Title: Green Eyed Monster on a White Horse
Prompt by: fleurb
Rating: PG-13
Setting: AU post-series
Word Count: 944
Prompt: 'Hey, Jealousy' by The Gin Blossoms.
She ran out of the hall and into the street, hoping to God nobody was following and already knowing everyone would be. Tripping down the steps, she was lucky not to break her neck between the high heels and long skirts, but she made it unscathed and immediately began scanning the area for the best means of escape.
"Hey, Veronica!" he called from the other side of the road, leant back against his car like he was just waiting for this moment - maybe he had been.
Pelting across the street, she didn't think twice, sliding into the passenger side the moment Logan got the door open. She was a fool, for so many reasons right now, but she couldn't care as her friend hopped back into the driver's side and squealed the tyres as he got them the hell out of town.
"Nice dress," he said after a while, "Special occasion?"
"Apparently not as special as I thought," she replied flatly, unpinning the veil from her flowing hair, and yanking at the yard or so of white material around her feet when it caught on her heels, "Logan, red light!" she declared as she glanced up and he missed it anyway, sailing across an intersection and narrowly avoiding a crash.
"Damn!" he cursed, though he couldn't really explain himself without admitting he had been staring at the bride beside him, still as stunned by her beauty as ever, "Well, it's not like the cops are gonna chase us around, not today," he grinned, in spite of how serious the situation ought to be.
Veronica sighed. There were perks to being the Sheriff's daughter, and downsides too. Tales of her non-marriage would be all over the local rag as yet another screw up for the Mars family, even though this one wasn't entirely her fault.
"Second on the left and..." she started giving directions until Logan shot her an unimpressed look.
"I know where you live, Veronica," he told her, and she sighed heavily at that as she flopped back hard into the seat.
"Of course you do," she huffed, "You know everything" she over-emphasised. "And before me apparently," she added sadly.
It broke Logan's heart all over again to see her so upset and trying so bravely to hide it. Of course, he had expected to have that particular Logan part shattered today anyway, though for different reasons. Miss Mars should be a Mrs by now, and though that clearly wasn't going to happen now, it didn't stop Logan feeling awful, even if none of this could actually be construed as his fault for a change.
There was silence until the car was pulled up outside the house that belonged to Sheriff and Miss Mars. Three years now since they moved out of their grotty apartment, and Veronica had been planning another move next, into her first grown-up home, with her fiance-turned-husband. That last part hadn't quite happened, and it hit her full force now that her whole life had been turned upside down one more time. In an uncharacteristically weak moment, Veronica Mars broke down.
"Veronica..." Logan felt awful but hearing the sympathy in his voice and feeling his hand laid comfortingly on her shoulder only made her cry harder into her hands, "I am so sorry" he told her.
"It's not really your fault," she sniffed, trying to stop being such a baby but not really managing it, "If I'd listened when you tried to tell me what he was... Oh, Logan, I'm the one who should be sorry," she told him, all red-faced and tearful. "I really thought you... that you were just jealous" she admitted with a painful laugh, at least until he answered her.
"I was, I am," he confirmed, her eyes returning to meet his in a second. "I know that's probably not what you wanna hear right now, or I don't know, maybe it is," he shifted awkwardly in the driver's seat, "but it never stopped being true, it can't," he promised her. "I love you, Veronica, and that's not gonna change, no matter how many times we break up, or how many other guys you almost marry."
The look on her face was shock and awe, and just a little bit of something akin to relief. Maybe this was all she wanted to hear all this time. Maybe if Logan had been honest sooner she never would have gotten as far as walking down the aisle today and hearing some bitch object to the marriage on the grounds that she was carrying the groom's child.
"You have to know, Ronnie, that I would marry you right now if you wanted me to," Logan promised her, his hand going to her tear-stained cheek and making her look at him when she tried to turn away, "I love you."
She couldn't say it back, though she probably already knew she felt it. Too much had happened today, too many emotions were swirling around in her head and her heart. Still, he had helped her today, perhaps in more ways than even he truly realised, and for that she was truly grateful.
"Thank you, Logan," she said, with a shake in her voice she couldn't help as she leaned over to plant a kiss on his cheek.
Just as soon as it was done, she was gone, running from the car to her home and hurrying inside without ever looking back, but Logan had hope now. He could live with being the jealous ex for the rest of his life if he had to, just so long as he could be Veronica's hero too, once in a while.
