THE RETURN 25: Closing [Ensemble] R
Title: The Return 25-Closing
Rating: R (underage use of alcohol, an f-bomb, mentions of nudity and mentions of drug use)
Word Count: 3,992
Characters/Pairings: Duncan, Parker, Mac, Dick, Piz, Wallace, Weevil, OFC, Lilly the first, OMC, Logan, Veronica (mentions of: Lilly the second ) 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.
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/ 23:Bubbly/ Chapter 24: Awkward
The Return
25
Closing
~Duncan~
The music was loud, swelling and triumphant, and completely disrupting his sleep. He tried to roll over, get comfortable again and fall back asleep. Lilly is probably watching a movie. He thought as he rolled into what would have been his very large mattress, but rolled right off the couch instead.
“Oof.” Duncan’s breath was knocked out of him as he landed on the floor. His eyes slowly opened and focused on… a table leg? After blinking a couple more times his eyes finally focused completely in the mostly dark room. The television was flickering a little now, lighting up the room as the credits of their movie rolled by. It was just enough light for him to see Parker’s face. Her mouth was hanging open, slack jawed as she drooled a little on one of the throw pillows. She was curled up on the other side of the couch, his feet must have been resting on her.
Duncan sat up and reached for the remote, pulling it out of her hand ever so carefully, not to wake her up. He muted it first, before hitting the menu button. Turned out that the music had been just loud enough to drown out Parker’s slightly snoring. It wasn’t as grating as some people who shall remain nameless. Lilly when she was hammered. And Logan for that matter. It was kind of a cute little snort, kind of funny. He bit his bottom lip in an attempt to keep from laughing as he navigated to the scene selection menu.
He’d really wanted to see Goonies, had practically begged Parker to watch it. When they had been younger, Logan, Lilly, Veronica and Duncan had watched to movie on a weekly basis, but he hadn’t seen it once since Lilly’s coma. He probably should’ve waited to watch it with them, as some sort of celebration that they were all back together, but it somehow didn’t seem like such a big deal now as it would have back then. Sharing the group’s traditions with others? They’d been doing that all weekend. Sharing things and letting new people in, something none them had ever been too good at.
“What?” Parker jerked awake, sitting up abruptly and looking around in a slight panic.
“I didn’t say anything.” Duncan bit into his lip again, trying desperately not to laugh at her.
“Sorry, I just, I don’t know. I was just really confused for a second there.” She tried to wipe at her mouth without him noticing, but blushed when she saw him watching her.
“You snore too.” Duncan added, leaning back against the couch.
“Yeah, probably because of the weird position.” She didn’t seem overly concerned or embarrassed about that, just the drool part. “Why are you on the floor?”
“Fell of the couch.”
“We must not have been asleep very long, we’re only a little past the last part I remember.” Parker uncoiled herself from her current position, taking up the whole couch in the process. She stretched, arching her back and yawning loudly as she did so, catching Duncan’s attention.
“This is the last part I remember too. Maybe we should just head up to bed instead. You seem tired and I know I am.” Duncan picked the remote back up, shutting off the television and DVD player. He stood, pushing up off the couch before reaching down to help Parker to her feet.
Parker gripped his hand and stood up, she stretched again with another yawn. “Maybe you’re right, too bad though. Our Super-Eighties-Marathon will have to wait for another night.”
“We made it through the Breakfast Club, it’s almost one-thirty. I think that turning in will be best for both of us, but my first night out of the joint, we’ll have an Eighties Night. I promise.” Duncan headed for the stairs with her following close behind.
“Should we leave a note about the dishwasher? You know, so if people get up before us they know not to use it?” She stopped at the bottom of the stairs, looking up at him and back in the direction of the kitchen like she wanted to do it, but she was too tired to walk that far. Right now she looked like she would barely make it up the stairs.
“Are you kidding? We’re going to be the first ones up. Everyone else is going to be hung over or sleeping in due to the late night. Plus Little Lilly isn’t going to let me sleep in.” Duncan jerked his head towards the top of the staircase, gesturing for her to follow, as he continued to climb the stairs.
“Okay.” She agreed easily a moment later, following him to the top. They stopped there, looking at each other. He was down the hall from his room and she still had another flight of stairs to go before she got to the room she ‘shared’ with Mac, who was really sleeping in with Dick.
“Night.” Her voice was tired and her shoulders hunched over as she headed for the next flight of stairs.
“You know, you could probably stay in Veronica’s room. She moved all her stuff into Logan’s room.” Duncan offered, feeling sorry for her. He remembered what it was like to have to climb those stairs, he’d done it once upon a time when the rooms on this floor had been taken and he’d had to sleep up there.
Parker’s face twisted up a little, a deep V forming between her eyebrows as she considered it. She stared at the closed door.
