Live Large (Ensemble), R - Part 8
Title: Live Large
Author: drollicaeipathy
Pairing/Character: Ensemble (Cassidy POV) LoVe!!!!! Finally, I know!
Rating: R
Summary: Takes place after Cheatty, Cheatty, Bang, Bang (2x03), during a mostly AU Green-Eyed Monster. Veronica takes the Casablancas boys along on a case, which they have a personal interest in. While Cassidy is just trying to help Veronica and Logan at the same time. And if that help ends in LoVe smooches, so be it, right?
Spoilers/Warnings: through 2x04!
Disclaimer: I don’t own Veronica Mars, Rob Thomas does. Only a few more chapters left. Probably two more parts and an epilogue.
Part1
Part2
Part3
Part4
Interlude
Part5
Part6
Part7
VIII.
Ray’s Diner was on the far side of Neptune, closer to the 02ers then to the 09ers. Cassidy had been here before, with Logan and Dick after a drunken night in Tijuana. It was shortly after Veronica has broken up with Logan, he had been a mess, but Cassidy did not feel a need to bring up that night, this morning. Or would you still consider this night, even though it was nearing three-thirty AM?
Veronica had been waiting for them in the parking lot at her apartment. Dressed in jeans and a green zip-up hoodie, which was zipped as high as it would go. The moment Dick stopped the car she quickly padded her way over to the car, the sound of her flip-flops on the pavement bouncing off the walls around them.
Now here they were, ordering greasy diner food as some kind of quasi-breakfast, from a beaten down waitress named Barb. Veronica got a coffee, black, and a tall-stack of pancakes. That girl could eat, he thought, but where did she put it? He, himself ordered a chocolate milk and waffles and Dick begrudgedly requested home fries and a coke. He had complained obnoxiously since the moment they walked through the doors.
“It’s smoky in here. Isn’t it, like, illegal to smoke indoors now or something?”
“I don’t like diner food unless I’m wasted”.
“The people in here are such trash, Veronica. Can’t we go somewhere else?”
When Barb was taking their orders Dick has grumbled about not being hungry for pig slop and Veronica kicked him under the table, hard enough for him to yelp. She fixed him with a glare and he ordered.
As Barb retreated to the kitchen with their orders Veronica snapped at Dick, “Would you just stop whining? You sound like a five year old. You know, I was having a very good dream before you two woke me up on a Saturday morning at three but I’m here. I’m not whining like a baby”.
Dick leered, “So was I naked in the dream or had you not got to that part yet?”
Veronica rolled her eyes, “Seriously, how do you switch gears from whining to leering so quickly?” Turning her attention to Cassidy she asked, “Okay, so what was it we needed to talk about? What exactly is Logan up to now?”
“Um, well,” Cassidy started but stopped when he didn’t have an answer. He tried to come up with something, anything. He wanted to ease into the truth, about the bus, and Logan, and all those dead kids. He could have been one of them, Dick could have been one of them. So could Veronica. Hell, in the beginning they thought she had been.
Veronica, seated across from him was obviously becoming annoyed, “There’s nothing wrong is there?” she ventured, looking at Dick who shrugged. “Did he put you guys up to this?” She eyeballed them suspiciously but they were both shaking their heads no.
“He doesn’t know that we’re here. He’s home, passed out”.
“Passed out?” Cassidy winced at her tone.
“Oh, man was Logan wasted last night,” Dick grinned.
“And you just left him there,” she questioned, eyes wide with surprise.
“Well,” Cassidy started but was further interrupted by Veronica, who seemed to be a bit pink in the face by this point.
“You all got drunk and tried to sort out your issues that way, didn’t you?” she fumed.
“Mostly,” Dick replied with confidence, continuing to smile at Veronica, who sighed.
Man, could her moods swing almost as violently as Logan’s, Cassidy thought. Either these two were perfect for one another or they would rip each other to shreds. And they would still probably manage to ruin everyone else for each other. In other words they would be miserable together and miserable apart. Ah, young love, Cassidy thought wistfully.
A cheery smile returned to Veronica’s beautiful face when the large stack of pancakes she had ordered, with extra syrup and butter, were placed in front of her. After swallowing her first mouthful she asked pointedly, “So what is this all about then?”
“The Long Haul,” Cassidy replied, eyes cast downward. He heard her sputter, “So you already know,” he added, finally looking up at her.
Veronica, a little pale in the face picked up her coffee with a shaky hand. “Yea, I kind of figured it out after confronting Logan about the bimbo”. They always called Kendall simply, the bimbo.
“Do you think Logan’s involved?” Cassidy asked, wondering if he should stop assuming Logan was capable of committing murder. First Lilly and now a bus load of kids, of course he never believed that Logan killed Felix on the bridge that night. But maybe, he thought, Logan wasn’t the only one who hadn’t been a great friend lately.
“Okay,” Dick said around a mouthful of potatoes, “What are you talking about?” And so Veronica very patiently explained her suspicions and theories regarding the bus to him.
At Dick’s concerned look she finished by saying, “I don’t think that Logan was in anyway knowingly involved “.
“But, do you think Aaron was,” Cassidy asked.
