Surfing Lessons

Refer to first chapter for disclaimer and such.

(Some language, just for safety)

A.N: I had a little blockage with last chapter but it's all gone now. Enjoy!

Oh! And I still loved your reviews! Thank you! (And I'm sfo happy I'm not the only one finding that the guy playing Sacks is hot. LOL! (Boy, did I really just write L-O-L?)

Have fun reading!

- -

Chapter seven: Poker faces and freaky toes

Some may have wondered why she was good at poker. The response was poker nights at Cliff's. It had first started when she was six and her mother was visiting her aunt in another town. It was a Sunday night and normally, her father would leave for some quality time with old friends on Sunday nights. That night however, she'd beg him to come with him and not to cancel his weekly meeting.

He'd agree and brought her along with him.

Sure, that first time, she'd watched the cards as if they were aliens to her. It wasn't common for her to see her father's friends acting all casual and not in some kind of uniform or suit. She'd watched them, not understanding the rules and finally fell asleep on Cliff's couch.

The second time she'd tag along, she was nine. She hadn't gone to sleep as fast as the first time and she actually tried to learn the different tricks and bluffs of the game.

Ten years later, she was still sitting around the same round table, studying her father, Cliff, Paul and Wesley. However, she was holding her own cards this time, having since long grasp the concept of poker.

They were all concentrated, faces stoic and assessing stares as they played the end of a round in silence.

That is, until Cliff's cellular rang. The attorney sighed heavily and brought the phone to his ear, answering the call: "Clifford McCormack, speaking.

"Who wants more beer?" Paul demanded.

Paul was a tall man with salt and pepper hair. He had once been in the top ten charts of local jazz musicians. Now he was a reform journalist and had gained a little fat to the belly.

"Yes, please," said Wesley.

Then, there was Wesley. Wes was a carpenter and he was really good at it too. He too was tall but contrary to Paul, he was in top shape; well as top in shape a forty three years old man could be, which was surprisingly –in Wesley's case- pretty shaped.

Cliff rose his nearly empty bottle in the air in a mute request too.

Clifford was a lawyer; the kind of lawyer that help the low lives. He'd helped her father plenty of time at the office by bringing some clientele to her father. He'd also helped Veronica plenty of times when she happened to need a favour or when she found herself behind jail bars.

Paul finally looked at Keith who shook his head.

"I do want beer too," Veronica said to annoy her father; he shot her a dirty look. She grinned innocently and Paul chuckled as he stood up and went to the kitchen to retrieve a few more beers in the fridge and a soda for her.

What Cliff said next to his interlocutor immediately caught her attention.

"Logan Echolls! What a surprise!" Cliff exclaimed with a beaming smile at her. Paul, Wesley and even her father had the nerve to chuckle at his antics. She threw them all a glare before reporting her glance to Clifford, eavesdropping on his side of the conversation.

"What? No murdering case related?"

Veronica threw another fierce look his way at the bad pun.

"A simple annulment. Tonight? The guy's in a hurry, eh?"

'A divorce?' She thought. Who in Logan relations need a divorce? She couldn't come up with any fitting name.

"Vegas, ah-ah! Must have been one hell of a party! Can he pay?"

Veronica rolled her eyes. What a stupid question. Logan's entourage wasn't what one could claim to be poor.

"Well I'm meeting the judge tomorrow first thing in the morning so your friend can come here; I'm sure I have the paperwork somewhere." Pause. "Address is 213 Reagan Drive." Some more pause. "Alright. Veronica says hi."

Veronica's eyes grew twice their size as Wesley cracked up in a fit of laughter. Paul followed him shortly. Keith looked at his daughter with something akin to sympathy in the eye, but also with a little dimple in the corner of his mouth a good imitation of a half smile.

"I'll tell her. Good evening to you too."

Cliff resumed his call and put the phone back on the table, purposely ignoring Veronica's baleful look. "I can't believe you said that."

Clifford shrugged. "He says hi back."

Keith Mars cleared his throat. "That wasn't nice of you, Cliff."

She cannot believe it. First there was that goddamned song he had dedicated for her at the local radio channel. Then, there was her impromptu meeting with Logan in the elevator that went several steps beyond awful and now this. Her love live –or lack of thereof- had officially blown out of proportion. Not only was it common knowledge in the entire population of Neptune that Logan missed Veronica and that he loved her still, she was now being laugh at by her father's friends. Veronica grabbed her cards again and look steadily in the middle of the table. "Oh come on Veronica. It was funny."

"Now that you've all had your fun, can we return to the game?"

Clifford stood up and shook his head. "I need to find some annulment paperwork before. It won't take long," he said and left the room.

After sitting in silence with the other three men, Veronica huffed: "I can't believe he said that."

Wesley cracked up once again.

"It was funny," supplied Paul lamely, trying to conceal his laugh.

"Dad! Tell your friends I don't like them anymore!"

She folded her hands and tapped her foot on the floor. After some seconds in whom Wesley nearly choked on his beer, a small smile graced her lips.

"I see a smile."

She rolled her eyes.

- -

Dick had driven all the way back from Vegas with the constant annoyance of being in the presence of his –well, for a lack of default nicknames- wife. Melinda shot him a withering look as he glanced her way. He returned his attention to the road, griping the wheel tighter.

"Look. It's gonna be ok. My friend knows this lawyer..."

