Chapter 2: The Confrontation

"Hey, I want to talk to you. I've got some things to say and you are going to listen." No reaction from Logan. He just continued staring down at his notebook as he wrote, apparently oblivious to her presence. "I'm sorry," she whispered. Maybe Logan had more acting skills than she'd credited him with as there was still no reaction from him. Or maybe she really didn't exist to him anymore.

"I'm so sorry that I hurt you by not trusting you, not talking to you. I'm sorry your father hurt you and I never knew, never helped you," she whispered shakily. She stopped briefly to draw in a deep breath and blink away tears. Had her concentration not been centered completely on him she would have missed the slight tightening of his hand on his pen when a small sob escaped her. Maybe Logan wasn't as ambivalent to her as he pretended. Maybe he wasn't as good at acting as she'd begun to think.

Without looking up, Logan started to pack up his homework to leave. Tightening her resolve, Veronica suddenly yanked his books away and threw them behind her. "No," she yelled! "You're not leaving. You are going to sit right there and listen to me until I've finished talking."

For the first time since she'd come over, Logan sat up, arms folded across his chest, and looked at her. One eyebrow was raised cockily as if saying, "Fine. Bring it on." Ah, there was the kind of reaction she wanted. There was a little bit of the snarky jackass of days past. It was all she could do to keep herself from grinning. It was the most life he had shown in weeks. Her Logan wasn't dead yet. His flame might have been extinguished to a mere spark but with a little kindling and care, the spark just might become a flame again.

Now that she had his attention she wasn't sure what to say. Words were usually Veronica's forte but now she found herself speechless. She'd waited months for this moment and she wanted to say exactly the right thing. Logan's glance down at his watch and back up at her brought Veronica out of her daze as she realized getting out what needed said was more important than how it was phrased.

Slowly releasing the breath she had unconsciously been holding, the words just began to flow. "As I said before, I'm sorry didn't trust you and by not trusting you I hurt you. I should have stuck around the pool house and confronted you about the cameras instead of running off. Maybe if I had, we would have figured out together what happened. Maybe we could have stopped Aaron before things got so far out of hand. I'm sorry our relationship came at the expense of your friendship with Duncan and the rest of the 09ers. Most of all, I can't even begin to tell you how much I regret that Weevil and his crew attacked you. I swear I didn't tell him you did it. He overheard a conversation I had with my father and…and…well I'm sure you can figure out what happened next. I had no idea that he would actually go after you." She stopped briefly to draw in a shaky breath.

Logan continued to sit there with arms crossed and a blank expression on his face, not even a flicker in his eyes. She had no idea what he was thinking but at least he was listening. "As sorry as I am about all of that, I won't apologize for going to the cops. You lied to me about what happened that day and I was obligated to report it to the police. I did my job, did what I needed to do for Lilly. You might not believe it but I am sorry that your life was destroyed and that I had a hand in it, but I'm not sorry for doing what I had to in order to find the truth. If I could go back and undo the pain I caused you, I would but as you pointed out, time travel is not yet possible. If you want to continue hating me, I understand but I'd really like to be your friend again." With that, Veronica stopped talking. There really was nothing more left to say.

Gradually, Veronica realized the courtyard around them was silent. Looking around, she noticed that all eyes were focused on her and Logan. She hadn't even been aware that as she had been talking her voice had gotten louder and louder until she ended up yelling those last few sentences. She glared around until eyes began to drop and people went back to what they had been doing.

Turning back to Logan she waited to see how he would respond. He just stared at her for a few seconds before raising his brows and spreading his arms open as if asking if there was more. "That's all. I'm done now."

Logan stood up from the table and started walking towards Veronica. Her heart sped up as he got closer but before he got to her he stepped around her and knelt down to pick up his discarded books.

Veronica closed her eyes in defense against the forming tears as it hit her that yet again he was going to walk away without a word. She'd put her heart out for him and he was going to ignore it, destroy it. She supposed it was karmic revenge for ripping his heart out and stomping on it last spring.

"Mars." Her eyes flew open and she turned quickly when she realized it was Logan's voice calling her. She braced herself for the attack she felt would commence. "Mars," he said again, "you give yourself entirely too much credit." A look of confusion crossed her face as he continued, "You want to take all the credit for destroying my life but the credit doesn't all belong to you. My…Aaron, Lilly, hell even my mother inflicted more damage to my life than you could ever hope to cause. I don't hate you. I don't feel much of anything for you," he tacked on brutally. With that, he turned away and walked back towards the school.

Veronica stood there with a hand clamped over her mouth, tears streaming down her face. Wallace came running over, "What did he say? Are you going to be okay?"

Removing her hand from her mouth, a half laugh, half sob escaped. "Well, he actually listened to me. He even talked. Mind you, it was to tell me he didn't hate me because he felt nothing for me but at least he acknowledged me." Suddenly, she threw her arms around Wallace while continuing to laugh and cry simultaneously.

Wallace just stood there holding her and shaking his head in confusion. Women, he thought, how were men supposed to understand them? How was he supposed to know if she was okay or upset when she laughed and cried at the same time? "You don't seem nearly as upset as I thought you'd be. Isn't it normally a bad thing when a guy tells you he feels nothing for you," he asked bewildered?

She pulled out of his arms and shot him one last soggy half smile and swiped at her eyes. "Normally yes, it would be a bad thing. But, if he truly felt nothing for me, not even hate, he wouldn't have sat there listening much less responded to me. I should probably go get cleaned up before class. Thanks for talking me into going over there. You're the best BFF a girl could ask for."

Standing there with his mouth half open Wallace watched her run off in the direction of the school. Women were hard enough to understand but being the BFF to one, especially one like Veronica Mars, was almost too much for a guy.