Dick came sauntering around the corner with arms wide. "Hey buddy! Thanks for coming to get me, I—" he stopped suddenly and gave her an inquisitive look. "You look different, Logan." He inspected her from all sides while she rolled her eyes. "I'm not saying it's a bad thing, I'm just saying… something's different," he finished slowly with a confused look on his face.
"C'mon Dick before I change my mind and leave you here." She walked out the door without checking to see if he followed.
"What is this?" he asked.
"My car," the look on her face added the duh.
"Well it looks like crap. Did you like trade it in for that hot new body you're working?" She climbed in, seriously considering leaving him on the side of the road. "I mean, it was totally worth it and all, but…"
If looks could kill. But he answered with a grin, which was killer in its own way.
"Just kidding, Mackster." She turned her attention back to the car. "Seriously though," he continued, "is Logan like too busy giving Veronica a ride so you get stuck with the dirty 'Dick' work?" His gave her an insinuating wiggle of the eyebrows, but she was too tired and annoyed to care.
"Basically."
"Yeah," he answered in a normal tone of voice. "They've been going at it like crazy lately, I can't even stand to be in that house! You'd think a brother in trouble would be enough to get him to pull his cock out for like, 5 minutes." Dick sounded seriously offended.
"Yeah," she agreed, "Wallace and I were at your place for less than half an hour before the inappropriate making out started, I don't even want to think about what'll be going on by the time we get back."
"We? Why are you at my place?"
"Apartment is having some work done courtesy a poorly planned kegger thrown by my illustrious upstairs neighbors. We were all going to binge on Firefly and make a night of it until I can go home. At least Wallace stuck with me for most of it."
"And I wasn't invited?" Dick pouted.
"Didn't really seem like your kinda thing," she replied.
"What, I totally dig hot girls in space. There are hot girls in space right?" She nodded.
"I've got half of Serenity to finish," she offered.
"No fucking way, and listen to those two all night, can you just turn up here and I'll grab a room at the Grand. I can't take another night of that shit." He pointed in the direction of Neptune's most famous hotel.
"Must be nice, my escape plan consists of a rather large bottle of red wine and surround sound." She smiled at him. He gave her a small shrug as if to say, sucks to be you. He glanced ahead to the road, at a loss for further conversation. Dick really didn't know that much about Mac's current life, in spite of their besties being glued to each other since Logan's return home, and it often went like this - a few minutes of small talk with Dick making a few jokes and Mac smiling politely, and then awkward silence. Usually Logan or Veronica would turn up to spare them from each other, but tonight the only end in sight was the Grand, which Mac pulled in front of a very long ten minutes later.
Dick looked over at Mac to thank her for picking him up, he knew she could have easily left him there without a second thought and, even though she probably only made the gesture for Logan, he still felt indebted to her, not that that was anything new. He was contemplating his witty thank you comment when he heard her sigh loudly. Looking over he could see she looked even less thrilled than when she picked him up. Maybe he should just stick to the basic thank you.
"You should come in, grab a drink at the bar with me." What the hell? That was definitely not what he meant to say. He could only blame her sad eyes, after all he had been the cause of her downcast look so many times he really couldn't stand to see it anymore. In fact, that was probably one of the main reasons Dick made a point not to be alone with Mac, it seemed impossible for her to even look at him without sad eyes and Dick didn't do sad. Good thing he knew Mac would never be interested in spending time alone with him either.
"Actually, that would be really awesome," she gave him a small smile. "Being stuck with Loganica is starting to make me a little… on edge," she smiled tightly. "I may have, accidentally, broken a vase with some roses." She looked at Dick innocently. "But it's cool, that was just the fourth dozen this week so…." She gave another heavy sigh. "Some time away might be a good thing for all parties and household items."
"Loganica?"
"Verogan? Nah, that's no good. Hmmm." Mac sat in deep thought while Dick gave her a questioning look, disguising his shock at her acceptance of his drink invitation. "Whatever," she continued, "I guess I should go park the car."
"Eh, just valet we're already here." Mac obliged, stepping out and suddenly wishing she had pulled on something nicer than an old pair of jeans and flip flops. Of course Dick was always dressed casually and tonight's shirt (Blink if you want me) was no exception. They walked into the hotel and Mac waited while Dick talked to the receptionist to make his room arrangements for the night. They both headed into the bar, which was as full as she expected this late on a Friday night, and found a table. Mac figured Dick must still come here often because the staff seemed to recognize him and a waitress called Lucy quickly made her way to their table to get their drink orders.