“She changed the sheets and put the other ones in the wash.” Duncan assured her, guessing at what was probably causing her hesitation. Logan and Veronica had reunited in that room last night. They’d all heard.
“Okay, but I’m definitely locking the door. Just in case they’re drunk and forget where they’re sleeping tonight.” Parker walked past him to the second door on the right. “It’s a good thing I’m already in my PJs because I do not want to go up more stairs.”
Duncan chuckled a little, pausing right outside the door. “Night, get some sleep.”
“Thanks Dunc, you too.” She smiled wanly, before closing the door.
He continued on to his room, taking care not to wake his daughter.
~Mac~
“When do you think we’re going to head home?” Mac asked, leaning back into Dick as they both scanned the room, checking up on their friends who were scattered throughout the bar.
“I don’t know, but we can’t stay any later than two, bar closes then.” Dick’s voice was strained as he watched Lilly dirty dancing with two guys. It was the kind of dancing what would make Patrick Swayze proud. “Should I go over there and stop that? She’s wasted, probably because her and Ronnie have each had about five of those pink drinks. And those usually have way more alcohol than regular beer. Plus neither one of them are very big drinkers as of late. It’s been years for Lilly and I don’t think Veronica’s had anything alcoholic since before the coma either.”
“She had an Irish coffee once at the beginning of last school year.” Mac corrected as she straightened up. She turned to see Dick’s eyebrows shoot up in an astonished look. “Not on purpose, Irish coffees were something different at Java the Hut. “But maybe we should leave Lilly alone for now, but keep an eye on her that nothing happens in the next…” Mac checked her watch, “…twenty minutes.”
“Okay, but if either of those guys start getting rough with her I’m going over there.” Dick assured her, his eyes glued to the threesome on the dance floor.
“I have no problem with that.” Mac settled back against him as she watched Piz drop a number into his cup and practically prance away. He was getting cocky about it, knew he was winning. “We should probably stop the contest at some point too, because those cups are getting pretty full.”
Dick reached out and handed her Wallace’s cup before he dumped out Piz’s and started counting. Mac followed his lead, and began counting Wallace’s numbers.
~Piz~
“So, who won?” Piz asked, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet. He was feeling pretty good. Pleasantly buzzed, or maybe slightly more, and armed with the knowledge that he had probably won. Thanks Logan and Dick. It’s not like he ever intended to use the advice at home and he was taking it seriously as something he would do ever again, but just this once… He couldn’t be stuck cleaning the whole dorm for a whole month by himself.
“Don’t look so smug, Piz, you don’t know if you won.” Wallace’s slightly annoyed voice cut into Piz’s thoughts. It was sort of annoying the way Mac and Dick were dragging this out. “Will you just tell us already?”
“Patience young grasshoppah.” Dick said with a poor imitation of a Japanese accent.
Mac reached forward and turned both cups so big black numbers printed under their names were visible.
“Yes! Yes-yes-yes-yes! Yessss!!!” Piz shouted, doing a small victory dance in front of the table.
“Noooooooooo!” Wallace shouted, dramatically falling to his knees and dropping his head into his hands.
“Looks like we’ll have to be getting the French maid costume in Wallace’s size.” Mac commented, sliding the cups closer to their owners before sliding out of the booth. “Good thing you’ve got nice legs, Fennel.”
“Very funny.” Wallace mumbled, glaring at Mac’s retreating back as she headed towards the bar where Weevil was still chatting up his redhead.
~Weevil~
“Do you like California? I mean, you’re pretty close to LA, right? I’ve been thinking about moving closer to LA, trying my hand at acting. I know that barely anyone ever makes it and all, but I think I really might have a shot, you know?” Jessie yammered on and on about California and Neptune and acting and celebrities. It really could’ve gotten on his nerves if he had been paying attention. Good thing he’d tuned out about ten minutes ago.
“Anyway, you’re friends are all really pretty. The girls I mean. Did you date any of them?” Jessie’s voice was tense, there was a hint of nerves. Or jealousy, he wasn’t really sure.
“Not really.” We never dated, just snuck around and screwed each other’s brains out. Weevil didn’t bother adding that last part, she didn’t need to know. She also didn’t need to know about the tiny crush he’d had on Veronica in high school. He’d thankfully gotten over that by time he’d gotten out of prison. Or the fact that he’d always that Mac was kind of cute.
“Cool. So I was thinking that maybe we should get out of…” Her voice trailed off, catching his attention and causing him to look up. Her focus had been drawn to Mac, who was now standing next to them. “Here.”
“Hey, I think that we’re all going to be leaving in a few minutes. The bar is probably going to be closing, so Dick and I were wondering if you were going to ride back with us.” Mac’s eyes were flicking between him and Jessie, her eyebrows raised in question.
