Chapter 9 – Party at a rich dude's house

Whoa oh, there's a party at a rich dude's house

"So, how about you have a party today, after the game?" Lily suggested to Scott.

"Sure, my parents are out of town," Scott agreed easily.

"Great!" Lily replied enthusiastically. "I'll let the girls know, and I'm sure they'll spread the word."

"I'm sure they will," Scott said dryly. "I'll let the guys know, anyway. Um, about Liam, do you want me to let him know that he shouldn't come?"

"It's alright," Lily answered. "You know it was me who arranged for the beautification of his car, I've dealt my revenge. It's time to let him off the hook."

Lily also wanted to give Liam a chance to behave nicely around her, she'd told him that's what she'd be looking for, and a party would be temptation for him not to behave. It was a trial of sorts.

"Yeah, it was definitely your handiwork babe. Remind me never to piss you off," Scott replied.

"You'd better believe it!" Lily told him. "Class time, work first and play later," she said, kissing him goodbye swiftly.

Scott stared as he watched his girlfriend disappear. She was really something else sometimes.

"Party at Scott's tonight after the game, Soph," Lily told her when she was seated next to her in class.

"Awesome," Sophie enthused. "It might have trouble topping the last party, excitement wise."

"That kind of excitement I can live without," Lily replied. "Partying however, I am very much up for!"

"Do the others know yet?" Sophie asked.

"Yeah, I texted them. I only have class with you now, and I wanted to give them notice," Lily told her.

"Can't wait! So, do you think the boys will win tonight?" Sophie asked.

"I don't know. I mean, they've had a pretty good run so far, but so has the team they're playing next," Lily replied. "We'll see."

"Well at least if they lose they'll have hot cheerleaders on the sidelines as a consolation prize," Sophie remarked.

"Please, we're no one's consolation prize! Chris doesn't let you think that, does he?" Lily asked.

"No, no, of course not. You know I just meant they'd probably rathe win that have us around shaking pompoms. Things are good with Chris, early stages, but good," Sophie replied.

"Good, I'm glad you're happy," Lily said sincerely. "Oh good, Mr Murphey is here. I hope he's in a better mood today."

By lunch word about the party had spread, at least through the 09er crowd. Not many people outside it were invited, only boyfriends and girlfriends and the occasional best friend, but those were rare cases. There were some people on the football and cheerleading team who weren't 09ers, but they're positions on those teams gave them rights to popularity. They tended to get along well enough with the 09ers, and were included in most of their parties, particularly after football games.

Game time came and Neptune managed to maintain their winning streak, but only narrowly. Scott played a particularly good game, so it seemed fitting that the party had already been arranged to be at his house. The teenagers gathered their things and made their way to Scott's, large quantities of alcohol in tow. It was Scott's one condition, he didn't want to have to worry about replacing his parent's alcohol. The 09ers did tend to bring a lot of alcohol to their parties, but they often used the on hand supply at the house too.

At Scott's Lily changed into a long sleeve, gold bandage dress. It was the beginning of November and the weather had started to cool down substantially. Lily knew the dress left little to the imagination, it didn't show a lot of skin, but it was figure-hugging. She wanted to see if Liam was going to be able to control himself, regardless of how she looked.

People began flooding into Scott's house and soon the party was under way. Lily was in the mood to party, and she and her friends started off the night by doing shots, followed by dancing and then more drinks. They had been partying for a while when Lily noticed the time, then realised that it was getting late and Liam hadn't arrived.

Keira pulled Lily aside to get new drinks and said to her, "You know, the quarterback not being her is kind of conspicuous, Lil. You had your fun all week, you could've let Scott say it was alright for him to come."

"But I did say it was alright," Lily protested. "I'm ready to let him off the hook, I don't know why he's not here."

"Oh, but, I assumed he wasn't coming, I mean you're wearing that dress, and well he isn't here," Keira said incoherently.

"This dress?" Lily said amused. "It's just a dress, it even covers a lot more skin that some of my others," she added impishly.

