~*~*~

"So, have her home by 11:00, Oz." Willow's mother told Oz as he and Willow stood infront of Willow's front door.

"I will, Mrs. Rosenberg." Oz said, nodding at her.

"Have fun you two." Mrs. Rosenberg said.

"We will, mom." Willow said, as she opened her front door. Oz held it as she walked through. "Bye."

"Bye dear. Bye Oz."

"Bye Mrs. Rosenberg." He replied, and he shut the door behind the two of them. "How are you?" Oz asked Willow, smiling lightly at her as they walked to his van, which was parked across the street from her house. The meeting with her parents had been relatively painless, and though he could tell they were less than impressed with him being in a band, they seemed happy that he was, occording to Willow, 'really smart.' Actually, Oz had been quite flattered with that remark. Anything positive Willow said about him flattered him though. If she said, "Hey, I think your nose hairs are really cool." He'd be flattered.

"I'm good..." Willow said, smiling back at him. "How are you?"

"I'm doing good." He said, nodding his head, lightly. He opened her door for her, and waiting until she was inside to shut it and walk swiftly to the other side, climbing in as well. "How's the whole... Angel thing going?" He hadn't known Angel well at all, just met him breifly at Buffy's party, but he knew enough to know that the whole 'Angel is now Evil' thing had the slayer and her friends all in a mess.

"Oh, okay I guess." Willow sighed. "I mean... Buffy's still dealing... not well with it, and... we're all pretty scared that he's gonna come kill us... but other than that, it's alright." She smiled at him, semi-nervously. *He thinks I'm nuts.*

"Yeah..." He wasn't quite sure why Angel had turned bad, but being naturally perceptive, had kinda figured it out. He wanted to ask how things were with Willow and Xander, but felt sort of out of place to do so.

**C'mon, Oz... don't push it, you're lucky enough to have this beautiful girl sitting next to you... asking how her relationship with Xander is going is like saying 'hey, are you over him yet, 'cos I REALLY wanna kiss you...**

"Is everything else going alright?" He finally asked.

Though Willow hadn't known him for very long, she felt at ease talking to Oz. "Okay, I guess." She said. "I mean... I don't know, Xander and Cordelia are ALWAYS around eachother now..." **Not that I like him anymore... as much as I used to, anyways. In fact, Oz... I like you... and I want to kiss you... but noooo, if I told you that, you'd think I was just trying to use you again... of course, who'd blame you?** "But I'm learning to live with it." She finished. "It was just such a shock at first."

"Well, yeah... I mean, you had no clue, right?"

"Right... it was completely unexpected." She said.

**Why are we talking about Xander? This is you and me...**

"But we don't need to talk about that." She said, trying to keep her voice cheery.

**I am on a date and I am going to have a good time, because I happen to LIKE the person I'm dating... not dating... are we dating? Or just on date...** Willow's brow furrowed as she worked this problem out in her head. **Oh dear...**

"Is something wrong?" Oz asked, glancing over at her as he drove them down the streets of Sunnydale, towards the local movie theater.

Willow snapped out of her own thoughts to look at him. "Huh? Oh... no, I'm okay." She said. "So, what time is the movie?"

"8:30." He said, as if he'd spent a great deal of time memorizing it.

Willow glanced at the clock in his van. 8:10. **Damn.** She thought. **No time for a little smoochie action BEFORE the movie... not like we ever get any, anyways.**

* * *

Once inside the movie theater, Willow and Oz stood in line to buy food, chatting non-chalantly about school and other unsignificant, non-world- threatening things.

**This is nice.** Willow thought. **Not having to talk about demons and vampires all the time... being with someone who doesn't spend all their time around stakes and holy water. And he's cute, too. And funny, and nice and...**

"Do you want some popcorn?" Oz asked as they stepped up to the concession counter.

"Oh sure..." Willow said, pulling out her wallet.

Oz smiled kindly at her. "Don't worry about it." He said, and then he proceeded to buy them both popcorn, while Willow smiled affectionately at him.

**And generous.** She finished her thought. He handed her the popcorn, and she thanked him. He payed the concession person, and then they walked into the theater for "The Wedding Singer", the movie they were seeing.

"Where do you want to sit?" Oz asked her, glancing around the semi- crowded theater.

**Back row... back row...** Willow thought. "Umm... I dunno... near the back maybe?" **Back row, back row, back row...**

Oz seemed to pick up on what she was doing a smiled wisely.

"Looks pretty crowded back there." He said, and she nodded. "How about here?" He asked, pointing towards a row near the middle. Willow nodded and they sat.

"So... what are your plans for next year?" She asked him.

"Well, I'm not really sure..." He said, honestly. "I applied to a few colleges, and I got into two of them."

"Oh really? Which ones?" She asked, with interest, hoping they were nearby.

"Well, M.I.T and UCLA." He said.

"Wow, M.I.T?!" Willow said, impressed. "That's a really good school!"

"Yeah..." Oz said, unaffectedly. **She's impressed... wow.** "But I don't really wanna leave Sunnydale quite yet, I don't think... so I'm either gonna go to UCLA and just drive a whole lot..." They both laughed. "Or I'm gonna find a way to take those classes where they send you the stuff... you know..."

Willow nodded. "Correspondence."

"Yeah, correspondence." Oz smiled at her as they sat down. "What about you? Do you have your classes for next year picked out?"

"Yeah, pretty much... physics, calculus, humanities..."

"I took those... not too much fun." He said, honestly. "Though not to... discourage you."

"No, no... I know they won't be... I'd much rather be taking easy classes with... my friends, but my counselor guilt tripped me." Willow smiled at Oz.

"Did she give you that stern 'I don't want you messing up your life until AFTER you leave this building' look?"