Weevil let the question linger as he thought about it. He could leave with Jessie, probably get laid, and then head home after. Of course then he’d have to call someone to come get him. Piz and Wallace would be hung over. Logan and Veronica, on top of being hung over would undoubtedly would be in the middle of doing something else and would probably flat out refuse to get out of bed and pick his ass up. He would never call Dick for a ride, but if he was sleeping with Mac there was no chance they’d come get him. He didn’t have enough of a relationship with Parker that would justify calling her, and Duncan had the baby. There was no way in hell he’d ever call Lilly. Lilly.
“I-” Weevil started before his voice choked off. Lilly was in the middle of two guys, her dancing a whole hell of a lot naughtier as she made out with guy number one. Weevil felt something shift, a shock to his system and a feeling of disappointment before straightening up and quickly looking back to Mac. “Jessie and I were going to get out of here. I’ll call tomorrow for a ride, okay?”
Mac let her eyes drift subtly in the direction that Weevil had just been looking. He saw the moment when she noticed Lilly and understood. She nodded and began to back away. “Okay, call in the morning. You got my number?”
“Yeah, I have it.” Weevil let his head hang a little, not able to look Mac in the eye. He’d thought he was over this. So he’d been in love with her when he was 15, that was almost five years ago. Her acting like this, hanging on other guys, shouldn’t affect him like this anymore, he’d gotten over it. He’d been over it the moment he found out about her and Aaron Echolls. Or he thought he’d been over it, but now, after that feeling of disappointment, he knew that he’d only been biding his time until she got tired of the games and came back to him.
“Okay, I’ll talk to you in the morning.” Mac turned and walked away, leaving him alone with Jessie.
~Lilly~
She could see him there, at the bar, still chatting with the redhead. Since when is he so big on the small talk? He’d never been so interested in talking to her when they’d been together. Now, here he was, talking endlessly with some random girl he’d probably never see again.
If she was honest with herself, let herself remember what they were like with they were together, she’d have to admit that the not talking thing might have been more her rule than his. It’d been so silly of her, to think that cutting the chit-chat out would mean that they wouldn’t get attached. She’d been so set on making him her no-strings fling that she’d practically forced them into this situation. Him not being able to trust her or open up to her again. She’d told him earlier that she’d never thought of him as a toy, but if she was honest with herself now, it was a lie. He was supposed to be a toy. She’d tried very hard to make him into just a toy, and in the end, that’s all he had seemed to be. But he wasn’t. He was more to her than that. She’d loved Logan, he’d been her first love, puppy love. Eli had been actual love. He was able to keep up with her, and didn’t fall for her schemes and called her on her shit. They’d never talked, never had conversations or discussed their days, but they’d fought. Fought over her continued involvement with Logan, fought over whatever stunt she’d pulled at school, and on one memorable occasion, they’d fought about some of the more dangerous things his little gang did. Still, at the end of the day, she’d always tried to make it clear that he was nothing more than a toy.
She put more effort into dancing. It had been a long time since she’d been out partying. Since she’d had anything to drink that wasn’t water, juice or milk. She didn’t remember alcohol making her this introspective, this wasn’t fun. This wasn’t the escape she was hoping for when they’d all decided to go out tonight.
She focused on the guy in front of her, pulled him closer. Boys are always good for a distraction, especially from other boys. The thought passed through her head as she pulled Mr. Big and Beefy’s head down to hers, attached her lips to his and shoved her tongue into his mouth. The kiss was wet and sloppy, he was nearly as drunk as she was. She felt her body attempt to pull away, a reaction she had been completely in control of. She’d kissed random guys before, but this was different. If felt wrong this time, like she should know better. The guy behind her ground himself into her backside, and her body was repelled by that as well. She pulled away from Mr. Big and Beefy to swat at Mr. Grabby Hands behind her.
Lilly stood awkwardly in between the two guys. Mr. Grabby Hands’ grabby hands were on her hips, his fingers digging into her skin as he tried to pull her closer and she resisted. Mr. Big and Beefy’s hands were in her hair, trying to pull her into another kiss, she resisted that as well.
“Lilly, time to go.” Dick’s voice boomed, his hand wrapping around her wrist to pull her away from the boys. “Say goodbye to your friends.” He practically dragged her away, across the barroom floor to join Wallace, Piz and Mac, standing next to the booth they’d occupied all night.
“Thanks Dick.” Lilly murmured, her eyes flitting over to the bar in search of Eli. He wasn’t there. She whipped her head around, no longer attempting to hide the fact that she was looking for him. He wasn’t in the bar anymore, not at the jukebox, the pool table, the darts area, definitely not near the couple making out in the dark corner. And finally, she spotted him, causing her to freeze. It was as if time slowed down, like in a movie. He was there, his hand in the redhead’s as she pulled him along towards the exit. She swung around to presser her mouth to his. He wrapped his arms around her waist and deepened the kiss for a moment before he pulled away. This time he tugged her towards the door, causing her to giggle. They disappeared, leaving only a sick feeling in Lilly’s stomach as she watched the door swing shut.
