THE RETURN 37-One 2/2 [Ensemble] NC-17
Title: The Return 37-One
Rating: NC-17
Word Count: 10,890
Characters/Pairings: Parker, Logan, Duncan, Mac, Lilly I, Veronica, Dick, Wallace, Piz, Weevil, OFC, Casey Gant, Madison (mentions: The Sinclairs, The MacKenzies and Keith Mars)
Spoilers: All episodes (from 1.01: Pilot to 3.20: The Bitch Is Back. Just to be sure) Although this is obviously AU and there are obviously going to be some alterations to events and especially some in the last couple of episodes.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Literally, nothing. So don’t sue me over this, because you won’t get anything. It all belongs to Rob Thomas and if I had owned it when it was still on the last season would have been way different.
1: Awake/ 2: Homecoming/ 3: Forgive/ 4: Arrival/ 5: Reconnect/ 6: Belong/ 7: Bets/ 8: Fight/ 9: Battle/ 10: Retreat/ 11: Push/ 12: Sound/ 13: Potential/ 14: More/ 15: Storytime/ 16: Understanding/ 17: Piggyback/ 18: Sinners/ 19: Drama/ 20: Dinner/ 21: Armor/ 22:Mingle/ 23:Bubbly/ 24:Awkward/ 25:Closing/ 26: Drunks/ 27: Logan/ 28: Wallace/ 29: Mac/ 30: Parker/ 31: Duncan/ 32: Lilly/33: Piz/ 34: Weevil/ 35: Dick/ 36: Veronica/ 37: One
The Return
37
One
(Continued)
~One Year~
~Veronica~
“Lilly, I told you that you could not have the party here.” Veronica’s voice was low and dangerous as she stood on the back deck, practically vibrating with fury. She had been looking forward to coming home and relaxing with her boyfriend and a possible movie night with the gang. She had even decided to help Lilly look for new locations for the party if they could arrange for everything to be postponed a day. She should have realized that it had been much too easy at lunch, that Lilly hadn’t put up enough of a fight.
“Everything was already all arranged and everyone knew the party was supposed to be here tonight. You’d have had people banging on the door all night anyway, so really I did you a favor.” Lilly smiled back at her and Veronica felt herself want to give in.
“Oh, yeah, big favor when you told Logan that I gave you permission. He was pissed at me when he called me, and I was leaving dad’s wondering why he seemed so worried that Logan couldn’t make it. You conned my dad into helping with this, how did you even manage that? You know what? I don’t care because you still lied, to me and to Logan.” She would not let herself give in to Lilly or the burning curiosity over how she had gotten her dad to help out with this whole thing. She would not.
“Your dad was easy. And I’m sorry about the whole Logan thing but he was pitching such a fit about the decorations and scaring the caterers that I had to tell him something.” Lilly waved at someone crossing the deck down to the beach towards the bonfire and Veronica stopped herself, for the hundredth time, from being impressed by the whole thing. Her living room had been turned into a club, her kitchen was a buffet, a band was set up and playing on the back deck and a huge bonfire was lit down on the beach, not far from her house.
“Don’t give me that crap. I told you, Logan told you, repeatedly that you couldn’t have the party here and you ignored us.” Veronica would not let her growling stomach and the delicious smell of the food still wafting from the kitchen detract her from her tirade.
“Come on, Ronica, enjoy the party. What’s done is done and we can’t change it now, so just relax and go with it.” Lilly reached out to place her hands on Veronica’s shoulders and begin an impromptu massage.
Oh God, it’s Zen-Lilly. Zen-Lilly had been making appearances off and on over the last three months and she was just as annoying as Hyper Productive and Neurotic Lilly that had consumed the three months before that when she was trying to wrap up her high school courses and get accepted into Hearst. Three months before that had been filled with Charitable Lilly, who had dragged everyone in the group to every soup kitchen and homeless shelter within 100 miles while simultaneously funneling some of her dad’s bank account into bank rolling a teen crisis hotline and a woman’s shelter. That Lilly hadn’t been so bad until she threw a fit over the fact that nearly everyone cancelled because they had finals to cram for and couldn’t take an hour long drive to help Lilly drive around San Diego and hand out blankets to the homeless.
“I want my key back.” Veronica demanded, feeling defeated by the fact that the appearance of Zen Lilly meant that she wasn’t going to get through to her tonight. Zen Lilly was unruffleable.
Lilly slipped her hand in her pocket and came out with the little silver key with a rubber monkey head on top and dropped it in Veronica’s outstretched palm. “And Veronica Mars? I laid out you top on your bed so you better go change, you’re ruining my theme.”
Veronica watched Lilly move off toward the band, telling them to keep playing until she got back to make an announcement. It might take a little bit because the pyrotechnic was a little temperamental.
The last thing anyone wants is a temperamental pyrotechnic, Veronica thought as she pushed of the deck railing and headed back into the house to change. She was halfway up the stairs to her bedroom when she stopped short. Pyrotechnic?
~*~
Veronica searched the beach for Logan after being assured by about a zillion people that he was out there with Dick, Casey and Duncan. She didn’t believe it one bit. She’d walked around the bonfire about twenty times and still no sight of her quarry. In another minute she was going to have to head back into the house to get a jacket, which would only ruin the outfit but without Logan’s radiating body heat it made the outfit too cold and unpractical. She wore the black and white striped t-shirt with tattoo sleeves underneath, a black pleated skirt and black and white striped tights with her black combat boots. She looked good and it was all wasted on random guys that had no appreciation for it.
“Hey! V!” A familiar voice called out to her. Wallace was jogging down from the house. He had paired his shirt with jeans. Boys had it so easy.
“Hey Wallace, what’s up?” Veronica walked toward the house to meet him, then slipped her arm through his and leaned her head on his shoulder.
“Looking for Tamsin.”
“I’m looking for Logan.” Veronica sighed as she and her best friend pushed through the crowd. “How you liking the party?”
“It’s a good thing I’m not epileptic or these lights would be an issue.” He commented, looking down at her. “I thought you told Lilly and Parker that they couldn’t have the party here.”
“When has that ever stopped either of them?” Veronica asked, catching sight of four figures sitting a ways off from the bonfire in the dark, staring at the ocean. She’d recognize the melancholy of his posture anywhere. She’d found Logan. “I see Logan, I’ll see you later, okay?”
“Later!” She heard him call out to her as she ran off toward her boyfriend and their friends.
A second later she was dropping down into the sand next to Logan and leaning her head against his shoulder. Without looking he wrapped his arm around her and continued his conversation with the others.
“-so it’s not really a big deal.” Casey was saying and both Duncan and Logan nodded along. Dick sighed and flopped back into the sand. He was clearly bored with the conversation.
“I think it’s a big deal.” Dick grumbled.
“He’s talking the book deal, that it’s not a lot of money.” Logan clarified for his blond friend.
“I’ll talk to you guys about it tomorrow, I have to get another drink.” Casey said, getting up. “Hey Veronica.”
“Hi Casey, how’s UCLA?” She looked up at him and Logan turned his head to press a kiss into her forehead, to give her shoulders a light squeeze.
“It’s good, I’m glad I stayed in state for college. I’ve taken over the publishing house from my parents now, so it’s good that I’m here.” He helped Dick up to his feet before looking back at her. “I’ll see you later, I’m in need of more beer.” And with that both he and Dick headed back up to the house.