Veronica put her fork down, brow knitting, before she answered, “I’m really not sure. That seems like the obvious answer, the easy conclusion but this is…” she trailed off.
Cassidy and Dick finished for her, “Neptune”. All three nodded in agreement and the table fell silent.
“I need to speak with Logan,” Veronica sighed.
“Veronica you do realize it isn’t even dawn yet, right?”
“And Logan is probably still loaded,” Dick commented, looking more relaxed in his surroundings.
Cassidy, feeling like quite the quick witted detective himself sat up suddenly with a plan. “He has a make-up calc exam today,” he paused, “uh, tomorrow? Saturday, whatever,” he said in exasperation, this was too confusing of a time to be awake. “He has to be at school at nine so I would guess he would be done by eleven at the latest. You could catch him when he is leaving school, it would be mostly deserted, it being the weekend and all”.
“Wow Cassidy,” Veronica said, “I must be rubbing off on you”. He blushed and she grinned.
As Dick was paying their tab at the counter Cassidy worked up the nerve to ask Veronica if Duncan has been with her that night. She told him no but asked why he had wanted to know, always the detective it seemed. He couldn’t help himself and spilled the story of Logan storming off to the Neptune Grand, trying to keep things vague so Veronica wouldn’t get too angry with them.
She mulled over the information for a moment before telling Cassidy, “Duncan is in Napa for the weekend visiting his parents. I don’t care if you tell Dick but please don’t let Logan know he is out of town”. She smiled and touched his hand and at that moment he knew he would find a way to keep any secret Veronica Mars ever entrusted him with.
Neither Dick not Cassidy had ever gone food shopping and Dick had told him that they weren’t going to start now. Their dad was going to come home sooner or later and he would hire more help, really reliable people. So they had been surviving on food that could be purchased at Seven-Eleven or the Circle ‘K’ all week. Their diet consisted of mostly sugar coated cereal, soda, and microwaveable foods like Hot Pockets and Pizza Bagel Bites. Or take out; they ordered in or Veronica delivered.
On this sunny Saturday morning, or early afternoon for that matter, Dick and Cassidy were playing Tony Hawk in the living room and eating bowlfuls of soggy Captain Crunch. When Veronica entered Cassidy had told her in a snooty voice, “We’re just taking brunch. Would you care to join us?”
She grimaced, “No. But, thank you”.
“So how’d it go?” Cassidy asked, eyes glued to the screen, trying to make his skater do a flip combination.
“Well, I managed to make him feel accused”.
Dick laughed, “Nice going. Did he know anything about the phone call?”
Cassidy was surprised, his brother had actually been paying attention when they were talking about ‘The Long Haul’ and everything and seemed genuinely interested. He figured a brush with death could do that to a guy, but his brother was no regular guy. But knowing Dick, which Cassidy did, he figured it could have something to do with how desperately his brother wanted to get into Veronica’s pants. Either way, he was helping.
Veronica dropped her bag on the floor by the door and flopped down on the couch between them as they continued to play. “Well he started off by asking me what new theories I had pulled from my ass”.
“Ouch,” Dick said.
“Yeah, and he had no idea who Curly Moran was. Also it turns out that the night of our mystery phone call was the night of Logan’s Life’s Short party. I didn’t go, for obvious reasons, did either of you?
“Nah,” Cassidy replied.
Dick however, tongue hanging half way out of his mouth, attempting a trick said, “I went. Left after Lamb busted it and ran off like a bitch with the kegs. Asshole”.
“Logan mentioned that and that Weevil and his buddies crashed it”.
“Yep,” Dick affirmed, finally putting his controller down and picking up his cereal bowl, “They were pretty cool though. Drank some beers and sat around. It was like, weird, you know? I kept thinking they were going to start something. They bailed right after Lamb”.
“So did he know the phone number?” Cassidy interjected, now looking at Veronica. She looked fresher than she had that morning when he had first seen her. She was wearing the same clothes but she had added a jacket.
“No, and needless to say by that point Logan was not feeling to helpful. You know how he gets when you back him into a corner. The claws come out”.
Cassidy nodded knowingly, “Uh-huh”. He looked Veronica up and down. Did she even know how much she and Logan were alike?
“And then he was gone and the conversation was over. Just like that,” she sighed, leaning further back into the couch. Dick placed his head on her shoulder.
“He went surfing at Dog Beach,” Dick told them matter-of-factly. On their puzzled stares he added, “He called, asked if Cass and I wanted to go along. I told him we were waiting on you,” he pointed at Veronica and smirked.
“Oh. Did he mention me,” she blushed and amended, “I mean our talk?”
“Not exactly. No”.
Veronica bristled, Cassidy could tell she was trying not to let her emotions show. However, Veronica’s show of covering up her emotions is always a dead giveaway to them.
“Well fine,” she started, “then I am going over there and I will find the phone that is attached to that number myself”. Getting up off the couch she went for her bag, Cassidy looking between her and Dick, suddenly at a loss for when this turned into a storming off and doing something possibly stupid situation. “Are you guys coming or what?” she added hastily, staring them down. Cassidy felt like he was being dared to refuse.
