Chapter Six
Dinner was going slow. Painstaking slow. There were lulls of silence in which Veronica wanted to drown herself in her glass of tea but her head just didn't fit in the glass. She was considering trying the jug of tea but knew that her father would frown on her making an ass of herself and she told him that she would try her hardest to be nice. It was just annoying how Piz was trying to hold her hand the entire night.
"Sorry Piz, I need my hand to eat," she said with a fake smile plastered on her face. She considered tattooing 'I'm not interested' across her forehead but felt that eventually she would be interested in someone and they'd get the wrong idea about her. Besides tattoos weren't her thing. She may have been a girl who got around but she resisted all urges to get tramp stamped. She was 100 tattoo free.
"Sorry about that," Piz said sheepishly. He was nervous and maybe Veronica was being a bit too mean to him but he had to get the idea that he was being creepy. She wondered how he would feel if the roles were reversed, wait who was she kidding. If he woke up with no memory and had three women visiting him every minute of every day he'd be in lala land wishing that he had gotten into the accident long ago.
"It's okay," she said squeezing his hand gently before letting go. She was going to make an effort to be nicer. It wasn't to appease Piz either, it was to make her father happy. He didn't like seeing Veronica bitter. In a way she got where he was coming from, he was her father and just wanted to see her surrounded by good people. Apparently Piz was good people
"So Wallace was telling me that you do a radio show at Hearst, whats all that about," she asked trying to make conversation and noticing her father smiling out of the corner of her eye. She tilted her head a bit, taking lessons from Backup, and sent her father a smile as if to ask 'is this what you wanted'.
Piz looked at Veronica shocked that she was actually paying attention to him and directing the conversation towards him. He swallowed the chilli that was currently occupying his mouth and washed it down with some tea. "It's on every day at 4pm on the Heart radio station. If you want you can come down for a recording one day. If I ever know that I can't make the show on a certain day we pre-record it. Those are the days when we don't really take requests," he said smiling at her. "It'd be nice if you came by one day. I could even interview you or you can be a guest host or something like. You used to enjoy coming by the station," he informed her.
Veronica was pushing food around her plate by now. She was making an effort to be nice but she hated the term 'you used to' because how was she supposed to know, "I'll have to check my uber busy schedule to see if I can fit you in but I'm pretty sure that I have some space somewhere," she said teasing him. Her schedule was anything but full.
Everyone was trying their hardest to keep the conversation up and Keith realized that he had made a mistake in asking Piz for dinner. Veronica wasn't ready for that and when she was ready she would be the one to decide who to have for dinner. Next time he would ask her permission. Keith excused himself to the kitchen to get desert while Alicia cleared the table.
"This is all my fault," Wallace said aloud while watching the silence between Veronica and Piz now that the adults were out of the room.
"What do you mean Wallace," Veronica said suddenly sitting up and alert and showing interest in something other than her nail beds.
"Piz was my roommate at Hearst and he had the hugest crush on you…" Piz had tried to interrupt Wallace at this point but Wallace just put his hand up knowing that his time was limited before and adult came in to put and end to the discussions of the past, "Anyway when you and Logan were having problems I kind of helped you see what a great guy Piz was. He is just so different from the type of guy that you usually dated. I made you promise not to tear his heart into a million pieces and now I see that was a mistake," Wallace spoke quickly and quietly making sure that no one else heard.
"Wow thanks Fenell, way to support your buddy," Piz said looking hurt and disappointed. "So its okay now if I get my heart torn up," he asked looking for clarification. Veronica just sat there silent and that was a first.
"No its not okay Piz. Look, I do like you as a friend but I don't think you are the one for Veronica and she is far too nice to tell you but I think you are kind of over bearing for her right now." Wallace said defending his sister. He caught her eyes and saw that she was ever so grateful.
"Why because I want my girlfriend back," Piz said his hurt disappearing and being replaced by anger, an emotion that Wallace didn't think Piz possessed.
"I.am.not.your.girlfriend," Veronica spoke each word slowly as if speaking to a mentally disturbed child. "I may have been prior to my tiny little accident that kind of has this side effect of erasing my memory and I think instead of living in the past we just focus on the present. Be my friend Piz, get to know me and let me, the new clean slated Veronica decide if she wants to take it to the next level. No kissing, no holding hands, no late night phone calls, no showing up to dinner unexpectedly. Just be my friend," she almost pleaded with him.
Piz backed his chair up and then stood up and walked towards the front door, "Tell your parents something came up and I had to leave…and thanks. You too Wallace, thanks for the comradeship. I never thought you'd think I was a bad idea for Veronica. Maybe a kidnapper or someone accused of murder is a better choice for her," he walked out the front door closing it loudly behind him.
"What in the hell did he mean by that," Veronica looked at her brother quizzically. "Murderer, kidnapper? What in the hell? So not only did I get around but apparently I got around with the wrong crowd," she said
"It's not like that Veronica," Wallace said his face starting to darken with the anger he was feeling. Piz had no right to say those things in front of Veronica. He knew she'd end up asking questions and he didn't care. "I swear Veronica, things will start to fall into place and you'll understand but you never ran with the wrong crowd. You helped your dad with his P.I. company and he was/is the sheriff in town; do you honestly think you had the chance to be with the wrong crowd?"
"I know your hiding something from me and I promise you I'll get it out of you even if I have to stuff you with snickerdoodle after snickerdoodle," she said lightening the mood up again.
Keith and Alicia walked back into the dining room with all the fixings for sundaes. "Where did Piz go," they asked trying to read the teenagers faces to see if they'd give away anything.
"Something came up," Veronica said innocently, "Oh dad, my favourite! Chocolate sundaes with Reese Pieces," she exclaimed as she reached for the ingredients to make her creation.
No one moved, everyone just watched Veronica. She felt everyone's eyes on her as she paused her sundae making experience, "What am I drooling or something," she said as she wiped her mouth.
"No its just," Keith looked at his daughter curiously, "It's just that it IS your favourite dessert and we haven't made it since your release from the hospital. You actually remembered that or someone told you," he asked his face now expressionless.
"I remembered," she asked excitedly dropping her spoon with ice cream on it. "No one told me anything about this. I just," she looked at her family and felt tears of joy starting to sting her eyes, "I saw what you brought out and I just knew I liked it, a lot. It was familiar," she broke out into a huge grin that the Mars-Fenell clan had rarely seen in the past 3 weeks. "I remembered and I'm so going to eat this bitch," she said and went back to making her sundae unable to hide the happiness she was feeling at that very moment.
A/N: For all of you who are waiting for a little LoVe. Next scene will have an interaction