Title:
Approaching Normal
Chapter
Title- Gather The Gang
Author:
Restive Nature
Disclaimer:
I do not own the rights to BtVS or Supernatural. They are owned
respectively by Whedon & Mutant Enemy and by Eric Kripke. No
infringement is intended. This fiction is intended for private
enjoyment only.
Rating:
PG-13
Genre:
Crossover
Type:
Friendship/ Romance
Pairing:
Buffy/ Sam Winchester
Summary:
At last they got the chance at a normal life that they thought they
always wanted.
Spoilers/
Time line: Season 5 of Buffy (of sorts) and Pre Series for
Supernatural.
Feedback:
Always welcome!
Distribution:
Ask first please.
A/N:
This is written for the Jess? Who's Jess? challenge from the Twisting
The Hellmouth site.
Chapter
Ten
Gather
The Gang
“Look
pretty darn good if I do say so myself,” Buffy announced happily,
preening before her mirror as she smoothed her clothes. Once
satisfied, she pushed the closet door, with the full length mirror
hung inside, shut and moved over to her dresser to find the earrings
that matched her outfit.
She
studiously ignored the fact that instead of dressing comfortably, in
her typical attire of jeans or slacks with a pretty top, she had
sassed it up just a little bit. She wasn't above dressing for a
little appreciation. She had no difficulty dressing the part when she
went out slaying. Looking small, entirely feminine, and helpless was
her best offense for putting those guys off their game. Maybe it was
true for regular old males too. And even though, she was pretty sure
that Sam had noticed her, she liked to think she could make him sit
up and notice her.
Poking
through the collection of jewelry sitting in the top compartment of
the box her father had given her for her twelfth birthday, Buffy
allowed the smile that had been overtaking her face all morning to
glow once more. She heard her cell phone going off in her purse and
pulled out the earrings she wanted before dashing to check and see
who it was.
Her
grin grew when she saw that it was Willow. Flipping open the cell,
she pulled it up to her ear. “Mornin' Wills,” she chirped
happily. “Can you hang for a sec? Gotta put my hoops in.”
“I'm
hanging,” Willow responded. Buffy heard her murmuring to someone on
her end, assumed it was Tara, her girlfriend and dorm mate this year.
That arrangement was convenient in more ways than one Buffy decided,
chuckling to herself as she carefully set the phone down and deftly
applied her earrings. She grabbed it up again and brought the phone
to her ear.
“Okay,
I'm back,” she announced. “What's up bestest o' my best buds?”
“Wow,
someone's in a good mood today,” Willow laughed. “Get up on the
right side of someone's bed or didja actually have to patrol and get
lucky last night?”
“No,
none of that,” Buffy denied. “Just good moody today. Heading for
breakfast. What about you?”
“We're
cafeteria bound too,” Willow informed her. “Tara and I. Sounds
like Xander had to be up and early for work. So he won't be joining
us.”
“That's
okay,” Buffy nodded as she lifted up her messenger bag. Even were
it stuffed, she'd barely noticed the weight. She exited her dorm
room, smiling and waving at familiar faces as they passed by one
another. She noted that the Phi Beta Kappa house was posting for a
weekend party. Holding out her hand, she was handed the obligatory
flyer. She gave the poster of the material an appreciative grin and
received one and a slightly leering wink in return. Maybe Sam would
like to go. He hadn't said anything about joining a fraternity, but
you never knew. She had toyed briefly with the idea, a sorority or
something, but past experience told her that it would be a disaster.
Hell, just remember the cheerleading. Both times were example enough
for her. Enough said.
But
so far in her experience, the house hosting the party, on this
campus, unlike some other chapters were pretty low key guys. Their
parties hadn't really gotten out of hand until the witching hour and
if Sam did indeed want to go, they could always slip out to the
coffee house for an even mellower locale.
“Did
I lose ya there Buff?” Willow demanded, calling her attention back
to the phone call.
“Oh,
sorry Will, was just checking the board,” she told her friend as
she folded the bright blue paper and slipped it into an outer pocket
of her messenger bag. “Anything exciting coming up for you guys?”
“Oh,
well, if Xander survives this week at work, we were going to go to
the Bronze on Friday or Saturday,” Willow announced. “Other than
that, not much. We were gonna go Thursday after our test in
anthropology, but your mom needed a babysitter. So Xan and Anya are
busy.”
