Changing Lives by Mabel Marsters

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Chapter 52

New Year’s Eve - Spike woke early. He was excited at the prospect of the gig that night. Well, he was excited when he wasn’t actually feeling sick with nerves. He seemed to be swapping between the two.

He felt a bit more mobile even though his back still bloody hurt. He wasn’t seeing Buffy until that evening at the Bronze. By the time he’d had a shower, Rich was up too.

“I didn’t say before, but I think that Buffy’s great. I can see why you’ve fallen so ‘ard fer ‘er,” he said.

“Cheers, mate. Yeah, she’s the best. God, I think it’d kill me if we split up.”

“I don’t think that’s very likely. I saw the way she looks at yer. She feels the same.”

“I bleedin’ hope so,” replied Spike.

“Right, well I need to grab a shower. Wot’s the plan after that?”

“I’d like to go to the mall. There was a necklace that matched the bracelet I gave Buffy for Christmas. Since Ron’s actually giving us some money for playing tonight, I thought I’d buy it for ‘er an’ give it to ‘er at midnight.”

Rich gently punched him on the arm. “God, yer ole romantic.”

Spike blushed a bit. “Is it too over the top?”

“Nah mate, you get it fer ‘er if yer want to. She’ll love yer forever, I reckon.”

Ooooooo

Rupert dropped them at the mall, telling them to call when they wanted to come home to save them from walking.

“Don’t do too much, Spike, you’ve got a busy evening ahead of you.”

“I won’t, Rupert. Thanks.”

The two boys walked along in front of the shops. Spike caught a glimpse of his reflection and felt another pang at the loss of his duster. God, he missed that coat. When they got to the jewellery store, Rich spotted a sign in the window.

“That’s lucky fer yer, they’ve started their New Year Sale already.”

Spike glanced up at the poster.

25 TO 35 OFF SELECTED ITEMS!

He grinned at Rich. “Yeah but wot’s the betting that wot I want isn’t included?”

“That’s a bet I’m not taking. It’ll be the only non-reduced thing in the whole shop, I reckon.”

They went inside and, to Spike’s delight, the necklace was still there. Even better it was reduced by thirty percent.

“Lunch is on you then?” said Rich as they came back out.

“Okay, I’ll stand yer lunch. Call it yer manager’s fee,” he joked.

“I told yer I want a percentage share of yer first album,” replied Rich, “Are yer already trying to wriggle out of our agreement?”

The pair of them laughed as they went to the nearest burger joint.

Ooooooo

Spike had another afternoon nap when they got in, deciding that he’d probably feel better if he did. Rich once more messed about with the images from the sound check.

“Do yer want to take a look, Mr. G? But don’t tell Spike I let yer. He’s not looking at it until it’s all set up ‘ow I want it.”

Rupert went over to Rich and peered curiously at the screen. Rich had partially edited it so that he had glimpses of them tuning up, then Spike’s big wink to the camera. Rupert chuckled at that.

“Spike was a bit camera shy so I got Buffy to stand next to me. I knew he wouldn’t be able to resist looking at her,” said Rich.

Then it cut to them singing one of Oz’s original songs. It was quite up beat and the guys looked like they we having a great time. Rich stopped it after the song finished.

“That’s as far as I’ve gotten with the editing. Wot do yer think?”

“The song, is that one from the charts?” asked Rupert.

“No, it’s one that Oz wrote. It’s good, isn’t it?”

“It’s very good, Rich. I never realised quite how good they are. Spike really has a great voice and that song of Oz’s, well…”

“I’ll let yer listen to one of Spike’s songs but I ‘aven’t got it where I want it yet.”

Rich fast forwarded the video until he found ‘Come Alive’, the song that Buffy had told him Spike had sung to her the first night he’d joined the band. Rupert felt tears prick his eyes as he listened to its poignant lyrics.

“Bloody hell,” said Rupert when Rich stopped the tape.

“I know,” said Rich with a huge grin.

“Know wot?” asked Spike, wandering back through from his bedroom.

“Nothin’” said Rich quickly.

Spike glanced from Rich to Rupert quizzically but when neither said anything he shrugged and went into the kitchen.

“Anyone else want a coffee?” he asked.

Both said that they would.

