Chapter 2
I awoke to an empty bed. My heart clenched, fairly certain Veronica had disappeared and was waiting for me to leave. Lily had been like that, available for fleeting moments then gone like the wind. Wait, was that bacon?
I pulled on my jeans, then followed my nose to the kitchen and saw Veronica cooking. In my shirt. Damn. She must have gone to get it when she woke up. My stupid imagination conjured up a scenario of us in our own kitchen, a couple of rugrats running around, laughter and sunshine…I slammed a lid down on that train of thought and yanked my stupid self back to the present.
Veronica. Her kitchen. My shirt. Bacon. Every guys' dream. I leaned up against the wall.
"We aren't expecting the Sheriff for breakfast are we, cariña?"
Veronica turned, looked me up and down with an appreciative look on her face.
"Nice. And no, he's in Arizona on a case."
"Thank God for that. Don't think he'd be too thrilled at walking in on this. I, however, am loving the view, Mars. You make that shirt look good, girl."
She laughed, "Get a good look, vato, or take a picture, it'll last longer."
"Hold it right there, just gonna find my phone…" I feigned turning back down the hall.
"Wait, I wasn't serious!"
I laughed and turned back, "I know, V, I wasn't either."
"Argh, jerk. Come here and eat the bacon before I throw it at you."
"You drive a hard bargain." I made my way to the breakfast bar and took a seat. Veronica put a plate of bacon and eggs in front of me then sat next to me with her own plate.
Our shoulders brushed and I wanted to kiss her. I settled for thanking her instead.
"Thanks for this. You don't have to."
She shrugged. "I know. But last night is definitely on me, I know you didn't intend for it to go that far and-."
"Definitely in the camp of 'happy it did' though." I bumped her shoulder with mine.
She snorted. "Yeah, I could tell. Me too. But I mean, I wanted you to know it meant something. You mean something. To me, I mean. Argh, God, I suck at all this talking stuff."
She stuffed her mouth full of food and wavered her hands at me. I suppose it was my turn. I got no problem with honesty. Nothing to lose, remember?
"V, last night was something else. I got no regrets other than knowing it was a one time thing. Something about you sets me on fire, girl. But you already knew that." I gave her a sideways look. "You've been using that to your advantage for years. If you ask me to do something, you know I'm not gonna say no."
She finished her mouthful and looked down at her plate.
"Yeah. I know. I was shitty of me I guess, but it meant I always knew I had a backup plan. If in doubt, call Weevil. And I honestly thought most of it was just talk, you know?"
"Don't try and get out of it, V, you know the difference. At the start it was but that changed pretty quickly." I finished another mouthful of bacon and eggs then twisted on my chair to face her.
"Look at us. I knew nothing real was ever gonna happen. You were outcast but still had those 09er kids running after you. Your dad was the Sheriff and I've been in and out of those cells since I was 12. Especially with what happened with Lily, I wasn't going to go about repeating mistakes."
Veronica was uncharacteristically quiet, just staring at me with a frown on her face. I think plain speaking spooks her. I reached out slowly and brushed my fingers down her arm, then grabbed hold of her hand and raised it to my lips.
"It's ok. I understand. I never expected anything from you other than the odd returned favour. Never expected anything as…"
"Hot as last night?" And she's back. Eyebrow raised, smirk on her lips, mask in place. She twined our fingers together. "I don't normally kiss and tell, Weev, but last night was definitely a top 5 on the 'Sexual Exploits of Veronica Mars" show. I never thought we'd.."
"Lose all common sense and go at it like rabbits 'til the sun came up?"
She let out a surprised laugh, "Pretty much that, yeah. So, what happens now then?"
I shrugged, and looked down, trying to be cool about it and not spill out something like, 'please don't leave, I think I love you, can we do this over and over again.' Chill, Nevarro, you pathetic sap.
"I do the walk of shame, you go back to packing for your internship. I'm hoping I get a goodbye kiss or at least a call. But we go back to our separate lives, I guess. No big, V, that was always the plan anyways."
"Yeah, that makes…sense. And that's what you want too, right?"
I looked back at my breakfast and shrugged again, and "Yeah, sure." Lies, sweet little lies.
"You know, for someone who has committed actual crime you are crap at lying."
"Dunno what you mean, V."
"Yeah, ok. So, what are you doing today?"
"Well it's my day off, so not much. Maybe help my uncle out at the shop."
