Playing Games

[deird_lj]

My latest still_grrr ficlet.
Written for the prompt “Spin The Bottle”.

Playing Games

She’s only ever played spin-the-bottle once.

It was the summer between middle school and high school, and Jesse suggested it – mostly so that he’d have an excuse to maybe kiss girl-of-the-moment, Catie Lockwood.
Willow blushed horribly, but said yes. She didn’t want to look childish in front of everyone.
So she sat in the circle, watched the bottle spin round and round… and couldn’t quite stop looking at Xander, and wondering if it would land on him when it was her turn.
But Jesse landed on Xander instead – and the two of them refused point blank to continue after that. So they threw away the bottle and spent the rest of the afternoon watching movies.

So, yeah. That was her only spin-the-bottle experience. You couldn’t call her an expert.

Now, though?
She’s been playing it a lot lately – and she’s getting pretty good at it.

She goes to her locker, the Bronze, or the library, and there is Oz. Nice, guitar-playing, boyfriendy Oz, who is just perfect in an Oz-ish sort of way.
And that should be enough.

But she puts the bottle on the floor, and spins.
Round and round it goes…

And there, sitting in the circle, is Xander Harris. Her Xander. The Snoopy-dancing, chocolate-eating, best-friendy type of Xander.

There goes the bottle, round and round…

And Oz writes songs about her, and is so supportive.

Spinning like it’s never going to stop…

And Xander grins at her and makes silly jokes.

Round and round the circle…

Really fun, Xanderish jokes.

…and it lands on Oz.
Oz.
Of course it lands on Oz.

She smiles at him, and they kiss, and she smiles some more.

And then she picks up the bottle and spins it again.
It’s going to land on Oz again – of course it will, he’s her boyfriend after all – but she knows that already. So there’s no harm in just checking.

Xander trades lunches with her, and they moan about homework and annoying teachers.

It really was unfair that she never got her turn in that game. And she owes it to herself – to the girl she used to be – to spin it just ONCE, and check. Just to make sure.

Oz gets online, and they spend three hours chatting about everything they can think of.

And it’ll land on Oz – it always lands on Oz.

She loves Oz so much.

Except for this time.
This time it lands on Xander.

They skip fifth period, and make out in the stacks instead. And they both feel horribly guilty, and swear that this time, they really ARE going to stop. It’s not going to happen again. Never.

Then she picks up the bottle, and spins it once more.
And it goes round and round…

Comments

[snowpuppies]

Oh, nice. The 'spin the bottle' thing fits in so nicely here...it's just very well put together! And it so works with this stage in Willow's life.

Kudos!

[deird1]

Thanks!
I'm glad you liked it!

[a2zmom.livejournal.com]

Love the metaphor here. That she's only just playing a game and it's not her fault if it lands on Xander this one time.

[deird1]

Willow's very good at making excuses for herself, isn't she?

Glad you liked this!

[dreamincolor.livejournal.com]

Very nice.

It’s going to land on Oz again – of course it will, he’s her boyfriend after all – but she knows that already. So there’s no harm in just checking.

Great use of metaphor - it just fits so perfectly. The way Willow convinced herself that it wasn't her fault and it wasn't on purpose, and that she won't do it again was spot on for her at that time.

Great work hon!

[deird1]

I'm so glad you liked it!

[hello-spikey.livejournal.com]

aaaw, beautiful and touching and very Willow. A lovely way of really going into her life, as it was in high school, and her conflicted emotions about both boys.

[deird1]

Thank you.

[rosemont1021.livejournal.com]

That was great. You had Willow spot on.

[deird1]

Thanks!