Soak Up the Sun: Love Notes and Huge Boats
by Vamp_Grlz
if we don't get more then three reviews on this chapter, no more will be posted..and we're not kidding!!
Chapter 26- Love Notes and Huge Boats
The morning sun filtered through the hotel room windows and set the room in a soft glow. The soft, cheery chirping of birds floated in, accompanying the sunlight.
Buffy rolled over restlessly in her bed. "Mooo."
Dawn, who was lying in bed lazily, refusing to leave its warmth until it was absolutely necessary, sat up and perched herself on one elbow. "Moo?" She asked suspiciously, glancing over at Buffy's bed. Willow shifted in her bed.
"God, I thought she was over that phase." She groaned, now also in a sitting position.
Two sets of curious eyes were now on Buffy, who was completely oblivious to everything except the bizarre dream world which she created. "Moo moo...Take it off. Now." She demanded groggily. Willow and Dawn stifled their giggles.
"Well, I'm gonna go pick out my outfit for today." Dawn announced as she swung her legs off the side of the bed and turned towards the closet that most of the clothes were in. Willow's voice stopped her.
"Uh-oh..."
Dawn turned around and saw Buffy on her bed on all fours. She swayed drunkenly and kept getting tangled in the covers and falling on her stomach. Dawn covered her mouth with her hands and started laughing. "Ohmygosh!"
"What do we do?!" Willow's voice came out in a higher pitch than she'd intended. She choked down her laughter as she got up of the bed. She swiped some pillows off the bed and laid them on the floor around Buffy's bed. Dawn gave her a confused look.
"In case she falls off the edge." Willow explained.
Dawn helped her pad the area around her sister's bed before they both stepped aside to watch her.
"This is so wrong." Dawn giggled as she watched Buffy prowling across the bed.
"Ooh!" Willow exclaimed as she got an idea. She reached behind her and grabbed a pillow they hadn't used. She tossed the pillow at Buffy's bed, missing and hitting her legs. She spun around and pounced on it like a predator would to its prey, sending Willow and Dawn into more fits of hysteria.
"I'm gonna get youuu!" Buffy grumbled. To the other girls' surprise, she grabbed the pillow and chucked at their heads. "That'll teach you to never ever sell my grey pickles on eBay ever again!" With that, she stumbled over to the edge of her bed, slipped on the comforter and fell into the sea of pillows. Luckily, she fell on her uninjured shoulder.
"What the...?" Buffy said, her voice still groggy from being jolted awake. She looked over to Willow and Dawn, hoping for some sort of explanation. But they were too busy laughing hysterically on the bed.
"Hey! On the floor over here!" Buffy waved her arms, trying to get their attention.
"Oh, Buff, are you okay??" Willow asked, trying to sound sympatric while stifling more laughter.
"Yeah, but do you mind telling me how the hell I ended up down here?"
"You, You..." Dawn stuttered. She clutched at her stomach, trying to catch her breath. "You were sleep talking again."
"And this?" She asked, motioning to the pillows surrounding her.
"It was for if you fell off the bed." Willow said, wiping at her eyes, which were beginning to tear up. "And it worked too!"
"Yeah...And you couldn't of, say, woken me up instead??" Buffy asked, a smile flashing behind her green eyes. Their response was more laughter. Buffy got up and sprawled herself on the bed next to Willow. "You're lucky I love you guys, cause if I didn't, you'd be going down."
"Come on." Willow said as she grabbed Buffy's arm and dragged her off the bed. "We need to get ready. It's ten o'clock already."
x0x0x0x0x0x0x
"Come on!" Willow sighed in frustration. "Open up!"
She growled, banging on the guys' hotel room door for the hundredth time in the last five minutes. People were beginning to stare. Willow leaned her head on the door. "I know you're awake...Xander." She added threateningly. Buffy and Dawn stood behind her, hands on their hips, also waiting to be let in.
"If you're trying to give us the impression that you're either awake or not there, you're doing a really crappy job." Buffy called into the room. Inside, the girls could hear Monkeyball going on, plus sounds of people moving around and bumping things over.
At that moment, Riley, Graham and Gunn walked past them.
"Buffy?" Riley inquired. Buffy did a sharp 180 turn faced him.
"Oh, Riley! Hi." She grinned.
"Uh, what are you guys doing?" Graham asked, sounding a little suspicious.
"It's the guys. They won't let us--" Dawn paused to kick the door. "In!"
Then Willow got an idea. "If you don't let me in, I'll inform everyone about your little incident involving Aqua man underoos." She grinned slyly into the door, which flew open, causing her to stumble into Xander, who was standing there, doing his best to look
innocent.
"Soo..Will. Hi!" Xander raked his hand through his hair nervously. "Now that you're here...We don't have to bring up...I love you!" He cried, enveloping her in a bone crushing hug, hoping to gain back her favor. She punched him in the stomach, grinning.
"Yeah, yeah..." She shook her head and walked past him, into the room.
"And Riley." Xander smiled. "Greetings."
"Hey, guys." The other three guys smiled.
"You wanna come in?" Dawn asked. She was now sitting next to Connor on the floor. Angel, who was lounging on the bed, winced at the idea of having Riley in his room. He just didn't like him, plain and simple.
Or maybe it's because he's been eyeing Buffy His mind told him. He didn't like that idea, so he dismissed it.
"Nah, but thanks for the offer. We were just heading down to the lobby to get some breakfast." Gunn told them.
