"You're staying where?" a deep voiced, broad shouldered man spoke to his daughter, whom winced when she heard his tone.
"I'm going to spend the summer with Logan, Dad. The FBI was great, but the only way I could afford to stay near D.C. and not starve would be to prostitute." The young woman protested with her father, she knew she had a point, and without a doubt so did her dad.
"And you're not staying here because…?" He questioned, as he opened the refrigerator to grab a bottle of water.
"Dad, have you seen you and Alicia lately? I love that you two got back together, but honestly? It's like constantly being inside a porn video." The blonde haired girl continued to pack t-shirts into her already bursting bag. Her father turned a little red in the cheeks, and couldn't seem to meet his daughter's eyes.
"I uhm, didn't know you were going to be here that night honey…" He began to explain.
"Dad it's no problem, why do you think I'm going to Logan's? I need to find out what all the excitement is about this thing called sex." She said, as her dad's head quickly turned towards her.
"Veronica!" He screamed, catching his daughter's attention quickly.
"Dad, I'm kidding. I'll stay a virgin until I'm 6 feet under." She lied through her teeth, her dad obviously knew she was no longer a virgin, nobody could be that oblivious, but for some reason she knew it made him feel better when she said things like that, like she wasn't 20 years old, like she wasn't going to be a sophomore in college next year. He could feel like she was his little girl still.
He smiled a quick smile, and announced he was leaving to go pick up Alicia for a nice getaway, away from Neptune. From being the town's biggest laughing stock, to being the acting sheriff, to being acquitted from the charges of the evidence to being beaten hands down in the sheriff race with Vinnie VanLowe, he needed to get away with his special lady friend every once and a while.
Veronica grabbed her cell phone and lugged the overly packed bag over her shoulder and dialed Logan's number to let him know she was on her way. She then thought she might check up on Mac, and see how the beginning of her summer was treating her.
"You're going where?!" Mac's voice bellowed, as she stood shocked in front of her parents.
"Come on honey, you'll love it. 2 months of traveling across the country and back, you'll get to see everything that the east coast has to offer." Mac's mother reassured her.
"And by the time school comes around, you'll be able to tell all your friends that you saw New York City. That'll give you some props from your buds." Her dad chimed in, trying to fit some teenage slang into what he was saying, hoping she would agree.
"Mom, Dad, as much as I'd love to spend the majority of my summer on an RV with you two and Ryan, I think I'm opting for option 2." She spoke as she sat down at the kitchen table in front of her computer.
"I don't think we ever offered you an option 2." Her dad spoke sternly.
"No, you didn't. But seeing as I'm 20, you legally have no power over me any longer." Mac spoke back sarcastically, but she had meant every word.
"Fine have it your way Cindy, but you'd better be in a hurry to find somewhere to stay along the way. Once we leave, the doors are locked at this house, you may be 20, but you certainly aren't responsible enough to care for yourself for 2 months with no income" Her mom shrugged as she grabbed some of the remaining bags in the house, and hauled them out to the waiting RV. Mac followed her quickly.
"You're saying I can't even stay at my own home over the summer? Isn't that a little harsh?" Mac questioned, a little wary of her decision to stay home at this point. Her mom held out her hand.
"Give me your house keys." She said rudely. Mac ruffled through her things in her purse. "Go inside and get anything you might need for wherever you plan on staying this summer, then give me them."
Mac went inside the house and looked through her things, what was she going to bring with her when she didn't even have anywhere to go? She grabbed a duffle bag from the inside of her closet and started putting the clothes she wore most often inside, she was startled a little when her phone began to ring.
"Bad timing Mars." She said as she tried to stuff her clothes down in the bag, to make room for more stuff.
"Should I call back later?" Veronica's voice was heard over the phone.
"Not unless you're calling to tell me I can stay with you and your dad over the summer." She said sarcastically as she tried to zip the bag closed.
"Sorry, staying with Logan this summer. Can I ask why you aren't staying at home?" she said.
