Title: Party Girls
Author: lightning bug
Characters/Pairings: Logan/Veronica, Madison, Cassidy, Meg, Duncan, Aaron, Lilly.
Rating: R for language, implied voyeurism, and under-the-influence-sex. Starts out fluffy but grows progressively darker.
Word Count: 2,353
Spoilers: Specifically 1.10, 1.11, 1.19 1.22
Summary: Drink, and dance and laugh and lie, Love the reeling midnight through, For tomorrow we shall die! (But, alas, we never do.)—Dorothy Parker
Note: Written for the 5thingsthat... challenge on livejournal, for the Five Things that Never Happened challenge.
i
Madison pushed the brown hair out of her eyes to observe the crowd around her. People were blurred a bit by the sixteen bright candles gracing her birthday cake, but she got a good idea of those who surrounded her. She couldn't see Logan, or Veronica, for that matter. Dick was poking Lilly in the side and she swatted at his hand. Duncan and Meg smiled at her. Her little sister poked her head out from the library and smiled at her (Madison had asked her to stay there for the night, and passed off her tattered copy of The Westing Game to keep her busy).
Madison Sinclair's Sweet Sixteen was already widely regarded as a surprise contender for best party of the year. There wasn't anything to set it apart from some other spoiled girl's birthday party, but Madison was just so much fun. It was impossible not to grin around her, partially because she was the quirky black sheep of the 09er crowd. She was always doing something that would put a mystified smile on your face.
She was a vegan (but so were tons of celebrities, and that made it less weird, right?), she would occasionally come in with her blue in her hair, streaked by her mothers personal stylist (Kate Winslet had colored hair in Eternal Sunshine, and that was completely hardcore, so it was okay when Madison did it), and there was very little alcohol on the premises (well, she was so…actually, there was no decent explanation for that).
After they sang and she blew out her candles, the party started up again. Madison ate her cake and laughed with Meg about a teacher they'd had the year before (Meg could do a spot-on impression of him). She felt a tap on her shoulder and found herself face to face with Cassidy Casablancas.
She liked Cassidy, for the same reason that he was ignored by the other 09ers. He was too nice and too smart to be a Casablancas. She felt a kinship with him that she wouldn't admit to anyone else; she often felt like she didn't quite belong, and Cassidy was the only one who noticeably shared her feelings.
"Can I talk to you for a minute?" he asked.
"Sure!" Madison said and made her excuses to Meg. She pulled him into an empty room and was surprised to see him holding a wrapped present.
"Cassidy, you didn't have to get me anything." She said, putting on her 'graceful hostess face'.
"Well, I saw these at the bookstore and I thought of you when we had that computer class together and I thought you would appreciate it." He rambled before handing over the present.
Madison opened it curiously. Inside were two books: HTML Design and How to Take over the World: Evil Dictatorships and You!
"Cassidy," she smiled, "I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship."
ii
Veronica splashed cold water on her face. She shouldn't have confronted Jake Kane like that. But she needed to know if he was her father. What troubled her was that he seemed to know less about the situation than she did.
With her mind set on feasting on the obscenely expensive appetizers, Veronica walked out of the bathroom and smacked straight into Logan.
"Watch where you're going," she smiled, "Running into the poker genius is never good."
"I'd say that 'watch where you're going' applies to both of us." Logan gestured upwards. Above them was a sprig of mistletoe.
"Oh God," Veronica covered her face in her hands. "Well, I've always said that it isn't a party if there isn't the potential for embarrassment."
"Blame my mom." Logan smiled sheepishly. "She always puts this stuff up. You'd think that with my dad around she would discourage kissing…"
"Why does she have it by the bathroom?" Veronica asked, quick to change the subject. "Seems kinda out of the way."
"Some sort of fate bullshit." Logan muttered, "Like, if two people happen to be in the same distant spot it's 'meant to be'."
"Gosh, I guess I better start looking for a wedding dress now." Veronica joked lamely. "As devastatingly handsome as you may be, I think fate may give us a pass since you're so evil."
