No, you stay here. Harm, go and get some drinks.”

“Okay,” said Harmony, taking her beefcake date with her.

Spike was standing watching Buffy on the dance floor with Xander.

“Spike,” said Cordelia sharply.

He turned to look at her. “Wot?” he said grumpily.

“Don’t you forget our deal.”

“I ‘aven’t. I’m ‘ere, aren’t I? You won.”

“Well, the deal will be off and I will go to Snyder if you don’t start paying me more attention. You’re here with me, Spike – make it look like you are and that you’re happy to be my date. Hell, you should be grateful you are!”

“I’m not that good an actor,” he replied.

“Trust me when I say that I am, Spike. Perhaps I’ll bypass Snyder and go straight to the cops,” hissed Cordelia.

Spike took a step back. “Christ, you’re twisted,” he muttered, “Why do you want me here so badly? Half the school would have willingly come with you.”

“That’s why.” She pointed to the far corner of the room.

Spike looked across. “Shit,” he whispered. Standing there in the corner were Angel and Davey. Both were glowering furiously at him.

“Wot are yer bleedin’ playing at?” said Spike, putting a hand none too gently on her arm.

“Angel was my original date. It had been planned for ages but there’s no way that I’d be seen dead with him after a weirdo like you got the better of him. I do have a certain image to keep up. I don’t date losers.”

“So why am I here then? If I’m such a weirdo?”

“Because it’ll piss him off, of course.” Cordelia treated him to a full wattage smile, and then planted a firm kiss on his mouth, putting her arms around him as she did.

Spike went rigid and tried to pull away.

“Officer, Spike Norman tried to rape me,” she whispered in his ear. “You’d better turn in an Oscar winning performance tonight, Spike.”

“God, this girl is a psycho.”

He knew there was nothing he could do. He knew whose story they’d believe.

“You can do it, Spike. It’s just one evening.”

So he put his arms around her, lifted her off her feet and swung her around. She giggled in delight. He put her back on her feet and planted a kiss on her cheek as he looked over at Angel. Angel’s scowl deepened and Spike winked at him. Perhaps the evening wouldn’t be a dead loss after all. It was a nice role reversal to see Angel skulking in a corner and him as the centre of attention.

What he didn’t see was Buffy’s reaction to their kiss and subsequent twirl.

“Doesn’t look too unhappy about it now.”

She moved so she had her back to them and tried to keep the smile on her face as she danced.

Ooooooo

Spike was worried; it was almost time to go home and he was desperate not to be alone with Cordelia. He wasn’t sure that he trusted her not to use her threat against him even though he had played the dutiful date to the best of his abilities. The thought of her driving him home – just the two of them – terrified him.

“You pig!” Harmony’s voice rang out, shrilly followed by the sound of a slap.

Spike turned to see her date, Riley, holding his face and staring at her.

“What did I do?” he cried.

“Wandering hands. I’m not that kind of a girl,” she replied, folding her arms across her chest.

“But you didn’t mind in the corridor just now,” protested Riley.

Spike saw his opportunity. He stepped between them and put a hand on Riley’s chest.

“Back off, mate. I think Harmony would prefer it if you just left, okay?”

Riley glared down at Spike. He towered over him.

“Christ! ‘Ow do these guys get so soddin’ big?”

Spike returned his stare and pushed with his hand.

“Go ‘ome mate.”

“Trust me, I’m doing you a favour,” he added to himself. If Harm was anything like Cordelia he wouldn’t want to be the one to drive her home after this.

“She can come with us, can’t she Cordy? We’ll make she’s home okay?” he looked at Cordelia.

For a second something unreadable flickered across her face then she smiled, “Of course, you must come with us, Harm.”

Spike looked back at Riley and nodded briefly. Riley glanced over to Harmony, who’d theatrically burst into tears then shrugged and walked away. Spike relaxed.

“Thank God,”
It hadn’t been easy to stand up to Riley who was easily as big as Angel, plus when he took on Angel he’d been all fired up and angry.

“Come on, Cordelia, it’s time we were going too, don’t yer think?”

“Okay. Don’t worry about Riley, Harm, let’s just go home.”

To Spike’s relief, since Harmony lived nearer to Cordelia than he did, he was dropped off at his home first. Before he got out of the car he kissed Cordelia’s cheek.

“Thanks, Cordelia, it’s been…well…it’s been an experience.”

She laughed at him as he got out of the car.

“You know, Spike, you’re not so bad, are you?” and she sped away as soon as he shut the door.

He watched the car for a moment before walking to the apartment shaking his head.

“Christ, my life lately. If I wrote a book about it no one would believe me.”

Ooooooo

Rupert was still up when he got inside - not too surprising as it was before his ten thirty curfew.

“Did you have an enjoyable time?”

“Was okay,” said Spike, “I’m going to go to bed if yer don’t mind?”

“That’s fine, goodnight.”

“’Night.”

Once Spike was in bed his thoughts turned to Buffy. He hadn’t seen much of her once he’d had to focus on Cordelia. He hadn’t tried to seek her out, knowing that if he kept seeing Buffy he wouldn’t have been able to keep up his act with Cordelia.

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