"Veronica and Logan, two motherless children, wandering through the world all alone."

"Fuck off, Lilly." Veronica was smiling as she said it, though. Lilly had a way of being charming even when she was being a total asshole.

Lilly laughed. "Seriously, though, Veronica what do you see in him?"

"I see myself. I see hope. I see love." Veronica was so very earnest that Lilly couldn't do anything in response except bust out laughing. Veronica laughed in return. "I don't know, Lills, I just like that boy-that's all."

"Hey, you don't have to explain shit to me. I'm just your best friend over here." Lilly seductively moved her eyebrows up and down.

"Your feminine charms don't work on me. I'm immune!" Veronica shrieked as Lilly mercilessly tackled her into onto the bed. "Well, maybe I'm not quite as immune as I thought."

"Well, I'm immune to the Echolls charm," Lilly said breathlessly. "Although, maybe it's just Logan. His dad is smokin' hot." Veronica groaned. "What, Veronica, I'd totally do him."

"Well, even if Mr. Echolls wasn't already a creep on his own, it would definitely be creepy if we dated father and son."

"Are you and Logan DATING?"

"No, Lilly, I was just saying-"

"You were just accidentally voicing your deepest desires… Well, don't worry. I wholeheartedly approve."

Veronica rolled over onto her side, her eyes rolling with her. "Ok, thanks, but I do not approve of you dating Aaron Echolls. And I'm pretty sure your mother would disown you."

"Oh, please, like I would date him. It would just be a little bit of fun."

"He's scary, Lilly. I don't know much about his dad, but I worry about Logan sometimes… He has no one else."

"Well aren't you a sucker for a guy who's been through shit?"

"And you're not?"

"Touché."

888888888888888

Logan didn't really believe in God, but he didn't really begrudge others their beliefs either. He wasn't a militant atheist or anything like that, he just plain didn't give a fuck. He didn't see God anywhere in the world. And yet he had prayed for his father's death more times than he could remember. Lynn would probably come back if Aaron died, but that wasn't the real reason Logan wanted Aaron gone. The hate that tore apart Logan's guts, just growing and growing, making him think that someday his father would be dead at Logan's hand rather than the other way around… That was the real reason. God, take him please before I do. In Aaron's line of work, "accidents" happened every day.

Logan worked full-time scooping ice cream for minimum wage… Hey, everybody's gotta start somewhere and his dad certainly wasn't throwing any money Logan's way. Just as Logan was about to take up smoking to have something to do on break other than lose himself in his thoughts, a familiar face appeared in the shop. "Hey man, you got a second?"

"Oh, you're talking to me now?" Logan couldn't help but get bitchy. Duncan had just walked into Ben & Jerry's acting like he owned the place which, Logan grudgingly admitted, he could if he wanted to. But why the fuck would he want to?

"Look, you guys are dead here, can you take a break?" Logan glanced at his co-worker Becky, a Hearst college student who was as bored as he was. If you're bored then you're boring, people's parents sometimes said. Not Logan's parents, but people's. But screw that. It was 6:30 p.m. Nobody wanted ice cream. Everybody wanted real food. Becky shrugged with a smile. She was terminally sweet and shy, even around high school boys. Duncan was already starting to take off, so Logan wiped his hands on his cow-spotted apron and followed him out of the store.

"What's up, man?" Logan sighed. They'd been best friends since they were twelve, when Logan was new in town and no one else wanted to be his friend. Not much had changed since then except now Duncan didn't want him either… Logan never held a grudge like Duncan could. He didn't really know how to administer the silent treatment. He just wanted things to be good again, if they ever were to start with. He was too damn forgiving at times. All times.

"What's up with you and Veronica?"

"That's what you came all the way down here for? Coulda saved yourself a trip. We're just friends-barely."

"But you like her, you always liked her, I could tell."

"So what? You tossed her to the curb like trash and now all of a sudden you care?"

"She's-it's not what you think."

"What?"

"Why I care, it's not what you think. I just-I see her as, like, a sister and I don't want to see her get hurt. Your family is dangerous."

"Yeah, and your real sister's a slut and your mom's a bitch and your dad-"

"And your dad's a psycho!" Duncan punctuated his remark with a shove to Logan's chest.

"Hey, no argument from me there," Logan said but his face was lit up with rage. He didn't want to hit Duncan back. He wasn't sure if he could stop if he started. So he settled for clenching his teeth and his fists.

"And I was just worried-like father like son, you know." Duncan sneered at Logan. Logan briefly wondered if Duncan truly worried about this or if he was just trying to fuck with him. God knows Logan himself had worried about his capacity for violence on more than one occasion.

"Yeah, well, don't worry, I won't hurt her any more than you did."

"I didn't do anything wrong," Duncan countered.

"Oh, you hardly ever do anything at all, do you Donut?"

"Don't call me that!" Duncan yelled. And then, under his breath, "Fucking Lilly."

"Don't come to my place of work and threaten me!"

"Your 'place of work'?"

"Oh, fuck you rich boy. Some people have jobs, you know?"

"Yeah, I heard about that. Some people also steal cars when they're fourteen and almost get thrown into juvie but their best friend's dad helps get them a deal…"

"Right, I almost forgot. The time you helped me just to throw it in my face later. I thanked your dad. I don't owe you anything."

Duncan scoffed and started kicking at the sidewalk with the heel of his shoe. "Whatever, Logan, honestly I just came here today to say be good to her."

"First of all, nothing's happening. Secondly, if that's what you came here to say then why didn't you just fucking say it?"

"I don't know." Duncan sighed, his anger fading away into the ether. "Sometimes I'm just so pissed at you."

"For my family? For shit I can't help?" Logan's anger was omnipresent.

"No, for no reason. I really don't know. I was just mad at everyone for a while, especially my friends… I just hate that we grew apart."

That was pretty much all Logan needed to hear before he reached into his pocket and pulled out a flask. He politely passed it to Duncan first. "What's in this?" Duncan asked warily.

"Dude, who cares? It's not poison-well, not really. Don't be a pussy." Logan challenged Duncan with a grin. Duncan shrugged and took two deep slugs of the amber liquid. His eyes burned and he coughed, which made Logan laugh.

"I have always been able to drink you under the table, Donut, even when we were twelve. We gotta work on that."