Rebound

“Summer days, drifting away, to. . .ahh. . .ahh. . .those summer nights. . .”

Willow sat beside Angel in his convertible. He seemed to be enjoying the movie, especially the music. She could see him mouthing the words as he tapped on the dash slightly. She smiled to herself. So his voice wasn’t that great, he still had the tempo right.

They had eaten cheeseburgers, fries, and milkshakes at Swenson’s. She knew Spike would have found it amusing, always teasing Angel for buying fast food. She felt a stab of guilt.

Angel looked slightly uncomfortable, he was twisting in his seat a little and seemed to be distracted by something. He settled down and drew her close to his side, his hand came to rest on the seat behind her. She listened to John Travolta sing about ‘getting friendly down in the sand’, Angel pulled her closer.

Willow’s cheeks flamed. Did Angel bring her here to. . .? With all of these people around? She looked up at him accusingly. He bent his head, she tried to pull away but he was too strong. He tried to whisper something but she interrupted by saying. “What do you think your doing?”

Angel’s mouth curled into a confused frown. Then he spoke earnestly. “I have to tell you something. This is going to shock you, Willow.”

“I doubt that.” She said vehemently. She still couldn’t break his hold.

“Those people next to us. . .uh. . .they’re having. . .well, they’re having. . .sexual relations. That’s all I can say.”

“WHAT?”

“Page 157.” He ground out, disgusted with the sweaty mortals writhing in the car next to them. “And maybe page 235. And they’re doing this in public.”

“The people next to us are having sex?” She said. “And you’re shocked?” She giggled. And here she thought he was being Mr. Seducer. He was such a prude sometimes. “This is a drive-in, Angel.”

“Exactly! This is a drive-in, not a brothel.” He grumbled. Then, he fixed her with a glare. ”And why aren’t you shocked? Do you normally go to places like this? And do. . .that?” He made a careless gesture to the van beside them.

“It’s a drive-in, Angel. Not some wild sex party. Everybody knows what goes on here. Come on, you are what - 200 and some years old?”

“But I thought this would be-“ Then he smacked the dash. “Spike!” Angel had stolen the blond vampire’s idea. When the two had been trapped in the closet, Spike had drunkenly slurred that he was taking Willow to the drive-in. Spike had said that he and Willow “ would have a jolly good time there.” Then he’d given a very self- satisfied laugh. It was obvious now what his lewd childe had in mind for poor Willow.

“What about him?”

“Nothing!” Angel said quickly. Did she think he brought her here to. . .?

“You talk about sex and then shout ‘Spike’? Okay. Whatever. Not asking any questions. Nope.” She teased. Then she remembered what he had said. “Hey, how did you know about page 235? You read more of Dark Embrace?”

“I was bored in the closet, darling. I couldn’t be expected to talk to Spike the entire time.” He smiled suggestively. “How could I help but notice 157 and 235? Those pages were creased, Willow. How often did you read them?” She had come here willingly with him, accepting that he might make an advance. Hmmmm.

“I have to go to the bathroom.”

“I notice that you say that when someone asks you a question you don’t want to answer.” She shrugged. He grabbed her around the waist before she slid out the door. “There’s a penalty for missing some of the movie.”

“A penalt-“ She never got to finish her thought

His mouth swooped down on hers. Almost bruising in it’s intensity. He pulled back and admired the flush that had spread from her face down to her neck. He stroked the collar of her apricot satin blouse. ”Soft, but not as soft as your skin.” His fingertip traced her collar bone, pressing lightly. “Does it taste as good as it feels?” He lowered his mouth to her neck, placing ardent kisses and laving her with his tongue. He could almost taste her blood, it called to him. Urged him to bite down and experience oblivion. The scent was overwhelming, he nipped her neck with dull teeth. Then his demonic features descended and he gripped the back of her seat, trying to regain control. “I think you should go now, darling.” He managed to drag himself away from her, hiding his face. He was breathing heavily with effort.

Willow made her way dazedly to the ladies room. She had noticed that he had changed when he touched her. But she hadn’t been frightened. Part of her wanted him to bite her, wondered what it would feel like. She decided to ponder that particular thought at a later time. Right now, she was going to have some fun. She deserved it.

She sighed, grateful she had been able to stay home today because her classes were canceled. A frequent occurrence on the Hellmouth. Giles had left a message on the machine this morning. Apparently a blue demon with purple spots had been spotted at the campus foreign film festival. He wanted to thank her for the information she had provided to Buffy on the “screaming mimi demon”. He had never seen it mentioned in any of his texts. Buffy was close to tracking it down.

