We can feel the bump of the music as soon as we hit the neighborhood. It's a wonder the police haven't been called. My personal guess is that either the 09er parents are out of town or just plain don't care. I really wouldn't be surprised by either…the parents here, in general, tend to turn a blind eye toward their children's more illegal or unpleasant doings. Also, it's pretty common for parents in this zip code to take vacations on the whim. Of course, this isn't without its exceptions, for example, Meg Manning's parents are notoriously strict and thrifty.
"You ready?" Logan asks with a Cheshire cat grin as he parallel parks his Xterra between Casey Gant's Porsche Boxster and Madison Sinclair's Mercedes Benz.
"…as I'll ever be." I grumble and get out.
He immediately takes my hand, I don't think necessarily as a romantic gesture, but as a protective one. We're both not terribly welcome.
We walk in and I can immediately feel the glares of our peers.
"You want a drink?" Logan asks sheepishly, apparently feeling the same way.
"No. Sober Sally tonight, remember?"
He nods quickly and hands me off to Meg Manning as he goes to pour himself a drink.
"Hey, Veronica." She remarks sweetly, sipping from her plastic cup.
"Hey Meg, what're you drinking?" I point at her cup with a small smile.
She leans over and whispers in my ear, "It's actually Sprite, but shhh, don't tell anyone." She giggles and I can't help but grin back.
"Sneaky." I pause and take a cursory look at the crowd, searching for Logan. "So where's that boyfriend of yours?"
"Oh…Cole's probably blowing off some steam somewhere. My parents gave him hell when we left." She rolls her eyes and I can tell there's certainly more to the story than she's letting on, but I'm not going to pry.
After at least twenty of minutes of small talk, Logan finally wanders back, apparently a little worse for wear. He's not drunk yet, but he's at least a little buzzed.
He hugs me to him and we collapse on the nearest couch. Meg gives me a surprised look and I attempt to shrug back, the same expression resting on my face.
"You have fun, Logan?"
"Oh yeah."
"Ooh, I can tell." I get a whiff of his breath, a strange mix of mint and a tinge of alcohol. It's not nauseating, I have to admit…
"Ugh," He grumbles "It's cold out here."
"It is December, you know." I add matter-of-factly and he simply shakes his head.
He seems to be in deep thought for a few moments then and his eyes light up. "If memory serves, the Pomeroy's have a pretty bitching hot tub. You up for it, Ronnie?" He wiggles his eyebrows suggestively at me and I simply smirk back.
"No bathing suit, smarty pants."
"We'll just strip down like that time at my house, not a big deal. You're not wearing any naughty, naughty underwear, now are you?" He whispers in my ear teasingly and my cheeks flame bright red.
Me? Wear actual lingerie? That's more Lilly's forte. I'm more into the comfy, boy shorts family.
I look over at the hot tub, regarding it as a pit of damnation. Carmen Ruiz, among others, is topless. Every girl in there is topless. Me in my Mudd underwear? That's comparatively modest.
"Fine." I groan as he grins a devilish smile and takes me by the hand over to the hot tub. Upon our arrival, a look of distaste crosses everyone's faces as they grab their respective garments and vacate the area. As if I didn't feel like enough of a leper...
Logan gets right down to business, stripping off his clothes to bare an embarrassing pair of Batman logo boxers. Checking the perimeter, I slowly take off my clothes and slip in the steaming water.
"Now, now…that wasn't so awful, was it?" He laughs and wraps his arm possessively around my waist, clinging us together in a hot mess. Normally, I'd probably reprimand him…but tonight, it felt nice. Yes, nice. Comforting. Like a big comfy blanket…and all I could see was him. My best friend… and probably the only guy I've liked as much as Duncan, and probably even more.
…and he's leaning in, closer and closer. I meet him halfway and he finally grips me in a sweltering kiss, full of passion…and I can tell it's not just the alcohol in his system…it's all him. All Logan.
I don't care if anyone…if everyone's watching. After a few minutes of heavy making out, we break apart, breathless.
"What're we doing?" I breathe out, completely blown away.
