The Return 23-Bubbly (PG-13) Ensemble
Title: The Return 23-Bubbly
Rating: R (underage use of alcohol, an f-bomb, mentions of nudity and mentions of drug use)
Word Count: 4,623
Characters/Pairings: Lilly the first, Veronica, Logan, Dick, Mac, Wallace
Weevil, OFC, Parker, Piz, Duncan (mentions of: Lilly the second and Celeste Kane) Logan/Veronica and Mac/Dick
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.
A/N: I had this done a while ago but at first I didn't know if I was able to keep the same tone as the first 22chapters after such a long absense. Then something happened to the program I wrote it in and it took me a while to get it back... so here's the new chapter. I hope it still reads like it's from the same story.
A/N: This chapter is fluffy. Super fluffy. Be warned, there is definite fluffiness to be had here. Also, if you look closely there’s a hint at another fic of mine.
Chapter 1: Awake/ Chapter 2: Homecoming/ Chapter 3: Forgive/ Chapter 4: Arrival/ Chapter 5: Reconnect/ Chapter 6: Belong/ Chapter 7: Bets/ Chapter 8: Fight/ Chapter 9: Battle/ Chapter 10: Retreat/ Chapter 11: Push/ Chapter 12: Sound/ Chapter 13: Potential/ Chapter 14: More/ Chapter 15: Storytime/ Chapter 16: Understanding/ Chapter 17: Piggyback/ Chapter 18: Sinners/ Chapter 19: Drama/ Chapter 20: Dinner/ Chapter 21: Armor/ Chapter 22:Mingle
The Return
23
Bubbly
~Lilly~
“So anyway, it’s not like I was with him at the time. I wasn’t even with Logan, and yeah, sleeping with his dad was a bad idea. You don’t know how bad of an idea that was, but seriously, I was in a coma forever, it’s not like I haven’t paid for my sins. All those years, and I missed my best friend getting all badass. I missed the Donut finally screwing up for once, and he ran away. Twice! I missed all this stuff that would’ve been so much fun if I’d been around to see it, and he’s mad at me?” Lilly rambled, her hands waving around to emphasize her point, the drink in her right hand sloshing over the sides.
“Your boyfriend, right?” The guy she was talking to asked, looking bored of the conversation but still hopeful that it would be a successful pick up.
“No. That’s exactly it, he was never really my boyfriend. Logan forgave me easier than Weevil has, and I dated Logan for two years. And it was his dad!” Lilly spares a glance towards the booth where Logan and Veronica were sitting, whispering to each other and giggling. “Of course that probably has something to do with the fact that he’s madly in love with my best friend now. Totally head over heels, listening to cheesy love songs and all that stuff kind of love. It would totally be gross and disturbing if I didn’t know for a fact that Ronica was worth it.”
“Ronica? That’s the little blonde on that guys’ lap, right? The hot one?”
Lilly narrowed her eyes as she set her drink down. “She’s taken. Like, seriously taken. You hit on her, I can point out, like, six guys in this room that will line up to kick your ass.” She glanced around, locating each person. Logan and Dick in the booth. Eli at the bar, still chatting up the fake redheaded slut. Wallace, hitting on some girl, trying to get her numbers. Duncan… huh, where’s the donut? Lilly’s eyes scanned the room a little more, searching for her little brother. And where’s the other kid? Wallace’s shadow?
“Whoa, it’s cool.” The guy said, putting his hands up in mock surrender. “I wasn’t gonna.”
“Whatever, Mark was it?” Lilly asked, but continued on, she didn’t really care what his name was. “I need a new drink.” With that she left him sitting there, staring after her. She didn’t need to sit and listen to how hot her best friend was, and he shouldn’t be noticing anyway, at least not while she was sitting there.
Lilly thought briefly about going over and seeing what Wallace was doing. She’d noticed him all night long. He’d flirt with a girl, get a number and then head back to home base, like he was searching for a pat on the back and a job well done. Something was most definitely going on. Lilly quickened her pace, walking straight for the booth and sliding in next to Logan and Veronica.
“Hey guys. What’s Wallace doing?” Lilly asked, reaching for Logan’s half finished beer.
“Getting phone numbers.” Logan replied simply before grabbing the beer bottle back before she could take a sip. “Get your own. Or have that guy you’ve been talking to for the last hour get you one, either way, keep your hands off mine.”
“That guy was a total jerk, he was checking out other girls while I was just trying to have a conversation.” Lilly complained, slumping back into her seat. This probably wasn’t the best place to meet guys. A shit hole bar in the middle of nowhere she’d ever be again. “Where’s Duncan?”
“He couldn’t sit still, was too worried about Lilly and Parker. Piz drove him home about twenty minutes ago. He should be back soon.” Veronica answered, sliding her beer bottle towards Lilly. “You can have mine. I’d prefer something fruity and girly.”
Lilly scooped the nearly full beer bottle of the table and took a long drink from it before slamming it back on the table. “When he gets back we should play one big game of I never. It’s been forever and I’d love to hear all about the things that you’ve all done that I haven’t. It’s possible I won’t be the drunkest one here.” Her eyes flitted around the table. “But I don’t think I’ll be the most sober either.”
“I’m not as innocent as I look.” Mac said, her voice dipping low into a slightly seductive and dangerous tone.
“Ooo… Tell me more about this non-innocence.” Dick muttered as he pulled Mac closer, which almost seemed impossible, and nuzzled her neck.
“Please don’t.” Veronica interrupted, holding her eyes up as if to shield herself from the PDA. Lilly could relate, she was stuck here with the two most PDAest couples on the planet. “And while we have done some stuff in the last couple of years, Lil, there are still ways you can totally kick our asses at this game.”
“Yeah, you know I vote we don’t play this game at all.” Logan gave Lilly a little push as he started to scoot out of the booth. Logan slid out, nearly pushing Lilly onto the floor in the process, and then leaned over the seat towards Veronica. “What kind of fruity drink did you want baby?”