She had remarked to Spike that it was amazing that their fictional demon had come to life. He laughed and told her that it was no coincidence, their demon was quite real. “The smelly bugger owes me ‘five quid’ and won’t pay it back.” He had said. Since there were no “demon bill collectors”, he had decided to sic the slayer on it. Spike knew once they told Angel about the thing it would somehow get back to Buffy.

She walked into the bathroom. Willow crossed the room to the sink and peered into the dingy mirror. She lifted her hair, searching her neck for marks that Spike might notice. Guilt pang! Her skin was flushed, but otherwise unmarred. Her lipstick was smudged and she wiped it off with a tissue she pulled from her small handbag. She also took out a small hair brush to rid herself of the tangles Angel had created in her hair. She balanced it on the sink, but while she closed her handbag, it clattered to the ground. As Willow bent to retrieve it, she caught a glimpse of a blond haired girl come up behind her. She stood up and began to run it through her hair.

“I’m afraid it’s a drive-in hazard. Hickeys, that is.”

“Omigoddess! Buffy!” Buffy was here at the drive-in. Had she seen Angel? Had she seen what she and Angel had just been doing?

“Wow, Willow. Nice handiwork. Look at those marks.” She smirked. “And I thought Riley and I were hot and heavy.”

“What handiwork? I don’t see any marks.” Did Angel leave a bite mark?

“Right here.” Buffy touched a small abrasion on Willow’s collar bone. She blushed, Willow hadn’t thought to look there. “I learned to check for those spots when I was dating Angel. He has a thing for collar bones.”

Willow was flustered. Her guilt clouded her ability to think. She searched for a reasonable response. “I uh, I . . .”

“What’s wrong with you? “ Buffy asked curiously. “Xander got your tongue?”

Willow nearly collapsed with relief. Buffy assumed she was here with Xander. All she wanted was to somehow get out of this bathroom, find Angel and go home. She needed a diversion, something to draw Buffy’s attention away from her. Just then, salvation walked through the door. “Anya!” Anya? That’s not salvation. That’s damnation. Did I kick puppies in my past life? Or invent panty hose?

“Anya.” Buffy acknowledged. Giving the ex-demon a once-over. She was flushed, a couple of buttons were missing from her shirt, and a small hickey marked her neck. She stared at Willow and Anya, confused for a moment. What was going on here? Some sort of sick threesome? Sanity returned. Willow? In a bizarre threesome with a ex- demon? I don’t think so! Xander had obviously lied to her, telling her that he had broken up with Anya. “You’re here with Xander?” She asked, her voice deceptively calm.

Willow could only stare at the two of them, there was no where to go. Nothing she could do. What if Buffy told Anya that Xander and Willow were ‘dating’? Xander would never forgive her.

“Yes, he took me out this evening so we could have sex at the drive-in. It’s one of his fantasies.” She smiled happily.

“What a prince.” Buffy said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. Xander had stooped to this? He must’ve rented or borrowed another car so that he could sleep with Willow and Anya on the same night at the same place. Disgusting! She imagined him running from one car to another so he could. . . Her fists clenched. How could Xander do this to Anya and to Willow? And poor Wills was so hurt, she was unable to speak.

Anya had moved to the mirror, she was applying more body splash, to cover-up any cabbage smell. Xander had been attentive and loving all evening. She was so glad that their fight was over.

“Anya, why don’t Wills and I follow you back to Xander’s car? I’d like to say hello to him.” Right before I kick his ass.

********

Willow noticed Anya was heading in the general direction of Angel’s car. Goddess!! Just when she thought this night couldn’t get any worse. She moved ahead of the other girls, hoping to find some solution. Desperately, she racked her brain for an idea. She thought she might be able to signal Angel in some way.

They passed the large van that Angel was parked right next to. Willow bit her lip, waiting for the shouting to begin. Hoping for a gigantic hole to swallow her up. Wait a minute. Best not to tempt fate on the Hellmouth. For some reason, a rhyme she had heard once ran in her mind. “Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.” The car came into view.

Angel wasn’t in it. Maybe he had gone to the bathroom? No, vampires didn’t have to use the little boy’s room. Went to get popcorn? Willow wasn’t sure she cared at this point.

And Buffy hadn’t noticed the car either. Willow was afraid that she might have recognized Angel’s car. Buffy was really angry though. For once, blind slayer rage was a good thing. Willow knew that this confrontation with Buffy would come eventually. But at least it wouldn’t be today.