The teens exchanged glances. "We could come with." Buffy suggested. "I mean, if that's okay with you guys?"
The three guys nodded. "Yeah." Riley said, smiling particularly at Buffy. She blushed slightly and looked away.
"We'll be down in a sec." Willow smiled at them as Oz came up behind her and hugged her around the waist. Gunn held up his hand in a small wave and the guys disappeared.
"Well, that was pleasant." Xander said as he turned around to face the other teens. "Now, let's get ready. Chop, chop!" He spoke in a British accent and clapped his hands briskly. The others just rolled their eyes and the guys dragged themselves away from what they were doing to get dressed.
"Soo..Are you gonna change in front of us?" Dawn asked with a sly grin on her face.
"Uhh..W-well.." Connor stuttered, obviously caught off guard by her question. Angel sighed and grabbed him by the ear and guided him through the bathroom and into the room on the other side. Connor grinned sheepishly as she closed the door.
"Darn." Dawn giggled.
Once the guys made themselves presentable, the girls grabbed their purses from their rooms and then everyone made a quick stop to Jenny and Giles' room to let them know that they'd be out and about until five (They decided to meet at five instead of four, just incase Giles and Jenny's business with the doors lasted longer than expected), when they were to meet in front of the hotel to go check out the boat.
They squeezed into the elevator, and then made their way to the lobby to have some late breakfast with the other guys. When everyone got their food and sat down, they took up three tables. It was an unusually nice hotel lobby. It was furnished with all wooden furniture and had deep green and burgundy rugs placed over the rich mahogany wood floor. There were a few plush couches placed off to the sides and two large plasma screen TVs were perched high on the walls, viewable from all areas of the room.
"Are you guys doing anything exciting today?" Graham asked as he shoveled eggs into his mouth.
"Nothing really. We're heading out to the docks later today, but until then, nada." Willow answered.
"We have to visit Cordy." Dawn piped up.
"That's a given." Xander grinned. "I don't want a homicidal girlfriend."
"What are you guys doing today?" Buffy asked suddenly.
Riley spoke first. "Actually, we were thinking about checking out the area on foot. Like the strips of little shops, things like that."
"You're welcome to join us." Gunn added, glancing at Dawn. The other teens exchanged glances.
"We're in. Thanks." Dawn smiled.
"What day is it?" Willow asked out of the blue.
"Thursday. Why?" Graham asked, curious.
"There's a party tonight. At the Bronze."
"Oh yeah.." Connor said. "I forgot about that."
"I think we all did." Oz observed.
"Soo..Are we going?" Dawn asked.
"I'm thinking yes." Oz replied, then looked at the other guys, who nodded in approval.
"You wanna come with?" Buffy asked Riley and co. before they could ask about it themselves. "Could be fun." She tried to persuade them.
"Could be." Riley agreed, his eyes shining. Angel all but threw up at their little moment. So, it was agreed-
The whole group would hang until five, then meet up again at the hotel lobby around eight, after everyone was ready. About half a hour later everyone was finished eating.
"Let's head out." Angel suggested. His voice had an almost emotionless tone to it. Buffy frowned slightly.
She stayed back and walked out of the hotel with Willow and Dawn, who were trailing behind the boys.
"Do you guys know what's eating at Angel?" Buffy asked, hoping either Oz or Connor had slipped them some sort of information- Anything that would point the cause of his attitude problem to something other than what she thought- That he'd found out about her breakup with Spike.
"Nope, sorry." Willow said sympathetically. Buffy sighed.
"Why does my life suck?" She threw her arms into the air and looked up as if expecting some kind of answer.
Dawn and Willow wrapped her in a hug from either side as they continued to walk.
"So..Riley." Willow dropped her voice and glanced at Buffy slyly.
"What?" Buffy asked innocently.
"We saw your little half-smile deal. You like him."
Dawn grinned.
Buffy smiled and blushed lightly. "Maybe...A little."
Dawn and Willow both raised their eyebrows suspiciously.
"Okay..Maybe more than a little." Buffy confessed. "It's just...With all this other stuff going on right now, it's not like I could 'pursue' him...Besides, I don't think I can handle being rejected again. At least so soon, anyways." She grinned slightly.
"Like he'd ever reject you." Dawn said it as if it were so obvious.
"What do you mean by that?" Buffy asked.
Willow scoffed. " He's like, in love with you!" She exclaimed a little louder than Buffy would've liked. A couple of the guys turned around to look at them.
"Could you have said that any louder?" Dawn asked. Willow rolled her eyes.
"What? He's in love with me? He is soo not in love with me." Buffy assured Willow.
"Well, he sure acts like it." Willow mumbled.
Buffy considered this. He did act very flirtatious around her. But then again, she sort of acted like that around him...Oh, great! She thought miserably. On top of the whole Spike situation, Angel probably thinks I'm leading Riley on. Joy. Well, come to think of think, she kind of was... Connor's voice startled her from her thoughts.
"Hey, girls!" He motioned for them to pick up the pace a little. They quickened their steps and were soon mingling with the guys. They were walking on a narrow, concrete sidewalk, with a road to their right and beach shops and the ocean to their left.
They were quickly approaching a woman in a business suit who, by the looks of it, was trying to persuade teenagers to go into the building she was standing outside of. When the group was within speaking range of her, she started on what sounded like a rehearsed speech.