~Logan~
“Alright everyone, bar is closing. Settle up and go home.” The lady bartending called from the bar. Suddenly the lights were brighter in this dark little corner that he and Veronica had found.
“Uh-uh,” Veronica murmured, shaking her head in denial as she pulled Logan’s face back down to hers. “Not yet, we’re busy.”
“I don’t think that they’ll really care all that much about the interruption, baby.” Logan told her even as he lowered his head of his own power. Even as he backed her further into the corner and clutched at her back. Her hands were driving him to distraction, pulling his attention away from the fact that they were seconds away from discovery. One hand played with the short hairs at the base of his neck, making him shiver. The other was clutching at his shoulder, the fingers slipped underneath his shirt, adding just enough contact to make him burn.
“Mmmm…” She hummed as he worked his way down her neck. He could feel the vibration against his lips, inflaming him a little more. He was let his hands slips from her back to her waist, slipping under the smooth fabric of her top to press against her skin. She gasped at that.
“Come on folks, time to go.” The woman called again, cutting through the Logan’s haze for a moment.
“We should…” He began, his mouth still pressed to her skin, causing her to moan. “Oh, God.” One of Veronica’s legs wrapped around his and began rubbing up and down seductively.
“We should what?” Her voice was breathless, and caught on the last word as he nipped at her with his teeth, catching the skin at the base of her neck briefly before releasing it again.
“Go.” The word burst out of him as Veronica’s hands slid down his back and sliding into the back pockets of his jeans, cupping his ass and pulling him closer at the same time.
“But I’m having so much fun here.” Her voice still sounded breathy but affected with faux innocence. Logan pulled back a little to look into her eyes. The expression in her eyes made him smirk as he leaned forward to kiss her again.
The kiss grew deeper, more intense, as he let his own hands wander further down her body, gripping the back of her thighs in a move meant to lift her against him. He tugged up, her body rose a little, sliding between him and the wall and he could feel her legs begin to curl, begin to wrap around his waist.
“What the hell are you two doing?” Mac’s voice interrupted, cutting through the feeling that they were alone in the world.
Logan’s mouth tore away from Veronica’s, his hands releasing their grip on her thighs. Veronica didn’t pull her legs away, let them stay wrapped around his own thighs as she looked up at him. She was trapped between him and the wall, her chest pressed tightly against his, her back against the wall. She let her legs fall away, dangling an inch or two above the battered wooden floor of the bar. Logan stared into her eyes for a moment more before he pushed away from her and heard the small thump of her feet hitting the ground.
“Are you insane? You were practically having sex right there against the bar wall. In public!” Mac’s voice rose to a higher pitch, as her head whipped from side to side to make sure no one was watching them even though there was barely anyone left in the bar.
“We just got a little carried away.” Veronica explained, taking a step away from the wall, placing herself between Mac and Logan.
“A little carried away?” Mac repeated in a disbelieving voice. “You must be drunk to get carried away like that in public.”
“Is there a reason you interrupted?” Logan asked, annoyed at the interruption as he wrapped arms around his girlfriend’s waist from behind. His eyes narrowed a little, focusing on the small red spot where he’d nipped at her earlier. He bent his head down to nip at it again, sliding his tongue over it before sucking it into his mouth. He’d never given Veronica a hickey before but he had always wanted to.
Veronica’s head lolled to the opposite side, giving him more access as she let a loose a low hum of approval.
“Ohmygod, you guys are so wasted.” Mac rushed out, her voice slightly high pitched as she reached forward and tugged Veronica out of his arms. “Time to go. Now!”
Logan released Veronica except for her hand, allowing himself to be dragged along behind her and Mac. They stopped momentarily by the booth, Mac shoved jackets and a purse at them and then pulled them toward the exit.
“Shouldn’t we wait for the others?” Veronica asked dazedly, her hand tugging Logan closer to her.
“They already left. Dick took Wallace, Piz and Lilly to go pick up tacos. Drunk food.” Mac replied as she stopped next to the car. She released Veronica’s hand as she dug in her purse in search of the keys. “Do you guys want anything?” Mac looked up at them, her eyes focusing on Logan’s face before she blushed slightly and returned to her search for the keys, quickly adding “Tacos I mean?”
“No, I think we’re good.” Logan replied, spinning Veronica around to back her up against the car.
“Here they are.” Mac pulled the keys out of her purse, frantically pressing the unlock button. “Get in.”
Veronica reached behind her to pull open the back door on the driver’s side. She moved to the left in order to open it. “I think we’ll take the backseat.”
Veronica finally released Logan’s hand in order to slide backwards into the backseat. Logan grinned, casting a short glance at Mac’s slightly panicked look before he crawled in after her.