“Mr. G, they could do it yer know – the Dingoes could really make it.”

Rupert regarded Rich sitting in front of him almost bubbling over with enthusiasm. It would be easy to dismiss his words as teenage fantasy but, having seen the film, he wasn’t so sure that Richard was wrong.

“One thing’s certain, everyone is going to have a great time at the Bronze tonight,” replied Rupert.

A few minutes later Spike walked through with the drink and Rich put the laptop away.

Ooooooo

Soon the whole gang was back at the Bronze ready for the club to open. Ron had cordoned off a table and chairs near the stage for them to use between sets.

“Wow, special treatment,” said Pete, “We’re getting paid and we get a reserved table. I could get used to this.”

They checked their guitars were still tuned up okay, Spike sang a few verses to test the mic, and then they all gathered around the table. Spike had initially balked at Rich once more bringing the camera but then chilled out. At least tonight there would be an audience to distract him from its presence. He spotted Cordelia walking tentatively into the club. He got up and walked over to her as quickly as his injury would allow.

“Hi, Spike,” she said nervously.

“Hi, Cordy. Look, I just need to say something to you before we get back to the others, okay?”

She nodded.

“I know you and Xander are seeing each other now and I can’t get out of my head wot yer threatened me with at the dance.”

She paled at the memory, and rightly so.

“I would never have done it,” she whispered.

“I should bloody well ‘ope not. Have yer any idea how bad a thing it would be to falsely accuse someone of?” said Spike firmly, “Christ, it would ruin their life, yer know.”

“I know, Spike, but…”

“No buts, Cordy. I just want yer to know that if I hear that you’ve accused Xander or anyone else for that matter, that I’ll tell everyone including the cops that you threatened me with it too. Understand?”

She nodded again.

“Good.” He grinned at her and led her over to the others, “Let’s get this party started!”

“What were you two talking about?” asked Xander as they sat down.

“Oh, she was just apologising again for the other day,” replied Spike.

Cordelia flashed him a 100-watt smile in gratitude and started to relax a little more. She really had never intended to say anything like that at all but the fact was, she was accustomed to getting her own way and had been very put out when Spike had turned her down. It was the only thing she could think of that would make him agree. She couldn’t have lost face with her friends by being turned down!

“Spoilt bitch much,” she thought.

The friends were having a great time. Soon the club was filling up and they took advantage of the DJ playing a few slow songs to dance with their girls. Neither Pete nor Joey had dates, which was lucky for Rich as it meant he wasn’t left on his own. He found he got on well with both of them and chuckled to himself that he was thinking of the filming too much to bother checking out the birds!

Ooooooo

Soon it was time for the Dingoes’ first set. Normally they just mooched onto the stage and announced themselves but tonight Ron was going to introduce the band.

Oz glanced at Spike, laughing at him and slapping him on his shoulder. As usual Spike had gone very quiet and was looking distinctly green. He managed a weak smile in return.

“Wot the hell am I doin’?” he muttered as he heard Ron start to speak.

“Now’s the time that this party will really start to rock! It’s the first of two sets they’ll be playing for you, so let’s hear a big cheer for Joey, Pete, Oz and Spike – it’s Dingoes Ate My Baby!” he yelled.

The four boys grinned at each other and walked on stage.

“Oh yeah, I remember why I do it now,” thought Spike, nerves disappearing as he got to the mic.

“Hello,” he said, “We ‘aven’t sung this one for yer before but it seemed appropriate. I hope you’ll like it.”

The band launched straight into a cover of U2’s New Year’s Day. It was the only song on the set list that wasn’t written by them.

They were almost at the end of the set and just playing the intro to one of Oz’s songs when Spike froze. His mouth went dry and for an awful moment he thought he was going to faint. He missed the cue to start singing. Oz glanced at the others and nodded for them to repeat it, then walked to Spike. He took his hand from his guitar and put it on Spike’s arm. Spike leapt as if electrocuted and whipped his head round to look at him.

“Jeez, Spike, what’s wrong?” asked Oz. He could feel him trembling.

“Angel,” Spike croaked, “I’ve just seen Angel. Shit, it was him. I just remembered him pulling off my jacket. He said ‘let’s see how cool you look without it’.”

