Chapter 14

Veronica must have had the longest day of her life and she felt like letting her dad know that maybe he was right about her going to Hearst that day. She felt like she had bitten off more than she could chew but the plus side was that she got to make out with Logan and that felt great so it was worth the stress she had to endure to get there, her confrontation with Parker, letting Piz down, and of course, having a telephone conversation with Duncan who was very one dimensional. Talking to Duncan was like pulling teeth. Although Piz was very low on her list of people she'd like to speak to he had a bit more depth to him. Duncan was like a bump on a log, you weren't really sure of what his purpose was but it kind of looks like it belongs there.

"How was your day kiddo," her father quipped over dinner as the family sat around. Keith was trying to play it cool but Veronica could see right though him. He wanted as much information as humanly possible without coming straight out and asking Veronica the details.

"I'll spare you the embarrassment of trying to dig for information and I'll give you the highlights of my day. Wallace and I made up as soon as the car was parked. Speaking of parked, I felt like parking my fist in this girl Parkers face who accused me not only of stealing her boyfriend but also faking amnesia. Oh, and totally for the record, last I checked Logan was my boyfriend first and those aren't easy to steal, like, he doesn't exactly fit into my back pocket ya know? Anyways moving on, I spent some time with Mac until her boyfriend showed up and then I went out to the courtyard and I bumped into Piz; by the way, dad can you scan me for a tracking device because if I didn't know better he totally has some kind of GPS on me. He's EVERYWHERE. Then I had a nice conversation with Logan and then when he was going to class I got a call from Duncan and we are meeting up tomorrow for lunch to talk. Then I went to the library where I found Wallace and his dweeb friends working on some kind of physics thing that bored me to tears and now here I am sharing my day, how was YOUR day," she said rambling on wondering if her dad was able to follow any of that. She purposely left out the part about making out with Logan, that was to be on a need to know basis and Keith did not need to know.

"Honey try to breath when you talk otherwise you'll get light headed," Keith said as he stifled a laugh. "My day was not nearly as exciting as yours but I did manage to keep busy," he put some butter on his bread and then looked up at his daughter, "Why do you think Piz has a tracking device on you," he asked in all seriousness. Maybe joking about GPS and tracking devices didn't work well with ex private detectives and current sheriff, especially those that were investigating the cause of their daughter's car accident.

"Keith, honey, I think she was joking," Alicia said trying to stop Keith from getting his imagination going.

"Yeah dad, it was a joke you know like ha ha funny. It's not that I think he's actually tracking me its just that over the past few weeks he just shows up unannounced here and then he found me at school. I guess there are only so many places someone who didn't have class can hang out and of course he found me," she picked up her glass of tea and took a sip before continuing. "I know I'm being harsh but he really gets to me. I don't think hes all kosher you know," she said hoping that someone else understood what she meant.

"I feel ya sista from another mista," Wallace chimed in. "Piz is a great friend but sometimes he's just a bit too much. You know I must have seen him 5 times today but he avoided me every single time. I guess he didn't like my siding with Veronica last night. That's not cool, isn't it meant to be bros before hos, not that you're a ho Veronica," Wallace said trying to cover his tracks before his entire family attacked him.

"I told you I get around," Veronica said winking to Alicia, "My own brother thinks I'm a ho," she laughed and playfully punched Wallace in the shoulder.

"It's okay Veronica, I got myself hos in different area codes," Wallace laughed while reciting a line from a rap song.

"Easy there Tupac," Veronica said laughing herself. It felt great to be having a light and funny conversation compared to other things she'd been discussing lately.

"Enough with the ho-ing," Keith said not feeling very comfortable with the conversation.

"What dad, its something that you do in the yard. You use a hoe and you hoe the yard," she said pretending she was explaining something to a three year old.

The rest of the evening passed quickly. The family exchanged stories of how the day went and Veronica filled everyone in on the Parker – Veronica showdown and they couldn't help but laugh. Parker wasn't high on anyone's list of favourite people. She seemed to rub most people the wrong way and that's one of the reasons that everyone found the story funny.

While they were sitting around talking Veronica's telephone rang. She glanced down at the caller id and saw that it was Logan. "Excuse me," she said to her family as she walked to her room.

"Hey you," she said sweetly as soon as she pressed the connect button on her cell phone.

"Hey yourself beautiful," he replied back, "I've been sitting in my house twiddling my thumbs trying to distract myself from noticing that you haven't called me yet for our secret rendez-vous."

"Yeah I know, I'm sorry I've just been wrapped up with my family," she plopped herself down on her bed as she recounted the dinner events to Logan. "I don't think getting away today is going to be easy, I mean, its not exactly hard but I'm tired, I had a long day," she explained.

"And a nice relaxing night near the beach with my lips keeping you company isn't enough to coax you out," he offered lightly.

"Can I take a rain check on that," she asked.

"Lunch tomorrow?"

"Oh I have a lunch date tomorrow."

"A date,"

"Yeah with a certain Kane kid," she teased Logan wondering if he was getting jealous.

"You have a date with Duncan? Am I missing something here," Logan quizzed.

"He called after you went to class and he wanted to get together tomorrow for a chat. I guess I kind of owe it to him right," she asked as she lay on the bed playing with her hair.

"Well, you don't exactly owe anything to him but if you want to go out for lunch with him that's up to you," he said with a bit of jealously creeping up on him. What if Veronica had some memories of how happy the two of them used to be? What if Duncan spent their time together talking about how much trouble Logan had gotten into over the past few years.

