Well, I guess this is it.

I sit in a booth at Slash, fiddling with my drink and waiting for Faith to show up. The music pounds through the club and people are dancing around me.

Either she shows up and everything's fine or I freaked her out and she doesn't want to be friends anymore. God I hope she shows up. We were really starting to become good friends. I don't want to lose that. It would completely bum me out. This place just wouldn't be as fun without her around to have that fun with. And we did have a lot of fun, or I did anyway. I was never quite sure whether she had any fun or not. She kept saying she did but maybe she was just saying that to be polite.

Then again, Faith isn't in the habit of saying things just to be nice. She hasn't been in the past from what I know. She must have been telling the truth when she said she had fun. Maybe that'll be enough. Maybe since we had so much fun together it won't matter that I gave her a kiss on the cheek. Not even a kiss, a peck. I hope that's what she's thinking, because otherwise things will get awkward. Faith and my sister work together. We're bound to run into each other sooner or later. Possibly during the next apocalypse.

Buffy could invite her over for dinner or something. She only did it that one time after Sunnydale, but it could happen again, I suppose. I wouldn't want things to be awkward. That would just be too uncomfortable.

My eyes lift themselves from my drink and I look out over the crowd, scanning it for Faith. She's nowhere in sight.

She has to come. I don't know what I'll do if she doesn't come. Things will get really awkward if she doesn't come. Or, I think they will. I know they will for me. I'm not sure how she'll feel about it exactly. I guess I won't know until she comes. If she comes that is. There's still a really good chance she won't. And if she does come, it could just be about the kiss on the cheek and then she'll go. Anything could happen when she gets here. If she gets here.

I take my hands off my glass and wipe them on my pants. Some of what I'm wiping off is from the glass, and some of it is from how nervous I am.

Why the heck am I so nervous about this? There's nothing to be nervous about. It was just a peck on the cheek. It wasn't anything more than that... I don't think. Maybe it was more than that, but it wasn't intended that way. It wasn't intended as anything more than just a thank you for such a nice time. I just... I hope she'll let me explain that.

"Hey..."

Looking up at the voice that just spoke, the sight of Faith standing there makes me even more nervous. She smiles at me in the way she does.

"Hey..."

Okay, I have to be calm about this.

"Mind if I sit down?"

"Oh, sure..."

She slides into the booth next to me. A couple seconds of silence pass and I feel like the world's going to end if one of us doesn't say something. Thankfully, like always, Faith starts things off.

"So, how's life?"

Her voice is a little emotional.

"Umm, it's good."

"That's good."

We fall into silence a little while.

All right, it's now or never.

"Look, Faith..."

My eyes drift to Faith and she's looking back at me. The look in her eyes does something to me. It touches me in a way I've never felt before.

I don't understand what I'm feeling, but I know it's a good feeling.

"Umm, I... I wanted to say I'm sorry."

She has a slightly confused expression on her face.

"You are? For what exactly?"

She doesn't know? How can she not know?

"For uh, what happened a couple days ago."

Her confused look doesn't go away as she waits for the rest of the explanation.

"You know, at the end of the night where I kissed you on the cheek."

Suddenly she understands what I'm talking about.

"Oh... what's there to be sorry about?"

"I dunno, I just feel like I should apologize."

Faith kinda scoffs at the idea.

"Nah, it's not that big a deal."

It's not?

"Honestly? When you leaned in like that, I figured you were gonna plant a big wet one on me."

She did?

I look down at my drink as I'm not sure what to say to that.

"Which... you know, wouldn't really have been a problem for me."

Wait, what?

Our eyes meet again and she's got a devilish grin on her face.

"Hey, you told me you were out here to have fun. If that's your idea of how you want to have fun, then I don't plan on stopping you."

She squirms/dances in her seat next to me as her grin gets wider.

Oh... well I guess that's a good thing. I was all worried and paranoid over nothing. Yet for some reason the fact that she thinks kissing me would just be fun bothers me.

"All right."

Faith inches closer to me and nudges me with her shoulder.

"So no worries Dawn. You get an impulse like that again, feel free to follow it."

I keep my gaze on hers for a moment to make sure she means it, even though I'm not sure why it's important to me.

I don't think I will get an impulse like that again, but it's nice to know she isn't going to stop me.