“Something apple or berry flavored.” Veronica replied, giving him a smile and then turning to watch him walk away. “And I second Logan’s vote on not playing the game. I really don’t want to run into a question about have-you-ever-kissed-a-friend’s-former-or-current-significant-other.”
Lilly slipped back into the booth, sliding up close to Veronica’s side, she crossed her arms in front of her chest and opened her mouth to argue that it would only make the game funner. In fact, this could turn out to be best game of ‘I Never…’, but she was cut off before she could get a word out.
“Or have you ever committed a felony.” Dick supplied.
“Have you ever hacked into government files.” Mac said while taking a sip of her soda, her eyes roaming around the table. “No? Just me then?”
“If the question was have-you-ever-stolen-files, then it would be me too. What’re you playing?” Wallace asked, suddenly appearing next to the table.
“We’re not playing anything, we’re vetoing the game.” Veronica replied, oblivious to the fact that Lilly was staring at all the other people at the table. They really all were kind of amazing.
~Duncan~
“Thanks for the ride, man, I know I’m kind of putting you behind in your bet.” Duncan said as Piz slowed to a stop in front of the house.
“You know, it’s not really a big deal. I think it’s giving Wallace time to catch up and think he’s gaining on me.” Piz chuckled as he put Logan’s car in park. “Plus when I got the keys from Logan he said he’d try and convince Wallace to pause, you know, to be fair.”
“Yeah, but will Veronica let him? I know she let the advice stuff slide, but…” Duncan started to point out.
“I know, she doesn’t normally play against Wallace, but she didn’t really seem to care about it this time. Says that it at least means the dorm will get cleaned this year.” Piz assured.
“Well, let’s hope so.” Duncan opened the car door and slid out. “See you later, man.” He said before slamming the car door shut and turning to run up the porch stairs.
He heard the car practically peeled out of the driveway, the sound of little rocks kicking up and hitting the front porch. It wasn’t loud enough for anyone in the house to hear past the front entryway. Duncan still cringed a little, freezing as he waited for his daughter’s cry.
Instead he heard the faint sound of the television. Duncan stood there, debating on whether he should inform Parker that he was back or check on Lilly first. I’ll just check on her for a second, and then let Parker know I’m here.
Duncan ran up the stairs, taking two at a time as silently as he could. He’d had a lot of practice over the last couple of years at being quiet, he could barely even hear his footsteps himself. So when he rounded the corner and slammed into Parker it took her completely off guard. It also explained why she screamed. And hit him.
“Oh my God!” Parker yelled, her knee coming up to slam into his groin as she reached out with her hand to slam the heel into his nose simultaneously. Duncan made the split decision to protect his face. He wasn’t in the mood for a broken nose, and the blood and hospital visit that would accompany it. Unfortunately that left his lower body completely open to her attack.
“Fuck!” Duncan grunted when her knee made contact. He nearly doubled over from the shooting pain, but he managed to grunt out who he was. “Parker, it’s me, Duncan.”
“Oh, god. Duncan are you okay?” Parker’s hands shot out to grab on to him, fussing a little as he sat down on the top step and continued to breathe deeply while waiting for the pain to subside.
“I’m fine. It’s been a long time since someone has done that to me. I think the last it was Lilly, she was in the sixth grade and I was in fifth.” Duncan told her, somewhat amused by the memory.
“Why would your sister do that? You sneak up on her in the middle of the night too?” Parker asked, confused. She probably had siblings that were nothing but nice to her. Siblings that she only fought with on occasion and it never escalated into something physical.
“We were fighting. Actually it was more that we were screaming at each other, I don’t remember why, but our parents got home and my mom hated when we were loud. So I grabbed her, trying to get her to be quiet, I covered her mouth up with my hand.” Duncan’s breathing evened out as he remembered how much worse that had hurt. Parker hadn’t put as much force behind her attack as Lilly had. “I remember her eyes got real narrow and I knew, I just knew that it had been a mistake. Then she kneed me, as hard as she could, which was pretty hard considering that she had the leg muscles from ballet and soccer.”
“Wow, did you guys fight a lot?” He could tell she was kind of amazed at the thought of them as little kids, fighting and yelling at each other. Duncan had only known her for a few days, same with Lilly, but he could already tell that Parker was beginning to see them as most people in high school had seen them. All four of them really. He, Lilly, Logan and Veronica had been these mysterious characters. He remembers the students of Neptune High, before the coma and before it all fell apart, looking at the four of them as if they were fascinating. They’d had other friends, but it was mostly just the four of them, laughing at some private joke that only they knew about in the middle of the quad.
He and Lilly were probably the mythical creatures to Parker and Piz. They’d only ever heard stories and he knew how Logan and Veronica could romanticize things of the past, the days before Lilly’s coma when they were the best of friends.
“Yeah. We fought a lot, and it usually ended up with some sort of physical altercation and a lecture from our father on why it isn’t necessary to hit over the speaker phone.” Duncan pushed up from the floor, holding out his hand to help Parker up, not wanting to explain that a lot of times he ended up hitting Lilly after blacking out. “How bout I go make sure we didn’t wake up the baby and then watch a movie?”
“Okay.” Parker agreed, heading downstairs to wait for him. Duncan sighed, he liked Parker. He even liked Piz after he got over his hero worship of Veronica and Wallace, but he dreaded the idea of filling them in on all the history that was between everyone else at this little retreat.
~Logan~
The night was going great. It’d been so long since they’d all been together without any of the usual drama. Sure Lilly was obviously seething over the fact that Weevil hadn’t spoken to her once all evening. And Duncan had gone home early and they hadn’t really gotten around to the major catching up session that he’d planned. The big friends-night-out was still in full swing, if somewhat fractured. Wallace was currently at the table, but soon would be off to get more phone numbers. Piz was in transit and in danger of falling behind, and Logan would be damned if all his advice was wasted. Especially since it was useless to him now that he and Veronica were back together, hopefully for good this time. Weevil was spending all his time flirting with randoms at the bar, which Logan didn’t really mind too much. Lilly flip flopped between over-flirty, over-hyper and pouting.
