She looked at Piz, knowing without a doubt, that whatever they had was temporary and over. He was never going to be her choice. And it didn't matter that she'd told Logan it would take time. She was wrong. She didn't need time. Piz looked back at her, and he seemed to understand the expression on her face.
"Logan! Wait!" She called after the man she'd watched grow up from a boy, running to catch up to him.
He turned toward her, "I sincerely apologized to him, Veronica. If this is going to be another rousing and inspirational speech about how I'm out of your life, you can save it," his voice was trademark Logan sarcastic. She could only say one thing in reply.
"I love you," Veronica blurted. It wasn't what she meant to say. She wasn't sure what she HAD meant to say, but maybe something more along the lines of 'Wait! I care about you. I didn't mean what I said when I told you you're out of my life. I hope you're never out of my life.' She didn't want to tell him she loved him like this. She didn't really want to tell him at all, not after everything that's happened. But it was true. She loves him. And really, if she was going to get his attention, it might as well have been like this.
He looked dumbfounded. Hell. She couldn't take it back. And if she thought about it, she didn't want to take it back. No matter what had happened in the past. She honestly loved him. "I really love you, Logan," repeating words he'd said in a message she'd never heard. "And not 'I love you like a friend' love. I LOVE you."
Oh well, she thought, In for a penny and all that. She threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around his waist. "You've always tried to protect me, I know that. I see that. What you just did was so incredibly stupid. But I know you did it for me. I love you."
He was speechless. Veronica had indirectly told him she loved him before, but never like this. It wasn't often he couldn't come up with something to say. Something sarcastic. Something snarky. Something to deflect the way he really feels. But right now, he couldn't think of one damn thing.
"I'm so sorry," Veronica said, as she pulled back from him. It didn't escape her notice he hadn't held her back. "I didn't mean to just blurt it out like that. Listen, I know this might not be something you expect or even want from me…" the question hung in the air.
This silence between them dragged on. She pulled back further and let her arms drop from his sides.
"Ok, well…"
Logan's lips cut her off, and his hands captured her face. He couldn't manage to care that his split lip hurt like hell. He was kissing Veronica. She told him she loved him. Pain didn't matter anymore when his entire world felt this incredible.
"I love you," he murmured against her lips. When he pulled back, he looked questioningly in her eyes. "Piz?" he asked.
"I'll talk to him. But I'm pretty sure he understands how I feel about you. How I'll always feel about you."
It was rare Veronica was this open with her feelings. Logan soaked it up like the sun. Her hand touched his face, and he hadn't felt anything this amazing since before she'd found out about his massive fuck-up in Aspen. God, he loved her. It was so all-consuming he thought he might love her forever, whether they were together or not. Parker was right. It was always Veronica. He would ALWAYS be in love with Veronica.
He kissed her, deeply, then rested his forehead against hers. "Talk to Piz. Then come find me. We have unfinished business," he smirked.
She grinned at him. "I think we might always have unfinished business," she said, and kissed him again, wrapping her arms around him tightly. "I love you. I really, really love you."
"Go. You know where you find me," Logan said. He felt calm and at peace for the first time in a very long time. He didn't even mind letting her go to Piz. He was confident she never would have told him she loved him if she didn't mean it. "I love you," he said, kissing the tip of her nose, and letting his fingers graze hers.
"I am so sorry," she said. "I don't know how to explain it, but it's always been Logan. We've hurt each other countless times, I know. But we always come back to each other. He's it for me."
Piz was always so drama-free, except when it came to her. She brought so much drama to his life. She brought Logan to his life, for craps sake, and he had just beaten Piz to a pulp.
Piz, surprisingly, completely understood. It didn't take a genius to see the pull between Logan and Veronica. Everyone could see it. He'd seen the way she looked at Logan and the way she looked at him, and he'd known he wasn't going to be the winner.
"It's okay, Veronica. It's really okay. I mean, I'm sure I'll totally get used to the loose bone fragments floating around in my orbital socket," he said with a huffing laugh. He cared about Veronica, enough to recognize that they really weren't suited for each other. He had seen the way she'd looked at Logan, and then compared it to the way she looked at him. There really was no comparison. Standing in the way was only going to lead to heartbreak later.
"I'm especially sorry about that," she said, her cheeks coloring pink in shame.
