A last look back to the college years.
Dick stared out at the horizon. That thin unchanging line at the furthest point of his vision. He enjoyed nothing more than sitting on his surf board looking out at that constant margin.
Whenever he felt at his lowest he knew that coming down to the ocean and looking out to that ever present view would eventually level him back out.
Two broken fingers forced him to stay on the beach. His hands shook from an ever growing hangover while he sipped water from a bottle. Regrets from the previous evening lying heavy on his mind. He had unburdened himself on Mac. Put her in a position where she had to come to his aide and listen to a horde of sob stories.
Dick recalled standing in the elevator by her side, wondering who else in his life would have spent the night in a hospital waiting room with his sorry ass. He couldn't think of many, Logan? maybe.
He tried to imagine Madison being there in his hour of need. She would have complained about the state he was in. She would have complained about the stench of the dumpster, he would have counted himself lucky if she stayed long enough to help into a cab before ditching him to return to the party.
That would have been preferable to being found by Veronica. She would have probably left him where he lay after giving out a few choice lectures about his life choices. That girl struggled to say hello without turning it into a prologue.
Mac had been different. She was quiet and unassuming. When she spoke, her words were short and meaningful. But mainly she had just listened.
Dick realised when sitting by that dumpster that Cindy Mackenzie had become his horizon.
Taking another sip of water in an attempt to replace lost fluid from the night before, he closed his eyes and thought back to the day he first stored away her eyes and shy smile to memory.
Mr Kennedy's eighth grade study hall was the worst class of the week. He had demanded complete silence in the room, if he heard you cough it led to a weeks worth of detentions.
A short, skinny Dick Jr. had been staring at the new girl sat in front of him. She had long red hair that bounced across smooth milky shoulders and pale pink lips and brought out the Tiffany blue of her eyes. She was very cute and he wondered what her name was.
While sat infatuated with the girl, he felt a commotion in his peripheral vision. A young Dick turned to see a mass of darkness sat next to him. He hadn't even realised anyone was sat there until that moment. It was a girl with long dark hair, black pants and a dark blue hoodie. No wonder he hadn't noticed her, she could have been mistaken for a shadow.
The shadow was looking down at a yellow writing pad on her desk when she exploded with silent energy. The little brunette looked like she had just discovered the meaning of life or a way to bring about world peace. Maybe even invented the recipe for the everlasting gobstopper. Her head spun around wanting to share her revelation and Dick just happened to be the one looking her way.
Those big almond shaped eyes lit up brightly with pure happiness and her wonderful smile still remained the most genuine he's ever seen. He smiled back reactively and she suddenly realised that he wasn't one of her friends, in fact she hardly even knew him. Her smile faded to an embarrassed smirk.
Dick continued to watch when she turned back to the page on the desk. She held it aloft and applauded her mystery discovery. Little Cindy Mackenzie seemed to allow herself one last glance back at him and he saw the small shy smile at the corner of her mouth. His favourite. It always looked like she was desperately trying to hold back a bigger smile. He fell in love with that smile.
That cute redhead faded out of existence at that point for Dick. Her pastel colours blended into the background of summer. It was nice but it no longer compared to the brightness that had shone out of the little mass of darkness to his side.
Mac was a burning star, visible light-years away against the back drop of a black night sky.
Dick opened his eyes and looked out at the ocean again. It was a good memory, one that had kept him company for a long time. But now he was beginning to think he wanted more. He had told Logan he wasn't ready to give up on all the other girls, but that was said because he knew Mac could never be interested in him.
If he thought for a second that she could be…..he might feel differently.
Mac sat in her childhood bedroom at her mom and dad's house. Dick's T-shirt she'd worn home sat on the end of her bed and she couldn't stop staring at it.
'People don't change.' She had heard that statement many times over the years, but she wasn't entirely sure that was true.
Maybe people couldn't change by their own will but she believed that events in life definitely had the ability to change who you were. Sometimes she wondered if Cassidy would have done such terrible things if that bastard Woody Goodman hadn't happened along.
Mac never thought she be considering that question in regards to Dick, but she had seen something different in him. She wondered if he had changed. There were hints that he had actual feelings. Hints that he cared about more than just getting laid.
Maybe she was just falling foul of the age-old need for women to help fix the broken.
Maybe there was more to him than she realised.
Maybe she would like to see if they could be friends.
Maybe she wouldn't mention any of this to Veronica.
She could pick the movie. That's what Logan had told Mac and now Dick was standing at the suite door staring down at a copy of Harry Potter on DVD.
He should have been attending a Greek mixer with his Pi Sig brothers and now Dick was seriously wondering why he hadn't decided to spend the evening with loose Sorority girls who were pretending to be classy.
