"What do you think of this?" I step out from my paper curtain and ask
  him, buttoning up the red shirt.

  He looks over at me and shrugs, while finishing to stuff his shirt into
  his pants. "Nice."

  I frown. "It’s my first big dance y’know, where there’s a boy in a band
  and not just me alone in my room pretending there’s a boy in a band." I
  go back behind the curtain. "I just want it to be-"

  "Special." Xander finishes for me. "That’s why I spared no expense on
  the tux."

  I raise an eyebrow, forgetting he can’t see me behind the curtain. "The
  tux? I though you, uh, borrowed it from your cousin Rigby."

  "Expense to the pride, Will." He answers. "They’re our only relations
  with money, and they shun us, as they should."

  I come back out wearing my black skirt. "What about this?"

  He glances at me and shrugs again. "Nice."

  I watch him fumble with his bow-tie, and I go over to help. Suddenly I
  smirk, and he looks inquiringly at me. "What?"

  "I was just- remember the eighth grade dance? You had that clip-on."

  "Yeah, I was pretty stylin’ with the clip-on."

  "And now here we are," I continue. "and it’s homecoming."

  "Yeah, we should face it Will, we’re going to be in neighboring rest
  homes while I come over so you can adjust my um . . . my uh . . ." he
  paused. "Well I can’t think of anything that’s not really gross."

  I smile and go back to try another outfit on.

  "So, uh, you and Oz, how do I put this, are we on first, second, or
  yee-gawd!?"

  That’s none of your business Alexander Harris." I said using my most
  adult tone.

  "Oooh, rounding second!"

  I sigh. "Ach, you don’t know that. What about you and Cordelia?"

  "Oh, a gentlemen never talks about his conquests."

  I smirk. "Oh yeah, well since when are you a . . ."
  My words drop off as I step out and see him. God, he looks stunning in
  that suit. I manage to find my voice. "gentlemen." I finish.
  He just stares at me. I look down. "Yeah, I know, it’s nice." My voice
  drops.
  He stare at me, almost . . . is that awe?

  "Well," his voice is raspy. "I was going to go with gorgeous." He walks
  closer to me.

  My heart soars. "Really? You too. In a guy way."
  He’s got that cute little half smile on his face that I love.

  "Oz is very lucky." Xander points out.

  "So is Cordelia." How has my voice gotten so low?
  A thought strikes me. "I don’t know if I can dance in this. . . I don’t
  know if I can dance!" my voice starts to get panicked.

  "C’mon, piece of cake." Xander answers. He moves closer and motions for
  me to come to him. We lock hands and he gently starts to rock me back
  and forth, staring intently at my face.

  "Well that seems to, uh, . . ." his voice falls off.

  "Yeah," I reply. "This shouldn’t be a problem."

  "No, no problem." His voice is even huskier then before.

  I close my eyes for a moment, breathing in his after-shave, his
  closeness. When I open them again, his lips are dangerously close, and
  I can hear his heavy breathing on my neck. I smile softly, dreamily, and
  allow my eyes to fall shut again, reaching slightly upwards. I can feel
  his mouth coming closer, and before I know it his lips are on mine,
  gently at first, but growing firmer as the kiss builds. He teases my
  lips with his tongue, and I casually let him slip between my lips,
  letting him explore my mouth. I concentrate on his upper lip, mesmerized
  by the feel of him, the tenderness he is showing me. Bells are ringing
  in my ears, and-is that- yup, those feel like fireworks exploding in the
  back of my mind. Then all at once a balloon pops over our heads at the
  same time, and we both push away.

  "That didn’t happen!" he cries out.

  "No, I mean it did, but it didn’t." I reply anxiously.

  "Because I respect you, and Oz, and I would never-"

  "I would never either. It must be the clothes. It’s a fluke." I try to
  reassure myself.

  "It’s a clothes fluke, that’s what it is. And there’ll be no more
  fluking!"

  I nod, and lean slightly forward, and his lips are coming closer again,
  no wait!

  "We gotta get out of these clothes!" he exclaims.

  "Right now!"

  "Oh, I didn’t mean . . ."

  "I didn’t mean either." We both turn around and head in opposite
  directions, and as I undo the zipper on my dress behind the curtain, I
  hear him grabbing his clothes and leaving.
  Relaxing, I step out to my empty room, and sit down on my bed, a
  thousand thoughts a minute running through my head. What was that?

  * * *
  "I mean, I though being a senior- at last, and having a girlfriend- at
  last, would, would be a good thing. Why wouldn’t that be a good thing?"

  It’s a few days after that ‘fluke’, and me and Xander have just decided
  to shrug it off, and ignore it best we can. Although we’re not exactly
  doing the best job, considering one of us always manages to bring it up
  some time or another. Anyway, right now he raving on about Buffy and
  Cordelia, and I’m listening to him, I really am, but god, his lips are
  so captivating when he’s complaining. He finally notices I’m not
  listening and looks at me. "What?"

  Involuntarily I bring my hand up to his mouth. "Sometimes, when your
  falling to pieces, your mouth, it just does the sweetest thing."

  He takes hold of my hand in his and rubs it softly against his cheek.

  "Xan- what are we going to do?" I ask him.

  "We just gotta get the two of them communicating." He answers.

  I smile at him sadly. "I’m talking about us."

  Something tells me he already knew that, as he squeezes my hand harder,
  staring into my eyes. Hesitantly, he brings up his other hand and
  brushes away a stray lock of hair on my face, becoming more confident
  when I lay my cheek down in his hand. Xander continues to caress my
  face, and slides closer to me.
  "Well, later, we’re going to figure out how to make Buffy and Cordelia
  friends again. But right now," he pauses. "if it’s all right with you,
  I’d really like to kiss you again."

  I try to make the words come out, to tell him that it’s not all right,
  and if we do this we’re going to jeopardize our friendship, but my mouth
  seems sealed shut, and all I can do is nod wordlessly, and my heart
  silently contradicts my mind by leaning in to Xander when he comes
  closer to kiss me, and not pushing him away when our lips make contact.
  After that pretty much all rational thought flies out of my head, and I
  run my hands through Xander’s hair and down to scratch the base of his
  neck while he wraps his arms around my waist and tugs me closer. And
  then before I know it we’re falling back onto my bed, and his hand is
  tracing circles around my thigh while the other hand is slowly reaching
  under my sweater, all the while our tongues wrestling in my mouth, and
  his hot breath making me feel dizzy. And before I even realize it I feel
  his hand on my bra, cupping my breast with his hands and squeezing it
  lightly. Then I gasp as I feel his other hand move below my skirt,
  lingering above my underpants, before reaching under and . . .

  BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

  I woke up panting as my alarm clock reminds my that I was in real life
  now, and my rather. . . exciting dreams would have to wait until
  tonight. God, I think, why do I always wake up just before it starts to
  get good. No wait, I admonish myself. That’s not good! Xander and you =
  bad. Very bad. So why can’t I get over it? I sigh. And it’s all because
  of some stupid clothes fluke.