Day 3

The ball whizzed by her left ear. Turning, she stood to retrieve it and said, "Logan, I FEEL curious about what your stylist charges to frost your tips because, whatever it is, you're paying too much." She whipped the ball back with all her might, hitting him on the side of the head.

Logan's face turned red as he caught, then squished, the ball in his hand. "Veronica, I FEEL confused about Goodwill's pricing strategy. Is it 3 or 4 articles of clothing for a dollar? Or is that only on the butch stripper racks?" Logan tossed the ball back, waiting.

Game on, Logan.

Ms. James was not pleased. She had instructed one of them to hold the ball and say an "I feel" statement to the other one and then throw the "feelings ball" so that the other person could speak. "Stop. You both know this isn't what I meant to happen with this exercise. I think I overestimated your ability to act civilly." Ms. James paused, considering for a minute. "I do think it's important for both of you to express your feelings to the other but perhaps you would feel more comfortable doing that without my presence. Think about making some honest 'I feel' statements to each other in the next few weeks, okay?"

Veronica and Logan both nodded their heads in assent. They were instructed to go to the cafeteria to wash all of the student lunch trays by hand. Logan stormed off ahead of her and Veronica thought back to what happened at the sheriff's department the previous afternoon.

**FLASHBACK**

"Hi, I'm Veronica Mars and this is Logan Echolls. We'd like to make a statement in relation to the Shannon Hastings disappearance and I also have some photographs that may interest you. You must be new, Deputy…"

"D'Amato. Leo D'Amato."

"Nice to meet you. My dad is Keith Mars, he used to be the sheriff."

Leo gave Veronica a warm smile. "Ah, yes. I've heard good things. Well, everyone else is out on calls so I can take your statements."

Nice smile. Why didn't he work here when dad was the sheriff?

Leo led them back to one of the interrogation rooms. He took down Veronica and Logan's information and Veronica handed over the photos of Shannon Hastings and Adam Diehl. After they recounted the events of the past night, Leo asked a few more questions.

"Okay, one thing I don't understand is how you both ended up at the Camelot?"

Veronica looked at Logan. "That's a great question, Deputy. Logan, why DID you show up last night?"

Logan shifted in his chair. "I, uh, I was just curious about your stakeouts. And I wanted to see for myself you doing your PI thing."

Leo looked at Veronica. "So, are you two dating then?"

What!? Does he not see how much we loathe each other?

"NO! Absolutely not dating." Veronica chuckled and shook her head.

Leo grinned at her. "Are you, um, dating anyone else?"

Logan was becoming increasingly agitated. "Hey man, you think you could work your pickup lines on her when I'm not in the room? Oh, and by the way, she's only 17 so you may want to think twice given those pesky California statutory rape laws."

"LOGAN!" Veronica was horrified.

"Veronica! He's like way too old for you. But whatever. I'll see you outside." Logan pushed back his chair and slammed the door on his way out.

Leo cleared his throat. "Veronica, how about you come and see me if you ever want to talk? I'm not that much older than you and, um, I think you seem a lot older than 17. Here's my number if you ever need anything."

God, he's cute. It's about time my nonexistent love life picked up.

"Thanks, I'll… think about it." Veronica gave him a big smile and left.

**END FLASHBACK**

Logan sloshed the water around in the sink, getting it everywhere. Veronica bit her lip, hoping to get through the next hour without speaking or getting drenched. She wasn't feeling enthusiastic about either aspiration.

Logan donned yellow rubber gloves and started cleaning the trays with dish soap. He handed them to Veronica to wipe off and put on the racks to dry. They did their jobs in silence for ten long minutes, each quietly fuming. As usual, Logan was the first to break the silence.

"Are you really going to go out with that cop?" He looked at her, tense.

"I don't know. I might. It's not like I have tons of options at Neptune High with the entire student body thinking I'm a walking STD. An older guy may be just the ticket." And a fresh start would be nice. "And thanks for the statutory rape comment yesterday. Nice touch. Very classy."

Logan blew out a breath. "It may not have been classy, but it's fucking TRUE. That guy is what, like three years older than you? Come on, you know that's too old."

So Logan wants approval of my dates now?

"Sorry, next time someone asks me out I'll tell them to hold on while I check with you first. Sound good?"

"How about you just tell them you don't date?" He snapped back.

"Well, actually, I haven't dated in a very long time because SOMEONE ruined my reputation and I figure it's time to end the dry spell." And why not start with the cute deputy?

Veronica turned and moved the full rack of trays back to the spot by the window. They had one more rack to go before they could leave for the day.

