Veronica ran as fast as she could to the elevator and then to her car before Logan could see the tears that were threatening to fall. She'd be damned if she give him the satisfaction of seeing her cry, seeing how much he'd hurt her. How could she have been so stupid as to have believed all his waffle of the night before about how "epic" their relationship was. As she slammed her car door behind her, it occurred to her that it had to have been the liquor talking. He'd never been one who was good at baring himself emotionally so why the hell had she thought anything different last night? How could she have let herself believe that he'd been sincere?

"Oh, Ronnie, Ronnie, Ronnie," a voice at her side interjected. "Just because he was drunk and doesn't remember it today, that doesn't mean he didn't mean it."

Veronica glanced sideways at her best friend and let out a sigh. She was getting used to Lilly just appearing anywhere and everywhere now. Lilly's senseless murder may have taken place nearly two years ago, but she'd been seeing her long after her death, almost as if she were haunting her. "Then why was Kendall in his room?"

"Not the point, Braintrust," Lilly rolled her eyes. "The point is that he tossed her out on her keister." She nodded to the entrance of the Neptune Grand. "Look..."

Sure enough when Veronica looked up, she saw the trampy brunette stalking toward the valet station. She shook her head. Of course, she'd use the valet, not just park in the parking lot like a normal person. That was the difference between her and the 09er crowd and even though Kendall was nothing more than a gold-digger, she definitely fit in that crowd. That was the problem, Logan was firmly an 09er and always would be. It didn't matter that his father was on trial for Lilly's murder, Logan would always be the son of action hero, Aaron Echolls, and therefore always part of the elite crowd.

"You just stop those thoughts right now, Veronica," Lilly scolded her. "You were always one of us even if you didn't live in our zip code."

"Who are you trying to kid, Lilly? The only reason the 09ers accepted me was because of you and Duncan and now Duncan's-"

"Oh, yeah, he's a real prize," Lilly interrupted sarcastically. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I love my brother and I always will, but he blew things with you, knocked up his next girlfriend and now where is he? Who the hell knows since he did his little Houdini act with the baby and got you to help him with it."

Veronica let out a sigh and gripped the steering wheel tight. "Lilly, what are you doing here?"

"I'm here to give you a little advice...you've been handling this thing with guys all wrong. You let Duncan walk all over you after he got another girl in trouble and you even risked prison time helping him kidnap that baby."

"You don't understand. Meg's parents-"

"Were abusive assholes. I get it, but still, you didn't have to help him after he lied to you about Meg. Face it, your track record with men isn't exactly stellar."

"It hasn't been that bad."

"Puh-lease," Lilly scoffed. "What about poor Leo? You used that boy shamelessly, not that I think there's anything wrong with that, but you went from him to Logan. Really? MY boyfriend?"

"Maybe you should have remembered that he was your boyfriend when you were sleeping with his dad," her friend pointed out. Maybe you'd still be alive if you had, she thought morosely.

"Ronnie, come on, you know me. You know I'm not the wallow-in-self-pity type when I have a beef with a guy. I'm the give-them-a-taste-of-what-they're-missing type." She gave Veronica a stern look. "You should jump on that bandwagon like you did with Leo. You had that man willing to do anything for you, even risk his job, but you blew that one all because of Logan making googly eyes at you when you could do so much better."

"He was good enough for you," she retorted.

"No, he wasn't. If he was, do you think I'd have kept looking for something else? My advice to you is to do the same, play the field a bit, play hard to get. If you really want Logan and I'm not saying I approve because he was mine first, but if you really want him, nothing makes him crazier than playing hard to get."

"Yeah, well, I seem to recall that that's what got you killed, so I'll pass." She felt bad as soon as she said it because she still missed her best friend desperately.

"Touché. I'm impressed, but you just make sure that my killer's put away when you testify, tell them everything you saw on those tapes so he can't get away with it. As for Logan, well, do what you want, but don't be surprised if he doesn't come running if you don't give him a reason to. Sweet boy, but not strong in the taking-action department."

"Lilly..." Veronica's voice faded out and the second syllable, not sure she should ask what she really wanted to know.

"Go ahead and ask, Veronica. I know you're dying to."

"Did you love Logan?"

"Yes, I did. But here's a newsflash for you, I loved you too. You're my best friend, the closest thing to a sister I ever had. Why do you think it kills me...sorry, bad choice of words." She let out a sardonic laugh. "But why do you think it makes me so sad to see you two together? Not only together, but hurting each other?"

"But you hurt Logan all the time." She thought back to how sad Logan had been when he'd learned about Lilly messing around with Weevil, his mournful, I loved Lilly...and Lilly loved guys. "You just told me that I oughtta' do the same." She felt the slightest twinge of guilt for being with Logan when he'd been Lilly's boyfriend first. But why should you? You're alive. Lilly's dead.

"Oh, I never suggested being like me. I know you, V. You could never sleep around, but if he just thought you were, that might wake him up."

"That's not how I operate," Veronica denied adamantly. "I don't hurt people just because they hurt me." Liar, she argued with herself. Weren't you the one telling Meg just a year ago about getting even? And Carmen when she was with that douchebag, Tad?

"Oh, please, you totally operate that way. You just use your little job in your daddy's detective agency to do the damage. Do we need to talk about what you did to Troy when you found out what he was up to?"

"Troy was a drug dealer," Veronica argued. So much had happened since then, she'd almost forgotten about Troy.

"But tell me that revenge wasn't sweet."

Veronica shrugged. She had to admit that it had been nice seeing Troy get what was coming to him. "Okay...maybe, but still...Logan is..." She took a deep breath. "It's complicated."

"So un-complicate it. If nothing else, at least get something you want out of it. The boy was practically pouring his heart out to you last night."

"And this morning, he didn't remember a word of it."

"Give him time. He may need you before you know it." Lilly leaned across the console, gave her friend a kiss on the cheek and disappeared.

"What the hell?" Veronica questioned as she was once again alone in her car. She let out a tiny shiver as she wondered what Lilly's last words to her had meant. Being a ghost, did she have inside information on what was to come? She shook her head and decided not to think about it. She needed to get home and do some serious prepping for the upcoming trial.