“What’d you think of the fireworks DK?” Is all she asks and sees him smirk at her use of the nickname usually reserved only for Logan. They were sharing all kinds of things these days. A house, cars, meals, family, secrets and friends. They were all about sharing. And if she could talk him into it they’d be sharing a dog.
“They were great. I think Lilly really outdid herself on the party.” Duncan conceded, ever the diplomat.
“You mean overdid it.” Logan griped, obviously even less happy about the fireworks than he was about the party.
“Okay, over did it. I just didn’t really expect this big of a party, thought it’d be something smaller. She’s made a lot of friends this last year though, huh?” Duncan’s being diplomatic and just for a second she thinks about what a great political career he could have had if he hadn’t kidnapped his daughter, gone on the run and then to prison for the last year. He’d been expecting a movie night with the group, complete with pizza and popcorn and soda and all the old jokes. They would’ve watched The Big Lebowski and Goonies and all their old favorites. Instead he got about 500 of his sister’s closest friends, a sushi bar and fireworks.
“It’s okay Dunc, we’ll have a movie night tomorrow if you want. You can bring Munchkin over and we’ll order pizza and make popcorn and all the fun stuff. Logan even got a cotton candy machine if you can believe that.” Veronica offered, smiling at her friend.
“Thanks,” Duncan smiled back and then heaved himself up off the ground. “I’m going to get another drink, look for my sister and maybe start up a nice game of beer pong with one of my fine new friends here at my party.”
“See you later, dude.” Logan called out at his back before turning back to her. “So, might I say that you make that shirt look hot?”
“Really? This old thing?” She joked as she slid out from under his arm to straddle his legs. “I’ve been looking for you.” Her voice softened as she looked into his face.
“I left my phone in the bedroom when I changed into my mandated costume.” Logan reached up the frame her face with his hands for a moment before brushing back her hair. “How was your daddy-daughter date?”
“Um…” She stalled for a moment, sliding her arms around his shoulders. “Lets not talk about my dad right now.”
“Well, if you insist.” His eyes lit up at her suggestive tone and he wrapped his own arms around her, pressing her closer to his chest as their lips met.
“Why does there have to be all those other people in the world.” She mumbled as her mouth moved down along his jaw and to his ear. She felt him shiver beneath her.
“What people?” He whispered and she giggled as he flipped them over and pressed her back into the sand. She wondered how long they’d be able to stay like this on the beach, in the dark, before one of their friends came looking for them. Then she let herself get lost in the make out and let the sounds of all the other people fade away.
~Dick~
“So, who do you think you’ll get to write it?” Dick asked Casey as they leaned back against the railing of the back deck, drinking their beers.
“I was actually thinking about Veronica and Logan. Maybe they wouldn’t mind doing a collaborative thing.” Casey tilted his beer back and took a long pull. “Maybe have everyone write down their experiences and then Veronica could put them together into something cohesive.”
“I don’t know, man. It sounds like a good idea but it also sounds kind of bad when you think about everything that’s happened.” It really was a good idea and someone was probably going to end up doing a tell-all at some point anyway. This way, as all the main players, they could control it.
“I was thinking that maybe we’d get the ball rolling and then, we’ll decide whether to anonymize it, change all the names and not list the author as Veronica but give her a cleverly disguised pseudonym. I can run the money through a shell corporation and list you all as board members or something like that. It’s been done before. We’ll probably have to change some of the names anyway because I can’t imagine Meg Manning’s family and Woody Goodman’s estate signing off on it. Again though, because you’re all the major players in the stuff that went down the last few years, and if it’s all in your own words and stuff, there shouldn’t be an issue with getting it out of the gate.” Casey explained, and Dick felt better about it, about the fact that there was an anonymous option.
“Maybe. Enough business talk man. What’s living in LA like? Life as head of a multimillion dollar publishing company?” Dick asked, over the maudlin conversation of whether or not the struggle that was their high school years deserved to be immortalized in print.
“Oh it’s great, I’m either in class or in the office. All the chicks I meet are either college girls that don’t understand why I can’t just go to a damn party once in a while or the secretarial pool that’s completely off-limits lest I want a sexual harassment charge my first year at the helm.” Casey complained.
Dick smiled. The old Casey wouldn’t have let those things stop him. They really were all growing up, weren’t they? He’d been dating Mac for over a year now, Logan and Veronica were living together and, with the exception of Duncan and Lilly, they were all half way through college.
“Well then,” Dick began as he reached out and gave Parker, who had been innocently passing by, a tug until she was standing next to him and looking somewhat annoyed. “May I introduce you to Parker Lee?” and with that he left the two to get acquainted.
~*~
“Don’t you think that you should mingle a little?” Dick asked his girlfriend as her thumbs pressed buttons and she leaned into her onscreen movement.
“You’re just saying that because you want my controller.” Mac commented as she focused intently on the video game in front of her. She’d been at it for the last hour. It was getting late and he kind of wanted to go.
“Nope, I thought maybe you might want to do a round of the party before we head out. I’m tired and I have to get up in a few hours to go surfing with the guys.” Dick pulled a geeky looking guy off the couch so he could sit next to his girlfriend.
“Come on Dick, it’s not that late.” She deliberately let herself get killed and set the controller down on the coffee table. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m bored. My girlfriend won’t play with me.” He complained and she smiled, let herself get pulled up off the couch.
“Okay. Let’s do a round.”
~Wallace~
“You about ready to head out to the bonfire?” Wallace asked as his girlfriend snuggled back into his arms and hummed in response. He had to give it to Logan, or Veronica, or whoever picked out this couch for down in the theater. It was beyond comfortable. He let his eyes drift shut and feel sleep coming on even though there was a movie playing at full volume and a bunch of people trying to talk over it.
“Hey, man.” The sound of Logan’s voice pulled him, rudely, from his almost sleep.
“I thought you and Veronica were making out on a beach somewhere.” He smirked, looking up at his best friend’s boyfriend.
“We were but Lilly interrupted with some sort of crisis, so…” Logan flopped down on the couch next him and Tamsin, whose eyes never reopened.
“How come girls are always having a crisis, man?” He asked. None of the guys ever had a crisis that needed immediate attention in the nearest bathroom. Girls.
“I don’t know, but Veronica doesn’t usually get called in on the regular crisis like wardrobe malfunction and a broken heel. She’s the one they call in to tase someone and prove that hey deliberately walked up and broke the heel.” Logan commented before turning to face Wallace. “So, how’s the puppy?”
“The puppy? You mean the adorable and completely misleading ball of fluff that chewed up a second pair of heels and whined all night so I got no sleep. The puppy that is to blame for the fact that I fell asleep in class and can’t enjoy a perfectly good party because I’m so unbelievably tired that I’m having a hard time getting off this couch?” Tamsin asked, her eyes still shut and her head still resting on Wallace’s shoulder. “That puppy?”
“That’d be the one.” Logan’s voice somehow sounding smaller. Wallace grinned at the fact that his tiny little girlfriend intimidated Logan almost as much as his best friend did.
“Well, aside from owing Tami two pairs of shoes, you also owe me a pair of sneakers, a new Wii power cord and controller, all the notes to all my classes this week because I’ve been too tired to take them and, oh yeah, all the notes from all my classes from before this week because he shredded them with the razors you called ‘cute little puppy teeth’. You’re damn puppy is fine, I however am on the verge of a nervous breakdown.” Wallace complained.