When her expression doesn't change, I smile at her.

"Maybe I will."

I'm not sure why I said that. It just felt right to say it.

Her smile lets me know that it was the right thing to say. We sit there together in the booth of the club, silent for a while except for the sound of the music playing. After a while, I turn to her.

"So, what do you wanna do tonight?"

She grins.

"Well, if it's not too radical an idea, I thought we might have some fun and dance."

I laugh at her suggestion.

"Now there's an idea. Gee, I wonder why we didn't think of that before."

We're both laughing now and I nudge her back in the shoulder. Finishing off my drink and setting it down on the table, I slide my way to the end of the booth.

"Why don't we get to it then?"

Faith doesn't say anything to that. She just slides out of the booth as I stand up. We head out onto the dance floor the way we have almost every day this week.

I thought I'd get tired of doing this so much for so long, and I was a little. But the second I ran into Faith and realized how much fun it was to dance with someone, things got a lot more fun. At the end of the night, I may want to pass out, but I'm always hoping Faith and I will get together soon and do it again. Being around her is really great.

Faith and I make it to the middle of the dance floor as the song plays on through the club. Like always, the music is really great and I can feel it flow through me. It feels almost as if I'm drinking the music when I start to move to it. A body brushes up against mine and I turn my head to see Faith right next to me. Knowing she brushed against me puts a smile on my face, so I return the favor and brush my hip across her butt as she does a 360 turn while she dances.

Her eyes meet mine as she looks back at me. The grin on her face feels good. I decide to do my own turn, rolling my hips in a circle as I do. When I get about halfway around, there's a hard slap on my ass and I jump at the contact, looking back at who did it. Faith has a huge grin on her face and wiggles her eyebrows while she dances. For some reason, I liked that she spanked me. So I keep dancing and enjoying myself to the music.

We keep dancing, loving every second of it when the other people on the dance floor start to crowd around us. The more they close in on us, the closer we get to each other, which really doesn't bother me all that much. I feel her hands on my hips and I start to dance even harder as her body gets inches from mine. As we keep dancing, I lean back into her a bit and I can feel her hot breath on my shoulder. A shiver runs through me.

That feels really good. Mmm...

* * *

God... I think I have feelings for Faith.

We sit together on opposite ends of our booth, drinks in hand. Silence has been in the space between us since we stopped dancing a few minutes ago after tearing up the dance floor for almost an hour.

I don't know what it was about that dance, but about half way through I got really horny. I've never felt like that towards another girl before, but I know what feeling horny is like and that's definitely what I was feeling. I'm still kinda feeling it actually. How could I not be turned on by it? The way we were dancing together, it was just so raw and exciting. Every time we touched or brushed up close or anything, I could feel it. This great spark between us that made me wanna grab her and kiss her to feel it even more.

Maybe that's why I like spending so much time with her. I want to be close to her because I want to be with her.

I look up at Faith for a second and take a drink before she notices.

I didn't see this coming. I'm not sure how it happened either. I've never thought about being with a woman before. I don't check out other women. But for some reason, spending time with Faith makes me want to check her out. It's not something I was prepared to feel, except here it is. She's such a great person. I just hope that she feels the same way I do.

I mean, she said she wouldn't mind if I kissed her, but was she just saying that to make me feel better or did she really mean it? Does she actually want me the way I want her? Or is she taking my whole 'only out for fun' speech to heart and letting whatever happens happen?

Then again, I should figure out exactly what I want before I start worrying about what she wants. Having fun is important to me, but does it really apply to anything that might happen between Faith and me? If anything does happen that is. Am I looking for fun with Faith? Or something more? I don't think I know for sure.

My eyes meet hers across the table, and I could swear I see a hint of nervousness in them. It's covered up quickly by a sexy little grin.

When did I start thinking her grins were sexy? And when did Faith get nervous? I've never really seen her get nervous, about anything. Could she be nervous for the same reason I am? That's... that's a good thing. I think. If that's the reason she's nervous I mean. There's no way I can just ask her if that's the reason though. It'd be totally rude of me to do something like that.

We continue to look at each other in silence for a few more moments.

One of us should say something though.

"So... had enough fun for tonight?"

"Well, I could party till the sun comes up if I wanted to. But then I'm the one with slayer stamina."

