Fic: Clingy
Title: Clingy
Fandom: Veronica Mars
Characters: Cindy “Mac” Mackenzie, Dick Casablancas, Veronica Mars and a new character from the show
Prompt: 096. Writer's Choice - Switch
Word Count: 901
Rating: PG-13
Summary: She was getting scared at how easily she could hate him. It was almost like an internal light switch in her stomach - on and off, on and off. (Post-3x01 Welcome Wagon, with character spoilers and one scene basically lifted out of the script)
Author's Notes: So, this started off as an attempt at a vm500 challenge and then just... became this. Much love goes to 15north for re-alerting me about the lack of post-premiere fics out there.
“How would you describe Dick, Cindy?” Parker asked offhandedly. Mac frowned. Parker had heard the RA call Mac by her first name and hadn't dropped it since.
“Well, if you cross Brad Pitt and Gomer Pyle, then you're pretty close right there.” Parker giggled.
“I know, right? He's totally cute. He's kind of...”
“Skeezy?”
“I was going to say needy, a little clingy,” Parker put her pen in her mouth. “And he's got kind of that... lost puppy look in his eyes.”
Mac frowned. Dick? Lost puppy? Whatever.
She went back to reading her computer sciences assignment.
~*~
“My little brother never cared about you, you know,” Dick leaned closer. “You were just his beard.” A self-satisfied smile crossed his face.
She wanted to slap him. Punch him. Kick him. Do anything just as long as it made him hurt.
It wouldn't make him hurt like she did, but it would help.
“Hey, what are you doing here? You're not supposed to be here.”
They both turned towards the RA at the end of the hall. At orientation, Mac thought she was snobby; now she was a savior.
He put on his regular act. Mac stared after him as he left, recognizing that look that he'd given her when he saw her.
Maybe he hurt a little after all.
~*~
“What are you doing here?”
Mac shifted her feet a little.
“Veronica said we needed to make a stop,” she mumbled. “Didn't realize it was a booty call.”
“Relax, I just needed to grab my backpack,” Veronica said, walking back into the living room. She looked from Mac, to Dick, and then back at Mac. “Am I interrupting anything?”
“Nope. So, tell me Ghost World, on a scale of one to ten, how pathetic do you think you are?”
It was a lame jab. Apparently he even saw that, there wasn't any of that satisfied spark in his eye, like when he usually did something stupid.
“I don't know, where are you?” Mac asked. “Good night.” She followed Veronica out of the penthouse.
Veronica didn't say a word on the way back down to the car, instead waiting until they were back in Mac's beetle before breaking the silence.
“He shouldn't have said that,” she told Mac. “He had... no right.” Veronica had avoided the subject of Cassidy up until this point. She never even mentioned his name the entire summer. Mac figured old habits must take a long time to die in the Mars family.
“I know,” Mac replied, starting the ignition. “I also know why he did.”
~*~
He was starting to come over just to make her mad, she was sure of it. Of course Parker, sweet, naïve, promiscuous Parker, hadn't noticed and always invited him right on in. She thought she'd made a new friend. One that didn't like her just for her body.
Nope. He had some dastardly plan up his sleeve. Mac was sure of it.
Plus, he liked her body plenty.
“Is that all you do all day?” he asked one day after Parker left them alone to go get some stuff from the soda machine. “Lay in bed and mess with your computer? Hell, I'd kill myself too.”
Funny, she'd just been starting to like him, too.
~*~
She was getting scared at how easily she could hate him. It was almost like an internal light switch in her stomach - on and off, on and off.
She told her therapist this, but Dr. Phillis could only nod and note.
~*~
“I think he's here to see you,” Parker said one night as Mac was drifting off to sleep. That woke her up.
“What?” Mac asked sleepily. She rubbed her eyes and sat up to look at Parker. “Who are you talking about?”
“You know who,” Parker smiled a little. “That boy. Dick Casablancas. You said you knew him from high school. And he can't be coming over every weekend just to ask me for homework help, right? I mean, I'm smart,” snerk, “but I'm not exactly the Einstein of Spanish 101. Maybe he's here to see you.”
Mac frowned. “That's impossible.”
“Anything's possible. You learn that when you're from Denver and you get a scholarship to an elite California liberal arts school. Anything's possible.”
Mac would have believed her, if what she were proposing weren't completely impossible.
~*~
“He cared about you, too.” It was a cold afternoon and Parker had again gone out to get a soda, leaving them in the room alone.
She'd been gone for thirty minutes. Mac was starting to suspect it was a set up.
The words fell out of her mouth before she even realized what she was thinking. Dick looked at her. He scoffed.
“You think he was incapable of... it,” she couldn't say love. She just couldn't. “But he wasn't. He cared about you. I saw it all the time in the way he... laughed when you did something funny,” or stupid, “and the way he talked about you. Even though you were the biggest jackass in the world.” Dick blinked at her and pursed his lips.
“Yeah. Whatever. Where's Parker?” Mac sighed.
“She's probably found some other guy. Maybe you should give up.” Dick shrugged.
“I'm not here for her.”
Mac frowned and narrowed her eyes at him, but his attention was already on his Spanish textbook.
At that moment, somewhere inside of her the love-hate light switch got a little jammed.