“Hey man,” Logan greeted as he leaned against the bar next to Weevil, waiting for the bartender to notice him. Weevil grunted in return, barely acknowledging him.
Logan rolled his eyes. There probably wasn’t much of a reason for him to make an attempt at a friendship with Weevil, but Veronica was friends with him and Lilly seemed to still like him. There was a good chance that he would have to see Weevil quite a bit in the future, he should at least try to be civil with him. “Saw you talking to that redhead, she was pretty hot. She leave?”
“She went to the little girl’s room. Why? You wanna shot at her?” Weevil snapped, his eyes narrowing and his fist tightening around the handle to his beer mug. “You looking for something on the side so soon after hooking back up with V?”
“I don’t cheat, and I would especially never fuck things up with Veronica like that. Just trying to make conversation, figured that with you being friends with Veronica and Lilly I might as well try to learn to be civil to you.” Logan’s hands gripped the edge of the bar tightly as he tried not to hit his former arch-nemesis.
“Sorry, it’s just… After all these years, you decide you want to be buds? Braid each other’s hair and gossip about girls?” Weevil shook his head, trying to stare Logan down as he took a long swallow of his beer.
“Not friends. Civil. There’s a difference.” Logan took a deep breath, preparing himself for what he was about to say next. “And I kind of owe you, you kept Veronica safe. In high school, last year. This summer, on that case with her and Piz. Just for that, for making sure she was okay, I’m willing to not make it harder on her. If I can’t be there, I’d prefer it was you. I know Wallace loves her and would protect her as much as he could, but I know what you’re capable of.”
“So you trust me with your girlfriend huh?” Weevil asked, a slight leer on his face, letting Logan in on the direction of his thoughts.
“No, I trust you to protect her. More importantly, I trust her with you.”
“What can I get you, hon?” The bartender asked, a blonde woman in her early forties, leaning on the counter directly in front of them.
“Can I get your fruitiest drink? With an umbrella?” Logan asked, completely clueless when it came to the fruity drinks and their girly names. “Bonus points if it’s pink.”
“Coming right up sugar.” The bartender nodded twice, smiling as she walked away.
“You finally coming out of the closet rich boy?” Weevil asked, a bemused expression on his face.
“Yes, that’s why I’m up here with you. I’ve realized that tiny, blonde and gorgeous isn’t my type. I prefer short, bald and Mexican. Whaddya say Weevs, wanna make a go of it?” With that Logan did a Veronica-esque head tilt and batted his eyelashes at the boy sitting on the stool, trying not to laugh. Logan puckered his lips a bit and made what he would describe as a ‘come hither’ look, pushing Weevil over the edge into laughter.
“You know, white boy, I think we could probably work out the civility thing.” Weevil slapped Logan on the back a couple of times before turning on his stool to face the bar and his beer. “But there ain’t no way in hell I’m ‘making a go of it’ with you. Even if tiny, blonde and gorgeous isn’t your type anymore, they’re still mine.”
“Yeah, well speaking of tiny, blonde and gorgeous girls being your type. You ever gonna come over to the table, talk to Lilly?” Logan asked, his eyes darting back to the table as Lilly and Mac laughed as something Veronica had said. Wallace and Dick both just looked confused.
“Actually, I’ll come over in a bit. The redhead’s getting a little boring.” Weevil seemed to cringe at the thought of talking to the trashy looking girl again. “In fact, I might just follow you over there.”
“Aw, I’ve always wanted a puppy.” Logan joked, straightening up when he caught sight of the bartender heading in their direction.
“Here you go honey, you want this on your tab?” She asked, giving him a look that he got all the time. The look that said she knew she had seen him before, she just couldn’t place him.
“Yeah, and could I get another Miller, bottle. And whatever he’s having.” Logan tipped his head in the direction of Weevil’s nearly empty glass. “And put his drinks on our tab too. He’s with us.”
The woman nodded and went to get Logan’s beer out large refrigerator at the other end of the bar.
“Thanks man, but I can buy my own drinks you know.” Weevil pointed out.
“Yeah, so can I. But Duncan left his tab open.” Logan said with a smirk as the bartender set the two beers down in front of them.
“Okay, I can live with that.”
~Parker~
Duncan sat down on the couch next to Parker, swinging his left leg up to rest his ankle on his right knee. He winced and immediately readjusted so both of his feet were flat on the floor.
“Maybe we should get you some ice for your… you know.” Parker suggested, still feeling awful about her attack.
“That might be a good idea.” Duncan admitted. He had pretended that it didn’t hurt all that much, but she could tell it was an act. She popped up from the couch and headed to the kitchen with Duncan on her heels.
The moment she stepped into the kitchen she froze, Duncan bumping into her from behind because of her sudden stop. She stumbled a little further into the room before she felt Duncan’s arm dart forward and slide around her waist, keeping her from falling.
“What the hell?” Parker gasped in shock, staring at the mounds and mounds of white fluffy bubbles. Or foam. It was more like foam, like those outdoor bubble parties the clubs would have sometimes. Where they’d turn on this giant bubble machine, the strobe lights and turn the pop music way up. It was fun. This was not. They had to clean this up, couldn’t just hose it down either.
“Where did all the bubbles come from?” Duncan asked, letting her go as he moved into the room to stand beside her.
“I don’t know. They weren’t here earlier, when I made my popcorn.” Parker could hear the awe in her voice, she’d never seen this many bubbles in a kitchen before.
“What did you do when you made your popcorn? Trina had a bubble machine when we were little, but it didn’t spit out bubbles like this.” Duncan told her as he reached over and flipped on the kitchen light.
“Wow.” She was stunned, the light made them sparkle and, if it were possible, made it look like there were even more of them.