Chapter 26: Drunks
Rating: R (underage use of alcohol, an f-bomb, mentions of nudity and mentions of drug use)
Word Count: 3,992
Characters/Pairings: Duncan, Parker, Mac, Dick, Piz, Wallace, Weevil, OFC, Lilly the first, OMC, Logan, Veronica (mentions of: Lilly the second ) 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.
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/ 23:Bubbly/ Chapter 24: Awkward
The Return
25
Closing
~Duncan~
The music was loud, swelling and triumphant, and completely disrupting his sleep. He tried to roll over, get comfortable again and fall back asleep. Lilly is probably watching a movie. He thought as he rolled into what would have been his very large mattress, but rolled right off the couch instead.
“Oof.” Duncan’s breath was knocked out of him as he landed on the floor. His eyes slowly opened and focused on… a table leg? After blinking a couple more times his eyes finally focused completely in the mostly dark room. The television was flickering a little now, lighting up the room as the credits of their movie rolled by. It was just enough light for him to see Parker’s face. Her mouth was hanging open, slack jawed as she drooled a little on one of the throw pillows. She was curled up on the other side of the couch, his feet must have been resting on her.
Duncan sat up and reached for the remote, pulling it out of her hand ever so carefully, not to wake her up. He muted it first, before hitting the menu button. Turned out that the music had been just loud enough to drown out Parker’s slightly snoring. It wasn’t as grating as some people who shall remain nameless. Lilly when she was hammered. And Logan for that matter. It was kind of a cute little snort, kind of funny. He bit his bottom lip in an attempt to keep from laughing as he navigated to the scene selection menu.
He’d really wanted to see Goonies, had practically begged Parker to watch it. When they had been younger, Logan, Lilly, Veronica and Duncan had watched to movie on a weekly basis, but he hadn’t seen it once since Lilly’s coma. He probably should’ve waited to watch it with them, as some sort of celebration that they were all back together, but it somehow didn’t seem like such a big deal now as it would have back then. Sharing the group’s traditions with others? They’d been doing that all weekend. Sharing things and letting new people in, something none them had ever been too good at.
“What?” Parker jerked awake, sitting up abruptly and looking around in a slight panic.
“I didn’t say anything.” Duncan bit into his lip again, trying desperately not to laugh at her.
“Sorry, I just, I don’t know. I was just really confused for a second there.” She tried to wipe at her mouth without him noticing, but blushed when she saw him watching her.
“You snore too.” Duncan added, leaning back against the couch.
“Yeah, probably because of the weird position.” She didn’t seem overly concerned or embarrassed about that, just the drool part. “Why are you on the floor?”
“Fell of the couch.”
“We must not have been asleep very long, we’re only a little past the last part I remember.” Parker uncoiled herself from her current position, taking up the whole couch in the process. She stretched, arching her back and yawning loudly as she did so, catching Duncan’s attention.
“This is the last part I remember too. Maybe we should just head up to bed instead. You seem tired and I know I am.” Duncan picked the remote back up, shutting off the television and DVD player. He stood, pushing up off the couch before reaching down to help Parker to her feet.
Parker gripped his hand and stood up, she stretched again with another yawn. “Maybe you’re right, too bad though. Our Super-Eighties-Marathon will have to wait for another night.”
“We made it through the Breakfast Club, it’s almost one-thirty. I think that turning in will be best for both of us, but my first night out of the joint, we’ll have an Eighties Night. I promise.” Duncan headed for the stairs with her following close behind.
“Should we leave a note about the dishwasher? You know, so if people get up before us they know not to use it?” She stopped at the bottom of the stairs, looking up at him and back in the direction of the kitchen like she wanted to do it, but she was too tired to walk that far. Right now she looked like she would barely make it up the stairs.
“Are you kidding? We’re going to be the first ones up. Everyone else is going to be hung over or sleeping in due to the late night. Plus Little Lilly isn’t going to let me sleep in.” Duncan jerked his head towards the top of the staircase, gesturing for her to follow, as he continued to climb the stairs.
“Okay.” She agreed easily a moment later, following him to the top. They stopped there, looking at each other. He was down the hall from his room and she still had another flight of stairs to go before she got to the room she ‘shared’ with Mac, who was really sleeping in with Dick.
“Night.” Her voice was tired and her shoulders hunched over as she headed for the next flight of stairs.
“You know, you could probably stay in Veronica’s room. She moved all her stuff into Logan’s room.” Duncan offered, feeling sorry for her. He remembered what it was like to have to climb those stairs, he’d done it once upon a time when the rooms on this floor had been taken and he’d had to sleep up there.
Parker’s face twisted up a little, a deep V forming between her eyebrows as she considered it. She stared at the closed door.
“She changed the sheets and put the other ones in the wash.” Duncan assured her, guessing at what was probably causing her hesitation. Logan and Veronica had reunited in that room last night. They’d all heard.