"Hi, my name is Sabrina, I work for a company that's responsible for the number of incoming beach goers here, and we're conducting a survey of teenagers to see what kinds of things they like to do at the beach, so we can build things more in accordance with their wants." She paused, and her gaze swept over the group, looking for some kind of reaction, then hurried on. "If you'd be so kind as to participate, you'll all get coupons for a free large pizza at Sadie's Pizza Shack."
She tried desperately to convince them.
"Free pizza. I'm in." Xander grinned. Everyone else shrugged and figured why not? It wasn't like they had anything better to do, plus- free pizzas and a lot of them.
"Thank you; please go to the third door on the right."
The woman named Sabrina smiled tiredly and pointed down a long hallway. The teens made their way to the door, and Angel opened it, revealing a large, spacious room with about fifty individual desks lined up in neat rows. There were only about twenty teenagers actually there, though.
A man walked up to them and told them to sit wherever they'd like. The group stayed together, with only a few random people mixed in. The survey was relatively simple, with about fifteen questions.
Everyone was done in ten minutes, but, unfortunately, wasn't allowed to leave until 11:30, when the survey block ended. So said the chalkboard at the front of the room. Needless to say, everyone got a little bored.
Dawn was the first of the bunch to feel a prickly wad of paper hit her in the back of the head. She turned sharply in her desk and glared at Connor, who was sitting one desk behind her, before picking up the paper. She opened it slowly, to reduce the crinkling noise and read what Connor wrote. I see London, I see France. Dawn's eyes widened and her hand flew to her to butt. To her horror, she felt her thong sticking out above her jeans. She quickly pushed it down and was about to wad up the paper and chuck it at Connor's head, but first scribbled something on it.
Then she chucked it at his head.
Connor opened it, grinning. You perv. Dawn looked back at him, rolled her eyes and smiled as well.
Willow was the next to find a neatly folded piece of paper on her desk. She looked to her right and saw Oz sitting there, looking as impassive as ever. Willow smiled to herself as she unfolded the note. Her smile grew even bigger and she blushed prettily when she read what he wrote. You look just as gorgeous from the side as you do from the front. Just wanted you to know.
She was still smiling as she wrote: Look what you did, I'm blushing now. People will start to wonder and that's not good because then they'll start to stare and I don't do well under intense pressure. I tend to freak out.
She discreetly dropped the note on his desk and seconds later it reappeared on hers. It read: I love it when you do that.
Willow, confused, replied with: When I freak out?
When the note made its way back to her desk it said: No, when you babble. Willow looked up and the couple shared a smile.
Meanwhile, Riley, who was sitting in front of Buffy, dropped a paper ball at his feet and kicked it behind him to her desk. She grinned, picked it up and opened it. It read: Bored yet? She picked up the purple pen on her desk and wrote:
Been there, done that, bought the t-shirt and moved on to being oober-bored. She wadded it up, dropped it and tapped it toward him with her foot. Before she knew it, it was back at her feet.
This time it said: I'm sorry to hear that. Look over by that desk in the corner. Buffy looked up and saw a man sitting at a desk, deeply engrossed in whatever book he was reading; so much so that he was mouthing the words and his face went through many intense emotions. Buffy smothered a laugh.
At that moment, she happened to look over at Angel, who was sitting two desks to her right. He had a blank expression on his face. Buffy grabbed a scrap piece of paper from under her desk and wrote 'Why so glum?' And drew a sad face, hoping to get some sort of reaction from him.
The desk between them was empty, but she wasn't sure if he'd take the note if she put it there. So she wadded it, dropped it and kicked it toward him. He picked it up, opened it and stared at it for what seemed like forever before crumpling it up and tossing it aside. Buffy's heart sank.
The man standing by the door announced that it was 11:30, and they could leave, much to everyone's relief. Willow immediately approached Oz and the two entwined their fingers, as did Dawn and Connor. They headed out of the building and got ten free pizza coupons.
"Well, that was boring." Buffy sighed.
"Thank you, Miss-states-the-obvious." Dawn smirked. Buffy swatted her in the arm.
"Where to now, Captain." Graham asked Xander.
"I was thinking a quick stop to the hospital if that's okay with you guys?"
"Yeah," Riley assured him. "We'd love to meet the infamous Cordelia."
Angel tried not to roll his eyes in disgust. Connor picked up on his brother's bad vibes, nudged him and gave him a questioning look. Angel just shook his head curtly. Connor wouldn't give up. He mouthed the word: 'later?' and Angel nodded slightly, satisfying Connor.
Soon, they were inside the hospital, talking to a woman behind a desk. "I'm sorry, but those are the doctor's specific orders." She paused. "Miss Chase hasn't been sleeping well at night- not like she is now. I'm sure you know, she needs all the sleep she can get. I'm sorry." She apologized again. "I'll let her know you stopped by." She added. Disappointed, the teens left the hospital.
"Now what?" Willow asked.
"Pizza?" Xander suggested hopefully.
"Pizza it is." Oz grinned slightly.
The teens made the long walk to Sadie's Pizza Shack, stopping in stores every now and then. By the time they got to the little restaurant, everyone was famished. They decided to order three large pizzas, which disappeared within minutes.
"We still have four hours before we have to meet Aunt Jenny and Uncle Giles at the hotel." Willow stated. "What do you wanna do 'til then?"
"We could hang by the beach?" Oz offered.
"We don't have our suits." Buffy pointed out.