“No kidding.” Duncan walked even further into the room, wading into them until they reached his knees. He bent, scooping up a handful of the sparkly iridescent bubbles, it almost looked like snow. He seemed to contemplate something before he turned to look at her with a smile grin on his face. Then he threw them, in her face, like a snowball.
Parker’s mouth dropped, she reached up and wiped the bubbles off her face and looked at them and laughed. Quickly she bent down and scooped up her own handful of bubbles and threw them messily at him.
Laughing they both worked their way further into the white mountains, further into the kitchen, as they threw bubbles at each other.
~Wallace~
“You never told me about that.” He glared at his best friend as Lilly finished telling a particularly amusing story of a time when Veronica was wasted. He’d never heard any stories of drunk Veronica. He’d always figured that she was always the sober one, always the designated driver.
He had made himself comfortable next to Dick, waiting for Piz to get back and almost forgetting about their bet in the process. Lilly had traded places with Veronica and was now between her and Mac. It had been a silent interaction when all three girls had seen that Weevil intended to join them, following Logan back from the bar. Instead of sliding into the booth after Logan Weevil had pulled up a chair from a empty nearby table and straddled it backwards.
“I’m sorry, Wallace. You see, I would’ve told you…” Veronica paused for a moment, giving Lilly a mock glare before continuing, “but I obviously don’t remember it.”
“Of course you wouldn’t Ronica, you were wasted.” Lilly assured her, grinning. Logan snorted from Veronica’s other side, as did Dick from his place between Wallace and Mac, far enough away from Veronica to avoid injury.
“I couldn’t have been that drunk. I don’t remember ever getting that drunk.” Veronica insisted, looking indignantly between her boyfriend and Dick.
“Wasn’t that also the first time she tried weed, Logan?” Dick asked, leaning a little further away from Veronica.
“Yes, yes it was Dick. That’s a mighty good memory you have.” Logan said, his grin growing, much to Veronica’s irritation.
“He only remembers it because it was his stash that we smoked.” Lilly said, rolling her eyes.
“I’m still waiting for you to pay me back for that Kane, it was pretty good stuff. Pricey too. I was saving it.” Dick laughed out, obviously recalling Veronica and Lilly stoned.
“That might have been a fun night for the girls, but I spent most of it running after them. Do you know how hard it is keeping track of two giggly and stoned girls?” Logan was laughing despite himself.
“Didn’t we video it?” Dick asked, looking at Logan for confirmation.
“You guys videotaped Veronica and Lilly stoned?” Wallace asked in disbelief. It was so unlike his Veronica to let there be any evidence of her doing something illegal. And her dad had been the sheriff back then. Then again, she had been a completely different person back then. He knew that, but he still had trouble connecting his Veronica to Lilly’s Veronica.
“Oh yeah.” Logan and Dick said at the same time before bursting into laughter.
“They started taping the parties where Veronica got drunk because she kept insisting that it never happened. When Logan would argue with her about it, and believe me they would argue about it often, she would just ask for proof. When he couldn’t supply it she told him that he was either exaggerating or it never happened, either way she needed proof. So he started the whole videotaping thing.” Lilly started to explain before she was cut off by Veronica.
“Then it kind of became habit, someone videotaping the parties. It was a tradition that we document the night, and then Lilly and I started taping ourselves ‘pre-party’.”
“We had this huge home video collection. Then one day, Celeste found the boxes of them in the back of my closet and freaked. I came home and she was sitting at the kitchen table with a pile of tapes and a degausser. She was worried that one of the maids would find them and leak them, and since Duncan was on a bunch of them it could ruin his political career.” Lilly finished.
“Veronica had the last video of that last homecoming.” Logan said, the laughter gone out of his face as he looked down at the table. “I used it for the tribute video.”
“Tribute video?” Lilly asked, completely confused.
“Yeah, Junior year when nobody thought you’d ever wake up, your parents donated this boring fountain in your honor. Logan did a video.” Dick explain as everyone reached for their drinks at the same time, nobody looking at each other.
“You’ll be glad to know that he included a clip of you mooning someone.” Mac said, breaking the sudden tension.
“Oh good. It wouldn’t really be a tribute if my naked ass hadn’t been showcased.” The entire table burst into laughter.
“What’s so funny?” Piz asked, dropping into the seat next to Wallace with a beer in hand.
“Lilly’s ass.”
“Veronica drunk and stoned.”
Veronica and Lilly spoke at the same time before turning to glare at each other for a moment before bursting into another fit of giggles.
“So Lilly’s mooning people and Veronica got stoned and I missed it all?” Piz asked in disappointment.
“Not tonight, a few years ago.” Logan corrected before he looked at his giggling girlfriend and her best friend before amending that statement again. “Although, by the looks of things the girls slipped off and got high at some point.” This caused both girls to giggle even harder.
“Aren’t you one of the DDs?” Wallace asked, looking at the beer bottle in Piz’s hand.
“We traded. I didn’t really want to drink and he did, so I told him we’d switch after he got back from dropping Duncan off.” Mac supplied, finally looking away from the two giggling girls next to her.
“Yeah, which reminds me, we’ve got a bet to finish.” Wallace said, downing the rest of his beer before looking expectantly at his roommate.
“Oh yeah.” And with that Piz slapped another phone number on the table.
“Holy shit. When did you get all ‘ladies man’?” Wallace was shocked, he couldn’t believe that Piz had so many numbers. Not only did he have a lot of numbers, he had more numbers than Wallace did. How does that make any sense?
“It’s like you don’t even know me.” Piz said, sliding out of the booth with his beer and walking off into the sea of people.
“Damn.” Wallace looked at the table in amazement, more specifically he looked at Veronica and Mac. “Do you remember that scrawny little freshman that lost all his shit on the first day of college? When did he turn into the smooth operator?”
The girls shrugged, Logan and Dick smirked and Lilly just looked confused. Shaking his head Wallace walked off into the crowd, grateful that more people had come into the bar. More girls for him to work on.
