THE RETURN 39-Three 3/3 [Ensemble] R
Title: The Return 39-Three [Pt III]
Rating: R
Word Count: 20,797 (Pt III: 8,606)
Characters/Pairings: Mac, Veronica, Logan, Lilly I, Duncan, Dick, Wallace, Piz, Parker, Casey Gant, Lilly II, Alicia Fennel, Trina Echolls, Mrs. Lee, Celeste Kane, Jake Kane, OFCs, Carrie Bishop, Susan Knight (mentions: Darrel Fennel, OFC, Weevil, Aaron Echolls 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 Pt/38: Two
The Return
39
Three
January 2009
~Logan~
He lifted his head and grinned down at his girlfriend. Veronica’s lips were slightly swollen and red from their mini-make out session at the bottom of Duncan’s stairway, surrounded by at least eighty of their closest friends. Her eyes had yet to open, but her lashes fluttered a bit as she hummed under her breath, a small smile forming.
“God, you’re good at that.” It was a low whisper, and if he’d been separated from her by more than an inch or two he wouldn’t have heard it.
“Likewise, baby.” Logan’s voice was husky, gruff from the lust that had surged through him as they’d kissed. He stared - transfixed - at her lips before dipping his head down again, unable to resist kissing her again.
“Where’d Lilly go?” Piz asked, appearing beside them suddenly and interrupting. Veronica tore her mouth away from his to reply and Logan let his lips fall back to her, pressing into the hollow beneath her ear.
“She’s upstairs. Passed out before midnight.” He heard her reply and raised his own eyebrows at the information as he pressed kisses down her neck, coming to the sweet spot at it’s base. He both heard and felt Veronica gasp as he made contact, spreading a little moisture as his mouth opened to suck in the skin. He also heard Piz chuckle before continuing.
“She made me promise to kiss her at midnight. Didn’t want the bad luck of not getting kissed at midnight to follow her around all year.” Piz explained to Veronica, laughter evident in his voice. “Although it looks like you two won’t have that problem.”
“She’s going to be pissed she didn’t at least make it till midnight though.” Veronica told the other boy, continuing the conversation way passed it’s ending in Logan’s opinion. He pressed his hand flat against her lower back, urging her to end the conversation and participate in what he was doing instead. “I think she was upset, the whole New Year’s Eve and no date thing. She had a lot to drink, more than usual. At least since she’s been out of the coma and…”
Logan pulled away, his mouth making a wet popping sound and he watched her stumble a little when he removed his hands as well. “Do you mind?” he asked her, a little exasperated.
“No, not really. I thought you were doing okay by yourself.” Veronica informed him, eyes full of laughter, but thankfully holding in the actual laughter. Unlike Piz who was walking away, booming with his own.
“Lilly passed out?” Logan asked, intending to make her suffer now.
“Yep. After you gave her a bottle of champagne and walked off she was fine, but half a bottle later however…” Veronica reached for him, arms stretched up towards his neck and he admired the way her black strapless dress shifted on her. It reminded him of the one she had worn to prom senior year, probably was the dress she had worn. Her hair was swept up off her neck, pinned back in a messy bun that was indescribably sexy for some reason, showing off the back of her neck that felt rather illicit to him. Her eyes were smoky looking with make up and she just had a light coating of clear gloss on - when he wasn’t busy kissing it off - and the effect was oddly intimate. Somehow, completely made up in a completely intentional way, she looked like she was in the middle of their bedroom, in the middle of undressing and unintentionally sexy. He felt both proud to show her off and jealous that anyone else saw her this way.
“However…” Logan prompted, drawing the ‘r’ sound out to sound a little like a growl as his hands itched to grab at her, pull her in for another kiss, but he just let her hands wrap around his neck.
“However, she soon after started to get more and more depressed about the Weevil thing.” Veronica told him, her hands playing with the short hair at the nape of his neck, sending tingles down his spine.
“Upset that she slept with him? Upset he never called? Or upset that he showed up at the party with someone else?” Logan asked, his hands finally coming up to rest on her hips, wishing that all this talking was over and they could just be kissing again.
“Umm… he’s here with someone?” Veronica asked, pulling back so her hands slid down his neck, over his shoulders and pressed against his chest, pushing him a way a little so she could look him in the eyes with that stern expression of hers. The one that demanded answers that he didn’t have.
“Yeah, another Mexican chick. At first I thought that it was Carmen, because you she kind of looked like her, you know? Then-” Logan explained only to be interrupted by Veronica.
“Because all Mexicans look alike?” She was annoyed with him now, taking a small step back from him.
“Because they’re all brown? No… that wasn’t it.” He pandered, letting the jackass take over a bit, knowing that it annoyed her to no end. “Oh, wait, it was because it was Carmen’s sister. You remember Isobel, right?”
“Yes.” He smirked, feeling smug at her contrite expression, her succinct answer that reeked of embarrassment.
“It’s her. Weevs ran into her a couple weeks ago and invited her because she was basically ditched for winter break. She was supposed to go skiing with all her friends or something like that, I stopped paying attention.” Logan reached out to her, running his fingers up and down her neck.
“You stopped paying attention?” She asked, her eyes flicking off to his side, focusing on something behind him. He let his fingers wrap around her thin neck, intending to pull her into for a kiss. He was going to pull her in and whisper in her ear about how he’d caught sight of her and been unable to focus on anything except the way she looked in this dress. About how he was inventing excuses to bail on the rest of the night and exactly what he was going to do to her when they got home, exactly where on her body he’d be kissing her when the clock stuck twelve. Instead she pulled away just as Duncan’s voice called out to them.
“You seen my sister?” Duncan asked. He continued to stare at his girlfriend as she explained where Lilly was and why.
“Good, because…” Duncan trailed off as Parker and her mousy haired friend bounced up to the group, Casey trailing behind them.
“Hi again, Veronica. Logan.” Anna grinned so perkily at them and Logan was grateful that she’d soon be gone. She was a nice enough girl - polite, moderately pretty and, according to Parker, fairly loyal - but she was just so damn perky all the time. And nosy without realizing that she was nosy, which was a trait that Logan hated more than anything. He hated when people he didn’t know tried to get information out of him about things he thought were none of their business.
“This place is like a fashion show. Between you and Parker and Lilly… you’re all just so fashionable, like you belong in a magazine.” Her eyes traveled up and down Veronica’s body before glancing at Parker in her baby blue silk dress and silver heels. Logan glanced at Parker’s shoes again before looking down at Veronica’s feet again.
“Are you two wearing the same shoes?” Logan asked, trying to contain his laugh. Now that he really looked he could see that they were the exact same pair of shiny silver stilettos with splashes of glitter causing them to sparkle, like they had run through a puddle of the stuff.
“We’re all wearing the same shoes. Lilly thought it would be fun so she bought us each a pair and made us a promise to wear them tonight.” Parker told him, moving her foot around so he could see it sparkle. Anna let out a long ‘oooh’ and ‘ahhh’, as if she’d never seen a pair of shoes before.
“You are so lucky, PJ.” Anna cooed, her envious gaze flicking between Veronica and Parker’s feet.
Logan snorted a little, “PJ?”
“Parker Jane. And no, you may never call me that.” Parker told him, hands on her hips.
“I’m going to go get something to drink and maybe a little bit of whatever is in the kitchen. I’m starving.” Veronica announced, trying to sneak away from the crowd.
“I’ll join you.” Anna said, perky as always, and Logan watched Veronica stiffen. If he had to guess Anna was the reason she was suddenly starved. He couldn’t really blame Veronica, the constant perkiness was a little hard to handle. And, for some reason, Anna seemed to think that Veronica would be the weak link and divulge some kind of information about all the stuff she was so desperately. Fat chance, I’m more likely to spill than Ronnie.
Logan watched as Veronica weaved deftly through the crowd like a pro, Anna bounced in her wake, trying to keep up.
“So, you’re sleeping with your nanny?” Logan asked without preamble, turning to Duncan as the words fell out of his mouth.
“God. Veronica can’t keep anything to herself anymore, can she?” Duncan said, swearing a little under his breath.
“Actually I watched the two of you ‘sneak’ upstairs for a quickie.” Logan lifted his hands up to do air quotes as he stressed the word ‘sneak’. He smirked as Duncan blushed, obviously realizing exactly how bad he was at the stealth stuff. “Next time you don’t want anyone to know, you probably shouldn’t ram your tongue down her throat in full view of the party.”
“Damn. I’ve been following that Anna chick around all night to make sure she didn’t spill and here the entire party probably got look.” Duncan leaned back against the newel post at the bottom of the stairs.
“That’s why you’ve been hanging out with her? You’ve been trying to do damage control?” Parker asked Duncan, a hint of warning in her voice. Logan could see that Parker was - rightfully - protective of her friend’s feelings. She knew how harsh they could all be on the newcomers, and she’d threatened Logan and pleaded with Veronica and bribed Lilly to be nice to the girl. They had been true to their promises of civility, but it seemed that she hadn’t realized how carelessly mean Duncan could be.
“Well, yeah. It’s not like I wanted to spend my entire night hanging out with her.” Duncan responded, obviously not catching onto the danger in her voice.
“Why not?” The danger had not been avoided and now there was no way Duncan could miss the anger in Parker’s voice. “Isn’t she pretty enough? I mean, I get that you’ve obviously got a thing for blondes, but it’s not like you have to date her. Or sleep with her. Is it really so hard to just be nice to my friend?”
“I don’t… I didn’t mean...” Duncan stammered, trying to calm Parker while also trying to figure out where he’d gone wrong. His eyes cast about for help as he finished lamely, “She’s nice.”
“Nice.” Parker was not impressed, nor was she going to let her best friend off the hook. “Why is it that you and Logan and Veronica, even Lilly, all say the word ‘nice’ like it’s an insult? Like being nice isn’t a good trait?”
“It’s good to be nice.” Duncan started at the same time that Logan asked, “Wait, why am I suddenly in trouble?”
“Because, you’re all such snobs about how jaded you are. Anyone shows any little bit of enthusiasm for anything and you call her nice.” Parker scolded them both and, Logan had to admit, that time ‘nice’ really had sounded like an insult. And the way she said it sounded an awful lot like the way both he and Veronica had said a couple days before when they had been talking about Anna on the drive home. When they had called her nice, like it was code for naïve-hick-that-will-never-understand-our-lives, but they hadn’t been stupid enough to say it like that in front of Parker.