“Oh,
Dawnie'll love that,” Buffy half snorted as she wound her way
through the common area on her way to the front door of the hall. It
was no secret that Dawn had had a crush on Xander for like, ever. It
seemed though, that in his quest to make money and since Buffy wasn't
around to do it, Joyce had turned to Xander for child watching duties
quite a bit. Even with a steadier job, he still jumped when one of
the older Summer's women asked for a helping hand.
“What
about you?” Willow wondered. “Dare we hope you'll be coming home
two weekends in a row?”
“Mm,
it'd be nice,” Buffy sighed, though she wasn't regretful at all.
Trips home tended to be a little too eventful for her mind these
days. “But I'm thinking I might have plans this weekend.”
There
was a muffled sound and a little squealing, causing Buffy to smile.
And then Willow was back, sounding forcibly calm. “And might you be
going out somewhere?”
“I
might be thinking about it,” Buffy teased, knowing perfectly well
what conclusions Willow was looking to reach.
“And
might you also be thinking there could be a guy going out to the same
place that you'd be going?” she hinted heavily.
“Well
gee Wills,” Buffy snorted delicately. “Since it's a party at the
Kappa house, I'm pretty sure there'll be plenty of guys there.”
“Oh,”
Willow definitely sounded a little let down and Buffy pressed her
lips together to keep from chuckling at her friend trying to still
live vicariously through Buffy smoochies. Even as much as she had her
own smoochable in the form of Tara, Willow still liked seeing her
friend happy. And that was perfectly fine with Buffy. After the tough
first year apart at different colleges, they'd learned a lot about
each other and Buffy liked to think that their friendships were
stronger for it.
“Well
that's okay,” Willow finally sighed. “Fun can still be had.”
Buffy
decided to take pity on her friend and nodded, even though Willow
couldn't see it. “Especially if Sam says he'll go with me.” The
expected squeals of happiness were almost deafening.
“I
knew it! I knew it,” Willow squealed into the phone so loudly that
Buffy really had to pull her own away. “Didn't I tell you that she
wouldn't have said if she didn't and she definitely did. And I knew I
should have pulled her away. I-!” There was a sudden cessation and
Buffy figured it for one of two things. Either someone had gagged
Willow, or they had taken the phone away.
Turned
out it was Option C. Willow was slightly breathless when she came
back to the conversation. “Sorry, Tara had to go talk to a
professor about her class. She'll be back soon.”
'Way
to hush up Wills,' Buffy giggled
mentally to herself. She hadn't thought about how the more gentle
natured Tara that she had gotten to know better over the summer,
would apply the rest of the Scoobies theories to a practical
application. “She kissed you good there, huh Wills?”
“Just a smidge,”
Willow declared smugly. “But I have my smoochies. I wanna hear
about yours. There have been smoochies, haven't there?”
“Nuh,” Buffy groaned,
remembering with vivid detail how plump and kissable Sam's lips had
been when they had been together in the sauna. “No,” she
clarified as she heard her friend chuckle. “We've just had our
first accidental date yesterday. I don't know. Can you call getting
ice cream after working out, a date?”
“Who asked?” Willow
immediately wanted to know.
“He did,” she
answered easily as she wound her way down the sidewalk, avoiding
people scattered about just as easily as the conversation flowed.
“Actually he asked if I wanted to get coffee, but then he tempted
me with Baskin Robbins.”
“Oh, he's good!”
Willow announced positively. “You've only known him how long and he
already picked up on the caffeine and the iced treat goodies?”
“Since the first day of
school,” Buffy affirmed. “He almost ran into me because he was
lost. I felt bad for him, remembering last year.”
“Sunday,” Willow
spoke and Buffy could just see her in her mind's eye, nodding
importantly. That Vampire had been set up too long and was set in her
ways. But her ways worked very well, convincing lonely and away from
home for the first time college students into her gang, or her
stomach.
