Chapter One
"Hi, honey! I'm home!" Veronica called out playfully as she entered the New York flat that she shared with her nearly platonic boyfriend, Piz. She dropped her briefcase by the side of the couch and bent to give him a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek as he paused his video game and tossed the controller on the coffee table.
She started to rise and move to sit across from him but he pulled her into his lap and asked, "How'd it go? Did you knock it out of the park?"
Her triumphant and very self-satisfied grin said it all but her accompanying words confirmed what he already knew, "I did," she said with smug certainty, then added, "They said I should be hearing from them within the week regarding the next steps in the hiring process."
"That's awesome!" Piz exclaimed enthusiastically, giving her a congratulatory kiss that was as passionate as it ever got between them.
Of course, with the excitement of 'the win' in the interview, Veronica was feeling a bit frisky and she grabbed the lapels of his button-down shirt to pull him in and deepen the kiss, challenging him with her actions to take advantage of her current mood.
Not completely oblivious to her overt gesture, Piz tried to move things in the direction he knew she wanted. Untucking her shirt, he moved his hand under it and rested it gently on her stomach before moving it upward to cup her right breast. She covered his hand with hers and urged him to knead and massage her, letting him know it was ok for him to take control and make her forget that anything but the two of them existed.
For whatever reason, that wasn't something he ever seemed capable of doing, no matter how hard he tried, and his attempts to meet her expectations ended up being clumsy and poorly executed. She became frustrated with him, as she usually did, and pulled away. She patted his cheek and gave him a thin smile but her eyes were filled with disappointment as she stood and moved toward the kitchen.
He frowned, discouraged at being stonewalled yet again and wondered, not for the first time, how they could be so compatible as friends when they were so painfully incompatible as lovers. Was there something wrong with him? Was it her? Was it 'them'?
It wasn't even like this was the first time they'd had this issue, he thought. The same problem had existed when they had dated at Hearst as well. Any other guy he knew would have been actually having sex in the 'sex tape' that went around of the two of them but that wasn't the case for him and Veronica. Nope. They'd been naked, sure, but even fully unclothed, he hadn't made it past second base with her back then.
Even now, in the time since they'd been back together, it was still a rare occurrence that they managed to connect in a way that left them both even remotely satisfied sexually. His brow furrowed and he frowned as he asked himself silently, 'Is she just a frigid bitch or is our chemistry really that far off?'
As Veronica paced, still talking about the interview, she moved around the apartment getting them a snack or starting dinner, he wasn't sure which. Piz watched her but tuned her words out. His thoughts wandered further through his memories of their time at Hearst and he wondered, not for the first time, why they were back together when he knew without a doubt where she belonged.
They'd broken up right after the cafeteria scene at Hearst where Veronica's ex, Logan, had beaten the crap out of some guy whom Piz had later learned was the one responsible for the video of himself and Veronica 'getting familiar'. Piz had walked in to see the bastard on the floor, threatening Logan while Logan responded without the tiniest shred of concern for himself - his eyes holding Veronica's as if there were a tractor beam between them while Veronica returned the gaze with a look of wonder and awe. It was in that moment that Piz had known that Veronica wasn't his and never had been. He would never be the guy who knocked someone out to defend her honor.
He'd seen the guilt in her eyes when she'd finally looked toward him as Logan apologized and walked away without turning back. As soon as he could get her alone, he'd heard her quick attempt to explain herself but he knew what he'd seen and whether she was willing to admit it or not, he knew she'd never be his. He did what he could to let her down easy but he also couldn't be less than honest with her, either. He'd told her point blank that she was still in love with Logan and there was nothing he could do to compete with that. She'd argued but in the end, her words were hollow even to her. They'd separated and she'd moved on to secure a full ride scholarship at Stanford while he continued on with his communication and broadcasting goals at Hearst.
"Are you even paying attention to me anymore?" Veronica accused with annoyance in her tone as she paused with knife mid-air, preparing to chop a carrot to put in the pot with whatever else she'd already thrown in. Thankfully, she'd become much better at cooking since she'd left Neptune and her PI life behind.
Ignoring her question, Piz stood and came to stand on the other side of the counter from her, trying to catch a glimpse of what was in the pot, asking casually, "What are you making over here?"
Veronica rolled her eyes and said dryly, "I'll take that as a 'no'," then answered with a slightly accusatory tone, "I'm making stew, which you'd know if you'd been paying attention at all."
"Sorry," he said with a soft and culpable smile, coming around to give an appreciative glance into the pot, squeezing her shoulders and kissing her cheek at the same time, "I'm listening now. What did I miss?"
Frustrated, Veronica grumbled something under her breath and said with barely veiled annoyance, "Never mind. I was just giving you a play by play of my interview with the partners, that's all."
"Ah," Piz replied, feeling dumb. He drummed on the counter with his fingers for a moment before asking, "Is there anything I can do to help?"
She softened a bit and took pity on him, touching his arm and giving him a light kiss on the cheek as she said, "Run down to the corner store and get me a 20 oz. beer? That's my secret ingredient and I kinda forgot it."
Piz grinned, happy to have something he could do to make up to her his lack of attentiveness. "No problem," he said, his tone confident that this was a task he could handle. He hated disappointing her and in spite of her never saying so, he felt as if he often did. "Anything else you need?" he asked, drumming his hands on the counter one last time before heading toward the door.
"Mmm, maybe some bread? Especially if you want some with dinner!" she called back.
He pointed in her direction, making pretend guns out of both index fingers and thumbs as he said, "You've got it!" just before he exited with the door closing firmly behind him.
