Unexpected
"Is it just me or is Jett McCleary getting hotter?" Mac said as she sat down on the couch in between Wallace and Veronica. Wallace – who was leaning forward to grab a slice of pizza from the greasy brown box from "Cho's Pizza" looked from the television to Mac and then to Veronica who held the same puzzled look. It took a few seconds for the laughter lines to appear on their respective faces but once the Veronica broke Wallace was practically rolling around on the floor
"You certainly would be the only one in the Neptune area to think that" Veronica said as she wiped a tear from her cheek
"What? He isn't as rotund as he used to be and the hair plugs really give him a more youthful look" Mac referred to the advertisement for the used car salesman, her cheeks blushed slightly but she couldn't help but smile at the clear enjoyment her two closest friends were getting out of her embarrassment
"Are you feeling okay Mac?" Wallace said as he gained him composure but maintained his smile
"So Jett McCleary isn't getting sexier?" she asked with a sulk as they both shook their heads in her direction "My Gosh I need to get laid"
"How longs it been?" Veronica asked as she took a sip from her beer, leaning forward to meet Mac's eye
"I don't think my impressionable ears need to hear this," said Wallace with a sigh
"Awww Wally, don't pretend that you aren't one of the girls," she said with a large grin as both she and Mac looked towards him, he put his hands up in mock surrender and Veronica fixated her attention back on Mac "So how long has it been?"
"Nine months" she said throwing herself back on the couch as Veronica whistled
"That's enough time to brew a baby"
"That requires sex," Wallace said before Mac kicked him and sent his mouthful of beer spraying out of his mouth
"Pass me another beer," she said throwing her arm out in the hopes that one of her friends would fulfil her request.
X-x-x-x-x-x
"What have you got for me Mac-Attack?" Veronica said as she walked into Mars Investigations with a tray of coffees in one hand and an unidentified paper bag in the other that Mac hoped was some form of donut, Veronica seeing Mac's longing look at the bag threw it in her direction as she walked towards the desk in the lobby that Mac was currently occupying
"Mr Peblow has been sending rather risqué emails, so risqué that I blush just thinking about it" she smiled as Veronica sat down in front of her "I also found a very questionable browser history, something Mrs Peblow would NOT be happy with"
"Gooooooood" Veronica said as she put her feet up on the desk "You can pick up the security detail after lunch"
"Lunch?" Mac asked stuffing her face with donuts "I don't need lunch, I have no plans other than eating this whole bag of donuts" Veronica snatched the bag out of Mac's grasp
"Well you do now" she tried not to laugh at the perplexed look on her best friends face as she wiped the white donut powder from the corners of her mouth
"Is this for a case?" she asked excited by the idea of getting out into the field and kicking some serious ass
"You could say that" Veronica tried to work out how to keep as much detail as possible from Mac "Come on let's go" Mac jumped up from her desk, grabbing her laptop and her coat and chasing after Veronica.
"So tell me more about this case" she said as she strapped herself into the convertible that Veronica was borrowing from Logan while he was on tour, she knew that it had been a bad idea to trust Veronica when the doors locked around her "Uhmm What's going on?"
"So when I say case I kind of mean mission" she said as she turned out of the parking complex and onto the road
"Veronica, why do I feel like you are going to take me into the wild and abandon me there?"
"If you play your cards right I wont have to" Mac let out an unsettled laugh
"What's the mission?" she was almost too anxious to ask, this wasn't a regular Veronica Mars mission and she knew it
"Getting you laid Cindy Mackenzie" as the words left Veronica's mouth a panic Mac tried her hardest to get out the emergency exits "Trying to Escape is futile"
"What have you done?" Mac asked realising that this wasn't just your run of the mill car trip "are you taking me to a gigolo?"
"I wanted something with a bit more substance for you Mac, whilst the rock hard abs of hired help would probably satisfy your physical needs it wouldn't be able to satisfy your psychological needs"
"Are you saying I have psychological needs? Are you implying that I'm not as put together as I seem?" Veronica laughed "But seriously Veronica what have you done?"
"I may have set you up a little profile on a very reputable dating website" Mac groaned rather loudly "You've gotten a tonne of hits"
"When?"
"I set it up while you and Wallace were having a dance off in my living room on pizza night" Mac thought back to that night and regretted not confronting Veronica on her bashful smile and giggle as she typed away on her laptop, she had just assumed that the tiny blonde was busy writing the love of her life man of the sea an email.
"Puhlease let me out of this car" she said throwing her bag on the floor and stamping her feet like a toddler throwing a tantrum
"Not until you get laid"
"I don't see that happening in this car" she put her head in her hands "How do you know that you aren't setting me up with some murderer?"