“And a break up because if I lose one more pair of shoes to that dog…” Tamsin threatened, her eyes finally opening only to narrow at Logan. She liked the puppy, thought he was the cutest thing on Earth and liked to sit on his bedroom floor and play with him, but when they went to bed and he was alone he’d cry until they let him on the bed and Tamsin refused to sleep with a dog on the bed. Then, after getting a grand total of twenty minutes of sleep, she’d gotten up and put on sneakers instead of the heels she’d brought over to wear the next day and, left alone in the room all day, the puppy ate and shredded anything and everything in sight.
“I’ll have him out of your hair next Friday. Veronica keeps bringing up how much she misses Backup now that she’s no longer living with her dad and hinting that she wants me to consider getting a dog. It’s the perfect present for our anniversary.” The excitement over the puppy was back in Logan’s face. He’d been so excited when he’d shown up at Wallace’s place on Monday with the little bundle and a handful of dog treats, a bag of expensive food.
“I still don’t see why you didn’t wait until next Monday to get him, and why you had to bring him to my house. Do you know how hard it is keeping him hidden from those three girls? And Piz?” Wallace sat up and Tamsin settled back into the pillows.
“The guy at the pound said they’d all be gone by then and I didn’t want to get one from a breeder. I wanted to get her a pit bull, like Backup, so she can train him to keep her safe too.” Logan explained once again. Wallace had asked this same question at least three times a day since he’d dropped the puppy off five days ago. Last night he’d called at three when the little monster had been at the peak of his crying.
“They don’t have layaway at the shelter?” Wallace asked, again, annoyed.
“I got all this stuff for him stashed at Keith’s apartment.” Logan continued on without acknowledging Wallace’s question. “It’s all wrapped and stuff, I’ll come by and pick up after my morning class and bring him back to Keith’s so he can drop him off with all the stuff I got him while we’re at dinner.”
“You got him stuff? Why kind of stuff?” Tamsin asked. She flip flopped between being annoyed at the puppy and adoring him. When they’d had to run to Petsmart to get him a couple chew bones he’d had a hard time dragging her away from all the puppy paraphernalia.
“A couple beds for around the house, this cute little collar with spikes on it, some bowls and a mat. I actually got a couple of these little puppy car seats for our cars and then doggy seatbelts for when he’s bigger. A couple little hoodies for when it’s cold. He’s shorthair and I don’t want him to get be cold during the winter.” Logan told her excitedly. They were probably going to give him a name like Steve or Logan Jr and start referencing him as their little baby.
“We live in Southern California.” Wallace told him.
“So?”
“It doesn’t get cold enough in SoCal for a dog to need a hoodie.” Wallace deadpanned.
“Sometimes, Backup shivers.” Logan informed him in the most serious voice Wallace had ever heard him use and that’s when he knew. Logan had seriously lost his damn mind.
~Piz~
“I will give you a million dollars if you cut the music and start playing Kenny G.” Veronica asked as she flopped down on the couch next to him. The girl he’d been talking to had been pulled away by her friend. Apparently she was a big fan of guitar players.
“Really?” He asked, his eyebrows shooting up his forehead. He reached up to run his hand through his short hair and only vaguely missed the longer cut he’d had the first year and a half of college, before he cut it after he realized that no, the jokes were never going to get old and his friends were going to just keep on making them.
“I have access to Logan’s bank account and I don’t think he’d blame me.” Veronica insisted, squeezing his upper arm in her desperation.
“I don’t know…” he hedged, it was getting late and this was Veronica’s house so she couldn’t go to bed until everyone was gone. But, still…
“Have you been working out?” She asked, squeezing his bicep again.
“Bribery didn’t work so you’ve moved on to flattery?” He asked, his shoulder shaking with laughter. Veronica would usually do it herself, he knew that, but she’d have to cross the dance floor to get to the iPod and she’d risk being swallowed by the crowd. Or getting caught by Lilly who insisted that the party could not, under any circumstances, end until at least 2am. They only had another hour to go but it seemed Veronica had reached the end of her patience.
“Did it work?” She asked, a hopeful look on her face and he hated to disappoint her.
“I actually have to live with Lilly, so… no.” He was taking his life in his hands but while he was scared of Veronica he also knew that as his roommate, Lilly could make his life hell. But again, so could Veronica.
Veronica opened her mouth to either to continue to try and convince him or to threaten him but, thankfully, Dick sat down next to her and called her name.
“Veronica?”
“Don’t move,” Veronica commanded him, got a good grip on his wrist and then turned to face Dick. “What?”
“I have to ask you something.” Dick told her, eying Piz and the fact that Veronica had a death grip on his wrist. What’d you do? Dick’s eyes asked before he turned back to Veronica. “I want to ask Mac to move in with me and I thought, well, if that’d be okay.”
Veronica’s grip slackened and then released completely in her shock. “Did you just ask me for permission to ask your girlfriend to move in with you?”
“Shouldn’t you ask her current roommates?” Piz asked, stupidly not using the opportunity of Veronica’s momentary distraction to get away.
“Well, I could ask Parker or Lilly but I’m asking Veronica because she knows Mac best.” Dick replied to Piz before turning back to Veronica. “Do you think it’s a good idea?”
Piz didn’t wait around to hear Veronica’s answer, he’d know about it soon enough, but right now he had to get away from this blonde to avoid another’s wrath.
~Weevil~
“Hey.” Lilly greeted softly, leaning up against the wall outside the bathroom. He hadn’t really noticed her as he walked through the hallway on his way out back.
“Hey.” He kept his voice soft and tried not to let it convey any of the frustration he was feeling toward her. They’d been able to get be friendly to each other the past six months, but lately he’d just been unable to get past that place where he thought they could be more and she seemed to date rich white guy after rich white guy.
“Did you just get here?” She asked, her voice still soft and sweet as she moved out of the bathroom line.
“Pretty much, don’t you have to…?” He asked, nodding at the bathroom door.
“Not really, I was just going to freshen my makeup.” She smiled up at him, as if he was an old friend that she was finally reconnecting with. Just a friend. “I’d rather talk to you. I haven’t seen you in a while.”
“Well, by the looks of the party, you’ve been busy.” Weevil nodded behind him where Veronica’s living room had been turned into some kind of nightclub.
“Yeah, and you missed the band and the fireworks.” She joked and he laughed and he let himself ease into the comfort of their old ‘friendship’.
“How’s the boyfriend?” He asked, not able to let himself ease too much into the situation.
“We broke up. Apparently he googled me and didn’t like what he found out so we had this huge break up scene over the phone.” She told him, didn’t sound too upset about it though. “It was kind of funny, breaking up over the phone because we kept fighting and I kept thinking this is the moment to hang up but I never did. Just sat there and listened to all the horrible things he had to say about me. Like his opinion mattered.”
“It didn’t? Most people count their boyfriend’s opinion among the ones that matter.” This was one of the things that frustrated him. She flirted and didn’t care when she broke up with someone, didn’t count the boyfriend’s opinion as something that mattered because in Lilly world all that mattered was her opinion. And Veronica’s, but the list ended there.
