The best way to forget your daily problems was to seek out bigger challenges Logan thought as he paddled forwards on his board, the taste of salt in his mouth, the cold water rolled over him, he could see the swell of a good one about to break just ahead of him, he poised himself ready to stand and greet it. Every wave felt different, this was one of the true times Logan knew that he was truly alive; adrenaline tingled in his muscles, the anticipation building. It was very early morning, even Dick hadn't been up for leaving the hotel suite at this ungodly hour, but Logan couldn't shut his mind off, he needed a distraction, a solid 8-foot wave was the perfect answer.
Waking up alone in the morning was really starting to make him cranky, echoes of Veronica's sounds whispered to him in his sleep, her absence was driving him insane.
He kept on paddling even though his arms are starting to feel pain. Finally reaching the line-up. Sitting, waiting, entering a meditative mode, his thoughts primed, focused on one thing – getting that wave. Pouncing he saw the wall build up, it lifted the water under him and his board catching up speed. He would have about a second to stand up before he either crashed down the wave or miss it. Hands around the board, pulling his knee in under his stomach while the board was in an almost vertical position down the wave and jumped up on the board. His back foot hit the board first and then his front foot. Speed, then pure elation. He was surfing. Here is where the magic occurs, this is the moment he lived for when surfing, this is where nature closes its hands around you and for a moment you feel nothing but love for this world, as he landed in the water he went go from thunder and lightning to tranquillity. Everything calmed and his pulse slowly slowed down. The total opposite of his time with Veronica, his girlfriend, she got his heart racing, his blood pumping, she set him on fire in every way possible.
Damn it… even out here, sitting perched on his board beyond the break line catching his breath, looking along the shoreline, his legs dangling in the water memories of her found him. Was there a single minute of any day she did not cross his mind?
Logan sighed deeply as he looked at his watch, he would have to head back into the beach soon. His first class started in a few hours, tempting as the thought of spending a few hours in the beautiful sunshine with some beers on the beach was. He was doing his best to be reformed.
He honestly wasn't sure what use it would do, no matter how hard he tried, every interaction with Keith Mars had the same outcome, Logan left a thousand pounds heavier under the weight of the former sheriffs judging stare. He had taken up reading the local Neptune newspaper during his breakfasts, something Logan usually hated to do and catching the evening news to try to stay current with events, tried to cut down his video-gaming to watch some live sports so he could have something more to talk about with his girlfriend's father, but none of his attempts seemed to be thawing the frost wall that went up around the Mars family dinner table when he came to visit. Mr Mars seemed to dislike Logan's affluent background, having spent years on the losing end of trying to maintain law and order in the increasingly class divided Neptune, this probably shouldn't have been too surprising but sometimes, Logan felt like Keith barely gave him a chance.
"You've never had to work for anything in your life!" whispered the ghosts of Aaron Echolls, his father's angry voice screamed through Logan's memory and he shivered from more than just the cold. Common opinion of Logan was that his life was just frivolous, that he lacked ambition, almost every parent of every girlfriend he had had since junior year hadn't minded, until that is the truth had come out about his dad. The Movie Star Aaron Echolls who had killed Logan's high school girlfriend, Lilly Kane before meeting his own murderous end by an intruder in the hotel suite, just the floor beneath Logan's. A well of emotions threatened to explode from inside him, why was all of this anxiety coming back to him now? It had been Keith and Veronica Mars who had uncovered the truth about his father's crimes. Keith Mars , former disgraced sheriff was the best selling author of the official book on the journey to track down Lillys true killer, and the man who had ultimately caught him. Logan hated his father, he had taken Lilly from him, drove his mother to suicide, and even tried to kill Veronica, and even after all this time, he still was fighting the shadows of the man's impression from behind Keith Mars's stare.
His most recent attempt at bonding with the elder Mars the previous evening now seemed ill-advised in the harsh light of the morning. He had purchased some hire guns and invited both Veronica and her father to the Neptune Target, for a few hours in the shooting range John Casablanca's had taken him to in senior year with his two sons. Veronica wasn't too keen at the time, she was more interested in shooting pictures with her camera than a static target, but Logan had thought it would be great bonding activity to try with Keith, a former sheriff and a former cop for over 26 years, Logan had used it as an opportunity to attempt to get him to build some kind of common ground, let him show off, to teach him some tips and tricks, but on second thoughts, given that the groundwork for their relationship started with Logan's father being a known murderer, proximity to any kind of item which may hurt his daughter was probably the last thing Logan should have included in their plans. He should have just stuck to mini-golf. The more skill Logan had demonstrated the more distrustful and unsettled Keith Mars had become, using the time allotted to school his daughter in the correct posture, and how to avoid the effects of the kick back because of her small frame.