“Veronica and I have been nothing but…” Logan hesitated a moment before continuing, “nice to her.”
Logan saw Casey jerk his head off to the side, signaling him to make a break for it. Parker gave Logan a cold stare before turning back to Duncan and he slunk away, avoiding Parker’s gaze.
“She’s being really protective about Anna, man. I’m sorry.” Casey whispered as they snuck out of sight. “It’s been like this all week. Yesterday she asked why my grandmother didn’t leave the company to my parents. All I said is that I’d rather not discuss it and Parker pulled me into a room and went off about how I was being rude.”
“Were you being rude?” Logan asked, raising his eyebrows. They had stopped just inside the doorway of the kitchen and his eyes automatically began searching for Veronica.
“Yeah, I don't know. Anna keeps fishing for more information, for some kind of inside scoop. If I didn’t know any better I’d think that she was an undercover reporter or something.” Casey leaned back against the wall and sighed. Logan felt bad for him. He’d been the one to tell Parker to invite Anna, offered to let them both stay with him at the Gant Estate until she left.. He couldn’t get away from nosey-Anna and overprotective-Parker, and he couldn’t really comment unless he wanted a fight with his girlfriend.
“She’s leaving in a few days, though. Right?” He prayed she’d be gone by time they all headed up to the Kane ski chalet in a couple days. There was no way he was going to be able to spend his one week of relaxation actually relaxing if Anna was up there.
“Yeah. She’s flying out on the fourth, so Parker and I are going to meet you guys up at Duncan’s parent’s place on Monday.” Casey shifted around, glanced back into the other room and then resettled against the wall.
“Good.” Logan blurted, backtracking quickly. “I mean, there really aren’t enough rooms and…” He trailed off at Casey’s laughter.
“It’s okay, I can’t stand her either and I’ve been looking forward to her leaving since she got here. Parker is just really worried about losing her old friends from high school. Anna’s practically the only one she talks to on a regular basis anymore. She loves you guys, but she feels like she’s slowly losing all her old friends, so she’s been real protective of… Anna!” Casey exclaimed as the girl in question bounced up to them, Veronica behind her with her cheeks puffed out.
“You get some food, babe?” Logan asked, slinging his arm around Veronica and steering her out of the kitchen, abandoning Casey to Anna and her perkiness. He leaned his head down to whisper in her ear, “Let’s go home.”
Veronica nodded enthusiastically, setting her wine glass down on a table as they headed for the door. “Thank god, I’m exhausted.”
“Not too exhausted, though. Right? I mean, I did have some plans for when we got home. A little party for just the two of us.” Logan spun her around and pressed a kiss to her forehead as he walked her backwards out the front door.
~*~
The knocking - the pounding - woke Ares before it woke either Logan or Veronica. Veronica, cuddled into his side, shoved at him sleepily.
“Stop.” He groaned, his arms tightening around her slightly as he tried to burry his head further into his pillow to block out the pounding. If it wasn’t for the damn dog barking he could almost ignore the pounding.
Veronica pushed at him again before shifting back in the bed, planting her feet on him and trying to shove him out of the bed. “Go, get the door before they break it down.”
Groaning, Logan slid out of the bed and felt his way blindly down the hallway, refusing to open his eyes. He stumbled down the stairs, leaned his head against the front door before taking a deep breath, opening his eyes and then the door.
“Lilly.” He was so not amused, by the time he and Veronica had gotten to sleep it was two-thirty in the morning. “What time is it?”
“Eight. I need to talk to you.” Lilly shoved her way into the house, pushing passed Logan. She practically stomped into the living room and down on the couch.
“About…” Logan rubbed a hand through his hair, following Lilly into the living room and sat across from his friend.
“I need to know what happened.” She said succinctly, not giving him any clues about what she talking about.
“Like, in general? Or is there a specific event you’d like to be informed of?” Logan leaned back into the couch cushions and longed for his bed upstairs and the warm and mutinous blonde in it.
“You realize it’s the new year?” Lilly asked, somewhat maniacally.
“Yeah, I think there was something about that on TV last night. One year ends, the new one starts and… oh yeah, there was that little party we went to last night, I believe you were mostly responsible for it.” Logan answered sarcastically, raising his head to give her his best you’re-annoying-me-so-please-get-on-with-it look.
“Right. And I’d like to know that I didn’t start the new year with a scene.” Lilly shifted nervously on the couch, not looking him in the eye.
“That’s funny, you’ve always loved scenes. In fact, I remember our New Year’s Eve parties from before and you always strived to begin the new year with a scene worthy of an Oscar.” Logan grinned as her head snapped up and eyes narrowed. “No, you didn’t start the year with a scene. You didn’t even make it to the new year, actually. Passed out before it hit midnight.”
“Okay. So I didn’t start the year with the proverbial bang, but I didn’t end 2008 with one either, right?” Lilly asked, a slight edge to her voice.
“No, I don’t think so. As far as I know Veronica got you upstairs and into bed before you did anything.” Logan studied her for a minute before continuing. “Is there a specific scene in which you’re afraid you caused?”
“Weevil was there. With a girl.” Lilly told him, leaning back into the cushions of the couch she was sitting on. She pulled her knees up to her chest and balanced her heels on the edge. “I was upset and I might have drank a little too much because of it.”
“Huh… you don’t say.” Logan teased, remembering how she’d been following him around the party after Weevil’s arrival with an endless stream of chatter. She’d talked mile a minute, only stopping to catch her breath or down another glass of alcohol. He’d last seen her with Veronica - leaving the girls and the bottle of champagne he’d originally gotten for him and Veronica - while he went off in search of Duncan.
“It’s just that… Well, I mean, it was my brother’s house and a party I was throwing and he showed up. When he came through the door I thought that maybe this was it, he’d finally decided to stop avoiding me and we could talk about the whole sleeping together thing. We haven’t really seen each other since then, except for Thanksgiving and he was gone before we could get a chance to talk alone.
“I thought maybe we’d talk and he’d say that he was sorry and that he cared and then midnight would hit and we’d kiss. I thought everything was going to work out, for once. It’s ridiculous and I feel really stupid, but that’s what I thought because I didn’t think he’d actually bring a date to my party. I thought we’d end up together, you know?”
“Lilly…” Logan started, but his voice trailed off when he realized that he really didn’t know what to say to her about anything. Veronica was supposed to be the expert in girl talk and Lilly, this was her area. Sure he knew Lilly and could wing it on the small things, but what she really needed was Veronica and her extensive knowledge on all things Lilly. Veronica would know what to say to make Lilly feel better, or how to tell Lilly the truth of the matter without breaking her.
“I know.” Lilly stood and began pacing in front of her couch, her hands flying out in emphatic gestures as she continued. “It was a stupid little fantasy and I feel stupid even admitting it, but I really thought it might happen. With everything that you and Veronica have been through together, all the crap you put each other through, you guys made it. You’re in love and together and everything worked out for you. Same with Dick and Mac. He wasn’t nice to her and she had that whole thing with Beaver and all of that and they ended up together. Against the odds, they’re together and going to have a baby and while it’s scary thinking of Dick procreating, it’s also kind of sweet. So I just keep thinking ‘why can’t that happen for me and Weevil’? I mean, he cared enough at some point to get my name tattooed on him, so why can’t he care about me like that now?”
“I don’t think it’s that simple.” Logan began as Lilly dropped back onto the couch. “But I can tell you that he didn’t bring a date. You remember Carmen? Dated Tad?” Logan looked to Lilly and she nodded. “It was Carmen’s little sister, Isobel. Weevil said that he ran into her a couple days ago and apparently she was supposed to go skiing with her friends but she didn’t have enough money or something so they went with out her. He invited her along because he felt bad that her friends had ditched her and she’d be spending the night alone with her grandmother. They’re not dating.”
“Great. Now I’m not only a jealous freak, I’m a jealous freak that let a huge misunderstanding get in the way of my big plans. I got drunk and passed out and didn’t get my midnight kiss from the boy I like - love - or the back up kiss I arranged with Piz. I rang in the new year passed out in the same room I grew up in.” Lilly looked close to tears now as she dropped her head into her hands. “In fact, it was the same bed. It may have all been redecorated, but it’s still my old room and my old bed and I did the same thing I always did. I overreacted and did something stupid and nothing has really changed has it?” Lilly looked up at him and he could see that the tears had started to fall. “Veronica is still cleaning up after me and I’m still doing the same things. I’m still chasing after the same boy and it’s all the same. Everything that I’ve tried to change about myself is still there, still lurking around for the moment I let my guard down so it can start right back up again.”
“No. Everything has changed Lilly, you’re just never going to see it if you’re always punishing yourself for it. You want to change everything about yourself, but you weren’t all bad. Yeah, you did some stupid things but you were also a lot of fun. There had to have been a reason why Veronica and I loved you so much, right? It couldn’t have been because you slept with my dad and a biker and hate your mom and every bad thing. I mean, we loved you because you were fun and impulsive. Yeah, the impulsive thing sometimes led to some bad stuff, but most of the time it led to adventures and fun and things we never would have done if it hadn’t been for you.
“You were creative and sometimes that led to us doing the stupid things we did, but those were the stories that Veronica and I like to share the most. The times we did something stupid because you thought it sounded fun, or that it seemed like a good idea when you thought of it. We loved you because you would do anything for your friends, and even though I was sometimes your boyfriend and sometimes your ex, I was always your friend. There were things we loved about you, things we wouldn’t want you to change and there are things you’re never going to be able to change. You need to remember that not everything about you was bad.”
“I’m so tired of trying so hard to be different, Logan. It’s kind of exhausting.” Lilly told him. She sounded so tired, so defeated, that he had to resist the urge to go to her, to comfort her because he knew that she wouldn’t appreciate it. The Lilly he knew didn’t take comfort in him because that was too weak, only Veronica was allowed to see that side of her. “I think I’m going to stop. I liked who I was, mostly, and I think that I’m just going to try to be a better version of my former self instead of this completely new version I’ve been trying so hard to create over the last year.”
“Okay.” Logan nodded, unsure of what to say to her.
