A/N : Sorry for the delay in updating, I needed a fic break for a few days, but I'm back now, and hopefully you'll all appreciate this slighlty longer chapter!
(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 12 - Simple Like The Truth

"Oh, boring!" Lilly faked a yawn at the sound of another girls 'truth', an explanation of how she lost her virginity.

It wasn't exactly a thrilling tale, more fitting for a fairytale story book than the HBO-worthy situations Lilly often found herself in, or should that be put herself in?

"If everybody else is telling such uninspiring stories, Lil" Logan told her, "Why don't you share something with the group?"

"You don't have to just because rich boy says so, baby" Weevil told her, his hand rubbing her leg as he held her still in his lap.

"What? You're scared I'm gonna let something slip about you, Eli?" she whispered in his ear, "Not tonight" she promised, kissing his neck.

"What do you say, Lilly?" Shelley asked her, "Truth or Dare?"

"Truth" she answered immediately as she brought her head up once again and looked around the assembled people, her eyes stopping at Logan, "Since it's what everybody wants" she smirked.

He tilted his beer bottle in her direction as if he was toasting her decision, before knocking back half the contents quickly. Beside him Veronica looked decidedly uncomfortable. Any secret Lilly told couldn't lead to any good, it just couldn't, and even the blonde had followed Logan's example and resorted to a slightly stronger alcoholic drink to dull the overwhelming nervousness that raged within her. It was worth the cab fare to get the two of them home.

"I have the perfect question" Madison grinned suddenly her eyes narrowing at Logan before she turned to her friend once again, the smile on her face threatening to split her face in two, "Lilly, who's better in bed? Logan or Eli?" she asked, before adding the cruel twist, "or Aaron?"

"You bitch!" Logan sneered, raising the beer bottle in his hand as if he meant to throw it.

"Logan, no!" Veronica urged him, grabbing at his arm to stop him.

As much as she hated Madison too right now, throwing glass at her would be assault and her family were sure to follow through with a complaint. Instead of being smashed in one nasty girls face, the bottle instead hit the ground with a thud, as Logan allowed Veronica to lower his arm back to his side, and the glass object he held slipped from his grasp. No-one saw the tears that filled his eyes, no-one but Veronica, and she only caught a glimpse before he pushed his way through the crowds and stormed away.

Madison bit her lip to prevent herself from laughing as Lilly buried her face in Weevil's shoulder to hide the same.

"Y'know I actually felt sorry for you, Madison" Veronica yelled at the girl who's need to laugh left her immediately, "When I realised what Dick had planned for tonight, I left you that note because I actually thought I should help you, and now..." she shook her head, feeling so very angry and upset, "You tell me, all of you" she asked the assembled group, "Did I do the right thing?" she asked, completely at a loss as she turned and hurried after Logan who was fast disappearing from her sight.

Leaving a group of open-mouthed and gaping party-goers in her wake, Veronica barely noticed as she ran after her friend. She caught up with him a few feet before he reached his car and her hand grabbed his arm.

"Logan" she said a she reached for him, "I'm so sorry, I can't believe she said that in front of you"

"It's not your fault, Veronica" he told her with a smile that didn't reach his eyes as he turned to look at her, "I should've expected something like that, and it shouldn't hurt so damn much, but..."

"But it does" she nodded in understanding, "and it's okay, you're allowed to be hurt"

Logan let out a painful laugh as he wandered a few steps and slammed his fist into the hood of his car.

"Maybe we should go home" Veronica suggested, hating to see him hurting like this.

Madison was such a bitch, so was Lilly, especially since she'd just sat there and laughed at the question she knew must be causing suffering to the young man she once professed to love.

"No" he said suddenly, "Why should they ruin our night?" he asked as he turned to face her once again, head tilting towards the laughing crowd beyond, "You, er, you wanna walk for a while. I dunno, talk or something?"

"Sure" Veronica smiled, taking the hand he offered her as they headed past a row of parked cars to a little decorative fence which Logan lifted Veronica over before following, and re-taking her hand.

They wandered down onto the beach, both of them distinctly quiet despite the fact they'd said they were going to walk and talk. To anybody who was watching they would've looked like young lovers taking a moonlit stroll, and it seemed to suddenly occur to them both at the same time as awkwardness set in, their hands dropping from each others as they both spoke at once.

"You go" Logan smiled at Veronica who looked away at the ocean for a moment.

"I was going to ask..." she said taking a breath, "Do you still love Lilly?" she asked eventually, wondering why she really needed to know, but certain that she did, "I'm sorry, I know it's none of my business but..."

