Drunk Logan
Chapter 36

A/N: This is another one where I'm going to have to postpone review replies. One correction though, I told Lorelei Candice Black that I was looking forward to seeing what happened with Wedding Bells. Correction of title, it should have been Veronica's Wedding. Sorry!!

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"Veronica, I..." Logan began nervously, but was cut off by Veronica.

"Not here, Logan," she said as she glanced around the parking lot filled with prying eyes.

He understood what she was saying and opened her door for her. The ride home was silent and Logan was just waiting for the fireworks to start. He wasn't sure how long she was going to give him the silent treatment, but he also wasn't sure he wanted it to end. He was afraid of her reaction.

Although Logan knew that he'd done nothing wrong, he also knew how it looked...and it looked bad. He knew Veronica, too. With everything she'd been through in the last year and all of the infidelity she'd witnessed while parked outside The Camelot, she wasn't the same trusting girl he'd know since they were twelve.

She could end what they had and walk away from him without hearing him out or believing what he said. She wouldn't be right to do so, but he would understand her need to protect herself and her desire to retreat back into her comfort zone and away from him. He was hoping more and more with every minute that passed that she wouldn't leave him over this.

When they finally arrived at his house, Veronica got out of the car and walked toward the door before Logan even had a chance to get out of his seat. She waited for him to unlock the front door and then walked in when he stood back to let her pass.

He put his head down and closed his eyes for a second while trying to get his thoughts together. He couldn't wait any longer. He was going to start the dreaded conversation and hope for the best. When he opened his eyes and looked up to speak, he was startled by the sight of her flying at him.

Veronica jumped into his arms, sending Logan stumbling back against the now closed door, and kissed him for all she was worth. It took him a second to figure out that she wasn't attacking him, but that she was 'attacking' him. He snapped out of it and quickly engaged in the kiss.

Logan had no idea what was happening. As long as she was in his arms and smothering him with her kisses, he didn't care. When she finally pulled back slightly, he let out a pitiful whimper. Then he looked into her eyes, but couldn't tell what she was thinking. He'd gotten pretty good at reading her, but had no clue what she was thinking at that moment.

"What was that for?" Logan asked her.
"What do you mean? What was that for?" She looked at him innocently. "You're my boyfriend and it is your job to fulfill my every kissing desire. You should know that."

She leaned up to kiss him again, but he stopped her.

"You're not mad at me?"

"Why would I be mad at you?" He knew that she was being coy, but he didn't know why.

"Because of the Madison thing. Ronnie, please, tell me what's going on. I've been so worried all day long." He took a deep breath, then added quietly, "I thought you were going to break up with me."

Veronica stepped back a little so she could look at him. The playful expression on her face was replaced by one of concern.

"Oh, Logan," she breathed out. She knew that she needed to reassure him. "I am so sorry. I didn't mean to worry you."

"So, you don't think I cheated on you with Madison?" Logan was still flustered. He knew that he was missing something, he just didn't know what it was. She'd spent all day avoiding him, but she wasn't mad at him? She wasn't planning on leaving him?

"Of course not, Logan. It'd take more than some second-rate attempt to set you up by a twit the likes of Madison Sinclair, for me to leave you." She scowled at the thought of what Madison Sinclair was trying to do.

"How did you know? You were avoiding me all day. I thought I'd have to plead my case to you and try to convince you of my innocence. I figured I'd be begging for forgiveness for something I didn't even do." Relief was washing over him and the emotion of the day began to swell within him.

Veronica listened to his voice crack and watched as he fought back tears. She could've kicked herself for putting him through the uncertainty he'd been feeling. She grabbed his hands and walked him to the couch. When they sat down, she faced him and took a deep breath.

This was not something Veronica was used to. She did not open up to anyone, but she needed to be honest with Logan. She needed to tell him how much he meant to her. She couldn't risk hurting him and making him feel like he wasn't needed. As she slowly let out the breath, she looked into his eyes.

"First of all, Logan, I am so sorry and I wasn't avoiding you. Look, I know that there is no way that you'd intentionally hurt me. With all that we've been through together, not only lately, but over the last 5 years, I know that you wouldn't do that to me now." She was looking into his eyes trying to convey to him just how much she trusted him. She placed her hand on his cheek and repeated herself. "I know."

"Logan, you've spent so much time protecting me lately, both physically and emotionally. There is no way that you would go out of your way to try to hurt me after all that." She saw his lip tremble slightly as he blew out a breath.

"I know that you love me and I'll do everything I can to let you know that I love you, too. I need you. No one else matters." She wanted to lighten the mood, so she decided to play it a little over the top. She stood up and put her fists to her hips. "It's just me and you against the world."

It worked. Logan relaxed even more and began to laugh at her antics. "Plus, I'd never leave you...no matter what you do."

At his confused look, she continued, "I wouldn't leave you... I'd kill you, but I'd never leave you." They burst out laughing.

"Yeah, that's comforting." Logan rolled his eyes while still trying to catch his breath.
Veronica was feeling like she had gotten through to Logan when he suddenly turned serious again.

