Title: We Used to be Friends
Author: Katie
Story Summary: He closed his eyes and all he could see was that video that some stupid freshman had of his mother jumping, and now, knowing it was real, watching it play against the back of his eyelids made him want to be sick. 'Ruskie Business' Missing scene. LoVe. One Shot.
Spoilers: Ruskie Business
Ratings: PG I guess
Pairing: Logan/Veronica undertones
Authors Note: I hope you like it. All mistakes are mine. Please review.
Distribution: Please! Just let me know.
Feedback: Please!!
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
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"Perhaps you should take this to your room." The prickly hotel manager said as he walked over to Veronica and the grieving Logan.
As soon as Logan realized that the hotel guy was talking to them, he stood up as straight as he could manage and turned away, trying to stop or at least hide his weak moment.
Veronica looked between the hotel manager and Logan's back for a moment before settling on the hotel manager. "Excuse me?"
"Mr. Echolls booked a room while you were away" he pulled a key card away from the clip on his clipboard," third floor" he said handing it to her and walking away.
"Logan?" she asked quietly, walking over to him. She placed her hand lightly on his back and didn't miss it when he flinched. She slowly walked over to stand in front of him. "Maybe that's not such a bad idea." She said softly as she took in his appearance.
She ran a hand lightly down his arm to take his hand and didn't miss it when he laced his fingers through hers. She pulled him gently toward the elevator and once they were inside she pushed the button for floor three and glanced at Logan who was leaning heavily on the elevator wall.
She closed her eyes tightly for a moment before taking his hand and again and walking out of the elevator when it dinged. She looked at the room number written on the back of the key card and pulled Logan into the room when she found it
She glanced around the lush room wondering, fleetingly, why Logan had a room at all before looking over at Logan who had silently walked over to the bed and sat on the edge. He stared silently at the wall, but Veronica knew he wasn't really seeing anything.
Veronica had only ever seen him like this once before. Not wanting Logan to hear the news of Lilly's murder on the television or radio, she'd locked herself in her room, sat on her bed crying into a pillow and called Logan.
"Ronica!" Logan said by way of answering his phone, stretching out the nickname and laughing. "What's up?" He asked.
"Logan…" she said trailing off. She was trying so hard not to cry but as she gasped in air she couldn't help the sob that followed.
"Veronica?" He asked his voice notably different. It was sharper, trying to get her attention, but thick with concern. Veronica closed her eyes wishing she didn't have to do this. "Veronica?" he asked again when she didn't answer. "Come on, Ronica, talk to me, tell me what's wrong."
"Logan, Lilly is…Logan, Lilly's dead." She said bringing in a deep breath, forcing her self not to break down.
"What are you talking about, Ronica? Lilly's not dead, she's fine." Logan said, he may have sounded confident if the way his voice got panicky hadn't given him away. "Lilly's fine" he repeated, more to himself this time. "Is this one of Lilly's jokes, tell her she's taking this too far" Logan said, trying to laugh a little through the tears breaking through. This was exactly the kind of joke Lilly would play, but he knew Veronica better than that, and it's not the kind of joke she would help with, no matter how hard he was trying to convince himself otherwise at the moment.
"No." Veronica said and took a tiny gasp for air, "I was with my dad…there was a call…a disturbance…at the Kane house…" she trailed off completely and it wasn't until Logan said her name again, tears evident in his voice, that she spoke again, "I saw her, Logan." She sobbed, "There was blood, it was…" she couldn't help the tears that came this time.
The line was silent on both ends for a long moment before Veronica took a deep breath and spoke again, "Logan, when do you think you'll be back from Mexico?"
He sighed through tears, "soon." He said and hung up.
A few hours later Logan was sitting on the edge of Veronica's bed, staring at the wall with glassy unseeing eyes. Veronica's head was on his shoulder and his hand was running absently up and down her back. The feel of her tears hitting his neck set him off and soon his tears were flowing unchecked as well.
They fell asleep crying on Veronica's bed and they next day when they woke up, they went to find Duncan who still wouldn't really speak to Veronica, only now it didn't seem so important.
They stood inside the Kane house and when Veronica caught sight of the pool from the corner of her eye it was Logan sat silently behind her on the bathroom floor holding her hair and rubbing soft circles on her back while she threw up.