Apparently this was the place to be in this dinky little town.
24:Awkward
Rating: R (underage use of alcohol, an f-bomb, mentions of nudity and mentions of drug use)
Word Count: 4,623
Characters/Pairings: Lilly the first, Veronica, Logan, Dick, Mac, Wallace
Weevil, OFC, Parker, Piz, Duncan (mentions of: Lilly the second and Celeste Kane) Logan/Veronica and Mac/Dick
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.
A/N: I had this done a while ago but at first I didn't know if I was able to keep the same tone as the first 22chapters after such a long absense. Then something happened to the program I wrote it in and it took me a while to get it back... so here's the new chapter. I hope it still reads like it's from the same story.
A/N: This chapter is fluffy. Super fluffy. Be warned, there is definite fluffiness to be had here. Also, if you look closely there’s a hint at another fic of mine.
Chapter 1: Awake/ Chapter 2: Homecoming/ Chapter 3: Forgive/ Chapter 4: Arrival/ Chapter 5: Reconnect/ Chapter 6: Belong/ Chapter 7: Bets/ Chapter 8: Fight/ Chapter 9: Battle/ Chapter 10: Retreat/ Chapter 11: Push/ Chapter 12: Sound/ Chapter 13: Potential/ Chapter 14: More/ Chapter 15: Storytime/ Chapter 16: Understanding/ Chapter 17: Piggyback/ Chapter 18: Sinners/ Chapter 19: Drama/ Chapter 20: Dinner/ Chapter 21: Armor/ Chapter 22:Mingle
The Return
23
Bubbly
~Lilly~
“So anyway, it’s not like I was with him at the time. I wasn’t even with Logan, and yeah, sleeping with his dad was a bad idea. You don’t know how bad of an idea that was, but seriously, I was in a coma forever, it’s not like I haven’t paid for my sins. All those years, and I missed my best friend getting all badass. I missed the Donut finally screwing up for once, and he ran away. Twice! I missed all this stuff that would’ve been so much fun if I’d been around to see it, and he’s mad at me?” Lilly rambled, her hands waving around to emphasize her point, the drink in her right hand sloshing over the sides.
“Your boyfriend, right?” The guy she was talking to asked, looking bored of the conversation but still hopeful that it would be a successful pick up.
“No. That’s exactly it, he was never really my boyfriend. Logan forgave me easier than Weevil has, and I dated Logan for two years. And it was his dad!” Lilly spares a glance towards the booth where Logan and Veronica were sitting, whispering to each other and giggling. “Of course that probably has something to do with the fact that he’s madly in love with my best friend now. Totally head over heels, listening to cheesy love songs and all that stuff kind of love. It would totally be gross and disturbing if I didn’t know for a fact that Ronica was worth it.”
“Ronica? That’s the little blonde on that guys’ lap, right? The hot one?”
Lilly narrowed her eyes as she set her drink down. “She’s taken. Like, seriously taken. You hit on her, I can point out, like, six guys in this room that will line up to kick your ass.” She glanced around, locating each person. Logan and Dick in the booth. Eli at the bar, still chatting up the fake redheaded slut. Wallace, hitting on some girl, trying to get her numbers. Duncan… huh, where’s the donut? Lilly’s eyes scanned the room a little more, searching for her little brother. And where’s the other kid? Wallace’s shadow?
“Whoa, it’s cool.” The guy said, putting his hands up in mock surrender. “I wasn’t gonna.”
“Whatever, Mark was it?” Lilly asked, but continued on, she didn’t really care what his name was. “I need a new drink.” With that she left him sitting there, staring after her. She didn’t need to sit and listen to how hot her best friend was, and he shouldn’t be noticing anyway, at least not while she was sitting there.
Lilly thought briefly about going over and seeing what Wallace was doing. She’d noticed him all night long. He’d flirt with a girl, get a number and then head back to home base, like he was searching for a pat on the back and a job well done. Something was most definitely going on. Lilly quickened her pace, walking straight for the booth and sliding in next to Logan and Veronica.
“Hey guys. What’s Wallace doing?” Lilly asked, reaching for Logan’s half finished beer.
“Getting phone numbers.” Logan replied simply before grabbing the beer bottle back before she could take a sip. “Get your own. Or have that guy you’ve been talking to for the last hour get you one, either way, keep your hands off mine.”
“That guy was a total jerk, he was checking out other girls while I was just trying to have a conversation.” Lilly complained, slumping back into her seat. This probably wasn’t the best place to meet guys. A shit hole bar in the middle of nowhere she’d ever be again. “Where’s Duncan?”
“He couldn’t sit still, was too worried about Lilly and Parker. Piz drove him home about twenty minutes ago. He should be back soon.” Veronica answered, sliding her beer bottle towards Lilly. “You can have mine. I’d prefer something fruity and girly.”
Lilly scooped the nearly full beer bottle of the table and took a long drink from it before slamming it back on the table. “When he gets back we should play one big game of I never. It’s been forever and I’d love to hear all about the things that you’ve all done that I haven’t. It’s possible I won’t be the drunkest one here.” Her eyes flitted around the table. “But I don’t think I’ll be the most sober either.”
“I’m not as innocent as I look.” Mac said, her voice dipping low into a slightly seductive and dangerous tone.
“Ooo… Tell me more about this non-innocence.” Dick muttered as he pulled Mac closer, which almost seemed impossible, and nuzzled her neck.
“Please don’t.” Veronica interrupted, holding her eyes up as if to shield herself from the PDA. Lilly could relate, she was stuck here with the two most PDAest couples on the planet. “And while we have done some stuff in the last couple of years, Lil, there are still ways you can totally kick our asses at this game.”
“Yeah, you know I vote we don’t play this game at all.” Logan gave Lilly a little push as he started to scoot out of the booth. Logan slid out, nearly pushing Lilly onto the floor in the process, and then leaned over the seat towards Veronica. “What kind of fruity drink did you want baby?”