"What?" Now she was afraid of what he would say. Something about his demeanor made her nervous.

"Ronnie, you've got to promise me that you won't do that again. I've been sick to my stomach all day, thinking that I had lost you. Where were you all day, anyway?"

"I was working on clearing your name. No one messes with my man and gets away with it!" She had spent a lot of time fine tuning her revenge skills over the last year and she planned to make sure that Madison paid for her sins.

"Your man, huh?" A smirk played across Logan's lips.

"Damn right, my man!" She smirked back at him and then leaned in to give him a kiss. When she pulled back, she wanted to fill him in on everything...well, almost everything.

"Look, I don't want you to ever feel uncertain about us again. I'm sorry that you thought I was avoiding you today. I didn't mean to make you feel that way. I just didn't think about it." Veronica knew herself. When she was on a case, she had blinders on to everything else. That's exactly what had happened at school and why she hadn't seen or talked to Logan all day.

"The moment I saw that video, I knew it was a set up. I..." Veronica was cut off by Logan's voice.

"How, though? Even I thought it looked bad, and I was there when it actually happened."

"Well, besides what I've already told you...that I know you wouldn't do that to me, there is something else that tipped me off. Fortunately for me, I have been on the receiving end of your flirting and loving looks and touching." She blushed slightly at that last one.

"I know what you look like when you are truly engaged in an intimate moment with a girl. I know because I've seen the way you look at me and felt the way you touch me. The looks you were giving Madison and the way you touched her hair was not the same. I mean, what? Did she ask you to help her get a bug out of her hair or something?" She laughed at the meek look on Logan's face.

"A piece of fuzz, actually." He felt stupid for falling for Madison's tricks and angry at her for the attempted setup. Veronica couldn't help but laugh.

"Of course. Ahh, my man, ever the gentleman. Who would've known?" She was mocking him playfully, but there was truth in what she was saying. For a guy who was a true jackass, he really knew how to take care of the women in his life. When they weren't his number one target, he was actually pretty gracious. A fact that he tried to hide and did a decent job at around his vapid high school toadies.

"Anyway, I will tell you that I spent all day working on clearing your name and tomorrow, all will be well." She gave him a little wink. When he started to question her, she stopped him with a hand to his mouth.

"No questions. I will keep you in the loop from now on so that we don't have this kind of misunderstanding again, but this...this is more of a surprise. Think of it as an early Christmas present, and like with all presents, you don't get to know what it is until it's time to open it." He could tell that she was truly enjoying herself. The twinkle in her eyes, the raised eyebrow and the devilish grin she was trying to cover had given her away.

"At least tell me when this is going to go down so that I will be around and paying attention." Logan really just wanted any information out of her that he could get. He figured that by asking her something simple, he could wriggle more tidbits out of her. Unfortunately for him, she was a little to coy to fall for those tricks.

"Aw, how sweet, but no. Don't worry. I can tell you that you won't miss it when it does happen...as
long as you are actually in school tomorrow. Besides that, sorry, can't help you," she sing-songed.

"Well, I guess I can live with that. As long as you are here, with me, I can live with a lot." He kissed her forehead. "Which, by the way, we've got some stuff to talk about."

Veronica raised a questioning eye at him. "What do you mean, we've got some stuff to talk about? What kind of stuff?"

"Well, first of all, have you talked to your dad about the apartments yet?" He and Veronica had talked about the pros and cons of the apartments they'd seen and had decided on their favorites.

"Yeah, he was going to contact them and find out how long it'll be before we can move in. What else do we need to talk about? You said stuff like there was more than just apartment talk."

"Well, yeah. I know things have been crazy and all, but I wanted to talk to you about going to Dick's Halloween party this weekend. I'd forgotten about it until he mentioned something to me at lunch today." Veronica didn't normally attend 09er parties and after finding out about the 'rape' he understood even more why she chose to steer clear.

She groaned. "Ugh, do I have to? You can go by yourself, you know? See, that's what's great about this whole trust thing. You can actually go to the party without me and I know that you'll be a good boy. Won't it be great?" She smiled, batted her eyes and tilted her head slightly.

Logan just rolled his eyes. "You can just straighten that head right out, little Missy. The point of me asking you to go to the party with me is you actually being with me. I don't care what we do, but we are going to be together, Veronica. We can stay home and watch 'Fright Night' on tv and pass out candy, if you want. Although, I've never been home on Halloween so I don't even know if we get trick-or-treaters here or not."

Veronica was quiet for a moment and Logan wasn't sure what was rolling around in her head. Finally, she looked up at him and smiled.

"No, we can go to the party, it'll be fine. We can always leave early if it goes the way most 09er parties do." She smirked at him.

"And what way is that?" He narrowed his eyes at her, waiting for the smart reply he knew was coming.

"Oh, you know. All Paris and Nicole, 'Simple Life'-style. You know, drunk, bimbo, stupid. I mean really, how many videos do you have to produce before it's considered a collection?" She wore a serious look on her face, masking the giggle that wanted to bubble out of her.

"You are just so cute, aren't you?" Logan said, just before jumping on her, and grabbing her sides to tickle her. She yelped at the shock of having him lunge at her and then begged him to stop.