“Thanks, Logan.” Lilly stood and he followed suit, unsure what to do next as they stood there, awkwardly staring at each other. “I’m gonna go, will you tell Veronica to call me later?”
Logan nodded again and watched Lilly leave the living room. He took a deep breath when he heard the front door open and shut, letting it out slowly before he turned to the stairs and went back to bed.
~Wallace~
He hadn’t realized how nice Parker’s room was before. Probably because he had never been allowed in it until now, but it was a really nice room. Briefly he wondered how long it was going to take him to stop thinking of it as Parker’s room and start thinking of it as his room. His room with his own bathroom and room for his new king-size bed and all of his stuff. There were windows that he could open and natural lighting and no more basement.
It sucked a little that Lilly and Parker were moving into their own apartment now, that he was losing them as roommates. They nagged and bitched about how messy he was but they had been awesome roommates. It had been nice having the girls around, especially since Parker was such a caretaker and Lilly had always known where the best parties and clubs were and Mac had always been there to offer up tech support and free upgrades before she moved in with Dick.
At least he was getting a better room out of the deal.
“Dude, so when are the other b-ballers moving in?” Dick asked, coming into the room without knocking or invitation, tromping over to the bed and flopping down on it. “You need a video game set up in here.”
“There’s one down in the living room, Dick, you know that.” Wallace informed him, continuing to pull clothes from the garbage bags he’d used to transfer his stuff up from the basement.
“Yeah, but that’s communal. You need something in here for when you get bored at night.” Dick sat up to stare at the empty wall directly in front of the bed. “Especially since you don’t have Tamsin to entertain you anymore.”
“I think I can survive without a massive television in my bedroom.” Wallace told the blond surfer, an edge to his voice. “You know, studies have shown that TVs in the bedroom diminish your sex life.”
“Well, that shouldn’t be a problem for you then, right? You and Tami broke up, so you don’t really have a sex life to worry about anymore.” Dick shot back, a smirk on his face that told Wallace that he wasn’t falling for his attempt at freaking him out. “I on the other hand have a pregnant girlfriend, and you know what they say about knocked up chicks.”
“Hey. Lilly just left with a load of stuff, but she said that Logan and Veronica should be back to pick up a couple of the big things.” Piz announced as he strolled into Wallace’s room.
Doesn’t anyone knock anymore? Wallace wondered, rolling his eyes. He should have stayed in the basement where you knew someone was coming because the basement stairs were officially the loudest and creakiest stairs on the planet.
“They still fighting?” Dick asked, a worried look on his face.
“Yeah, does anyone know what they’re fighting about?” Piz asked, making himself comfortable on the recliner he and Wallace had dragged up from the basement the day before.
“No. V wouldn’t share the details of her and Logan’s current battle, but she’s been giving him the silent treatment all morning so whatever it was I’m sure he’ll be apologizing soon.” Wallace gave up the task of putting his clothes away and flopped back onto his bed, giving Dick a hard shove in process.
“Fuck!” Dick exclaimed as he fell, making a loud thump when he hit the hardwood floor. His head popped up a second later and he leaned against the bare mattress, not bothering to even attempt to get back on the bed.
“It’s not the silent treatment anymore. There were sniping at each other a lot when they left the last time.” Piz informed them, putting the footrest up on the recliner and leaning back. “So, I’ve decided that I’m not riding back over to Parker and Lilly’s condo with them to help unpack.”
“I’m not going over there to help them unpack their crap, it’s not like they’ve ever actually helped with any of the moves in and out of this place. We have to load everything into the cars and then pull it all out again. Then we’ll spend the next five hours over there while Lilly and Parker ‘a little to the left’ us to death.” Dick groused, crossing his arms in front of his chest like that would keep him away from the possibility of more hard labor.
“I like that you both think that you’re going to have a choice on either of those things. Veronica is going to get here and command you both into the back of the Range Rover and you’ll spend all afternoon hanging Parker’s pictures and moving Lilly’s furniture.” Wallace told them both before sliding off his bed and heading to the door. “Speaking of, I’m going to head downstairs so I can’t be accused of laying around while they do all the work. If they’re fighting it means they’re both in bad moods and that means nobody is safe.”
The other two boys grudgingly got up and moved to the door also, hearing a car pull up and two doors slamming shut. It wasn’t until they were halfway down the stairs that the front door opening and they could hear the yelling.
“Go back up, go back up.” Wallace whispered urgently turning and pushing at Dick and Piz to about face back up the stairs. The three boys practically collapsed in a heap at the top, limbs tangled in their desperation to get out of sight of the battle currently going on in their living room. Their desperation to stay out of the crosshairs of the two people who brought new meaning to the term ‘low blow’.
Silently, they crawled back to Wallace’s room and eased the door shut, all the while praying it wouldn’t creak.
“I don’t think they heard us.” Wallace let out the breath he’d been holding, flooding with relief.
Wallace leaned up against the bed, his legs splayed out in front of him and hands laid flat on the wooden floor. Dick sprawled face down on the floor in front of him and Piz was pressed against the wall next to the door, legs curled against him as if he was trying to take up the least amount of room possible.
“What are you doing?” Dick whispered as Piz reached up to the door knob.
Piz shrugged, continuing to turn the knob a little and open the door a crack, just enough to where Logan and Veronica’s voice were no longer muffled. “I wanna know what they’re fighting about.
Dick slid his body closer to the door so he could hear, angling his ear at the crack. “Something about Lilly and Weevil and not wanting things to get screwed up beyond control.” Dick whispered back to Wallace, who stubbornly refused to participate out of loyalty to his best friend.
“Did you know that Lilly and Weevil slept together at Duncan’s party back in October?” Piz asked, looking between Wallace and Dick with shock and amazement written all over his face.
“Oh, yeah. She told me while we were braiding each other’s hair last week.” Wallace whispered back furiously. I swear living and working with Lilly and Parker has turned him into the biggest gossip ever.
“Did she do your nails while you talked about your breakup?” Dick asked and the two of them snickered.
“Shut up.” Wallace snapped, almost forgetting to whisper.
Piz pressed his ear against the door again. “Apparently they slept together and Weevil never called her.”
“We shouldn’t be doing this.” Wallace whispered, almost to himself.
“Dude, it’s fine. It’s not like they’ll ever know, and we’re trapped up here for the foreseeable future, unless you want to tie your bed sheets together and shimmy down the side of the house.” Dick whispered back.
“I don’t think my sheets would hold us, but if you want to try…” Wallace gestured to the window before glaring at Piz. “Their fighting is none of our business.”
“Come on, since when does it matter if it’s our business or not?” Piz asked, waving Wallace off as he turned his attention back to the door and the fight.
“Yeah, Wallace. There’s nothing else to do up here.” Dick whispered over his shoulder as he strained to hear what was being said downstairs. “If you didn’t want us listening to the fight for entertainment, you should’ve gotten a TV in here.”
~Lilly~
“Happy Birthday to me!” Lilly exclaimed, downing a shot of something the bartender had told her was called ‘strawberry sex’. It tasted exactly like what she thought bottled sex would taste like, actually. Sweet and naughty, almost forbidden with that burn that the alcohol made as it went down. She’d have to remember this one for later.
People milled about below the balcony, yelling out a communal “Whoooo!” every time she took a shot. It made her grin to see everyone having fun in her name. Everyone dressed up in fun dresses and suits, like it was 1929 and they really were at a speakeasy instead of an old art deco mansion deep in the 09er district of Neptune.
She’d been disappointed when Veronica had brushed off the idea of a party, refusing to offer up her house. Duncan had been just as stubborn, whining about how the house was still a disaster from New Year’s and he didn’t want a bunch of people trampling through it again, so soon after the last time. Logan had ‘accidentally’ let it slip that he was taking Veronica away for the weekend of her birthday and they would just have to celebrate later. Parker and Mac had pretended as if it hadn’t existed, like they’d completely forgotten. Lilly never really had all that much faith in the boys’ ability to remember dates, and they had seemingly proved her point by never mentioning it.
She’d been pissed when she found herself getting ready to go out alone this evening. Near tears, she had bitched about how her friends were lame and didn’t appreciate her and how she’d always made sure their birthdays were fun and that they had felt important. She’d been enraged when she’d gotten a call from Parker that her car had broken down outside of some weird house and she needed Lilly to pick her up as soon as possible. Lilly had alternately fought off tears and contained screams of rage the entire drive up to an address she’d never even noticed before.
The house had been dark, and when Lilly had called Parker’s phone she’d had to follow the ringing up the front steps and to the front door. She’d gulped and knocked on the door, only to have it creak open. She considered calling the cops for a second, fearing that she was entering into a set up worthy of a horror movie, but she’d tamped down on the thought and walked in. The lights had flipped on and all her friends had yelled surprise and she really had to hold back the tears then. Everyone decked out in twenties clothes, like they were in some old Jazz club. She always wanted a twenties theme party and Veronica had delivered.
“Thanks for this.” Lilly told her best friend, leaning her head against Veronica’s shoulder.
“It wasn’t just me. Logan helped a lot, and Duncan practically funded the whole operation.” Veronica told her, grinning drunkenly. She looked cute in her outfit of pinstriped trousers, a man’s white dress shirt and suspenders topped with a black fedora. Her hair was pulled back into a tight low bun and she stood a couple inches taller in her black patent leather heels.
Lilly was made up more traditionally, with ropes of pearls around her neck and marceled hair, skyscraper heels and a champagne colored, gorgeously beaded silk sheath. Most of the other girls at the party had gone for the cliché flapper dresses, but Veronica had picked out Lilly’s outfit and - like with everything Veronica did - she had done the research on society fashion in the twenties.
The boys were all pretty much dressed the same. Pinstriped suits and fedoras or zoot suits. It was crazy to see everyone dressed up. The people she would have graduated high school with, back to celebrate their most famous classmate. People she actually went to college with, some who seemed a little awed by the glitz and glamour that surrounded them.
Lilly leaned back into the cushions that were piled high in the makeshift VIP area that Logan had insisted be set up on one of the balconies. She surveyed the crowd from her lap of luxury and basked in the glory that was her birthday party, surrounded by her favorite people in the world in this closed off section of the party.