"No, Veronica, don't. He had every reason to believe it was me. And he loves you. I would have wanted to do the same to him if our roles were reversed," Piz was proud of himself for reacting so calmly and rationally to what amounted to his young life crashing down around him.
She breathed out a relieved sigh. "I still want to be friends. I know that's a stupid cliché, but I do. I care about you, Piznarski." She said.
"I care about you, too. Go off to your internship, and we'll get together when you get back," he responded. "You, me, and Logan. Wallace and Mac, too. We'll make it a party." He smiled reassuringly at her.
She moved in to hug him, and he let his arms linger a little too long. He tried to be subtle about breathing in her scent, but he felt the finality of her body pulling away from his.
"Thank you for understanding," she said, smiling.
He watched her walk away and breathed a heavy sigh.
Mirroring a reunion from not-so-long ago, Logan opened the door and they crashed together. They were magnetic. He didn't think years or continents would dull their attraction.
Their kiss was passionate and deep.
"I talked to Piz. He handled the conversation much better than you ever would," she said smiling.
"That's only because he knows you aren't meant to be together. I, however, completely understand how EPIC the two of us are."
She thought he didn't remember that conversation at alterna-prom, but he did. He knew how much he'd bared his soul that night, and regretted Kendall the moment Veronica had come to the door. He couldn't seem to stop fucking up when it came to Veronica, and he hoped with everything in him that this time was different.
He mentally made a list of things he needed to do differently this time to succeed:
1. He needed to be open and honest with her.
2. And create a place where she could feel comfortable being open and honest with him.
3. If they encountered problems in their relationship, they needed to grow up and handle them like adults.
4. Being scared for her was okay, totally acceptable to worry about your girlfriend, especially given the dangerous work she did. However, it was not okay to hire a bodyguard without her knowledge.
5. He needed to be approachable when it came to her safety, he couldn't go in guns blazing trying to fix things for her.
6. If his issues about trust and family came up, he'd need to discuss them instead of letting them fester.
7. If her issues about trust came up, they needed to talk about that too. He couldn't let his issues ruin this, and he couldn't let hers ruin it either.
8. Sex wouldn't solve anything, so if they did have issues come up, they needed to talk about them.
It all basically boiled down to actually acting like the grown-ups they pretended to be and communicating. He'd do whatever he could to make sure they actually did. He would communicate her brains out if it kept her his.
"God, Veronica. I can't believe we finally get back together and you're leaving for the summer," he said, with his head buried in her neck. They were on his bed, and Logan was half laying on top of her. One of her legs was bent at the knee and hugging his hip, her arms wrapped around his shoulders.
She loved being his close to him, having his arms and distinctly Logan smell wrapped around her. Even though they were both fully clothed, she reveled in the feeling of his body against hers. She knew he loved her, and knew they needed to work considerably hard to make things between them work. But they were end game.
"You know...I have a really rich boyfriend, that could decide to come with me if he wanted to," she said.
Logan quickly lifted his head up, "You'd want that?" He could admit he was shocked. He didn't even have it in him right now to play sarcastically along with her statement.
"I do want that," she said. "Come with me. I know I won't have a lot of free time, with the internship and all. But I think you should think about it." She looked away, and he could tell she was shy discussing the topic, but she gathered herself and fervently continued. "I think it would be good for us to get away from here. To be away from the people and the judgement. Give us time to figure out how to be 'us' without anyone else's interference. It would give us a shot to figure out how to be strong. Air all our dirty laundry to each other. Fresh start. And maybe, just maybe, by the time we get back, no one's interference will make any difference to whether we make it or not."
Normally Veronica viewed Logan's money as a curse and not a blessing. Right now, though, she knew he could come with her without ever having to worry about finances. And she really wanted him to. She wanted him with her, she didn't want to spend the summer apart, not when they had this opportunity to reconnect.
He was so damn proud of her. Proud of everything he knew she was capable of accomplishing. God, she was amazing. She could find dog-nappers, and rapists. She's solved murders and helped her friends with countless issues. She was fucking incredible. And she wanted to be with him. She wanted to be with him, and she loved him. And this time, he was going to make this work.
Logan rolled them, so Veronica straddled his waist. She sat up in surprise, and gasped while he worked to pull off her shirt. "Maybe this rich boyfriend of yours would follow you to the dark. Maybe he loves you. And maybe, just maybe, he'll do anything to keep you."