"It'd be nice to get out of the house and have some human contact and lets face it, Duncan is a whole world better than Piz….but of course no one beats your human contact," she joked with him to keep the conversation light. Truth be told she was having her own reservations about spending time with Duncan but she wasn't lying when she said that she could use the company. Normal girls went out for lunch with friends right?

"How about tomorrow night after dinner we go out to the Java Hut for some coffee and desert," Logan offered.

"I'll ink you into my calendar."

"Isn't the expression pencil you in?"

"Yeah but this is permanent, I don't want to erase it."

"There are some erasable pens out there you know."

"I'll marker you in then, unless you've invented white out for markers."

"White out works on anything."

"Are you always this impossible or is this something special you reserve for me."

"It's something I only unleash on you."

The two of them both laughed and continued to talk. Veronica was so comfortable with Logan that she hadn't even realized how much time had passed. The two of them fell asleep while talking on the telephone.

*********************************

Veronica woke up the next morning only to find herself still fully dressed and her cell phone flipped open on her bed. She picked up the telephone and noticed that the battery was completely dead. She plugged it in to charge before she went into the bathroom for a shower.

While showering she was recounting all she could remember from her conversation with Logan. He was filling her in on some of the happier moments of her life. Normally she would be extremely alert when someone was talking about her past but for the first time since she left the hospital she found herself enjoying the present and looking forward to the future. For now her future held a lunch date with Duncan followed by desert with Logan.

She stepped out of the shower walked straight to her closet looking for something to wear on her lunch date and to be honest with you, she was really looking forward to having some actual set plans. She knew that her day wouldn't be spent watching paint dry or trying to find a split end in her hair. Today she had a purpose, she was going to finish getting dressed, have her morning bagel and glass of orange juice while looking over some of the files in her computer and wait to go meet up with Duncan. She was going to come home to pick up Backup and take him for a walk and then come home and chill until it was time to meet up with Logan. She had a nice well rounded day and no one could say otherwise.

She walked out of her bedroom wearing tight blue jeans, a bright yellow tank top layered with a black cardigan that was slightly to big for her and slipping off of her shoulder. Her hair was in a neat ponytail and her makeup was perfectly applied. For the first time in a long time she was putting some kind of effort into her appearance.

"Have a hot date," Alicia asked when she saw Veronica walk toward the kitchen with her laptop under her arm.

"Actually I do. I, Veronica Mars, am meeting up with a certain Duncan Kane for lunch today," she said with a smile on her face.

"I thought it was all about Logan," Wallace offered from across the room. She had told him about their kiss in the courtyard but asked him not to tell anyone.

Veronica shot Wallace a look that could pretty much kill anyone. "Aren't I young and single and allowed to go out with whomever I choose," she said trying to keep her voice level. "And besides its not a hot date, its just a friendly date, like me going out with someone who would be considered my friend right?"

"Sure if you call your first love just a friend then I guess that's cool," Wallace said. He didn't understand why Veronica wanted to keep her interest in Logan a secret from everyone. Veronica thought that her father liked Logan the least but the truth was that he liked Duncan the least. He was the one who convinced his daughter to help him in kidnapping and fleeing the country.

"Was he really my first love," she asked wrinkling up her nose a bit. She had spent some time with Duncan over the past few weeks and he just didn't do anything for Veronica. Logan excited her, Piz annoyed her, and Duncan, well, he literally did nothing for her. "Besides while you are all out making a living and getting an education I'll be getting my grub on," she joked while taking a bite out of her bagel and following it up with a sip of her juice.

"Nothing wrong with Veronica getting out of the house," Keith said while buttering his toast.

"Keith, is that you," Alicia said knocking on Keith's head. He was acting as if he was possessed by something because Keith was the overprotective father of his only daughter. He wanted to know absolutely everything. She was surprised that Keith hadn't asked for all the details already.

"I'm trying this new thing, its called lightening up. Duncan has done a few stupid things in his life in the past but hes been cleared of all charges regarding the kidnapping and he wouldn't do anything stupid around Veronica because he knows who he will have to deal with," Keith said.

"Yeah that's right, everyone knows to be scared of the Fennel," Wallace said smugly before he burst out laughing.

"People, finish your breakfast and get the hell out of the house," she said with a laugh. This is the type of thing that she had to go on a daily basis. Her family was a bundle of laughs.

"Oh Veronica, Dr. Steven's office called. He wants to see you this week to see if there are any changes. Do you want me to call him and schedule an appointment," Alicia asked as she gathered her things to leave for her work day.

"Oh let me see if I can squeeze him in," she said pretending to flip through an agenda, "Dr. Stevens is in luck, I'm pretty much free all this week."

A few minutes later everyone filed out of the house and went about their business and Veronica was able to immerse herself in the files on her laptop. She had to admit, for a nineteen year old girl, she was pretty kick ass. She had solved a lot of crimes and apparently was a spit fire and smart girl. The more she learned about herself the more she liked herself. She was now torn between solely moving forward in life and knowing more about her past. She was going to have to find a happy medium.

As she was going through the computer files one by one she felt she had a better understanding of everyone around her. She knew a little more about Duncan and Logan. She learned that Wallace and Mac were big players in her solving crimes and that she was pretty good friends with a criminal boy. Overall, Veronica didn't discriminate, she would befriend anyone. As she was working she heard the doorbell ring and she glanced at her watch, it was already 12:30 and that had to be none other than Duncan.