Disclaimer: Sadly, I still don't own Veronica Mars or any of these characters…but just think, to own Dick and Beaver. That would be pretty awesome.

Chapter Two

Mac and Veronica were still in Mac's room chatting when the phone rang. "Hello?" Mac answered.

"Hey, it's me."

"Hey, me." Mac replied. It was Cassidy, of course, but the two of them loved goofing around together. Veronica raised an eyebrow. Mac covered the receiver with her hand, "It's Beaver." She whispered.

"Well, I'll leave you two alone. I need to get going anyway." Veronica grabbed her stuff and let herself out, waving goodbye to Mac, who was oblivious.

"So I was wondering," Cassidy began.

"Yes?" Mac urged him on. Even though the two were perfectly comfortable around each other in friend-type situations, when it came to the boyfriend/girlfriend stuff, they were both very shy. Neither Mac nor Cassidy had been in a relationship before, so they were both very new to this, and it made things awkward. "Cass?"

"Right. So I was wondering," he went on, "if you would like to go to the Winter Carnival? With me? I mean, I know it's dumb, but, I don't know, it could be fun, I guess. I totally understand if you don't want to, but I just thought maybe—"

She cut him off. "Of course I would. I'd love to."

"Oh! Okay, yeah, great! Then I'll pick you up around three?"

"Yeah, fine. See you then." She smiled.

"Okay, see you then. Bye." He was smiling too.

"Bye." She hung up the phone and flung herself onto her bed. People always do that in movies when they're happy—fling themselves onto something. She was elated.

"Cindy? Honey, who was that on the phone?" Her mother called up to her.

"Just…a friend from school." She called back downstairs. Yeah, okay, so she hadn't told her mom yet, but Mac isn't really the kind of girl who confides things in her ultra-perky blonde mom. It's not like she's Madison Sinclair. But she almost was. The previous year, Mac found out that she and Madison had been switched at birth. She always suspected she had been adopted, as she was nothing like her blond, self-involved family. Madison would've fit right in. Upon meeting the Sinclairs, she discovered they were just like her, and Madison was the outcast. It made her sad to think of the way things could've been.

"Hey Beav, you want a ride to the carnival?" Dick asked in an almost brotherly fashion.

"No, thanks, but I'm going with someone else, so I'll just drive myself."

"Ohhh, I get it. You're taking your lady of the evening, right?"

"Shut up, Dick." Cassidy lightly punched him in the arm.

"You mean…you didn't have to pay her? Wow."

"Bye, Dick." Cassidy rolled his eyes.

Mac kept looking out the front door, waiting for Cassidy. She told her parents she was riding with Veronica in order to keep them from asking embarrassing questions. The last thing she needed was for them to find out that she lied. She finally saw his car and shouted goodbye to her parents as she ran out the front door.

"You didn't even let me practice my skills."

"What?" Mac looked at him, confused.

"You know, my skills. Like, coming to get you at the door, opening the car door for you. It's okay, I understand that you're embarrassed of me, I'll live." He laughed.

"Oh, no. It's not that, it's just—my parents. They're kind of…"

"No, I get it. It's okay."

She laid her head back on the car seat and turned to look at him. "Well, if you really want, I'll let you walk me to the door tonight."