"But didn't you say just an hour ago that I wasn't an evildoer?" he said. "Besides, tradition dictates that we have to smooch. C'mon Mars, how about one little kiss?"
"I don't think so."
"It's not like you haven't before." Logan's voice took on a sing-songy, teasing tone.
"That was Spin the Bottle!"
"And the rules for that are as arbitrary and weird as mistletoe." Logan smiled devilishly, "How about it?"
"Fine," Veronica groaned. She had planned on quickly kissing him and then running all the way back to her car. She hadn't expected for Logan to kiss her again when she first pulled away. She hadn't expected to actually kiss him back and ohmygod, now she knew what Lilly meant about that thing he did with his tongue. They kept kissing, for far longer than any mistletoe kiss should last.
When they finally pulled away for air, Veronica murmured, "What are we doing?"
"No idea."
And Logan kissed her again, and Veronica let herself be lost in the entire situation, and neither of them heard the screams coming from the main room.
iii
Meg Manning does not know what she is doing.
Meg does not know why she picked up that drink someone—Madison, maybe?—handed her. She also does not know why she drank it even though she felt like there was something off about the entire situation.
She goes over the events in her head. She is at Shelley Pomroy's party. Veronica Mars just left after a very public argument with Logan Echolls. Cassidy Casablancas is here.
Meg does not know why she is stumbling. She always thought of herself as naturally graceful. She doesn't know where she's going, either.
Meg doesn't know right away who grabbed onto her arm. The voice is familiar and warm, but at the same time completely unknown. Then it hits her when he says "Why don't we go in here for awhile?"
It's Duncan Kane, gently (she thinks it's gently, the world is tumbling a bit) guiding her into a bedroom. They collapse onto the bed and she may be kissing him but she's not sure where she is or what's going on, so she could be wrong about that.
And his hand is inching up her skirt and Meg Manning does not know what she is doing.
iv
Veronica Mars did not go to many parties. Her mom always encouraged her to, so long as they were "appropriate". Her dad would remind her that any party she went to that he got called to break up would end in serious punishment, not to mention potential embarrassment.
But Logan was having a huge party, and Lilly insisted that she had to come. It was one thing to avoid most of the 09er parties, it was unacceptable to not go one her "luvah" was throwing. So Veronica did a little detective work, found out that Logan had never hosted a party that required intervention from law enforcement, and told Lilly she could go.
Lilly was, of course, jubilant. Veronica, she had decided, needed a boyfriend and this would be the night she got one. Hair and makeup preparations would start five hours before the party, and there was no way Veronica could wear anything she owned, so she would just have to borrow one of Lilly's outfits that Celeste would deem "scandalous".
Veronica, for her part, endured Lilly's actions. Lilly would go through phases where she needed a life-size Barbie doll, and Veronica was usually the one she would turn to. So it didn't really bug Veronica that she and Lilly turned up at the party in identical makeup, Veronica in a skirt that was about the same length as her pep squad shorts. Well, the stares she got were a little disconcerting, but thrilling too. People were looking at her for once, and not just Lilly.
The thrill started to disappear after a while. Logan and Lilly latched onto each other one minute, and were fighting by the pool the next. Lilly's cute brother was nowhere to be seen. Veronica didn't know if Duncan was coming. He said he would, but his mother's glare suggested otherwise. She knew most of the 09er crowd but didn't like a lot of them. Lilly, Logan, and Duncan were the three she stuck to, and there were few better than them.
After her foot—in Lilly's high heeled shoe—narrowly escaped the fate of being covered in beer, Veronica decided to take a breather from the drunken escapades. She found her way to the pool house (she'd played video games with Logan and Duncan there for hours while Lilly read a magazine and sighed with dramatic boredom). Maybe she could get a game of Grand Theft Auto going and impress the guys not with her short skirt, but her amazing video game skills.
The pool house was empty and Veronica hesitated by the door. "Come in," a voice rang out from inside. Veronica jumped as Aaron Echolls materialized from the darkness. "Sorry if I startled you. I just needed to grab something from here and I thought Logan said no one would be in here."