What had he been thinking? Stupid, Stupid Logan. He thought as he dried his hair and sat on the sand to get his breath after the swim back. Logan may have been able to dress smart, act confident and speak politely, but it was becoming more obvious that he was just viewed as unsuitable and lacked the basic qualities that Keith Mars considered a sign of good moral character despite all his efforts to respect all his rules. He could win over their dog, Back-up easily enough, but he didn't know what to do about this situation. Veronica had seemed determined to compartmentalize her life into neat little boxes, and he couldn't shake the insecurity that even his own girlfriend thought that the Logan Box, didn't belong anywhere near the Family Box. That was exactly where he ached to belong.
Watching the father-daughter duo tell each other jokes about the kitchen or laughing around the Mars Investigations office and swapping stories during the movie nights made them escape into their own little world left Logan feeling like an outsider, like he was watching everything he wanted from outside a snow globe. A home, a real home, where people genuinely loved each other, one where they stuck together no matter what. A home where they literally crawled through fire for one another. They spoke a language with one another that Logan just couldn't understand, and he wished they would take the time to teach it to him. Veronica didn't seem to fully appreciate just how special that relationship with her father was. Part of the trouble with being an orphan, is he had no one to go to for advice. 19 years old, and Logan had no one else in his life.
No one cared what happened to him, he had few close ties left after high school, he didn't really let people close to him anymore after his fathers murder, the few times he had opened up to someone during the case at Neptune High when Logan had been investigated for the Murder of Felix Toomes, it had ended up as a headline in a tabloid, only Dick had stayed his truest friend. He knew Veronica loved him but deep down, he missed having a family, even as dysfunctional as the Echolls home had been, his mother had loved him. He missed having someone care about whether he made it home; he wanted one of those people to be Keith Mars. Logan couldn't help but stifle the jealousy he felt when Mac, Wallace and his roommate Piz came by for film study nights and fell into easy conversation with the man and Logan sat awkwardly with his arm wrapped over Veronica's shoulder. He always felt like he was intruding.
How could he expect to ask her to spend the rest of her life with him... when he was an out of place corrupting influence? Sighing he threw his board back into the back of his car. Why did this bother him so much? He wished he had someone to talk to about it, someone to guide him around the curves of the intricate nature of taming Keith Mars. Maybe he could ask Wallace? But that would most likely result in it getting back to Veronica. The two of them were practically siblings.
Sliding into the front seat he rested his head against the steering wheel. What was he honestly thinking? He was 19 years old. He had no career goals, just a very large bank account and a proclivity for attracting the worst kind of luck. Doubts had been building in his head ever since he had given the ring to Dick to hide in his room a few weeks ago. Would her dad freak out and make Veronica break up with Logan for this? More than anything he wished he could stop the record player of worst case scenarios rolling around its greatest hits inside his brain. He much preferred when it repeated memories of her waking him from his sleep in a racy lingerie outfit and taking advantage of him in every way possible.
He had just pulled up to the campus early around 7.40am and collected his books for his polypsy class when his phone chirped in his pocket. Pulling it out he glanced at the message.
Morning handsome ;) See you for coffee? V.
His heart flipped, something inside him did a little happy dance and he grin lit up his entire face, the dark clouds rolling around his head began to subside as he imagined her hair all ruffled, curled up in her bed. He missed that sight of her laying on her stomach, arm curled beneath her pillow, sleeping with that unconscious content smile on her lips, she was so unguarded, so perfect in those moments, her hands reaching for his warmth if he got too far away. Their make-up session had been a sample of everything in Logan's life he hadn't been sure he was missing. He wanted her, he wanted a life with her, he wanted Thanksgiving and Christmas and bringing her back breakfast as she lay sleeping waiting him when he got back from mornings like this. Keith Mars be damned, overprotective father or not, Logan wasn't going to let the uncertainty he was feeling to get to him.
He was in love with Veronica. Had always been in love with Veronica, he knew he always would be, he wanted stability with her, he wanted her to become his family, he wanted her by his side, he wanted to make her happy for the rest of her life.
He dialled her number.
"Hey! I am just up, did you get my message?" she asked, her voice was still sleepy sounding.
"Yea, that's why I called, you want me to swing by, take you out to breakfast then drive you to class?" he offered, she didn't have to know he was already at campus.
"uh.. I think dad's already on it" she informed him, pulling her t shirt on over her head.
"oh.." why shouldn't he be surprised, he forgot sometimes that people who didn't have to wait on room service starting times could just walk into their kitchen and make food for each other. "well uh.. call me when you get out of class and we can arrange-" he began, trying to mask the disappointment in his voice.
"Or you could come by, bagels or toast?" she interjected.
"I-I'm not sure if.. that's a good…" he replied, not quite sure he was up to facing the exposure of the Mars Scrutiny again so soon in 12 hour period.
"DAD! Logan's coming for Breakfast!" Veronica interrupted as she called out to her father in the kitchen. "Now you have to come" she teased.
He really wished she hadn't done that.
"Need me to bring anything?" Logan replied.
"Orange juice?" Veronica suggested before calling out to her dad to get extra bacon from the fridge.
"I'll see you soon" Logan sighed.
Wonderful, a side of eggs and some personal criticism to start off his day.