"The usual, Mr. Casablancas?" Lucy said with an innocent smile, sneakily checking out Mac with the corner of her eye. "And for you ma'am?" Ma'am?! Mac was no ma'am.
"Glenlivet on the rocks."
The girl smiled, "Absolutely." She hurried off to take care of them while Dick raised his eyebrows at her with a grin.
"Wouldn't have taken you for a scotch drinker."
Mac glanced up at him. "No? What do you see me drinking?"
Dick laughed, "I don't know, wine maybe, or something with an umbrella. Are we going to end up back at lockdown tonight?"
She rolled her eyes. "Believe it or not, I've had a little practice. Some days call for a bit more than wine."
Dick's smile disappeared as he recalled which days she might want to test her alcohol tolerance out on. This was definitely one of the reasons he avoided any alone time with her. She probably hadn't even meant anything by the comment but sometimes when she spoke it was impossible for him not to read extra meaning into her words, to link her to his brother in every remark she made. He felt like she was constantly remembering all the hurtful things he, Dick, had done and said to her, and of all the ways he was to blame for what happened to her on graduation night. She never treated him like that, she was always polite and tried to avoid the topic, but it was like every word and every action from her passed through this filter, a shadow in the shape of a dead boy, and it was impossible for Dick to forget.
Sensing she had said the wrong thing, Mac tried changing the conversation to something lighter. "So, Veronica's birthday is coming up soon. I'm thinking of throwing a party or something, we never really did an official welcome back to Neptune, so I thought it would be fun."
Dick looked skeptical, "Maybe you should just get her and Logan a room somewhere, preferably not in my house. Besides, not to be an ass or anything, but who's gonna come to this party? Does she even have friends besides you and Wallace?"
Mac looked slightly offended. "Of course she does! I mean, there's you and Logan." Dick scrunched his eyebrows in doubt as Lucy the waitress brought them their drinks. "And… and maybe we can invite Keith?" He vigorously shook his head no. "Well, what about Weevil." Mac smiled, proud to have come up with a legitimate party attender.
"Hell no, not if it's gonna be at my place. I guess if you want to lock up your stuff maybe you could do it at your apartment? Tell me though so I can make sure to ride with Logan, I don't want to lose my car or anything."
Mac huffed at the implication. "Why do you do that?"
Dick look confused. "Do what, try to not get my stuff stolen?" He watched as Mac took a slow sip of her drink.
"Be an ass. Have you even spoken to Weevil since high school?" He looked at her as though she were a small child refusing to believe that unicorns weren't real.
"People don't change Mac."
She took another sip, glaring at him over her glass. "Yeah, I guess not," she said dryly.
Dick was definitely regretting his decision to invite her for a drink. Sitting with her he felt all of 17 again and all of his past shame rose up inside him. He took a big gulp of his drink and waved for another.
"Whatever, maybe Weevil is a totally reformed upstanding citizen with an honest job, though I haven't seen him mowing any of my neighbors' lawns so I kinda doubt it," his words came out harsher than the joking tone he intended. "But look at you, you've changed." She raised her eyebrows questioningly. "I mean, you were always like super smart geeky chick and now you're like super smart sexy corporate woman or whatever." He gave her a leer, "I mean, you were always cute but you are really working it now."
Mac sighed, "Well that's definitely why I went to college and got a good job and stuff, so that guys like Dick Casablancas would want to do me."
Dick laughed, "Oh there was never a time I wouldn't have 'done' you, you just moved up on the list. Don't be so grumpy about it, it's a compliment."
She looked at him pointedly. "Maybe one day we should get out the dictionary and talk about what it means to compliment a woman."
He grinned, "You have a novel idea of foreplay Mackie, but if books are what turn you on I'm in, definitely not the weirdest thing I've seen." She shook her head as Lucy dropped off another round. She hadn't intended to have another herself but since it had already arrived she figured she could handle Dick a little longer to put off going back to the beach house. Even so, she definitely wanted to turn the conversation in a different direction. She was still trying to figure out a safe subject when Dick piped up again. "Don't worry, I'm just messing with you, although I honestly don't know what woman wouldn't want to hear that a guy would want to sleep with her. Unless you're like into girls or whatever. I mean, you never really bring guys around to parties or anything. Wait, are you into girls?" Dick tried unsuccessfully to keep the excitement out of his voice.
