Summary: Willow has a party, the group plays a little, harmless game. Or
maybe not so harmless. Guess you'll have to read to find out. ;)
Spoilers: Okay, this is kind of weird. Through the Prom, because Xander and
Cordy are sort of on civil terms, but also not because Buffy and Angel are
together. Follow?
Disclaimer: MINE MINE! HAHAHHAA!! Well, okay, they're not. But I like to
pretend sometimes.
Rating: PG13, questionable conversation
Feedback: I like it more than air.
For Laura and Tracy, the two Goddesses who help me with so much. :)

"Teenage fun?" Buffy asked dryly over the phone. Willow tried to stifle a
giggle on the other line. "You mean, where teenagers actually... have fun,
right? What's fun?"

Willow laughed outright. "You'll see, I swear. It has nothing to do with
killing anything, though, I promise. My parents are gone for the night to
'revive the mystery in their marriage and overcome some distrust issues.'
Don't wanna think about that. So it'll just be you and me and Cordy and the
guys. ....You think Cordy will come? Oh, and Angel's supposed to stop by
for a while, too."

Buffy perked up. "He is?" A grin split her face. "He didn't tell me that!"

"Oh, well I just called him, right before you. I was getting everything in
place," Willow explained. "If anyone does, you deserve fun."

"Will there be alcohol?" Buffy laughed.

"Uh huh," Willow replied sarcastically. "Because that's just what we need.
Remember the last time you drank? Horrible snaky demon ringing any bells?"

Buffy giggled softly, holding the phone against her shoulder as she walked
over to her mirror and began putting on make-up. "Well, yeah. But it also
frees you up. You know, makes you say things and realize things that you
wouldn't otherwise."

"Yeah, realize that the word string is very very funny."

"No, Will," Buffy interrupted. "You're thinking about pot."

She almost heard her friend blush. "Whatever. But nope, we like you at your
full Buffy power and wit. Though I might remember a game that you'd like,"
she offered.

Buffy smiled slyly. "Why, Willow, you've managed to intrigue me. Care to
tell?"

"Not a chance. Not until you get here. ...And I make sure you're sober,"
she said.

They laughed together and then quickly disconnected.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Buffy arrived at Willow's, smiling, happy, and keeping one eye peeled for her
boyfriend. She looked at Willow cunningly. "This game you were talking
about... It's spin the bottle, isn't it?"

Willow giggled and shook her head. "Not in the strictest form. It has a
bottle that you're supposed to spin, though. I played it once when I was
like, eight and staying the night over at Judy Bullin's house. I stayed over
there practically every week during the summer before we went into fifth
grade and she became one of Cordelia's friends." She reddened. "And I
probably just babbled, right?"

Buffy patted her arm, breezing past her. "Yeah, but babbling is good. It's
stuff that you've wanted to say but not in the coherent way that just anyone
could understand." She looked around the hall. "Am I the only one here yet?"

"No, you're the last one. With the exception of..." Willow trailed off,
looking down.

"Angel?"

"Cordelia," Willow replied. "She said she might show, but I'm starting to
doubt." On cue, the doorbell rang and Willow brightened, walking over,
casting a look at Buffy. "Go on, I want to talk to her for a minute." Buffy
nodded and wandered into the living room. Her eyes widened with what she saw.

Xander and Angel sat around a nearly eaten pizza. Both had their mouths full
and were holding brand new slices. "Don't flatter yourself, Deadboy," Xander
mumbled with a full mouth, still chewing. "I'm gonna win this one."

Angel shook his head hastily, swallowing the pizza in his mouth and stuffing
more in just as quickly. "You ever been to Italy, Harris? You're not gonna
win... I was there a lot of years eating Italian."

"Yeah, Italian people," Xander said, barely intelligible.

"You're gonna get heartburn, and too full too fast. *I'm* the winner," Angel
insisted, trying to keep up with the his competition.

Xander shrugged, wiping his mouth quickly and swiping up the one of the last
two pieces. Angel looked at him, panicked. Xander smiled smugly and
shoveled it into his mouth. "I never have before. And, Angel, looks like
you have a whole piece to go, and I'm chewing the last few seconds down."
Which, if heard by a stranger who had never seen Xander eat like that,
sounded like, "Infer hab bvor... Af, Adew, oos ike oo haf ahoo pes to ga, aa
I chin da ass fiw sesons dowb."

Buffy laughed as Xander swallowed and her boyfriend began to glare. She
strolled up to them in time to catch their their guilty faces, and she
ruffled Xander's hair affectionately. "What was the bet?"

Angel looked sheepish, and Buffy settled herself in his lap as he cleaned his
mouth with a paper napkin. "For us to see who could eat a half of a pizza
faster." He smirked. "It was just a ploy to make him gain weight."

Xander looked indignant and nodded to Oz. "Hey, Oz. You're supposed to be
the judge of this. Angel wanted to win, didn't he?"