“Seriously, though, it’s perfect.” Lilly told Veronica again, feeling tears well up in her eyes again. She seemed to be hyperemotional today, and the alcohol she had consumed was exacerbating the problem. “I really thought that nobody cared, that everyone forgot and I was going to be alone tonight.” Geeze, she was being maudlin tonight and couldn’t seem to stop.
“Hey, let’s go mingle with the little people.” Veronica suggested, standing up and pulling Lilly with her. They passed by Parker and Casey, reunited after nearly two weeks apart, and making out like teenagers at a high school party. Mac was curled up in the pillows with a champagne glass full of ginger ale sitting on the glass table along with a bowl of fruit Dick had brought her, she was fast asleep with her hand resting on her slightly rounded stomach.
On the stairs they passed Wallace, talking to some girl she’d never seen before, obviously moving on from Tamsin and their recent break up. Piz stood at the bottom of the stairs holding two glasses of champagne while his girlfriend of the moment talked animatedly to a girl Lilly vaguely recognized from one of her classes. Logan and Duncan were involved in a poker game set up on one of the lower balconies.
“Hey Lilly.” Carrie Bishop called from one of the gambling tables. She and Susan Knight held glasses of champagne as they placed their bids on a game of twenty-one. “Veronica.”
“Hi, Carrie.” Veronica greeted in a friendly tone and Lilly was a little surprised that she and Carrie had somehow buried the hatchet. Carrie had always hated Veronica and Veronica had never really tried to get along with Carrie. Or Susan for that matter. “Hey Susan. How’s your little boy?”
“Oh, he’s great. My parents are watching him tonight. I don’t get to go out all that often but, you know, Lilly’s birthday parties were always pretty legendary.”
Susan has a kid? Lilly thought, giving them both a grin. “I think this one is my favorite.” Lilly turned her grin on Veronica, throwing her arm around her best friend’s shoulders as she leaned closer to the table and the two other girls. “Don’t you think so?”
“It’s really pretty. I love all the flowers.” Carrie replied honestly and Lilly was a little shocked by the lack of bitchiness in the comment.
Lilly took a moment to look around at all calla lilies everywhere, some in vases and some just laid out on the tables. She’d bet anything that the flowers were Logan’s idea. The boy did love his symbolism.
“I didn’t even know this place existed.” Susan commented, pulling Lilly’s focus back to the conversation.
“Neither did I, but when I told Logan that I wanted to do a kind of twenties prohibition thing he called up one of his mom’s old party planners to ask about locations. I guess the lady that lived here died last year and the family is looking to sell the place.” Veronica explained, so easily engaging in conversation with these two girls she used to hate. It was a little weird.
“It’s for sale?” Lilly asked, looking around the back of the estate at the pool and the gardens, the gazebo and the small woods edging the property. She couldn’t imagine owning such a beautiful place and wanting to give it up.
“Yeah. I think if Logan could justify the fifteen bedrooms he’d buy it, but there’s no reason for this much space when it’s just the two of us.” Veronica explained and the other two girls laughed with her. Lilly thought, just for a moment, that her best friend was insane not to let her boyfriend buy the place. Of course, he wouldn’t have the money to do so until next month anyway. The topic of Logan’s depleted trust fund was a major topic lately, that and the fact that Veronica was worried that he wouldn’t make it until the second tier kicked in on his birthday next month.
“You know, I’m going to go see how Logan’s doing at the poker table, maybe join in.” Veronica announced before leaning in to whisper, “you going to be okay on your own?”
“Yeah, I’ll be fine. Have fun.” Lilly assured her friend before moving on from the table and Carrie and Susan, who had turned back to their gambling. It was odd, but it seemed that they were friendlier with Veronica now, more than they were with her.
She wandered a bit, moving from table to table, talking to as many people as she could. Everyone was there for her, for her birthday. Each time she’d arrive at a table the glasses would raise and someone would say ‘To Lilly’, followed by a round of ‘hear, hear’ and then sips of champagne.
She took small sips at first, but somewhere around her seventh or eighth table she’d caught sight of Weevil. He was dressed like a bootlegger. Brown trousers and a white men’s dress shirt with suspenders, a newsboys hat folded and shoved into the back pocket of the pants. He looked great, but the next party would have to have a fifties theme just for him, so he could wear all that leather. Maybe she’d get a ‘Pink Ladies’ jacket and some tight black pants.
He was here, at her party. That was something, right? He hadn’t spoken to her since October, but he was here at her party and he looked to be without a date. Logan had sworn that the girl from New Year’s wasn’t his girlfriend or a date or anything. Just the little sister of a friend, ran into her at the grocery store and took pity on her. But if he’s single, why has he never called? Lilly thought, moving on to the next table, distractedly raising her glass as they toasted her. This time she drained the whole glass, they’d fill it back up at the next table.
In fact, she drained her glass at each of the next eight tables.
~*~
She loved that they were using actual champagne glasses instead of flutes. They were so much prettier than the flutes everyone used these days, which was probably a weird thing to think since they were molded on Marie Antoinette’s left breast… or her right one. Whatever, didn’t matter. They were molded on one of Marie Antoinette’s boobs and they were pretty and she swore they got her drunker than the regular old champagne flutes. They were especially pretty when they did that whole champagne fountain thing that they did at the start of the night.
“I think… I think…” Lilly started and stopped hesitantly. She took a moment to catch her breath and her words before beginning again. “I think I’m drunk.”
“Really?” Veronica asked, and even drunk, Lilly could hear the laughter in her voice. “How can you tell?”
“There are signs.” Lilly told her, dropping the champagne glass in the grass and flounced off towards the VIP balcony, knowing Veronica would follow. She grabbed another bottle of champagne before she started up the stairs, trusting Veronica to grab the glasses. She heard the clink of the glasses behind her and knew she was right.
“Maybe you should slow down a bit, Lilly.” Veronica suggested from behind her. “You said you were going to take it slow tonight, remember?”
“It’s my birthday, I decided that I’m just going to have fun.” Lilly told her friend, coming to an abrupt halt at the top of the stairs. “Whoops. I think we’re at the wrong balcony.”
“Nope. Wallace has been trying to impress the ladies with his connections.” Veronica told her, steering them to the corner where they’d stashed their stuff earlier in the evening. “Hey, you’re in our spots.” Veronica informed the two brunettes currently seated in the mass of cushions.
“I don’t think that the seats are assigned.” Bitch One slurred out.
“You’ll have to go find somewhere else, we’re having a conversation.” Bitch Two joined in, giggling with Bitch One.
“I don’t care.” Lilly told her, not bothering to cover her sneer. “I said you’re in our spot, now get off your asses and off the balcony.”
“Listen, you need to chill and go away.” Bitch Two snapped, reaching behind her and pulling out Veronica’s small, black beaded clutch. “See, our stuff is here. Now go away.”
The girls made a show of ignoring them, turning to each other to continue that supposed conversation. Veronica reached out and snatched her bag out of Bitch Two’s hand. “Actually, that would be my bag and our stuff and you need to move your asses. Now.”
“Who died and made you boss?” Bitch Two asked, standing to tower over Veronica.
“Shouldn’t you be getting home? Curfew and all.” One asked, causing Two to dissolve in another bout of giggles. “I mean, you’re what? Twelve?”
“Actually, I’m twenty-one and this is Lilly, she’s twenty-two. You may have heard of her? You’re at her party, the one I’m throwing. So you need to get out of here before I have you thrown out by my boyfriend.” Veronica’s voice may have sounded sweet but any idiot could hear the venom dripping from it. Lilly remembered a time when her best friend couldn’t be mean if she tried extra hard, now she was mean and threatening and downright scary sometimes.
“Fine. Whatever.” Two groused, grabbing her bag, which also happened to be Lilly’s, as she got up and started to lead the way off the balcony.
“Excuse me.” Lilly snapped, reaching out and snatching back her own beaded clutch. “That is mine. Like you could afford a Fendi.”
The girl released the bag easily, gave another ‘whatever’ before walking off with her friend.
“That’s right, walk away. I don’t have the time or the energy to deal with your crap.” Lilly shouted after them. “I have my own life to deal with. My love life, which is basically crap because the guy I like slept with me and then ditched me.”
“Lilly.” Veronica tugged on her hand, trying to reel her in. “Calm down.”
“No, I mean I slept with someone I actually like and he never calls me. That ever happen to you, Veronica?” Lilly could hear her voice getting louder, could feel the situation quickly getting beyond her control.
“Lilly, come on.” Veronica pulled her down into the pile of cushions that they had won from the Bitches One and Two.
“Of course not, you only have sex with people you love. The Donut loved you and Logan would probably kill for you if you asked me to. I actually, finally, sleep with someone I love and Weevil never calls. It’s like it never happened.” Her voice was loud, too loud, it had to be carrying out over the party. Everyone could probably hear her, but it was like she couldn’t remember how to lower her voice.
“Lilly, seriously, you need to calm down. You just need to calm down and, you know, be quiet.” Veronica pleaded. Lilly saw Logan approaching them out of the corner of her eye.
“What’s wrong, Lilly?” Logan asked, sitting down next to Veronica.
“Everything, everything is wrong. We’re too fucked up to be together, right? Too fucked up for him to even call me. And I’m too in love with him to be with anyone else.” Her voice had faded down to a pathetic cry. She should have slowed down earlier, should have taken sips instead of downing the champagne like water.
“It’s okay, Lil. Come on, it’ll work itself out.” Veronica pulled her into a hug.
“Why did you even invite him? So he could ignore me up close?” Lilly sobbed into Veronica’s arms.
“No, I think this was Logan’s incredibly brilliant stab at match making.” Veronica’s voice held that edge that she had been using with Logan a lot lately. “Logan, do something. Everyone is staring.”
“Like what?” Logan asked, sounding clueless, causing Veronica to scoff. Lilly laughed a little through her tears, Logan always knew exactly how to cause a diversion.
“I don’t know. Go throw Parker in the pool.” Veronica told him.
“That’ll get their attention.” Logan chirped. “After all, it’s not really an 09er party until…”
“Until someone ends up in the pool.” The three of them finished together.
Lilly leaned into Veronica, sobbing onto her shoulder, trying not to get the black streaks of mascara and eyeliner on it. “I’m sorry, I’m ruining your shirt.”
“Go ahead, ruin it. It’s Logan’s.” Veronica scooted closer and let her cry to the sounds of Parker’s shrieks… at least until they were cut off by the splash.