“Uh, yea,” he agreed, standing. Dick shrugged and also stood, running off to grab his jacket.
“Right,” said Veronica.
“Right,” Cassidy added nervously.
The three of them moved as stealthy as possible through the Echolls’ home, mostly because Cassidy and Dick had made a game out of it. There was no one home, no one here to catch them. Veronica had her cell out allowing it to ring as they drifted from room to room hoping to hear the ringing of a telephone. As of yet, they had turned up nothing.
“Thanks for coming with me guys, I appreciate the company,” Veronica told them. “This super-spy stuff can get a little tedious when you do it alone and with Wallace so busy with Jackie,” she stopped herself from continuing, Cassidy knew exactly how Veronica felt about Jackie. “Well, anyway, thanks”.
“No problem,” Dick said putting his arm around her, “I am always available to help a lady such as yourself”.
Veronica laughed, smiling she said, “Good to see you got your swagger back, Dick. I was getting concerned”.
They were nearing Logan’s room when Veronica stopped, standing stock still. “What is it?” Cassidy whispered, suddenly feeling an urge to keep is voice down. He kept forgetting they were in the house of a killer, not Logan, he told himself repeatedly, not Logan. Aaron Echolls was the killer in this family and he had once lived here, in the house they were currently sneaking around in, to find out if Aaron was out for more blood. He paused, trying to slow down his thought process and control his breathing. Fainting in a moment like this would be very un-cool and Veronica would never bring him along again. What kind of protector fainted at the first sign of danger?
“I heard a car door,” she told them.
Dick nodded, “Me too”. Since when was he so level headed and cool in a panic situation, Cassidy wondered. Dick freaked if there was a spider in his bedroom. He would need someone to kill it and then usually he would refuse to step foot into the room for at least a day, he wouldn’t even sleep there.
Veronica tip-toed into Logan’s bedroom and peered out the window but it faced the pool. She really should have known that. The front door slammed closed and someone, someone male began to whistle and make their way down the hall. Suddenly Cassidy’s arm was being held in a vice grip, Veronica on the giving end of it. She swung he and Dick through the open doors of the closet and pushed them to, whispering through the crack, “I’ll take care of him, find a way to lure him out of the room. Then you guys go. Wait for me down the street at the car and I will catch up with you as soon as I can get out of here with out looking too suspicious, okay?”
Dick agreed and Cassidy nodded, he knew he looked worried. He wasn’t seriously afraid of what Logan would do, he repeated, Logan is not a killer. On the other hand he didn’t want Veronica or Logan to have some kind of emotional breakdown in front of the other, let alone while he and Dick were crammed in the closet watching.
Only a moment after she swung around Logan breezed through the door, stopping abruptly when he saw Veronica perched on the edge of his bed, casually. Cassidy watched through the crack in the doors, Dick on his knees beside him, also trying to see out. They shared a guilty look before continuing.
“Fuck. I just can’t get rid of you can I?” Cassidy waited with baited breath for Logan to say something he couldn’t take back. To say something so stupid Veronica would give up in him forever. No matter how many times Logan told him he was sorry he treated Veronica so poorly, that he said such cruel things to her, he always did it again. Was this what it had been like for him at school last year? Calling her a slut in the halls, berating her about her missing mother and ex-sheriff father. Had he felt guilty each night, wishing he could tell her how sorry he was, how he wanted to make it better, how he knew what she was going through in so many ways. Cassidy had honestly never thought about it before, but it made sense.
Veronica’s mask was in place, the one that no emotion could break through, “Hey”.
“Hey? That’s all you’re going to say? No head tilt? Tell me, Veronica, does your boyfriend know just how often you’ve found yourself in my bedroom since we broke up?” he smirked, “Because I think he might be interested to know”. Logan’s voice was more nasal than usual, his nose red. Dick really had done some drunken damage to it.
“Oh, and are you going to be the one to inform him Logan? What are you going to do? Get drunk and swing by his hotel room for the second time in one weekend”.
Cassidy felt his eyes go wide and saw Veronica’s do the same. She had slipped up, in her need to hurt Logan she had let slip a detail that she could only have heard from Cassidy, or maybe Dick, but Cassidy was the only one to actually hear about his escapade first hand. She covered quickly, smirking at Logan’s dumbfounded expression.
“So how are the Casablancas brothers Veronica? They here too? Lurking in other rooms? Or maybe they’re stashed in the closet?” Dick sucked in a breath and held it, Cassidy’s palms began to sweat. He didn’t know how Veronica could do this kind of stuff all the time because he had been helping her for about twelve hours and he thought he was developing a stomach ulcer.
“No, I had to drop by their place this morning”.
“And Cassidy was a good little lap dog and filled you in on all the details? How sweet. Approximately how many lap dances did you have to give those two, to make them your slaves?” Dick’s shoulder bumped Cassidy’s leg and almost knocked him over.
“I don’t know Logan, I lost track,” she sighed. If Cassidy didn’t know better he would think Veronica Mars was running out of steam and/or ammunition against Logan Echolls.
Logan raised his eyebrows but pushed onward, “Where’s you car? Did dear old Donut drop you off? Because if so I’d like to send him a fruit basket as a thank you”.