“Okay, but I’m definitely locking the door. Just in case they’re drunk and forget where they’re sleeping tonight.” Parker walked past him to the second door on the right. “It’s a good thing I’m already in my PJs because I do not want to go up more stairs.”
Duncan chuckled a little, pausing right outside the door. “Night, get some sleep.”
“Thanks Dunc, you too.” She smiled wanly, before closing the door.
He continued on to his room, taking care not to wake his daughter.
~Mac~
“When do you think we’re going to head home?” Mac asked, leaning back into Dick as they both scanned the room, checking up on their friends who were scattered throughout the bar.
“I don’t know, but we can’t stay any later than two, bar closes then.” Dick’s voice was strained as he watched Lilly dirty dancing with two guys. It was the kind of dancing what would make Patrick Swayze proud. “Should I go over there and stop that? She’s wasted, probably because her and Ronnie have each had about five of those pink drinks. And those usually have way more alcohol than regular beer. Plus neither one of them are very big drinkers as of late. It’s been years for Lilly and I don’t think Veronica’s had anything alcoholic since before the coma either.”
“She had an Irish coffee once at the beginning of last school year.” Mac corrected as she straightened up. She turned to see Dick’s eyebrows shoot up in an astonished look. “Not on purpose, Irish coffees were something different at Java the Hut. “But maybe we should leave Lilly alone for now, but keep an eye on her that nothing happens in the next…” Mac checked her watch, “…twenty minutes.”
“Okay, but if either of those guys start getting rough with her I’m going over there.” Dick assured her, his eyes glued to the threesome on the dance floor.
“I have no problem with that.” Mac settled back against him as she watched Piz drop a number into his cup and practically prance away. He was getting cocky about it, knew he was winning. “We should probably stop the contest at some point too, because those cups are getting pretty full.”
Dick reached out and handed her Wallace’s cup before he dumped out Piz’s and started counting. Mac followed his lead, and began counting Wallace’s numbers.
~Piz~
“So, who won?” Piz asked, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet. He was feeling pretty good. Pleasantly buzzed, or maybe slightly more, and armed with the knowledge that he had probably won. Thanks Logan and Dick. It’s not like he ever intended to use the advice at home and he was taking it seriously as something he would do ever again, but just this once… He couldn’t be stuck cleaning the whole dorm for a whole month by himself.
“Don’t look so smug, Piz, you don’t know if you won.” Wallace’s slightly annoyed voice cut into Piz’s thoughts. It was sort of annoying the way Mac and Dick were dragging this out. “Will you just tell us already?”
“Patience young grasshoppah.” Dick said with a poor imitation of a Japanese accent.
Mac reached forward and turned both cups so big black numbers printed under their names were visible.
“Yes! Yes-yes-yes-yes! Yessss!!!” Piz shouted, doing a small victory dance in front of the table.
“Noooooooooo!” Wallace shouted, dramatically falling to his knees and dropping his head into his hands.
“Looks like we’ll have to be getting the French maid costume in Wallace’s size.” Mac commented, sliding the cups closer to their owners before sliding out of the booth. “Good thing you’ve got nice legs, Fennel.”
“Very funny.” Wallace mumbled, glaring at Mac’s retreating back as she headed towards the bar where Weevil was still chatting up his redhead.
~Weevil~
“Do you like California? I mean, you’re pretty close to LA, right? I’ve been thinking about moving closer to LA, trying my hand at acting. I know that barely anyone ever makes it and all, but I think I really might have a shot, you know?” Jessie yammered on and on about California and Neptune and acting and celebrities. It really could’ve gotten on his nerves if he had been paying attention. Good thing he’d tuned out about ten minutes ago.
“Anyway, you’re friends are all really pretty. The girls I mean. Did you date any of them?” Jessie’s voice was tense, there was a hint of nerves. Or jealousy, he wasn’t really sure.
“Not really.” We never dated, just snuck around and screwed each other’s brains out. Weevil didn’t bother adding that last part, she didn’t need to know. She also didn’t need to know about the tiny crush he’d had on Veronica in high school. He’d thankfully gotten over that by time he’d gotten out of prison. Or the fact that he’d always that Mac was kind of cute.
“Cool. So I was thinking that maybe we should get out of…” Her voice trailed off, catching his attention and causing him to look up. Her focus had been drawn to Mac, who was now standing next to them. “Here.”
“Hey, I think that we’re all going to be leaving in a few minutes. The bar is probably going to be closing, so Dick and I were wondering if you were going to ride back with us.” Mac’s eyes were flicking between him and Jessie, her eyebrows raised in question.
