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"Humiliated?!" I gape at her. "You call that humiliation?!" That's really not what I intended to say. It certainly wouldn't help my case by questioning the fact that she'd been embarrassed. Besides, bringing up embarrassment was opening a door I really didn't want open. My life's just one humiliation after another, so maybe my frame of reference isn't the best for this sort of thing. For someone as perfect as Buffy, it probably is up there on the humiliation scale.

"Humiliation barely covers this, Xander," she shoots back, glaring at me. "Mortification is more like it."

My mind races. I have to fix this. I didn't mean to hurt her. I really didn't. My chronic case of footinmouthitis just flared at the wrong moment.

And it's not like it had been that bad. I mean no real damage was done. Riley already knew about vampires. Of course he didn't know that I knew he knew…I don't think. Not that that matters.

And it's not like the subject of Deadboy wouldn't have come up sooner or later, anyway. Okay, it probably would have come up in a much better way, but it's not like he wouldn't have ever found out about Buffy's undead ex-boyfriend. I know that's no excuse. "Hey man. Heard you were dating Buffy. Do you have a pulse?" was probably not the opening line for that conversation that Buffy would have used. Okay, I can see how she ended up being humiliated. And it was my fault.

"Buff…" I try to start over, formulating an apology in my mind. "I really didn't mean-"

"You never mean it, Xander, but you have to stop doing stuff like that. I like Riley. I don't know if I love him yet or not, but I want the chance to find out."

She leaves out the line about my thoughtless remarks possibly screwing up her chances to find out, but it's obvious that's exactly what she's thinking. I have to fix this. I can't stand it when Buffy's mad at me. Okay, think fast, think fast, think fast. I humiliated Buffy. She's mad. When someone humiliates me, I always feel better if I can return the favor. But Buffy's not the type who would purposely humiliate me, even if it is for revenge. Which means…

This is a job for Humiliation Boy.

I can't believe I'm about to do this. I take a deep breath.

"Buff…let me tell you a little story…"