"So? We can go in the nude" Xander grinned widely.
"Let's not." Willow laughed. "We could just walk around until something catches our eye?" The others agreed, gave their pizza coupons to their waitress and headed out. When they were halfway out the door, Dawn squealed and jumped. Everyone turned to look at her.
"My phone." She explained before flipping it open. They started walking. "Hello?" She continued having a short conversation with the person on the other line, while the others tuned her out. "That was Melanie." She said. Graham and Gunn glanced at Riley curiously.
"The waitress chick?" Connor asked.
Dawn nodded. "We're gonna meet her at the music store down the corner." She informed them. They headed toward the music store, where they found Melanie standing out front, scanning the crowd.
"Hey!" Dawn called out. Melanie turned toward her and smiled.
"Hey, Dawn."
"Introduction time. Uh, these are my friends Willow, Xander, Connor, Oz, Graham, Gunn, Riley and my sister Buffy." Dawn said as she pointed everyone out.
But Melanie's eyes were glued to Riley.
"How have you been?" Riley asked in a monotone voice.
"Okay." Melanie broke their gaze and stared at the ground.
"You two know each other?" Dawn asked, not realizing what everyone else had already caught on to.
"Yeah. We used to see each other." Melanie answered softly.
Dawn blushed slightly. "Oh. Awkward moment. Uh, let's head inside." She said hurriedly, trying to cover up her mistake. The girls went in first, followed by the guys.
Once inside, Dawn pulled Melanie aside and said: "I'm sorry..I didn't know."
Melanie waved it off. "Don't worry about it. How could you have known? Can we just...avoid him? I don't really feel comfortable.."
"Yeah, totally." Dawn cut in. They drifted back towards Buffy and Willow, who were digging through CDs. "Jeez, spastic much?" She joked.
"Hey, they're having a huge sale." Buffy defended, not looking up from the shelf.
"Yeah, I forgot there were so many CDs I wanted." Willow threw in. Dawn shrugged, and she and Melanie began searching for something to buy. About an hour and twenty CDs later, they left the store. Melanie seemed to really fit in. With the girls. At her request, the girls kept their distance from the guys.
The large group wandered around by beach shops for the next hour or so before Melanie announced that she had somewhere she had to be. Everyone said their goodbyes and headed back toward the hotel, which was about a half hour walk.
"Don't you guys still have a while to go before you have to leave?" Graham asked once they were inside the hotel.
"Yeah." Oz answered.
"Wanna swim?" Buffy suggested. Everyone sort of nodded and headed up to their rooms to change into their bathing suits.
Once in their room, Buffy let out a sigh. "Umm...Can I ask you guys' advice on something...?" She asked slowly. The other two girls turned toward her, concerned and ready to listen.
"Well, I've been thinking...Do you think I should invite Riley and them to our boat trip thing?" She asked.
"Well..." Willow paused to think for a second. "Are you sure you like him? Cuz if you really don't, it could just ruin things more with you and Angel."
Buffy really hadn't thought of that. "I do..I mean, yeah I think so..." Did she?
"Are you willing to risk it?" Dawn asked carefully. Buffy groaned loudly and flopped down on her bed.
"Why does this have to be so complicated?" She yelled into her sheets, but her voice came out as a muffled jumble. Willow sat down on the edge of her bed and rubbed her back soothingly.
"Riley seems like a really nice guy. Why don't you invite him as a friend, and maybe Angel'll warm up to him a little." Willow cooed.
"Yeah, that way, when you decide that you want one or the other, it'll not only piss them off, but betray the friendships they have." Dawn pointed out.. Willow glared at her as Buffy moaned louder. At that moment, Xander burst through the door.
"Okay, who's keeling over in here?" He demanded. The other guys were also standing outside the door, looking in curiously. It was then that Buffy realized she forgot to lock the door.
"Xander!! What the hell are you doing?! We could've been changing!" Willow yelped.
Xander's expression remained blank. "So? That'd be bonus." He grinned. Willow rolled her eyes. "Well, hurry up..And I'd take the moaning down a notch, people are starting to wonder." He added, smirking.
"Get out!!" Dawn yelled, grinning.
"You know what?" Buffy said softly after the door was closed. "He is a really nice guy. I think I'll invite him."
"Are you sure?" Willow asked slowly. Buffy nodded.
"I'll ask him in a friend-type way, so maybe Angel won't be mad." She said to convince herself more than Dawn and Willow.
"We'll just have to see how it all goes." Dawn stated. With that, the three girls started changing into their bathing suits.
Once at the pool, they found it was a bit more crowded than usual. They smiled when they saw all the guys playing football with three young boys while their assumed father looked on. The girls walked over to where they were and slid into the pool.
"Finally." Connor remarked in mock annoyance. He had to speak loudly to be heard over the din of voices reverberating off the walls.
"Soo..Whatcha doing?" Buffy asked.
"We're playing football, lady." One of the little boys answered. All of the teens smiled at the boy's innocence.
"Can we play?" Willow asked sweetly. The three boys seemed to consider this.
"Well, I don't know...You are girls." The little boy replied.
"They might give us cooties!" Another boy chimed in.
"That's true." Oz observed. Willow turned and smacked him playfully. He smiled sheepishly.
"We don't have cooties. We promise." Buffy assured them.
"They could be lying." One of the little boys accused.