"You know full well what I mean Lily Kane! That dress looks like it's been painted onto you! You look hot, but if I was your boyfriend I'd be jealous, and you know it!" Keira said in exasperation.

Lily just grinned back.

"Are you trying to make Scott jealous then? Keep him on his toes or something? Is it a 'we've had sex and I need to keep you interested thing'?" Keira asked her. "If you thought Liam would be here, why would you wear that, you know it could make potential trouble. God, I've had to much too drink to argue about this now!"

"You and me both," Lily replied. "I like this dress, I know that much, I've had too much to answer any of those questions. I love Scott, not Liam, so let's leave it there."

"Right, well let's go dance then!" Keira exclaimed, and it appeared that the matter was closed for the time being.

Party 'til the break of dawn, come on let's do it

Lily, Keira, Scott and Ethan were sprawled on a couple of lounges, talking, laughing and drinking when Liam arrived. The party had been in swing for some time, and his absence had been noticed with interest, so when the quarterback was spotted entering the house, a loud cheer erupted.

Liam grinned and gave a nod of acknowledgement to the general crowd. He moved through the house until he found Lily, and the others, laughing riotously on the lounges. He didn't move up close to them, but just stood a little way off, taking in the scene before him.

Ethan was the first one to notice him, "Hey dude, how's the car? Barbie come to claim in back?"

Lily and Keira went off into peals of laughter, both were fairly drunk by this point. Scott chuckled along with them.

"Yeah, good one Masters, already heard the Barbie jokes though," Liam retorted. "The car's in the shop anyway. It will be returned to it's former glory by Monday." He shot a triumphant glance at Lily and she just grinned back. For now, their war was over, and they were at an impasse. Currently, she was drunk and he was trying to tread very carefully.

"Anyway, I'll leave you guys to it," Liam said, and wandered off through the house. He couldn't stay around Lily, not with her dressed like that. It wasn't fair to either of them. His date from the Homecoming dance, Olivia, came up to him and started flirting obviously. He let her, he had no intention of pursuing anything with her, but she was a good distraction for the time being.

Back in the living room Scott said, "Well it looks like he's going to behave. I'm kind of relieved, the drama was getting tiring."

Ethan nodded and bumped fists with him. Lily just stayed where she was, sitting comfortably in Scott's lap. Keira however muttered drunkenly to herself, "Don't count your chickens before they're hatched."

Just then the doorbell rang, which was odd, seeing as everyone usually just let themselves in when there was a party. Lily pulled herself out of Scott's lap, he stood up too, and they went to the door together, Lily a teetering a little in her heels.

Scott opened the door, hoping that it wouldn't be Sheriff Mars, that would be awkward. Instead Logan Echolls and Dick Casablancas were standing there. Lily almost fell over in shock and Scott mentally hit himself over the head.

"Uncle Logan, Uncle Dick!" Lily finally managed. "What are you doing here, is everything alright?"

"Are we coming in or are you coming out?" Logan asked.

Lily assessed the noise and general debauchery levels and decided to step outside. "I'll come out here, see you inside in a minute Scott."

"What's up?" Lily asked, trying to sound as composed as possible.

"Tag team, dude?" Dick asked Logan.

Logan grinned in reply and began, "Well it's this was Lil. Your Dad had to go on an unexpected business trip tonight, and Eva managed to get a few days off, so she'd gone with him."

"So," Dick said, taking over, "you've been left in Ronnie and Logan's care. DK tried to call your cell, but you never answered, so he left Ronnie to let you know."

"Ronnie called a few times after that, but you still didn't answer, so she started to get worried. She's getting so maternal in her old age," Logan mused affectionately.

"Yeah, and Mackie, being hormonal, started to worry too. So they sent the two of us here to check on you," Dick finished.

"Yes, they know we're experts in all matters of 09er parties," Logan added. "So here were are, and here you are, absolutely wasted I might add, young lady."

