Misery Loves Company: Misery Loves Company
by Anya
*I don't believe this is happening.* Willow sat down on the park bench with a thud. Her backpack slipped out of nerveless fingers to the ground. *This can't be happening. She wouldn't do this to me...* The tears she had ached with in the library were pushing their way past her defenses now.

"He can't be going out with her." She whispered it to the trees, feeling her soul shatter again with the words. "It's...not FAIR!" The shout echoed, and was followed only by her tiny whisper. "It's just not fair."

Tears slipped down her face unchecked, and the gasping sobs she had struggled to contain before now slipped out. Willow pulled her knees up beneath her chin, wrapping her arms around them, as she folded herself into a ball or pure misery.

How it happened, she didn't know. And she didn't think she could bear to know. Her two best friends each betrayed her in a way that she never dreamt possible. Buffy was going out with Xander.

The thought made her heart just ache, and her stomach turn queasy. Buffy KNEW how Willow felt about Xander. How could she betray that trust? And the Slayer hadn't even had the courage to tell Willow, herself. It was a fact Willow had overheard Giles, Buffy and Xander discussing.

"I'm alone." The thought pervaded her awareness, a consuming pain that festered in her soul. "I'm so very alone..." Her head rested on her knees, and more sobs wracked her tiny frame. Around her was silence, reinforcing the loneliness that depressed her now.

Gradually, her sobs lessened, and she began to regain control of her breathing. Wiping her eyes with the back of her hand, her peripheral vision caught a dark shadow emerging.

"Go ahead, kill me. I really don't care right now." She muttered shakily.

Angel cleared his throat nervously. "Uh. Sorry. I'm not into that kind of stuff...I'm on a diet."

His voice jolted Willow's back straight, and she spun herself to face him. He looked like hell. His clothes were neat, but there was a glassy glaze on his eyes, and the frown that pulled his mouth down was dark and brooding.

"You've heard." She guessed softly.

He nodded once, curtly, before sitting down on the other side of the bench. "Yeah. I saw you running like there was no tomorrow from the school..and stupidly went to investigate them."

Willow's laugh was a chilling sound. Full of despair, agony, and something darker. "Oh goody. Well, misery loves company..."

Angel looked at her out of the corner of his eyes. "Yeah." They sat that way for a great deal of time. The silence slowly being replaced by the typical night sounds in a park. Crickets chirping, and the rustling of the wind in the trees.

"This really isn't a safe place a night." Angel finally muttered. His own pain was minimal compared to Willow's, and he knew it. Early in his acquaintance with Buffy, he had realized the attraction, and began to mentally prepare himself for their inevitable parting. His immortality didn't allow for long term relationships. It was too painful watching someone you love grow old and die.

Those loved ones would cut themselves off from any mortal ties for their immortal beloved, and in so doing, end up alone at a time when they needed to be surrounded by love the most. No brothers, sisters, parents, children. No one except a creature that would not be joining them in Heaven's eternity.

Willow snorted. "I really wasn't looking for safe, tonight." She paused, looking up. The moon was just beginning to crest into her line of view. It was full, round and luminous. In the back of her mind, she could virtually see the craters on its surface. "THEY went to the Bronze tonight, I'm sure of it."

The vampire beside her grunted. "Yeah. Probably."

"I don't want to see them, not there, not together." She sighed softly. "I really want to scream and break things. A lot of things. I've loved him since we were kids. And SHE knows that."

Angel slanted her another look, viewing her profile in the darkness. "I know."

She turned her head, catching him looking at her. "What?"

Angel felt his spirits rise as a thought unraveled itself within his mind. "Let's go break stuff." An almost insane grin pulled at his lips. "Even better, let's close down the Bronze, and break stuff in there."

Willow gaped at him. "We can't do that! It'll be packed by now...Buffy and Xander will..."

Angel's grin widened. "Yeah..they will. But I OWN the place..I can close it down and trash it if I want to. And I really want to." He pulled a cellphone out of his jacket pocket, and flipped it open. But he didn't dial, instead, he waited for Willow's response.

Willow's jaw dropped for a moment at that tidbit of information, before her mind clicked on what he had suggested. The red-headed girl frowned, mulling it over carefully. The mental image of disrupting Buffy and Xanders' 'date' really teased at her. It was low, cruel, vindictive, and totally out of character...but... "Do it."

The smile on her face was wide, bright and genuinely nasty as Angel quickly dialed and connected.

It was gonna be a good night after all.


This story archived at: The Slayer\'s Fanfic Archive
The Slayer\\\\\\\\'s FanFic Archive - http://www.slayerfanfic.com/viewstory.php?sid=10