Melinda's stare was shooting daggers at the windshield. She was seconds away from going ballistic on him, he was sure of it.

He checked for the given address when he turned on the right street. "This is the right place," he pointed at the small cottage. Seconds after, he had the car parked and the both of them were walking to the front door. He knocked.

Dick fidgeted on the doormat and Melinda folded her arms over her chest in impatience.

"I thought he was waiting for us," she stated, in annoyance.

"That's what he told Logan."

Then they heard footsteps and someone unlocked the door. It opened on a very surprised Veronica Mars.

"Ronnie?" He said with a touch of astonishment in his voice. "What are you doing here?"

She ignored his question and decided to ask one of her own: "Dick? Let me guess; you're the one that got married?"

"Well…" He smiled sheepishly "… yeah."

Veronica huffed and scowled up at him, her arms folded, as if she was reprimanding a little child. "I can't believe you've gotten drunk enough to get married in Vegas."

Dick was about to respond, about to defend himself of the accusations in her voice when Melinda spoke up, clearly intrigued about the new development: "Is she your girlfriend?"

"No!" They both replied hastily.

"Then who's she?" Melinda demanded Dick, still upset, although she was eying Veronica suspiciously now.

"This is my friend. Ronnie, this is Melinda. Melinda, this is Veronica."

"Friend?" repeated the tall redhead. "I have a question then, how can you stand this guy?"

Veronica stared at Melinda, giving her somewhat of a terse smile without giving any answer. She turned back her attention on Dick: "Explanation, Dick?"

Dick shrugged; it was starting to be a habit lately, more so when he was in the presence of Veronica. "It was a spur of the moment thingy."

"A spur of the moment thingy?" She repeated, disbelieving.

"People," Clifford voiced from the inside, "Don't stay outside. Come on in!"

Veronica smiled tightly as Melinda walked by her, entering the small cottage. When Dick was near her, she grabbed his forearm to get his attention. He stopped his advance and glanced down at her; their different of height clearly evident now that they were standing so close to one another. She tilted her chin up so she was gazing straight at him and said in a hushed tone so no one would eavesdropped on their chit chat:

"You won't get away with that thingy that easily, Dick. You've got some explaining to do. Call me when you get back to the Grand."

He nodded and joined Melinda and who he assumed was Clifford McCormack in the living room. In the dinning room, he could see Ronnie's father and two men he didn't know, sitting around the table, playing a card game. Veronica left his side and went to sit with them. He reported his attention on his soon-to-be ex-wife and the lawyer.

"So," McCormack began, filling in paperwork while speaking, "what is the reason of the annulment?"

Dick coughed and something resembling 'freaky toes' came out of it.

"I don't have freaky toes!" Melinda shrieked, distressed and upset. Somewhere in the other room, he thought he heard muffled laughs.

The lawyer cleared his throat and spoke once again: "Let's just write you were both drunk, alright?"

- -

Two hours later, Dick found himself dialling the now familiar number of one Veronica Mars. Melinda, -now his ex-wife, thanks to God- had just left with her little sister and Logan was whistling to himself, engross in the preparing of a cup of coffee. Yes; the guy was actually whistling. He seemed to be in a slightly better state than he was before Dick's road trip to Vegas. The sad and pitiful excuse for a broken heart Logan Echolls was gone and back was his old best buddy. Well, that wasn't entirely true; Logan still had the ever present grown beard and wrinkled clothes but even Dick could see that his pal was feeling slightly better.

He'd left Logan to his coffee making and had gone to his bedroom; taking extra seconds to shut the door so Logan wouldn't overhear his conversation with Veronica. It wasn't that he had something to hide from him; it wasn't even like he and Ronnie were actually dating, but Dick felt that Logan wouldn't welcome his new friendship with Veronica with opened arms right about now.

Ronnie picked up his call on the first ring. He shut his eyes tightly and shook his uneasiness away. This was not a conversation he was looking forward to.

"Dick," she answered bluntly. From her tone of voice, Dick knew she must have been circling her cellular like a hungry lioness waiting for her meal. It would have made him laugh, that was if he hadn't been the happy meal of that imagery.

He opted for the casual approach; he was persuaded that it was what everyone would do in a similar situation: 'Hey, Ronnie! What's up?"

And there she went, jumping to the point, the main purpose of this discussion.

"Dick, you can't just get drunk and then get married to a stranger whenever you want; you need to grow up!"

"You need to chill, jeez. You're not my mother, Ronnie…" He started. Then, he decided to play a little with her, just for the fun of it. "But I swear you'll be the first on my list if I want some spanking."

"Shut up and drag your ass over here."

"I just knew you'd be turned on by some BDSM proposition."

Her only response was the telltale sound of a deadline. He smirked to himself; happy that yet again, he'd succeeded at annoying his petite blonde friend. Then he frowned; he needed to find an excuse so Logan wouldn't suspect his whereabouts. After giving it some thoughts, he decided that telling the truth would be the better solution; well, telling a part of the truth, anyway.

So he left the confine of his bedroom and headed for the door.

"I'm going to celebrate my new-found freedom with a hot chick. I may come back late."

He didn't stay long enough to hear Logan's reply. He was outta the suite in no time.

To be continued...

AN: I'm sorry guys if it took so long. Also, I promise some M rated scene in a chapter but it will have to wait 'til chapter nine. I still have some little things to write so the story flows correctly.