"Ha. Crime."
"Ah, just a little bit. What you up to?"
"Packing. Sorting out all my stuff and the internship thing. I need to talk to Piz too."
"Wait, Piz? Shit, V, you guys are still together?!" I dropped my fork and went to get up. I'm a lot of things, but this Lily/Echolls parallel I never wanted to repeat.
"Whoa, Eli, chill, Piz and I aren't together." I sat back down. "Not for his lack of trying, but after the tape, then Logan beating the living crap out of him and my internship…it's too much, too soon. He's a really good guy, he doesn't deserve the mess that is my life."
"Ok, fine, that's fair. He's pushing it though?"
Veronica sighed. "Yeah he really is. It's my fault. I shouldn't have gotten involved in the first place. He's just…nice you know?"
"Yeah, I get that. No spark though, huh?" I gave her a look up and down.
"Mmhm. Super subtle, Nevarro."
"You know subtlety ain't my game, cariña."
"Don't you go talking Spanish to me now, I've got things to do today."
"Aw, I'm not on the list?"
"Don't tempt me."
We'd gotten closer and closer so we were now facing each other; knees touching, nose to nose.
"Oh yeah?" I bumped her nose with mine again, purposefully keeping my hands to myself. She's gotta come to me. "What you gonna do if I do, V?"
"Hmm, maybe.." she leapt up and went into the kitchen, putting the counter between us, "get the hell away from you, Casanova, you are bad for my productivity." Ah well, was worth a shot.
I put my hand to my heart, "You wound me, querida."
"Again with the Spanish, cut it out! You've never spoken much before."
"That was before I knew you liked it, mi vida. Now you'll never shut me up."
"Definitely bought that one on myself."
I just smiled at her. "Well I'll get out of your hair but…I'm gonna need my shirt."
Veronica looked down. "Oh right. Hang on." She headed down the hall to her room.
"Hey, if you need a hand.."
"Nice try, vato." she called from her room. I just laughed.
I finished off my bacon and eggs in time for her to come back out holding my shirt. She'd changed into jeans and a tight black top. Nice.
I slipped my shirt over my head. "Thanks, V. For breakfast as well, it was really good."
"No problem."
"You get my jacket by any chance?"
"Oh yeah, it's just on the couch."
"Cool." Awkward. That mood changed real quick. I grabbed it and headed for the door. V hovered, hands in her pockets looking as awkward as I felt.
Backup was chilling by the door, so I bent down and gave him a quick pat.
"Well, I'll be seeing you, V."
"Yeah. See you later."
I hovered only for a second or two in the pathetic hope for a kiss, but Veronica kept her distance. I ducked out and headed down to the car.
I'd just unlocked it when the sound of footsteps made me turn around. Veronica was striding towards me with a strange look on her face. I frowned.
"V? You ok, did I forget..mmph." She grabbed the collar of my shirt, rose up on her toes and kissed the hell out of me.
Damn, it was heaven. My hands automatically went to their favourite places, one in her hair and one round her waist pulling her in closer. I put all my best moves into that kiss and I hope it turned her into jelly and she felt just as I did. Like a fucking mess - incredibly satisfied with last night, awkward about what changed, pretty sad about likely never seeing her again and frustrated at trying not to screw her brains out at every opportunity.
I lifted her up and onto the bonnet of my car, wrapping her legs around her waist and feeling a definite sense of déjà vu. I moved my hands up her legs, over her torso and neck until I was cradling her face. I gently broke the kiss and we were both panting; short of air.
I dropped my forehead to hers. "I gotta go, V, or I'm not gonna be able to leave."
"I know," she whispered, "I just-"
"I know. Whatever happens, I don't regret a thing. You're gonna do amazing things, Veronica Mars."
"Me either. You know I believe in you, Eli. Think of me before you do something stupid, then don't do it. You'll do better without me, no more dragging you into my mess."
"You can drag me wherever you want anyday, you know that." I kissed her forehead. "Don't forget me. Now go." I dropped my hands, stepped back and gave her a nudge.
Veronica stepped around me and started walking backwards away from me. I got in the car before I did anything stupid, but allowed myself one last look at her. Beautiful. I raised my hand in a wave, then started the car and got the hell out of there.
When I got back to my place I just on my bed running through the last 12 hours in my head. Getting over Veronica Mars was going to be a tough gig. But, man, it was worth it.