Oz bobbed his head with a crooked smile. "Uh yeah. But he doesn't look too
sad at the potential weight gain by you." He spread his hands
diplomatically. "Well, up side: You did win."

Angel snorted. "He wouldn't have if I hadn't seen Buffy and her beauty
hadn't distracted me."

Buffy leered at him. "Oh, Angel is defending his manliness and managing to
suck up to me at the same time. I like this bet." She snuggled into his
arms, comfortably, and he sent a kiss into the top of her hair. Xander
looked disgusted and like he was about to say something, but Willow and
Cordelia walked in the room together, smiling. Xander shrank back,
pretending terror.

"What is this ladies and gentlemen? A smile from the Ice Queen?" he shot.
Cordelia's expression dropped and she glared at him.

"Didn't come for you, loser. I came because Willow asked me. Why did you
come? Because your dad didn't want you in the hou..."

Willow cut her off. "Stop it, both of you. Xander, I *told* you not to do
this. Cordelia, you just promised me that you would try not to get into it
also. So chill out, guys."

Buffy picked up on Willow's obvious distress. "Yeah!" she exclaimed,
bouncing a little on Angel's lap and not noticing his happily pained
expression. "Willow has a game. Some game. She says it's not spin the
bottle, but that it has a spinning bottle. I'm starting to wonder."

Willow sat down on the couch next to Oz and Cordelia sighed, settling herself
cross-legged on the carpet. "I don't know if it's a good idea to play
anymore," Willow mumbled.

"Is it spin the bottle, Willow?" Cordelia asked, smirking.

Pausing for a moment, she replied, "A version of it. Kind of. Will you guys
all play if I say yes?" A chorus of agreements went up through the group.
Buffy leaned over Angel with a smile, kissing him slowly.

"Not that those two need any excuse to get frisky," Xander muttered.

"Heard that," Buffy mumbled, still kissing Angel.

"Anyway," Willow started. She looked pointedly at Buffy and Angel. "Ahem.
I said, *anyway*.... You two really shouldn't get all that worked up," she
finally cautioned, and the couple broke away from each other, eyes downcast.

"No," Angel said softly. "You're right."

"Hey!" Willow shouted suddenly, indignant. "*No* broody vampires. No drunk
Slayers. No Cordelia and Xander fighting. None of it. Fun. You hear me?"
Her resolve face was firmly in place and the gang nodded sheepishly. "Fine.
So, here's how we're going to play the game."

She took an empty bottle of rootbeer and stood, walking over to an empty
space on the carpet. She motioned to the others to join her and after
sighing, they all got up from their comfortable positions and joined her,
falling into a circle around where she laid the bottle.

"Okay. So, one of us spins the bottle-- No kissing... unless you really want
to-- and then the person who spun it gets to ask any question to the person
it lands on. And that person has to agree to tell the total truth, no matter
what the question. Everybody understand?" Various nods accompanied her
question, and she smiled. "Okie doke. I'll go first."

With a twist of her wrist, the bottle was spinning in the middle of the
circle. Wide eyes followed it and watched as it slowed and finally stopped
on....

...Buffy. The group let out some nervous laughter. "Okay. Ummm..." she
hesitated. "I'll start with something easy. How many boys have you kissed?"

Buffy rolled her eyes as everyone else groaned. "This is so cheesy," she
muttered. "Okay. A dozen, I think. Maybe eleven, maybe twelve." Angel's
jaw tightened, but he nodded supportively, and she had to stifle a laugh.
"Okay, my turn, right?" Buffy spun the bottle and everyone looked intently
at it as it landed on...

...Willow. Buffy grinned. "Okay, I'll go with yours. How many boys have
you kissed?" Willow blushed, looked down, and Buffy immediately understood
her mistake. "Nevermind. I'll change it."

Willow paused her, holding her hand up. "No, it's okay. Two. My turn
again." She took hold of the bottle and spun it again. It landed on Angel.
Her eyes narrowed slightly and she smiled, thinking. Buffy leaned over and
whispered something in her ear. Willow turned scarlet, but nodded.
"Absolute truth?" Angel nodded, eyes terrified. "How many women have you
made love to?"

His answer came quickly, without hesitation. "Two."

Cordelia started laughing. "Right! Two! Angel, you're a lot of things, but
a good liar isn't one of them. You've been alive over two centuries, and you
expect us to believe that you've only had sex with two women?"

He shook his head solemnly, his eyes on Buffy. "That wasn't the question,"
he said seriously. "Making love and having sex are two very different
things. I've made love to two women."

"Who?" Buffy whispered. "When?"

The room was quiet, listening. "Once when I was human... I was seventeen and
there was a girl..." At Buffy's dumbfounded stare, he cleared his throat. "
I don't remember. And then once last year. Twice."

"She asked the totally wrong question," Xander muttered. Cordelia nodded.