"Good point." Xander said. "Well, there's only one thing to do, then." Everyone looked at him curiously. "De-cootie them!!" With that, he charged at the girls, scattering them. Soon, an all-out de-cootying war broke out, with more than one guy chasing each girl, seeing as how there was only three of them, and over ten guys. Angel decided to move as well, though still not talking at all. Even the little boys joined in as their father watched in amusement. Their war lasted for about half an hour and by then, everyone was pretty much exhausted.
"Are they safe now?" One of the boys asked.
"As safe as they'll ever be." Riley chuckled.
"Good. Let's play now!" A little boy whined.
"Okay...The girls can play on your team." Xander smirked. The boys looked hesitant, but agreed. The teams were slightly uneven, but the boys' enthusiasm and the guys’ unsaid agreement to let them win made up for it.
Caught up in the game, everyone lost track of time. Jenny and Giles wandered in unseen, searching for the teens. They stood at the edge of the pool and still, the teens didn't notice them. After standing there for a minute or two, Jenny cleared her throat loudly. Most of the teens heard her and whipped around to face her.
"Hi Mo...Oops." Xander laughed nervously. Jenny rolled her eyes lightly, smiling.
"Don't worry about it. Just get yourselves out and dry off." Jenny told them before taking Giles' hand and leading him over to a group of plastic chairs. The teens minus Riley, Gunn and Graham, who decided to stay and entertain for a little while, obeyed.
The little boys clambered out of the water when the seven teenagers did. When they pulled on dry clothes over their soaked ones, they were bombarded with questions like "Where are you going?", "Why are you leaving?" and "Will you come back?"
After patiently answering their questions, they exchanged goodbyes, which basically consisted of many suffocating hugs of the six year olds, who looked up to the older teens.
Willow couldn't resist stooping down and giving one of the boys a peck on the cheek. The other two gasped. "You're gonna get cooties!!"
As they walked away they could hear the boy say: "So? You're just jealous..." The three girls exchanged smiles.
"So, Oz...I hear your girlfriend's cheating on you with a six year old." Dawn joked.
"Yeah, cuz I'm such a pedophile." Willow said sarcastically.
"That's my Will, alright." Oz said, grabbing her around the waist.
"You'd better be joking." Willow threatened in a soft voice as she leaned closer to him.
"Don't get mad at me because you have cooties." He defended playfully.
"Yeah, about that..." Willow paused to slap him in the chest. She scoffed. "Cooties..I just might give 'em to you. Just for that."
Oz leaned in close and whispered: "Please do."
Before cupping her chin kissing her softly. When they
broke apart neither could tear their eyes away from the other. Buffy had to walk back, grab Willow by the arm and drag them both into the hotel lobby.
In the lobby everyone decided the driving arrangements. It was simple enough: Jenny and Giles would be taking Giles' car. Oz would drive the guys in his van, and Buffy would take the girls in Cordelia's car
(They had the keys).
The one hour drive was a relatively boring one, aside from the two or three cars full of guys that were honking at the girls every now and then. The gang parked their cars in a small paved lot overrun with weeds and mossy trees. Everyone made their way to the long, wide dock.
"Wow, you're boat is huge." Connor exclaimed, eyeing the large boat they were seemingly heading towards. Willow came up behind him and followed his gaze.
"That's not the boat." Willow informed him, seeing as she'd already been in the boat and knew what it looked like. She pointed toward an even larger boat across the dock.
"Holy Sh--" Dawn, who was walking beside Connor, covered his mouth before he said anything that would upset Jenny or Giles.
The boat seemed to grow ever larger the closer they came to it. When they finally made it to the smaller dock branching out alongside the boat, the teens were a bit overwhelmed by it's hulking two-story frame. The base of the boat alone loomed high, at least five feet above everyone's heads.
Giles stepped forward, unlocked a few things and pulled. Slowly, a huge glistening white metal staircase appeared. Everyone was still short of shocked, and didn't really move. So Xander stepped out and herded everyone onto the boat after Jenny and Giles. Being on the massive deck brought on a whole new shock wave.
"This is insane." Connor muttered in awe.
"Uh, I have a question." Willow said. Jenny nodded for her to continue. "Where are you gonna be taking us on this thing?"
Giles answered with: "I'll be taking us out a ways away from this area, so as not to get in the way of, uh, people at the beach."
"Can we swim in the ocean by the boat?" Dawn asked.
"No, no." Jenny rushed to say. "Not unless you wanna be a shark's next meal." Xander started humming the Jaws theme song as he came up behind Buffy and 'attacked' her, making her squeal with laughter.
"Besides, this thing's got a pool anyway." He shrugged.
"You're kidding." Angel gaped, making the first expression he had all day. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all. How bad could hanging all day and night on a Riley-less boat with a pool be? Still, there was one thing that still irked him more than he'd like...
"Okay, kids. You can look around, just come and find us when you're ready to go." Jenny announced.
Everyone separated into two groups-Willow, Oz and Buffy, and Dawn, Connor, Angel and Xander- and began exploring.
On the deck was an unimaginably large rectangular area that was set more to the front of the boat, leaving a huge, spacious area in the back end. There was the enormous pool with a diving board, small curved waterslide and Jacuzzi. Also set up there were white plastic lounge chairs and circular benches with tables and umbrellas in the center. There was even a storage bin filled with all sorts of things for the pool. It had everything from colorful donut shaped floats and rafts to volleyballs and a net.