“Leave Duncan out of this,” Veronica seethed.
“Oh, I’m sorry. Did I hit a nerve? Come on Veronica, there is only one unwritten rule in this little game of sparring. Duncan is fair game”.
She wasn’t rising to his bait anymore, Veronica was staring out of the window. Cassidy didn’t know if there was anything out there catching her interest or if her mind was in an entirely different place. Logan took a tentative step toward her. It was as if the room were a vacuum and all of the snark and attitude had just funneled out leaving two people, just two. Cassidy and his brother, hiding in the closet like voyeurs were a non-entity. A living, breathing, listening non-entity.
Logan was directly behind Veronica who now stood by the window looking out beyond. She had been almost entirely erased from Cassidy’s view; he wondered if this was some kind of metaphor or maybe a premonition. Being psychic would be cool and if nothing else it would defiantly be helpful.
“About the Duncan thing,” Veronica started.
Logan interrupted her saying, “No, Veronica, you really don’t have to. I get it”.
But she continued around him drowning his words with her own, “I’m not all that happy about it right now and Duncan’s in Napa this weekend.
Cassidy whispered to Dick as softly as he could, “I thought he wasn’t supposed to know that,” to which his brother shrugged and pressed a finger to his lips effectively shushing him.
Logan scoffed at Veronica’s admission, “So you’re not happy he’s in Napa with mommy dearest?”
“No, I’m happy he’s in Napa. I’m not happy with the whole Duncan,” she flicked her wrist dramatically, “thing”.
“Thing?” he asked.
Veronica looked incredibly guilty before replying, “Relationship?” She tried to smile but it faltered, slipping into a grimace and Logan touched her arm.
Cassidy wanted to look away, to plug his ears; he wanted to leave them alone, to let them share in this moment with out his prying eyes, with out Dick holding his breath beside him. It was too late though, he had already seen and heard too much and yet here they remained trapped. In a closet, at Logan’s, where Veronica had stashed them when Logan had returned unexpectedly.
He wanted to be further away from Logan’s smelly gym bag.
But when in Rome, right? So he continued to listen, to peer through the crack between the doors, and look into Logan’s room.
Veronica was telling Logan that Duncan didn’t see her, not the real her away. He saw what he wanted to see, which was the fifteen year old girl she once was. The softy, the pink, fluffy cupcake, the marshmallow. And she had tried, so desperately to be that person still because that was normal and she should want that. Shouldn’t she, she was asking him and he couldn’t reply, the words stuck in his throat. They sunk down on the bed, sitting side by side. His leg brushing hers, Cassidy could clearly make out their profiles now, identically marred with sadness and silence.
Veronica looked at Logan warily, “Why am I even telling you this?”
“Maybe because you know I am really listening?” he replied, Cassidy had never seen him so earnest. “Maybe because you know I love you. That I’ve always loved you. Did you think I would stop just because you walked away from me,” he took her hand, gripping it and turned her to face him. Cassidy was now staring into the face of Veronica Mars as another man professed his love to her and he couldn’t help but accept that no matter what his feelings for Veronica, maybe things were supposed to end up this way.
“Logan, you’re confused,” she nibbled her lower lip, her eyes glistened in the afternoon sunlight, wet with unshed tears. “Hell, I’m confused. Two broken people can’t make a whole,” she said touching his face.
“But you wont even try, Veronica,” Logan told her, desperation tingeing his words.
The hand that rested on Logan’s face moved upward into his hair, smoothing it and then ran back down to touch his cheek. He leaned into her caress. “Why do you love me? You’re driving me crazy,” she said sincerely, the ghost of a smile playing across her lips.
“Because, you’re better than me, you amaze me and I am awed everyday you continue to let me into your world”. Cassidy sighed, he didn’t know whether to be flattered or insulted that Logan had taken his words and made them his own. But Veronica seemed to have taken them to heart, to hear the sincerity in what he said because she was leaning in to him, capturing his lips with her own. They fell backwards onto the bed, Veronica’s legs falling to the side and Logan sliding between them. Cassidy looked away but noted that Dick’s breathing had turned to short pants. He felt queasy and began to look for that gym bag, Logan would never notice the puke in there, that thing already reeked.
Cassidy heard Veronica mumble, “This is a mistake,” but it was muffled by Logan’s mouth and it certainly didn’t put a stop to things. He could hear their lips smacking, hear the sheets rustling and it was all suddenly so wrong and he couldn’t stand it a second longer. The closet was too small and too dark, he felt cramped and wanted to be as far away from Dick as possible at this moment in time.
He would defiantly be berating himself later when Veronica kicked his ass, or Logan, or they did it together. Damn. But he did it anyway; he threw the closet doors open, stepped out into the room, and yelled, “Stop!” to a panicked Logan and a rumpled Veronica.
Veronica sat up, straightening her shirt when Dick stumbled out into the room and bumped into Cassidy. He was still panting, “No! Don’t listen to him,” he breathed, “you don’t need to stop on our account”.
Three sets of eyes landed on Dick each giving him a varied form of a scathing, disgusted look. “Ew,” said Veronica.
