It's been 2 years since I posted the first chapter of this work as part of VMHQ's 1000 followers celebration. It wasn't intended to be more than a one shot, but I started messing around with it anyway, and as of last week, had written about 5500 words without reaching the end of a chapter. Then, as a result of the very cool Friday Fan Fic Favorites project on Twitter from allthevmfanfic, I was inspired to split out the action of that long chapter into this, and another chapter that is still to be completed.

Who knows if more will come of this after chapter 3 - I'm never sure what will make me want to write more. Anyway, if you enjoy this, you can thank jmazzy for encouraging me to let this out into the world. If you don't, eh, it's on me.

"Oh, Papa Bear, what am I going to do?" Veronica leaned her head on her best friend's shoulder, making a affected crying sound in her throat. "This is unnatural."

They were sitting on a stone wall overlooking one of the large open lawns on campus. Sorority girls sunbathed alongside a very aggressive game of Ultimate Frisbee and a much more kickback hacky sack group. "You're gonna stop making that noise, that's the first thing," Wallace said, shuddering. "Talk about unnatural; I do not want to hear that again."

Veronica pouted at him and he sneered and shook his head. "Nope, not that either."

"You're denying me all the acceptable expressions of distress. How am I to release my angst?"

"Oh for God's sake, you're ridiculous." Wallace shrugged his shoulder to push her head off him. "This is the stupidest reason for angst ever. Normal girls angst about boys who don't like them, not boys who do."

She glared at him and pulled her knees up to her chin. "What do you know about what normal girls do anyway? You're a guy with a brother. You hardly seem like an authority."

Wallace laughed. "I may not be an authority but I bet I know more than you. You certainly can't speak from any kind of personal experience."

Veronica's glare deepened at the slight to her femininity but he shook his head at her and she shrugged it off, knowing he was right. "Whatever. If normal means I'm gonna stress about some guy not liking me, you can have it. I am never going to care if a guy doesn't like me. Chances are good that he's a dirtbag anyway. No, my problem is this electric, almost first sight, kinda thing. I've never had anything like this happen before. It's like something out of a stupid romance novel." She scowled at the idea of being caught anywhere near a romance novel. "It's just not acceptable. I don't want any part of it."

"And I don't want to hear about it. Does anything in our long history make you think that I want to talk this out with you?" He shuddered again. "Let me help you with that answer. It's no. Nope, I take that back. It's Hell No."

"But, Wallace—"

"Hell, NO!" he repeated forcefully as he hopped off the wall. "You want to talk about this kinda stuff, you go see Mac."

Veronica scoffed loudly. "She's less interested than you."

"Dunno what to tell you. Maybe her roommate? She's pretty girly."

Veronica huffed and pouted again. "She'll probably make a play for him."

"Nope. This conversation is not happening." He turned back toward Veronica, his gaze softening. "Stop being a weirdo. So you're crazy about this guy and he's crazy about you. How is that bad?"

"I'm relationship kryptonite. You know that as well as anyone. This can't work and I don't want to get attached when I know it can't last. And it's too quick. It's just not natural."

"You dork, it seems pretty natural to me. Stop trying to undermine yourself." He leaned in to give her a one-armed hug. "You're awesome. The fact that Logan sees that makes him okay in my book. As long as there's nothing icky going on in front of me. You know I'm not down with that."

Veronica snickered and shook her head. "I am well aware."

"Okay then, on that note, I'm taking off."

"What? No! Why? Don't leave me alone to wallow. I'll stop whining, I promise."

"It's not the whining I'm avoiding now, it's the icky. Hey, Logan."

Veronica's head snapped around just as she felt a giant, gentle hand rest against her back.

"Hey, Wallace, what's up?" Logan straddled the wall, scooting up snugly next to Veronica. He wrapped an arm around her and kissed her temple. "Hey there."

Veronica let herself soften against him as her agitation drained away. "Hi." She smiled up at him but Wallace's snort of laughter brought her attention back to him.

"I've got to get going. You two be good." He took a few steps away, then paused and turned back. "Logan, she told you about dinner on Sunday, right?"

Veronica sighed. "No, I hadn't yet. Thanks for the reminder, Wallace."

"Happy to be of service," he said with a cackle that Veronica was pretty sure he learned at the Evil Busybody's Convention, and headed toward his dorm.

"So...dinner?" Logan asked, his head resting against hers. "Where is this dinner and were you planning to tell me?"

She sighed again. "At Wallace's house. You know our parents are a 'thing'. It's the monthly family dinner."

Logan pulled away slightly and looked at her, his brow wrinkled and his eyes serious. "Don't feel bad if you don't want me to go. I know it's kinda soon for you to even mention me to your family. I'm not gonna be mad or anything. Wallace was just messing with you." He leaned in and kissed her forehead gently.

"No, he wasn't. And believe me, they're aware of you." She ducked down, leaning her forehead against his chest so he couldn't see her face.

"They are?" She could hear the smile in his voice and she nodded, then leaned further into him, embarrassed. The arm around her tightened. "Veronica?"

"Hmm?" She didn't want to look at him.