Weevil let the question linger as he thought about it. He could leave with Jessie, probably get laid, and then head home after. Of course then he’d have to call someone to come get him. Piz and Wallace would be hung over. Logan and Veronica, on top of being hung over would undoubtedly would be in the middle of doing something else and would probably flat out refuse to get out of bed and pick his ass up. He would never call Dick for a ride, but if he was sleeping with Mac there was no chance they’d come get him. He didn’t have enough of a relationship with Parker that would justify calling her, and Duncan had the baby. There was no way in hell he’d ever call Lilly. Lilly.
“I-” Weevil started before his voice choked off. Lilly was in the middle of two guys, her dancing a whole hell of a lot naughtier as she made out with guy number one. Weevil felt something shift, a shock to his system and a feeling of disappointment before straightening up and quickly looking back to Mac. “Jessie and I were going to get out of here. I’ll call tomorrow for a ride, okay?”
Mac let her eyes drift subtly in the direction that Weevil had just been looking. He saw the moment when she noticed Lilly and understood. She nodded and began to back away. “Okay, call in the morning. You got my number?”
“Yeah, I have it.” Weevil let his head hang a little, not able to look Mac in the eye. He’d thought he was over this. So he’d been in love with her when he was 15, that was almost five years ago. Her acting like this, hanging on other guys, shouldn’t affect him like this anymore, he’d gotten over it. He’d been over it the moment he found out about her and Aaron Echolls. Or he thought he’d been over it, but now, after that feeling of disappointment, he knew that he’d only been biding his time until she got tired of the games and came back to him.
“Okay, I’ll talk to you in the morning.” Mac turned and walked away, leaving him alone with Jessie.
~Lilly~
She could see him there, at the bar, still chatting with the redhead. Since when is he so big on the small talk? He’d never been so interested in talking to her when they’d been together. Now, here he was, talking endlessly with some random girl he’d probably never see again.
If she was honest with herself, let herself remember what they were like with they were together, she’d have to admit that the not talking thing might have been more her rule than his. It’d been so silly of her, to think that cutting the chit-chat out would mean that they wouldn’t get attached. She’d been so set on making him her no-strings fling that she’d practically forced them into this situation. Him not being able to trust her or open up to her again. She’d told him earlier that she’d never thought of him as a toy, but if she was honest with herself now, it was a lie. He was supposed to be a toy. She’d tried very hard to make him into just a toy, and in the end, that’s all he had seemed to be. But he wasn’t. He was more to her than that. She’d loved Logan, he’d been her first love, puppy love. Eli had been actual love. He was able to keep up with her, and didn’t fall for her schemes and called her on her shit. They’d never talked, never had conversations or discussed their days, but they’d fought. Fought over her continued involvement with Logan, fought over whatever stunt she’d pulled at school, and on one memorable occasion, they’d fought about some of the more dangerous things his little gang did. Still, at the end of the day, she’d always tried to make it clear that he was nothing more than a toy.
She put more effort into dancing. It had been a long time since she’d been out partying. Since she’d had anything to drink that wasn’t water, juice or milk. She didn’t remember alcohol making her this introspective, this wasn’t fun. This wasn’t the escape she was hoping for when they’d all decided to go out tonight.
She focused on the guy in front of her, pulled him closer. Boys are always good for a distraction, especially from other boys. The thought passed through her head as she pulled Mr. Big and Beefy’s head down to hers, attached her lips to his and shoved her tongue into his mouth. The kiss was wet and sloppy, he was nearly as drunk as she was. She felt her body attempt to pull away, a reaction she had been completely in control of. She’d kissed random guys before, but this was different. If felt wrong this time, like she should know better. The guy behind her ground himself into her backside, and her body was repelled by that as well. She pulled away from Mr. Big and Beefy to swat at Mr. Grabby Hands behind her.
Lilly stood awkwardly in between the two guys. Mr. Grabby Hands’ grabby hands were on her hips, his fingers digging into her skin as he tried to pull her closer and she resisted. Mr. Big and Beefy’s hands were in her hair, trying to pull her into another kiss, she resisted that as well.
“Lilly, time to go.” Dick’s voice boomed, his hand wrapping around her wrist to pull her away from the boys. “Say goodbye to your friends.” He practically dragged her away, across the barroom floor to join Wallace, Piz and Mac, standing next to the booth they’d occupied all night.
“Thanks Dick.” Lilly murmured, her eyes flitting over to the bar in search of Eli. He wasn’t there. She whipped her head around, no longer attempting to hide the fact that she was looking for him. He wasn’t in the bar anymore, not at the jukebox, the pool table, the darts area, definitely not near the couple making out in the dark corner. And finally, she spotted him, causing her to freeze. It was as if time slowed down, like in a movie. He was there, his hand in the redhead’s as she pulled him along towards the exit. She swung around to presser her mouth to his. He wrapped his arms around her waist and deepened the kiss for a moment before he pulled away. This time he tugged her towards the door, causing her to giggle. They disappeared, leaving only a sick feeling in Lilly’s stomach as she watched the door swing shut.