“Something apple or berry flavored.” Veronica replied, giving him a smile and then turning to watch him walk away. “And I second Logan’s vote on not playing the game. I really don’t want to run into a question about have-you-ever-kissed-a-friend’s-former-or-current-significant-other.”
Lilly slipped back into the booth, sliding up close to Veronica’s side, she crossed her arms in front of her chest and opened her mouth to argue that it would only make the game funner. In fact, this could turn out to be best game of ‘I Never…’, but she was cut off before she could get a word out.
“Or have you ever committed a felony.” Dick supplied.
“Have you ever hacked into government files.” Mac said while taking a sip of her soda, her eyes roaming around the table. “No? Just me then?”
“If the question was have-you-ever-stolen-files, then it would be me too. What’re you playing?” Wallace asked, suddenly appearing next to the table.
“We’re not playing anything, we’re vetoing the game.” Veronica replied, oblivious to the fact that Lilly was staring at all the other people at the table. They really all were kind of amazing.
~Duncan~
“Thanks for the ride, man, I know I’m kind of putting you behind in your bet.” Duncan said as Piz slowed to a stop in front of the house.
“You know, it’s not really a big deal. I think it’s giving Wallace time to catch up and think he’s gaining on me.” Piz chuckled as he put Logan’s car in park. “Plus when I got the keys from Logan he said he’d try and convince Wallace to pause, you know, to be fair.”
“Yeah, but will Veronica let him? I know she let the advice stuff slide, but…” Duncan started to point out.
“I know, she doesn’t normally play against Wallace, but she didn’t really seem to care about it this time. Says that it at least means the dorm will get cleaned this year.” Piz assured.
“Well, let’s hope so.” Duncan opened the car door and slid out. “See you later, man.” He said before slamming the car door shut and turning to run up the porch stairs.
He heard the car practically peeled out of the driveway, the sound of little rocks kicking up and hitting the front porch. It wasn’t loud enough for anyone in the house to hear past the front entryway. Duncan still cringed a little, freezing as he waited for his daughter’s cry.
Instead he heard the faint sound of the television. Duncan stood there, debating on whether he should inform Parker that he was back or check on Lilly first. I’ll just check on her for a second, and then let Parker know I’m here.
Duncan ran up the stairs, taking two at a time as silently as he could. He’d had a lot of practice over the last couple of years at being quiet, he could barely even hear his footsteps himself. So when he rounded the corner and slammed into Parker it took her completely off guard. It also explained why she screamed. And hit him.
“Oh my God!” Parker yelled, her knee coming up to slam into his groin as she reached out with her hand to slam the heel into his nose simultaneously. Duncan made the split decision to protect his face. He wasn’t in the mood for a broken nose, and the blood and hospital visit that would accompany it. Unfortunately that left his lower body completely open to her attack.
“Fuck!” Duncan grunted when her knee made contact. He nearly doubled over from the shooting pain, but he managed to grunt out who he was. “Parker, it’s me, Duncan.”
“Oh, god. Duncan are you okay?” Parker’s hands shot out to grab on to him, fussing a little as he sat down on the top step and continued to breathe deeply while waiting for the pain to subside.
“I’m fine. It’s been a long time since someone has done that to me. I think the last it was Lilly, she was in the sixth grade and I was in fifth.” Duncan told her, somewhat amused by the memory.
“Why would your sister do that? You sneak up on her in the middle of the night too?” Parker asked, confused. She probably had siblings that were nothing but nice to her. Siblings that she only fought with on occasion and it never escalated into something physical.
“We were fighting. Actually it was more that we were screaming at each other, I don’t remember why, but our parents got home and my mom hated when we were loud. So I grabbed her, trying to get her to be quiet, I covered her mouth up with my hand.” Duncan’s breathing evened out as he remembered how much worse that had hurt. Parker hadn’t put as much force behind her attack as Lilly had. “I remember her eyes got real narrow and I knew, I just knew that it had been a mistake. Then she kneed me, as hard as she could, which was pretty hard considering that she had the leg muscles from ballet and soccer.”
“Wow, did you guys fight a lot?” He could tell she was kind of amazed at the thought of them as little kids, fighting and yelling at each other. Duncan had only known her for a few days, same with Lilly, but he could already tell that Parker was beginning to see them as most people in high school had seen them. All four of them really. He, Lilly, Logan and Veronica had been these mysterious characters. He remembers the students of Neptune High, before the coma and before it all fell apart, looking at the four of them as if they were fascinating. They’d had other friends, but it was mostly just the four of them, laughing at some private joke that only they knew about in the middle of the quad.
He and Lilly were probably the mythical creatures to Parker and Piz. They’d only ever heard stories and he knew how Logan and Veronica could romanticize things of the past, the days before Lilly’s coma when they were the best of friends.
“Yeah. We fought a lot, and it usually ended up with some sort of physical altercation and a lecture from our father on why it isn’t necessary to hit over the speaker phone.” Duncan pushed up from the floor, holding out his hand to help Parker up, not wanting to explain that a lot of times he ended up hitting Lilly after blacking out. “How bout I go make sure we didn’t wake up the baby and then watch a movie?”
“Okay.” Parker agreed, heading downstairs to wait for him. Duncan sighed, he liked Parker. He even liked Piz after he got over his hero worship of Veronica and Wallace, but he dreaded the idea of filling them in on all the history that was between everyone else at this little retreat.
~Logan~
The night was going great. It’d been so long since they’d all been together without any of the usual drama. Sure Lilly was obviously seething over the fact that Weevil hadn’t spoken to her once all evening. And Duncan had gone home early and they hadn’t really gotten around to the major catching up session that he’d planned. The big friends-night-out was still in full swing, if somewhat fractured. Wallace was currently at the table, but soon would be off to get more phone numbers. Piz was in transit and in danger of falling behind, and Logan would be damned if all his advice was wasted. Especially since it was useless to him now that he and Veronica were back together, hopefully for good this time. Weevil was spending all his time flirting with randoms at the bar, which Logan didn’t really mind too much. Lilly flip flopped between over-flirty, over-hyper and pouting.
