Drunk Logan
Chapter 7

A/N: Thank you so much for the feedback. You have no idea how much I appreciate it. I understand why people beg for it so much. Feedback is my crack!

A/N 2: I wanted to post a second chapter since I was a little late in posting ch. 6

Veronica was in the school bathroom meeting with Lexi. She was updating her on Jack's behavior at Saturday night's party.

"Lexi, look I'm not saying that he hasn't cheated on you or isn't currently. All I'm telling you is that you wanted me to go to the party and watch him when he thought that you were out of town all weekend. I did...and he didn't misbehave at all. He had fun, he danced and talked to people, but nothing more. Now, I am willing to keep watching him, but I'm not sure that I'll find anything. It's up to you. Personally, I thought you'd be happy to hear of Jack's fidelity." Veronica said resolutely.

Lexi looked at her for a moment, "Let me think about it. I'll watch how he acts around me for awhile and then get back to you if I'm still suspicious. Here's $200.00 for your time. Thanks, Veronica."

(A/N: Most of these next scenes are taken from or adapted from the show.)

"What are you doing?" Logan asked as he walked up to Duncan, who was standing in front of his open locker organizing a bunch of video tapes.

"Oh, my mother thought it would be nice to have a video tribute of Lilly for the dedication ceremony." Logan could tell that Duncan was having a hard time with this.

"And she wanted you to do it?"

"No, my dad did...wanted someone who knew her."

"You want me to do it, man. You know I'm awesome at this stuff. Come on let me do it, I wanna do it."

"Thanks man." Duncan looked truly relieved.

"Yeah."

After school, Veronica ran up to Troy in the hall. She had gone over and over the failed kiss in her mind. What really bugged her though, was the fact that every time she thought of it, her mind always ended up on Logan and the kiss they had shared. She had to figure out a way to get Logan and that kiss out of her mind.

'What better way to do it than to replace that memory with another?' Veronica had told herself.

"Wait up." Troy lets her catch up to him.

"Don't run Veronica, people might think you're desperate."

"That would be a step up, reputation wise." She tries to lighten the mood.

"I guess that all depends on who you're asking." He responds pointedly.

'Okay, light joke flew over like a lead balloon...must go for the direct approach.'

"I think I might have given you the wrong impression. I had a really great time. I just..." Veronica didn't quite know how to say what she wanted to say.

Troy picked up where she'd left off, "It's just that you need more...and you get to fill in the blank here. A, time, B, space..."

She stops him as she lunges at him with a kiss which he greedily participates in.

They are making out pretty good when something catches Veronica's attention. It is a laugh she knows very well. She steps back from Troy enough to look into the A/V room they are standing by. She can see Logan in front of a computer monitor and scenes of Lilly flashing on the screen.

"Troy, can I call you later? There's something I've got to do." She's not quite looking at him.

"Now?" He wimpers in disbelief. He finally got to kiss her and now she wants to just walk away. "You started this." He jokes with her.

"I know, I'm sorry. I'll make it up to you later, okay?" Upon his nod, she gives him a quick peck on the cheek and walks into the A/V room.

Logan had heard Veronica's voice as soon as she'd spoken to Troy. Then, he listened as she apologized to him and finally kissed him. He had even turned to look at them for a moment, but then returned his attention to the computer screen before being seen.

When she walked in, he had been expecting her. He'd actually turned up the volume on the video clips of Lilly and knew that the sound of her laughter would draw Veronica's attention. Although their last encounter had been an odd one, to say the least, he was compelled to do anything to stop her and Troy's kiss. Short of stomping over and ripping them away from each other, this had been his best option.

He didn't know why he hated the idea of them kissing so much. 'I just don't trust the guy. He seems off to me, like he's got ulterior motives. Although, would I really feel any better if she were kissing anyone else? Don't kid yourself, Logan. Of course not. Argh!!!!!'

"What are you doing?" She asked him as she stared in awe at the scenes of Lilly.

"Assembling the world's most boring memorial video. Ballet, choir recital, debutante crap, Girl Scouts. Memories both misty and water-colored."

"It's Lilly as a long distance commercial."

"Well, it isn't really about Lilly, is it? Logan responded. "God, this would piss her off."

After a moment more, Veronica began to feel uncomfortable being in such an emotionally intimate moment with Logan. She started to leave when his voice stopped her.

"Veronica, could you help me out?" When she didn't answer him immediately, he continued. "I mean, do you think you could look through your stuff for any video of her. If anyone would have anything that showed the real her, it would be you."

"Yeah, sure, I'll look through my stuff." She gives him a reassuring smile and nod, then leaves.

The following day Veronica walked into the A/V room after school.