When Faith had run into a
guy that was lost after patrol, she'd helped him find his way and
felt pretty good about herself. She'd even saved him from Sunday and
her gang's attack. Since Faith wasn't a college student, that tact
hadn't worked on her. But the fish out of water angle had, and she
had gotten down pretty hard on herself. When Giles had found the note
that Sunday's vamps had left in her motel room, he had called the
group together. But Faith had already worked out the modus operandi
and was getting busy with the tracking and the kicking of Sunday's
ass. Buffy had been proud of her sister slayer. It had also led to
finding Faith a more defensible location, one that wasn't the Mayor
supplied apartment. There were just too many bad memories there.
“I'm just glad that she
wasn't here,” Buffy sighed. They had talked about it already, she
and Willow, as well as a minor heart to heart with Faith, but the
first few weeks of Stanford had been almost a nightmare for her.
“Anyway, date or no?”
“Well, snackage after
working out is kind of expected, so...” Willow sounded unsure of
the protocol and Buffy took pity on her.
“We bumped into each
other at the gym,” she supplied. “And he asked.”
“So that's definite
date,” Willow sounded excited again. “Not an extension of
activity. That's a definite let's go away from here and be alone and
be doing or having something fun while we get to know each other
better!”
“We definitely did
that,” Buffy laughed, remembering bits and pieces of their
conversation.
“On the first date?
Buffy Anne, I'm shocked,” Willow teased.
“Hey hey now,” Buffy
chided, a gleam in her eye even though her friend couldn't see it.
“There was no nakedness. Just near nakedness.”
“Buffy!”
“Ha, gotcha!” Buffy
threw out triumphantly. “Who's got the dirty mind now Willow?”
“You were... on the
first date!”
“No Wills,” Buffy
sighed, relieved that Xander wasn't around to pester all the wrong
details our of their mutual friend. “We bumped into each other in
the sauna. Because the men's was out of order. We were both...
clothed, sort of.”
“Oh wow,” Willow
breathed out noisily. “So what else happened?”
Buffy continued on her
way, moving towards the closest dining hall. She also continued
dropping little tidbits of her time with Sam, date or not. Things he
said or did. The dissection of Sam Winchester and how he might feel
about Buffy, continued mostly through breakfast and it was only when
Tara had returned to Willow's end, that the conversation turned and
Willow suddenly wanted to know the all important question.
“So what about you?”
Willow demanded gently. “Is Sam in the yes column of Buffy's list
for dateable guys.”
Buffy was quiet for a
moment. She frowned down at her plate that was mostly empty. Granted,
aside from a few routine stakings, and the whole thing with Dracula,
the scene at Stanford was quiet enough for her not to be the Slayer
every second, every moment. This was part of the reason that she had
convinced everyone that she could go, get away.
And talking with Sam, it
was... easy. There were taboo topics of course, for both of them, but
that was true in any relationship. Especially a new one. It just
seemed like when she talked to Sam, even if there had been awkward
moments, they weren't truly awkward. Like those times when you
couldn't even meet a person in the eyes after. Sam just... got it.
And truthfully, Buffy liked being got.
“Yeah Will,” she
finally answered. “I think I'm gonna say definite oh yeah to Sam!”
*****
“Tingles,” Buffy
muttered to herself as she stalked through the alley of a slightly
run down business center. “Why do they always gotta give me
tingles?” she wondered. “And not the right kind either.”
She had read the
newspaper, more because she actually liked knowing what was going on,
rather than for the obituaries these days. It was a habit she had
picked up from an assignment in one of her classes. So when she had
seen the article about the attack down here, she had sort of skimmed
over it, until her brain caught up with her eyes and those darn key
words jumped out at her.
Damage
to the victim's neck...
Reading over the article,
and then checking the resulting obituary, Buffy had pieced enough
together to know she was most likely dealing with a Vampire.
Therefore, as soon as the sun had gone down that afternoon, she'd
made her way to the crime scene. The cops had already thoroughly
swept it, but there were signs and clues that they had no clue about
that told her a more complete story.
There hadn't been any
Vamps in the immediate vicinity, but she had seen more than enough
places to make a good nest for an enterprising bloodsucking creature
of the night. As she continued to widen her search pattern, Buffy had
felt the suddenness of cramping in her lower abdomen. Her eyes had
widened, since that wasn't supposed to happen for a few weeks. And
then, her mind reminded her, that this was the sort of early warning
system that was her initial call sign when she had first started
slaying back in Los Angeles.
