When We Last Met
by James Walkswithwind

"All right, mister, we've given you two weeks.  You
haven't done it, so
we're going to."

Xander looked up from his sandwich, frantically
thinking back to what he'd
promised to do for Buffy and Willow.  Should he have
avoided having lunch at
a cafe so close to campus?  The two girls were sitting
down at the table
opposite and beside him, not quite flanking him, but
definitely between him
and the door. "Um, er, yes?"  he managed, after he'd
swallowed his bite of
bacon, lettuce, and extra mayo.

Willow opened a notebook and pulled out a sheet of
paper.  "I have here the
complete schedule for one Graham Justin Miller--"

"WHAT?!"  Xander glanced around the room to find no
one was looking over,
and lowered his voice anyway.  "Graham's schedule?"

Buffy nodded, and took over the confrontation.
Intervention?  Xander wasn't
quite sure yet.  "We've listened to you talk about him
for two weeks.  Talk
about him, ask when the next party at Lowell House is,
asking me if I see
him anywhere, ask me if Riley knows where he happens
to be--"

Xander held up a hand -- then set down his sandwich
and held his hand up
again, this time in a 'stop, now' gesture.  "All
right, I get the picture.
I think you're exaggerating, but I get the picture."

"Exaggerating?  Xander, last time you saw Riley, you
practically talked him
into hosting the next Scooby meeting."

He squirmed in his chair.  "Well, if he's going to be
a Scoob, he should do
his part, right?  We've all hosted meetings...or
intended to.  Right?"  He
looked over at Willow, but got no help.

Instead he got her smiling, and saying, "From five am
to six thirty am, he
works out.  At Lowell House, so not sure that helps,
unless you deliver the
paper.  Which he never seems to be the one to get,
anyhow.  From six thirty
am to seven, shower, getting ready for breakfast, from
seven to eight
breakfast and chores -- do you know those guys
actually keep their house
tidy?"  She paused and looked from Xander to Buffy.
"No maid service, they
all just divvy up the housecleaning and go at it."

"Wow,"  Buffy said, her eyes going wide.  "He's
already been trained.
That's good."

"I do *not* need Graham trained--"

"I meant Riley," Buffy interrupted.  "But Graham, too.
Good thing, Xander,
you kinda need it.  You two should move in together
soon."

Xander blinked. "We're not even *dating* yet."  He
blinked again.  "Did I
just say that out loud?"

The two girls nodded.

With a sigh, Xander laid his head on the table.  "OK,
fine.  Give me the
rest."

Willow grinned at him -- he could tell by the sound of
her voice.
Triumphant know-it-all Willow grin.  "Throughout the
day there are several
times when he's just not available -- either he's in
graduate-level classes
which I don't think we can sneak you into, or
he's...well, somewhere.
Lowell House, but I can't figure out what they're
doing.  Really quiet
parties, or they study *every* night.  Even for
well-trained college guys,
that seems a bit much."  Xander glanced up to see her
give Buffy a
pseudo-worried look, then she continued.  "But I've
identified two to four
hours each day where it would be perfectly natural for
you to just...run
into him.  Say 'hi', strike up a conversation...and
stop asking your friends
to arrange a chance meeting."

"I didn't--"

Buffy and Willow looked at him.

"I was being subtle," he tried.

They shook their heads.

"Well, it isn't as if I can just walk up and say 'hi,
can I jump your
bones?'"

"Why not?  Worked for me."  Willow stopped and looked
at them, as Buffy and
Xander gaped at her.  "This isn't about my love life,
thank you.  Shall we
move on?"

"Willow, whose bones did you jump?"  Xander asked.

"Three days a week he takes a jujitsu class.  It's
open for all levels,
including beginners.  I've signed you up; first class
is tomorrow evening."

"Um, what?  Jujitsu?"  He had a sudden feeling his
life was spinning out of
his control.  Which, actually, was an old familiar
feeling, so he went with
it.  "Do I need a gi?"