"They decided this summer would be a good summer to travel cross country and head to New York." Mac said as she grabbed the now zipped bag, her laptop and headed outside to where her mom was waiting for her key still.
"Well it's not much, but if you wanna crash on Logan's couch, you're more than welcome to. That boy owes you after ." Veronica chuckled, and Mac realized she had a good point.
"Sounds good, no joke, you saved my ass Veronica." She said as she headed to her car, only car keys in hand, she watched the RV leave without even a wave to her, she knew she was going to pay for her actions come start of school, but it didn't matter. She put her bag in the passenger's seat and headed for the Neptune Grand.
"So you just invited her here?" Logan asked Veronica as she snuggled into his chest.
"She's one of the only friends I've kept since high school; I'm going to try to help her if I can." Veronica spoke softly, hoping he wasn't mad at her.
"No, it's alright. She's cool, she helped me a lot in that business class, and so this is me paying her back for it." He said as she pulled her closer, and kissed her forehead.
"Dude, you move on quick." A voice spoke from the bedroom nearest to the door.
"Yea, you should talk, Dick." Logan said harshly.
"But Parker was smokin' hot! And you just left her alone in Denver." Dick said while shaking his head and sitting on the chair near the couch.
"You intellect blows my mind, Dick. She called me from Denver saying she was staying there, do you remember anything I told you about the 'oh so wonderful Kyle?'" Logan looked towards Dick.
"So what man? She found someone else, big deal. She would have been crawling back to you if you didn't run right back to your ex." Dick glanced over at Veronica, who was glaring back at him.
"I didn't run back to my ex, I ran back to the only one who mattered to me." Logan spoke to his friend, as Veronica turned back to him with a wide eyed smile, and kissed his cheek.
"Whatever." Dick grunted as he grabbed the remote and switched on cinemax. Naked ladies, poured onto the screen.
"Porn, really?" Logan asked.
"The only good thing on television dude." Dick stated as he admired the woman forms on television. There was a short loud knock on the door, Veronica moved away from Logan and stood up and headed towards it.
"Please tell me there's food in there." Mac greeted her, and gave her a short hug.
"Two men live here, it's full of food. If you don't see anything you like, there's always take-out." Veronica joked, as she ushered Mac inside, and shut the door behind her. Logan stood, and wrapped his arm around Veronica's shoulders and smiled at Mac.
"Mi casa is su casa." Logan smiled; Mac nodded and grinned back at him. "Just ignore that." Logan pointed towards Dick. Mac had forgotten he was staying here as well. Her smile faded, as she walked past them. Veronica grabbed her shoulder.
"You okay? He won't be around much. The whole, his dad is back and about the go to prison in August thing keeps him out of the room a lot." Veronica reassured her friend.
"Yeah, I'll be okay. Not many people are jumping at giving me a place to stay for 2 months, so this is fine. No worries." She lied to her friend, things weren't going to go well if Dick was here, and she could already assume that. He was one of the men who drove her ex-boyfriend to suicide, along with a majority of a bunch of other crap, but deep inside she blamed him as much as she blamed Woody.
"Hey Macster. Long time no see." Dick greeted her half-heartedly, without removing his gaze from the fake breasts bouncing on the screen. Mac just nodded in agreement and settled herself on the chair on the other side of the couch that Logan and Veronica resumed snuggling on. She kept herself looking at the porn without realizing it, Logan and Veronica were whispering sweet nothings in each other's ears, and Dick was staring at the screen along with her, obviously not caught in a daze like Mac, but for obvious other reasons.
"So Ronnie and I are going to straighten up our room…" Logan smiled, as he picked his girlfriend up off the couch, she squealed slightly before they disappeared behind the large wooden doors.
"Must be fun huh?" Dick glanced over towards the bedroom, where they could both hear light moans and panting. Mac nodded, but never looked towards him.
"Wanna help me straighten my room too babe?" Dick said as he slithered out of his chair and sat at the end of the couch nearest Mac. Mac looked at him with disgust.
