With the lights dimmed to a rosy glow, and the heaters on at a moderate temperature, Buffy's
room felt quite cosy and homely. Buffy lay on her stomach on her quilted bed, gazing down at
the four pieces of invitation that she had carefully taped back together again. It read;
You ...................... have been invited to the coolest beach party ever!
Your host is Dan Miller - football star of Sunnydale! This party will
rock! There will be live music from "Dingoes ate my baby!" and the
chance to go out in a speedboat with the one you've got a thing for!
So what are you doing, hanging around? You should be getting ready
for the biggest beach party this millenium!!!!
Buffy guessed Cordelia had been in too much of a rush to personalise the invites fully. Or,
Cordelia *had* written them out, but hadn't done one for Buffy, until someone had encouraged
her. Buffy sighed. In LA she was always on the top of everyone's party list. But here, she was so
low down that she fell of the paper.
"I bet Willow got a proper invite," she thought, bitterly. For now, it didn't matter too much,
because she at least had an invitation, which was good by her loser standards.
"Hi."
Buffy looked up. Angel stood in her window, the curtains billowing around him.
"Can I come in?"
"Uh, sure," said Buffy, nonchalantly. She turned back to her invite, studying it again.
"What's that?" asked Angel, softly. Buffy waved it at him, and he took it.
"It's a party invitation."
"So I see," he replied, as he read it carefully. Buffy watched him, and when his eyes opened
wide with shock, she raised her eyebrows, questioningly.
"What's wrong?"
"Santa Costa beach," he muttered, to himself. He recognised the name, but he couldn't think
where. He knew he'd something recently, but he couldn't think why. Besides, he didn't want to
ruin Buffy's night out.
"What's wrong with the beach?" asked Buffy, clearly upset.
"Nothing. Nothing at all. I've just...always wanted to go there," said Angel, improvising quickly.
"You could come and be my date," she whispered, shyly. Angel smiled.
"Sure. I'd like that."
"Me too."