"No Dick," she rolled her eyes for the umpteenth time that night. "I'm into guys, I'm just particular, that's all." He didn't seem to be buying it.
"Really? Because you seemed a little jealous earlier when you told me how you destroyed Logan's romantic token of affection for Veronica," he taunted and she couldn't help but smile back. "That sounds more like someone desperately in need of a little Y-chromosome attention to me."
She playfully smacked him. "Whatever, maybe the guys I date are just too picky," she gave him a hard look. "Apparently I have trust issues." Her words came out a little slurred and he started doubting her so-called drinking tolerance as he noticed her second drink was close to empty. He swallowed as the shadow slipped in once more. She didn't seem to have noticed though. "But they shouldn't lie to me about stuff really, I mean like they expect me not to figure out that they got fired from their last job, that they didn't actually quit, or that they didn't graduate cum laude at all. I don't even think Paul has ever been to Paris."
He looked at her blankly, "Actually Mac, no, that shit doesn't really matter and it's not really stuff you tell people when you first meet them. Guys just want to impress you. Do you, like, do a check on every guy you go out with?"
She shrugged, "Not always, sometimes Veronica does it."
Dick's eyes widened. "Dude, that is so fucked up. I mean, what if all the girls I took home did a check on me first, I mean I would like never ever get laid."
She laughed. "And doctors everywhere would be shocked at the sudden decline in genital herpes." Now it was Dick's turn to roll his eyes.
"Not even. Besides, you think if these guys checked up on you it would be all hearts and roses?" He smiled and used his hands to frame her face, "Crazed jealous lady uses vase to bludgeon her best friend's boyfriend to death after 7th flower delivery of the week. Neighbors say she was the quiet type, but did own twelve cats. That's right, twelve cats." Mac started laughing, feeling the buzz from her drinks. Lucy came around again and Dick looked at Mac questioningly.
"I shouldn't, I need to get back home... or to your home… or whatever." Her face flushed as she tried to get the words out with difficulty.
"Uh uh Mac, you're not driving tonight, might as well grab one more round before they kick us out." He nodded to Lucy and she went off to grab more drinks.
"Shit," she looked embarrassed. "Sorry, I'll figure something out."
"Well you could-"
"No."
"I was going to say, I heard about these guys and you can like pay them to take you anywhere."
"Yeah, I'll call a cabbie after this one."
Dick gave her a confused look. "Well, I thought they were called pilots, but whatever."
Mac laughed and Dick relaxed a bit. Drunk Mac was a little easier for him to deal with than sober Mac. Of course, the couple of drinks he had had didn't hurt, but he was still in better shape than she was. Still, as the night went on he had noticed less glaring and more smiling, which was something he could get used to. She didn't seem to hold his sense of humor against him like Ronnie did, and when she did have a snarky comeback it lacked that note of malice the blonde always seemed to have in hers. They went on joking with each other as they finished up their third round and Dick found himself actually enjoying Mac's company, the shadow all but lifted for the time being.
"Sorry guys," Lucy the waitress had reappeared, "it's closing time." Dick looked annoyed for a moment, but then signed the tab.
"Oh, lemme get my-" Mac started, but Dick waved her hand away.
"The least I can do for my bail-out buddy."
"Oh no," she replied, "that is NOT me, do not add my phone number to your speed dial list because I can't be running to get you on the nights Logan is otherwise occupied… cuz it's starting to be like every night." She didn't even try to keep the annoyance out of her voice. "Can you call me a cab please?" she asked the waitress.
Dick waved her off. "You know there's like another bedroom in the suite right? You can sleep it off there."
"Oh. Yeah, ok. Thanks Dick." That sounded a lot easier than trekking home.
Dick gave her his trademark leer, "You will, of course, have to pay the tax," he said seriously.
Her eyes met his with a bit of challenge in them. "I think I can afford that."
He let out a laugh and said in a fake whisper, "You do know I'm talking about sex, right?"
She laughed. "Dick, we both know which one of us has the brains here. No matter how much alcohol I have I still know you're always talking about sex."
He gave her a big grin and asked the concierge to send up two bottles of champagne to the room.