As she had followed the
pain, and wasn't that a crappy kick in the metaphorical gut, Buffy
realized several things. Working on the Hellmouth had brought a swift
end to that physical indication. And she wondered if it were a
natural advancement on her powers, when sensing the baddies had
become this strange tingling sensation that told her the Vamps and
other things were close. Because really, having cramps whenever evil
surrounded you? On a Hellmouth, even a Slayer would be incapacitated
by the severity of the cramps that would be a constant companion. But
she also wondered, trying to remember if she had felt anything like
this when Dracula had come around.
Was it because she had
just come off a summer on the Hellmouth, relegating that physical
clue to unnecessary again? Most likely it was, she decided with a
frown. That frown only partly caused by the twisting muscles in her
stomach. Well, one thing was for sure, she was going to stake the
hell out of this one for more than principal. In fact, she just might
get a little postal on this Vamp's-!
The
scream that rang out into the quiet night had Buffy running full tilt
towards it. The
scene that she came upon was so familiar in it's nature that she was
able to get right back into routine. The quip that distracted
attention away from the would be victim. The realization that the
Slayer was actually in Palo Alto and not Sunnydale as most would
assume. The fight, the kill and then Buffy was able to turn her
attention to the person that she had saved.
Tucking
her stake into the inside pocket of her three quarter length coat,
Buffy hurried forward to help the victim up. The woman, seemed
dazed and with how close the Vamp had been, perhaps it was something
more. She steadied the woman on her feet, reaching to brush the long
dark hair back, obviously it had fallen loose from a clip or
something.
“Professor Murray?”
she realized and the teacher of her Women's Lit class blinked
owlishly at her before reaching to press a hand to her bleeding neck.
“Buffy?” she
muttered, as if just as surprised as the young blond woman before
her. She glanced around the alley they were in. “What happened?”
“I uh, was about to ask
you the same thing?” Buffy hesitated. She knew for sure that people
on the Hellmouth would brush it off, transmute it into something
else. She didn't have the same assurances here.
“I was... I think I was
attacked,” Professor Murray grumbled. “My purse...” she turned
and looking around, the teacher that she was propping up, saw the
accoutrement laying on the ground. Making sure that Professor Murray
was steady on her feet, Buffy kept one hand on the woman's back and
leaned over to pick the purse up for her. “What are you...”
“I was out for a walk,”
Buffy told her quickly, hanging on to the purse until she was ready
to take it. She eyed her teacher with a practiced eye. She was still
woozy on her feet and the wounds the Vampire had made in her throat
were still trickling. He'd had himself quite the meal before she had
interrupted, recognizing the shock of blood loss. “I heard a scream
and when I yelled, this guy just... dumped you and took off running.”
“Oh,” was the only
murmuring reply she got before her professor finally succumbed to the
faint that had been threatening to take her.
“Okay,” Buffy grunted
as the full weight of the woman fell into her arms. “Let's get you
to a hospital Professor Murray.”
In the end it was easier
said than done. But it did get done and after Buffy had, with the
help of a kindly stranger stopping in the middle of the street to
help with the unweildy load, then dropping them at the emergency
room, she had given a statement to the police.
Her accounting was vague,
it was true. But given her assertion that she had heard the scream
(true), had seen her teacher being attacked (true though not
recognized until after the fact) and the perp had run (true, though
towards her and not away from the scene) the cops just seemed happy
that the victim had received help and medical attention. Even if they
weren't so happy that she couldn't give them a complete physical
description other than tall, kinda ugly, not well dressed. (All very
true.)
And though not
necessarily the best thing, but certainly a highlight for Buffy, the
doctor was insisting that the professor stay overnight for
observation and would not be taking class tomorrow.
That meant Buffy could
definitely put operation 'ask Sam out for their coffee date' a little
earlier than she planned. And that was an excellent thing.
*****
Sam grinned the entire
way to art appreciation. He'd been wondering if Buffy was looking
forward to class as much as he was. He was still wary of her
assertion that first day that it might not be something she stuck
with. But he intended to milk those days that she was there.
Otherwise, who knew what might happen.
As it turned out, he was
a little early, which was all right by him. He chose the same seat
that he had before and then, opening up the book he had brought with
him, more for a prop than because he was interested in reading it yet
again, Sam kept an eye on the door as professor and then students
began to trickle in.
