(Robyn - Baby Forgive Me)
Brayden Fields: Epic party at Sister's house. It's gonna be LIT!
Logan: Dude pls. We have to talk.
Natalia: Twerk that cute ass over to Beta Gamma Pi?
Unknown: Where are you?
23 Missed calls – Logan
Dad: Ready to talk now after our last little hiccup?
"Screw that," he muttered, tossing his phone back into his pocket. Dick knew eventually his father would get pissed off being dismissed like that but he honestly didn't care. The idea he was back in town and hadn't even visited his sons grave given how vacant of flowers or anything had been was like nails on a chalkboard in the back of his mind.
All this and nothing from Cindy…
College Life.
It was meant to be all beers flowing freely, finding a fraternity-hood of party peers to age old with, to make those memories of spring breaks and the abundance of hot girls before they opted for the fake boobs, fake laugh, no calories please lifestyles, maybe he'd have met his starter wife.
Hell's he might have even opted to take a year off and go Eurotripping to 'find himself.'
Dick had thought he'd have been fortunate to buy himself a half way decent degree and pass at least half of his classes-college didn't exactly let you pick up the yearly slack with summer school. He never thought he'd end up a father-ever-let alone before the second semester of his freshmen year. Nope, someone had left out that crucial information and now the whole campus looked different, so did the future.
Sometimes life provides what you need and not what you want… but there wasn't any part of him that didn't want this new path.
Cindy Mackenzie barefoot and pregnant waiting for him...
He'd fucked up.
He swallowed hard at the memory of her hands clutching his shirt, her tear-filled grey eyes wide and pleading with him.
"I was going to tell you… Richard please… I love you."
The way her body had twisted in his arms like the best kind of sin, offering herself to him completely before he pushed her away from him. Guilt almost halted his stride, and he was tempted to turn around, to take the cowards way out and pick up one of Logan's 97 phone-calls this evening.
He had to fix this right now. Isn't that what he'd promised Cassidy this afternoon when he's stood at the graveside talking to that chunk of stone?
He'd crossed an uncrossable line, and now the future he craved more than anything was at DEFCON 1 if she refused to forgive him.
Excuses, apologies, and plans of attack to explain his behavior did somersaults back and forth in his head, all jostling for position.
"What do Veronica Mars and ice-cream have in common? They are both ice cold," he'd teased Logan during their winter break trip to Aspen.
If she found him first… let's just say he'd lose more than a surfboard this time.
Girls he'd always thought were nothing more than a passing diversion, girls, like Madison and Lily Kane… they were only out to use and abuse a guy for malicious means, and the ones with brains would run from a guy like him as soon as the ties could be severed-just like his mother.
Veronica the vigilante had been an anomaly as far as he was concerned, and even then he wasn't entirely convinced that the angst Logan had gone through loving that girl made it worth it. His friend had earned his peace, lived with Lily Kane's ghost for years… and Veronica had intensity like she was at war with Neptune itself.
But Mac?
His sweet Cindy?
She was simple. Falling for her had been like riding a perfect wave. She loved singing along to obscure bands while she wrote code. She wanted movie nights after classes, hated getting sunburn but loved it when he spent time rubbing the sunblock onto her shoulders and then they never quite made it outside.
She was one of the warmest lovers he'd ever had, yet everything about her gave him brain freeze. Like when she smiled at him, he wanted to pause time, capture the moment in a time bubble and relive it over and over.
Mac was supposed to be off-limits but like any hard-headed red-blooded male he had to admit that the more he'd let her use his body, and the more she'd insisted on keeping them on the low. He knew those scraps of her attention would never be enough, and he'd set about making her fall for him.
The happiest memory he'd made in months was her in his room, wearing his t-shirt and moaning his name. She'd been talking about her plans for after graduation and the only coherent thought he'd had was I want to be your forever.
This couldn't go on.. he'd spent last night unable to sleep because missing her was like a phantom limb. He'd kept reaching for her. He didn't want to fall in love with somebody else… he never wanted to be left a heartbroken wreckage watching her move on without him.
If he wanted the Mona Lisa, he'd have to mix the paint.
He'd just have to be honest with her, convince his baby momma that they were gonna be the greatest love story this town had ever seen.
What if she wouldn't forgive him?
Would she let him come back, give him a chance for one more try?
He'd pay any price.
The world's smallest handcuffs were wedding rings, he'd get down on one knee if he had to.
No one had a road map for their future, a lifetime without his little brother was the last thing he'd thought would be on his cards… getting caught up in the storm of falling in love with Mac… having a baby? He couldn't walk away. All corners he'd taken that were never sign posted but he was ready to try.
His road only went in the same direction as her whatever happened next.
But no one had a road map to their future, and he certainly never saw the shot coming before he'd walked into the science building pushing her to safety inside the computer lab when he'd threw himself between Mac, his unborn child and that bullet.