"Do you wanna tell me what's going on?"

"Not really." She finally looked up. His brow was still furrowed and she had the urge to kiss the wrinkle at the top of his nose. "It's embarrassing."

"How embarrassing? America's Funniest Home Videos embarrassing?"

"Worse. And at least that kind of embarrassing can win you money."

Logan laughed into her hair. "Okay, so then if you're not telling me, should we go get lunch?"

"It's just—" She turned toward him, the near leg crossed in front of her, pressing against him. She crossed the other over his leg, dangling over the wall. He chuckled and ran his hands down her arms, then rested them at her hips before leaning down to kiss her properly. She moved her hands to his forearms and let herself fall into the kiss.

The shout of 'Get a room!' broke them apart and Veronica jumped off the wall.

"Come on," she said and Logan cocked his head to the side.

"I don't think that was an actual suggestion." He grinned and her cheeks warmed in embarrassment.

"Lunch," she said adamantly. "I meant, come on, let's go get lunch. Not a room."

"Ahh, yes, I thought that's what you meant." His tone was teasing as he stood and wrapped her hand in his. He looked down at her, his glance heated, then ducked to kiss the base of her neck. "Just remember, I do, in fact, have a room, should you be in need of one."

She smirked up at him before starting toward the Food Court. "I do remember."

"I'm relieved. I'd hate to think our time there has slipped your mind already."

"Not much chance of that." She spent too much time recollecting the time she'd spent in Logan's single dorm room for any of the details to escape her memory.

"Good." He pulled her into his side and kissed the top of her head. "If anything starts to get hazy, let me know and I'll give you a refresher." He opened the door into the Food Court and ushered her inside.

"Hang on." She stopped just inside the door. "I have to forget before you'll do anything to help me remember? I may have been wrong before. I think I might be getting a little unclear on some of the specifics."

"Interesting. A minute ago you had a mind like a steel trap."

She ignored the jibe and pressed on. "There's something that's nagging at me: that time about a week ago when I was studying for my psych test in your window seat..."

Logan laughed and nodded as he wrapped an arm around her waist and tugged her toward their usual table. "Do you recall the part where you'd spent the whole night before that with me? For the first, and regrettably, only, time so far in our relationship?"

"I do kinda remember that." She tapped her finger against her lips. "Might need a little refresher there too."

"Open invitation," he said matter-of-factly. "You're welcome anytime."

"What I do remember is you leaving me alone in your room. That's why I was studying in the window seat. Nothing else to do."

"Oh no, missy, that is not going to work." They sat at their table and he scooted his chair as close to hers as possible, draping his arm around her shoulders. "I was ready to blow off my class that morning, tried to actually. And you told me to go. You didn't want me missing class when, and I quote, 'I'll be here waiting when you get back'. Which you were, in that window seat, wearing only my shirt." He hummed out a satisfied sigh.

She leaned in toward him, cupping his jaw in her hand, stroking her thumb across his cheekbone. "And what happened next...that's the part I'd like a reminder of."

Logan's sigh became a pained groan. "Then what the hell are we doing here? Five minutes tops, and we can be in my room, and I'll remind you all afternoon if you want."

"Growing girl. Gotta eat." She chuckled. "And you should probably eat too. I actually do have the whole afternoon free. You might want to build up your strength."

He darted in and gave her a hard kiss. "You wait here. I'm getting us pasta. I need to carb load." He jumped up and headed for the Italian counter.

Veronica smiled as she watched him go. It was so fun to tease with him. He always got her humor and he could give as good as he got. That had never been the case with Duncan, who'd ignored her attempts at humor whenever possible. When he'd confessed that his old girlfriend had come to him to let him know that she was pregnant, it had almost been a blessing. Veronica hadn't been able to push him back to Meg fast enough. By the end, she'd been so happy to get out of that relationship that she'd helped them sneak off to get married, then hide out from their parents until they were both eighteen. It was unexpected to help the guy she'd gone to Homecoming with barely a month earlier run away with another girl but she couldn't remember ever feeling as relieved as she had when they got in their car and drove off into the figurative sunset.

She'd moved on to Troy shortly thereafter, and he'd been much less stuffy than Duncan. He was more fun, and had seemed nice, and he was definitely more able to keep up with her humor, but as time went on, she'd noticed an undercurrent of skeeviness about him. After Duncan's straight-laced persona, Troy's less gallant tendencies seemed interesting. She'd agreed to go to prom with him but when he suggested that they get a hotel room for after the dance, she'd decided to use a background check to help her decide whether to go or not. She'd gotten a lot more than she'd bargained for with that decision and with cheating, drug dealing Troy banished to military school, she'd gone to prom as a solitary fifth wheel with Wallace and Mac. Wallace had been with Jackie, his questionable choice of a girlfriend, and Mac's date had been arranged by Veronica, something of a bribe for some assistance the guy, Vincent, had provided on a case. It really wasn't Veronica's fault that Vincent had a crush on Mac, but she certainly wasn't going to not take advantage of that fact. Overall, senior prom hadn't exactly been epic. She wondered what her high school years would have been like with Logan around. One thing was for sure: she would have agreed to the after-prom sleepover if he'd asked her.