"Out of all the films in the history of the world and you picked Harry Potter?" Dick asked a little irritated by her choice.
"Millions of people can't be wrong" she answered brightly walking past him looking for Logan.
In the two weeks since Dick had broken his fingers Mac had been at the penthouse on numerous occasions. He wondered just when she had found time to hang out with Veronica, Parker and that really nerdy guy with the glasses. But he wasn't complaining. She may have been there to hang out with Logan but he was more than happy to gate-crash.
They played Guitar Hero while they waited for their friend. It was fun and easy and Dick was quite happy to play all night if it meant that they would have to miss out on the adventures of the boy wizard.
After a particularly good round Dick performed a little 'In your face' dance at his guitar hero superiority even with still healing fingers . He glanced up to see Mac had stopped smiling. She had that distant look in her eye and he knew what it was.
It was another damn 'Cassidy' moment. It happened a lot. She saw something in him that reminded her of Beav and it knocked her back. The mood in the room would change and whatever strides forward they made in their friendship seem to take a step backwards.
The whole thing was starting to get to him. They were brothers, he couldn't help how they were alike. His little brother had taken this girl from him at the winter carnival and he was still trying to do it now.
Dick turned away from Mac trying to hide a moment of anger that had quickly consumed him. He stood staring out the balcony window then felt her hand on his arm. She had come over to check on him.
He seized hold of the brunette and pushed her forcibly up against the glass wall Pinning himself to her, he could feel the heat of her body radiating against his own.
"Dick, what are you doing?" fear filled her words. Her hands pushed weakly against his chest.
"I needed to know what it's like to be with you without my brother getting between us for once" he replied intensely.
The fast beat of her heart pounded against his own. Taking a moment to look down he saw panic in her eyes. 'What was he doing?' A whispered apology fell from his lips and Dick ashamedly pulled back putting some distance between them.
But resistance stopped his attempt to retreat. Mac's hands that had been set to push him away now curled in fists clinging to the material of his shirt, pulling him closer. He looked again at those frightened eyes to see the fear laced with anticipation.
He rested his forehead against her shoulder. Did she really want to do this?, with him?. His hands tested the boundaries and slowly moved to her hips. Dick felt her thrust forward to meet him. There was his answer.
Tilting his head a little at her shoulder, his lips gently make contact with the crook of her neck, Some of his self-control vanished when he heard Mac suck in a breath at his touch. Hands pulled vigorously at her shirt, needing to feel her bare skin underneath. His mouth continued to explore the curve at her throat, every sound Mac tried to suppress acted to spur him on.
Dick pushed a knee between her legs raising it upwards against her thighs. It lifted her slightly off the floor, pinning her harder against the glass. Another hitch of breath and he could feel a change in her.
He had scarcely started on the things he wanted to do to her and she was already coming undone.
Following the line of her jaw Dick kissed his way towards her mouth. He wanted to see what she tasted like, desperately. A loud bang stopped him from finding out and he turned to see Logan stood staring at them.
The shock of the interruption made Dick jump so much he almost careered through the glass window, Mac still in his arms.
Logan seemed blind to what was in front of him and as Dick untangled him self from Mac he could see his friends blindness was due to red mist clouding his vision.
"How am I supposed to get her back when she's moved across the state" Logan boomed, he words directed straight at Mac.
Dick looked between the two of them and saw the brunette had as much clue to what was going on as he did.
"Dude just calm down and tell me what's happened" he said moving in front of Mac to act as a barrier.
"Veronica's transferred to Stanford. She's gone, she's already left." he answered, his voice still roaring across the room, despair hidden in the tone.
"What?" Dick heard Mac whisper behind him, total surprise at the news was evident in her voice.
"You've been coming over here for weeks, how could you not tell me she was leaving?" he shouted around Dick towards her.
"I didn't….I didn't know" she quietly replied
"Bullshit!" Logan painfully yelled back, his eyes burning with tears.
"Hey!" Dick reactively shouted back matching Logan's angry tone for a second.
"If she said she didn't know, then she didn't know" he added watching his best friend fall back on to the couch, head in his hands.
"How am I supposed to get her back now? I thought I had more time" Logan repeated more to himself then anyone else in the room.
Dick looked back at Mac. He wore an apologetic look in his eyes. One that said 'I need to stay here with my best friend' .
Mac got the hint, her hand was already on her phone. She wanted to know what the hell was going on with Veronica. If she really had left why would she have kept it a secret?. She saw herself out of the penthouse, leaving her 'moment' with Dick hanging unfinished in the air.
Mac would never know Dick's feelings for her had started in the eight grade just like Dick would never know just how hard and fast Mac had fallen for him in those few short weeks.
Because after all the Veronica and Logan drama settled down he never called her.