“I wrote him off the moment his tirade about what a whore I was in high school started. Honestly, where the hell was he the last few years because I can’t imagine that many people that find my past exploits mysterious.” She laughed at this, about the fact that she’d been in a coma for sleeping with her boyfriend’s father. Her other boyfriend because in order to sleep with his father she’d have to find him first. It frustrated him that she found it funny that this had all happened and that she expected every person in the world to know it.
“Not everyone knows every single thing about you, Lilly.” Weevil told her, trying to keep his irritation out of his voice. There was no reason to rock the boat and piss her off and cause a scene and end the tentative ‘friendship’ they’d been building.
“His dad is an agent and his mom was an actress. They probably read the tabloids at the breakfast table like the morning paper and lord knows the Lilly Kane attack was everywhere. And then the Aaron Echolls trial and the Aaron Echolls murder and then that whole thing last year with the Kane Heiress Wakes Up headlines. He should have known.” She explained wryly.
“Probably.” He conceded the point, there was no use arguing with her about something that would only take place in her world. In his world all the dad’s worked in garages or factories and all the mom’s worked for the mom’s of her world. They didn’t read tabloids at the breakfast table, they didn’t even read the paper. They rushed through breakfast and out the door and didn’t care about what was going on in the world - or Hollywood - that day because they had to get to work and they had bills to pay.
She smiled at him, one of those soft and secret smiles she used to give him when they were alone together and no one even had the slightest clue about. She reached for his hand and tugged him out of the hallway, through the kitchen and out the front door and onto the porch where she stopped. It was quieter out here. All the people that had been milling about when he got here an hour earlier seemed to have dissipated, either leaving or heading back to the bonfire where most everyone else was congregating.
“Lilly, what are you-” He was interrupted by the feel of her lips on his, he was startled but not enough to keep him from wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close. He deepened the kiss, and she giggled. She tasted like strawberries, he remembered that from before too. He eased into her and, as he did so, she pulled away and tugged him down the front steps. He followed her into the dark, not caring where they were going.
“I think we should get out of here.” She whispered as she pressed her lips against his again. He nodded dumbly as he followed her again, further out into the darkness and into the jumble of cars parked along the street. “Where’d you park?”
“I don’t-” He started to protest. He’d come over on his new bike, and he didn’t have a spare helmet for her. He’d had enough, his fingers wrapped around the black suspenders she had on and tugged her toward him. She was caught off guard and stumbled a bit on her sky scraper heels, practically falling into him. His mouth slanted over hers and he swallowed the small moan she let escape as his hand closed over her breast.
The stood there for a few minutes, kissing. He could feel himself harden and thought desperately of how to get her back to his place.
“I have my car.” She whispered in his ear before taking the lobe into her mouth. His eyes practically rolled back in his head. She sucked for a moment before releasing his ear with a small pop. She stepped back and, before his hands could pull her back, she slipped her hand into the pocket of the tiny black shorts she wore. She pulled out a set of car keys and tossed them to him. “You drive.”
~*~
They pulled up to his apartment and she was on his lap, wiggling, before he even put the car in park. He gripped her hips and, pressing her down, he ground up into her as he shoved his tongue into her mouth. She moaned, loudly, as her hands gripped at his shoulders.
Her head leaned back, offering the long white column of her throat to him. He latched on, his mouth kissing as much as he could before sucking at the spot where her neck met her shoulder. Her moan was even louder, no longer muffled by his mouth. One of her hands slid down over his shoulder, down his chest and rubbed the front of his jeans. He moaned loudly too.
“We need to go in.” He hissed out through his teeth as she continued to rub at him. The hand disappeared and the sexual haze cleared a bit as she reached behind her to open the car door. Then her hand was back, popping the button and lowering the zipper.
“Better hurry then.” She said, her voice husky with lust. He gripped her ass and slid them both out of the seat and he stood, leaning against the car as he tried to get his balance and shut the car door.
The hand disappeared from the front of his jeans and he felt it wrap around his neck as she started to grind her hips into him, legs wrapping around him. He haltingly made it up the walkway to his place, moaning and stumbling as she wiggled in his arms and kissed him passionately. He had her pressed against the door jam, trying to work his key into the lock, when her hand slid back down and into his jeans.
Weevil’s head exploded as her hand wrapped around him and squeezed, tugged. He groaned and nearly shouted with relief as the door opened and they fell through it. He got his balance again, leaning back against his kitchen counter. Lilly’s free hand reached behind them and slid into his back pocket before sliding back out a moment later with his wallet. She extracted the condom he kept there and unwrapped her legs from around his waist and let them lower to the floor, slid her hand out of his pants.
She pressed the condom into his chest and took as step backwards, kicking the door shut in the process. She pulled the suspenders down her arms, releasing herself from them. She unbuttoned her shorts, slid the tiny zipper down and let them fall, sliding down her legs slowly and seductively, as if they knew, like their owner, what to do to drive him wild. He focused on the tiny, black lace underwear she was wearing. A glance up at her face caught her smirk and then his attention was pulled away again, her hands moving to grip the bottom of her tight, striped shirt. She stood there a moment, just like that. Her legs bare, shorts pooled at the floor, arms crossed at the wrist, hands gripping the hem of a shirt that almost every single person at the party had been wearing. She waited until his eyes swung back up to meet hers before she tugged the shirt off and whipped it at him.
Lilly stood there in her underwear of black lace and the matching bra and the shiny black heels that made her at least a good six inches taller than she’d normally be. A black tattoo marred her hip, words written in a fancy script. Two words, the second of which that he didn’t recognize - deuxieme chance.
Lilly noticed his lingering gaze. “It means second chance in French. I got a few weeks after we got back from that trip last year. Veronica, Mac, Parker and I all went and got something.”
Weevil felt himself nod and then watched as Lilly turned and walked away, toward his bedroom, her heels clicking on the floor as she went.
Following her, he undressed as he went, leaving his clothes in a trail down the short hallway. He entered the bedroom and flipped the overhead light off as she turned on the small lamp next to his bed.
He was in only his boxers now and those too went as he took the remaining steps toward her. She slipped away before he could reach her, sliding onto his bed and kneeling there in the middle. She crooked her finger at him and he was struck by her confidence, something she’d always had so much of that it often led to her downfall. But the look in her eyes, the insecurity he saw there, watching him… it’s what made him follow her onto the bed and reach for her.
He pressed against her, pulling her to him before they fell to the mattress and rolled until she was underneath him, pressed into the soft bedspread that he’d gotten from his grandmother. He kissed her, trying to erase the insecurity and confidence until it was just her with him. This was probably a mistake, he knew that. They’d been through too much to ever really get passed it. The tortured love story might work for Logan and Veronica but he didn’t think he’d be able to handle the constant drama and need of being with someone he had so much history with.
His hands held hers above her head, intertwining their fingers and pressing the condom back into her hand. He felt her body arch beneath him, trying to rush him into it and he complied. He let her arching body push him into a roll until he was pressed into the mattress and she was straddling him, tearing the wrapper open with her teeth and extracting the condom. She rolled it over him quickly, efficiently, and then lifted and guiding him into her as she sank down on him. She set a hard and fast pace, her hands running up and down her own body and into her own hair. Pinching her nipples and then his and running up and down his chest, she went wild and he let her, gripping her hips.
Lilly moaned loudly, gaining volume the faster and harder she slammed her hips into his. He allowed himself to get lost in the moment and forgot, completely, that this was probably a mistake. At least for a minute or two.