"Hey." Veronica said quietly as she entered the room.

"Hey." Veronica could hear the raspiness in his voice. He hadn't turned around and she noticed him discreetly wiping tears away.

"I, um, you were right. I found a tape that shows more of who Lilly really was."

"Thanks. You can just put it on the desk."

"Logan, are you okay?" Veronica asked hesitantly.

"Yeah, just a lot of footage." Logan was almost whispering.

With as much as Logan had put Veronica through, hearing him sound so broken was killing her. Maybe it was because she knew how hard it must be for him to relive so many memories of Lilly. At that moment, she made a decision that went against every logical thought in her head.

"Well, guess it's a good thing I'm here then." She announced loudly and soundly.

"Huh?" Logan finally turned and looked at her.

"Well, two of us will work faster than one." She said with as much enthusiasm as she could muster as she placed her bag on the floor. "Plus, I came armed with a video of Lilly that'll make Celeste want to get a tattoo and share a cell with a lifer named 'Bertha.' Logan chuckled and sniffed a bit.
So, where do I start?" She added as she pulled out the seat next to him.

Logan was completely startled by Veronica's actions. He'd been drawn to her lately, whether it was because he liked her or just felt the need to protect her, he didn't know. He was a little nervous about having her around. For one thing, right before she had walked in, he'd been crying like a baby. He didn't really want to break down in front of her. Yet, having her so near to him, he felt like he was gaining strength from her presence.

"Logan?" Veronica was getting nervous now. Logan hadn't responded to her at all, he had just stared into her face with a blank look.

"Uh, yeah, uh, sorry." Logan mumbled. "Here, start on this stack. I'm still working on the footage and still pictures Duncan has on his laptop."

They spent the next 3 hours sifting through clips. The first hour was uneasy and deadly quiet, but then they started to talk about the images they were seeing. They began laughing and reminiscing about other times they had spent with her.

Logan told Veronica about the time Lilly had convinced him to have sex with her in a confessional. Not that he was religious, but he had been waiting for a bolt of lightning to strike him down. Veronica laughed so hard; she didn't have to try hard to believe it. That sounded exactly like something Lilly would do.

"Yeah, well, you know how she was always trying to get back at Celeste, whether Celeste knew it or not?" At Logan's nod, Veronica continued. "She once made me go shopping with her to buy Celeste a drawer full of crotch-less underwear and all sorts of kinky sex toys to go with them."

Logan's laughter was roaring out of him. "I would have loved to have seen that!"

"No, no, that's not even the bad part." Veronica grabbed Logan's hand to get his attention. "She, then persuaded me to write a note to Celeste in Jake's writing. She had me put all this stuff in there about his ultimate fantasy and that this stuff would complete what was missing in their marriage. Then, she distracted Celeste, while I changed out her underwear drawer. Lilly burned all of her underwear." Logan was laughing so hard at this point that no sound was actually coming out of him and he had tears flowing down his face. "I always imagined her face the next morning as she went through her drawer for a change of underwear. I wonder if she tried it on for Jake or if she sent one of the staff out to buy her new underwear. The really funny thing is that Celeste never said anything to us about it. It would be too funny if she thought that Jake actually had put that note there. Who knows, maybe she's wearing crotch-less underwear to this day."

"Oh, man! Why did I have to miss out on that one? I totally would have helped you." Logan said while shaking his head in regret.

"You did help us."

"What? What are you talking about. I didn't even know about it."
"You're right, but Lilly had arranged for you and Duncan to go somewhere so that, in Lilly's words, 'Duncan didn't have a chance to be the stand-up guy he is and save the day for Celeste.' She figured he would've tried to talk her out of it. Not that she would have listened; she just didn't feel like dealing with it when she knew she'd do it anyway. Plus, if he'd known, his conscience would have gotten the better of him and Jake and Celeste would have seen the guilt written all over his face." Veronica was giggling as she spoke.

"Oh, man." Logan was trying to catch his breath. "Lilly was an evil genius." He looked down and saw that her had was still sitting on top of his. He couldn't help but notice how comfortable it felt and how soft her hand was.

Veronica noticed him staring into his lap and glanced down. She jumped slightly and quickly returned her hands to the computer, forwarding to the next image.

Logan's chest actually hurt when she took her hand away so abruptly. He knew why she did it and he would have done the same had he been her. It still hurt, though. He was surprised at the fact that he'd felt an actual physical reaction in his chest. It was the weirdest thing he'd ever felt.

They ignored the huge elephant in the room and continued looking through the clips. They had long given up on trying to look at separate clips. They both wanted to see what each other was looking at, so they just went through them together.

