A/N : Here we are at Shelley Pomroy's party, with all the unpleasant parts removed, and maybe the beginnings of some LoVe :-) Apologies that this chapter is a little late - it's been a crazy week!
(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 10 - Saturday Night Special

"What am I doing?" Veronica asked herself as she stood before the full length mirror in her room, wearing the fifth outfit of ten she'd laid out on her bed.

Tonight was the night of Shelley Pomroy's Birthday party, an event that Veronica had attended last year along with her boyfriend, Duncan. This year was completely different, she had no boyfriend, her best friend no longer held that title, and pretty much everybody else who had been invited to the special birthday bash would not be thrilled to see Veronica there, especially since her 'date' was Logan, Lilly's ex.

Slipping out of the blouse and skirt she was wearing, Veronica looked down at the various items of clothing strewn across her bed. It never used to be so difficult to choose an outfit, but then she'd always had Lilly there before to help her out. She couldn't ask Logan, that would be too weird, and even if she could get past the weirdness factor of asking a boy for fashion advice, Wallace wasn't available. She had hoped he'd attend the party with herself and Logan, and kind of act as buffer and chaperone to their non-date, but unfortunately he had a prior engagement, a family thing he couldn't get out of.

"This should not be so complicated" Veronica told herself sternly, as she sorted through the pile of clothes once again.

The dress she'd originally bought just especially for this occasion lie underneath all the other possible outfits. The white flowing garment that showed off her shoulders and a good amount of her legs without being slutty at all had cost her more than she would usually spend on such an item, but she'd fallen in love with it the moment she'd spotted it in the store.

When she'd got it home she still loved it, but the moment she slipped into it tonight and faced her own reflection she lost her nerve. She couldn't wear it to the party, on her non-date with Logan. What if he got ideas that she wanted him in a different way to a friend? What if Lilly or Duncan or the other guests at the party thought the same? What if...?

"Hey, sweetheart" her Dad called to her, tapping on the bedroom door, "Logan will be here any minute, you almost ready?" he checked.

It was unlike Veronica to be late for anything, or for her to spend so long in the bathroom and then deliberating over an outfit. He had passed by her door twice in the past half hour and heard her arguing with herself about various items of clothing, which confused him since he knew she'd bought a specific dress for tonight.

"I'm almost ready, Dad" she called to him, "Won't be long"

"Honestly, I'll never understand you women" he sighed, still speaking loud enough for her to hear, "Buy a fabulous dress that makes you look gorgeous and still worry about what to wear" he said with a smirk she couldn't see, "Must be tough knowing how jealous all the other girls will get when they see you..." he said as he walked away from the door, a smile on his face because he knew what he'd done.

Inside her room, Veronica picked up her new dress from the bed, held it in front of her and looked herself over in the mirror. She smiled at her reflection, realising she really did look good, and whilst she was fairly certain she'd be falling for some plan her father had by wearing this dress, she knew now she wanted to do it anyway. Maybe the other girls would make comments and pass judgement on her tonight, for her outfit, and for arriving on Logan Echolls' arm, and so the question became, did she care?

"We have nothing to be ashamed of" she repeated words she and Logan had spoken a few days ago when they arranged this date, not that it was a date, but whatever.

With renewed confidence in herself, and what she was doing, Veronica slipped into her dress and hurried to fix her hair and make-up before her friend arrived. She was just fastening the straps of her shoes when she heard a knock on the front door...

Logan felt a little strange as he stood outside the Mars house, preparing to knock on the door. A strange mixture of feelings were rushing around inside him, none of which he was really used to. He'd been dating Lilly so long, he hadn't had been in a 'first date' situation in years, not that this thing with Veronica really counted as a date, after all he'd thrown that 'just friends' clause in there. That should make everything less awkward, but it really didn't for Logan. He was starting to realise that his feelings for Veronica didn't so much tend in a friendly way, or rather in a much more friendly way than perhaps they ought to.

"Okay, that's crazy" Logan noted as he lifted his hand to knock on the door and noticed he was shaking.

When he eventually knocked and Keith came to answer, he was at least glad to find the older man both smiling and unarmed.

"Good evening, Sheriff" Logan nodded once as he was let into the house, "Is Veronica ready?"

"I'll go check" Keith said, going towards his daughters bedroom and calling to her, "Honey, your date is here" he said with a smirk, knowing how he was embarrassing the both of them, after all Veronica had repeatedly pressed home the point that this evening's outing to the party was in no way a date, just two friends going out together.

With a look like thunder at her father, Veronica finally emerged from her room, pushing her hair over her shoulder and checking her dress as she did so.

"Wow" was Logan's initial reaction at the sight of her, causing both of them to blush as she took in his reaction, and he realised what he'd said.

"Well, you kids have fun" Keith told them, "But y'know, not too much fun" he told Logan with a stern look that he was pretty much faking.

"Dad!" Veronica complained as she passed by him and took the arm Logan offered her.

The way he stared at her all the way to the car made her somewhat uneasy, but in a good way, if such a thing were possible. He was obviously impressed, the way his mouth dropped open like a cartoon was enough to tell her that, and it gave her a warm feeling inside to think she had both impressed and surprised him.

"Anybody would think you never saw me in a dress before" she said shyly as she climbed into the car and Logan closed the door for her.

"Maybe I saw you, but I didn't really look before" he told her as he did just that, before finally moving around the car and climbing in beside her, "So, Miss Mars, are we ready to party?"

"Totally ready" she assured him.

Though she was still a little nervous about the whole situation, Logan was really helping. The way he looked at her, and smiled at her, and complimented her too. It was like a real date, even though they both knew it was not that, and shouldn't be either. They had this great friendship developing between them. If anything happened between them in a more than friends way it'd just screw everything up, besides it wasn't such a long time since they were dating a Kane, both of which would doubtless be at the party when they arrived.