To be continued!
Author: drollicaeipathy
Pairing/Character: Ensemble (Cassidy POV) LoVe!!!!! Finally, I know!
Rating: R
Summary: Takes place after Cheatty, Cheatty, Bang, Bang (2x03), during a mostly AU Green-Eyed Monster. Veronica takes the Casablancas boys along on a case, which they have a personal interest in. While Cassidy is just trying to help Veronica and Logan at the same time. And if that help ends in LoVe smooches, so be it, right?
Spoilers/Warnings: through 2x04!
Disclaimer: I don’t own Veronica Mars, Rob Thomas does. Only a few more chapters left. Probably two more parts and an epilogue.
Part1
Part2
Part3
Part4
Interlude
Part5
Part6
Part7
VIII.
Ray’s Diner was on the far side of Neptune, closer to the 02ers then to the 09ers. Cassidy had been here before, with Logan and Dick after a drunken night in Tijuana. It was shortly after Veronica has broken up with Logan, he had been a mess, but Cassidy did not feel a need to bring up that night, this morning. Or would you still consider this night, even though it was nearing three-thirty AM?
Veronica had been waiting for them in the parking lot at her apartment. Dressed in jeans and a green zip-up hoodie, which was zipped as high as it would go. The moment Dick stopped the car she quickly padded her way over to the car, the sound of her flip-flops on the pavement bouncing off the walls around them.
Now here they were, ordering greasy diner food as some kind of quasi-breakfast, from a beaten down waitress named Barb. Veronica got a coffee, black, and a tall-stack of pancakes. That girl could eat, he thought, but where did she put it? He, himself ordered a chocolate milk and waffles and Dick begrudgedly requested home fries and a coke. He had complained obnoxiously since the moment they walked through the doors.
“It’s smoky in here. Isn’t it, like, illegal to smoke indoors now or something?”
“I don’t like diner food unless I’m wasted”.
“The people in here are such trash, Veronica. Can’t we go somewhere else?”
When Barb was taking their orders Dick has grumbled about not being hungry for pig slop and Veronica kicked him under the table, hard enough for him to yelp. She fixed him with a glare and he ordered.
As Barb retreated to the kitchen with their orders Veronica snapped at Dick, “Would you just stop whining? You sound like a five year old. You know, I was having a very good dream before you two woke me up on a Saturday morning at three but I’m here. I’m not whining like a baby”.
Dick leered, “So was I naked in the dream or had you not got to that part yet?”
Veronica rolled her eyes, “Seriously, how do you switch gears from whining to leering so quickly?” Turning her attention to Cassidy she asked, “Okay, so what was it we needed to talk about? What exactly is Logan up to now?”
“Um, well,” Cassidy started but stopped when he didn’t have an answer. He tried to come up with something, anything. He wanted to ease into the truth, about the bus, and Logan, and all those dead kids. He could have been one of them, Dick could have been one of them. So could Veronica. Hell, in the beginning they thought she had been.
Veronica, seated across from him was obviously becoming annoyed, “There’s nothing wrong is there?” she ventured, looking at Dick who shrugged. “Did he put you guys up to this?” She eyeballed them suspiciously but they were both shaking their heads no.
“He doesn’t know that we’re here. He’s home, passed out”.
“Passed out?” Cassidy winced at her tone.
“Oh, man was Logan wasted last night,” Dick grinned.
“And you just left him there,” she questioned, eyes wide with surprise.
“Well,” Cassidy started but was further interrupted by Veronica, who seemed to be a bit pink in the face by this point.
“You all got drunk and tried to sort out your issues that way, didn’t you?” she fumed.
“Mostly,” Dick replied with confidence, continuing to smile at Veronica, who sighed.
Man, could her moods swing almost as violently as Logan’s, Cassidy thought. Either these two were perfect for one another or they would rip each other to shreds. And they would still probably manage to ruin everyone else for each other. In other words they would be miserable together and miserable apart. Ah, young love, Cassidy thought wistfully.
A cheery smile returned to Veronica’s beautiful face when the large stack of pancakes she had ordered, with extra syrup and butter, were placed in front of her. After swallowing her first mouthful she asked pointedly, “So what is this all about then?”
“The Long Haul,” Cassidy replied, eyes cast downward. He heard her sputter, “So you already know,” he added, finally looking up at her.
Veronica, a little pale in the face picked up her coffee with a shaky hand. “Yea, I kind of figured it out after confronting Logan about the bimbo”. They always called Kendall simply, the bimbo.
“Do you think Logan’s involved?” Cassidy asked, wondering if he should stop assuming Logan was capable of committing murder. First Lilly and now a bus load of kids, of course he never believed that Logan killed Felix on the bridge that night. But maybe, he thought, Logan wasn’t the only one who hadn’t been a great friend lately.
“Okay,” Dick said around a mouthful of potatoes, “What are you talking about?” And so Veronica very patiently explained her suspicions and theories regarding the bus to him.
At Dick’s concerned look she finished by saying, “I don’t think that Logan was in anyway knowingly involved “.
“But, do you think Aaron was,” Cassidy asked.