"I…don't know!" He exclaims with a bright grin. We cuddle in closer and simply sit and talk for awhile, having had all the mental and physical exhaustion we could possibly take. During our conversation, I spot Lilly walking aimlessly through the crowd and past the hot tub only to collapse clumsily onto a lawn chair, passed out.
This is an extremely bad sign because Lilly never passes out. She's been drinking ever since she broke into her parent's liquor cabinet in the fifth grade. She has a higher tolerance for alcohol than even Logan. We always used to joke about how out of the four of us, Duncan was the lightweight and Lilly could probably drink her weight in alcohol and be absolutely fine…and the two were siblings. How two people can be so related and so absolutely different perplexes me…
"Logan, we need to help her." I finally say.
Logan's eyes follow my finger straight to the lawn chair and he immediately pops up and gets out of the hot tub, shaking the water off and quickly slipping on his clothes. I do the same, trailing behind him.
He simply picks her up carefully and carries her in a fireman's carry. We go inside the house and make our way through the drunken masses to find an empty bedroom. No luck, however, upon finding a last room with people just making out and not engaged in the aptly named "horizontal tango", Logan simply tells them to beat it as he gently lays her down. She looks so helpless this way.
"What do you think happened?" I ask, fear evident in my voice.
"She has to have been drugged, Veronica." Logan paces, wiping his forehead with his hand. He's sobered up quickly.
"Go find Duncan, he needs to get her home." I instruct, my motherly instincts setting in "I'll watch her."
He nods quietly and quickly leaves.
I sit for awhile, making sure she's breathing at a regular rate. How stupid of her to come, so soon after her surgery. No telling what could've happened.
"Oh, Lilly, you really shouldn't be drinking…" I murmur quietly and gently brush my fingers through her hair.
Logan coughs from behind me and I look over at him and Duncan.
"I'll get her home." Duncan says quietly, looking concerned. "Don't worry about it."
"We should probably go." Logan says to me and I nod in agreement. Once out the door, he squeezes my hand and I squeeze back.
"You okay to drive?" I whisper.
"Yeah, I'll uh, be fine." Normally, that kind of answer wouldn't suffice, but considering how focused and serious he's looking right now, I'd have to say he's sobered up considerably.
We make our way to his house, quiet the entire way. My dad reluctantly agreed that I could spend the night, seeing Logan as more of a confidante rather than a horny teenage boy bound on deflowering his only daughter. He's seen Logan's kindness, how he treats me, and he respects that…so much so that he's overlooked his typical overprotective father talk.
We idle in the driveway. I can tell by Logan's brooding body language that we're not going inside for quite awhile.
"Why shouldn't Lilly be drinking?" He asks quietly and my heart stops.
"What?" I ask as if I don't know what he was talking about.
"You said that she shouldn't be drinking…I heard you." He insists "Why?"
I simply look down and my clenched fingers and I can feel my cheeks flame. After a few moments of silence, Logan utters a simple "Oh".
"Lilly's pregnant." He says hollowly.
"She was." I reply, not even looking up. I can't face his eyes.
"She was? Did she miscar-?" He trails off "She got an abortion. How could you not tell me this, Veronica?"
"She told me not to."
"Don't you think I deserved a right to know? God…"
"She was as crazed as you are right now. Just as freaked out. She told me because she could trust me. Trust me not to tell you, not to tell anyone…trust me to help her."
"But-"
"Logan, think about the situation. Really think about it. You or your dad. Those odds..." I feel an odd, disgusted chill go up my spine.
He flinches and focuses his eyes on his steering wheel, fingers clenched around the sides. "How could you not tell me, Veronica? You're my best friend…more than that…and you couldn't…?"
"You think it was easy for me? It was hard, and I knew it'd be even harder if I did tell you. I wanted to, I did. I just couldn't. Can't you see that?" I finally look him in the eyes. I blink through my own tears to see his pained expression. Gently, I place my hand on his own, guiding it to the middle, intertwining our fingers. He bites his lip and finally nods, as if accepting an apology, saying to me that it's all right, that we'll be all right.
Ahh there's some drama for y'all! More actual LoVe in the next chapter! REVIEW! :D