*******

Angel walked back to the car, holding a bag of popcorn. He knew that Willow loved the stuff, and he hoped it would help make up for his inappropriate behavior earlier. Not that it wasn’t fun. She was so beautiful, he just couldn’t resist. He hoped that she wasn’t angry with him. That’s when he saw Buffy. And Willow. Standing by his car with Anya. But the trio was already moving on though. He hadn’t been seen. With a sense of relief, he went to his car and sat down, but he was too distracted now to watch the movie. He hoped Willow would come back soon. They had a lot to discuss. Angel tossed a popcorn kernel in the air, but before he could catch it in his mouth, a blue hand stole out above his face and swiped it. “What the hell–“

Suddenly he found himself in the middle of a tug-of-war battle for his popcorn. Had it just been popcorn for himself, he would have let it go. Any demon that smelled that bad could have whatever it wanted as long as it kept far away from him and his car. But he had bought the popcorn for Willow. After a few minutes of struggling, Angel let go. He would buy her another bag. This one was starting to smell like cabbage, anyway.

*******

“Stranded at the drive-in, branded a fool. . .”

Xander sat behind the driver’s seat watching the movie. He was munching on some popcorn watching that Travolta dunderhead get dumped at the drive-in. What a loser! He laughed to himself. Just then, two feminine hands opened the car door, seized the front of his shirt and yanked him out and onto his feet.

“Buffster? What’s wrong? You look real mad.”

“I am, Xander. I’m really, really mad. And I think you know why.” Buffy whipped him around to reveal Anya and Willow. “Don’t you think you owe them the truth?” Xander winced, Buffy’s hand was twisting his shirt front and pulling out chest hair.

Anya didn’t know what was going on here but she didn’t like how Buffy was handling her boyfriend. “Sometimes, Xander likes it rough. But I will do that myself, if you don’t mind. Put him down, Buffy.”

“No, Anya, he needs to tell you something. Don’t you, Xander?”

“Buffy. Wait! I can explain this. Privately.” He shot a worried glance at Anya. Buffy twisted his arm behind his back. “Oww! Buffy that hurt. Slayer strength, remember?”

“Since you can’t be a man and tell them, I’ll do it for you. Xander got both of you here in two cars so he could have sex with both of you. On the same night! And why did he do this? Because he’s a disgusting pervert who is only interested in getting laid.” She shook Xander. “Now apologize!”

“Oww! I’m sorry!” He cried, he shot Willow a beseeching glance. Why was she just standing over there? Say something! Anything! Just as Willow was going to speak up and confess, Anya stepped in front of her.

Anya walked over to him. She had noticed the marks on Willow, she knew about their past history. The girl had caused the breakup between Xander and Cordelia. And Xander had seemed very preoccupied with Willow, lately. Calling her. Going over to her house. “How could you?” She slapped his face hard. “I cared about you. Last night you laughed at me, called me smelly. Like cabbage.” She glared at him. “Well, I have some information for you. When you come home from work, you smell like PIZZA! And you want to know what else? You’re not that good in bed. I have had better. And he was a troll!” With that she flounced into the car, and turned on the engine. “Not that it would take that much to be better than you.” She sped off into the night. Anya had stranded him at the drive-in. And she had done it in his own car.

Xander was confused. He had spoken to Spike on the phone last night to get the latest Angel report. They had laughed about the real “cabbage demon” but Anya must have assumed he was laughing at her. What was he going to do?

Buffy looked at her best friend. “Wills, are you ok?”

“Buffy, please. There is something that I have to tell you. It isn’t Xander’s fault. He–“

”Buffy!” Xander shouted. “DEMON! It’s that damn demon! He’s stealing that man’s popcorn!” He cupped his hands to help his voice carry. “ Give it up, dude! It’s not worth it. You can buy more!”

Buffy turned around. She was going to kill that screaming mimi, she was tired of fooling around. “Hey, drop him! Go buy your own!”

“Xander, I’ll tell her as soon as she gets back. And I’ll call Anya, too. I’m so sorry. I tried to tell her in time.”

“Willow, I have had enough! You can’t keep doing this.” Xander looked over her shoulder and his eyes grew wide. “OH NO! He’s headed for the concession stand. He’ll clear the place out!” Xander started to climb back into his car to hide when he remembered that Anya had taken it. He shook his head. She had taken his snacks, too. He deadpanned, “Tell me, Willow. You’re dating two demons. Why do they always steal your food?”

“Only one is a demon.” She said distractedly. “Xander, I know you’re really mad at me, right now. But I need to keep this a secret from Buffy for a little while longer. I’ll tell Anya, but please can we not tell Buffy?”