They continued to share stories, some of all four of them and some of just Lilly. They talked about how she always got her way. Not only was she convincing, she was extremely persistent.

"Yeah, she would just nag and nag and nag until you didn't have the strength to fight her anymore." Logan remembered so many times he would give her anything just to make her stop.

"Tell me about it. I still remember how much she bugged me to go out with you." Logan perked up.

"What? Why would she do that?" Veronica had his complete and utter interest at that moment.

"Oh, it's no big deal, it was before you and her started dating. It's not like she was trying to share you with me or pawn you off or something. She knew I had the biggest crush on you and she wouldn't leave it alone. She was a pest." Veronica said, then looked back toward the computer, assuming the conversation was over.

Logan's head was spinning. Although he knew it was going to be a mistake, he couldn't let this go.

"Why did you go out with Duncan?" He asked her, perplexed her decision.

"What?"

"Why did you go out with Duncan if you liked me?" Logan was looking right into her eyes and she could feel the intensity of his stare travel up her spine.
"Because, I knew I didn't have a chance. I knew you'd never like me like that, especially not when my competition was 'The Great Lilly Kane'." Veronica smiled at the thought of how amazing her best friend had been. "Duncan was nice and, by going out with him, I knew I wouldn't be competing with Lil." Veronica shrugged. She was beginning to feel uneasy with the fact that she had opened herself up so much to her biggest tormentor. Sure, it was years ago, but he could still find a way to use it against her.

'It must be all of the nostalgia. I forgot reality for a moment there. I wonder how long it will take for Logan to snap out of his civil streak and try to maim me with this information.'

Veronica's thoughts were interrupted by Logan's voice. He spoke so softly at first. "You're wrong, you know." Logan let out a long sigh. "I was totally in to you. I didn't start taking an interest in Lilly until you and Duncan were together for a good month or two." He glanced at her and saw her staring back with her mouth open in surprise.

They both sat there staring at each other, waiting to see what would happen next.

"Wha-" Veronica started to speak, but was interrupted by the ring of her cell phone. She fumbled in her bag before finding and answering the phone. She had been so frazzled by Logan's admission that she didn't even look at the caller id.

"Hey, Beautiful. You hungry?" Troy sounded so smooth.

"Hey, Troy." Veronica had to clear her throat since it had gone totally dry at Logan's last words. 'Would he really have picked me over Lilly?'

She was so wrapped up in her conversation and her thoughts that she didn't see the panicked look on Logan's face. He didn't want any interruptions right now. He really wanted to see how his and Veronica's conversation would finish.

"So, I was thinking about a little dinner and then, you could start making up for cutting short our make-out yesterday. What do you say? Pick you up at 7?"

'Snap out of it, Veronica. That was years ago. It's not like it matters now anyway.' Veronica kicked herself for the excitement she had felt just a moment earlier and turned her thoughts back to Troy.

"Yeah, that sounds great. I'll see you then." Logan's expression turned to one of disappointment as he heard her making plans with Troy.

Veronica ended her call and looked at Logan. "Um, so, I've got to go. Do you want to meet back here tomorrow after school to finish this up? We can move onto the fun part and really show Neptune why Lilly was the life of the party!" Veronica tried her best to cover the letdown she was feeling at ending the work party for the evening.

"Yeah, that sounds good. We can just leave all of this here. The room is reserved for this project all week. No one else will be in here." Logan wasn't happy that she was leaving him and going out with Troy, but he knew he was being ridiculous.
"Great, then I'll see you tomorrow?" She gathered up her bag and stood to leave.

"Yeah, see you tomorrow." Logan watched as she walked out. When she was out of sight, he sat back in his chair, kicked out a leg and clasped his hands together behind his head.

He thought of the 3 hours that they had spent together and how comfortable they had been. They had laughed and really talked to each other. It had been so long since they'd had a real conversation, but now they had just spent 2 of the last 3 hours doing just that. They had been able to relax with each other. He doesn't remember the last time they had done that. Even before he had started tormenting her, they had been dealing with Lilly's death together. Most of the time they'd spent together had not been relaxed.

Veronica and Troy had gone out to dinner, and like their first dinner, they had a great time. Once they'd gotten through that first kiss in the hallway at school, they were much more comfortable with kissing each other. In fact, they stood outside the door to her apartment and tried to say goodbye between kisses.

They finally separated and he started to walk away until he stopped himself and looked back at her. "You know, if we were the kind of people who attended school functions, this would probably be the time I'd ask you." He gave her a coy smile which she returned it with one of her own as she let herself into her apartment.

She laid down on her bed, happy to have a reprieve from the thoughts of Logan that had been crowding her mind since the prior Saturday night.