Veronica put her fork down, brow knitting, before she answered, “I’m really not sure. That seems like the obvious answer, the easy conclusion but this is…” she trailed off.
Cassidy and Dick finished for her, “Neptune”. All three nodded in agreement and the table fell silent.
“I need to speak with Logan,” Veronica sighed.
“Veronica you do realize it isn’t even dawn yet, right?”
“And Logan is probably still loaded,” Dick commented, looking more relaxed in his surroundings.
Cassidy, feeling like quite the quick witted detective himself sat up suddenly with a plan. “He has a make-up calc exam today,” he paused, “uh, tomorrow? Saturday, whatever,” he said in exasperation, this was too confusing of a time to be awake. “He has to be at school at nine so I would guess he would be done by eleven at the latest. You could catch him when he is leaving school, it would be mostly deserted, it being the weekend and all”.
“Wow Cassidy,” Veronica said, “I must be rubbing off on you”. He blushed and she grinned.
As Dick was paying their tab at the counter Cassidy worked up the nerve to ask Veronica if Duncan has been with her that night. She told him no but asked why he had wanted to know, always the detective it seemed. He couldn’t help himself and spilled the story of Logan storming off to the Neptune Grand, trying to keep things vague so Veronica wouldn’t get too angry with them.
She mulled over the information for a moment before telling Cassidy, “Duncan is in Napa for the weekend visiting his parents. I don’t care if you tell Dick but please don’t let Logan know he is out of town”. She smiled and touched his hand and at that moment he knew he would find a way to keep any secret Veronica Mars ever entrusted him with.
Neither Dick not Cassidy had ever gone food shopping and Dick had told him that they weren’t going to start now. Their dad was going to come home sooner or later and he would hire more help, really reliable people. So they had been surviving on food that could be purchased at Seven-Eleven or the Circle ‘K’ all week. Their diet consisted of mostly sugar coated cereal, soda, and microwaveable foods like Hot Pockets and Pizza Bagel Bites. Or take out; they ordered in or Veronica delivered.
On this sunny Saturday morning, or early afternoon for that matter, Dick and Cassidy were playing Tony Hawk in the living room and eating bowlfuls of soggy Captain Crunch. When Veronica entered Cassidy had told her in a snooty voice, “We’re just taking brunch. Would you care to join us?”
She grimaced, “No. But, thank you”.
“So how’d it go?” Cassidy asked, eyes glued to the screen, trying to make his skater do a flip combination.
“Well, I managed to make him feel accused”.
Dick laughed, “Nice going. Did he know anything about the phone call?”
Cassidy was surprised, his brother had actually been paying attention when they were talking about ‘The Long Haul’ and everything and seemed genuinely interested. He figured a brush with death could do that to a guy, but his brother was no regular guy. But knowing Dick, which Cassidy did, he figured it could have something to do with how desperately his brother wanted to get into Veronica’s pants. Either way, he was helping.
Veronica dropped her bag on the floor by the door and flopped down on the couch between them as they continued to play. “Well he started off by asking me what new theories I had pulled from my ass”.
“Ouch,” Dick said.
“Yeah, and he had no idea who Curly Moran was. Also it turns out that the night of our mystery phone call was the night of Logan’s Life’s Short party. I didn’t go, for obvious reasons, did either of you?
“Nah,” Cassidy replied.
Dick however, tongue hanging half way out of his mouth, attempting a trick said, “I went. Left after Lamb busted it and ran off like a bitch with the kegs. Asshole”.
“Logan mentioned that and that Weevil and his buddies crashed it”.
“Yep,” Dick affirmed, finally putting his controller down and picking up his cereal bowl, “They were pretty cool though. Drank some beers and sat around. It was like, weird, you know? I kept thinking they were going to start something. They bailed right after Lamb”.
“So did he know the phone number?” Cassidy interjected, now looking at Veronica. She looked fresher than she had that morning when he had first seen her. She was wearing the same clothes but she had added a jacket.
“No, and needless to say by that point Logan was not feeling to helpful. You know how he gets when you back him into a corner. The claws come out”.
Cassidy nodded knowingly, “Uh-huh”. He looked Veronica up and down. Did she even know how much she and Logan were alike?
“And then he was gone and the conversation was over. Just like that,” she sighed, leaning further back into the couch. Dick placed his head on her shoulder.
“He went surfing at Dog Beach,” Dick told them matter-of-factly. On their puzzled stares he added, “He called, asked if Cass and I wanted to go along. I told him we were waiting on you,” he pointed at Veronica and smirked.
“Oh. Did he mention me,” she blushed and amended, “I mean our talk?”
“Not exactly. No”.
Veronica bristled, Cassidy could tell she was trying not to let her emotions show. However, Veronica’s show of covering up her emotions is always a dead giveaway to them.
“Well fine,” she started, “then I am going over there and I will find the phone that is attached to that number myself”. Getting up off the couch she went for her bag, Cassidy looking between her and Dick, suddenly at a loss for when this turned into a storming off and doing something possibly stupid situation. “Are you guys coming or what?” she added hastily, staring them down. Cassidy felt like he was being dared to refuse.