Hanging from the rectangular building directly across from the pool was a large fabric overhang (which of course matched the umbrellas), which set an about six foot area in cool shade.
There was a door on three of the four sides of the building. The wall at the very front of the boat had an extra little room added onto it, which was accessible through the inside of the house or through a side door. This room was the control room, used by Giles (or Jenny) to operate the boat.
Going in through the door by the pool, under the overhang, they found themselves in a small, carpeted hallway that had three doors total. The one to the left was Jenny and Giles' room and the one on the right was the laundry room, and next to that was a bathroom.
The hallway opened up into a huge room that had a living room area to the left and a dining room to the right. The living room furniture was arranged in a fashion similar to that back at the house. There was a couch facing a wall, where a plasma TV stood, and there were two loveseats on either side of the couch, facing each other. There was even a coffee table in the middle. The dogs, who were cooped up in Giles and Jenny's hotel room would appreciate that.
The dining room to the right wasn't actually part of the living room area. It was partially enclosed, aside from the two double doors that were kept open to reveal the inside. There was a fairly long wooden table and chairs, plus a few pieces of furniture that matched nicely. A set of windows gave anyone in the room a perfect view of the ocean.
Straight across from the hallway was the doorway to the kitchen, which was fully equipped with everything the one at home had, including the island in the center of the room, and the square wall cut out. Except, in this kitchen, there was a door next to the refrigerator that led to the control room.
To the right of the kitchen (which makes it behind the living room-type area...Is anyone following me?) was a staircase that led to the second floor. Underneath the staircase was a door that led to the basement area. Once up the staircase, they had to make an immediate turn to the left and around (because there was a wall at the end of the staircase), where there was a small, open area with a few plush breezy blue couches and a small TV. There was a set of sliding glass doors on the right that led to a small balcony area, which offered yet another great view, only from higher up.
To the left of that area was another hallway. There were two rooms on the left side of the hall and three on the other. The two rooms on the left were both huge, spacious bedrooms with two bunk beds in each. They even had their own couches, bean bag chairs and TVs. Two of the rooms on the right were practically identical to those on the left. The third room was a bathroom.
At the end of the hall there was another door that appeared to lead to another room, but housed a metal ladder that led to a hatch, which opened to reveal the fenced in area of the room, which was completely open. There was some plastic furniture tacked to the ground (incase of wind or storms), but the main purpose of the patio area was to provide a picture perfect view of everything from all angles.
At first glance, the basement appeared to be one big room. Under closer inspection, the teens saw that there were three more rooms: An exercise room, another bathroom and an office-type room, which happened to be stocked with a few computers. And the open basement area had a few couches, a TV and, of course, a PS2.
((Wow..did I lose anyone through all that? Well, the better question would be, did I not lose anyone through that? If I seriously confused anyone, just ignore all that and use your imaginations for the boat.))
x0x0x0x0x0xSometime during the exploration x0x0x0x0x0x0x
Xander, Dawn and Angel made their way through the second story of the house. Xander wanted to show them the room/balcony thing.
"Whoa, you could get a wicked tan up here." Dawn observed.
"And a wicked a sunburn if you fall asleep." Xander pointed out.
"First hand experience?" Angel asked sympathetically.
"Oh, yeah." Xander nodded, grinning.
Once they'd completely checked out that area, they started to head back down through the hatch. Connor held Angel back, and told Xander they'd catch up in a second. Once the hatch closed, Connor demanded. "Okay, talk."
Angel remained silent, choosing to wait a little before he could come up with how to say it. He looked around. At the moment, the roof's scenic view wasn't all that spectacular. In fact, looking at it from one angle, it was downright crappy.
Facing toward land, he had a lovely (cough) view of seemingly endless gray, crumbling buildings of the little fishing town, accompanied by the sounds of metal scraping and men heaving loads of fish into their boats and the smell of dead and rotting sea life.
However, if he faced the other direction, he was greeted with the sight of the golden sun dipping slowly down the horizon, casting glistening reds and pinks over the undulating water. The waves brought the bittersweet salty air in to him and drew it back out as the boat rocked gently.
It put a whole new meaning to the saying 'there are two sides to everything.' Angel decided he liked this side better.
"So?" Connor asked after a few minutes of silence.
"So...Spike told me something. The night we visited Buffy and Cordelia in the hospital." Angel sighed.
Connor's expression prodded him to tell more. "Well, I was standing outside the hotel, trying to clear my head."
"You were brooding, you mean?" Connor asked, trying to hide a smirk.
"No." Angel said gruffly. "I was trying to clear my head. Anyway, Spike happened to pass by on his motorcycle. And..." He paused, taking a deep breath. "He told me he broke up with Buffy."
Connor's face was blank. "You mean, that's what this is all about? You should be happy about this..right?"
"I guess..But the thing that bothers me is that she didn't tell me. It happened on the day the rapist attacked. It's not like she hasn't had plenty of time." He said coldly. Connor's expression was confused, so Angel explained. "If she really wanted to be with me, you'd think she would've told me." He paused. "And now there's Riley." He practically growled.
"Yeah, I was picking up on the Riley hate." Connor stated.
"So..That's it." Angel shrugged.
"Well, we'll be on this boat for like three days. Without Riley. With Buffy. I think you can make it work." Connor smiled. Angel had to smile at that, also.
"You're right..Let's get outta here."
The brothers went through the hatch and downstairs to the first floor, where they found the rest of the teens.