38: Two
Rating: NC-17
Word Count: 10,890
Characters/Pairings: Parker, Logan, Duncan, Mac, Lilly I, Veronica, Dick, Wallace, Piz, Weevil, OFC, Casey Gant, Madison (mentions: The Sinclairs, The MacKenzies and Keith Mars)
Spoilers: All episodes (from 1.01: Pilot to 3.20: The Bitch Is Back. Just to be sure) Although this is obviously AU and there are obviously going to be some alterations to events and especially some in the last couple of episodes.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Literally, nothing. So don’t sue me over this, because you won’t get anything. It all belongs to Rob Thomas and if I had owned it when it was still on the last season would have been way different.
1: Awake/ 2: Homecoming/ 3: Forgive/ 4: Arrival/ 5: Reconnect/ 6: Belong/ 7: Bets/ 8: Fight/ 9: Battle/ 10: Retreat/ 11: Push/ 12: Sound/ 13: Potential/ 14: More/ 15: Storytime/ 16: Understanding/ 17: Piggyback/ 18: Sinners/ 19: Drama/ 20: Dinner/ 21: Armor/ 22:Mingle/ 23:Bubbly/ 24:Awkward/ 25:Closing/ 26: Drunks/ 27: Logan/ 28: Wallace/ 29: Mac/ 30: Parker/ 31: Duncan/ 32: Lilly/33: Piz/ 34: Weevil/ 35: Dick/ 36: Veronica/ 37: One
The Return
37
One
(Continued)
~One Year~
~Veronica~
“Lilly, I told you that you could not have the party here.” Veronica’s voice was low and dangerous as she stood on the back deck, practically vibrating with fury. She had been looking forward to coming home and relaxing with her boyfriend and a possible movie night with the gang. She had even decided to help Lilly look for new locations for the party if they could arrange for everything to be postponed a day. She should have realized that it had been much too easy at lunch, that Lilly hadn’t put up enough of a fight.
“Everything was already all arranged and everyone knew the party was supposed to be here tonight. You’d have had people banging on the door all night anyway, so really I did you a favor.” Lilly smiled back at her and Veronica felt herself want to give in.
“Oh, yeah, big favor when you told Logan that I gave you permission. He was pissed at me when he called me, and I was leaving dad’s wondering why he seemed so worried that Logan couldn’t make it. You conned my dad into helping with this, how did you even manage that? You know what? I don’t care because you still lied, to me and to Logan.” She would not let herself give in to Lilly or the burning curiosity over how she had gotten her dad to help out with this whole thing. She would not.
“Your dad was easy. And I’m sorry about the whole Logan thing but he was pitching such a fit about the decorations and scaring the caterers that I had to tell him something.” Lilly waved at someone crossing the deck down to the beach towards the bonfire and Veronica stopped herself, for the hundredth time, from being impressed by the whole thing. Her living room had been turned into a club, her kitchen was a buffet, a band was set up and playing on the back deck and a huge bonfire was lit down on the beach, not far from her house.
“Don’t give me that crap. I told you, Logan told you, repeatedly that you couldn’t have the party here and you ignored us.” Veronica would not let her growling stomach and the delicious smell of the food still wafting from the kitchen detract her from her tirade.
“Come on, Ronica, enjoy the party. What’s done is done and we can’t change it now, so just relax and go with it.” Lilly reached out to place her hands on Veronica’s shoulders and begin an impromptu massage.
Oh God, it’s Zen-Lilly. Zen-Lilly had been making appearances off and on over the last three months and she was just as annoying as Hyper Productive and Neurotic Lilly that had consumed the three months before that when she was trying to wrap up her high school courses and get accepted into Hearst. Three months before that had been filled with Charitable Lilly, who had dragged everyone in the group to every soup kitchen and homeless shelter within 100 miles while simultaneously funneling some of her dad’s bank account into bank rolling a teen crisis hotline and a woman’s shelter. That Lilly hadn’t been so bad until she threw a fit over the fact that nearly everyone cancelled because they had finals to cram for and couldn’t take an hour long drive to help Lilly drive around San Diego and hand out blankets to the homeless.
“I want my key back.” Veronica demanded, feeling defeated by the fact that the appearance of Zen Lilly meant that she wasn’t going to get through to her tonight. Zen Lilly was unruffleable.
Lilly slipped her hand in her pocket and came out with the little silver key with a rubber monkey head on top and dropped it in Veronica’s outstretched palm. “And Veronica Mars? I laid out you top on your bed so you better go change, you’re ruining my theme.”
Veronica watched Lilly move off toward the band, telling them to keep playing until she got back to make an announcement. It might take a little bit because the pyrotechnic was a little temperamental.
The last thing anyone wants is a temperamental pyrotechnic, Veronica thought as she pushed of the deck railing and headed back into the house to change. She was halfway up the stairs to her bedroom when she stopped short. Pyrotechnic?
~*~
Veronica searched the beach for Logan after being assured by about a zillion people that he was out there with Dick, Casey and Duncan. She didn’t believe it one bit. She’d walked around the bonfire about twenty times and still no sight of her quarry. In another minute she was going to have to head back into the house to get a jacket, which would only ruin the outfit but without Logan’s radiating body heat it made the outfit too cold and unpractical. She wore the black and white striped t-shirt with tattoo sleeves underneath, a black pleated skirt and black and white striped tights with her black combat boots. She looked good and it was all wasted on random guys that had no appreciation for it.
“Hey! V!” A familiar voice called out to her. Wallace was jogging down from the house. He had paired his shirt with jeans. Boys had it so easy.
“Hey Wallace, what’s up?” Veronica walked toward the house to meet him, then slipped her arm through his and leaned her head on his shoulder.
“Looking for Tamsin.”
“I’m looking for Logan.” Veronica sighed as she and her best friend pushed through the crowd. “How you liking the party?”
“It’s a good thing I’m not epileptic or these lights would be an issue.” He commented, looking down at her. “I thought you told Lilly and Parker that they couldn’t have the party here.”
“When has that ever stopped either of them?” Veronica asked, catching sight of four figures sitting a ways off from the bonfire in the dark, staring at the ocean. She’d recognize the melancholy of his posture anywhere. She’d found Logan. “I see Logan, I’ll see you later, okay?”
“Later!” She heard him call out to her as she ran off toward her boyfriend and their friends.
A second later she was dropping down into the sand next to Logan and leaning her head against his shoulder. Without looking he wrapped his arm around her and continued his conversation with the others.
“-so it’s not really a big deal.” Casey was saying and both Duncan and Logan nodded along. Dick sighed and flopped back into the sand. He was clearly bored with the conversation.
“I think it’s a big deal.” Dick grumbled.
“He’s talking the book deal, that it’s not a lot of money.” Logan clarified for his blond friend.
“I’ll talk to you guys about it tomorrow, I have to get another drink.” Casey said, getting up. “Hey Veronica.”
“Hi Casey, how’s UCLA?” She looked up at him and Logan turned his head to press a kiss into her forehead, to give her shoulders a light squeeze.
“It’s good, I’m glad I stayed in state for college. I’ve taken over the publishing house from my parents now, so it’s good that I’m here.” He helped Dick up to his feet before looking back at her. “I’ll see you later, I’m in need of more beer.” And with that both he and Dick headed back up to the house.
