Then began a series of firsts for Mac and Dick
The first time she called him
"Heeeyy Mac-a-rena," he said with a smile as he sees her face flash on his cell.
"Hey. Where are you?" she asked quickly.
"At the suite. You okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine Dick. Turn it to channel 42."
Dick looks for the television remote and then complies. "Awesome!" he says as he realizes what he's watching. Then the randomness of her action sinks in. "You called me to tell me that Blue Crush was on TV?"
"Duh. Surfing and girls in bikinis. You're welcome."
"The needs of a simple man. You're the best, Mackie!"
She scoffs lightly and says, "I know. Later Dick." And then hangs up.
He catches himself, alone in the suite, smiling the biggest smile at the TV.
The first time Mac stays
"That's it. Mac has lost all movie-picking privileges," Dick announces as Logan turns off the dvd player.
"What? I liked it," Veronica spoke up, giving a nod to her friend on the other leg of the couch. "It was busy…but interesting," she said, her mind still unpacking the film.
"Busy? That was the most confusing thing I've ever sat through," he said to Veronica and then turned to Mac beside him, "I still don't even know where Syriana is much less what the hell was going on with the 400 different people in this movie."
"Dick, Syriana's not—" Logan started, "You know what, never mind."
"Sorry guys if you were bored, but I thought it was pretty good," said Mac.
"I liked it too," Logan said in support of Mac, "but now my brain is fried. I'm going to sleep." He stood and kissed Veronica on the head before pulling her to her feet.
"Mmm-hmm, sure you are," Mac said with a devilish smile and a wink to the other girl.
"You headed out, Q?"
"Nah," she said looking at Dick while standing up and moving toward the fridge to get a drink, "I think I'll stick around and win back Dick's affection by letting him beat me in Mortal Kombat."
"Oh, it'll take a fake win, a couple real wins, and you bringing me another beer to win back my anything after that piece of crap," he said trying to suppress how happy he was she was choosing to stay for a little while.
Mac returned to the couch with an open beer for each of them. "This is all I'm offering," she said as she pushed the bottle into his hand. "I changed my mind. Any wins you may or may not get all depend on you."
"Deal," he said as he clinked their bottles together and took a sip. "Night Ronnie, Nigh Lo," he said inattentively. He was already turning on the console.
The first time Wallace sees their routine
"It took me forever to find you guys," Dick says with frustration as he unloads his full arms onto the table.
"Shhhh!," replies Mac as she rolls her eyes at Wallace. "This is a library. I know these are unfamiliar surroundings, but you should at least know you're supposed to be quiet, Dick."
"What are they going to do to me? Put me in detention?" he says as though they are over reacting.
"Naw, it's just some of these people," Wallace says in a conspiratorial whisper as he motions to the tables of students behind him, "have nothing better to do that to shoot laser-beams with their eyes and huff when they're bothered."
"Hmmm," Dick says as though he was pondering a deep question, "Yeah, I think I can live with the huffs and laser eyes of complete strangers." Wallace & Mac chuckle and Dick turns to Mac, "Are you saying you want me to leave? Leave and take all of my provisions?"
"No!" Mac says in a loud whisper. "Hand it over."
"Okay, then. Coffee for you," he says as he hands Mac her favorite latte, "One for me," he says as he places a cup in front of his seat, "And Fennel, dude, I didn't know you'd be here or I would have brought one more. Want mine?"
"No thanks. I don't drink coffee when I've gotta' wake up for early practices. But I see something I do want," Wallace says eyeing what's in Dick's hands.
"The Red Vines? Heads up," Dick says as he tosses the bag toward his friend.
"Hey!" Mac says, then remembers she should be whispering, "save some for me."
"You will get yours after you explain question 47 to me," Wallace tells her as he rips open the bag.
Mac turns to Dick, "We're working on calculus. What did you bring to do?"
"I'm supposed to write a paper for my business law class."
"Oh, okay, when is it due?"
"Tomorrow afternoon," he says sheepishly.
Mac groans, "And how much do you have finished?"
"A good, solid….introduction."
"Gimme' your phone," Mac instructs him and Dick does this quickly and ashamedly. Mac silences it then leans over him and plugs in his computer while opening it and pulling up a word processing program. "Don't talk to me until you have one page finished. "
Dick turns toward Wallace as though he was going to defend his manhood, but Mac cuts him off, "You can't talk to Wallace either. You can only get up once in the next hour so it'd better be to piss, and, so help me, if you pull up moronic funny or die clips to show me I will castrate you here in the library."
Instead of protesting, Dick begins typing fervently. Wallace laughs at this apparently well practiced routine and then he and Mac go back to their math. After about 10 minutes, they are interrupted.
"Why do you always have to show the stick, Mackie? When are you ever going to offer me a carrot?" Dick says with a self-satisfied smile.
"You already typed a page?" Wallace asked at the same time Mac said "You want me to give you a carrot?"