"Your turn!" Willow chirped, determined to lighten the mood. Angel reached
for the bottle and gave it a good spin. After a moment, it landed on Xander,
and Angel grinned slowly. Buffy laid a steadying hand on his arm.

"Angel," she warned. He sat back, the light dimming, but not dying from his
eyes.

"All right..." Angel pondered, scratching his chin and pretending to think.
Softening slightly at the boys' tortured look as he contemplated what Angel
could do to him, he sighed. "Name the people in your life, in order of
importance." As Xander brightened, Angel spoke up again, "As you would have
said a few months ago."

That threw Xander for a loop and he looked stumped, shooting an uneasy glance
to Cordelia. She looked down at her fingernails in pretend indifference, and
Xander finally broke the silence, speaking slowly. "Co... Cordelia. Willow
and Buffy. Oz. Giles." He let the quiet fall and then sighed angrily,
glaring at the vampire. "Angel, even though I hardly tolerate you. There.
My turn now."

He avoided Cordelia's eyes, which were locked on him, and he bent his head.
Taking the bottle in his hand, he gave it a twist and watched as it landed on
Oz. "What the hell," he muttered. "The happymood is shot anyway. Oz, is
all forgiven?"

Willow choked on a breath and everyone leaned imperceptibly forward in
anticipation. Oz licked his lips, unable to come up with an answer that he
trusted, and finally looked at Willow for guidance. He slowly smiled at her
large, shining green eyes and blushing face and nodded. "Whenever I look at
Willow, they are. Which means yeah, because I rarely take my eyes off of
her." Willow sighed and leaned into him to kiss him lightly before pulling
back. She nodded toward the bottle and Oz tapped it with his finger. It
moved two inches before stopping on Angel again.

Everyone laughed. "Should I?" Oz teased. Angel's eyes got large and dark,
fearful. Buffy nodded quickly, a strange smile covering her features, and
nods from Cordelia and Xander weren't far behind. Oz shrugged, looking at
Angel. "Sorry, man. Majority rules. How many women have you slept with?"

Angel closed his eyes briefly, praying that it was a bad dream. But when he
opened them, there he was, surrounded by five overly curious teenagers. "A
lot."

"What's a lot?" Buffy pressed.

"I don't have the actual number," he defended. "A lot, okay? Vampires tend
to be highly sexed. It's not my fault. ...All right, it is." The group
began giving him odd looks and Angel felt strangely like he was going to
start sweating. "A thousand. A lot."

Buffy's eyes widened. "No wonder you were so good at it!" she blurted.

A pause came.

Her mouth formed a perfect little o. Blushing deeply, she finally spoke. "I
guess I can't take that back out of the air and stuff it back into my mouth
and swallow and choke on it, huh?"

"Nope," Xander confirmed, "Though God knows *I* wish you could."

"Okay, game back on track," Angel said, glancing at Buffy with amused and
pleased eyes. He gave the bottle a quick spin and looked surprised when it
landed on Buffy. Cautiously, he proceeded. "What do you wish for?"

"A normal relationship..." she began, noticing that his eyes fell but
understood. She finished. "With you." Angel looked up, a quick smile
flickering on the edges of his lips. Buffy spun the bottle again to break
the tension. It landed on Oz.

"How old were you with your first kiss?" she asked. He smiled.

"That was easy. I think I was eight. It was with a little girl with red
hair in a park." He winked at Willow and she grinned. "I like red-heads. I
don't remember her name, though. It was nice."

Spinning the bottle this time instead of tapping it, he glanced at Cordelia
when it landed on her. "Have you ever been in love?"

Nobody missed her eyes sliding over to Xander, and Xander flushed in
appreciation and thanks. "Yes," she answered softly. "Once. A while ago."
Her hands quickly found the bottle and she twisted it. It landed on Willow
and she had a deer-in-the-headlights look about her at being at Cordelia's
whim.

Cordelia asked the question quietly, but everyone heard. "Were you ever in
love with Xander, really?"

The group held their breath collectively and Willow finally gave a slow nod.
"Yes. I was in love with him as much as person can be when they love
somebody like a child does. Somewhere, I still am in love with him like
that. But I grew up, and am in love in a different way now." She threw a
warm look to Oz and he nodded, pleased with her answer. Cordelia breathed a
sigh of relief and gave Xander's hand a sudden, short, warm pat. He looked
up at her, surprised and she shrugged.

The group got totally quiet and they looked at each other for several
moments, thinking thoughts that were only slightly different. Finally Willow
stretched and stood, beckoning the rest of them with her. She grinned at the
stifled groans. "No more game, I promise. Just some movies and some talking
and some fun. Real fun, this time," she said.

They walked toward the couches, and table where the snacks and other pizzas
waited. Buffy turned to Willow, grinning, and mumbled something to her
friend as the others talked amongst themselves.

"What's fun again?"

The End

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