Again Veronica wondered what on Earth she'd gotten herself into as they cruised down the street towards the Pomroy residence.

"Sounds like they started without us" Logan joked as he parked his car alongside all the others, the sounds of laughter, whooping and calling as well as pounding music assaulting their ears already.

"Oh good, everyone's already here" Veronica dead-panned, "I really wanted to make a big entrance and give them all something to talk about" she said sarcastically as Logan practically leapt from his side of the car and ran around to open her door for her.

It was weird but he always did that for her, Veronica hadn't ever really thought about it, but it was pretty gentlemanly really.

"Well, y'know, we could really give them something to talk about" he suggested, an eye-brow raised and a twinkle in his eye that was almost as scary as it was exciting.

"What did you have in mind?" Veronica asked suspiciously, suddenly a little wary.

Without a word he held out his hand to her and she looked at it a moment before placing her own in it. Logan's fingers wrapped tightly around hers and they walked towards the house, him practically pulling her along and in through the front door that had been left open.

"Greetings, fellow pirates" Logan was grinning as he and Veronica moved through the building, the two of them watching mouth after mouth fall open.

People were stunned to see them arrive together, despite the fact the pair had been hanging out at school a lot lately. Veronica guessed they assumed she and Logan only stuck together there because they had no-one else and that in the real world they'd just sit at home alone or something. The little blonde was quite proud of herself for not having stayed home tonight, and quite grateful to Logan for not letting it happen to either of them.

"Hey, Veronica" he called her name a second time and she looked a little startled when she faced him and realised he'd been speaking to her, "Am I boring you already?" he checked as she zoned back into reality and realised they'd just passed through the glass doors out onto the patio that led to the pool where many young people were drinking, dancing, swimming, and making out.

"No, of course not" she promised him, "I just, I'm glad we came here" Veronica smiled up at him.

Honestly, Logan had never been so happy to be at a party in his life. As they stood there opposite each other, their eyes locking, both felt the almost magnetic pull that was forcing them closer together. Of course, as luck would have it, or not as the case maybe, certain members of the Neptune High alumni were not opposed to breaking moments between would-be couples, especially when they were a little worse for wear from the alcohol already.

"Yo, Logan!" Dick boomed from the other side of the pool, practically running around to his friend, "What's up, dude?" he asked the boy that had once been his best friend, but was somewhat estranged from these days.

"Hey there, Dick" said Logan as his friends hand landed on his shoulder, almost pushing him into Veronica.

It seemed the young Mr Casablancas wasn't holding his drink so well and therefore was not in full control of his body weight.

"Dude, how come we never hang out anymore?" he complained, slurring a little in his drunken state, "and how come you brought Ronnie to the party?"

"Y'know Dick, if I'd known you felt this way..." he said with faux-sadness, "but hey, y'know, there's still Prom, nobody asked me to that yet, I'm sure we'd have a blast" he joked, and Veronica giggled at the humour, glad that so far at least tonight wasn't a disaster.

It was a relief, she realised, that Logan hadn't felt the need to defend himself over bringing her to the party. He didn't see he'd committed any crime, which of course he hadn't, though she was fairly certain her fellow students of Neptune High would think so.

"Y'know man, you're... you were my, my best friend and..." Dick's speech finally failed him completey, as did his legs and he collapsed in a heap on the floor in front of Logan and Veronica.

"Finally" a female voice huffed as heels clattered on the patio and Madison Sinclair, Dick's other half, appeared beside them.

"I guess he started the party a little early, huh, Maddy?" Logan asked her, using the name for her that he knew she abhorred.

"He's not drunk" she said haughtily, "At least, not entirely. I found this in my locker" she said, pulling a piece of paper from her purse and handing it to him.

The short scribbled note explained simply that Dick had GHB and that he planned to use it on Madison at this very party in order to have sex with her.

"I switched drinks when he wasn't paying attention" she explained, "He was so busy being the big man, he barely notice what he was drinking til the cup was empty" she rolled her eyes.

"Are you just gonna leave him here or...?" Veronica started to ask, only to be interrupted.

"Duh!" Madison snapped, "Like I would" she protested, "I'm going to take him back to his house, dump him on the doorstep for his parents to find, and head on back to the party. Why should my evening be ruined just because Dick Casablancas is a jerk?" she asked rhetorically, gesturing for two of her so-called-boyfriend's more able bodied friends to carry the passed-out blond to the car, as Veronica and Logan looked on.

"Some classy party, huh?" she said with appropriate eye roll, but he wasn't entirely listening as he looked over the piece of paper that was still in his hands.

"Y'know it's the weirdest thing" Logan said as he reached into his back pocket and produced his wallet, "I think I've seen this handwriting somewhere before" he smirked, comparing the style of the words on Madison's mystery tip-off note to those on a similar piece of paper that bore the writing of his good friend, "Veronica Mars" he said, looking down on her with a mock-glare, "And how exactly did you know Dick was going to use that stuff on Madison tonight?"

"I hear things" she shrugged, "And as much I don't particularly like Madison, nobody deserves to be drugged and used like that" she shuddered at the very idea of that kind of thing happening to anyone.

"You are just amazing" Logan told her suddenly, making her blush.

She really hadn't been expecting him to say that and from the way he glanced away so quick the moment the words had left his lips, Veronica wondered if he'd really meant to voice that particular thought at all.

"So, drink?" he said just as suddenly as he turned to what appeared to be the bar area, flinging an arm around Veronica's shoulders and leading her that way.

It felt good, she realised with a smile, and she barely noticed anybody staring or making comments, she honestly wasn't aware of whether they were doing it or not, she was just really glad she'd decided to come to the party, and even more glad she'd come as Logan's non-date.

To Be Continued...