"We ready to go?" Willow asked.
"I think so." Connor answered. Everyone else seemed to agree. They'd been there for about an hour, it was an hour drive back to the hotel and the girls needed the extra time to get ready for the party. The teens found Jenny and Giles and were soon on their way back to the hotel. Once they made it there, the girls immediately rushed into their rooms to get dressed up.
The three girls were running around their hotel room, pawing through all their clothes and making a huge mess.
"What shirt goes better with this skirt?" Buffy asked, holding up a thin white miniskirt.
"Uhh..I dunno..God, I wish Cordelianna was here!" Willow exclaimed in exasperation, while trying to find an outfit for herself.
The end results of the girls' freaking out and running around for an hour were..
Buffy had on a white mini skirt with a sparkly gold belt slung on and gold heels to match. Her sandy colored top was off the shoulders, so it exposed her perfectly tan skin. She slipped on a few gold bangles and a gold necklace to go with her outfit. Dawn gave her nails French tips. Her hair was straightened and side parted, so her bangs fell across her face. Her makeup was mostly natural, with light pink shimmery lip gloss, nude eye shadows, a little mascara and little soft brown eyeliner.
Willow decided on a strappy white dress with seafoam green/blue embroidery and some sparkles. She paired that with some dressy jeans and silver sequined ballet slip on shoes. She put on a few layered green and white necklaces. Dawn gave her nails French tips as well. Her hair was simple- It was completely straight, falling in uneven layers (the kind that look good). She had pink shimmery lip gloss on, similar to Buffy's, green/blue eye shadows and dark blue eyeliner.
Dawn chose to wear a deep blue silk cami lined with brown lace and a brown miniskirt. She decided on a pair of brown wedges with ribbons that wrapped around her feet to about half way up her calves. She grabbed some brown and gold bangles as accessories. Willow painted her nails and toes with dark blue polish. Dawn took a curling iron to her hair and ended up with soft curls. She put some bronze, glossy lipstick on with dark, smoky eye shadow and eyeliner.
"There." Buffy sighed after finishing the last touches on her makeup.
"We look hott." Dawn observed. Willow and Buffy turned to stare at her. "What? It's what Cordelia would say if she was here." The girls all took a moment to miss Cordelia.
"C'mon, let's go knock our guys off their feet." Willow grinned slyly.
"And what guy am I knocking?" Buffy asked as they walked out of their room. She realized what she had said the moment it left her mouth. All the girls started laughing. "You know what I mean." She giggled.
"Well, who do you wanna be knocking?" Willow laughed, going along with Buffy's choice of words.
"Hmm..I don't know. Guess we'll just hafta wait and see." She smiled. The girls made their way down to the lobby, where they found the guys- including Riley, Graham and Gunn, waiting for them. Riley tried not to stare at Buffy. Angel was staring at Buffy- until the gentlemanly side of him kicked in.
"Hellooo ladies." Xander grinned widely. All the girls rolled their eyes.
"Are you guys playing tonight?" Willow asked as Oz hugged her close.
"Not that I know of." Oz answered.
"We hate to disappoint, but no. Not tonight." Connor replied. He grabbed Dawn's hand and they entwined fingers.
"What are we waiting for? Let's go!" Xander exclaimed, grabbing Buffy by the hand and therefore starting everyone out the door. They took three cars, so not to be overcrowded- Oz's van, Cordelia's car and Riley's car.
By the time they reached the Bronze, everyone was pumped, ready to party and ready to put all the bad things from the past week behind them and have some much needed fun.
They went in, danced and had a good time. About an hour into their stay, during one of the many slow songs they were playing, Xander decided to go.
"Hey, Buff? Can I have Cordy's keys? I wanna go visit her." Xander asked the blonde. She smiled and handed him the keys.
"Hey, Xand?" Xander turned around to face her. "Tell her we say hi." He smiled.
"Will do."
With that, he was gone.
"Hey, where's Xander?" Dawn asked over the pumping music.
"Hospital." Buffy answered just as loudly. Dawn nodded in understanding. Willow came up behind them.
"Wow, Riley sure does look lonely." Willow observed slyly.
"Yeah, that horde of girls prancing around him must be real tough." Buffy agreed.
"You're jealous." Willow smirked.
"God, what is this, reverse psychology?" She demanded, pretended to be mad.
"Not exactly, reverse psychology's more like--" Dawn stopped when she saw Buffy glaring at her. She shrugged and went off to find Connor, even though she knew she sister was just playing.
"So, what's it gonna be?" Willow asked.
"Hmm..I could always let them come to me?" Buffy tried.
"Yes! That..that's a great idea!" Willow smiled. "Hope that works out for you."
"Just go already." Buffy smiled as she saw the redhead doing her best to concentrate on their conversation while she and Oz were trying not to stare at each other.
"Good luck." Willow smiled in appreciation before walking over towards Oz.
Buffy set her drink down on the table they were sitting at and leaned back on it, crossing her arms across her chest, waiting.
x0x0x0xAt the hospitalx0x0x0x
"Hey, baby." Xander said as he stepped in through Cordelia's door. She looked up from the magazine she was reading and her eyes lit up.
"Xander, hi!" She smiled brightly. Her smile grew when he pulled a boquet of yellow roses from behind his back. He'd picked them up on the way to the hospital. "They're beautiful, thank you." She said, taking the flowers.