She wiggles her eyebrows at me.

What's that supposed to mean exactly?

"You?"

"Umm, well, I've been having a lot of fun, but I am a little tired."

"Ya wanna go home?"

Not if it means leaving you.

I shake my head at her gently.

"No I'm okay... I could use a break from all the dancing though."

Faith grins and leans back against the seat.

"Sounds good to me."

The way she looks at me just puts a smile on my face.

Wow, this is hard.

Leaning back against the seat, I take a drink from my glass. She watches me from across the table and I feel a tingle run through me.

Just being around her makes me wish I could jump over the table and kiss her. This is all so new to me. I've never really felt this way about someone. There've been guys I liked. Guys I wanted to date and be with a lot. But it's never really felt like this. I'm not sure what to do with these feelings.

And then, something terrible happens.

"Hey Dawn..."

Boy did I not need this.

My eyes drift up to the one who spoke.

"Hi Candy."

Glancing at Faith, I can see she's looking at Candy.

She's not alone this time either. Candy's got her entourage of Carmen and Tess with her. So what does she want to bitch about now? That I'm out with Faith? It's not like Buffy doesn't already know that. What does she care what I'm doing?

"Carmen, Tess..."

A few moments pass as the three of them stand there awkwardly.

"Hello Faith."

Faith nods at Candy.

"Candy..."

I like the slightly cold sound in Faith's voice. Not entirely sure where the coldness comes from, but after what she did to me I don't much care. It's just good to see that look on her face. She doesn't much like the idea of Faith not liking her. What with being her teacher and all.

Carmen speaks up.

"How's the chin?"

Oh, the easy shots thing that Buffy told me about the other night. Well that explains it. Candy probably put her up to it, she's always getting Carmen to do her dirty work for her. They probably noticed Faith being distracted and Candy decided to be mean about it. It's really a juvenile thing to do. I'd never do it to her, much as I'd like to.

"Five by five... has your nose healed up any? It looks like the swelling has gone down."

The sudden, slightly offended look on Carmen's face and the hint of anger on Candy's puts a smile on mine. I hide it as best I can though and I don't think anyone notices.

"It's fine. I'm really loving this whole slayer healing thing."

"Yeah it helps with a lot of things doesn't it Carmen?"

There's silence on Carmen's end of the conversation, again I feel a smile on my face. After a few moments of that I decide it's a good idea to jump in.

"Did you want something Candy?"

Her eyes meet mine with a meanness I've gotten used to from her. The meanness turns into a faked smile and I just wish she'd leave.

"No, I just came in here with my girls to have some fun. Saw you two sitting here and we thought we'd say hi."

Well if that's all...

"Okay then... hi."

I try to make my faked 'hi' sound as perky and upbeat as I can. It's hard though given that I don't really like her that much.

"Hey..."

Then she turns to Faith and smiles.

"It's nice to see you outside of class Faith. If you're ever looking for a little more fun, you should come out with us some time. You're always saying that we slayers should stick together."

"I'll give it some thought."

Is Faith actually going to give it some thought or is she just humoring Candy?

"Okay..."

Candy, Tess and Carmen all leave the general area and head off to get their own table.

Not a moment too soon for me.

I keep my voice low when I think they're too far to hear anything over the music of the club.

"Thank god they're gone."

Faith kinda chuckles at what I say and we meet eyes across the table.

"Not much of a fan of the three of them eh?"

I shrug my shoulders a little.

"Well, Tess is okay, it's Candy and Carmen that bother me."

"Yeah, I can't say I'm a fan either. They're pretty arrogant, whether it's in or out of class from what I hear. Their parents asked us to try and do something about it when they were enrolled, hoping we could straighten them out. B and I are still working on something to bring them down a peg or two."

Faith is trying to get the better of Candy? I love that idea.

"If they don't learn a little humility, it could get them killed. B and I both know how dangerous that is, first hand."

"Makes sense."

We fall into a short moment of silence.

Knowing they're here has really taken the fun out of tonight.

"You know, I think I'm done for the night. Better to go home and get a little extra sleep on the weekend. With school and all."

"Sure, I was kinda thinking the same myself. Let's motor."

All I do is smile at Faith for her suggestion and we both leave the booth, heading for the door.