40: Four
Rating: R
Word Count: 20,797 (Pt III: 8,606)
Characters/Pairings: Mac, Veronica, Logan, Lilly I, Duncan, Dick, Wallace, Piz, Parker, Casey Gant, Lilly II, Alicia Fennel, Trina Echolls, Mrs. Lee, Celeste Kane, Jake Kane, OFCs, Carrie Bishop, Susan Knight (mentions: Darrel Fennel, OFC, Weevil, Aaron Echolls 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 Pt/38: Two
The Return
39
Three
January 2009
~Logan~
He lifted his head and grinned down at his girlfriend. Veronica’s lips were slightly swollen and red from their mini-make out session at the bottom of Duncan’s stairway, surrounded by at least eighty of their closest friends. Her eyes had yet to open, but her lashes fluttered a bit as she hummed under her breath, a small smile forming.
“God, you’re good at that.” It was a low whisper, and if he’d been separated from her by more than an inch or two he wouldn’t have heard it.
“Likewise, baby.” Logan’s voice was husky, gruff from the lust that had surged through him as they’d kissed. He stared - transfixed - at her lips before dipping his head down again, unable to resist kissing her again.
“Where’d Lilly go?” Piz asked, appearing beside them suddenly and interrupting. Veronica tore her mouth away from his to reply and Logan let his lips fall back to her, pressing into the hollow beneath her ear.
“She’s upstairs. Passed out before midnight.” He heard her reply and raised his own eyebrows at the information as he pressed kisses down her neck, coming to the sweet spot at it’s base. He both heard and felt Veronica gasp as he made contact, spreading a little moisture as his mouth opened to suck in the skin. He also heard Piz chuckle before continuing.
“She made me promise to kiss her at midnight. Didn’t want the bad luck of not getting kissed at midnight to follow her around all year.” Piz explained to Veronica, laughter evident in his voice. “Although it looks like you two won’t have that problem.”
“She’s going to be pissed she didn’t at least make it till midnight though.” Veronica told the other boy, continuing the conversation way passed it’s ending in Logan’s opinion. He pressed his hand flat against her lower back, urging her to end the conversation and participate in what he was doing instead. “I think she was upset, the whole New Year’s Eve and no date thing. She had a lot to drink, more than usual. At least since she’s been out of the coma and…”
Logan pulled away, his mouth making a wet popping sound and he watched her stumble a little when he removed his hands as well. “Do you mind?” he asked her, a little exasperated.
“No, not really. I thought you were doing okay by yourself.” Veronica informed him, eyes full of laughter, but thankfully holding in the actual laughter. Unlike Piz who was walking away, booming with his own.
“Lilly passed out?” Logan asked, intending to make her suffer now.
“Yep. After you gave her a bottle of champagne and walked off she was fine, but half a bottle later however…” Veronica reached for him, arms stretched up towards his neck and he admired the way her black strapless dress shifted on her. It reminded him of the one she had worn to prom senior year, probably was the dress she had worn. Her hair was swept up off her neck, pinned back in a messy bun that was indescribably sexy for some reason, showing off the back of her neck that felt rather illicit to him. Her eyes were smoky looking with make up and she just had a light coating of clear gloss on - when he wasn’t busy kissing it off - and the effect was oddly intimate. Somehow, completely made up in a completely intentional way, she looked like she was in the middle of their bedroom, in the middle of undressing and unintentionally sexy. He felt both proud to show her off and jealous that anyone else saw her this way.
“However…” Logan prompted, drawing the ‘r’ sound out to sound a little like a growl as his hands itched to grab at her, pull her in for another kiss, but he just let her hands wrap around his neck.
“However, she soon after started to get more and more depressed about the Weevil thing.” Veronica told him, her hands playing with the short hair at the nape of his neck, sending tingles down his spine.
“Upset that she slept with him? Upset he never called? Or upset that he showed up at the party with someone else?” Logan asked, his hands finally coming up to rest on her hips, wishing that all this talking was over and they could just be kissing again.
“Umm… he’s here with someone?” Veronica asked, pulling back so her hands slid down his neck, over his shoulders and pressed against his chest, pushing him a way a little so she could look him in the eyes with that stern expression of hers. The one that demanded answers that he didn’t have.
“Yeah, another Mexican chick. At first I thought that it was Carmen, because you she kind of looked like her, you know? Then-” Logan explained only to be interrupted by Veronica.
“Because all Mexicans look alike?” She was annoyed with him now, taking a small step back from him.
“Because they’re all brown? No… that wasn’t it.” He pandered, letting the jackass take over a bit, knowing that it annoyed her to no end. “Oh, wait, it was because it was Carmen’s sister. You remember Isobel, right?”
“Yes.” He smirked, feeling smug at her contrite expression, her succinct answer that reeked of embarrassment.
“It’s her. Weevs ran into her a couple weeks ago and invited her because she was basically ditched for winter break. She was supposed to go skiing with all her friends or something like that, I stopped paying attention.” Logan reached out to her, running his fingers up and down her neck.
“You stopped paying attention?” She asked, her eyes flicking off to his side, focusing on something behind him. He let his fingers wrap around her thin neck, intending to pull her into for a kiss. He was going to pull her in and whisper in her ear about how he’d caught sight of her and been unable to focus on anything except the way she looked in this dress. About how he was inventing excuses to bail on the rest of the night and exactly what he was going to do to her when they got home, exactly where on her body he’d be kissing her when the clock stuck twelve. Instead she pulled away just as Duncan’s voice called out to them.
“You seen my sister?” Duncan asked. He continued to stare at his girlfriend as she explained where Lilly was and why.
“Good, because…” Duncan trailed off as Parker and her mousy haired friend bounced up to the group, Casey trailing behind them.
“Hi again, Veronica. Logan.” Anna grinned so perkily at them and Logan was grateful that she’d soon be gone. She was a nice enough girl - polite, moderately pretty and, according to Parker, fairly loyal - but she was just so damn perky all the time. And nosy without realizing that she was nosy, which was a trait that Logan hated more than anything. He hated when people he didn’t know tried to get information out of him about things he thought were none of their business.
“This place is like a fashion show. Between you and Parker and Lilly… you’re all just so fashionable, like you belong in a magazine.” Her eyes traveled up and down Veronica’s body before glancing at Parker in her baby blue silk dress and silver heels. Logan glanced at Parker’s shoes again before looking down at Veronica’s feet again.
“Are you two wearing the same shoes?” Logan asked, trying to contain his laugh. Now that he really looked he could see that they were the exact same pair of shiny silver stilettos with splashes of glitter causing them to sparkle, like they had run through a puddle of the stuff.
“We’re all wearing the same shoes. Lilly thought it would be fun so she bought us each a pair and made us a promise to wear them tonight.” Parker told him, moving her foot around so he could see it sparkle. Anna let out a long ‘oooh’ and ‘ahhh’, as if she’d never seen a pair of shoes before.
“You are so lucky, PJ.” Anna cooed, her envious gaze flicking between Veronica and Parker’s feet.
Logan snorted a little, “PJ?”
“Parker Jane. And no, you may never call me that.” Parker told him, hands on her hips.
“I’m going to go get something to drink and maybe a little bit of whatever is in the kitchen. I’m starving.” Veronica announced, trying to sneak away from the crowd.
“I’ll join you.” Anna said, perky as always, and Logan watched Veronica stiffen. If he had to guess Anna was the reason she was suddenly starved. He couldn’t really blame Veronica, the constant perkiness was a little hard to handle. And, for some reason, Anna seemed to think that Veronica would be the weak link and divulge some kind of information about all the stuff she was so desperately. Fat chance, I’m more likely to spill than Ronnie.
Logan watched as Veronica weaved deftly through the crowd like a pro, Anna bounced in her wake, trying to keep up.
“So, you’re sleeping with your nanny?” Logan asked without preamble, turning to Duncan as the words fell out of his mouth.
“God. Veronica can’t keep anything to herself anymore, can she?” Duncan said, swearing a little under his breath.
“Actually I watched the two of you ‘sneak’ upstairs for a quickie.” Logan lifted his hands up to do air quotes as he stressed the word ‘sneak’. He smirked as Duncan blushed, obviously realizing exactly how bad he was at the stealth stuff. “Next time you don’t want anyone to know, you probably shouldn’t ram your tongue down her throat in full view of the party.”
“Damn. I’ve been following that Anna chick around all night to make sure she didn’t spill and here the entire party probably got look.” Duncan leaned back against the newel post at the bottom of the stairs.
“That’s why you’ve been hanging out with her? You’ve been trying to do damage control?” Parker asked Duncan, a hint of warning in her voice. Logan could see that Parker was - rightfully - protective of her friend’s feelings. She knew how harsh they could all be on the newcomers, and she’d threatened Logan and pleaded with Veronica and bribed Lilly to be nice to the girl. They had been true to their promises of civility, but it seemed that she hadn’t realized how carelessly mean Duncan could be.
“Well, yeah. It’s not like I wanted to spend my entire night hanging out with her.” Duncan responded, obviously not catching onto the danger in her voice.
“Why not?” The danger had not been avoided and now there was no way Duncan could miss the anger in Parker’s voice. “Isn’t she pretty enough? I mean, I get that you’ve obviously got a thing for blondes, but it’s not like you have to date her. Or sleep with her. Is it really so hard to just be nice to my friend?”
“I don’t… I didn’t mean...” Duncan stammered, trying to calm Parker while also trying to figure out where he’d gone wrong. His eyes cast about for help as he finished lamely, “She’s nice.”
“Nice.” Parker was not impressed, nor was she going to let her best friend off the hook. “Why is it that you and Logan and Veronica, even Lilly, all say the word ‘nice’ like it’s an insult? Like being nice isn’t a good trait?”
“It’s good to be nice.” Duncan started at the same time that Logan asked, “Wait, why am I suddenly in trouble?”
“Because, you’re all such snobs about how jaded you are. Anyone shows any little bit of enthusiasm for anything and you call her nice.” Parker scolded them both and, Logan had to admit, that time ‘nice’ really had sounded like an insult. And the way she said it sounded an awful lot like the way both he and Veronica had said a couple days before when they had been talking about Anna on the drive home. When they had called her nice, like it was code for naïve-hick-that-will-never-understand-our-lives, but they hadn’t been stupid enough to say it like that in front of Parker.