"Not hardly." Mac said as she stood up and headed towards the mini bar located behind the couch.
"We don't keep the pop over there dude, just liquor." He said as he laughed slightly.
"Who says I'm looking for pop?" Mac said, as she rifled through the small refrigerator. She pulled out a large bottle of Seagram's VO. And a smile spread across her face. "This will do." She spoke matter-of-factly and opened the top, and took a lengthy swig from the bottle.
"Whoa, didn't know you could party." Dick said as he came over to her, and grabbed a bottle of Captain from the same fridge. He opened the top, and took a swig as well. "Well, I know I'm not your friend or whatever, but we could just drink and hang together while the lovebirds do what they do best." Dick shrugged. He didn't hate this girl, he didn't even dislike her. He offered something less than friendship, hoping she'd jump at the opportunity.
"I've got to say it's better than drinking alone." She took another swig of the bottle, and glanced over at Dick's X-Box and PS3. "You have Call of Duty?" she asked. Dick tilted his head to the side and nodded. "How about drinking and video game buds?" She said a little slurred. It wasn't shocking, she didn't seem the type to drink every weekend, so those first couple of large gulps she took obviously went straight to her head.
Three hours later, both Dick and Mac realized that Logan and Veronica don't even come up for air. They laughed as they approached the wooden door, both of them toppling over their own shoelaces, tables, air, anything they could. They heard light breathing, meaning the two had fallen asleep after their sexcapades. At this time they had finished off the VO, and both were quite far beyond the drunk point. They stumbled back towards the couch in a fit of laughter.
"Damn Dick you weren't shitting me about them not coming up for air." Mac said, as her head bobbed back and forth.
"Not much for lying Macky." He said as he took a swig of Captain, the bottle they had yet to finish.
"Unlike your brother." Mac busted into hysterical laughter afterwards, in her mind she knew if she weren't drunk, she would be in a fit of tears.
"Come on Mac; give the kid some kind of credit. He was all molested and junk, and the shit me and my dad put him through. I'm surprised he didn't jump off a building sooner." Dick said seriously. Mac's laughter came to a quick halt.
"You know, I did care about him Dick. I thought at the point, I might have even loved him." She choked on her words, admitting that at all let alone to her exes brother took some guts, she needed more liquor if she was going to continue on with this story. She took the bottle out of Dick's hand and took a quick swig, and shook her head as if to shake the taste from her mouth.
"He felt the same about you too dude." Dick said rather shakily, his head rested on his hands. "I told you all that crap at your dorm room cause I was jealous." He began; he looked her in the eyes this time. "Parker obviously blew me off, and instead of owning up to it, I had to bring you down with me, just to you know, keep up my reputation." Dick said, apparently recognizing the look of sadness on Mac's face, he reached out for her shoulder and patted it. "I'm sorry." He said sincerely before removing his hand and grabbing the bottle and taking a long gulp from it, before standing; unsuccessfully. He stood too quickly lost his balance and landed directly on Mac's lap. The two laughed hysterically about it until he was able to stand upright, without falling.
"I'm heading to bed dude." Dick announced, he gave her an army salute and headed towards his bedroom grinning. Mac was giggling like a young girl from the salute, and she hadn't any idea why, at least, no other idea besides the liquor clogging her blood. She herself lay down on the couch and grabbed a blanket hanging on the back of it; she covered herself and stared at the TV screen.
"Naked ladies are still on?" She spoke out loud to herself, and giggled once again. She enjoyed having a drinking buddy; it WAS in fact better than drinking alone. She thought about how genuine Dick had seemed tonight, maybe it was the liquor. The old saying "Drunken words are sober thoughts" was going through her head, and she did hope that it was true. She let herself fall into a thought filled sleep. Her mind was racing from Cassidy, to Logan and Veronica, to Dick. Eventually she shook the entire night from her mind; at least for the time being, and was able to sleep soundly.