Mac turned to Wallace and says, "Dick knows better than to talk to me if he doesn't have his page finished. He may not have come to the library before, but we've been working at small, attainable goals for most of the semester," she looked at his screen and then handed him some licorice. "Here, eat your carrots."
"This doesn't count! I brought the candy!"
"You also came with ¾ of a page written."
"Well, so, what else are you going to give me when I finish?"
"How about the grade you get for doing your assignment. This isn't Girl Scouts, you're not winning merit badges, Dick."
Dick started to argue, but Mac cut him off. "How long is the paper supposed to be?"
"3-5 pages."
"And it's 7pm now. Wallace, you think we'll be finished with this week's questions in two hours?" When he nodded yes, Mac continued toward Dick, "Show me a completed paper by 9 o'clock and we'll go to that comic book movie remake you've been wanting to see."
"Really? Tonight?" Dick asked, getting excited.
"Yep. If you write a coherent paper, the movie will be your carrot."
"Awesome," Dick says already typing again.
Wallace stares at Mac in disbelief. She's a miracle worker.
Mac gives Wallace a cocky grin and pantomimes like she is cracking a whip.
"You know I like it kinky, Mackie," Dick says, eyes still forward on his computer.
Mac sighs as Wallace laughs.
"One more word from you and there will be no popcorn."
The first time Veronica was sure
"You're out of vodka!" Mac yells through the cracked open balcony door of the suite. Logan and Dick are enjoying Cuban cigars outside while she and Veronica are trying to make drinks inside.
"And rum!" Veronica yells over the laughter of the guys. "I'm running to the store!"
This brings Logan quickly to the door.
"Don't leave," he says peeking his head through the small opening in the sliding door.
"Well if you'd keep your bar stocked with anything besides whiskey, bourbon, and scotch you might keep girls around a little longer," Veronica tells him.
"I don't want girls," he says as he opens the door wider to come in. Logan gives Veronica a sultry look then leans in to kiss her lightly. "I only want you."
"Well, I'm going to need some alcohol if you expect me to watch this all night," Mac says sarcastically.
"Logan, call the bar and have them bring up something for Mac and Ronnie," Dick says from the balcony.
"You call them," Logan tells his friend as he kisses Veronica again. "I'm busy."
"Fine," agrees Dick as he picks up his phone and walks back to the ledge.
"Go back outside," Veronica says as she eventually pushes Logan away. "You taste like ashes."
Mac and Logan chuckle at this and Veronica continues, "and you're stinking up the whole place."
Logan shows off his half smoked cigar. "Kind of bossy considering you don't even live here, Sweetums."
"Usually you like it when I'm bossy," she says with a sly grin as he turns to leave. Veronica smacks him solidly on the rear.
"Don't I ever," he muses to himself as he walks back outside.
Veronica turns to Mac and says in a whisper, "I actually love the smell of those cigars."
"Me too," Mac agrees inhaling the aroma fully as they sit down on the couch.
"Just not the taste," Veronica says smacking her lips together, still trying to rid her mouth of the stale flavor. "Sure wish I had something to drink," she says loudly hoping the boys will hear her.
A knock on the door brought Veronica and Mac to their feet quickly.
"A girl could get used to this luxurious lifestyle," Mac said with a grin as they walked toward the door together. "Your every wish fulfilled momentarily."
"Room service!" someone said from outside.
Veronica opened the door with Mac beside her. They heard Logan and Dick re-enter the suite as well.
"Dave!" the girls cried when they saw who was carrying the liquor bottles.
"Come on in," said Veronica pulling the door open to let the bartender from the bar downstairs enter the suite.
Dave looked surprised, but happy to see the girls. "Candy? Taken?" he said looking from Mac to Veronica. " Hey! What are you two doing here?"
The nicknames were all it took for Logan and Dick to make their presence known. Logan walked to the entry way and led Veronica back into the suite with a hand on her back. Mac followed, motioning for Dave to come too, and she was soon met by an in-her-space Dick.
"Mr. Echolls, Mr. Casablancas, how are you this evening?" Dave asked politely following the crowd into the open room.
"Fantastic, Jeevs," Dick said harshly, denying himself from touching Mac possessively.
Mac looked at him skeptically and Veronica rolled her eyes at both Logan and Dick. "Have a seat guys," she told them, and to Dave she said, "I'll take these," as she took the bottles out of his hands.
"So how do you know our girls?" Logan asked Dave as he plopped down on his couch. Dick nodded in agreement as he sat; he wanted to hear the answer to this question too.
"Our girls?" Mac asked Logan with a sour tone as she walked toward Dave and Veronica at the bar. Logan shrugged at her and looked back at Dave.
"He helped us with a case, Logan," Veronica said in a tone that said she was not impressed. She was struggling to open the bottle of rum.
"Here, I'll take that," Dave said with a smile taking the bottle back into his care. He effortlessly opened it and began to fill four glasses with ice. "Coke okay with this, ladies?" The girls both nodded.
Then to Veronica he said, "A case, huh? Well, it makes sense now."
"Care to share with the rest of the group, Dave?" Logan asked, letting annoyance seep into his words.