“Sure, Wills. But you have to ask Mr. Broody Coat to give me a ride home.” He thought for a moment. “And buy me some popcorn, preferably some that doesn’t smell like cabbage.” He put a hand on his chin. “And you will make me cookies. The oatmeal chocolate chip kind. From scratch.”

“Sure.” She smiled, grateful that he was taking this well. “I even know who I’ll get to help me bake.”

********

In the meantime, Riley had joined in the fight when the demon had taken his popcorn. He and Buffy now had the thing cornered in the ladies bathroom. He had radioed Professor Walsh and the Initiative soldiers had taken it away. Once it was gone, Buffy told him to wait in the car and walked back over to her friends. “Ok, now, Wills, what were you saying about it not being Xander’s fault?”

“Oh, y-yeah. It’s not his fault because . . .because . . .” Willow searched desperately for an answer. “We were under a. . .spell. Remember when I made you want to marry Spike?”

Buffy glared at her. “I don’t ever want to talk about that again.” She shuddered.

“Sure. Forget I mentioned it. Anyway, I did another ‘will it so’ spell and it just backfired. Next thing you know, Xander and I are on the floor. Surely you noticed that we were acting funny.” She turned to Xander. “He didn’t say anything because he didn’t want you guys to get mad at me for messing up another spell. We just couldn’t help ourselves. It wasn’t our fault.”

“Well, I hope that satisfies Anya. She looked pretty mad.” Buffy shrugged. “Look on the bright side Xander. At least you have another car here to go home in. Shall I walk you guys over? Make sure there aren’t any ‘junior mint-eating demons’ running around?”

“NO!!” Xander shouted.

“God, Xander.” She winced as her ears continued to ring. “ You need to get that volume thing checked out. Soon!”

“Sorry, Buffy. It’s just that the car might still have lingering effects from the spell. I mean, it just wore off and that was the last place we were er, together. We wouldn’t want you to get caught up in it.”

Buffy grimaced. She had never told any of them, but Spike and she had felt ‘the urge’ for a couple of days after the spell was over. Thank God, they hadn’t acted on it. “I’ll tell you what. Why don’t I walk you over to the general vicinity of the car.”

*******

Angel smiled. He had a fresh bag of popcorn for Willow. Though, by the time she got back to the car, it would probably be cold. As he tossed a new kernel up to catch in his mouth, he saw Buffy, Xander and Willow walking towards the car. He dropped the popcorn, half of it spilling onto the seat of the car. Angel ducked down below the dashboard and laid down. Presently, he looked up to see Xander standing in front of the driver’s side, and Willow by the passenger’s side.

“Xander, Willow , no more fluking.” Buffy said in a motherly tone.

Angel’s jaw dropped. Did Buffy just say, ‘No more fuc-? Xander and his Willow? No. He must’ve heard wrong. He looked up at Willow.

“Right. No more FLUKING!” Xander shouted, he felt the need to make things crystal clear. He did not want a two-hundred year old vampire pissed at him. Not even one with a soul. Especially one that wasn’t chipped. Add in the fact that said vampire was about to be crouched down at his feet. . . “FLUKING is out of the question.”

Angel’s eyes widened -- ‘fluking’, that was alright. Buffy had mentioned Xander’s and Willow’s short infatuation with one another. That’s when he realized their dilemma. Buffy must think that Xander and Willow had come to the movies together. She would expect them to get back into this car to watch the rest of the movie. And they had to make sure that Angel wasn’t seen by a certain blonde. It became apparent that Buffy wasn’t going to go away until they were settled in the car.

Buffy smiled at her two friends. “I’ve got a great idea! It’s looks like the car next to you guys moved, probably scared by the demon. Why don’t Riley and I pull in next to you guys?” She wasn’t really in the mood to fool around with Riley anyway after chasing that screaming mimi down.

“Oh. . . we were going to go home anyway.” Willow said.

“No way, guys. I’m not letting you be alone together right now. What if that spell kicks in again? Riley and I can keep an eye on you while we all watch the movie. It’s just about over anyhow and then we’ll follow you home to make sure you get home alright.” Xander and Willow looked at eachother helplessly and then at the vampire who was scrunched up on the floorboard.

“I saw that disappointed look, guys. No more fluking -- even one last time!” Angel glared at Xander and vamped out. Buffy saw Riley looking around for her. “Riley! Bring the car over here, okay?” He nodded and turned in the direction of his car. “Why don’t you guys get in the car? Just because I have to stand out here doesn’t mean you do.”