"Hey, it's okay" he interrupted her, "Did I love Lilly?" Logan sighed, "Yeah, I think I did, but do I love her now?" he shook his head, "No, I can't"

"I'm not sure I could even like her now, not even if I tried" Veronica admitted, "I don't know what changed, or when, or how, but something did" she shook her head.

"You changed, that's for sure" he smiled, though the blonde beside him looked less amused, after all it was yet to be said whether the change he'd seen in her was for the better or worse, "There's no way the kid I met when I moved here would've acted like you did in front of everybody" he told her, "I mean, the whole virgin thing, wow, Veronica"

"I'm not ashamed of the fact that I don't sleep around" she said firmly, "Anymore than you'd be embarrassed to admit how many girls you've been with"

"Ah" Logan looked away then, "That number might not be exactly what you think. I talk a good game, Veronica, but you know how it is. You know I never loved anyone but Lilly" he shook his head, eyes meeting her once again.

Though he hadn't actually said it, Veronica knew what he meant. Lilly was the only girl he'd ever had sex with, he'd been committed to her, that was for sure. It only made it worse that the Kanes daughter would betray him, over and over.

"So how exactly did this friendly conversation turn into our own game of Truth?" Logan suddenly asked her with a smirk.

"I don't see it as a game when two friends share secrets" Veronica shook her head, "It's just, being best friends"

"Best friends, huh?" Logan's smirk widened, his emphasis heavy on the 'best' part of the term, "How did that happen?"

"I don't know" Veronica giggled, "But I don't mind that it did. You're a way better friend lately than Lilly was" she admitted, though she couldn't exactly look Logan in the eye as she did so.

They reached a patch of rocks on the beach and sat down together, watching the tide lap the shore.

"So, whilst we're sharing secrets" Logan said, "Anything else you need to confess, Miss Mars? Anymore skeletons in your closet?" he asked.

"Nothing interesting" she assured him, "Logan, you've known me since we were twelve, what huge secrets could I really have from you?"

"Well, I was dating Lilly and she had plenty" he pointed out, "I'm starting to think I don't know anybody as well as I thought. Not even my parents" he sighed, as Veronica shuddered involuntary at the very thought of Aaron Echolls.

It was bad enough knowing he'd been having an affair with Lilly, but then the way he'd attacked her... Veronica was just so glad she'd been there to save her friend, and that her father would ensure justice was served. Though Aaron had got bail, he was still going to have to face punishment for the statutory rape and attempted assault that everybody knew he had committed. Lilly may have been willing when it came to messing around with her boyfriend's father but she was still too young in the eyes of the law.

As soon as bail was granted, Aaron had fled to another property, in an 'undisclosed location', though of course Logan knew where Daddy Dearest had gone and Veronica could find out from her Dad if she so wished, he had to know. The fact was both Logan and Veronica were just glad to know Aaron was out of their lives for a while. Things were going to get awfully complicated when trials and sentences had to be dealt with. The whole sorry mess would require dragging up again, from his affair with Lilly, and his attack on the same girl, no doubt delving into the Echolls family secrets that were best kept buried.

"You want to know a secret about me?" Veronica said suddenly, desperate to lighten the mood anyway she could.

"Sure" Logan managed a smile, seeing what it was she was trying to do.

"Well... I've never..." she began, with relevant dramatic pauses, making it seem as if she were about to tell the biggest secret in the world to him as she leaned in close to his ear and whispered, "I've never seen snow" she admitted, and his expression was pure shock as he looked at her.

"Are you serious?" he gasped, and Veronica wasn't entirely sure whether he was asking of her statement was the real one she intended to give, or if the words themselves were true.

"I'm serious" she assured him on both counts, "That's my big secret, I've never seen snow. I've lived in California my whole life, Logan" she shrugged, "And vacations didn't take us far. We're not all rich enough for skiing in Aspen every Christmas" she said with an over-the-top upper class accent as she shoved him in the shoulder and laughed.

"Wow" Logan said, for the second time now, amazed by not only what Veronica had said but just by the girl herself. She'd shown a different side to herself tonight, as well as all the stuff he already knew he really liked about her, maybe even loved about her if he were perfectly honest, but that was one confession he was not about to make tonight, no matter how intense the sharing became.

"So, anything else you want to share?" Veronica asked him, when he was quiet too long.

"I don't know" Logan said awkwardly as she stared at him, and he wondered if she knew he was hiding something, if she could read his mind and knew he was thinking of a secret this very minute, that he wasn't at all ready to tell.

"C'mon there must be something stupid you wanna share" Veronica urged him, hoping to maintain the light mood they'd managed for a while there.

