"Who the hell do you think you are?!" Veronica's voice demanded before Logan even saw her. He honestly hadn't been expecting her at all, after the fight with Duncan today at school, he supposed his presence may have made it onto her radar.

"Charming as hell?" he offered, drying his hair and stepping into his bedroom, wearing nothing but a towel. "Devilishly handsome?" he mocked as she came angrily into the room and stopped, her cheeks coloured with a slight embarrassed flush as she noticed his attire. His muscular body wrapped in nothing but a towel. "Occasionally I like to go with Roguishly Hot" He smiled sarcastically. His tone was nonchalant and he was glad it sounded as cold and harsh as it did, it was easier to deal with the lump forming in his throat when he was acting like a fucking asshole. His heart began to race slightly as he watched her briefly run her gaze over his body, it was so subtle he hadn't been sure she had at first. At least he could still get under her skin like this. She might have broken up with him but she was still as attracted to him as he was to her. No matter how indifferent he was pretending to be, he wasn't any more unaffected by her as she was by him.

"God, would you just STOP?" she snapped, her blue eyes blazing. "You have been picking fights with me for months, now you're attacking Duncan?" she accused him.

"I attacked Duncan?" he spluttered incredulously, throwing the small hand towel he had been holding onto the bed. Duncan had been the one to throw the first punch, but of course, her White Knight could do no wrong.

"Look, I get that you are jealous… but enough is enough" she glared.

"You think I'm jealous?" he repeated, biting his lip angrily and staring at the wall behind her.

"I think this is about your Pride" Veronica told him pointedly, her blue eyes throwing daggers at him.

Pride? Was she insane?

"You think this is just about my Ego?" he demanded, closing the distance between them, he was furious. Could she really think it was just that simple? She devoted her time to solving crimes and puzzles and figuring people out, and if she had even cared about him enough to take the time to really consider it for longer than 5 seconds the answer would be obvious to her. "You really think I did this to feel more like a man?" he asked mockingly.

"I think you'll do anything for attention" she declared coldly.

"Damn right I'll do anything for attention! Your attention…" he shouted, stepping closer to her. "I'm here remember? I exist… and I'm still in with love you!" he confessed, his breath was deep and his heart thundered in his chest. "But that doesn't count anymore right?"

Even as the words left his mouth Logan still was sure he would regret them, he wasn't exactly sure what he was expecting. She didn't respond, just stood there like a concrete angel in front of him with her mouth slightly open in stunned silence. He never could quite read her as well as he wanted to. She wasn't even looking at him now, her eyes were fixated on the door.

"Seeing you with him… well you get the idea…" he continued softly. "So okay, yeah.. I'm a little jealous" he told her before stepping away to get his clothes.

Confession is good for the soul… he thought bitterly.

"I wished he was you.." she said so quietly he hadn't even been sure he had heard her correctly. He stilled and stood exactly in place.

God don't say things like that Veronica… he begged silently. He knew she would never leave the safety of her teddy bears and ice-cream life with Duncan. He didn't say anything, just sighed deeply, putting his hands on his hips. He swallowed hard and the look she gave him could have sliced his heart out right then.

"That what you want to hear Logan?" she repeated tauntingly.

God, she could be such a bitch sometimes!

"Yeah? That must suck for you" he told her coldly.

"I lay in bed at night with Duncan, and I find myself wishing he was gone… he looks at me with those blue eyes.. and a part of me hates it because they aren't brown" Veronica continued sarcastically. "You think I don't notice you exist Logan?" she snapped angrily. "You are everywhere all of the time and its driving me crazy…"

"Well if it's driving you so insane, why are you still with him and not with me?" he demanded simply, he had definitely lost his poker face now.

"Because I can't survive you Logan!" she exclaimed, her blue eyes starting to fill with tears.

What did that even mean? He sighed in frustration.

"You are so determined to get yourself hurt or worse… and I can't take that… I can't watch" Veronica told him.

"So you don't want to be with me because I'm a bad boy, huh Veronica?" he complained. Why had he even said anything? It changed nothing. "Duncan make you feel all happy and safe?" he spat satirically.

"I'm saying losing you is something I couldn't live with" she declared.

Losing you is something I couldn't live with… the words mocked him.

"And yet you have been doing it SO well without me around since you dumped me this summer!" Logan retorted, they were shouting at each other now. These last few months since their break up had been torture, watching her with Duncan every day at school was agony.

"I wouldn't know you never stop being a jackass long enough for me to figure out what it's like when you are gone!" she shouted. It was true, Logan went out of his way to pass sarcastic comments or just generally be obnoxiously there making his presence felt. Usually when he decided to use her shifts in Java the Hut to entertain other girls with his best friend Dick Casablancas.

"Yeah, well maybe you will get lucky and the PCHers will do you a favour and put me out of my misery next time" he mocked bitterly.

"Don't… don't you even…" Veronica warned him. The day of the bus crash that had claimed the lives of several of their classmates, and almost had taken hers had terrified her.. the thought of it all being over so suddenly, of never getting the chance to make it right, of never seeing him again had stolen something from her and here he was joking about just throwing himself in the firing line for kicks?

"Why not Veronica?" he taunted hatefully. "It would make your Malibu Dream Set Life so much prettier without me around"

"I love you, you idiot!" she confessed and he felt like she had punched him right in the stomach. He blinked away tears, there it was… the words he had spent all their summer together trying to get her to tell him. "I've tried to get it to go away… and believe me.. nothing will work" her small hands were tucked into her pockets and she stared at the floor, biting her lower lip.

"I don't really know what you expect me to do with that information.." he replied, running his hand through his almost dry hair. God the Mars girl really messed with his head.

"You think I do?" she snapped, her blue eyes finally meeting his, her pulse was racing.

"I think you broke my heart Veronica…" he said simply. "I think seeing you be with him is torture, and I think you already knew that…" his voice was thick with emotion. He didn't want to fight anymore, it wasn't going to get them anywhere, and he was still sore from the bruises on his ribs.