“Uh, yea,” he agreed, standing. Dick shrugged and also stood, running off to grab his jacket.
“Right,” said Veronica.
“Right,” Cassidy added nervously.
The three of them moved as stealthy as possible through the Echolls’ home, mostly because Cassidy and Dick had made a game out of it. There was no one home, no one here to catch them. Veronica had her cell out allowing it to ring as they drifted from room to room hoping to hear the ringing of a telephone. As of yet, they had turned up nothing.
“Thanks for coming with me guys, I appreciate the company,” Veronica told them. “This super-spy stuff can get a little tedious when you do it alone and with Wallace so busy with Jackie,” she stopped herself from continuing, Cassidy knew exactly how Veronica felt about Jackie. “Well, anyway, thanks”.
“No problem,” Dick said putting his arm around her, “I am always available to help a lady such as yourself”.
Veronica laughed, smiling she said, “Good to see you got your swagger back, Dick. I was getting concerned”.
They were nearing Logan’s room when Veronica stopped, standing stock still. “What is it?” Cassidy whispered, suddenly feeling an urge to keep is voice down. He kept forgetting they were in the house of a killer, not Logan, he told himself repeatedly, not Logan. Aaron Echolls was the killer in this family and he had once lived here, in the house they were currently sneaking around in, to find out if Aaron was out for more blood. He paused, trying to slow down his thought process and control his breathing. Fainting in a moment like this would be very un-cool and Veronica would never bring him along again. What kind of protector fainted at the first sign of danger?
“I heard a car door,” she told them.
Dick nodded, “Me too”. Since when was he so level headed and cool in a panic situation, Cassidy wondered. Dick freaked if there was a spider in his bedroom. He would need someone to kill it and then usually he would refuse to step foot into the room for at least a day, he wouldn’t even sleep there.
Veronica tip-toed into Logan’s bedroom and peered out the window but it faced the pool. She really should have known that. The front door slammed closed and someone, someone male began to whistle and make their way down the hall. Suddenly Cassidy’s arm was being held in a vice grip, Veronica on the giving end of it. She swung he and Dick through the open doors of the closet and pushed them to, whispering through the crack, “I’ll take care of him, find a way to lure him out of the room. Then you guys go. Wait for me down the street at the car and I will catch up with you as soon as I can get out of here with out looking too suspicious, okay?”
Dick agreed and Cassidy nodded, he knew he looked worried. He wasn’t seriously afraid of what Logan would do, he repeated, Logan is not a killer. On the other hand he didn’t want Veronica or Logan to have some kind of emotional breakdown in front of the other, let alone while he and Dick were crammed in the closet watching.
Only a moment after she swung around Logan breezed through the door, stopping abruptly when he saw Veronica perched on the edge of his bed, casually. Cassidy watched through the crack in the doors, Dick on his knees beside him, also trying to see out. They shared a guilty look before continuing.
“Fuck. I just can’t get rid of you can I?” Cassidy waited with baited breath for Logan to say something he couldn’t take back. To say something so stupid Veronica would give up in him forever. No matter how many times Logan told him he was sorry he treated Veronica so poorly, that he said such cruel things to her, he always did it again. Was this what it had been like for him at school last year? Calling her a slut in the halls, berating her about her missing mother and ex-sheriff father. Had he felt guilty each night, wishing he could tell her how sorry he was, how he wanted to make it better, how he knew what she was going through in so many ways. Cassidy had honestly never thought about it before, but it made sense.
Veronica’s mask was in place, the one that no emotion could break through, “Hey”.
“Hey? That’s all you’re going to say? No head tilt? Tell me, Veronica, does your boyfriend know just how often you’ve found yourself in my bedroom since we broke up?” he smirked, “Because I think he might be interested to know”. Logan’s voice was more nasal than usual, his nose red. Dick really had done some drunken damage to it.
“Oh, and are you going to be the one to inform him Logan? What are you going to do? Get drunk and swing by his hotel room for the second time in one weekend”.
Cassidy felt his eyes go wide and saw Veronica’s do the same. She had slipped up, in her need to hurt Logan she had let slip a detail that she could only have heard from Cassidy, or maybe Dick, but Cassidy was the only one to actually hear about his escapade first hand. She covered quickly, smirking at Logan’s dumbfounded expression.
“So how are the Casablancas brothers Veronica? They here too? Lurking in other rooms? Or maybe they’re stashed in the closet?” Dick sucked in a breath and held it, Cassidy’s palms began to sweat. He didn’t know how Veronica could do this kind of stuff all the time because he had been helping her for about twelve hours and he thought he was developing a stomach ulcer.
“No, I had to drop by their place this morning”.
“And Cassidy was a good little lap dog and filled you in on all the details? How sweet. Approximately how many lap dances did you have to give those two, to make them your slaves?” Dick’s shoulder bumped Cassidy’s leg and almost knocked him over.
“I don’t know Logan, I lost track,” she sighed. If Cassidy didn’t know better he would think Veronica Mars was running out of steam and/or ammunition against Logan Echolls.
Logan raised his eyebrows but pushed onward, “Where’s you car? Did dear old Donut drop you off? Because if so I’d like to send him a fruit basket as a thank you”.
