14: Heading North, Jefferson Avenue, Eastside Sunnydale
Faith listened with genuine interest as Cordelia went over the more exciting parts of her first patrol with Angel. “Sounds like you had a lot more fun than me.”
“I wouldn’t exactly call it fun,” Cordelia returned with a grin. “But it was definitely cool to see Buffy’s face when she found out Angel and I discovered the relic.”
They had come to the crossroads where Faith automatically made a turn for the ritzier part of town. She had never been to the Chase mansion, which she had been told had a huge swimming pool, tennis courts, and its own small stable. Rubbing elbows with the rich had never been her thing, but it might be fun. Surprisingly, Cordelia did not seem quite as snobby as Buffy made her out to be.
“Why are you standing there?” Faith had to stop and turn around. Waiting, she saw that Cordelia had not moved to follow her toward the west side of town. She was staring in the other direction. Catching on, “I’m not really walking you home, am I?”
Cordelia glumly shook her head. “Do you know how to keep a secret?”
“This isn’t about the ‘boyfriend’, is it?” Faith asked her. “We already made a deal there, Cor. I promised to keep my mouth shut about it if you gave me the scoop about B and Soulboy.”
“No,” Cordelia admitted. This was something else.
Crossing her arms, Faith tapped her fingers against her jeans jacket. “Then it all depends on the secret and who you’re keeping it from.”
Taking in a deep breath, Cordelia released it, licked her lips and then explained, “Mainly Buffy and Xander. Willow, too, since that would automatically mean Buffy would hear about it. Plus Giles, I suppose, considering he’s Buffy’s watcher. He might let something slip.”
“Whoa!” Faith held up a hand to stop her lengthy laundry list of people. “You had me at Buffy.”