Willow's smile widened. "Yeah! And... the little 'You've got great potential' lecture." She added.

Oz nodded. "Yup. I've had a few of those."

Willow giggled. **Someone who understands.** She thought, happily. Though it was having Xander and Buffy to tell the horror stories of the her meetings with the counselor, she'd never had anyone to 'share' them with.

Just then, Willow leaned down to place her purse on the ground and the same time Oz leaned to put his popcorn down. Their heads collided, and they both cried out in suprise.

"Oh!" Willow said, looking quickly at Oz, who locked eyes with her, his wide with suprise.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" He said, extending his hand to gently touch her forehead. She gazed dreamily at him as he examined it quickly. "Are you okay?"

"Mmm-hmm... okay." She said, nodding. "Are you?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." He smiled at her. They both continued to look at eachother, not moving.

**This would be a PERFECT time to kiss me, Oz.** She thought, trying to send him telepathic smoochie signals. He didn't get them, and casually leaned back against his seat. Willow sighed and sat back as well, placing her hands in her lap. **Damnit...** She thought, as the movie theater began to darken and the previews started.

Willow tried to concentrate on the movie, and was doing a good job, until Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler started kissing.

**Hm...** She thought, furrowing her brow. **That looks nice...** She glanced over at Oz, who was incidently glancing over at her. She smiled lightly at him, and turned back to the movie, turning a light shade of red. **Oh dear...** She thought, looking down in her lap. **If you can't keep calm while watching OTHER people kiss, how are you going to deal with kissing HIM?!... if you ever do...** She scolded silently, before forcing herself to atleast pretend like she was paying attention to the film.

* * *

"Thanks again... for the popcorn." Willow said. "And taking me and everything." She and Oz were strolling out of the movie.

"Oh, sure." He said, smiling lightly at her, and trying to keep his blushing to a minimum. **Gotta get rid of this blushing thing, Oz...** He told himself. "Thanks for... coming with me."

She grinned at him. "Sure." She looked around at the couples walking out of the theater, holding hands and stealing kisses, and sighed internally, glancing down at Oz's hand. *He really has nice hands.* She noted. Oz caught her looking at his arm and gave her a confused look.

"Oh, you're hands..." She said, as if it would explain. He just looked more confused. "I like them."

Oz glanced down at his hand, unable to keep a small smile from his lips. **She likes my hands...**

"Thanks." He said, unsure of how to reply.

"You're welcome." She replied. They got to his van, and he once again opened the door for her.

**I could get used to this...** She thought, smiling to herself as she got in the van and waited for him to get in as well. She looked at the clock. 10:15.

"So..." Willow said, as Oz started up the van. He looked at her. "I don't have to be home until 11:00."

"Oh that's right." Oz said, as if he'd forgotten. **Mental note,** He thought to himself. **Acting like you've forgotten something you haven't does not go over well with you... I repeat...** "So, do you want to do something?"

"Well..." She said. **Alright, be bold, be... not-Willow...** She thought, encouragingly. "I've heard that the Overlook Hill has a really good... view." She cringed in the dark shadow that was being cast over her from a tree nearby. **Very smooth, Rosenberg.** She thought disapprovingly. **Very, very non-chalant...**

Oz looked at her with raised eye-brows. **Is she suggesting?... No, that's not gonna happen... I don't wanna push her into anything she's not ready for...**

"I dunno..." He said, smiling wisely at her. She looked back at him, her eyes wide and anxious. "I hear it gets pretty crowded up there this time of night... Wanna go get some ice cream or something?"

Willow sighed internally. **Everythings always crowded...** She thought disheartently. **Yeah, crowded by NORMAL teenagers who GET smoochies... hmph.**

"Sure." She said, trying to sound cheerful, and she smiled at Oz, who nodded back and pulled away from the curb, towards the ice cream place.

* * *

"So..." Willow said, glancing at Oz as he pulled into her driveway. It was 10:55."

"So..." Oz repeated, looking back at her. She smiled at him.

"Can we... do this... again sometime?" She asked, her eyes hopeful.

"Oh... yeah, absolutely." He said, smiling back at her.

She sighed, happily, unbuckling her seatbelt. "Good."

"Yeah."

"So, I'll see you tommorow?"

"Uh-huh." He nodded.

"Okay..." She said, licking her lips quickly, as if to provoke his into touching them. It didn't work. **If he doesn't kiss me now, it's just... wrong.**

Oz unbuckled his seatbelt as well, and walked quickly over to her side of the van, opening the door. She looked at him, confused.

"I'm walking you to the door." He explained. She just smiled at him, and nodded, allowing him to help her out of the vehicle, and walked beside him up her driveway and onto her front porch.

"Goodnight, Oz." She said, her voice soft. She tried to do a semi-seductive eye-lash bat. It didn't work.

"Goodnight, Willow." He returned, raising an eyebrow. "Are you okay?"

"Huh?"

"Your eyes are... nevermind." He shook his head. She looked down, quickly, embarrased, but looked up at him. He smiled lightly at her, and looked as though he was going to lean forward, but at the last second didn't, and instead broke his eye contact with her and shook his head quickly, as if awakening himself out of a daze. "I should go, now." He said.

"Okay." She said, her voice soft. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight." He said, locking eyes briefly with her one last time, and giving her a quick smile. He walked down her front steps and to his van, and got in. Willow stood on her porch and waved to him. He waved back, and then started the van and drove off, as Willow walked inside her house, sighing.

**Another smoochie-less night.** She thought, though she couldn't help but keep the smile off her face as she called goodnight to her parents and walked upstairs to her room. There was something special about Oz, she decided, as she got ready for bed. **Something very special.** She thought, as she got in her bed and turned out the light.

THE END