Road Not Taken: A New Road
by Slayers Of The Night
"I still don’t get what Buffy sees in him," Xander sighed as he flipped through the pages of a magazine that had been on Cordelia’s bed. Cordelia rolled her eyes, threw down her pencil and notebook, and glared at her boyfriend.
"Damn it Xander. I am trying to finish this stupid AP English homework. Buffy sees tall, dark, and handsome, just like the rest of us. She just happens to be the only one currently unattached," Cordelia explained, annoyed that Xander insisted on hanging around while she wrote her paper.
"So, would you choose him over me?" Xander asked, not willing to drop the Angel discussion.
"No, Xander. For some reason unbeknownst to me, I am more attracted to your goofy personality than I am to Angel’s broodiness."
Xander closed the magazine and looked at Cordelia. He still couldn’t believe that she was with him. Of all the men in the world, Cordelia could have her pick of them. She picked him. Xander had to admit, he was still afraid that she would see the error of her ways and dump him at any moment.
"I guess I’ll leave you alone to do your homework," Xander reasoned.
"Good. Go bond with the other boys," Cordelia dismissed, hardly looking up from her lap, where the notebook sat.
"I promise to play nice."
* * *
Xander found the other boys in the furnished basement, playing a rowdy game of pool. Angel was standing at the corner of the table that Spike was currently trying to shoot for. He was leaning slightly on his stick, a broad smile spread over his face.
"So Spike, what’re you gonna do when you lose? You gonna cry to Dru? Think maybe she’ll kiss you and make it all go away? Most likely she’ll dump you for being such a whimp," Angel taunted. Oz laughed quietly from the chair behind Spike. Spike growled around the cigarette in his mouth and hit the ball. It missed the pocket by a mile.
"Hey guys. Who’s winning?" Xander asked. Spike threw his pool stick down on the ground.
"Angel," Oz offered. Xander nodded and leaned against the wall next to Oz’s chair.
"So Liam?" Xander asked as soon as Angel had sunken another ball. Angel looked at Xander with a raised eyebrow as he found his next shot.
"You can call me Angel, you know," Angel laughed.
"I know, just can’t get past the girlyness of it. Anyway, how is it you came to think Buffy was the one girl for you?" Xander asked.
"The look in her eyes the first time I saw her. That fire, that passion. I wanted to know what put that look in her eyes. And then as I started to figure it out, I fell hard." Angel shrugged, easily sinking two more balls.
"Valid, I suppose. You’re not going to take advantage of her, are you?" Xander asked. He was answered with a loud snort from Spike.
"First of all, Peaches here is any girls knight in shining armor. The thought of taking advantage of a beautiful woman would never enter his mind. Second, even if he would, what makes you think you could do anything about it?" Spike asked. Xander glared.
"I care about Buffy. I just want to know that she’s in good hands," Xander explained. Angel came over and laid a hand on Xander’s shoulder.
"I respect that Xander, I really do. I promise that I will not hurt Buffy. If anybody gets hurt, it’ll be me."
* * *
Buffy sat curled up in an easy chair with Willow across from her. Willow was painting her toenails, Buffy was trying to do her homework.
"I don’t think this relates to me, but how the hell am I supposed to explain that?" Buffy asked, throwing her pen across the room. She then stood up and went to get it.
"I don’t know, Buffy. Mine’s done, and I decided that it did relate to me," Willow shrugged.
"How? You’ve never made a choice that ‘made all the difference’."
"I took a futuristic stand. As soon as we get back from break, I have to decide where I’m going to college. That decision will affect the rest of my life," Willow explained. Buffy nodded.
"Okay, good point. I guess I’m the only one who hasn’t had to decide yet."
* * *
Late that night, Buffy sat on the black marble counter in the kitchen, trying to evaluate her life. How did the poem relate to her?
And then Spike stumbled in and opened the refrigerator. Apparently, he hadn’t noticed her yet.
"Hi," she whispered. Spike slammed his head onto the rack above it and the swore.
"What are you doing, sneaking up on people like that?" Spike growled.
"Um, I think you were the one sneaking up on me," Buffy said. She set her notebook down and watched as Spike proceeded to make a sandwich.
"What are you doing in here anyway?" Spike asked, pouring on an ungodly amount of mustard.
"Just trying to finish my homework," Buffy sighed.
"Homework? Over break? I just wouldn’t do it," Spike gaped. Buffy shook her head.
"Not an option. It’s AP English. If I don’t do this homework, I fail the class," Buffy explained.
"Your grade is that bad?" Spike asked in disbelief.
"No, my grades are fine. Great even, but if you miss one assignment, our teacher fails you," Buffy said. Spike snorted.
"I still wouldn’t do it."
"Well that’s the difference between you and me," Buffy snapped. "I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to snip."
"Whatever. So, what’s you homework about?" Spike asked. Buffy could see the muscle in his jaw clenching.
"Um, a Robert Frost poem. Road Less Traveled," Buffy said. Spike looked up at her from taking a huge chunk out of his sandwich.
"I love that one. What do you have to do? Dissect it or something?" Spike asked. Buffy saw a light in his eyes the second she mentioned poetry.
"Um, no. We have to write an essay about how it relates to our life," Buffy explained.
"So what’s so hard about it?" Spike asked.
"I have nothing to relate it to. I’ve never had to make a big decision that changed my life. I mean, I just don’t have one that’s affected me," Buffy sighed, trying to find the right way to explain her feelings.
"Well, how about I give you one?" Spike asked, putting down his sandwich. Buffy looked up slowly.
"Wha….?" Buffy couldn’t even get the word out of her mouth before Spike planted a kiss on her mouth. Buffy immediately stiffened and moved to push Spike away. He, however, had no intentions of stopping. He wrapped one arm around her waist and used the other as a brace against the counter.
Buffy tried weakly to push Spike away, but after a moment, let it go. The truth was, his lips had ignited her body on fire. She let him really kiss her for a few moments before she earnestly pushed him away.
"What the hell was that!" Buffy whispered harshly. She jumped off the counter, immediately feeling guilty about kissing Angel’s brother.
"I was giving you a choice. Me or Angel. Now you have something to write about," Spike shrugged.
With that he was gone.
A/N: Okay, so earlier I think I said that there wouldn’t be any Spuffy, but I’m pretty sure I lied. There might be just a little.
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