When they settled down again, Logan pulled her into a hug. "Thanks for trying this party with me. I know it's not your idea of a good time. I promise, I won't leave you alone for a minute, okay? And, if it is as bad as you think it will be, then we'll just come back here and have our own party."

Veronica looked up at him in time to see his lips form into a smirk and when he knew she could see him, he waggled his eyebrows. She laughed and smacked his arm, but snuggled back into his embrace.

Logan was right. The party was not Veronica's idea of a fun time. She would do almost anything to avoid 09er parties. Unfortunately, Logan had always been big on parties. He had given up so much for her lately, and she didn't want him to have to give up anything else. She knew that she could just suck it up and deal with it for a night. She wanted him to know that she would sacrifice for him, like he had for her.

"Alright, Casanova, get your mind out of the gutter and let's get started on our homework before we get even further behind." She said as she started to shove him toward the front door where they'd left their book bags.

"Hey, now. I resemble that remark." Logan had a cheesy grin plastered across his face.

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The following morning, Veronica and Logan arrived at school and weren't surprised that there seemed to be even more people watching them in the parking lot. Even more people were whispering about them as they walked, hand in hand, into the school and to Veronica's first class.

After the video of Logan and Madison hit, no one saw Logan and Veronica together. They were sure that Logan had been messing around, that maybe it was a plot of Logan's, that Logan and Veronica were just pretending to be dating, that Veronica had known about Madison already and that they had a threesome going on. You name it, they thought it.

Seeing Logan and Veronica walking together, standing by each other, really threw people for a loop. They were watching to see what would happen next. They got their answer in first period when, again, the morning broadcast was interrupted.

This time, the interruption played out a little differently. The scene on the screen was of the girls bathroom and two girls talking. The camera angle showed the girls' backs, but because they were in front of the mirror, their faces were easily recognizable.

Once everyone realized that Madison was one of the girls, they sat up in their seats, knowing that they were witnessing part two of the Logan/Madison video they'd seen the day before. It was a chance to fill in some of the gaps in information that had been created the day before.

Only three people were not sitting on the edge of their seats. Madison's eyes had grown huge, remembering what her and her friend had been discussing and giggling about in that bathroom. She crossed her arms over her chest defiantly, readying herself for the onslaught of glares that she knew she would receive when the video ended.

Kimmie, the "other" girl had shrunk back into her seat as much as possible, trying her best to disappear from sight.

The last person who was not sitting on the edge of her seat was Veronica. She knew exactly what was coming. In fact, she is the one who had taped it after she blackmailed Kimmie into getting Madison to admit she set up Logan. She was completely relaxed and sitting back in her seat, her hands softly clasped on her desk. A sly smile graced her lips.

The school watched and listened as the girls spoke.

"He had no idea what was happening!" Madison screeched. Kimmie's giggle didn't seem out of place to anyone, but Veronica, who could hear the anxiety in her voice.

"Yeah, so do you think it'll work?" Kimmie was doing just enough to prod Madison along.

"Of course! I was totally convincing, don't ya think? It totally looked like we were having some secret tryst. What's even better, is that I used the excuse of supporting Logan and Veronica when I was actually breaking them up." She cackled and her voice sounded like nails on a chalkboard.

"I'm sure when Veronica saw that video this morning, she assumed like everyone else, that Logan was cheating on her. Really, you haven't seen them together at all today, have you?" She wasn't really asking the question. She knew that they hadn't been seen together.

"Anyway, I was only helping to bring on the inevitable. What would a guy like Logan see in trailer trash like Veronica anyway? She's nothing. I mean, Duncan finally saw it, although it took him forever. I'm just so tired of Veronica getting everything that she doesn't deserve. What's so special about her anyway that the most powerful kids at this school are drawn to her. Ugh!"

When she was done with her tirade, Kimmie asked one more question, a question that Veronica had prompted her to ask. "So, what about Dick? I mean, you guys are dating. Don't you think you've ruined things with him by acting like you're sleeping with his best friend?"

Madison sighed. "If only it were that easy to get rid of Dick. What can I say, he's like a little puppy. He follows wherever I lead, even when I don't want him to. He does the same with Logan. He's just a spineless moron, but he's the only option for a boyfriend right now. Logan would be my first choice, but of course, he's temporarily lost his mind. Duncan would be a good choice too, but he's barely spent more than a second with any girl since Veronica. It's sad, really. Look at what one piece of trash has done to the best guys in our school. Hell, Troy was a great guy until she got her hooks into him...look at what she did to him."

"Well, I heard that he's been obsessed with her for years, even before they met." Kimmie added, knowing that Veronica was listening.

"Yeah, right. I'm sure that's what she'd want us to think! Anyway, Veronica is just a big waste of time, but soon, I won't have to look at her."

At that point, the girls had finished primping and left the bathroom. The tape ended and the Navigator broadcast continued. You could almost hear the collective breath being released by the entire student body after that tasty bit of gossip.

Logan's cell phone beeped indicating a message. It read simply:

'Like ur present?'

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