Surfing Lessons

Refer to first chapter for disclaimer and such.

A.N: Thank you all for the reviews! Don't be afraid and hit the button again!! (or try it, for a change ^^)

Ok, guys. I'm not forgetting you. I swear. I go to bed each night thinking at what will happen next. Then I fall asleep and don't remember my ideas in the morning. Grrr.

- -

Chapter four: Sticky foot and rumbling stomach

'I'm going to kill Dick,' was her first thoughts as intense pain threatened to split her head in two.

Hung over was the word for her predicament and it quickly came back to her attention why she was avoiding alcohol those last years; that and the fact that drinking always bombarded her mind with different types of painful memories. It was one of many reasons why her mother had left both her father and her; it was also what had cost her the lost of her virginity – that and a little pinch of Liquid X mix in the cocktail.

'The past was the past; live in the now, Veronica,' she thought groggily as she tried to gather her bearings.

Veronica stirred slowly from her deep slumber; her head feeling like it had been spinning in the drying machine an hour too long. She cracked and eye open, saw a window with the stores pulled tightly shut. She could see dust particles flying around where dark met sunlight, and was immensely glad that her sore pupils didn't meet up with any direct light.

She wasn't in her room, that she'd already guessed so far. She glanced to her side drowsily and saw a foot barely four inches away.

Splitting head ache, check. Unknown room, check. Unidentified bunking companion, check. Panties on, T-shirt on, jeans on, check. 'Well, it could have been worst,' she said to herself, sarcasm tainting her words. 'Now, now, Veronica, to whom is that foot?'

She studied the foot some moment, too lazy to get up and looked to said foot owner's face. To speak the truth, she was afraid of moving and waking up the aforementioned foot boy – 'coz yeah, the foot was definitely male.

She frowned. She didn't know that foot, right?

It wasn't Logan's for sure. She knew Logan's body well enough to testimony on that. A wave of sadness went over her as she thought of him and their break up. However, as soon as the pang of pain had hit her, it was gone and her curiosity came back full force.

Cautiously, she slowly rose up on her forearms, letting her eyes trailed all the way over a muscular body barely hidden under a light blue sheet. She let her eyes wandered higher and finally associate the foot with a certain blond surfer friend of hers. Dick.

'Really, Veronica. You should have known. You spent the night partying with him.' Her P.I. instincts were totally off that morning. 'Must be the drinking.'

Surprisingly enough, she sighed, relieved that she hadn't left with some stranger and even more glad that they –Dick and her- were indeed still dressed; that meant that they hadn't do the dirty last night in their drinking stupor. Her life was enough of a mess as if was, thank you very much.

She was watching him sleep deeply when an idea occurred to her. With an evil glint in the eyes, she nudged his cheek lightly with one – less than perfectly pedicured thanks to her crazy schedule- toe. She smirked when a small frown marred his features. He snuggled deeper into his pillow. Who would have though that big ol' Dick looked like a little boy while sleeping?

Veronica decided to put that precious information somewhere in her mind, vowing to use it as future blackmailing material if necessary.

As sweet as it was to spy on Dick sleeping, she had to get up to call her father before he sent a search party for her.

Veronica began to manoeuvre her way out of the bed without waking her friend from his well-deserved slumber. When she finally reached the floor, she searched the room for her purse; she found it near the end of the bed, were she sat down to grab it. She dig into the bag, pulled out her cell and looked at the screen.

Five missed calls, two voice mails; great.

She comfortably let her head rest against the mattress and put the phone to her ear, listening to the greeting message of her voicemail then to the not-so-happy voice of her dad.

'Veronica, it's your beloved father.' She rolled her eyes. 'It's getting late and you're not home. I want you to call me. Now.' He seemed frustrated. That was bad. She bit her lower lip, considering her options. To lie or not to lie? Her juggling thoughts were however stopped short by Logan's voice.

'Ah! Veronica's voice mail!'

She held her breath and listened anxiously. Should she simply delete the message and avoid the well-known feeling of sadness she was experiencing each time Logan was concerned or should she let him tortured her a little more? Surprisingly enough, she had slept the entire night without being assault by visions of Madison and Logan going at it. Maybe alcohol really was a cure for some problems… That or Sandman had knocked her out pretty hard. Anyway, back to the matter…

'So, where are you, Veronica? Out digging through someone's trash, maybe? Interrogating one of your friends? Beating out a confession?'

Again, she bit her lip deeper and when it started to hurt, she replaced her lip by her nail.

'You know, if you dig deep enough, you're gonna find that everyone's a sinner. Judge not, Veronica, et cetera, et cetera. All right, stay on message, Logan.'

She sniffed slightly and tried to steady her trembling lip. Why couldn't he let her in peace? Damn him.

'Okay, honestly...it's encouraging that someone still has such high expectations of me. Veronica, I would give anything if I could take back that night in Aspen. I'm sorry it causes you so much pain. I'm sorry it happened. And I really lo –-'

"Hey? You're okay?" Dick asked with concern from his vantage point on the bed.

Veronica quickly closed the lid of her cell phone and wiped at some lone tear. She hadn't realized he was awake. "Yes," she voiced out aloud. "I'm peachy," she added for effect.

He cocked an eyebrow and stared with doubt. Even Dick wasn't that gullible. "Yeah, right."

She sighed: "It's nothing. Just Logan talking crap."

"Oh," she studied him as he suddenly found the floor beside her interesting. Then, his head pop back up and his gaze searched hers. "Hey. Wanna hang out with me today? We could go grab something to eat first."

Veronica had to consider the idea of Dick and her hanging out and really, even her creative mind couldn't come up with any kind of revelations over what was to come out of that. Dick was- Well- Dick was Dick. Unpredictable, but fun to be with when he tried to act like a normal human being. She decided why not and nodded at him.

"Ok. I just need to call my dad before he activates whatever tracking device he has on me."

Dick looked at her, perplexed. She knew he was questioning her words; debating mentally if she was kidding or if her dad was really that crazy. Finally, he shrugged. "Anyway, I need to shower. I think you drooled on my foot or something. It's all sticky."

"Ah – ah! I do not drool."

"That's what you say now but you were drooling over this fine body last night, darling."

"Funny. Real funny. Get over yourself and go shower. I'm hungry."

He stood up and walked out of the door, grabbing a towel on his way out.

"Oh and don't 'darling' me!" She said to his departing figure.

He winked at her as he closed the door. She shook her head, amused and took back her cell phone. After deleting the voicemails, she gathered her courage to call her father.

To be continued...