"Oh!" Veronica said, her voice catching in her throat. She didn't like any of Logan's dad's movies, but still, he was really famous and he had just caught her in a place that she wasn't supposed to be. "I didn't know! I just wanted to get away for a minute. I'll go back to the house."
"No, it's all right." Aaron said, waving her in and closing the door behind her. "I remember going to parties when I was your age. I never felt completely at home either. Feel free to hide out in here for as long as you want." As he spoke, he moved closer to Veronica. She felt herself back away instinctively, and her back hit the door.
"You're Veronica Mars, right? The sheriff's daughter?" he asked. Veronica nodded. "I've seen you here with Logan, although I didn't recognize you in that outfit." He looked her over and Veronica felt a shiver go up her spine. Was it her imagination or was he still getting closer? "Do you have a boyfriend?" Veronica shook her head and immediately regretted it. He was definitely getting closer. "How did a pretty girl like you not get snatched up already?"
He whispered in her ear "I bet you and I could have lots-"
The door right next to Veronica opened. Her eyes caught Logan's and she noticed him go through the split-second reaction she had come to characterize him by. She saw shock, anger, sadness, and then normality.
"Lilly's looking for you." He said, "Some important girl thing that she demands you deal with, so you better hurry." Without waiting for his father or Veronica to respond, Logan took her by the arm and walked off.
"Never," he said in a strangled voice once they were away from the pool house, "go wandering alone in my house ever again."
"I'm sorry!" Veronica said, "I just wanted to get away from the-"
"It's not that. It's for you. I'm not letting that bastard get to you. I'll never let him hurt you."
v
"I like your hair this way."
"Really?"
"Yeah, it's edgy. Makes you look much older. I should have told you to cut your hair years ago."
"I wouldn't have done it. What are you drinking?"
"No idea. Just appears here when I feel like getting buzzed. It's perfect, whatever the hell it is. You want some?"
"Not really. I've had enough trouble with unknown beverages."
"Your loss."
"How have you been? I mean, besides being dead."
"Meh, okay. It's fun up here. It's a party all the time. You'll love it. And if not, they'll find something for you to love."
"The world was like one big fucked up party after you died, you know? Everything was about you. And then all this shit came out. Just the sort of thing you would have enjoyed."
"Is that bitterness I detect, Mars? All that stuff would have come out regardless. And anyway, don't blame me, blame my—well, our—killer for that."
"He beat Logan."
"I know."
"But you slept with him."
"It was Aaron-fucking-Echolls. How could I not?"
"You could have just said no and gone back to a boyfriend that really, genuinely loved you."
"Oh, Logan and I wouldn't have lasted for even another year without causing World War 3. And like no one would have died from the nuclear fallout of when your relationship eventually blew up."
"You know?"
"Of course I do, I'm dead. I'm omnipotent or whatever that shit they taught us in English class. But don't worry, I'm not mad. You two were very hot."
"Ew!"
"Yeah, I was watching you two, get over it."
"No, not that. Some guy just poured beer on me."
"It'll dry. Veronica?"
"Yeah?"
"Part of the reason I fucked Aaron was so I could release the tapes and Lynn would divorce him and everyone would hate him."
"Logan would have hated you for it."
"Yeah, but his dad would be gone. And even if he never wanted to see me again, he'd be happy without his dad."
"That's kinda sweet…in a really twisted way."
"Don't tell anyone, okay. I don't want to lose my reputation. I've even got one up here."
"Why am I not surprised?"
"When you're as fabulous as me, these things happen."
"Lilly, I don't miss him. I don't miss my dad, or Logan, or Wallace, or even Back-Up."
"You're dead, idiot. It's called being at peace."
"I'm glad I get to spend it with you."
"Same! Hey, I heard that if we stick around here for long enough, we'll see Elvis."
"No we won't!"
"How do you know? It's not like we have somewhere to go."
v— "And like no one would have died from the nuclear fallout of when your relationship eventually blew up" was paraphrased from the TWoP recap of "Hot Dogs"