He didn't see Buffy yet,
but had no reason to think that she wouldn't show. At one point, he
even wished that he knew more people around campus, aside from Brady,
who didn't have classes with Buffy. Knew people that were around her
more, that Sam could be friendly with. Of course, he mentally snorted
to himself, that was a little too stalkerish sounding if he would
admit it.
But so far he was pleased
with the progress so far. They had found some things in common,
classes, extracurricular activities, sort of things within their
familes. It wasn't exact Sam knew. But at least it was common ground,
the annoying sibling part. And perhaps it was better that way, that
they weren't exactly alike. It was more like balance. They brought
understanding to the situation. Sam was pretty sure that Buffy had
enjoyed their outing after meeting at the gym. He knew that it was a
good sign that she had stuck around talking with him, well after
their cones were finished. And she had asked him for the coffee they
had intended to get. He just hoped they could work something with
their schedules.
Feeling the crunch of
starting college a little later than his cultural counterparts in
some areas, Sam had gotten in as many classes as he could. Therefore,
unlike others too, he had classes on Fridays. It wasn't so uncommon
here, but there was quite a bit of drop off on Mondays or Fridays as
students wanted party time or perhaps recuperation time. Of course,
it was possible that they were using the time to study or catch up on
coursework. It was possible.
“That must be a really
good book,” he heard and quickly glanced up.
“Buffy,
hey!” he grinned and turned his hand over to show her. The worn
cover of Harper Lee's To
Kill A Mockingbird
was faded in areas, but the name and title were still clearly
visible. As Buffy slid into the seat next to him and dropped her bag
to the floor between her feet, she reached for the book and smiled
brilliantly.
“Your favorite,” she
noted and Sam felt a warm glow in his chest. Yes! She had just been
distracted from their conversation by worry over her friend. That or
she had a good memory. “You know, I do remember reading this, and
then we watched the movie in class. It didn't mean much to me then,
but on reflection, I think what impacted me most was Mrs. DuBose's
struggle with her morphine addiction.” She let loose of the book
and Sam took it back, grinning like a fool. That sounded real, or
very good research to impress, but either way he'd take it.
“I actually found that
I could identify with all the characters at one point or another,”
he noted quietly amidst the conversation that filled the auditorium
around them. “Guess it just depended what was going on in my life.
Probably why I keep rereading it.”
“Even that racist dad?”
Buffy demanded lightly, her eyebrows going up. “Sorry, it's been a
while. Can't remember his name.”
“Even him,” Sam
nodded with a slight frown. “Though it wasn't so much the racism as
it was the desire to try and eke something better out of life. He
just went about it in a way that I've yet to sink to and hopefully
never will.”
“Good to know,”
Buffy's expression was slightly hard to read. She looked as if she
were contemplating something, but Sam had to be honest. Of course he
wasn't going to explain the complete circumstances behind that, but
there it was. “You kind of remind me of this girl I knew and her
boyfriend. They spent every cent they had to get matching tattoos.
Could barely afford a slice of pie. But at least, they'd starve
together, instead of alone, you know?”
Sam let out a slightly
shocked chuckle. “That's a little extreme, don't you think. But
maybe that's the point. You don't know how low you'd sink until
you're going down, right?” He wondered for just a brief moment how
they had gotten on to such a serious topic.
“Well, in the interest
of not finding that out yet, I have a question,” Buffy announced,
the twinkle returning to her eyes. Sam was about to reply, but their
professor called their class to attention and conversations ground to
a halt.
Sam kept glancing at
Buffy who was alternating between listening to their professor and
checking her papers. Once or twice he thought that she might be
glancing at him as well, but he never quite turned his face just
slightly as his eyes slid her way to catch her in time. But he had
the sense of being watched in a way that wasn't that threatening. In
fact, it felt kind of... fun. Sam's lips quirked as he wondered if
Buffy were in the same position as he. Glancing over to see if...
Should he or shouldn't he? The urge to disregard what was going on
around them and just continue to bask in the warmth that was Buffy
was strong, and Sam was teetering on the edge of the all encompassing
crush, as he had been for a while and not at all worried about going
down.
“Winchester!”
