Hey guys! The reviews some of you leave me are amazing even if I don't reply, I do read each one. I will try to keep the chapters longer and I'm kind of hesitant about this chapter. It makes the story more intense than I'd like because the story-line I'm creating is more or so based of a romantic comedy. However, I want to keep the characters true to the show. They all had troubled backgrounds and had flawed characters as people, who made us true fans love them for it. Please, please, let me know what you make of this chapter. I can take the story into so many different plot lines from here, let me know what you think. Thank you!
Veronica stared out into the ocean waves that Logan was now riding. She sat for five minutes just watching him before she got up and decided it was time to go home. She needed to make sure she made it home in time to delete any voice mails the school might have left on her being absent.
She tied Back Up to his leash and headed home. For some reason she had the urge to look back at Logan but decided against it because he might catch her staring. However, if she had she would have seen that Logan was floating on his surfboard already staring after her.
When Veronica made it home what she found at her doorstep were her two best friends carrying fast-food bags.
"If it isn't my two self-appointed therapists with pity food." she said smiling to Mac and Wallace.
"If I say it has extra cheese, can we come in?" Mac answered first.
Veronica stood for a couple of seconds pretending to consider the options. "Deal!" she said as she passed them to open the front door to her house, letting Back Up and her guests in.
"So gang how do we begin this pity party," she asked as she went over to the cupboard to get plates for them.
"Come on Supafly, I can't go engaging in girl talk or I might lose my manhood," Wallace said as he and Mac sat on the couch. They placed the food on the coffee table.
Mac ignoring Wallace's comment said, "Come on Q tell us how your really feel? You know me and Wallace are here for you."
Veronica passing out the plates to them said, "What is there to say Mac? People suck and love stinks. I'm only sad for Duncan because he won't get to show me off at the Centennial Dance. I mean, we were going to dress up our love in sequins and shoulder pads, and now I'm going to be alone, strapped in uncomfortable underwear."
"You're actually planning to go to that thing," Mac asked surprised.
Veronica only shrugged back. Wallace instead answered, "As the male friend of this trio, you know I'd take you V, but I actually want to have fun some after." Then raising his eyebrows to the mischievous implication said, "If you know what I'm talking about."
Mac and Veronica looking at him then at each other laughed. "I'm serious! As much as I love hanging around you two, I need to show the boys' on the team which way I roll," Wallace said grudgingly.
"Why the sudden need for a flash of testosterone?" Veronica asked as she moved her share of burger and fries until her plate.
As Mac and Wallace did the same, he answered hesitantly, "No offense, but
being seen with two girls and no action is giving me a reputation."
"What would that be?" Mac asked biting into her burger.
Wallace paused to get both their attention. "A flamboyant type," he said seriously.
Mac almost choked in on her burger a she and Veronica burst out laughing.
They spent the next half hour eating and clowning on each other before
Wallace said, "Well I got to get back home and work on my shots. Coach is riding us out all week because of the game loss on Friday. I mean it ain't my fault Kevin can't keep up with the rebounds."
"Poor Wallace, being dragged down by amateurs," Veronica said jokingly.
"Better recognize! Anyway, my boy is passing by here so he is giving me a ride. Admire me as I walk away ladies," he said smiling.
Mac yelled behind him, "Nice to see you stay modest Wallace!"
As he left, Veronica and Mac cleaned up and washed the dishes at the sink. As Veronica washed them, Mac leaned on the counter.
"But really V how do you feel?" Mac asked picking up the feelings interrogation again.
"I'll be okay Mac," she said obviously not wanting to drag on the matter.
Mac getting the point said, "Well you're better off anyway. Love makes people lazy. It is a dangerous drug. It kills more brain cells than crystal meth."
Veronica smiled at her loyal attempt to be reassuring.
"So where did you spend all day anyway?" Mac asked curiously.
"I was at Dog Beach and as my good luck would have it, I ran into my best friend Logan Echolls," she said with a sour face.
"A pleasant encounter guaranteed," she said sarcastically.
"Of course, but I actually wonder what the my lovely ex-sister in law did this time," she said mockingly.
"Well, from what the gossip mill is making out in the locker room Lily cheated on him with that chary looking dude Troy." Mac offered.
A look passed over Mac and she asked Veronica, "How did you know she was the source of his sorrows if you weren't at school?"
"Mac, that better be a rhetorical question. I mean who in Neptune High doesn't know that when Logan Echoll's is being more of a jackass than usual it has something to do with that blonde. Besides, Duncan had his fair share of mouth trashing his sister," she said as her best answer.
Mac took it and moved on to a different conversation topic. But Veronica's mind drifted to the truth. Logan had changed physically along with his reputation since they had been friends but deep down he was still the same person she had known only 2 years ago. He still ran away from conflict. The secret to keeping his serenity was still in the ocean waves. He still blamed himself for when things went wrong. Veronica was sure he still loved whole-heartedly and was why his heart agonized later when people left him disillusioned.
That had been one of the reasons that drove their adolescent friendship downhill. Logan had tried do that for her when her mom's drinking got out of control and destroyed her family. He had tried to be there for her but she was Veronica. If she was loved too much, she felt smothered and distanced herself. She had done just that, intentionally avoiding him in school and when he would call her, she would ask her dad to say she was not home.
They had become friends fast as kids because their personalities were like oil on water. She had been guarded and reserved even as a kid. She was careful who she gave her trust to and restrained from becoming attached to people to soon. Logan on the other hand wore his emotions on his sleeves and acted impulsively. As kids they filled in the gaps for each other but when they got older those gaps got bigger than either could fill.
Veronica grew up this way because inside doors her family had always been flawed. Her mom had suffered from chronic depression and her father had spent more time at work than at home. She had never had anybody else to count on at home and while her parents never mistreated her mentally or physically, it felt like they had. The lack of a real family bond made her grow up with many trust and commitment issues. She had never really had a friend to count on, since none could relate to her having their white-picket fence families with siblings and dogs included. She had felt like this all her childhood until she met Logan.
It may seem untrue to think two kids from different families can become that close but it happened. Maybe because both of them were only children and both came from troubled families. Each had gone through experiences that neither had asked for and none of their friends at that age could relate to. When they found each other through his mom's divorce case, it had been like finally being able to release a long-held breath. They had someone to share with and understand. Yet while they shared a bond of family troubles, they were still different. Logan had been the one to want to talk things out while Veronica preferred to deal with things alone.
When they were fourteen, Veronica's mother Lianne had finally fallen into major depression and her alcoholism became severe. Keith had tried to get her help many times in rehab, and during one of her stays she withdrew from the program. Not only did she quit, she took the refund money the rehab facility gave after a 30-day trial. She took the significant thousands and moved somewhere in Wisconsin with unknown relatives. She had only written a letter to Veronica saying she had to stay out of Veronica's life because she loved her.
"How does that even make sense," Veronica had asked her dad.
Keith had told her not to blame her mother that Veronica should try to understand. He told her not to look at her as the villain of the story, but all Veronica had said, "Isn't she?"
Keith had tried to explain and make excuses for her mother, saying it wasn't that simple. Veronica had said, "Yeah it is. The hero is the one that stays and the villain is the one that splits."
Now 3 years later, Veronica didn't allow herself to love more people than she could count on one hand. That's not the way to live, people would say but it sure helped when people failed her. She never really let new people in and maybe that was what happened with Duncan. He never felt like her knew her and got done trying, as Logan had.