"But we're the fun uncles," Dick continued, "so you can stay here, and we're just going to tell Ronnie that you're fine and having fun. But you owe us, probably about a weeks worth of babysitting."

Lily stood there throughout the whole conversation, feeling vaguely like she was in Alice in Wonderland with Tweedledee and Tweedledum.

"So, what is exactly I'm supposed to do?" Lily asked, a little confused.

"Well, no driving, you should probably stay here until tomorrow. Oh, and no sex. Then sober up, and be at our house tomorrow for lunch," Logan said.

"And why are you here exactly?" Lily asked, still not entirely sure of all the details.

"Because you didn't answer you phone for hours, we were bored, and Mac and Ronnie were worried," Dick explained.

"Right," Lily said. "Okay. Um, tell them I'm sorry, and that I'm fine and having fun. I'll see you tomorrow Uncle Logan, bye Uncle Dick. Sorry you had to come out so late."

Dick and Logan looked at each other and grinned. "No trouble Lily-love," Dick said.

"We live for things like this, or at least, we use to," Logan remarked. "Be good, and I mean it, no sex! I will know, you know."

Lily nodded dumbly, quite believing him.

"Wait, how did you know where I was?" Lily asked as an afterthought. "I just told Dad I was going to a party after the game."

"Ronnie traced your cell," Dick said with a grin.

"Oh, right," Lily said, feeling stupid. "Well, bye." With that she turned and walked back inside with as much poise as she could muster. She turned and waved at Logan and Dick, and they walked back to Logan's car, very pleased with themselves.

Inside, Lily found Scott leaning against the bar, talking to Michael. She leaned up against him, circling an arm around his torso.

"What was that all about?" Scott asked her with interest.

"Well, as far I can tell, Dad and Eva have gone away on a business trip unexpectedly, I haven't been answering my cell, and Uncle Logan and Uncle Dick were bored and looking to have some fun," Lily summarised, quite accurately.

"Right. So everything's all good?" Scott asked for clarification.

"Yep. No problems. So, I'm going to get another drink and find the girls," Lily said, and she pressed a kiss to his cheek in farewell.

And the sun is coming up and oh my God I think I'm still drunk

The party lasted well into the hours of the morning, in fact, the last few stragglers were leaving just as the dawn came. Lily and her friends had continued to dance, and played a couple of drinking games. Liam didn't go near Lily for the rest of the party, he only stopped to say goodbye to her and Scott as he left.

Scott wearily closed the door as the last guests left. He turned and found Lily lying on a lounge, and flopped down next to her, cuddling up to her. Lily giggled and said, "So, we have the house to ourselves."

She tried to stand up and lead Scott away, but only succeeded in stumbling and falling back onto the lounge, giggling some more.

"What you need is to sober up and get some sleep," Scott told her.

"Fine," Lily huffed. "But you're coming with you."

"Damn straight I'm coming with you, I'm exhausted," Scott replied.

Up in Scott's room Lily peeled off her dress and Scott tossed her a hoodie of his. They both crawled into his bed just as the sun came up. They fell asleep almost immediately, and didn't wake until the sun was high in the sky.

Lily sat up slowly, trying to decide if she was sick or not. Upon reaching a fully upright position she decided that no, she did not have an enormous hangover, luckily.

Scott sat up next to her, still looking tired. "What are you doing Lil, don't you want to sleep more?"

"Can't, I've got to get to Aunt Veronica's for lunch," Lily answered.

"Alright. You feeling okay? You kind of drank a lot last night," Scott commented, beginning to wake up more.

"Yeah, I feel alright," Lily replied.

"You're probably not completely sober yet," Scott guessed. "If you stay awake you'll probably avoid a hangover. Take some Tylenol before you go, that should help make sure you don't get a hangover."

"Good idea. I'm just going to run down to my car and grab my clothes from yesterday, then head home," Lily told Scott. "You can go back to sleep if you want."