"Hey, Veronica?"

She walked back to him and gave a mumbled, "Hmm?"

"This is what I think about you dating a 20 year-old cop." And he proceeded to squirt her head to toe with the spray faucet.

"AHH! You are SUCH a jackass." She wrestled him for the faucet and squirted it all over his face and hair. After a few minutes of laughing and fighting for control of the faucet, they both ended up soaking wet, out of breath, and still had to finish the rest of the trays.

Veronica took a quick peek down at herself and spun away in embarrassment. There was no disguising her nipples in the thin shirt she wore. She would just have to pretend it didn't bother her. They may not be much but at least they're all mine. Poker face on, Mars. It could be worse, my shirt could be white.

Logan seemed to have noticed because he took a look at her in all her glory and then carefully avoided eye contact. He started unbuttoning his top shirt. Why did he wear so many layers all the time?

"Hey, if you're… cold, you can wear my shirt." He held it out for her but she shook her head. It's not like it would be much help since it was as least as wet as the rest of her clothes.

"No, I don't think it'll help. Let's just get this done then we can mop up and go home."

"Well, in that case, I'll finish and you can go. I'll say you're in the bathroom if Ms. James comes back. I should clean it up since I started it."

Wow. That's really… thoughtful of him. Maybe he is serious about being sorry.

"Yeah, okay, thanks, I guess." Veronica started to ring out her shirt and hair.

"Will you look at me, please." Veronica crossed her arms in front and stood against the drying rack, waiting for him to speak. Logan looked serious. He tilted his head down and looked up at her with dark eyes through long lashes. "I am so, so sorry for how I treated you after Lilly died. I know I already said it and you told me to fuck off but I think it bears repeating. I messed up, okay. I know it. And I… FEEL terrible because I miss you. I miss having you in my life."

I miss you, too. The old Logan. My friend Logan. Who stayed up talking with me so many nights after Lilly and Duncan fell asleep. Who helped me with my Spanish homework. Who showed me how to cheat at cards so Duncan would lose. Who covered for me about my mom when she was too drunk to function. Who texted me when he found a new favorite song. Who brought me treats from Mrs. Navarro.

But I can't trust you anymore. I really wish I could, though.

"I, um, have to go." Veronica turned and fled.

Veronica went home to change before heading to Mars Investigations. She found her dad there, back from a successful trip.

"Hi, dad."

Keith came out of his office to give his daughter a hug. "Hi, honey. Everything okay?"

Veronica nodded. "Right as rain. I stopped by the sheriff's department yesterday to give a statement about Shannon Hastings. I also turned over the pictures I took."

"Thanks, can I see them?"

"Yeah, I downloaded them to my laptop. I'll put them on the server so you can check 'em out. Any idea where she may have gone?"

"It's in the hands of the police now so I don't want you to worry about it." Veronica rolled her eyes. "I'm being serious here. You are not to follow any more leads on this case. It could be dangerous. Are we clear on that?"

Veronica grinned back at him. "Crystal." She opened her laptop and uploaded the pictures to the secure server for her dad to review and got to work running some background reports for other clients.

"Veronica, will you please come in here?"

"What's up?"

"What car were you in when you took these? The angle is all wrong for the LeBaron so don't even try to lie to me."

Of course he noticed. It isn't easy to fool a professional investigator. And I thought I could slip those right by him. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

"Well, actually, it's kind of a funny story. Logan Echolls happened to show up at the Camelot that night and I took them from the back seat of his SUV."

Keith ran his hands over his bald head. "I'm going to need a bit more explanation than that. I'm not freaking out yet but I'm close."

"It's not what you think. AT ALL. I swear. He just overheard me at school saying I was going to be there and I guess he got curious and came by uninvited. Then when my shot got blocked from the street, he pulled in closer so I could get what I needed. He did kind of help me out."

"And what kind of SUV does Logan drive?"

"A yellow XTerra."

"Really? Well, that's not going to stick out at all. Please tell me the lot was full."

Veronica looked down. She knew getting into the bright yellow car was a problem. There were probably only a handful of them in the entire state of California and likely only one in Neptune. Yep, it's hard NOT to remember jackass yellow.

"I wish. It was empty. We were the only other car there."

"Veronica. This is serious. There may be foul play involved with this case and one of the possible suspects almost certainly saw the yellow SUV. I think I need to call the Echolls' and let them know about this."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Will you let me tell Logan first? I want to make sure he tells his parents before you do."

"Okay, I'll give you until tomorrow morning so you'd better do it tonight."

And I thought I'd have another day before needing to talk to Logan. What am I going to do about his apology?