“Veronica and I have been nothing but…” Logan hesitated a moment before continuing, “nice to her.”
Logan saw Casey jerk his head off to the side, signaling him to make a break for it. Parker gave Logan a cold stare before turning back to Duncan and he slunk away, avoiding Parker’s gaze.
“She’s being really protective about Anna, man. I’m sorry.” Casey whispered as they snuck out of sight. “It’s been like this all week. Yesterday she asked why my grandmother didn’t leave the company to my parents. All I said is that I’d rather not discuss it and Parker pulled me into a room and went off about how I was being rude.”
“Were you being rude?” Logan asked, raising his eyebrows. They had stopped just inside the doorway of the kitchen and his eyes automatically began searching for Veronica.
“Yeah, I don't know. Anna keeps fishing for more information, for some kind of inside scoop. If I didn’t know any better I’d think that she was an undercover reporter or something.” Casey leaned back against the wall and sighed. Logan felt bad for him. He’d been the one to tell Parker to invite Anna, offered to let them both stay with him at the Gant Estate until she left.. He couldn’t get away from nosey-Anna and overprotective-Parker, and he couldn’t really comment unless he wanted a fight with his girlfriend.
“She’s leaving in a few days, though. Right?” He prayed she’d be gone by time they all headed up to the Kane ski chalet in a couple days. There was no way he was going to be able to spend his one week of relaxation actually relaxing if Anna was up there.
“Yeah. She’s flying out on the fourth, so Parker and I are going to meet you guys up at Duncan’s parent’s place on Monday.” Casey shifted around, glanced back into the other room and then resettled against the wall.
“Good.” Logan blurted, backtracking quickly. “I mean, there really aren’t enough rooms and…” He trailed off at Casey’s laughter.
“It’s okay, I can’t stand her either and I’ve been looking forward to her leaving since she got here. Parker is just really worried about losing her old friends from high school. Anna’s practically the only one she talks to on a regular basis anymore. She loves you guys, but she feels like she’s slowly losing all her old friends, so she’s been real protective of… Anna!” Casey exclaimed as the girl in question bounced up to them, Veronica behind her with her cheeks puffed out.
“You get some food, babe?” Logan asked, slinging his arm around Veronica and steering her out of the kitchen, abandoning Casey to Anna and her perkiness. He leaned his head down to whisper in her ear, “Let’s go home.”
Veronica nodded enthusiastically, setting her wine glass down on a table as they headed for the door. “Thank god, I’m exhausted.”
“Not too exhausted, though. Right? I mean, I did have some plans for when we got home. A little party for just the two of us.” Logan spun her around and pressed a kiss to her forehead as he walked her backwards out the front door.
~*~
The knocking - the pounding - woke Ares before it woke either Logan or Veronica. Veronica, cuddled into his side, shoved at him sleepily.
“Stop.” He groaned, his arms tightening around her slightly as he tried to burry his head further into his pillow to block out the pounding. If it wasn’t for the damn dog barking he could almost ignore the pounding.
Veronica pushed at him again before shifting back in the bed, planting her feet on him and trying to shove him out of the bed. “Go, get the door before they break it down.”
Groaning, Logan slid out of the bed and felt his way blindly down the hallway, refusing to open his eyes. He stumbled down the stairs, leaned his head against the front door before taking a deep breath, opening his eyes and then the door.
“Lilly.” He was so not amused, by the time he and Veronica had gotten to sleep it was two-thirty in the morning. “What time is it?”
“Eight. I need to talk to you.” Lilly shoved her way into the house, pushing passed Logan. She practically stomped into the living room and down on the couch.
“About…” Logan rubbed a hand through his hair, following Lilly into the living room and sat across from his friend.
“I need to know what happened.” She said succinctly, not giving him any clues about what she talking about.
“Like, in general? Or is there a specific event you’d like to be informed of?” Logan leaned back into the couch cushions and longed for his bed upstairs and the warm and mutinous blonde in it.
“You realize it’s the new year?” Lilly asked, somewhat maniacally.
“Yeah, I think there was something about that on TV last night. One year ends, the new one starts and… oh yeah, there was that little party we went to last night, I believe you were mostly responsible for it.” Logan answered sarcastically, raising his head to give her his best you’re-annoying-me-so-please-get-on-with-it look.
“Right. And I’d like to know that I didn’t start the new year with a scene.” Lilly shifted nervously on the couch, not looking him in the eye.
“That’s funny, you’ve always loved scenes. In fact, I remember our New Year’s Eve parties from before and you always strived to begin the new year with a scene worthy of an Oscar.” Logan grinned as her head snapped up and eyes narrowed. “No, you didn’t start the year with a scene. You didn’t even make it to the new year, actually. Passed out before it hit midnight.”
“Okay. So I didn’t start the year with the proverbial bang, but I didn’t end 2008 with one either, right?” Lilly asked, a slight edge to her voice.
“No, I don’t think so. As far as I know Veronica got you upstairs and into bed before you did anything.” Logan studied her for a minute before continuing. “Is there a specific scene in which you’re afraid you caused?”
“Weevil was there. With a girl.” Lilly told him, leaning back into the cushions of the couch she was sitting on. She pulled her knees up to her chest and balanced her heels on the edge. “I was upset and I might have drank a little too much because of it.”
“Huh… you don’t say.” Logan teased, remembering how she’d been following him around the party after Weevil’s arrival with an endless stream of chatter. She’d talked mile a minute, only stopping to catch her breath or down another glass of alcohol. He’d last seen her with Veronica - leaving the girls and the bottle of champagne he’d originally gotten for him and Veronica - while he went off in search of Duncan.
“It’s just that… Well, I mean, it was my brother’s house and a party I was throwing and he showed up. When he came through the door I thought that maybe this was it, he’d finally decided to stop avoiding me and we could talk about the whole sleeping together thing. We haven’t really seen each other since then, except for Thanksgiving and he was gone before we could get a chance to talk alone.
“I thought maybe we’d talk and he’d say that he was sorry and that he cared and then midnight would hit and we’d kiss. I thought everything was going to work out, for once. It’s ridiculous and I feel really stupid, but that’s what I thought because I didn’t think he’d actually bring a date to my party. I thought we’d end up together, you know?”
“Lilly…” Logan started, but his voice trailed off when he realized that he really didn’t know what to say to her about anything. Veronica was supposed to be the expert in girl talk and Lilly, this was her area. Sure he knew Lilly and could wing it on the small things, but what she really needed was Veronica and her extensive knowledge on all things Lilly. Veronica would know what to say to make Lilly feel better, or how to tell Lilly the truth of the matter without breaking her.
“I know.” Lilly stood and began pacing in front of her couch, her hands flying out in emphatic gestures as she continued. “It was a stupid little fantasy and I feel stupid even admitting it, but I really thought it might happen. With everything that you and Veronica have been through together, all the crap you put each other through, you guys made it. You’re in love and together and everything worked out for you. Same with Dick and Mac. He wasn’t nice to her and she had that whole thing with Beaver and all of that and they ended up together. Against the odds, they’re together and going to have a baby and while it’s scary thinking of Dick procreating, it’s also kind of sweet. So I just keep thinking ‘why can’t that happen for me and Weevil’? I mean, he cared enough at some point to get my name tattooed on him, so why can’t he care about me like that now?”
“I don’t think it’s that simple.” Logan began as Lilly dropped back onto the couch. “But I can tell you that he didn’t bring a date. You remember Carmen? Dated Tad?” Logan looked to Lilly and she nodded. “It was Carmen’s little sister, Isobel. Weevil said that he ran into her a couple days ago and apparently she was supposed to go skiing with her friends but she didn’t have enough money or something so they went with out her. He invited her along because he felt bad that her friends had ditched her and she’d be spending the night alone with her grandmother. They’re not dating.”
“Great. Now I’m not only a jealous freak, I’m a jealous freak that let a huge misunderstanding get in the way of my big plans. I got drunk and passed out and didn’t get my midnight kiss from the boy I like - love - or the back up kiss I arranged with Piz. I rang in the new year passed out in the same room I grew up in.” Lilly looked close to tears now as she dropped her head into her hands. “In fact, it was the same bed. It may have all been redecorated, but it’s still my old room and my old bed and I did the same thing I always did. I overreacted and did something stupid and nothing has really changed has it?” Lilly looked up at him and he could see that the tears had started to fall. “Veronica is still cleaning up after me and I’m still doing the same things. I’m still chasing after the same boy and it’s all the same. Everything that I’ve tried to change about myself is still there, still lurking around for the moment I let my guard down so it can start right back up again.”
“No. Everything has changed Lilly, you’re just never going to see it if you’re always punishing yourself for it. You want to change everything about yourself, but you weren’t all bad. Yeah, you did some stupid things but you were also a lot of fun. There had to have been a reason why Veronica and I loved you so much, right? It couldn’t have been because you slept with my dad and a biker and hate your mom and every bad thing. I mean, we loved you because you were fun and impulsive. Yeah, the impulsive thing sometimes led to some bad stuff, but most of the time it led to adventures and fun and things we never would have done if it hadn’t been for you.
“You were creative and sometimes that led to us doing the stupid things we did, but those were the stories that Veronica and I like to share the most. The times we did something stupid because you thought it sounded fun, or that it seemed like a good idea when you thought of it. We loved you because you would do anything for your friends, and even though I was sometimes your boyfriend and sometimes your ex, I was always your friend. There were things we loved about you, things we wouldn’t want you to change and there are things you’re never going to be able to change. You need to remember that not everything about you was bad.”
“I’m so tired of trying so hard to be different, Logan. It’s kind of exhausting.” Lilly told him. She sounded so tired, so defeated, that he had to resist the urge to go to her, to comfort her because he knew that she wouldn’t appreciate it. The Lilly he knew didn’t take comfort in him because that was too weak, only Veronica was allowed to see that side of her. “I think I’m going to stop. I liked who I was, mostly, and I think that I’m just going to try to be a better version of my former self instead of this completely new version I’ve been trying so hard to create over the last year.”
“Okay.” Logan nodded, unsure of what to say to her.
“Thanks, Logan.” Lilly stood and he followed suit, unsure what to do next as they stood there, awkwardly staring at each other. “I’m gonna go, will you tell Veronica to call me later?”
