A less guarded girl would have stretched her foot across that cushiony gap and given her conversation partner a playful toe-nudge. But Buffy was oh so rarely any less guarded than Fort Knox, emotionally speaking. So instead she merely smirked in the wake of another sip.

"This is why you're supposed to leave a box of saltines in the lower corner cupboard. A block of cheese in one of the short-accessible fridge compartments. You should have had a contingency plan in place."