“What’d you think of the fireworks DK?” Is all she asks and sees him smirk at her use of the nickname usually reserved only for Logan. They were sharing all kinds of things these days. A house, cars, meals, family, secrets and friends. They were all about sharing. And if she could talk him into it they’d be sharing a dog.
“They were great. I think Lilly really outdid herself on the party.” Duncan conceded, ever the diplomat.
“You mean overdid it.” Logan griped, obviously even less happy about the fireworks than he was about the party.
“Okay, over did it. I just didn’t really expect this big of a party, thought it’d be something smaller. She’s made a lot of friends this last year though, huh?” Duncan’s being diplomatic and just for a second she thinks about what a great political career he could have had if he hadn’t kidnapped his daughter, gone on the run and then to prison for the last year. He’d been expecting a movie night with the group, complete with pizza and popcorn and soda and all the old jokes. They would’ve watched The Big Lebowski and Goonies and all their old favorites. Instead he got about 500 of his sister’s closest friends, a sushi bar and fireworks.
“It’s okay Dunc, we’ll have a movie night tomorrow if you want. You can bring Munchkin over and we’ll order pizza and make popcorn and all the fun stuff. Logan even got a cotton candy machine if you can believe that.” Veronica offered, smiling at her friend.
“Thanks,” Duncan smiled back and then heaved himself up off the ground. “I’m going to get another drink, look for my sister and maybe start up a nice game of beer pong with one of my fine new friends here at my party.”
“See you later, dude.” Logan called out at his back before turning back to her. “So, might I say that you make that shirt look hot?”
“Really? This old thing?” She joked as she slid out from under his arm to straddle his legs. “I’ve been looking for you.” Her voice softened as she looked into his face.
“I left my phone in the bedroom when I changed into my mandated costume.” Logan reached up the frame her face with his hands for a moment before brushing back her hair. “How was your daddy-daughter date?”
“Um…” She stalled for a moment, sliding her arms around his shoulders. “Lets not talk about my dad right now.”
“Well, if you insist.” His eyes lit up at her suggestive tone and he wrapped his own arms around her, pressing her closer to his chest as their lips met.
“Why does there have to be all those other people in the world.” She mumbled as her mouth moved down along his jaw and to his ear. She felt him shiver beneath her.
“What people?” He whispered and she giggled as he flipped them over and pressed her back into the sand. She wondered how long they’d be able to stay like this on the beach, in the dark, before one of their friends came looking for them. Then she let herself get lost in the make out and let the sounds of all the other people fade away.
~Dick~
“So, who do you think you’ll get to write it?” Dick asked Casey as they leaned back against the railing of the back deck, drinking their beers.
“I was actually thinking about Veronica and Logan. Maybe they wouldn’t mind doing a collaborative thing.” Casey tilted his beer back and took a long pull. “Maybe have everyone write down their experiences and then Veronica could put them together into something cohesive.”
“I don’t know, man. It sounds like a good idea but it also sounds kind of bad when you think about everything that’s happened.” It really was a good idea and someone was probably going to end up doing a tell-all at some point anyway. This way, as all the main players, they could control it.
“I was thinking that maybe we’d get the ball rolling and then, we’ll decide whether to anonymize it, change all the names and not list the author as Veronica but give her a cleverly disguised pseudonym. I can run the money through a shell corporation and list you all as board members or something like that. It’s been done before. We’ll probably have to change some of the names anyway because I can’t imagine Meg Manning’s family and Woody Goodman’s estate signing off on it. Again though, because you’re all the major players in the stuff that went down the last few years, and if it’s all in your own words and stuff, there shouldn’t be an issue with getting it out of the gate.” Casey explained, and Dick felt better about it, about the fact that there was an anonymous option.
“Maybe. Enough business talk man. What’s living in LA like? Life as head of a multimillion dollar publishing company?” Dick asked, over the maudlin conversation of whether or not the struggle that was their high school years deserved to be immortalized in print.
“Oh it’s great, I’m either in class or in the office. All the chicks I meet are either college girls that don’t understand why I can’t just go to a damn party once in a while or the secretarial pool that’s completely off-limits lest I want a sexual harassment charge my first year at the helm.” Casey complained.
Dick smiled. The old Casey wouldn’t have let those things stop him. They really were all growing up, weren’t they? He’d been dating Mac for over a year now, Logan and Veronica were living together and, with the exception of Duncan and Lilly, they were all half way through college.
“Well then,” Dick began as he reached out and gave Parker, who had been innocently passing by, a tug until she was standing next to him and looking somewhat annoyed. “May I introduce you to Parker Lee?” and with that he left the two to get acquainted.
~*~
“Don’t you think that you should mingle a little?” Dick asked his girlfriend as her thumbs pressed buttons and she leaned into her onscreen movement.
“You’re just saying that because you want my controller.” Mac commented as she focused intently on the video game in front of her. She’d been at it for the last hour. It was getting late and he kind of wanted to go.
“Nope, I thought maybe you might want to do a round of the party before we head out. I’m tired and I have to get up in a few hours to go surfing with the guys.” Dick pulled a geeky looking guy off the couch so he could sit next to his girlfriend.
“Come on Dick, it’s not that late.” She deliberately let herself get killed and set the controller down on the coffee table. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m bored. My girlfriend won’t play with me.” He complained and she smiled, let herself get pulled up off the couch.
“Okay. Let’s do a round.”
~Wallace~
“You about ready to head out to the bonfire?” Wallace asked as his girlfriend snuggled back into his arms and hummed in response. He had to give it to Logan, or Veronica, or whoever picked out this couch for down in the theater. It was beyond comfortable. He let his eyes drift shut and feel sleep coming on even though there was a movie playing at full volume and a bunch of people trying to talk over it.
“Hey, man.” The sound of Logan’s voice pulled him, rudely, from his almost sleep.
“I thought you and Veronica were making out on a beach somewhere.” He smirked, looking up at his best friend’s boyfriend.
“We were but Lilly interrupted with some sort of crisis, so…” Logan flopped down on the couch next him and Tamsin, whose eyes never reopened.
“How come girls are always having a crisis, man?” He asked. None of the guys ever had a crisis that needed immediate attention in the nearest bathroom. Girls.
“I don’t know, but Veronica doesn’t usually get called in on the regular crisis like wardrobe malfunction and a broken heel. She’s the one they call in to tase someone and prove that hey deliberately walked up and broke the heel.” Logan commented before turning to face Wallace. “So, how’s the puppy?”
“The puppy? You mean the adorable and completely misleading ball of fluff that chewed up a second pair of heels and whined all night so I got no sleep. The puppy that is to blame for the fact that I fell asleep in class and can’t enjoy a perfectly good party because I’m so unbelievably tired that I’m having a hard time getting off this couch?” Tamsin asked, her eyes still shut and her head still resting on Wallace’s shoulder. “That puppy?”
“That’d be the one.” Logan’s voice somehow sounding smaller. Wallace grinned at the fact that his tiny little girlfriend intimidated Logan almost as much as his best friend did.
“Well, aside from owing Tami two pairs of shoes, you also owe me a pair of sneakers, a new Wii power cord and controller, all the notes to all my classes this week because I’ve been too tired to take them and, oh yeah, all the notes from all my classes from before this week because he shredded them with the razors you called ‘cute little puppy teeth’. You’re damn puppy is fine, I however am on the verge of a nervous breakdown.” Wallace complained.