Professor Clements barked out and Sam, startled slightly, noted as he
jumped just a little, that Buffy was chuckling, but so far no one
else seemed to notice his gaffe. He waited for the question and when
Clements continued to rifle through a few papers, grew confused
before the professor looked up once more. Had he missed the question?
“That leaves Abbot, Jamison, Norman and Winthrop. All right, buddy
up people and once you've chit chatted, then I'll pass this list
around. And don't worry, if there's an artist you all really want,
I'll accept multiple reports or just write the name in. As long as
it's recent people. Recent! Within the last hundred years!”
There was some laughter,
though Sam was not among them. He was lost until he felt Buffy's hand
on his arm. “Don't worry Sam, you're with me,” she whispered
quietly, leaning towards him. “Group research paper,” she
explained and Sam let out a quick sigh of relief. Students all over
the auditorium were standing, carrying their bags as they reorganized
themselves. Buffy waved at one of the students and the male began
making his way up from the second row towards them. But then he
stopped to talk to someone else.
Sam, still curious about
the topic she had been about to bring up earlier, before class
started, used the opportunity presented to him. “So you were going
to ask earlier?” he prompted.
“Oh, right,” Buffy
nodded. “You know I usually have a class right after this, right?”
she reminded him and Sam nodded. Her cheery grin widened. “Well, as
it turns out, I have it on good authority that my next class is
canceled. So I was wondering... are you up for getting that coffee?
If you're free?”
Sam's lips curved
automatically as well. This was sooner than expected or reasonably
hoped for. The unresonable hopes had to be put down, because Sam
could be logical about some things. There was no way that he'd
refuse, since this was exactly what he wanted. But he was prevented
from answering, when one of their classmates, presumably one of their
foursome, dropped her bag in the row before them and knelt on the
chair.
“So we're grabbing
coffee after class?” the girl demanded. But before either could
answer, she had lifted her hands to run through her hair and said
through a yawn, “God! I could use a cup right this sec. Good plan.”
“Well I-!” Buffy
began, but seemed quite appalled at the girl's presumptiveness.
“Actually, we-!”
But Sam was cut off by
the fourth apparent member of the group finally catching up as he had
entered the row behind Sam and Buffy and jumping over the seats to
land next to Sam. “Coffee after class? Works for me man,” the guy
announced. “My weekend is packed. The sooner we get this taken care
of, the sooner I can finish up my work for my other four classes.
I've got to be done, 'cause it's my Nana's birthday this weekend and
I absolutely promised I'd be there. She's gonna be eighty-six.”
“That's...
an impressive age,” Buffy complimented hesitantly and then sighed.
She glanced at Sam and he gave her an apologetic
grin. Perhaps things weren't going to work out as easily as they had
assumed. At least in regards to scheduling another date. But he felt
buoyed that at least Buffy felt as eager as he to get to that next
date.
She slowly brightened and
he heard the soft sigh that she gave. “So, I guess we'll need to
decide which artist we want to pick.”
Sam glanced at list that
was slowly making it's way from where Clements had started it at the
closest group still at the front of the room. “Is there anyone
specific that you've got in mind?” he asked of the group in
general. “Because I have no problem with research.”
“Uh, bad words dude,”
the other male chuckled, eying Sam with much humor and Sam was about
to ask what that was about, but the other woman leaned forward on her
seat.
“Yeah, that's like an
open invitation for your group to ditch and leave everything on your
shoulders,” she informed him. Sam glanced at Buffy, who was nodding
slowly. “I didn't catch your names, also. Your first names?”
“I'm Sam,” Sam
offered, reaching out with his hand, shaking with the unknown girl,
then the male.
“Andrea,” she
answered and glanced at Buffy.
“Buffy,”
the perky blond supplied. “And the first one that makes fun of my
name gets a voulge to the head!”
“A what?” the male
chuckled, though his eyes were wide. He glanced between the group.
The differences were split as Andrea remained wide eyed and Sam was
chuckling. “I'm Mason, by the way.
“Hey,” Sam grinned by
way of greeting. He glanced at Buffy, who didn't seem inclined to
explain herself.
“I'm almost tempted to
make fun, just so I can see what a voulge is,” Andrea finally
laughed, staring at Buffy with interest in her eyes, leaning forward
in her seat again. “I'm assuming it's some kind of a weapon?”