Willow shook her head.  "No, just regular workout
gear.  You *do*, however,
need to go to the bookstore, and pick up the textbook
for College Algebra.
Don't worry about the other textbooks, since he won't
really know if you're
going, but the computer thought it a little weird you
were taking less than
eight hours, so I enrolled you in three classes."

Xander actually waited until she stopped, before
asking, "Willow?  Classes?"

"Yeah.  Graham is a TA for College Algebra.  I know
math isn't your strong
suit, but that's good!  You'll need lots of help from
your TA."  She smiled
encouragingly.

"And the fact that I'm not enrolled...?"

"Taken care of," she said simply.  "Don't worry - I
told the computer your
tuition was paid in full."

"Oo!  Can you do mine, too?" Buffy asked brightly.

"Didn't have to," Willow told her.  "Didn't you know?"
When Buffy just
shook her head, Willow explained, "You have a
scholarship.  Paid by a very
obscure foundation.  Based in England?"

"Really?  They're paying my tuition?"

"And your dorm fees.  Didn't Giles tell you?"

Buffy looked sheepish.  "Um, maybe?  I might not have
been listening.  He
says 'school' and I kinda go off in this...school bad,
thinking hard,
place."

"Buffy, you shouldn't do that.  School is *fun* -- and
now Xander gets to
go, too!"

"Yea, me."  Xander twirled a finger in the air.
"Couldn't I just strike up
a conversation after jujitsu class?"

"It only meets three days a week,"  she reminded him.
"It'll take three
times as long for you to get to that point if you're
only taking jujitsu
with him.  By establishing yourself as a familiar face
in jujitsu, algebra,
and the Boward gymnasium where he places basketball
every Thursday and
Sunday afternoons, you'll be talking to him casually
this time, Friday."

"Basketball?  OK, that one I can do.  What's Boward
gymnasium?"

"It's the school gym nearest Lowell House--"  Buffy
began.

"Don't I have to be a student to get in?  A real
student," he added, when
Willow gave him the 'd'uh' face.

She handed over a card.  Xander took it, and looked at
it.

"Willow?  Can you get me a driver's license that says
I'm twenty two?"

"For the twenty-second time, no.  Xander Harris, you
shouldn't drink -- you
won't have time, anyway.  We have just enough time to
go to the bookstore
and show you around campus, before your algebra class
starts."

"I have to go to class *today*?"

"Yes!  Classes started a week ago, you're already
behind.  Which, again, a
good thing -- but if you don't show up to class soon,
he'll think you're a
slacker and he won't be impressed."  Willow nodded
towards his forgotten
lunch.  "Now finish your sandwich and we'll go.  I put
enough credit in your
student account to buy all your textbooks -- even if
you don't go to your
'Recent US History' and Intro to Design class, I think
maybe you should be
carrying around more textbooks than just the one.  So
when he asks what
other classes you're in, you can tell him.  It'll give
you something to talk
about.  For a few seconds, anyway."

Xander sifted through the various questions he had,
while he ate the last
two bites of his food.  Then, "Intro to Design?"

Willow's grin turned slightly apologetic.  "It was the
only thing open that
fit into your schedule."

"And if I'm not going anyway, who cares if it fits
into my schedule?"

"Well, I thought...you *could* go.  I know you didn't
really want to do the
college thing, but this way you could learn some stuff
and if you really
like it, you could apply again and maybe if you had
good grades they'd admit
you for real."

"Go to college just to meet a guy?"

"Women have been doing it for decades," Buffy pointed
out.

"I am *not* getting an M.R.S. degree, thank you."

"Oo, you really *do* like him."

Xander rolled his eyes.  "I'm not talking about
Graham."

"You have been for two weeks.  Non-stop.  We've been
clocking it."  Buffy
smiled at him, innocently.

After staring at his two friends for another moment,
Xander put his head
back down on the table.  He would kill them slowly,
later.

After he talked to Graham.

end chapter two