"Well...You're beautiful." He said shyly. Cordelia grabbed his hand and pulled him down so his lips met hers. When they finally parted, he pulled up a chair as close to her bed as possible.
"So..How was your day? Please tell me it was remotely interesting. I'm dying of boredom in this place." She sighed.
"Well..We walked around some beach shops--"
"You went shopping with out me?!" Cordelia made a sad face.
"No, no, no. Well, yes, but, we can make up for it! After they let you out." He did his best to redeem himself.
This seemed to satisfy her.
"Anything else?" She asked hopefully.
"We checked out to the boat, played football with six year olds, de-cootied Dawn, Buffy and Willow.."
"De-cootied? I'd like to hear that story..."
Xander grinned. "Well, it all started when we were down at the pool..."
x0x0x0x0xBack at the Bronzex0x0x0x0x
Buffy sat slumped at their table, idly stirring her drink.
Yet another slow song was playing and Willow, Oz, Dawn and Connor were out there, coupled. She wondered why they were playing so many slow songs tonight. It just benched her..again.
Riley took notice of this. Actually, he'd been noticing her pretty much all night. Finally, he peeled himself off the wall he was standing on, surrounded by teenage girls. He did his best to push away from them, but they seemed to follow him like a rain cloud. When he approached Buffy, the cloud seemed to dissipate.
"Hey." Riley smiled.
She turned and smiled as well. "Hey yourself."
"So...Would you be extremely offended if I asked you to dance?" He asked, studying her face.
"Well, that depends." She smiled flirtatiously. "Are you asking cuz you feel bad for me, or are you asking cuz you really wanna dance with me?"
"To be honest, both." He shoved his hands in his pocket and tried not to look nervous. He hoped he'd said the right thing. "I mean, you do wanna dance, right?"
She tilted her head slightly and gazed at the crowd of couples out there. "Yes."
He extended his hand out to her, silently praying she'd accept it. She smiled, making his heart pound even louder. She grabbed his hand and they both went out onto the floor. It was a bit awkward at first, being so close.
"This doesn't have to be weird." Buffy mumbled into his shoulder as they swayed to the music.
"Right." He said into her hair.
"Ya know? We're just..Just friends who happen to be dancing very..." She trailed off, moving back slightly to look up into his eyes.
"Close." Riley finished. The song faded out and some people walked off the floor. Willow and Oz passed them, and Willow flashed her a grin and a thumbs up.
But she didn't notice. She and Riley were leaning closer...closer...
Angel came up behind them and thumped Riley on the back in an awkward sort of friendish motion. Riley did just what Angel had hoped--he pulled back from Buffy surprised.
"We're gonna be heading soon..Like now." He said flatly before turning and heading toward the rest of the teens. Buffy and Riley released their hold on each other and smiled sort of nervously. There was one thing for sure- The moment was gone. And their kiss was nonexistent. But still, there was hope. The two walked back to the others. Buffy gave Dawn and Willow a look that said 'I'll tell you everything later.'
"Well, let's get a move on." Connor said as everyone collected their things.
x0x0x0x0xAt the hospitalx0x0x0x0x0x
Cordelia was laughing so hard. "You guys are so juvenile." She managed.
"But you love me anyway?" Xander asked, giving his best puppy eyes.
"You know I do." She smiled and leaned over to kiss him gently.
"Well, I should be getting out of here..The guys are probably on their way back to the hotel by now." Xander said as he pulled himself from the chair.
"Okay.." Cordelia sighed. He turned back and kissed her once more.
"I'll see you tomorrow, baby." He said sincerely.
"I'll be counting the..hours." She grinned.
He wagged his finger disapprovingly. "Sleep." He commanded, smiling.
"Bye." She smiled. "Love you."
"Love you too. Bye baby."
With that, he left the room, got into Cordelia's car and sped back to the hotel.
x0x0x0x0x0x
"Hello all." Xander grinned, walking into the hotel room.
"Hey, man." Oz said. He and Connor were in the middle of a fierce Monkeyball battle and it actually seemed like Connor was winning for once. Which meant Oz was losing. Mind-blowing, I know.
"Where's Angel?" Xander asked.
Connor jerked his thumb towards his and his brother's room. "Went to bed early." Xander wanted to know what was going on with him, but decided it was best to drop it. So he went over to watch Connor and Oz battle it out. Just when it looked like for once Connor might win, Oz beat him by a hair.
"Damn you." Connor sighed in frustration.
"Hey man. Don't hate the player, hate the game." He grinned slightly. They continued playing well into the night.
x0x0x0x0x0x
"Tell us everything!!" Willow squealed when they got into the room.
"Did you kiss him?" Dawn asked excitedly.
"No..We almost did. Then Angel..." She trailed off.
"Angel what?" Willow asked curiously.
"He kinda broke it up." Buffy finished.
"Oh." Willow frowned. "Was it like, intentional?"
"Seemed like." Buffy sighed.
"Oh, well. You'll have time to spend with both of them on the camping trip." Dawn reminded as walked into the bathroom to wash off her makeup.
"If they don't kill each other." Willow grinned slightly to lighten the mood.
"I'll just have to jump off that bridge when I come to it." Buffy smiled.
"I'm beat, I'm going to bed." Dawn announced, flopping into bed and turning off the lamp on her nightstand.
"Sounds like a plan." Buffy agreed and she and Willow fell into bed as well, tired from the days events. One thing was for sure: They couldn't wait until tomorrow.
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