AN: Man, I'm on fire!! I can't believe how fast these chapters are coming out. Just to clarify this is a Logan/Veronica fic. I hope you enjoy. Thanks for all the reviews!

Chapter Three

The Party's Crashing Us

When Lilly said 'everyone' was going to be at her party she meant 'everyone'. It looks like the entire graduating classes of Neptune High 2005-06 have been invited. Combined with a smattering of famous celebrities does not a fun party make. In my opinion. Lilly however squeals in delight as she enters the club and rushes to greet her adoring guests.

I trail leisurely behind her, taking my time to scan the masses of people. I recognize a few old faces from school. I smile when I see Madison Sinclair sucking face with some B-grade celebrity while Dick Casablancas watches vaguely pissed. It seems as though nothing much has really changed.

Seeing Dick makes me think of Logan, because whenever there is a Dick there is a Logan. I smile thinking of our joke. I wonder if he came, he goes to UCLA so it's not like it would be a hassle for him to come. I feel a little giddy at the thought of seeing him; I haven't really spoken to him for over a year. Every now and then he will send me a funny email or a short hey, wats up? I spent this morning cleaning up after Dick went on a bender. He puked in the Xterra, I think I'm gonna have to get a new car. Do you think it would be possible to ship Dick off to Alaska? You could pull some strings right, use your Veronica magic. Whatever little emails he sent were fairly superficial, well compared to Duncan's blow by blow account of every major and minor event that occurred that day. Hey Veronica, my professor called me into to talk about my …We've been having trouble with the people in the apartment next door…Meg has been thinking of getting a cat... I love my half brother dearly but I draw the line when he writes about what he ate for dinner the previous night.

Before I can search out any long lost friends that I may want to take a trip down memory lane with I see Piz standing awkwardly at the bar. He is playing with his hair in a cute self conscious gesture. He is like a lost little puppy.

"Hey, how long have you been here?" I ask as he leans in to give me a light kiss on the cheek.

"Not long." He has to shout just to be heard over the thumping bass. He motions to the bar indicating he is going to get us some drinks and I point vaguely to an area that looks like there are free tables.

As I walk past a row of full booths a hand lunges out and grabs me pulling me onto the lap of a very familiar looking boy.

"Well looky who we've got here, Veronica Mars."

I stare up into Casey Gants dark brown eyes and give him a quick hug before wriggling away from his grasp.

"I'm sorry but who are you?"

"Funny Mars, real funny."

"It's good to see you Casey. Although it would be even better if you dropped me a line every now and then, I had to find out from my dad that you transferred to Harvard! Congratulations though that's amazing".

"Sorry, things have been hectic." I nod, understanding exactly where he is coming from. It is a bit hypocritical of me to say that. I have been so busy lately I have had barely had anytime to spend with my family.

I turn to the other people sitting in the booth and notice Logan Echolls sitting across from me. He is staring at me in surprise as he takes in my appearance. My hair is longer, finally grown out from the short choppy style I had experimented with in high school but apart from that little about me physically has changed. Logan looks better than I remembered, though. His hair is darker and highlight free and he has filled out more, must be all those weight lifting classes.

"Hey Logan" I say leaning over Casey to give him a hug. I end up loosing my balance and falling on top of the two boys. They both squish over making room for me so I can sit sandwiched between them in the overly crowded booth.

"How's UCLA?" I have to raise my voice a little but not as much as before since the booth is fairly secluded and set away from the main dance floor.

He turns towards me in an awkward move so that he is fully facing me. He thinks about it for a minute, playing with the label on his bottle of beer before replying, "Ok. It beats High school."

I see Piz looking around haphazardly for me, moving clumsily through the crowd trying not to spill our drinks. I stand up on my seat and wave trying to gain his attention, his face lights up in a huge grin when he notices me and starts making his way over.

"Boyfriend?" Logan asks. I know if I say yes he and Casey are going to go into protective mode and give him the third degree all night. But it's inevitable so I nod yes.

I look at Casey who is studying Piz critically as he walks towards our table, "Jeez Veronica, when did you start dating such losers?"

"Hmmm, probably about the same time I dated you."

"Ouch." He says sarcastically.

Casey and I had gone out my senior year in high school. We ended things mutually after six months. It wasn't a big emotional, heart-wrenching break-up, which I think has a lot to do with the fact that it wasn't an emotional, heart-wrenching relationship. We had always been friends and we took the next step in our relationship. It was basically a friendship with occasional make-out sessions. It had been nice while it lasted, but I wasn't heartbroken when we decided being friends was a better thing for us. I missed being able to talk to someone intimately though, someone who really knows you, someone I could snuggle up to.

"Guys, this is Piz. Piz this is Logan and Casey, we went to high school together."

Piz puts the drinks down and shakes the guy's hands. A couple of people exit the booth to go dance and Piz scoots in sitting next to Logan. I should probably move to sit next to Piz but it requires too much effort, so I let him set there between Logan Echolls and a Lindsay Lohan clone who is incessantly talking about this part in a movie she scored. I know this is a bad idea when Logan claps Piz on the back and says, "So… Piz, what are you intentions towards our little Ronnie?" He smirks wickedly at me and Casey laughs. He immediately stops though when I elbow him hard in the ribs.

"I'm going to find Lilly." I state getting up and wriggling past Logan our bodies brush up against each other for a fleeting second and my skin flushes. It must just be the heat in this place, it's like a sauna. Piz catches my mouth in a kiss before I leave the table. He is obviously trying to make a point, because he rarely kisses me like this in public. I feel bad about leaving him there, but all the male testosterone is killing me.

As I head towards the outside balcony a hand slaps me on the ass. I quickly turn around ready to knee the jackass who touched me in his most sensitive parts. The pervert appears to be none another than Dick Casablancas, and he looks just as surprised to see me as I am to him.

"Ve-ronica Mars" He sputters in shock. His eyes rake over me and I once again curse Lilly's input in my clothing choice for tonight.

"Shit, when did you get so hot!" He leers at me and I get the urge to puke.

"Why doesn't little Ronnie come back with Dicky and you can show me the rest of that smoking hot bod", he wiggles his eyebrows suggestively, if this were anybody else I would have already tasered their ass, but Dick was harmless.

"Watch what you say to Veronica, Dick. Her boyfriends just over there." Logan says pointing to the table he must have just vacated.

"What? He could watch if he wants."

I don't even want to dignify Dick's comment with a response so I just push past him and go to stand out on the balcony breathing in the sweet cool air.

"So your boyfriend seems like a stand up guy." I hear Logan's voice behind me.

"Logan, can you please not do this."

"Do what?" His says doing a terrible job at feigning innocence. I have known Logan for nearly ten years and if there is one thing he isn't its innocent.

"This!! The thing were you insult my boyfriends,"

"I wasn't going to…" I glare at him and he thinks better of finishing his sentence.

"I missed you," He looks straight into my eyes as he says it and the look warms my heart. There is so much sincerity in his voice that I don't doubt him.

"Yeah, me too." I reply. And it's true, I missed having him as a friend, I missed seeing him everyday, I missed his jokes and sarcastic comments. I missed how the four of us, Lilly, Duncan, Logan and I, used to be so close and now… now we are all going in completely different directions, barely hanging on to the fragile strings of friendship that were holding us together.

He wraps me in a hug, shielding my body from the chilly night air. We stand there for several minutes embracing each other, and it all feels so….natural.

End Chapter Three

What did you think? I didn't want Veronica to have a previous romantic relationship with Logan because I wanted them to have a fresh start. Not sure if that makes sense, anyway please tell me your thoughts on it, good, bad or otherwise.

-Sarah