"Penne with red sauce for me and lasagna for m'lady." Logan placed the tray in front of her with a flourish. "Where'd you go? You looked like you were a million miles away."

She licked her lips at the food in front of her. "Nowhere that far." She smiled up at him. "This looks great. Thank you."

"You're very welcome." He sat down next to her. "So somewhere closer? Thinking of me maybe?"

"Umm, sorta." She took a bite to give herself a moment. "Did you go to your prom?"

He grimaced. "Yeah. I took the daughter of a producer my dad was courting to get a part. Boring as hell."

"I would expect you to have a more exciting story."

"Sorry to disappoint. I was home before midnight and we never went out again."

"Did your dad get the part?" Veronica knew Logan's relationship with his dad was strained at best.

"Yeah, he did." A shadow crossed his face and she felt guilty for putting it there.

"Well, my prom experience probably wasn't any better. I went stag with Mac and Wallace and their dates. I tried to just stay home but they bullied me into it."

"I don't get it. Why weren't the guys lining up to fall at your feet?" She looked up from her lasagna and caught his frank gaze. "I really would have assumed that you'd have the pick of whoever you wanted."

"What about you?" she asked. "I don't really see you needing your dad to fix you up."

"No, you misunderstand. It wasn't a fix-up in that sense. He told me to take her and I did. I wasn't dating anyone in particular at that point and it was just easier to agree."

"Well, for me, it was mainly because the guy I'd been dating exclusively for the prior four months suddenly couldn't take me."

He straightened up suddenly, excitement on his face. "Ooh, let me guess. Was that the one who went on the run with another girl's kid? Or the one you got arrested?"

"How do you know about them?" Veronica asked with a frown. Has he been checking up on me?

The excitement shifted to embarrassment. "I heard you tell that Pez guy, Wallace's roommate, on the day we officially met. You know I was watching that whole painful interlude."

"Watching and listening apparently."

"Well, yeah." He extended a peace offering of a forkful of penne and she let him feed her. "If I hadn't, you'd be sitting here with Pez right now, so I'm not gonna apologize."

She shook her head as she swallowed the bite. "No, I certainly would not be here with Piz. And you don't need to apologize, I just hadn't realized you'd heard about Duncan and Troy."

"Just the short version that you gave Pez that day."

"You know it's Piz, right?"

Logan shrugged. "Eh, whatever. So we both had mediocre prom experiences. What brought that up?"

"Oh, I don't know, I was just thinking about Duncan and Troy." He glanced up from his penne, a startled look flashing across his face. "Not like that, Logan. I was just thinking..." She trailed off, not really ready to talk about how much he made her feel, and how little her prior relationships meant in comparison. "Really, it's not worth mentioning."

He frowned. "If you say so."

"I do." She pushed her mostly empty plate away and tugged him closer. "Don't waste any energy on either of them. They aren't worth it. I promise."

"If you say so," he repeated, but he had that carefully blank look that she'd seen on his face when people realized who his parents were and wanted to talk Hollywood. She did not want to be the cause of that look.

"It was Troy. The drug dealer. He was the date who wasn't." She felt a wave of relief as his face brightened.

"Well, it's his loss." He scooped up his final bite of pasta. "Dude was an idiot."

"I completely concur." She looked at the forkful of food hovering in mid-air. "Gonna eat that?"

"I was thinking about it," he answered, "but I could be persuaded to give up my penne rights, if presented with sufficient incentive."

"You'd trade your last bite of lunch for...what? What would it take?"

"Whatcha got?" The waggling eyebrows were more silly than seductive, but the thrill of anticipation that shot through her was exciting. Even with the heat building through her body, she stuck with nonchalant.

"Eh." She shrugged indifferently. "I'm not certain the last bite of Food Court pasta is worth that much."

"How about this?" he asked, eyes twinkling. "You go ahead and have the bite—" he rocked the fork from side-to-side "—and we can finish negotiation of terms elsewhere. I suspect you'll have more to barter with once we're in my room."

She gave him a disdainful snort. "I think you have an over-inflated opinion of that pasta. Which is getting colder and more congealed by the minute. Minutes that are tick-tick-ticking away our afternoon together."

"Oh. I hadn't thought of that." He moved the fork closer to her mouth. "Here. Eat up and we'll get out of here."

She smiled and leaned forward, but only took about half the bite. She leaned back and waved his hand away, then covered her mouth with her hand to make talking with her mouth full less gross.

"Take the rest. Last bit of carb-loading for you."

He grinned and finished the bite, then dropped the fork into the empty dish and jumped up, gathering the trash and moving to dump it in the nearest can.

"Okay then," he said when he returned, pulling her chair out and extending his hand to her. "Better get a move on before the carb load becomes a carb crash."

"Incentive for you to work harder," she teased as she took his hand and laced her fingers with his, then tugged him toward the exit. "If you're burning the carbs with heavy effort, you won't crash."

The look he gave her was both heated and amused. "I don't think I've ever looked forward to a workout more." He pushed the Food Court door open and led her out into the sunshine.