"I put some research into it, made sure there was no open cases associated with it and that if something did happen that we already knew how to get in so that we had quick leads" she said as she pulled into a park out the front of one of Mac's favourite café's "Now get out of the car"
"Please Veronica I will do anything, don't make me do this"
"How quickly you turned to bargaining" a glint of hope appeared in Mac's eyes, she wondered if this had just been a ploy to get her to agree to do overtime or go undercover "But seriously pull yourself together, it's just a quick coffee date, you never know he might be the love of your life and if not you can just have a quickie in the bathroom" Mac looked outraged but also sort of amused
"Veronica Mars are you reflecting your own sexual frustration onto me?"
"Of course I am!" she said turning her full body to face "The love of my life is at sea and will be for at least another three months, I may not be finding myself attracted to used car salesmen but its getting there. Now get out of my car and do what I cant do for the next couple of months" Mac realised that there was no use in arguing with her clearly irrational friend and agreed to get out of the car. Veronica passed her the information of the "lucky bachelor" that Mac was minutes away from meeting, told her that her phone would vibrate when the mystery man was within distance, wished her luck and drove off into the distance.
Mac made her way into the café and selected a table at the back with a good view of the front door so that she could get a glimpse of this guy before he got a glimpse of her. She couldn't take the wait; Mac grabbed her laptop from her bag and began to type the mystery man's name into every data base that she could possibly think of. His profile said that he loved the beach and the outdoors and was looking forward to spending his life with a woman that was willing to spend a lifetime relaxing with him. The weird thing was that his name was pinging back at her and taking her in a direction that she wasn't expecting – his bank account checked out but his name was not appearing on the statement. Time was ticking away and this guy was supposed to be here but she wasn't ready – she just need one more minute to get the name off the bank statement – there was no way she was going to go into this date unprepared.
As the bell over the front door rang out indicating that a new customer was entering the store her laptop beeped in front of her, the information left her perplexed and staring at the screen for longer than she anticipated, she gulped "Dick Casablancas"
"At your service Ghost World" he said as he plonked down in the seat in front of her a smile spread across his face
"What are you doing here?" she asked trying to hide her uncomfortableness
"I do believe that we have a date"
"I do believe that I am leaving," she said going to stand up but he grabbed her forearm
"That's not going to be good for your score on "
"I don't even care, this was Veronica's stupid idea" Dick let out a hysterical laugh "What?"
"I can just imagine Ronnie's face when she realises that she set you up on a date with the Dickster" Mac was trying hard to supress a laugh, this was the perfect outcome in the sense that there was no way that Veronica was ever going to set her up again but something was striking her as odd
"Why are you on a dating website?" his eyes made it pretty clear that he wasn't going to answer her questions until she sat down – she obliged – Veronica was never going to believe the story if Mac didn't have explicit details.
"To get laid. Simple as that" he gestured over to the wait staff and the nod between Dick and the Waitress indicated that this was his regular café as well, it was kind of surprising that she hadn't run into him yet, in fact Neptune was relatively small in size and since the reunion which seemed like a lifetime ago she hadn't seen the blonde haired self claimed sex machine "You?"
"I told you" she said looking anywhere but his face "Veronica set it up for me" she finished with a gulp
"Yes, but why? And why did you actually come?"
"I was practically pushed out of a moving car" she really didn't need him to know what was really driving this, she nervously made eye contact with him and she knew by the sparkle in his eye that he knew
"Well aren't you a saucy little minx Mackie" she felt his eyes focusing on her more as though if he concentrated hard enough her clothes would fall off, she felt herself consciously put her arms over her chest
"One thing I don't get is why you aren't using your own name?" the waitress brought over Dick's cup of coffee and Mac promptly ordered her own
"I want to get laid, not advertise to the world that I'm looking to settle down. Plus I'm already sought after" he winked "wouldn't want to crash the server"
"Please" she scoffed "What's the hype? I'm sure that you aren't THAT good in bed"
"I'm going to have to correct you there. I am THAT good, many have recalled the experience as feeling as though they were born again, that the O's went on for hours" he winked again, maybe she should suggest eye drops "I can show you if you want" he leant in closer "It would be purely fact collecting on your part" Mac could feel her cheeks flush and by the smirk on his face she knew that it wasn't subtle
"I'm happy to leave it to the imagination Dick" Mac averted her stare, pushing the chair out, gathering her stuff and getting ready to leave
"That's cool, I'm happy to imagine you imagining me while I wait for you to give into natures instinct"
"You'll be waiting awhile" she retorted as she walked around the table
"I'll see you later Mac" he smirked as he watched her walk out of the café.
She was unimaginably hot, she walked up the street and on realising that Veronica was not here to pick her up texted Wallace
"S.O.S damsel in distress" she pushed send and turned into the alleyway behind the café, she pushed herself up against the wall to gain some composure before Wallace came to pick her up – she could explain the story of how her mystery date had been Dick and now she was all hot and bothered – but she also needed to collect her thoughts. It was just her luck that the first experience she had with this website would hit so close to home. And then it hit her like a light bulb moment – Dick hadn't been surprised to see her, from the moment the door opened he was walking towards her, he had smiled when he saw her and hadn't bolted. She may not have known his true identify until it was too late to do anything about it but had he known it was her? And if so why had he made a date with her?
To be continued