Dave was unflustered. He had an easy confidence. "Yeah, it was kind of amazing. In one night I saw these two bust two different guys for soliciting hookers." He handed Mac and Veronica their drinks.
"You what? Where?" Logan asked, now interested.
"Downstairs at the bar," Mac volunteered. She took a long sip as she tried to sort out what Dave must have thought of Max and Wendy.
"Well the first guy," Dave started as he poured 2 glasses of bourbon on ice, "thought Candy here,"
"Mac," she interrupted him and toasted him with the drink she had been given.
"thought Mac here," he said, giving her a smile, "was the new call girl he'd ordered and Taken-"
"Veronica."
"and Veronica snapped pictures while they were getting friendly."
"How friendly?" Dick asked Dave, as he quickly rose and stood behind Mac placing a hand on her shoulder. He could no longer bother to think about appearances.
"They just sat together Dick," Veronica said firmly.
"You used Mac as bait for some pervert?" he asked Veronica fiercely before she could continue.
"Nothing happened Dick," Mac jumped in. She patted his hand to reassure him. "It lasted all of about 2 minutes. Calm down."
Dave handed Dick one of the drinks he had just poured and Dick downed half of it quickly.
"So where'd the cute nicknames come from?" Logan asked, striding up to the bar. He was glad Veronica had been holding the camera that time, but wanted to hear the full story. Mac being in harm's way didn't make him relax any.
"Well, the pervert, as you say, thought Candy was Mac's alias. And Veronica shot some guy down at the bar so fast you'd have thought he was a leper," Dave told them as he handed Logan a drink he had made him many times before.
"You told some guy hitting on you that you were taken?" Logan asked Veronica with a smug smile.
"You know I'm not above lying when I'm on a case," she replied with the same facial expression.
"Uh-huh," Logan said smirking and taking a sip, "And when did this 'lie,' as you call it, take place?"
"The night we crashed here with Wallace," Veronica told him. Logan smiled remembering how he found her later that night.
"So the other guy was Max," Dick deduced aloud, breaking up the flirty banter between Logan and Veronica. Mac hung her head and Dick rubbed her shoulder comfortingly.
"The other guy was who? What do you mean?" Dave asked, now confused.
"Tell us about the other guy the girls caught with a hooker," Logan said trying to help Dave understand.
"All I know is that Tak—Veronica called me while I was bartending and asked me to tell a girl I knew to be a prostitute she had an emergency phone call at the front desk. Then Mac comes back in and yells at the guy she was with and then the hooker comes back and yells at him. That kid was having a rough night." Dave says with a laugh.
The other four weren't laughing. Dave catches on and stops.
"He was my boyfriend," Mac explains.
"Oh," Dave says, "Oh. What a moron."
"No shit," says Dick. "Okay, Dave. Thanks for bringing up the booze." Dick starts to walk toward the entrance to the suite hoping the bartender would follow.
"For what it's worth, Candy," Dave says quietly as he passes her, "The kid took a major step down with the tramp."
Mac blushed faintly and smiled up at him. Logan immediately put his arm around Dave and ushered him to the door. No one but Dave heard him say, "You're lucky your employer didn't see you whisper in her ear." Dave didn't need to know Mac and Dick weren't together.
"Truth is truth, Mr. Echolls," Dave said with a light-hearted shrug.
Later that night when they were alone, Veronica told her boyfriend, "Logan, You're worse than Dick. You know that, right?"
"Worse at him at what? Cross-word puzzles? American History? Astronomy?" he asks playfully. "Baby, I can't think of a single arena where Dick Casablancas could beat me."
"He's kicking your ass right now at keeping his crush on Mac under wraps. You basically outed him tonight."
Logan was dumbfounded. Then again, he wasn't; his girl didn't miss a thing.
He realized he had dropped his jaw, closed his mouth, and then opened it again all without any words. If Veronica didn't know for sure before, she absolutely did now.
"I'm not acknowledging or denying anything, Veronica. But I do want to say on record the fact you aren't threatening Dick's life or his man-hood is freaking the bejezus out of me."
"Oh, Casablancas should know by now not to fuck with me or my Q," Veronica said menacingly. "But for whatever reason, he's not making her uncomfortable or making fool-hearted declarations. It seems like he's being protective of her and like he's content just being her friend. As long as he stays like this, in crushing-from-a-distance-mode, I'm just glad she's got somebody else in her life who cares about her. I don't understand it, but Mac seems to like having Dick as a friend."
"And if the situation changes?"
"Then Mr. Casablancas' balls will become better acquainted with my tazer."
Logan shuddered then wrapped his arms around her. "That's more like it. You were starting to worry me, honey."
A/N: I changed my mind and split up my 'Firsts' into several posts. I couldn't wait and two out of the blue (and awfully kind!) reviews tonight (seriously, I hadn't posted in 2 months, that was very nice!) prompted me to go ahead and post the early ones first and figure out the order of the others in due time. As always, thanks for your patience and YOU keep writing!