“Leave Duncan out of this,” Veronica seethed.
“Oh, I’m sorry. Did I hit a nerve? Come on Veronica, there is only one unwritten rule in this little game of sparring. Duncan is fair game”.
She wasn’t rising to his bait anymore, Veronica was staring out of the window. Cassidy didn’t know if there was anything out there catching her interest or if her mind was in an entirely different place. Logan took a tentative step toward her. It was as if the room were a vacuum and all of the snark and attitude had just funneled out leaving two people, just two. Cassidy and his brother, hiding in the closet like voyeurs were a non-entity. A living, breathing, listening non-entity.
Logan was directly behind Veronica who now stood by the window looking out beyond. She had been almost entirely erased from Cassidy’s view; he wondered if this was some kind of metaphor or maybe a premonition. Being psychic would be cool and if nothing else it would defiantly be helpful.
“About the Duncan thing,” Veronica started.
Logan interrupted her saying, “No, Veronica, you really don’t have to. I get it”.
But she continued around him drowning his words with her own, “I’m not all that happy about it right now and Duncan’s in Napa this weekend.
Cassidy whispered to Dick as softly as he could, “I thought he wasn’t supposed to know that,” to which his brother shrugged and pressed a finger to his lips effectively shushing him.
Logan scoffed at Veronica’s admission, “So you’re not happy he’s in Napa with mommy dearest?”
“No, I’m happy he’s in Napa. I’m not happy with the whole Duncan,” she flicked her wrist dramatically, “thing”.
“Thing?” he asked.
Veronica looked incredibly guilty before replying, “Relationship?” She tried to smile but it faltered, slipping into a grimace and Logan touched her arm.
Cassidy wanted to look away, to plug his ears; he wanted to leave them alone, to let them share in this moment with out his prying eyes, with out Dick holding his breath beside him. It was too late though, he had already seen and heard too much and yet here they remained trapped. In a closet, at Logan’s, where Veronica had stashed them when Logan had returned unexpectedly.
He wanted to be further away from Logan’s smelly gym bag.
But when in Rome, right? So he continued to listen, to peer through the crack between the doors, and look into Logan’s room.
Veronica was telling Logan that Duncan didn’t see her, not the real her away. He saw what he wanted to see, which was the fifteen year old girl she once was. The softy, the pink, fluffy cupcake, the marshmallow. And she had tried, so desperately to be that person still because that was normal and she should want that. Shouldn’t she, she was asking him and he couldn’t reply, the words stuck in his throat. They sunk down on the bed, sitting side by side. His leg brushing hers, Cassidy could clearly make out their profiles now, identically marred with sadness and silence.
Veronica looked at Logan warily, “Why am I even telling you this?”
“Maybe because you know I am really listening?” he replied, Cassidy had never seen him so earnest. “Maybe because you know I love you. That I’ve always loved you. Did you think I would stop just because you walked away from me,” he took her hand, gripping it and turned her to face him. Cassidy was now staring into the face of Veronica Mars as another man professed his love to her and he couldn’t help but accept that no matter what his feelings for Veronica, maybe things were supposed to end up this way.
“Logan, you’re confused,” she nibbled her lower lip, her eyes glistened in the afternoon sunlight, wet with unshed tears. “Hell, I’m confused. Two broken people can’t make a whole,” she said touching his face.
“But you wont even try, Veronica,” Logan told her, desperation tingeing his words.
The hand that rested on Logan’s face moved upward into his hair, smoothing it and then ran back down to touch his cheek. He leaned into her caress. “Why do you love me? You’re driving me crazy,” she said sincerely, the ghost of a smile playing across her lips.
“Because, you’re better than me, you amaze me and I am awed everyday you continue to let me into your world”. Cassidy sighed, he didn’t know whether to be flattered or insulted that Logan had taken his words and made them his own. But Veronica seemed to have taken them to heart, to hear the sincerity in what he said because she was leaning in to him, capturing his lips with her own. They fell backwards onto the bed, Veronica’s legs falling to the side and Logan sliding between them. Cassidy looked away but noted that Dick’s breathing had turned to short pants. He felt queasy and began to look for that gym bag, Logan would never notice the puke in there, that thing already reeked.
Cassidy heard Veronica mumble, “This is a mistake,” but it was muffled by Logan’s mouth and it certainly didn’t put a stop to things. He could hear their lips smacking, hear the sheets rustling and it was all suddenly so wrong and he couldn’t stand it a second longer. The closet was too small and too dark, he felt cramped and wanted to be as far away from Dick as possible at this moment in time.
He would defiantly be berating himself later when Veronica kicked his ass, or Logan, or they did it together. Damn. But he did it anyway; he threw the closet doors open, stepped out into the room, and yelled, “Stop!” to a panicked Logan and a rumpled Veronica.
Veronica sat up, straightening her shirt when Dick stumbled out into the room and bumped into Cassidy. He was still panting, “No! Don’t listen to him,” he breathed, “you don’t need to stop on our account”.
Three sets of eyes landed on Dick each giving him a varied form of a scathing, disgusted look. “Ew,” said Veronica.
To be continued!