Chapter 4
Veronica reread the police report for the fourth time. Something was still off about it; she just had to figure out what. Pencil in hand, she went over the lines again and again, marking what seemed important. She looked at the officer's name: Mike McNill. She decided to run a search on him. She'd do it later. She wrote his name on a yellow neon post-it and posted it to the side of her computer. She picked up a different pile of papers: the witnesses.
Some 15 years old kid committed suicide. Jumped from the 14th floor of his dad's office building, crashed on the sidewalk, died on the spot. He didn't leave a note or anything. There was no past of violent behavior, or mental illnesses. The autopsy's results hadn't come in yet. Veronica had a hunch saying that if she'll have the results of the autopsy, she may be able to crack this case. The journalist in her wanted a story. The privet investigator wanted an answer. The human part of her wanted justice.
She marked a slight difference in two of the witness' testimonies, and promised herself she'll work on it immediately. Until she noticed the eerie silence that suddenly came over the newsroom. She was about to look up when she heard it.
"Veronica?"
Her head shot up, and she was looking at Logan Echolls. He hadn't changed much. He didn't seem much older; his hair was just an inch longer than it was at graduation, and brown, no highlights or anything. She liked it when it was dark and brown like that. The first movie starring him that she had seen, showed Logan with bleach-blond hair and a nose ring. She hated that look on him.
She stood up, and went around her table to stand in front of him. She had to look up in order to see his eyes, shining happily.
Then she glanced around, and noticed that every single person in the room had stopped whatever it was that they were doing in order to gawk at Logan.
"Yes, I'm Veronica Mars. It's a pleasure meeting you, Mr. Echolls." She said, offering her hand for him to shake, and sending him a pleading look.
Logan seemed confused for a moment. He was looking at Veronica Mars, thinking about how the only difference between her at 18 and now was that she was now much more tanned and her hair was a reaching her shoulders again, when she started acting like she didn't even know him. He wanted to say something, but then caught the desperate look in her eyes, and noticed the glance she sent to the other people in the room, whom were all staring at them.
He shook her hand. "Same with you." He replied, and smiled. Her shoulders almost sagged with relief. She shot him a smile.
"If you'd like, we could get going, find somewhere a little more private." She suggested. Logan nodded. "Okay, I'll just grab my bag." She said and turned back to her desk, grabbing her black side bag, and stuffing a few papers from the suicide investigation in it. She turned off her computer's screen and returned to Logan's side.
"Where do you, uh… want to go to?" he asked.
"I don't know… how about we grab some lunch?" she offered and started walking towards the elevators. Her two main thoughts were Oh god, Logan's here and Please god; don't let me fall flat on my face with everybody watching.
She pressed the elevator's button and waited for it to come. She sent a glance in Logan's direction. He really looked like he did in high school. He was dressed in a similar style, too. A long sleeved button-up black shirt over a white wife-beater and olive-green cargo pants. Of course, all of them were either expensive brand names or specially designed for him.
The elevator dinged and the doors slid open. Logan extended his arm, in a gesture that obviously meant ladies first. Veronica gave him a brief smile and entered the elevator, Logan right behind her. The doors slid close. Veronica pressed the lobby button.
Then there was the awkward silence thing.
The numbers were changing in slow motion, Veronica decided. It could only get worse if the elevator got stuck.
"Did, um…" she started, highly uncomfortable. "Did Bert give you any trouble?"
"Bert?" asked Logan, confused.
"The, um, the security guard at the entrance." She clarified.
"Oh, no, he said I could go up, I was written there or something"
Veronica nodded. The rest of the trip down was silent. Veronica was getting slightly jumpy. She smoothed down her black skirt, trying to make imaginary wrinkles to disappear.
The elevator dinged, and Veronica quickly got out, Logan right beside her. Bert the security guard spotted them and smiled slightly, opening the door for Veronica. She smiled at him, and the 21 years old young man beamed at her.
"Bye Bert." She said as she passed him.
"Bye, Miss Mars!" he called after her.
As soon as Veronica and Logan were out of the building, the sounds of the New York streets hit them, along with the warm breeze. It was a lovely day. True, it was slightly chilly for California-native Veronica, but beautiful indeed. The sun was shining brightly, but the air wasn't hot and suffocating.
"Where do you want to eat?" Logan asked, scanning the street.
"Does Starbucks sounds okay?" she asked, spotting her favorite Starbucks store, just across the street from the New York Times office building.
"Starbucks' not food" Logan commented, his voice blasé.
"Right, of course" she said, slightly embarrassed and mentally kicked herself, really hard. She was acting like an idiot.
Logan seemed to realize he made Veronica uncomfortable.
"But if you want, we could get coffee before we go eat." He said. Veronica tilted her head up and looked at him.