~Logan~
“Alright everyone, bar is closing. Settle up and go home.” The lady bartending called from the bar. Suddenly the lights were brighter in this dark little corner that he and Veronica had found.
“Uh-uh,” Veronica murmured, shaking her head in denial as she pulled Logan’s face back down to hers. “Not yet, we’re busy.”
“I don’t think that they’ll really care all that much about the interruption, baby.” Logan told her even as he lowered his head of his own power. Even as he backed her further into the corner and clutched at her back. Her hands were driving him to distraction, pulling his attention away from the fact that they were seconds away from discovery. One hand played with the short hairs at the base of his neck, making him shiver. The other was clutching at his shoulder, the fingers slipped underneath his shirt, adding just enough contact to make him burn.
“Mmmm…” She hummed as he worked his way down her neck. He could feel the vibration against his lips, inflaming him a little more. He was let his hands slips from her back to her waist, slipping under the smooth fabric of her top to press against her skin. She gasped at that.
“Come on folks, time to go.” The woman called again, cutting through the Logan’s haze for a moment.
“We should…” He began, his mouth still pressed to her skin, causing her to moan. “Oh, God.” One of Veronica’s legs wrapped around his and began rubbing up and down seductively.
“We should what?” Her voice was breathless, and caught on the last word as he nipped at her with his teeth, catching the skin at the base of her neck briefly before releasing it again.
“Go.” The word burst out of him as Veronica’s hands slid down his back and sliding into the back pockets of his jeans, cupping his ass and pulling him closer at the same time.
“But I’m having so much fun here.” Her voice still sounded breathy but affected with faux innocence. Logan pulled back a little to look into her eyes. The expression in her eyes made him smirk as he leaned forward to kiss her again.
The kiss grew deeper, more intense, as he let his own hands wander further down her body, gripping the back of her thighs in a move meant to lift her against him. He tugged up, her body rose a little, sliding between him and the wall and he could feel her legs begin to curl, begin to wrap around his waist.
“What the hell are you two doing?” Mac’s voice interrupted, cutting through the feeling that they were alone in the world.
Logan’s mouth tore away from Veronica’s, his hands releasing their grip on her thighs. Veronica didn’t pull her legs away, let them stay wrapped around his own thighs as she looked up at him. She was trapped between him and the wall, her chest pressed tightly against his, her back against the wall. She let her legs fall away, dangling an inch or two above the battered wooden floor of the bar. Logan stared into her eyes for a moment more before he pushed away from her and heard the small thump of her feet hitting the ground.
“Are you insane? You were practically having sex right there against the bar wall. In public!” Mac’s voice rose to a higher pitch, as her head whipped from side to side to make sure no one was watching them even though there was barely anyone left in the bar.
“We just got a little carried away.” Veronica explained, taking a step away from the wall, placing herself between Mac and Logan.
“A little carried away?” Mac repeated in a disbelieving voice. “You must be drunk to get carried away like that in public.”
“Is there a reason you interrupted?” Logan asked, annoyed at the interruption as he wrapped arms around his girlfriend’s waist from behind. His eyes narrowed a little, focusing on the small red spot where he’d nipped at her earlier. He bent his head down to nip at it again, sliding his tongue over it before sucking it into his mouth. He’d never given Veronica a hickey before but he had always wanted to.
Veronica’s head lolled to the opposite side, giving him more access as she let a loose a low hum of approval.
“Ohmygod, you guys are so wasted.” Mac rushed out, her voice slightly high pitched as she reached forward and tugged Veronica out of his arms. “Time to go. Now!”
Logan released Veronica except for her hand, allowing himself to be dragged along behind her and Mac. They stopped momentarily by the booth, Mac shoved jackets and a purse at them and then pulled them toward the exit.
“Shouldn’t we wait for the others?” Veronica asked dazedly, her hand tugging Logan closer to her.
“They already left. Dick took Wallace, Piz and Lilly to go pick up tacos. Drunk food.” Mac replied as she stopped next to the car. She released Veronica’s hand as she dug in her purse in search of the keys. “Do you guys want anything?” Mac looked up at them, her eyes focusing on Logan’s face before she blushed slightly and returned to her search for the keys, quickly adding “Tacos I mean?”
“No, I think we’re good.” Logan replied, spinning Veronica around to back her up against the car.
“Here they are.” Mac pulled the keys out of her purse, frantically pressing the unlock button. “Get in.”
Veronica reached behind her to pull open the back door on the driver’s side. She moved to the left in order to open it. “I think we’ll take the backseat.”
Veronica finally released Logan’s hand in order to slide backwards into the backseat. Logan grinned, casting a short glance at Mac’s slightly panicked look before he crawled in after her.
Chapter 26: Drunks