Lily trotted out to her car, holding up the pair of sweatpants she'd borrowed from Scott to complete her ensemble. She grabbed her things and went into the downstairs bathroom, changed and freshened up. She looked around the house and chuckled. She then slipped back upstairs and kissed Scott's cheek and said, "I'm going now. I'll talk to you later."

"Bye Lil," Scott murmured sleepily.

"By the way," Lily said, trying to contain her mirth, "you might want to get a cleaning crew in here or something."

Scott groaned, rolled over and buried his head in his pillow, apparently intent on sleeping.

Lily giggled quietly, picked her things up, left the house and drove home so she could change into fresh clothes before she went to the Echolls'.

Lily arrived at the Echolls', curious as to what Logan would have told Veronica about the previous evening. She knew Veronica was far from stupid, so even if Logan had sugar coated Lily's activities, Veronica would still be able to make a pretty good educated guess regarding the real story.

Lily opened the front door, stepped in and called, "Hello!" She knew Aubrey was usually awake at this time of the day, so it was fairly safe to make noise.

"In here," Veronica called from the living room.

Lily wandered in and set her things down on a nearby table. "Hi Aunt Veronica, hi Aubrey, you're getting so big!"

"I hope you're not referring to me," Veronica said dryly.

"Funny," Lily retorted. "Of course I mean Aubrey."

"How was your evening?" Veronica asked.

Now there was a loaded question if ever there was one. Loaded questions, the old Veronica Mars specialty.

"It was pretty good, we won the game, and the party was good fun," Lily replied carefully.

"Yes, it must've been really fun if you didn't answer your cell," Veronica returned.

"Oh Aunt Ronica, I am so sorry about that! I felt so bad when Uncle Logan and Uncle Dick showed up," Lily said remorsefully.

"Oh I'm not really annoyed," Veronica told her. "I was a little bit worried, but I didn't think you were in danger. I guess we were all a little bored and looking for some fun really," Veronica owned. "So Dick and Logan volunteered to 'check' on you, or rather, have a bit of fun."

"Oh," Lily said, drawing the word out. "So, I'm not actually in trouble, you guys were just looking for some fun. Right. Wonderful. And naturally Dad doesn't need to hear anything about this, seeing as I did nothing wrong and there was no trouble."

"Pretty much," Veronica said with a grin. "But just to be on the safe side, you'd better keep your promise to babysit Aubrey and Caroline, just for good measure. I think it will ensure Duncan hears nothing about large quantities of alcohol."

Lily nodded dumbly, deciding that it would be easiest to agree, Veronica and Logan could both talk circles around her. Besides, she adored Caroline and Aubrey, it was a small price to pay to keep her dad in the dark.

"How'd your little prank go?" Veronica asked, indicating that the party topic had been dealt with.

"Great," Lily replied, grinning like a Cheshire cat. "He also seems to have learnt his lesson, but I will time will have to tell. I like proof you know."

"Ah," Veronica said, wiping away an imaginary tear, "I have taught you well, young one."

Lily giggled, "You and Uncle Logan use Yoda impersonations at the weirdest times. You don't look like the type of people who would, either."

"Look beyond what you see," Veronica said, imitating Rafiki's voice from The Lion King.

"Too many movie references!" Lily cried. "But yes, I do try to look beyond the surface. I try not to be too vain and shallow, but occasionally I have a nasty bout of it. I don't really care though, for a teenage girl I think I do pretty well."

"I wasn't a normal teenage girl, so I couldn't really say for sure," Veronica replied. "I love you though, and I'm pretty sure everyone else does too."

"Oh good, I'd been worried about that," Lily joked. "Any chance we could eat now?" Lily asked.

Veronica laughed, picked Aubrey up and the trio of blondes went in search of lunch.

AN: Hope you all enjoyed that :) Thanks for reading! As always, I love reviews :) Just out of curiosity, would people like me to post the title of the next chapter at the end of the previous one? As kind of a sneak peak/preview?