Chapter Four – Setting A Mood

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"Veronica, are you up yet? You're gonna be late." Lianne called through the door. Veronica and Logan had got in a little later than planned, Logan said he misplaced his phone on the beach and they had to go back and look for it. 20 minutes later, they still hadn't found it when, as if by magic, his memory cleared and he remembered he put it in the glove compartment of his Xterra.

"Yeah Mom, I'm up. Is there any hot water left?" Veronica replied as she threw back the covers crept out of bed slowly, blinking at the bright May sunlight that is present in California all year round.

"Should be, but you better hurry, Logan has already been waiting 10 minutes."

'What? Logan's already here? Why? Well, obviously I know why, but why didn't Mom tell me? And now I've wasted another 4 minutes thinking to myself.'

"Is he in the living room or in his car?" Veronica yelled, slowly opening the door and peeking out.

"He's waiting on the porch, I told him you slept in. Is that really his car? It looks like Big Bird."

Veronica laughed as she quickly picked out her out fit for today and ran into the bathroom. She quickly showered and brushed her teeth and got dressed within the space of 10 minutes. She entered the living room/kitchen and found Lianne there holding out a bowl of cereal and a hot looking Logan sitting on the couch, today wearing his green and purple jacket, a light green t-shirt and dark blue jeans.

"Hey Ronnie." He said, his normal smirk in place.

"Hey yourself." Veronica replied as she took the bowl from her mom and sat at the counter where she wolfed down the meal. She got up, placed the bowl in the sink and headed back into her room to get her messenger bag and books. "Ready to go?"

"Let's hit the road. Bye Mrs. Mars."

"See you kids, have a good day." Once the door was closed, Lianne opened the fridge door and pulled out her water bottle. She practically burst the bottle and drank half of the liquid in one gulp.

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"Uh, do you know how much this is gonna suck?" Veronica groans as Logan pulls the Xterra into the school car park.

"Hey, at least the 09er's know, so that won't be a big problem, but the rest of the school may have misgivings," Logan glanced at Veronica who had a sceptical look on her, "Didn't sound too convincing, huh?"

"No…but good attempt. Let's get going."

Logan quickly gets out, closes the door and moves over to Veronica's side. He opens the door and holds out his hand for her to take.

"Uh, Logan, I can get out myself." Veronica said, taking Logan's hand and getting out of the car.

"I know, but I wanted to help." Logan closes the door and locks the car.

"Wow, only 3 minutes here and we already have some viewers."

"Yeah, but see, they're not 09er's. That must be a plus, right?" Logan asked as they walked into the main hallway. As they stepped over to Veronica's locker, Veronica handed him her bag as she opened it. She placed the unwanted books in her locker and closed it. She turned, took the bag from Logan and took his hand in hers.

"So about this plan of yours to prove my innocence, any idea how we'll do it yet?"

"I have a few, but they all end with us going to prison and becoming bitches."

They arrived at Logan's locker where Dick and Beaver were waiting for him.

"Hey Dick, Beav, how's it going?" Logan asked as he removed Veronica's hand from his and opened his locker.

"Hey dude…Veronica." Dick replied as Beaver gave a simple nod of hello. "So, how was the rest of your night? You two ran out pretty quickly. Did you two get up to anyt…" Dick stopped himself from digging his grave as Logan glared at him and Veronica rolled her eyes. "Well, me and Beaver best get going, leave you two love birds to it."

Dick and Beaver walked away, glancing behind at the newest couple in Neptune. Logan got his needed books and closed his locker, again taking Veronica's hand in his as they started walking to Journalism. Logan was oblivious to the looks and stares that they were receiving. Once they reached the classroom, Veronica practically ran in and sat furthest from the door. Logan gave her a strange look that told her he didn't see the looks.

"What was with the brisk pace Veronica?" Logan asked as he took a seat beside her.

"You seemed too overjoyed for us to be together in public, but please tell me you didn't miss all the looks we got?" Veronica asked, her voice dripping with disbelief.

"I didn't miss them, I just don't care. All I care about is that we are together, and we are honest with each other. Nothing else matters besides that."

"I'm happy we're honest too but all the looks are starting to, well, annoy me," Veronica whispered as their teacher closed the door, "but, for your sake, I'll take it with a pinch of salt." Veronica replied.

"So, what do you wanna do tonight?" He asks as he turns on the computer.

"Well, mom said something about tacos for dinner when I got home yesterday, so maybe you'd wanna come over for dinner? I promise I'll have dad lock his shotgun away." Logan laughed and placed his hand over hers

"Should be fine."

Logan turned towards his computer and started typing away, his smirk firmly in place.

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Keith opened the mail box and pulled out the mail. 'Junk…bill' he thought until he came to a smaller envelope. 'The moment of truth.' He is about to open it when he hears laughter coming from his apartment. He looks through the blinds and see's Veronica, Lianne and Logan standing at the counter making dinner. All three of them were laughing and held spoons in their mouths. He put the small envelope in his pocket and entered the apartment.

"Hi dad," Veronica said, "This is so stupid."

"No, I'm telling you," Lianne replies, pulling the spoon from her mouth, "No tears."

Again, they all laugh. Logan removes the spoon from his mouth and places it in the sink.

"Hiya Mr. Mars." Keith nods in his direction.

"Keith, the radio. Like old times." Lianne said before placing the spoon back in her mouth. "It works, see? Keith, tacos," Veronica laughs, "What?" she asks.

"It's just funny to me that you always had to have your music match your food."

"It is called setting a mood."

"Of course!"

"Connie Francis is spaghetti Bolognese with crusty bread and a nice Chianti," Lianne notices the look Keith throws her, "Oh, sans the Chianti."

"Ok. Say we were having hot dogs and tater tots?" Veronica asks, glancing down at the knife in front of her.

"Late '70s Southern rock. Skynyrd, maybe Creedence."

"Pork chops?"

"Country, old-school."

Logan smiles at normal, functional family life in front of him as Keith speaks.

"Unless it's fried. Then it's Elvis, the early years." Lianne chuckles as she raises the bottle, taking two small gulps. Keith heads back to the radio and fiddles with the knob, until he finds some salsa music. "Here you go. How's that?" he asks.

Veronica smiles at Keith, then Lianne and finally Logan, before replying "Perfect."

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AN: What did you think? Please, please, please review! If you do, I'll give you marshmallows…..the Veronica kind. I'm having some ideas of how to make the LoVe even better, but they will only arrive once I get my reviews! Now click that purple button.