Three weeks earlier…

"So what'd you think?" Mac asked Dick as they walked toward Dick's truck.

"Gratuitous violence and special effects that would put any one of Logan's dad's movies to shame? Safe to say I enjoyed myself. What about you?"

"I thought the dialogue was decent, and there weren't glaring plot holes like in most action movies nowadays," Mac said. Dick hopped into the driver's seat and Mac pulled herself up into the passenger side. "And, I liked that they didn't focus too much on the romance. It would have weakened the plot."

"Yeah, well, as a general rule, I say that romance just mixes things up. No need for it, in my opinion."

"How sentimental," Mac said.

"Keep things simple," Dick said. "That's my motto."

"Mine is 'Make 7 Up Yours.'"

Dick laughed as he pulled out of the movie theater parking lot. "Alright, where to? Want me to drop you off at home?"

"I don't know," Mac said, looking out the window and shrugging.

"Okay, then let's just go kick it somewhere for a while."

"Your gangstaphrenic white-boy jargon aside, that sounds like a good plan."

Half an hour later, Mac was lying on her back in the truck bed, looking at the sky. Dick was sitting next to her feet, his legs hanging off the end of the truck as he watched the occasional couple or group of friends make their way down the beach.

"You want a beer?" Dick asked.

Mac thought for a second. "No, thanks," she said.

"Why not?"

"No real reason," she said. "Is there any reason you feel like having one?"

"No. Habit, I guess," Dick said with a frown. "But, uh, lemme check, I think I have a few Cokes."

He crawled past Mac to reach through the back window and pull a mini cooler from the backseat.

"You have a monogrammed cooler?" Mac asked. "I should be surprised, but somehow I'm not."

"Nothing but the best for me and my beverages. Ah!" he said as he pulled out two sodas. He sat down next to Mac and handed her one. They were both quiet for a minute until, without looking over at her, Dick said, "I want you to know I'm not drinking so much anymore."

"I'm glad," she said. "It can't have been good for your liver."

He nodded, the serious look on his face something Mac was unaccustomed to seeing. "For a while," he said haltingly, "I felt like I had to be out of it 24/7, because there was nothing else good in my life."

"Oh, Dick…" Mac said consolingly.

"What?" he said, finally looking at her.

"Oh. I have no follow-up. It just felt like the right thing to say."

Dick gave her a half-smile and shook his head.

"So tell me something, Mackie," he said. "Why did you choose to live at home if you don't like it there?"

"I don't know. I really don't. I love my family, but I've felt so out of place there for so long..."

"Because they're not really your family?"


"Whoa. Throw it in reverse here for a minute," Veronica said. "You told him about the hospital switch?"

"Yes," Mac said matter-of-factly. "And I don't regret it. Well, I guess I did a little when he realized he's had sex with the real Cindy Mackenzie. That got old fast. But other than that, I stand by my decision to tell him. Now if you don't mind, I'm in the middle of a story.


"I guess," Mac said. "But what really bothers me about the whole thing is that I'm in college now, but it seems like nothing has changed since high school. And the irony that I live at home now basically because I still only hang out with my high school friends has not escaped me."

She took a sip of her soda and some of it spilled down her cheek and trickled past her ear.

They were both quiet for a while, looking at the clear, starry sky and listening to the waves tumbling onto the sand.

"Hey, do you remember that time this summer when you and Wallace came to that party at that guy J.D.'s place and I was sort of a mess and you yelled at me?" Dick asked.

"I'm surprised you remember it."

"Nobody ever talks to me like that," Dick said in explanation.

"Sorry about that," Mac said.

He shrugged. "Once I looked up Peter Pan Syndrome the next day, I realized you were right about a lot of what you said. So, I've been trying to be more mature, you know, a little more adulterated."

Mac nodded, making sure to keep a straight face, because he seemed to be serious about what he was saying. "I have noticed that," she said. "And I'm sorry I called you Eloise at the Plaza."

"That's what I'm trying to say," Dick said. "I'm not Eloise anymore."

"I never really thought you were Eloise," Mac said with a smirk.

"I'm being all metaphorical and stuff, Mac, will you pay attention?"

"Okay, I'm listening. How are you metaphorically not Eloise anymore?"

"I bought a house."

Mac bolted upright, her flailing legs tipping over her Coke can in the process.

"What?"


"What?!"
"Yeah," Dick said, turning to face her fully. "Don't worry, I did a bunch of research. It's an investment, as Big Dick would say."

Her mouth still slightly open, Mac checked his face for any signs that he was kidding, but he was, as always, totally guileless.

"So anyway, I was thinking," he said. "You wanna move in?"

Mac stared, unable to say a thing even as soda seeped into her jeans.

"What?" she finally asked. "What?"

"I was thinking you might react like that," Dick said. "So I made up a list of reasons why you should come be my roommate."

"You made a list?" Mac repeated in a faint voice.

"Yeah, you ready?" Dick asked, pulling a crumpled piece of paper out of his back pocket. "Okay, number seven."

"Seven?"

"Seven: the house is too big for just me. I'm a sensitive soul, and I get lonely."

Mac rolled her eyes.

"Number six: I would be a good roommate—I'd open jars for you and get things off of high shelves."

Mac rolled her eyes with enthusiasm.

"Number five: Xbox and wi-fi, enough said. Number four: Logan says you're a good influence on me. Except for the time I shot that guy, I haven't gotten in any fights since we became friends, and I also haven't blacked out once since then."

"That is true," Mac said.

"Number two: it would be cheap. Number one: you wouldn't be living with your mom and dad anymore, but you could still visit them anytime." She opened her mouth but Dick quickly added, "And number zero, we'd have a lot of fun."

Mac waited a moment to be sure he was done, then said, "You skipped number three."

Dick consulted his list.

"Huh, you're right. Okay, move number seven to six and make six three."

Mac leaned back against the side of the truck bed and looked up, thinking about what he'd said. After a few minutes she looked back down at him.

"How cheap?" she asked.

Dick grinned at her and she couldn't keep herself from grinning back.


Next Chapter: Love Notes