“Hey man,” Logan greeted as he leaned against the bar next to Weevil, waiting for the bartender to notice him. Weevil grunted in return, barely acknowledging him.
Logan rolled his eyes. There probably wasn’t much of a reason for him to make an attempt at a friendship with Weevil, but Veronica was friends with him and Lilly seemed to still like him. There was a good chance that he would have to see Weevil quite a bit in the future, he should at least try to be civil with him. “Saw you talking to that redhead, she was pretty hot. She leave?”
“She went to the little girl’s room. Why? You wanna shot at her?” Weevil snapped, his eyes narrowing and his fist tightening around the handle to his beer mug. “You looking for something on the side so soon after hooking back up with V?”
“I don’t cheat, and I would especially never fuck things up with Veronica like that. Just trying to make conversation, figured that with you being friends with Veronica and Lilly I might as well try to learn to be civil to you.” Logan’s hands gripped the edge of the bar tightly as he tried not to hit his former arch-nemesis.
“Sorry, it’s just… After all these years, you decide you want to be buds? Braid each other’s hair and gossip about girls?” Weevil shook his head, trying to stare Logan down as he took a long swallow of his beer.
“Not friends. Civil. There’s a difference.” Logan took a deep breath, preparing himself for what he was about to say next. “And I kind of owe you, you kept Veronica safe. In high school, last year. This summer, on that case with her and Piz. Just for that, for making sure she was okay, I’m willing to not make it harder on her. If I can’t be there, I’d prefer it was you. I know Wallace loves her and would protect her as much as he could, but I know what you’re capable of.”
“So you trust me with your girlfriend huh?” Weevil asked, a slight leer on his face, letting Logan in on the direction of his thoughts.
“No, I trust you to protect her. More importantly, I trust her with you.”
“What can I get you, hon?” The bartender asked, a blonde woman in her early forties, leaning on the counter directly in front of them.
“Can I get your fruitiest drink? With an umbrella?” Logan asked, completely clueless when it came to the fruity drinks and their girly names. “Bonus points if it’s pink.”
“Coming right up sugar.” The bartender nodded twice, smiling as she walked away.
“You finally coming out of the closet rich boy?” Weevil asked, a bemused expression on his face.
“Yes, that’s why I’m up here with you. I’ve realized that tiny, blonde and gorgeous isn’t my type. I prefer short, bald and Mexican. Whaddya say Weevs, wanna make a go of it?” With that Logan did a Veronica-esque head tilt and batted his eyelashes at the boy sitting on the stool, trying not to laugh. Logan puckered his lips a bit and made what he would describe as a ‘come hither’ look, pushing Weevil over the edge into laughter.
“You know, white boy, I think we could probably work out the civility thing.” Weevil slapped Logan on the back a couple of times before turning on his stool to face the bar and his beer. “But there ain’t no way in hell I’m ‘making a go of it’ with you. Even if tiny, blonde and gorgeous isn’t your type anymore, they’re still mine.”
“Yeah, well speaking of tiny, blonde and gorgeous girls being your type. You ever gonna come over to the table, talk to Lilly?” Logan asked, his eyes darting back to the table as Lilly and Mac laughed as something Veronica had said. Wallace and Dick both just looked confused.
“Actually, I’ll come over in a bit. The redhead’s getting a little boring.” Weevil seemed to cringe at the thought of talking to the trashy looking girl again. “In fact, I might just follow you over there.”
“Aw, I’ve always wanted a puppy.” Logan joked, straightening up when he caught sight of the bartender heading in their direction.
“Here you go honey, you want this on your tab?” She asked, giving him a look that he got all the time. The look that said she knew she had seen him before, she just couldn’t place him.
“Yeah, and could I get another Miller, bottle. And whatever he’s having.” Logan tipped his head in the direction of Weevil’s nearly empty glass. “And put his drinks on our tab too. He’s with us.”
The woman nodded and went to get Logan’s beer out large refrigerator at the other end of the bar.
“Thanks man, but I can buy my own drinks you know.” Weevil pointed out.
“Yeah, so can I. But Duncan left his tab open.” Logan said with a smirk as the bartender set the two beers down in front of them.
“Okay, I can live with that.”
~Parker~
Duncan sat down on the couch next to Parker, swinging his left leg up to rest his ankle on his right knee. He winced and immediately readjusted so both of his feet were flat on the floor.
“Maybe we should get you some ice for your… you know.” Parker suggested, still feeling awful about her attack.
“That might be a good idea.” Duncan admitted. He had pretended that it didn’t hurt all that much, but she could tell it was an act. She popped up from the couch and headed to the kitchen with Duncan on her heels.
The moment she stepped into the kitchen she froze, Duncan bumping into her from behind because of her sudden stop. She stumbled a little further into the room before she felt Duncan’s arm dart forward and slide around her waist, keeping her from falling.
“What the hell?” Parker gasped in shock, staring at the mounds and mounds of white fluffy bubbles. Or foam. It was more like foam, like those outdoor bubble parties the clubs would have sometimes. Where they’d turn on this giant bubble machine, the strobe lights and turn the pop music way up. It was fun. This was not. They had to clean this up, couldn’t just hose it down either.
“Where did all the bubbles come from?” Duncan asked, letting her go as he moved into the room to stand beside her.
“I don’t know. They weren’t here earlier, when I made my popcorn.” Parker could hear the awe in her voice, she’d never seen this many bubbles in a kitchen before.
“What did you do when you made your popcorn? Trina had a bubble machine when we were little, but it didn’t spit out bubbles like this.” Duncan told her as he reached over and flipped on the kitchen light.
“Wow.” She was stunned, the light made them sparkle and, if it were possible, made it look like there were even more of them.