Logan nodded again and watched Lilly leave the living room. He took a deep breath when he heard the front door open and shut, letting it out slowly before he turned to the stairs and went back to bed.
~Wallace~
He hadn’t realized how nice Parker’s room was before. Probably because he had never been allowed in it until now, but it was a really nice room. Briefly he wondered how long it was going to take him to stop thinking of it as Parker’s room and start thinking of it as his room. His room with his own bathroom and room for his new king-size bed and all of his stuff. There were windows that he could open and natural lighting and no more basement.
It sucked a little that Lilly and Parker were moving into their own apartment now, that he was losing them as roommates. They nagged and bitched about how messy he was but they had been awesome roommates. It had been nice having the girls around, especially since Parker was such a caretaker and Lilly had always known where the best parties and clubs were and Mac had always been there to offer up tech support and free upgrades before she moved in with Dick.
At least he was getting a better room out of the deal.
“Dude, so when are the other b-ballers moving in?” Dick asked, coming into the room without knocking or invitation, tromping over to the bed and flopping down on it. “You need a video game set up in here.”
“There’s one down in the living room, Dick, you know that.” Wallace informed him, continuing to pull clothes from the garbage bags he’d used to transfer his stuff up from the basement.
“Yeah, but that’s communal. You need something in here for when you get bored at night.” Dick sat up to stare at the empty wall directly in front of the bed. “Especially since you don’t have Tamsin to entertain you anymore.”
“I think I can survive without a massive television in my bedroom.” Wallace told the blond surfer, an edge to his voice. “You know, studies have shown that TVs in the bedroom diminish your sex life.”
“Well, that shouldn’t be a problem for you then, right? You and Tami broke up, so you don’t really have a sex life to worry about anymore.” Dick shot back, a smirk on his face that told Wallace that he wasn’t falling for his attempt at freaking him out. “I on the other hand have a pregnant girlfriend, and you know what they say about knocked up chicks.”
“Hey. Lilly just left with a load of stuff, but she said that Logan and Veronica should be back to pick up a couple of the big things.” Piz announced as he strolled into Wallace’s room.
Doesn’t anyone knock anymore? Wallace wondered, rolling his eyes. He should have stayed in the basement where you knew someone was coming because the basement stairs were officially the loudest and creakiest stairs on the planet.
“They still fighting?” Dick asked, a worried look on his face.
“Yeah, does anyone know what they’re fighting about?” Piz asked, making himself comfortable on the recliner he and Wallace had dragged up from the basement the day before.
“No. V wouldn’t share the details of her and Logan’s current battle, but she’s been giving him the silent treatment all morning so whatever it was I’m sure he’ll be apologizing soon.” Wallace gave up the task of putting his clothes away and flopped back onto his bed, giving Dick a hard shove in process.
“Fuck!” Dick exclaimed as he fell, making a loud thump when he hit the hardwood floor. His head popped up a second later and he leaned against the bare mattress, not bothering to even attempt to get back on the bed.
“It’s not the silent treatment anymore. There were sniping at each other a lot when they left the last time.” Piz informed them, putting the footrest up on the recliner and leaning back. “So, I’ve decided that I’m not riding back over to Parker and Lilly’s condo with them to help unpack.”
“I’m not going over there to help them unpack their crap, it’s not like they’ve ever actually helped with any of the moves in and out of this place. We have to load everything into the cars and then pull it all out again. Then we’ll spend the next five hours over there while Lilly and Parker ‘a little to the left’ us to death.” Dick groused, crossing his arms in front of his chest like that would keep him away from the possibility of more hard labor.
“I like that you both think that you’re going to have a choice on either of those things. Veronica is going to get here and command you both into the back of the Range Rover and you’ll spend all afternoon hanging Parker’s pictures and moving Lilly’s furniture.” Wallace told them both before sliding off his bed and heading to the door. “Speaking of, I’m going to head downstairs so I can’t be accused of laying around while they do all the work. If they’re fighting it means they’re both in bad moods and that means nobody is safe.”
The other two boys grudgingly got up and moved to the door also, hearing a car pull up and two doors slamming shut. It wasn’t until they were halfway down the stairs that the front door opening and they could hear the yelling.
“Go back up, go back up.” Wallace whispered urgently turning and pushing at Dick and Piz to about face back up the stairs. The three boys practically collapsed in a heap at the top, limbs tangled in their desperation to get out of sight of the battle currently going on in their living room. Their desperation to stay out of the crosshairs of the two people who brought new meaning to the term ‘low blow’.
Silently, they crawled back to Wallace’s room and eased the door shut, all the while praying it wouldn’t creak.
“I don’t think they heard us.” Wallace let out the breath he’d been holding, flooding with relief.
Wallace leaned up against the bed, his legs splayed out in front of him and hands laid flat on the wooden floor. Dick sprawled face down on the floor in front of him and Piz was pressed against the wall next to the door, legs curled against him as if he was trying to take up the least amount of room possible.
“What are you doing?” Dick whispered as Piz reached up to the door knob.
Piz shrugged, continuing to turn the knob a little and open the door a crack, just enough to where Logan and Veronica’s voice were no longer muffled. “I wanna know what they’re fighting about.
Dick slid his body closer to the door so he could hear, angling his ear at the crack. “Something about Lilly and Weevil and not wanting things to get screwed up beyond control.” Dick whispered back to Wallace, who stubbornly refused to participate out of loyalty to his best friend.
“Did you know that Lilly and Weevil slept together at Duncan’s party back in October?” Piz asked, looking between Wallace and Dick with shock and amazement written all over his face.
“Oh, yeah. She told me while we were braiding each other’s hair last week.” Wallace whispered back furiously. I swear living and working with Lilly and Parker has turned him into the biggest gossip ever.
“Did she do your nails while you talked about your breakup?” Dick asked and the two of them snickered.
“Shut up.” Wallace snapped, almost forgetting to whisper.
Piz pressed his ear against the door again. “Apparently they slept together and Weevil never called her.”
“We shouldn’t be doing this.” Wallace whispered, almost to himself.
“Dude, it’s fine. It’s not like they’ll ever know, and we’re trapped up here for the foreseeable future, unless you want to tie your bed sheets together and shimmy down the side of the house.” Dick whispered back.
“I don’t think my sheets would hold us, but if you want to try…” Wallace gestured to the window before glaring at Piz. “Their fighting is none of our business.”
“Come on, since when does it matter if it’s our business or not?” Piz asked, waving Wallace off as he turned his attention back to the door and the fight.
“Yeah, Wallace. There’s nothing else to do up here.” Dick whispered over his shoulder as he strained to hear what was being said downstairs. “If you didn’t want us listening to the fight for entertainment, you should’ve gotten a TV in here.”
~Lilly~
“Happy Birthday to me!” Lilly exclaimed, downing a shot of something the bartender had told her was called ‘strawberry sex’. It tasted exactly like what she thought bottled sex would taste like, actually. Sweet and naughty, almost forbidden with that burn that the alcohol made as it went down. She’d have to remember this one for later.
People milled about below the balcony, yelling out a communal “Whoooo!” every time she took a shot. It made her grin to see everyone having fun in her name. Everyone dressed up in fun dresses and suits, like it was 1929 and they really were at a speakeasy instead of an old art deco mansion deep in the 09er district of Neptune.
She’d been disappointed when Veronica had brushed off the idea of a party, refusing to offer up her house. Duncan had been just as stubborn, whining about how the house was still a disaster from New Year’s and he didn’t want a bunch of people trampling through it again, so soon after the last time. Logan had ‘accidentally’ let it slip that he was taking Veronica away for the weekend of her birthday and they would just have to celebrate later. Parker and Mac had pretended as if it hadn’t existed, like they’d completely forgotten. Lilly never really had all that much faith in the boys’ ability to remember dates, and they had seemingly proved her point by never mentioning it.
She’d been pissed when she found herself getting ready to go out alone this evening. Near tears, she had bitched about how her friends were lame and didn’t appreciate her and how she’d always made sure their birthdays were fun and that they had felt important. She’d been enraged when she’d gotten a call from Parker that her car had broken down outside of some weird house and she needed Lilly to pick her up as soon as possible. Lilly had alternately fought off tears and contained screams of rage the entire drive up to an address she’d never even noticed before.
The house had been dark, and when Lilly had called Parker’s phone she’d had to follow the ringing up the front steps and to the front door. She’d gulped and knocked on the door, only to have it creak open. She considered calling the cops for a second, fearing that she was entering into a set up worthy of a horror movie, but she’d tamped down on the thought and walked in. The lights had flipped on and all her friends had yelled surprise and she really had to hold back the tears then. Everyone decked out in twenties clothes, like they were in some old Jazz club. She always wanted a twenties theme party and Veronica had delivered.
“Thanks for this.” Lilly told her best friend, leaning her head against Veronica’s shoulder.
“It wasn’t just me. Logan helped a lot, and Duncan practically funded the whole operation.” Veronica told her, grinning drunkenly. She looked cute in her outfit of pinstriped trousers, a man’s white dress shirt and suspenders topped with a black fedora. Her hair was pulled back into a tight low bun and she stood a couple inches taller in her black patent leather heels.
Lilly was made up more traditionally, with ropes of pearls around her neck and marceled hair, skyscraper heels and a champagne colored, gorgeously beaded silk sheath. Most of the other girls at the party had gone for the cliché flapper dresses, but Veronica had picked out Lilly’s outfit and - like with everything Veronica did - she had done the research on society fashion in the twenties.
The boys were all pretty much dressed the same. Pinstriped suits and fedoras or zoot suits. It was crazy to see everyone dressed up. The people she would have graduated high school with, back to celebrate their most famous classmate. People she actually went to college with, some who seemed a little awed by the glitz and glamour that surrounded them.
Lilly leaned back into the cushions that were piled high in the makeshift VIP area that Logan had insisted be set up on one of the balconies. She surveyed the crowd from her lap of luxury and basked in the glory that was her birthday party, surrounded by her favorite people in the world in this closed off section of the party.
“Seriously, though, it’s perfect.” Lilly told Veronica again, feeling tears well up in her eyes again. She seemed to be hyperemotional today, and the alcohol she had consumed was exacerbating the problem. “I really thought that nobody cared, that everyone forgot and I was going to be alone tonight.” Geeze, she was being maudlin tonight and couldn’t seem to stop.