“The bastard,” said Oz, “We’ve got to nail him somehow. Look, are you okay to carry on?”

“Huh? Shit…yes,” said Spike, pulling himself together and realising he’d missed the song, “um, which one is it?”

“These Things Take Time.”

“Okay, sorry, mate.” He glanced at the others who once more played the intro and this time he remembered to sing.

He concentrated hard on singing the song well but he could scarcely control his body’s reaction to seeing Angel. He scanned the room to see if he could see him again but the place was too crowded. He let his eyes fall to Buffy; she was watching him intently, knowing something was wrong. His heart lifted as it always did when he saw her and the tremors passed. A couple of songs later and they were finished.

“We’re Dingoes Ate My Baby and we’ll be back on at eleven,” said Spike, and the band left the stage to raucous cheering and applause.

“Sorry I messed up,” said Spike as they all walked back to their table.

“It’s okay,” said Oz.

“Yeah, man, I’m not sure anyone noticed really, with it being a new song,” said Joey.

As soon as Buffy saw Spike she raced up to him and flung her arms around him.

“Are you all right? What was wrong?”

“Nobody noticed, huh?” said Spike, looking at Joey wryly.

“Buffy doesn’t count. She’d notice if you blinked funny,” he jokingly replied.

“I’m okay, Buffy, it’s just that I spotted Angel at the back of the room and…well…my body kind of freaked out. Then I remembered the git nicking my jacket and what he said.”

“We’ve got to tell the police,” said Buffy.

“Still no real proof, love.”

They all sat down and tucked into the food Ron had generously laid on for them.

Ooooooo

Two people in the audience had noticed Spike’s reaction and that was Angel himself and Davey. Angel laughed when he saw Spike’s face blanch. He’d seen Spike dancing with Buffy and knew that he was still feeling some pain. Angel was delighted that he was.

“Shame I didn’t hit his freaking head a bit harder,” he said maliciously, “It’d have been good if he’d made the stupid band miss their concert.”

Davey shot him a sideways look. He’d been horrified at what Angel had done to Spike. When they’d gone looking for him, Davey just thought that Angel would threaten him, not hit him like he had. He had managed to stop Angel hitting Spike a third time by saying someone was coming. Then he’d run away as fast as he could. When Angel caught up with him, he was laughing like a maniac and was clutching Spike’s duster in his hand. Davey was petrified of him at that moment. Sure, Angel had always been a bad ass but he’d stepped over a line that day and it wasn’t a line that Davey wanted to follow him across.

Davey felt terrible for Spike when he saw him falter - he’d looked like he was going to puke. He glanced back at Angel who was near the bar talking to a couple of girls. When Angel was in ‘chat up mode’ he didn’t care what Davey was doing. So Davey made a decision and quietly left the club.

Ooooooo

Their second set went even better than the first. Buffy sat with Xander, Cordy and Willow proudly watching her gorgeous boyfriend on the stage. Rich was somewhere in the crowd getting some more footage. She loved the way that Spike kept glancing at her as he sang. God, she loved him so much.

The Dingoes came off stage at eleven forty five and they were all together as the countdown for the New Year began.

“Three, Two, One. Happy New Year!” shouted the entire club.

Every couple in the place promptly kissed. When Spike and Buffy’s lips parted, he dug into his pocket and pulled out the little box containing the necklace.

“Happy New Year, pet,” he whispered in her ear.

“What this?” she asked as he pressed the box into her hands.

“A New Year’s present.”

“But I haven’t got you anything.”

“Shh, Buffy, you’ve already given me the best thing I could ever have,” replied Spike.

Their eyes met once more, both of them remembering their lovemaking.

“And I hope that once Rich’s gone home that you’ll give it to me again,” said Spike suggestively.

Buffy giggled, “When does he go home?”

Spike joined in with her giggles. She knew very well that it was on the second. So hopefully the third of January would give them the opportunity to repeat it.

“Aren’t you going to open it then?”

Buffy squealed with delight when she saw it. “Oh, it’s lovely! Help me to put it on.”

Spike fastened the chain as she held her hair up out of the way. He dropped a couple of kisses on the back of her neck that sent a shiver of desire through her. The third couldn’t come quick enough.

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