"Yes, That'd be good" she said. Why am I acting like this, damnit! She thought angrily. This is Logan, the same Logan I've confronted millions of times, from every possible angle: as a friend, as an enemy, as a lov- well, actually I sorta avoided confronting that angle of Logan.
Logan nodded. They cross the street quickly and entered the small Starbucks store. The door closed behind them. Veronica looked at the counter. The teen working behind it, Jordy, waved at her. She smiled.
"So, do you everybody around here?" asked Logan. Veronica bit her lip to keep from smiling.
"I'm gonna order, you want anything?"
"Espresso" he said.
"Okay. Why don't you grab us a sit." She said and without waiting for an answer turned to the counter. She didn't have to wait long in line, seeing how it only consisted one other person than herself.
"Hey Jordy" she said, smiling.
"Hi Veronica" the redheaded teen replied. "What can I get you?"
"An Espresso, and a Latte" she said.
"No problem." He said with a smile and a wink. Veronica snorted and shook her head. Jordy was such a sweetie. She sometimes talked with him, he told her about his high school and stuff. Jordy, much like herself, used to be popular, but then went down on the social scale when his father lost all of his money and left the family. She swore to herself, that if he couldn't get a date to his prom she'd go with him. Just so that all the other boys would die of envy.
After a few moments Jordy returned with her Latte. "You know, I read your story this morning, about the drug dealer getting out of jail cause of his money and stuff." Veronica nodded, motioning for him to continue. "Well, nothing, I just thought it was really, really good. I was riveted."
"Thanks Jordy." She said. "Go get me my Espresso."
"But it's not for you." He said, his voice confused.
"And how would you know that?" she asked playfully.
"Well, you never order Espresso. You usually drink Lattes, and you cam here with a guy so I'm guessing it's his." Rambled Jordy. Veronica grinned. "By the way, am I completely delirious, or did you come in here with Logan Echolls?"
"Yes it's him." She said, her voice quiet. Then she hissed "But you better not tell anyone, got it?"
Jordy nodded. "Your secret is safe with me."
"Good. Now, the Espresso?"
"Oh, right, Comin' right up"
After a few moments Jordy returned with the Espresso. Veronica paid and thanked him and went over to where Logan was sitting, a small smile gracing his face. Veronica set down on the opposite chair, on the opposite side of the table. She placed the Espresso on the table in front of him. They both sipped some of the bitter liquid.
"So, should we get starting?" asked Veronica. Logan shrugged. She gave him a slightly annoyed look.
"Sure, let's get started."
Veronica grabbed her bag and started digging through it. She finally found the tape recorder and took it out of her bag, placing it on the table between them. She pressed the record button.
"Mr. Echolls-" she started, but he didn't let her finish the first sentence.
"Logan."
Veronica gave him a polite smile, to cover her nervousness. "Logan" she corrected herself. "I think the question everyone wants an answer to is: Why now?"
"Well, you see" he started, scratching his head. He looked really cute like that. Shut up you moron! Don't think of Logan's cuteness. Focus! She told herself. "I always avoided the press mostly so that the people close to me won't suffer from all the crap you take from paparazzi and reporters." He smirked playfully at her. "But, you know, my dad and sister are kinda used to it already, and after I got the divorce, there was no one left to protect.Took my a while to get that...I guess the divorce made me feel free… spontaneous or something."
Veronica smiled, noting that he was indeed divorced. She heard rumors (Well, actually, she heard Rose talking to Marissa in the women's bathroom) about his divorce but nothing was confirmed for her. She never dared to check.
"And you spontaneously decided to give out an exclusive interview to celebrate this new freedom?"
Logan's smirk returned, even wider. "I've spent ten years in this business, and not a single interview. I think that's a world record right there. I just thought it might be easier, instead of avoiding the press, just go with the flow, and not struggle. Just to make life simpler."
Veronica smiled at that. What an easy was to live. If only she could do that. "So, how did you get into the business?"
"Ah, when I was 17 my mom committed suicide. My dad, the famous Aaron Echolls, took it really bad. He decided to quit acting to dedicate more time to his family. After a year, my stepsister Trina and me made him go back. We promised we'd do it with him… and then it became like a family business."
"Would you mind explaining that?"
"No. You see, Trina and I knew how much dad loved acting. But he stopped that to focus on us, and we didn't want him to do that… We wanted him to have something for himself after mom died. We talked to this guy, who is now my dad's agent, and he found the three of us roles on the same movie. It was a hit, with Aaron's big comeback and Trina and me became a hit. We all kept on acting…just, for a living."
"So why keep on acting? According to what you said it was just a way to get you dad back in the biz. Why'd you kept on with it?"
Logan smiled. "I just fell for it. I never thought I would. I always remember everything that came with dad's acting – the parties, the reporter, paparazzi, and the fans. From the point-of-view of the son, it was horrible. I never though about why dad went on with it. I never though of how much it was fun. I guess I just fell for it. Got the acting bug, whatever. It was doing something I was good at and actually enjoyed for a living. Who'd give up an opportunity like that?"