The way Logan was looking at her now was far from amusing, and more terrifying, like he was going to say something really serious, or like he was going to kiss her or something.

"Okay, I don't actually dance that well" he admitted eventually, and Veronica was just glad he'd torn his eyes away from her own.

This gave her something to think about. All the parties she'd been to in the company of Lilly, Duncan, and Logan, and yet she hadn't noticed that he couldn't dance. There were slow dances but that didn't so much qualify...

"Huh" she said, when she realised what he said was true, "Well, we all have one of those things we can't do" she shrugged, "Some people can't swim, a lot can't surf, personally I was never brave enough to let go of the wall the one time I went to an ice rink" she told him.

"There's a pattern here, with you and frozen water, Miss Mars" Logan noted, making her smile.

"This is nice" Veronica said after a moment, "Y'know, us doing the friends thing, away from the bitch crowd..." she was smiling when she made the mistake of turning to actually look at Logan and when their eyes met again, the intensity returned, sapping all the humour from the moment.

It kept happening, and neither could deny that it did. They were getting closer, and not just in that best friends way they talked about. As they both sub-consciously leaned in to each other, to the point where their lips almost touched, it was apparent to the pair of them they should think before getting into this, but they didn't.

Logan's hand slid up behind Veronica's head, pulling her to him as they finally had that kiss they'd both been thinking about for most of the night, if they were honest with themselves.

It was odd, in a way, since the only guy Veronica had ever really kissed like this was Duncan, and mostly Logan had been committed to only Lilly. Knowing who the other person was in this moment ought to have been strange, they were such an unlikely pairing, and yet nobody would ever have pinned them for friends either, but they were and had been for a while now.

The kiss was fairly short but sweet, and nonetheless thrilling, it was just the remedy for the waiting and thinking and over-thinking the two had done previously. When they parted and were forced to actually look at each other once again, neither knew quite what to say.

"So..." Logan said eventually, before realising he had nothing to follow it with, a strange feeling for the boy who always had a quick-witted comment for any given situation.

"Yeah" came Veronica's equally surprising inarticulate response as they both at there feeling more than a little awkward, "Um, it's getting kind of late" she said, glancing at the watch on her wrist that honestly she could barely read in the semi-dark, but she figured her 'kind of late' estimate must be fairly accurate.

"Right, yeah" Logan frowned slightly, wondering if this was his friend telling him she needed to get away from him as soon as possible, either because he'd scared her, or confused her, or something, "I should probably call a cab or..."

"Yes, a cab" Veronica agreed with a nod, letting ought a sigh of relief as Logan got up from the rocks and took a couple of steps away as he pulled out his cell and made the call.

Sitting alone, the blonde took a couple of breaths, feeling a little dizzy to be honest. A smile crept onto her lips as she let the events of the evening sink in, in particular that kiss she and Logan had just shared. It was a beautiful moment, and yet scary too. She was quite overwhelmed by how much she could feel from one little kiss. Of course, the real question was, did Logan feel the same? She'd like to ask, but right now she didn't dare too.

Little did she know he was having the same problem, and so the two remained mostly quiet as they walked back to the house, waited for their cab, got in, and rode home, all the while wondering if they'd made a big mistake tonight.

Both were usually so quick to ask exactly what they wanted to know, but things were different now, and silence reigned, even as they arrived at Veronica's house and she moved to get out of the car. When she turned to say goodnight, she realsied Logan had decided to walk her to her door, and the butterflies in her stomach woke up once again.

"Tonight was fun" she said as they stood under the porch light together, "Mostly, anyway. Maybe next time we can gag Madison before the party starts" she smirked, and he did too at the amusing mental image her words conjured up.

Logan was only glad that it wasn't their kiss she was regretting, at least it didn't seem to be. If she were so eager to get away, she'd have got herself into the house by now, but she was still there, besides he knew enough of her frankness to believe that Veronica would tell him out right if she wanted him to back off.

"So, I guess this is the part where we say goodnight, Miss Mars" he said, glancing towards the cab that would take him home, then back at her face.

"I guess so" she replied, with a slight nod of her head, as they stood close to each other, "Goodnight, Logan" she said, her voice no more than a whisper by now, as she anticipated his next move.

His lips dropped onto hers a second later, and the two enjoyed a second sweet kiss.

"Goodnight, Veronica" he whispered when they parted, and by the time the blonde opened her eyes, Logan was already back down the path, climbing into the cab that would take him home.

All in all, it had been a very strange night, Veronica thought to herself with a smile, but she wouldn't have changed it for the world.

To Be Continued...