“No kidding.” Duncan walked even further into the room, wading into them until they reached his knees. He bent, scooping up a handful of the sparkly iridescent bubbles, it almost looked like snow. He seemed to contemplate something before he turned to look at her with a smile grin on his face. Then he threw them, in her face, like a snowball.
Parker’s mouth dropped, she reached up and wiped the bubbles off her face and looked at them and laughed. Quickly she bent down and scooped up her own handful of bubbles and threw them messily at him.
Laughing they both worked their way further into the white mountains, further into the kitchen, as they threw bubbles at each other.
~Wallace~
“You never told me about that.” He glared at his best friend as Lilly finished telling a particularly amusing story of a time when Veronica was wasted. He’d never heard any stories of drunk Veronica. He’d always figured that she was always the sober one, always the designated driver.
He had made himself comfortable next to Dick, waiting for Piz to get back and almost forgetting about their bet in the process. Lilly had traded places with Veronica and was now between her and Mac. It had been a silent interaction when all three girls had seen that Weevil intended to join them, following Logan back from the bar. Instead of sliding into the booth after Logan Weevil had pulled up a chair from a empty nearby table and straddled it backwards.
“I’m sorry, Wallace. You see, I would’ve told you…” Veronica paused for a moment, giving Lilly a mock glare before continuing, “but I obviously don’t remember it.”
“Of course you wouldn’t Ronica, you were wasted.” Lilly assured her, grinning. Logan snorted from Veronica’s other side, as did Dick from his place between Wallace and Mac, far enough away from Veronica to avoid injury.
“I couldn’t have been that drunk. I don’t remember ever getting that drunk.” Veronica insisted, looking indignantly between her boyfriend and Dick.
“Wasn’t that also the first time she tried weed, Logan?” Dick asked, leaning a little further away from Veronica.
“Yes, yes it was Dick. That’s a mighty good memory you have.” Logan said, his grin growing, much to Veronica’s irritation.
“He only remembers it because it was his stash that we smoked.” Lilly said, rolling her eyes.
“I’m still waiting for you to pay me back for that Kane, it was pretty good stuff. Pricey too. I was saving it.” Dick laughed out, obviously recalling Veronica and Lilly stoned.
“That might have been a fun night for the girls, but I spent most of it running after them. Do you know how hard it is keeping track of two giggly and stoned girls?” Logan was laughing despite himself.
“Didn’t we video it?” Dick asked, looking at Logan for confirmation.
“You guys videotaped Veronica and Lilly stoned?” Wallace asked in disbelief. It was so unlike his Veronica to let there be any evidence of her doing something illegal. And her dad had been the sheriff back then. Then again, she had been a completely different person back then. He knew that, but he still had trouble connecting his Veronica to Lilly’s Veronica.
“Oh yeah.” Logan and Dick said at the same time before bursting into laughter.
“They started taping the parties where Veronica got drunk because she kept insisting that it never happened. When Logan would argue with her about it, and believe me they would argue about it often, she would just ask for proof. When he couldn’t supply it she told him that he was either exaggerating or it never happened, either way she needed proof. So he started the whole videotaping thing.” Lilly started to explain before she was cut off by Veronica.
“Then it kind of became habit, someone videotaping the parties. It was a tradition that we document the night, and then Lilly and I started taping ourselves ‘pre-party’.”
“We had this huge home video collection. Then one day, Celeste found the boxes of them in the back of my closet and freaked. I came home and she was sitting at the kitchen table with a pile of tapes and a degausser. She was worried that one of the maids would find them and leak them, and since Duncan was on a bunch of them it could ruin his political career.” Lilly finished.
“Veronica had the last video of that last homecoming.” Logan said, the laughter gone out of his face as he looked down at the table. “I used it for the tribute video.”
“Tribute video?” Lilly asked, completely confused.
“Yeah, Junior year when nobody thought you’d ever wake up, your parents donated this boring fountain in your honor. Logan did a video.” Dick explain as everyone reached for their drinks at the same time, nobody looking at each other.
“You’ll be glad to know that he included a clip of you mooning someone.” Mac said, breaking the sudden tension.
“Oh good. It wouldn’t really be a tribute if my naked ass hadn’t been showcased.” The entire table burst into laughter.
“What’s so funny?” Piz asked, dropping into the seat next to Wallace with a beer in hand.
“Lilly’s ass.”
“Veronica drunk and stoned.”
Veronica and Lilly spoke at the same time before turning to glare at each other for a moment before bursting into another fit of giggles.
“So Lilly’s mooning people and Veronica got stoned and I missed it all?” Piz asked in disappointment.
“Not tonight, a few years ago.” Logan corrected before he looked at his giggling girlfriend and her best friend before amending that statement again. “Although, by the looks of things the girls slipped off and got high at some point.” This caused both girls to giggle even harder.
“Aren’t you one of the DDs?” Wallace asked, looking at the beer bottle in Piz’s hand.
“We traded. I didn’t really want to drink and he did, so I told him we’d switch after he got back from dropping Duncan off.” Mac supplied, finally looking away from the two giggling girls next to her.
“Yeah, which reminds me, we’ve got a bet to finish.” Wallace said, downing the rest of his beer before looking expectantly at his roommate.
“Oh yeah.” And with that Piz slapped another phone number on the table.
“Holy shit. When did you get all ‘ladies man’?” Wallace was shocked, he couldn’t believe that Piz had so many numbers. Not only did he have a lot of numbers, he had more numbers than Wallace did. How does that make any sense?
“It’s like you don’t even know me.” Piz said, sliding out of the booth with his beer and walking off into the sea of people.
“Damn.” Wallace looked at the table in amazement, more specifically he looked at Veronica and Mac. “Do you remember that scrawny little freshman that lost all his shit on the first day of college? When did he turn into the smooth operator?”
The girls shrugged, Logan and Dick smirked and Lilly just looked confused. Shaking his head Wallace walked off into the crowd, grateful that more people had come into the bar. More girls for him to work on.
Apparently this was the place to be in this dinky little town.
24:Awkward