“And a break up because if I lose one more pair of shoes to that dog…” Tamsin threatened, her eyes finally opening only to narrow at Logan. She liked the puppy, thought he was the cutest thing on Earth and liked to sit on his bedroom floor and play with him, but when they went to bed and he was alone he’d cry until they let him on the bed and Tamsin refused to sleep with a dog on the bed. Then, after getting a grand total of twenty minutes of sleep, she’d gotten up and put on sneakers instead of the heels she’d brought over to wear the next day and, left alone in the room all day, the puppy ate and shredded anything and everything in sight.
“I’ll have him out of your hair next Friday. Veronica keeps bringing up how much she misses Backup now that she’s no longer living with her dad and hinting that she wants me to consider getting a dog. It’s the perfect present for our anniversary.” The excitement over the puppy was back in Logan’s face. He’d been so excited when he’d shown up at Wallace’s place on Monday with the little bundle and a handful of dog treats, a bag of expensive food.
“I still don’t see why you didn’t wait until next Monday to get him, and why you had to bring him to my house. Do you know how hard it is keeping him hidden from those three girls? And Piz?” Wallace sat up and Tamsin settled back into the pillows.
“The guy at the pound said they’d all be gone by then and I didn’t want to get one from a breeder. I wanted to get her a pit bull, like Backup, so she can train him to keep her safe too.” Logan explained once again. Wallace had asked this same question at least three times a day since he’d dropped the puppy off five days ago. Last night he’d called at three when the little monster had been at the peak of his crying.
“They don’t have layaway at the shelter?” Wallace asked, again, annoyed.
“I got all this stuff for him stashed at Keith’s apartment.” Logan continued on without acknowledging Wallace’s question. “It’s all wrapped and stuff, I’ll come by and pick up after my morning class and bring him back to Keith’s so he can drop him off with all the stuff I got him while we’re at dinner.”
“You got him stuff? Why kind of stuff?” Tamsin asked. She flip flopped between being annoyed at the puppy and adoring him. When they’d had to run to Petsmart to get him a couple chew bones he’d had a hard time dragging her away from all the puppy paraphernalia.
“A couple beds for around the house, this cute little collar with spikes on it, some bowls and a mat. I actually got a couple of these little puppy car seats for our cars and then doggy seatbelts for when he’s bigger. A couple little hoodies for when it’s cold. He’s shorthair and I don’t want him to get be cold during the winter.” Logan told her excitedly. They were probably going to give him a name like Steve or Logan Jr and start referencing him as their little baby.
“We live in Southern California.” Wallace told him.
“So?”
“It doesn’t get cold enough in SoCal for a dog to need a hoodie.” Wallace deadpanned.
“Sometimes, Backup shivers.” Logan informed him in the most serious voice Wallace had ever heard him use and that’s when he knew. Logan had seriously lost his damn mind.
~Piz~
“I will give you a million dollars if you cut the music and start playing Kenny G.” Veronica asked as she flopped down on the couch next to him. The girl he’d been talking to had been pulled away by her friend. Apparently she was a big fan of guitar players.
“Really?” He asked, his eyebrows shooting up his forehead. He reached up to run his hand through his short hair and only vaguely missed the longer cut he’d had the first year and a half of college, before he cut it after he realized that no, the jokes were never going to get old and his friends were going to just keep on making them.
“I have access to Logan’s bank account and I don’t think he’d blame me.” Veronica insisted, squeezing his upper arm in her desperation.
“I don’t know…” he hedged, it was getting late and this was Veronica’s house so she couldn’t go to bed until everyone was gone. But, still…
“Have you been working out?” She asked, squeezing his bicep again.
“Bribery didn’t work so you’ve moved on to flattery?” He asked, his shoulder shaking with laughter. Veronica would usually do it herself, he knew that, but she’d have to cross the dance floor to get to the iPod and she’d risk being swallowed by the crowd. Or getting caught by Lilly who insisted that the party could not, under any circumstances, end until at least 2am. They only had another hour to go but it seemed Veronica had reached the end of her patience.
“Did it work?” She asked, a hopeful look on her face and he hated to disappoint her.
“I actually have to live with Lilly, so… no.” He was taking his life in his hands but while he was scared of Veronica he also knew that as his roommate, Lilly could make his life hell. But again, so could Veronica.
Veronica opened her mouth to either to continue to try and convince him or to threaten him but, thankfully, Dick sat down next to her and called her name.
“Veronica?”
“Don’t move,” Veronica commanded him, got a good grip on his wrist and then turned to face Dick. “What?”
“I have to ask you something.” Dick told her, eying Piz and the fact that Veronica had a death grip on his wrist. What’d you do? Dick’s eyes asked before he turned back to Veronica. “I want to ask Mac to move in with me and I thought, well, if that’d be okay.”
Veronica’s grip slackened and then released completely in her shock. “Did you just ask me for permission to ask your girlfriend to move in with you?”
“Shouldn’t you ask her current roommates?” Piz asked, stupidly not using the opportunity of Veronica’s momentary distraction to get away.
“Well, I could ask Parker or Lilly but I’m asking Veronica because she knows Mac best.” Dick replied to Piz before turning back to Veronica. “Do you think it’s a good idea?”
Piz didn’t wait around to hear Veronica’s answer, he’d know about it soon enough, but right now he had to get away from this blonde to avoid another’s wrath.
~Weevil~
“Hey.” Lilly greeted softly, leaning up against the wall outside the bathroom. He hadn’t really noticed her as he walked through the hallway on his way out back.
“Hey.” He kept his voice soft and tried not to let it convey any of the frustration he was feeling toward her. They’d been able to get be friendly to each other the past six months, but lately he’d just been unable to get past that place where he thought they could be more and she seemed to date rich white guy after rich white guy.
“Did you just get here?” She asked, her voice still soft and sweet as she moved out of the bathroom line.
“Pretty much, don’t you have to…?” He asked, nodding at the bathroom door.
“Not really, I was just going to freshen my makeup.” She smiled up at him, as if he was an old friend that she was finally reconnecting with. Just a friend. “I’d rather talk to you. I haven’t seen you in a while.”
“Well, by the looks of the party, you’ve been busy.” Weevil nodded behind him where Veronica’s living room had been turned into some kind of nightclub.
“Yeah, and you missed the band and the fireworks.” She joked and he laughed and he let himself ease into the comfort of their old ‘friendship’.
“How’s the boyfriend?” He asked, not able to let himself ease too much into the situation.
“We broke up. Apparently he googled me and didn’t like what he found out so we had this huge break up scene over the phone.” She told him, didn’t sound too upset about it though. “It was kind of funny, breaking up over the phone because we kept fighting and I kept thinking this is the moment to hang up but I never did. Just sat there and listened to all the horrible things he had to say about me. Like his opinion mattered.”
“It didn’t? Most people count their boyfriend’s opinion among the ones that matter.” This was one of the things that frustrated him. She flirted and didn’t care when she broke up with someone, didn’t count the boyfriend’s opinion as something that mattered because in Lilly world all that mattered was her opinion. And Veronica’s, but the list ended there.