“Yeah,” Buffy noted
slowly. “A voulge. It's like a glaive?” There were uninformed
looks from the newcomers, though Sam nodded. “A type of pole arm?”
she expanded. When understanding dawned and the others began to nod,
she allowed herself a grin. “Sorry, it's just that our school took
any mention of weapons seriously. So my friends and I took an
afternoon and looked up the names of medieval weaponry. Faculty never
caught on. Well, aside from the librarian. But he's the one who
showed us where the books were. Never got in trouble for that though,
so it worked. Sort of.”
“Cool,” Mason
chuckled. He gave a shrug of his shoulders. “Nice system, huh?”
“A little more
imaginative than anything I ever heard of in school,” Sam agreed.
“My dad was more of a gun guy, but my brother likes blades.” He
wondered momentarily if he had said too much, but Andrea and Mason
showed interest, as it seemed that Andrea's younger brother had an
Asian made weapons collection that he prized and went on at great
lengths about. And Mason liked martial arts movies, along with other
violent shows.
“Hey, how did we get
talking about weapons during art class?” Andrea wondered with a
shake of her head.
“Please,” Buffy
scoffed. “Have you looked at the etchings that crafters put on
those blades or in the handles? Definitely art.”
“Way to rationalize
it,” Mason complimented and Sam stiffened slightly. While Andrea
was a pretty dark haired girl, Buffy kind of outshone her. At least
in his opinion. And there was definitely a hint of interested vibes
coming from this Mason. He shifted closer to Buffy, though there was
an armrest between them, without thought. But Buffy didn't seem to
notice, or protest.
“Well, we should still
discuss our project at some point,” Buffy sighed, gesturing with
her finger over Mason's shoulder. The male turned to see the one of
the group below them, holding the sign up sheet out.
“I was gonna suggest my
friend that's an artist,” Andrea noted. “But I think that they
actually have to have created something. And Jim's beer pyramid
probably doesn't count.”
There was laughter and a
little discussion as they looked over the names that were left.
Finally, with the rest of the class needing to sign up before the
class was dismissed and none of them really caring who it was they
researched and wrote about, they left it to luck and Buffy's finger.
Closing her eyes Buffy let her finger fall on the paper. “How's
that?” she asked, leaning back so that the others could lean in and
see the name chosen.
“Works for me,” Mason
nodded before glancing around. It was unanimous, because any of the
names listed on the paper would have needed the same amount of
research.
“Okay,” Andrea nodded
as she wrote the name out in one of her notebooks. “So we're on for
coffee right after class? We can divvy up the responsibilities and
decide how we want to write it all out?”
“We probably better,”
Sam sighed. So much for getting Buffy to himself right away, but she
looked fairly nonplussed, so maybe getting coffee wasn't exactly what
she wanted to talk to him about.
“Where we planning on
going?” Mason asked as he watched Buffy write their names in the
line provided before she passed the sheet back. “Campus coffee
house?”
“Don't worry,” Buffy
told him, shaking her head. “I've got it covered. Everyone ready?
Class'll be dismissed in a few minutes.”
Trusting her judgment,
Sam leaned over to shove his notebook into his book bag, noting that
the other three were doing the same. But suddenly, a flash of bright
blue caught his eye and he saw the paper in Buffy's hand that was
stretched out towards him. He cautiously took the paper from her and
read the information quickly. He had seen some students around campus
posting these flyer's in the last day or so.
She was interested in a
party at the Kappa house? Sam wasn't sure that it was his brand of
entertainment, but when he caught sight of the promise of a dj, all
he could think of then was the chance to have Buffy in his arms in a
totally socially acceptable manner. He threw her a grin and a nod and
was pleased to see her eyes light up as he folded the piece of paper
over and with her unspoken permission, tucked it into his bag as
well.
“Well, I'm all set,”
he announced, righting himself just as Clements dismissed the class.
“Me too,” Buffy
agreed as she stood and held her hand out to Sam. He took it,
conscious of Mason's eyes on them. Sam was fully expecting her to let
go once he was upright, but she simply turned to pull him along
behind her down the row of chairs out to the aisle. “Follow us
guys.”
Sam was sure that the
glow of masculine pride would blind even the dimmest suitor in that
room in that moment.
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