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I glanced up when I heard her coming down the stairs. I was sitting on her couch, eating a bowl of Cap'n Crunch. "Hey, Wills," I said, after swallowing the sugary goodness.

"Xand. I see that your stomach couldn't wait." Willow chuckled.

I laughed. "Does it ever?" She didn't say anything about last night. Thank god. I didn't want to talk about it, about the dreams, about the feelings I was having about Spike, about her waking up with my hardness pressed against her back. . . "What?" I asked, realizing that she was talking to me.

"Bugs Bunny?" she asked, nodding towards the TV.

"Hey, I like Bugs Bunny," I defended. "You know that."

"Yea, Xander, but Scooby Doo is on," she whined.

A big smile broke on my face. "Damn! I completely forgot! It's been a long time since we've watched Scooby together! Hell, it's been a long time since I've been up at. . ." I leaned around her and glanced at the clock, ". . .six-thirty in the morning."

"What *are* you doing up this early in the morning?" she asked, sitting down next to me. She took the remote off my lap and changed the channel to where Scooby was. "You don't even get up this early when we have school."

I shrugged, taking another bite of my cereal. How do I tell her it's because I couldn't close my eyes without seeing Spike? I was becoming obsessed with this man, I just wanted to see him again, see if he had that much affect on me in person. I was sure that he wouldn't. He was a man, after all.

She leaned against me. I set my bowl of cereal down on the coffee table, and wrapped my arm around her. Things had changed last night, but in a weird way. I realized that Willow wasn't a girl anymore. She was having the same kinds of dreams I was having. It was strange, I just never figured her for an actual. . .woman. She wasn't supposed to think of men, only books and computers. I knew she was sorta thinking of dabbling in magic too, but she hadn't really talked to me that much about it. But last night, I realized she thought about more than that. She was, for all intensive purposes, a woman.

"Wills?" I asked, glancing down at her.

She looked up at me, with those big green eyes that I adore. "Yea?"

"So do you think that. . .I mean, would you date this Angelus guy if he asked you out? He seems kinda. . .old, you know?"

Her eyebrow went up. "I didn't notice how old he looked. I was too busy looking at his eyes. And those leather pants. It should be a crime for someone who looks that good to wear pants that tight. Not that I'm complaining or anything. . ." She giggled, a blush spreading on her cheeks.

"I never knew," I said, shaking my head.

"Knew what, Xander?"

"That you were interested in anyone." I shrugged. "You are so wrapped up in school. . ."

Willow shrugged her shoulders and looked down at her hands. She twisted them nervously. "I have only noticed one guy my entire life, and didn't have a need, nor a want, to notice anyone else," she said softly.

And somehow, I knew it was me. "Willow, I. . ." I closed my mouth. What could I have said to that? It was obvious that she didn't really want to talk about it. "Do you think that if you two started dating, that he'd be jealous of us?"

"There's nothing to be jealous of," she replied.

I wanted to tell her that there was, that I knew that she cared about me, but decided not too. I didn't want Willow to love me like that. She would only get hurt. It wasn't that I couldn't love her, because I probably could in the long run, but she was too important to me. I was so scared that being with her, as an actual couple, would ruin everything we'd spent our whole lives fine-tuning. "I know, but we are best friends, and I'm a guy. A lot of times boyfriends don't like that. You saw what happened to Monica Gretsic. She couldn't be friends with me or Jesse anymore when she started dating Johnny."

Willow snorted. "Johnny was a stupid jock who wanted to show her off. Somehow, I don't see Angelus being a stupid jock. It was weird, there was a connection there. You know? And I swear he knew me."

"All I remember is the electricity," I said softly. "When Spike touched my hand, it sent electricity all through my body. No one has ever done that."

She cuddled closer to me, putting her head on my shoulder. She wrapped her arms around my waist. "Would you get involved with him?"

"I. . .I don't know. I mean, I'd love to, I think, but you know my dad. He'd *completely* wig out. And then what would everyone at school say?"

She looked up at me, our faces inches away from each other. "Who cares?" she asked. "I mean, *I* won't judge you, and I doubt Jesse would. He's pretty carefree. Spike and Angelus seemed to know each other, so I doubt Angelus would look down on his friend, or you." She shrugged. "So a couple of kids give you a hard time at school. Just get Spike to kick their asses. It's obvious that he could."

I laughed, leaning down to kiss her lips softly. "You are the *best* friend a guy could have."

She smiled and put her head back on my shoulder, watching TV. "Thanks, Xander."

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