Fandom: Veronica Mars
Characters: Cindy “Mac” Mackenzie, Dick Casablancas, Veronica Mars and a new character from the show
Prompt: 096. Writer's Choice - Switch
Word Count: 901
Rating: PG-13
Summary: She was getting scared at how easily she could hate him. It was almost like an internal light switch in her stomach - on and off, on and off. (Post-3x01 Welcome Wagon, with character spoilers and one scene basically lifted out of the script)
Author's Notes: So, this started off as an attempt at a vm500 challenge and then just... became this. Much love goes to 15north for re-alerting me about the lack of post-premiere fics out there.
“How would you describe Dick, Cindy?” Parker asked offhandedly. Mac frowned. Parker had heard the RA call Mac by her first name and hadn't dropped it since.
“Well, if you cross Brad Pitt and Gomer Pyle, then you're pretty close right there.” Parker giggled.
“I know, right? He's totally cute. He's kind of...”
“Skeezy?”
“I was going to say needy, a little clingy,” Parker put her pen in her mouth. “And he's got kind of that... lost puppy look in his eyes.”
Mac frowned. Dick? Lost puppy? Whatever.
She went back to reading her computer sciences assignment.
~*~
“My little brother never cared about you, you know,” Dick leaned closer. “You were just his beard.” A self-satisfied smile crossed his face.
She wanted to slap him. Punch him. Kick him. Do anything just as long as it made him hurt.
It wouldn't make him hurt like she did, but it would help.
“Hey, what are you doing here? You're not supposed to be here.”
They both turned towards the RA at the end of the hall. At orientation, Mac thought she was snobby; now she was a savior.
He put on his regular act. Mac stared after him as he left, recognizing that look that he'd given her when he saw her.
Maybe he hurt a little after all.
~*~
“What are you doing here?”
Mac shifted her feet a little.
“Veronica said we needed to make a stop,” she mumbled. “Didn't realize it was a booty call.”
“Relax, I just needed to grab my backpack,” Veronica said, walking back into the living room. She looked from Mac, to Dick, and then back at Mac. “Am I interrupting anything?”
“Nope. So, tell me Ghost World, on a scale of one to ten, how pathetic do you think you are?”
It was a lame jab. Apparently he even saw that, there wasn't any of that satisfied spark in his eye, like when he usually did something stupid.
“I don't know, where are you?” Mac asked. “Good night.” She followed Veronica out of the penthouse.
Veronica didn't say a word on the way back down to the car, instead waiting until they were back in Mac's beetle before breaking the silence.
“He shouldn't have said that,” she told Mac. “He had... no right.” Veronica had avoided the subject of Cassidy up until this point. She never even mentioned his name the entire summer. Mac figured old habits must take a long time to die in the Mars family.
“I know,” Mac replied, starting the ignition. “I also know why he did.”
~*~
He was starting to come over just to make her mad, she was sure of it. Of course Parker, sweet, naïve, promiscuous Parker, hadn't noticed and always invited him right on in. She thought she'd made a new friend. One that didn't like her just for her body.
Nope. He had some dastardly plan up his sleeve. Mac was sure of it.
Plus, he liked her body plenty.
“Is that all you do all day?” he asked one day after Parker left them alone to go get some stuff from the soda machine. “Lay in bed and mess with your computer? Hell, I'd kill myself too.”
Funny, she'd just been starting to like him, too.
~*~
She was getting scared at how easily she could hate him. It was almost like an internal light switch in her stomach - on and off, on and off.
She told her therapist this, but Dr. Phillis could only nod and note.
~*~
“I think he's here to see you,” Parker said one night as Mac was drifting off to sleep. That woke her up.
“What?” Mac asked sleepily. She rubbed her eyes and sat up to look at Parker. “Who are you talking about?”
“You know who,” Parker smiled a little. “That boy. Dick Casablancas. You said you knew him from high school. And he can't be coming over every weekend just to ask me for homework help, right? I mean, I'm smart,” snerk, “but I'm not exactly the Einstein of Spanish 101. Maybe he's here to see you.”
Mac frowned. “That's impossible.”
“Anything's possible. You learn that when you're from Denver and you get a scholarship to an elite California liberal arts school. Anything's possible.”
Mac would have believed her, if what she were proposing weren't completely impossible.
~*~
“He cared about you, too.” It was a cold afternoon and Parker had again gone out to get a soda, leaving them in the room alone.
She'd been gone for thirty minutes. Mac was starting to suspect it was a set up.
The words fell out of her mouth before she even realized what she was thinking. Dick looked at her. He scoffed.
“You think he was incapable of... it,” she couldn't say love. She just couldn't. “But he wasn't. He cared about you. I saw it all the time in the way he... laughed when you did something funny,” or stupid, “and the way he talked about you. Even though you were the biggest jackass in the world.” Dick blinked at her and pursed his lips.
“Yeah. Whatever. Where's Parker?” Mac sighed.
“She's probably found some other guy. Maybe you should give up.” Dick shrugged.
“I'm not here for her.”
Mac frowned and narrowed her eyes at him, but his attention was already on his Spanish textbook.
At that moment, somewhere inside of her the love-hate light switch got a little jammed.