“Hey, let’s go mingle with the little people.” Veronica suggested, standing up and pulling Lilly with her. They passed by Parker and Casey, reunited after nearly two weeks apart, and making out like teenagers at a high school party. Mac was curled up in the pillows with a champagne glass full of ginger ale sitting on the glass table along with a bowl of fruit Dick had brought her, she was fast asleep with her hand resting on her slightly rounded stomach.
On the stairs they passed Wallace, talking to some girl she’d never seen before, obviously moving on from Tamsin and their recent break up. Piz stood at the bottom of the stairs holding two glasses of champagne while his girlfriend of the moment talked animatedly to a girl Lilly vaguely recognized from one of her classes. Logan and Duncan were involved in a poker game set up on one of the lower balconies.
“Hey Lilly.” Carrie Bishop called from one of the gambling tables. She and Susan Knight held glasses of champagne as they placed their bids on a game of twenty-one. “Veronica.”
“Hi, Carrie.” Veronica greeted in a friendly tone and Lilly was a little surprised that she and Carrie had somehow buried the hatchet. Carrie had always hated Veronica and Veronica had never really tried to get along with Carrie. Or Susan for that matter. “Hey Susan. How’s your little boy?”
“Oh, he’s great. My parents are watching him tonight. I don’t get to go out all that often but, you know, Lilly’s birthday parties were always pretty legendary.”
Susan has a kid? Lilly thought, giving them both a grin. “I think this one is my favorite.” Lilly turned her grin on Veronica, throwing her arm around her best friend’s shoulders as she leaned closer to the table and the two other girls. “Don’t you think so?”
“It’s really pretty. I love all the flowers.” Carrie replied honestly and Lilly was a little shocked by the lack of bitchiness in the comment.
Lilly took a moment to look around at all calla lilies everywhere, some in vases and some just laid out on the tables. She’d bet anything that the flowers were Logan’s idea. The boy did love his symbolism.
“I didn’t even know this place existed.” Susan commented, pulling Lilly’s focus back to the conversation.
“Neither did I, but when I told Logan that I wanted to do a kind of twenties prohibition thing he called up one of his mom’s old party planners to ask about locations. I guess the lady that lived here died last year and the family is looking to sell the place.” Veronica explained, so easily engaging in conversation with these two girls she used to hate. It was a little weird.
“It’s for sale?” Lilly asked, looking around the back of the estate at the pool and the gardens, the gazebo and the small woods edging the property. She couldn’t imagine owning such a beautiful place and wanting to give it up.
“Yeah. I think if Logan could justify the fifteen bedrooms he’d buy it, but there’s no reason for this much space when it’s just the two of us.” Veronica explained and the other two girls laughed with her. Lilly thought, just for a moment, that her best friend was insane not to let her boyfriend buy the place. Of course, he wouldn’t have the money to do so until next month anyway. The topic of Logan’s depleted trust fund was a major topic lately, that and the fact that Veronica was worried that he wouldn’t make it until the second tier kicked in on his birthday next month.
“You know, I’m going to go see how Logan’s doing at the poker table, maybe join in.” Veronica announced before leaning in to whisper, “you going to be okay on your own?”
“Yeah, I’ll be fine. Have fun.” Lilly assured her friend before moving on from the table and Carrie and Susan, who had turned back to their gambling. It was odd, but it seemed that they were friendlier with Veronica now, more than they were with her.
She wandered a bit, moving from table to table, talking to as many people as she could. Everyone was there for her, for her birthday. Each time she’d arrive at a table the glasses would raise and someone would say ‘To Lilly’, followed by a round of ‘hear, hear’ and then sips of champagne.
She took small sips at first, but somewhere around her seventh or eighth table she’d caught sight of Weevil. He was dressed like a bootlegger. Brown trousers and a white men’s dress shirt with suspenders, a newsboys hat folded and shoved into the back pocket of the pants. He looked great, but the next party would have to have a fifties theme just for him, so he could wear all that leather. Maybe she’d get a ‘Pink Ladies’ jacket and some tight black pants.
He was here, at her party. That was something, right? He hadn’t spoken to her since October, but he was here at her party and he looked to be without a date. Logan had sworn that the girl from New Year’s wasn’t his girlfriend or a date or anything. Just the little sister of a friend, ran into her at the grocery store and took pity on her. But if he’s single, why has he never called? Lilly thought, moving on to the next table, distractedly raising her glass as they toasted her. This time she drained the whole glass, they’d fill it back up at the next table.
In fact, she drained her glass at each of the next eight tables.
~*~
She loved that they were using actual champagne glasses instead of flutes. They were so much prettier than the flutes everyone used these days, which was probably a weird thing to think since they were molded on Marie Antoinette’s left breast… or her right one. Whatever, didn’t matter. They were molded on one of Marie Antoinette’s boobs and they were pretty and she swore they got her drunker than the regular old champagne flutes. They were especially pretty when they did that whole champagne fountain thing that they did at the start of the night.
“I think… I think…” Lilly started and stopped hesitantly. She took a moment to catch her breath and her words before beginning again. “I think I’m drunk.”
“Really?” Veronica asked, and even drunk, Lilly could hear the laughter in her voice. “How can you tell?”
“There are signs.” Lilly told her, dropping the champagne glass in the grass and flounced off towards the VIP balcony, knowing Veronica would follow. She grabbed another bottle of champagne before she started up the stairs, trusting Veronica to grab the glasses. She heard the clink of the glasses behind her and knew she was right.
“Maybe you should slow down a bit, Lilly.” Veronica suggested from behind her. “You said you were going to take it slow tonight, remember?”
“It’s my birthday, I decided that I’m just going to have fun.” Lilly told her friend, coming to an abrupt halt at the top of the stairs. “Whoops. I think we’re at the wrong balcony.”
“Nope. Wallace has been trying to impress the ladies with his connections.” Veronica told her, steering them to the corner where they’d stashed their stuff earlier in the evening. “Hey, you’re in our spots.” Veronica informed the two brunettes currently seated in the mass of cushions.
“I don’t think that the seats are assigned.” Bitch One slurred out.
“You’ll have to go find somewhere else, we’re having a conversation.” Bitch Two joined in, giggling with Bitch One.
“I don’t care.” Lilly told her, not bothering to cover her sneer. “I said you’re in our spot, now get off your asses and off the balcony.”
“Listen, you need to chill and go away.” Bitch Two snapped, reaching behind her and pulling out Veronica’s small, black beaded clutch. “See, our stuff is here. Now go away.”
The girls made a show of ignoring them, turning to each other to continue that supposed conversation. Veronica reached out and snatched her bag out of Bitch Two’s hand. “Actually, that would be my bag and our stuff and you need to move your asses. Now.”
“Who died and made you boss?” Bitch Two asked, standing to tower over Veronica.
“Shouldn’t you be getting home? Curfew and all.” One asked, causing Two to dissolve in another bout of giggles. “I mean, you’re what? Twelve?”
“Actually, I’m twenty-one and this is Lilly, she’s twenty-two. You may have heard of her? You’re at her party, the one I’m throwing. So you need to get out of here before I have you thrown out by my boyfriend.” Veronica’s voice may have sounded sweet but any idiot could hear the venom dripping from it. Lilly remembered a time when her best friend couldn’t be mean if she tried extra hard, now she was mean and threatening and downright scary sometimes.
“Fine. Whatever.” Two groused, grabbing her bag, which also happened to be Lilly’s, as she got up and started to lead the way off the balcony.
“Excuse me.” Lilly snapped, reaching out and snatching back her own beaded clutch. “That is mine. Like you could afford a Fendi.”
The girl released the bag easily, gave another ‘whatever’ before walking off with her friend.
“That’s right, walk away. I don’t have the time or the energy to deal with your crap.” Lilly shouted after them. “I have my own life to deal with. My love life, which is basically crap because the guy I like slept with me and then ditched me.”
“Lilly.” Veronica tugged on her hand, trying to reel her in. “Calm down.”
“No, I mean I slept with someone I actually like and he never calls me. That ever happen to you, Veronica?” Lilly could hear her voice getting louder, could feel the situation quickly getting beyond her control.
“Lilly, come on.” Veronica pulled her down into the pile of cushions that they had won from the Bitches One and Two.
“Of course not, you only have sex with people you love. The Donut loved you and Logan would probably kill for you if you asked me to. I actually, finally, sleep with someone I love and Weevil never calls. It’s like it never happened.” Her voice was loud, too loud, it had to be carrying out over the party. Everyone could probably hear her, but it was like she couldn’t remember how to lower her voice.
“Lilly, seriously, you need to calm down. You just need to calm down and, you know, be quiet.” Veronica pleaded. Lilly saw Logan approaching them out of the corner of her eye.
“What’s wrong, Lilly?” Logan asked, sitting down next to Veronica.
“Everything, everything is wrong. We’re too fucked up to be together, right? Too fucked up for him to even call me. And I’m too in love with him to be with anyone else.” Her voice had faded down to a pathetic cry. She should have slowed down earlier, should have taken sips instead of downing the champagne like water.
“It’s okay, Lil. Come on, it’ll work itself out.” Veronica pulled her into a hug.
“Why did you even invite him? So he could ignore me up close?” Lilly sobbed into Veronica’s arms.
“No, I think this was Logan’s incredibly brilliant stab at match making.” Veronica’s voice held that edge that she had been using with Logan a lot lately. “Logan, do something. Everyone is staring.”
“Like what?” Logan asked, sounding clueless, causing Veronica to scoff. Lilly laughed a little through her tears, Logan always knew exactly how to cause a diversion.
“I don’t know. Go throw Parker in the pool.” Veronica told him.
“That’ll get their attention.” Logan chirped. “After all, it’s not really an 09er party until…”
“Until someone ends up in the pool.” The three of them finished together.
Lilly leaned into Veronica, sobbing onto her shoulder, trying not to get the black streaks of mascara and eyeliner on it. “I’m sorry, I’m ruining your shirt.”
“Go ahead, ruin it. It’s Logan’s.” Veronica scooted closer and let her cry to the sounds of Parker’s shrieks… at least until they were cut off by the splash.
40: Four