Disclaimer: I don't own Veronica Mars.
"Veronica, hi." His appreciative tone does nothing for her, but she smiles at him anyway, as she hurries into the hall.
"Hey Duncan." She calls, craning her neck to face him as she walks up the stairs. "Your sister is home, right? I saw her car." At his nod, she continues, frowning to herself as she remembers the silver motorcycle she'd seen discreetly parked across the street. Maybe Logan got a new toy, she thinks as she opens the door, half knocking along the way. "Hey Lill, I-" She stops dead, one fist poised to knock, the other on the doorknob. Sitting on the bed, struggling to straighten their clothes are Lilly, and a man Veronica has never seen before.
"Forgot to knock?" Lilly asks laughing, her eyes dancing merrily. Veronica gapes at her incredulously and for a moment the bedroom is silent.
"Lilly," She hisses under breath, her long curtain of hair falling to hide the side of her face. "What is going on here?"
"Eli Navarro." A voice says from behind her, and she practically jumps with surprise.
"Hi." She replies, turning to face him, smiling tightly. He extends his hand, and for a moment she doesn't know what to do.
"I don't have fleas." Without waiting for a response, he turns towards the door. "It was nice to meet you." He says sarcastically. "Lilly." He nods, and as Veronica watches they share a secret smile of sorts. She feels sick to her stomach.
"So what's up Veronica Mars?" Lilly asks, falling back against the mattress, and for a moment, is speechless. "Veronica? Verrrrrrrrrronica? Earth to Mars." Lilly's snapping fingers jolt her out of her daydream, and she blinks. Lilly is in her cheer uniform. "What brings you by so early?" Lilly asks, leaning over the side of the bed in search of a magazine.
"What were you doing with that guy?" She asks, her voice a little rusty, and Lilly snorts as she looks up at her, her attention finally caught.
"Knitting a sweater." She replies, deadpan, but her eyes are dancing. "What'd you think we were doing? Schoolwork?" She laughs again, shaking her head, and Veronica feels the world crashing around her.
"What about Logan?" She asks quietly. Lilly's smile falters a little, but she only shakes her head.
"What about Logan, Veronica?" She asks, rolling her eyes and looking away again. Veronica sighs, her stomach tightening.
"…Does he…does he know?" Her voice catches on the last word, and Lilly glances up at her again, shrugging her petite shoulders.
"Does it matter?" She asks, and suddenly Veronica feels woozy. Does it matter? Does it matter. Does it matter?
"Lilly…Logan's a really great-"
"Oh come on, spare me, Veronica Mars." She smiles and pats the bed beside her, but Veronica is rooted to the spot. "Oh come on, you're not upset about this, are you? Logan and I," She falls back laughing. "We're…we're plain vanilla. A girl like me needs some chocolate in her life." Laughing uproariously and flipping through her magazine, and shakes her head. "Oh come on, Mars. He's a big boy. I'm sure he has his fun too." They were so close, that if she moved her head up just half an inch they'd be kissing. "Although if I ever catch him at it, I'll cut his balls off." Her voice cuts through Veronica's thoughts and she wants to scream how is that fair? But she knows she can't. It isn't her place. "Veronica?" Lilly asks, and she forces herself to smile. Realizing that she's still standing in the doorway she takes a step in, shuddering involuntarily. She sits on the edge of the bed, barely listening as Lilly laughed and chattered about this and that, her attention riveted on one, small thing-tiny even, perhaps. Does it matter? "You can have him of course, if you want." Lilly says, gesturing towards the page, and Veronica glances down too, the face of a somewhat familiar Hollywood playboy grins back at her. His paper face is forgotten in a second, the vivid reality of Logan's taking it's place. You can have him of course, if you want. And now of course, there are two.
A/N: So I hope you guys liked this. I really, really enjoyed writing it. And in case my thought process eludes you; that last line there, where she says "and now of course there are two" means now there are two things that she's thinking about. I really liked ending it like that, and thinking ahead-for you the people who have to read this, I figured I'd explain myself just in case it didn't make sense.