“I wrote him off the moment his tirade about what a whore I was in high school started. Honestly, where the hell was he the last few years because I can’t imagine that many people that find my past exploits mysterious.” She laughed at this, about the fact that she’d been in a coma for sleeping with her boyfriend’s father. Her other boyfriend because in order to sleep with his father she’d have to find him first. It frustrated him that she found it funny that this had all happened and that she expected every person in the world to know it.
“Not everyone knows every single thing about you, Lilly.” Weevil told her, trying to keep his irritation out of his voice. There was no reason to rock the boat and piss her off and cause a scene and end the tentative ‘friendship’ they’d been building.
“His dad is an agent and his mom was an actress. They probably read the tabloids at the breakfast table like the morning paper and lord knows the Lilly Kane attack was everywhere. And then the Aaron Echolls trial and the Aaron Echolls murder and then that whole thing last year with the Kane Heiress Wakes Up headlines. He should have known.” She explained wryly.
“Probably.” He conceded the point, there was no use arguing with her about something that would only take place in her world. In his world all the dad’s worked in garages or factories and all the mom’s worked for the mom’s of her world. They didn’t read tabloids at the breakfast table, they didn’t even read the paper. They rushed through breakfast and out the door and didn’t care about what was going on in the world - or Hollywood - that day because they had to get to work and they had bills to pay.
She smiled at him, one of those soft and secret smiles she used to give him when they were alone together and no one even had the slightest clue about. She reached for his hand and tugged him out of the hallway, through the kitchen and out the front door and onto the porch where she stopped. It was quieter out here. All the people that had been milling about when he got here an hour earlier seemed to have dissipated, either leaving or heading back to the bonfire where most everyone else was congregating.
“Lilly, what are you-” He was interrupted by the feel of her lips on his, he was startled but not enough to keep him from wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close. He deepened the kiss, and she giggled. She tasted like strawberries, he remembered that from before too. He eased into her and, as he did so, she pulled away and tugged him down the front steps. He followed her into the dark, not caring where they were going.
“I think we should get out of here.” She whispered as she pressed her lips against his again. He nodded dumbly as he followed her again, further out into the darkness and into the jumble of cars parked along the street. “Where’d you park?”
“I don’t-” He started to protest. He’d come over on his new bike, and he didn’t have a spare helmet for her. He’d had enough, his fingers wrapped around the black suspenders she had on and tugged her toward him. She was caught off guard and stumbled a bit on her sky scraper heels, practically falling into him. His mouth slanted over hers and he swallowed the small moan she let escape as his hand closed over her breast.
The stood there for a few minutes, kissing. He could feel himself harden and thought desperately of how to get her back to his place.
“I have my car.” She whispered in his ear before taking the lobe into her mouth. His eyes practically rolled back in his head. She sucked for a moment before releasing his ear with a small pop. She stepped back and, before his hands could pull her back, she slipped her hand into the pocket of the tiny black shorts she wore. She pulled out a set of car keys and tossed them to him. “You drive.”
~*~
They pulled up to his apartment and she was on his lap, wiggling, before he even put the car in park. He gripped her hips and, pressing her down, he ground up into her as he shoved his tongue into her mouth. She moaned, loudly, as her hands gripped at his shoulders.
Her head leaned back, offering the long white column of her throat to him. He latched on, his mouth kissing as much as he could before sucking at the spot where her neck met her shoulder. Her moan was even louder, no longer muffled by his mouth. One of her hands slid down over his shoulder, down his chest and rubbed the front of his jeans. He moaned loudly too.
“We need to go in.” He hissed out through his teeth as she continued to rub at him. The hand disappeared and the sexual haze cleared a bit as she reached behind her to open the car door. Then her hand was back, popping the button and lowering the zipper.
“Better hurry then.” She said, her voice husky with lust. He gripped her ass and slid them both out of the seat and he stood, leaning against the car as he tried to get his balance and shut the car door.
The hand disappeared from the front of his jeans and he felt it wrap around his neck as she started to grind her hips into him, legs wrapping around him. He haltingly made it up the walkway to his place, moaning and stumbling as she wiggled in his arms and kissed him passionately. He had her pressed against the door jam, trying to work his key into the lock, when her hand slid back down and into his jeans.
Weevil’s head exploded as her hand wrapped around him and squeezed, tugged. He groaned and nearly shouted with relief as the door opened and they fell through it. He got his balance again, leaning back against his kitchen counter. Lilly’s free hand reached behind them and slid into his back pocket before sliding back out a moment later with his wallet. She extracted the condom he kept there and unwrapped her legs from around his waist and let them lower to the floor, slid her hand out of his pants.
She pressed the condom into his chest and took as step backwards, kicking the door shut in the process. She pulled the suspenders down her arms, releasing herself from them. She unbuttoned her shorts, slid the tiny zipper down and let them fall, sliding down her legs slowly and seductively, as if they knew, like their owner, what to do to drive him wild. He focused on the tiny, black lace underwear she was wearing. A glance up at her face caught her smirk and then his attention was pulled away again, her hands moving to grip the bottom of her tight, striped shirt. She stood there a moment, just like that. Her legs bare, shorts pooled at the floor, arms crossed at the wrist, hands gripping the hem of a shirt that almost every single person at the party had been wearing. She waited until his eyes swung back up to meet hers before she tugged the shirt off and whipped it at him.
Lilly stood there in her underwear of black lace and the matching bra and the shiny black heels that made her at least a good six inches taller than she’d normally be. A black tattoo marred her hip, words written in a fancy script. Two words, the second of which that he didn’t recognize - deuxieme chance.
Lilly noticed his lingering gaze. “It means second chance in French. I got a few weeks after we got back from that trip last year. Veronica, Mac, Parker and I all went and got something.”
Weevil felt himself nod and then watched as Lilly turned and walked away, toward his bedroom, her heels clicking on the floor as she went.
Following her, he undressed as he went, leaving his clothes in a trail down the short hallway. He entered the bedroom and flipped the overhead light off as she turned on the small lamp next to his bed.
He was in only his boxers now and those too went as he took the remaining steps toward her. She slipped away before he could reach her, sliding onto his bed and kneeling there in the middle. She crooked her finger at him and he was struck by her confidence, something she’d always had so much of that it often led to her downfall. But the look in her eyes, the insecurity he saw there, watching him… it’s what made him follow her onto the bed and reach for her.
He pressed against her, pulling her to him before they fell to the mattress and rolled until she was underneath him, pressed into the soft bedspread that he’d gotten from his grandmother. He kissed her, trying to erase the insecurity and confidence until it was just her with him. This was probably a mistake, he knew that. They’d been through too much to ever really get passed it. The tortured love story might work for Logan and Veronica but he didn’t think he’d be able to handle the constant drama and need of being with someone he had so much history with.
His hands held hers above her head, intertwining their fingers and pressing the condom back into her hand. He felt her body arch beneath him, trying to rush him into it and he complied. He let her arching body push him into a roll until he was pressed into the mattress and she was straddling him, tearing the wrapper open with her teeth and extracting the condom. She rolled it over him quickly, efficiently, and then lifted and guiding him into her as she sank down on him. She set a hard and fast pace, her hands running up and down her own body and into her own hair. Pinching her nipples and then his and running up and down his chest, she went wild and he let her, gripping her hips.
Lilly moaned loudly, gaining volume the faster and harder she slammed her hips into his. He allowed himself to get lost in the moment and forgot, completely, that this was probably a mistake. At least for a minute or two.
38: Two