"So, I guess you really love your dad. It's a big thing for an 18 years old kid to do."
"My dad, wasn't always the greatest dad. But after my mom died, he came around, became a family man. It was kind of weird at first, having him around, but… we all got used to each other. I guess mom offing herself got the family closer."
Veronica felt a pang of pain in her heart at the mentioning of Lynn. Lynn, who was always super-nice to Veronica whenever she came over to Logan's place. Actually, Lynn was always nice to all of Logan's friends. She was a pretty cool mom.
"Excuse me?" a new, young, female voice said, followed by a giggle. Veronica and Logan both turned to look at an excited teen, with long brown hair and green eyes, pink lips and huge breasts, looking at Logan with a dreamy smile. "Are you… are you Logan Echolls?"
Logan smiled and nodded. The teen's smile widened and she let out yet another giggle.
"Oh my gosh, I'm like, a total fan of yours." She said excitedly.
"Always a pleasure to meet a fan" said Logan in his most charming voice. Veronica stopped herself from openly rolling her eyes. Instead she grabbed her Latte and took a sip, only to discover with much disappointment that the cup was empty. When did I manage to finish my coffee?
"Could I, like, get an autograph?" asked the ten again, twirling a strand of her hair around her finger.
"Sure thing" replied Logan.
The girl grabbed her stylish backpack and dug into it, coming up with a notebook (of which she tore a page out) and a green pen. She handed them over to Logan.
"To…" he started writing, reading along with the written. Then paused short. "What's your name?"
"Chloe" she replied.
"To Chloe… rock on… Logan Echolls" he smiled and handed the girl the pen and paper. "There you go."
Chloe squealed and said thank you, and then turned to her friends sitting at a table on the opposite side of the store.
"Back to the interview?" asked Logan. Veronica just gave him a nod.
They went back to the interview. It lasted about 10 minutes, and then Logan stopped it again.
"Veronica…" he started "Behind you."
Veronica turned to see that Chloe's table, which consisted 5 girl before was currently having at least 15 girls around it. And they kept glancing at Logan every three seconds.
"Think we should go?"
"Let's go."
Veronica turned the tape recorder off and put in into her bag. Logan glanced one more time at the table. He and Veronica stood up, and went to the door. Veronica saw Jordy looking annoyed at the girls, but the annoyance changed to worry when he caught her gaze. She smiled what she hoped was a reassuring smile before she and Logan left the store.
The walked down the street, at a normal pace. Logan glanced back and swore. Veronica turned to look and saw the girls from Starbucks, all 15 of them walking out of the store and behind them. Veronica pulled the sleeves of her black cardigan up to her elbows, something she did when she was nervous. Like when 15 girls started following you. She glanced at the girls again. They were closing in.
"This is like a freaky movie." She murmured to Logan.
"Trust me, I know movies. This, is real life." A cocky smirk made that comment slightly condescending. Veronica decided to let it slide. He glanced back now.
"On my count." He said. "Start running."
"Running?"
"1…2… Run!" and they did. Veronica ran, and despite past practice she couldn't compare to Logan's pace. First, his legs were way longer than hers. Second, she was wearing those stupid high-heeled shoes. Not good running shoes. But she wasn't too far behind him. And then, the laws of physics made an appearance. And Veronica's heel broke.
"Shit!" she called. The girls behind them were running too, but the gap was rather big.
"What?" called Logan, stopping next to her, not even a bit out of breath.
"My heel broke." She said, almost angrily. Though she really wasn't angry at all.
Logan looked around and suddenly felt very lucky. At least 8 cabs were standing still, their drivers waiting for the light to turn green.
"C'mon." he said, grabbing Veronica's hand and dragging her into the road. She limped behind him but mostly kept up. He glanced into the taxis. First one – taken. Second – taken. Third – shit, also taken. Number four wasn't. Logan grabbed the back seat's door-handle and opened it quickly. The stalking-girls were now on the road too. Logan shoved Veronica into the back seat, climbing in fast behind her, and closed the door. The girls were now outside the cab yelling and calling for Logan. Veronica gave the driver an address, but Logan couldn't hear in over the noise. The light turned green, and after a moment on which the girls got back to the sidewalk and away from thehonking cars, they took off.
They were safe from crazy fans. Veronica allowed herself to sigh with relief.
Thank god for small favors.
A/N: Hey you guys! hope you liked the new chapter! more will come soon. Tell me what you thought of this chapter ) and also: if there's anything you'd like to see on this fic in future chapters - now would be the time to tell me. also: I know that it was said Aaron was a good guy or something like that. Yeah, I don't think so. And neither does my characters. Sure they say it now, but... Trust me when I say, all will be explained in future chapters.
Roni