Veronica sighed softly at the memory as she pulled a bottle of water from the miniature refrigerator and poured some into a glass. The fact that a week after that day her father had officially accused Jake Kane of Lilly's murder, and that two days after that Logan and the other 09ers had given her what they called a choice changed the memory some. Epically when Veronica thought about everything that had happened since.
Veronica shook her head once, trying to physically push the thoughts out and not think about it anymore. She walked over to Logan and handed him the glass of water. He took it silently, holding it in both his hands as he leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees, his head dropping down so low his chin brushed his chest.
Veronica slowly sat down next to him, placing her hand lightly on his back and rubbing slow soft circles.
Logan sat the glass on the floor between his feet and pulled his mothers lighter from his pocket. He ran his thumb over the words that stared up at him, 'Free At Last' and now they sounded like a joke, like it was mocking him. He was stupid to think it was some kind of a sign. He closed his eyes and all he could see was that video that some stupid freshman had of his mother jumping, and now, knowing it was real, watching it play against the back of his eye lids made him want to be sick.
He didn't even realize he'd started crying again until he heard Veronica's vice telling him that she was sorry, 'so sorry, Logan'. When he became aware of her hand on his back, he couldn't help but lean into the touch.
She moved to hold him; it was much less awkward now than it had been in the lobby. Them sitting on the bed allowed Veronica to compensate for their height difference where she hadn't been able to downstairs.
They stayed like that for a while, until Logan stopped crying and drank the glass of water Veronica had brought him when they first entered the suite. Veronica went to get more water and when she returned she found Logan sleeping along the width of the bed.
She smiled and rolled her eyes a little before pulling his shoes off and folding the blanket over him as much as possible.
Logan woke up about an hour later all tangled up in a blanket he couldn't remember folding over himself. He sighed softly as he glanced around the empty room. It made sense that Veronica wasn't there anymore, he thought to himself. He was still a little surprised she hadn't told him to go screw himself when he'd asked for her help, so her not being here now was normal.
When he slowly sat up, he saw a piece of folded hotel stationary with his name on it lying on the bed side table.
I'll be back
-Veronica
The note read. When he sighed he tried to convince himself it wasn't relief, and when he realized he was smiling a little, he wasn't sure how much longer he could keep lying to himself.
A few minutes later, he was in the bathroom holding water soaked washcloths to his eyes, trying to erase the evidence of his tears when he heard the suite door open and close quietly. "Ronica?" he called the nickname that he hadn't used since they started fighting.
"Yeah" she answered and when he walked into the main room to meet her she was balancing a large tray, which he took from her and sat on the table. "Thanks" she said dropping her messenger bag on the floor.
She pulled the lid off the tray, dramatically setting it aside to reveal two cheeseburgers, two sodas, and fries.
"I didn't want to order room service, because I didn't want them to knock on the door and wake you up, but I thought you should eat, so…"Veronica trailed off and smiled a little nervously when she realized how close they were standing. When she felt Logan's hand rest lightly on her arm so looked up at him.
"Thank you, Veronica." He said his voice only slightly above a whisper. They both knew he wasn't talking about the food and when he saw her shocked smile he pulled her slightly forward and kissed her forehead softly. Surprising even himself with the action.
After a long moment they both took a step back, Veronica let out a long exhale before smiling and pointing at the food.
They sat down and started to eat, and after a moment Veronica spoke, "Why do you have a room anyway?"
Logan swallowed the bite of food in his mouth before chuckling, "Turns out, they actually won't let you sit in the lobby and stare at an elevator door for hours on end if you don't at least book a room." Logan shrugged.
"Oh," Veronica whispered and nodded a little "sorry."
Logan just shrugged again. It was silent for a moment, and it was Logan who broke the silence this time, "Hey, Veronica, why did you help me?"
Veronica looked surprised by the question for a moment before regaining her composure, "I don't know," she paused "your mom was always really nice to me." She said and let a long moment pass before she shrugged and spoke again, "And, I don't know, I mean, we used to be friends, you know." She said glancing between Logan and the table.
"Yeah" he sighed, "we used to be friends" he repeated it at a whisper. "Do you ever think we could be again?" he asked hoping he sounded like he didn't care either way.
Veronica took a deep breath, "I don't know" she finally answered looking over at him. She laughed a little, "what's more friendly than sharing cheeseburgers?"
He couldn't help but smile when she laughed. He watched her smile and eat a french fry and tried to convince himself he wasn't falling for Veronica Mars. When she tore a fry in half and threw the larger piece at him, he wondered how much longer he could keep lying to himself.
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