Fic: In a Crowded Place, Chapter 3 of 5, R (L/V/D, Logan POV)
Title: In a Crowded Place, Chapter 3 of 5
Author: Amanda (rubie_so_ho)
Rating: R
Word Count: 2,514
Characters: L/V/D (Logan POV)
Summary: Logan's mission is accomplished.
Spoilers: up to 2x13
Disclaimer: Oh Rob, you own them...lucky bastard!
A/N: Still a whore for comments and I totally am guilty of acting for my readers. Hope this isn't too disappointing!
( Chapter One ), ( Chapter Two )
Logan returned hours later, and while it was only late afternoon and sunny outside, the inside of the suite was dark and cold like a tomb. He placed the plastic bag on the counter, pleased with himself at his find. He had completed his mission, and relished in his accomplishment. He contemplated putting it away, but instead reached into the drawer closest to him and pulled out a single, clean spoon. He opened the bag and pulled out the carton and set it on the cool surface of the counter, disposing of the bag quickly. He mulled over his decision, spoon in one hand, and his other hand hovering above the carton’s lid. He bit his lower lip. There were advantages to waiting and advantages to digging in now. He needed the comfort, but sensed there was someone else who needed it more. He turned, flicking the dim light over the stove on, and resumed his pensive position. He couldn’t resist. He popped the lid open with gusto, and poised the spoon over the edge of the carton.
At that moment, as if on cue, the door to Duncan’s room clicked open and a groggy-looking little blonde crept out into the muted light. She blinked several times, pulling her hand to cover a protracted, whiny yawn.
“Your timing,” he began, “is impeccable.”
“Hmm?” she garbled, stretching her arms above her head. “Whatdoyoumean?” She mumbled her words together like a tiny child just learning to speak.
Logan chuckled low and, placing his hand around the carton, lifted it to her view. He shook it in the air with zest.
Veronica blinked several more times, trying to rouse herself from what she thought was a dream. “No. Way.”
“Way, Mars. Like, totally.” Logan put on his best valley-girl voice.
“Rocky Road?”
“You bet, kid.” He grinned at her and wiggled his eyebrows.
“From the creamery?” She looked at him incredulously. She unwittingly licked her lips, and her eyes poured over in just-realized hunger.
“Mm-hmm.” Logan couldn’t help smiling like the Cheshire cat.
“My favorite!” Veronica squealed like a child and ran over to him. “Gimme gimme gimme!”
***
Logan and Veronica, on one bored, lazy night the last summer, had decided to go roaming about Neptune in Logan’s Xterra. As the night wore on, their boredom grew, and they ran out of places to check out. They both knew Neptune as though its map was tattooed on their respective forearms. Veronica bemoaned the fact that there was nothing interesting to see, nothing interesting to do. Logan intermittently nuzzled Veronica’s neck, whispering against her ear that there was something interesting they could do back at the mansion, but she playfully pushed him away each time and shook off his advances with a cunning smile. She wanted to stay out, to find an interesting nook or cranny that she’d never been aware of before. Upon her rebuffs he would sigh, not out of exasperation, but out of pure adoration for the quirky object of his affection and her constant desire to explore.
Finally, after hours of touring the same old hangouts, Logan spotted a tiny hut at the end of one of the ’Tune’s lesser-known drags. He squinted, and leaned forward to read the sign. “The Creamery?” He asked, to himself, to Veronica, to the air. She silently shrugged in return, and he pulled into the tiny dirt parking for a better look. “I think it’s an ice cream place.”
Veronica’s ears perked up at the words, and the next thing Logan knew, the tiny thing had jumped out of the car, pulling him quickly behind her. The girl loved to eat, and ice cream was her favorite refuge; this he knew. Whether she was sad, mad, frustrated, or even bored - this was her comfort food. “You have the fattiest security blanket of all-time,” he chanted in a sing-song tone. “Lucky for us both, I have the metabolism of a hummingbird!” she sang in return, grinning.
She promptly ordered Rocky Road for the both of them - “I could have totally ordered for myself, thankyouverymuch,” Logan intoned in a huff. “Hush, boy,” she shook her head at him. “You’ll thank me later.”
Upon slipping the first spoonful into her mouth, Veronica emitted a low, guttural moan. “This…is…the…best…ever.” Another spoonful crossed her lips. “Mmmmmmm.”
Logan giggled at her, and shook his head. “Girl, if this is the way you get over ice cream, I can just imagine how you get during…”
“Shh. Try it.” She silenced him, placing her finger over his lips. He attempted to nip at the finger before she quickly withdrew it, dipping it into her whipped cream and licking it with a flourish.
Although he was getting thoroughly aroused at watching her consume the ice cream - or rather, watching the ice cream consume her - with all her little moans and sighs, he lifted the plastic spoon to his mouth at her behest.
“Oh. My. God. This is fucking amazing.”
“I told you!” She exclaimed, her mouth half-full, shaking a finger at him.
“Like…wow. This is almost as good as sex.” He took another heaping bite.
“So sex is better? Hmm.” She furrowed her brow in mock-seriousness. “This makes me really want to have sex.” She licked her lips, avoiding eye contact.
Logan dropped his spoon and it clattered, plastic against plastic, on the table. He sat before her, mouth wide open. He closed it a moment, and then opened it again, but words never came.
She giggled loudly as she shoveled another bite into her mouth. Her laughs reverberated against her spoon as her eyes twinkled at her boyfriend.
“Okay, that’s it, we are so leaving…” he grabbed her hand from across the table, and she followed in abeyance, snatching the remainder of her ice cream, her laughs ringing out through the abandoned street as he dragged her to the Xterra.
***
Veronica ripped the spoon out of Logan’s hand and greedily dipped into the carton. Bringing it to her lips, she uttered a moan that rung out in Logan’s head in sweet remembrance. “Mmm…so good.”
“Hmph. You could have gotten your own spoon.”
“Hee.” Veronica ate another bite giddily.
As Logan watched Veronica eat bite after bite with a look of pure contentment gracing her face, he secretly commended himself for buying the ice cream. Part of him was wishing she would notice that he remembered her favorite, and that she would silently praise the sentiment. He wondered if she gave it only a fleeting thought or whether her mind settled upon it; whether she saw it for the significance he’d orchestrated. While he pondered this, a light lit within him - he realized she looked truly happy for the first time since Duncan had returned.
Is it because of the ice cream or is it because of me?
Veronica climbed atop the counter and coveted the carton, hugging it close to her body. “This is just what I needed.”
Logan drew in a long breath. “Yeah. That’s what I figured.” He fought back the onset of a dopey grin; he didn’t dare let on how pleased with himself he was.
She smiled, into the ice cream, her eyes tilted downward. “You always know what’s best for me.”
A silent moment passed and Logan convinced himself he could hear her heart beating against the darkness. He wasn’t sure how to respond to her statement, so he chose a different course. “So…Duncan’s back. It’s…”
“Weird. Awkward. Crazy.” She finished his sentence with just a few qualifiers that had come to his mind.
“Yeah,” he said simply, agreeing with a nod. “I’m sorry I didn’t…”
“No. I understand,” she said. “I shouldn’t have launched into that whole litany in the car earlier. It’s just the P.I.’s daughter in me. I couldn’t help it.” She sighed. “Once a Mars, always a Mars.”
“He shouldn’t have yelled. And I shouldn’t have let him, but…”
“But, he just came back. And, you don’t want to fight with him… and, he was partly right. Right?” She spooned another bite heaping with melting whipped cream into her mouth, licking both sides of the spoon clean.
He sighed loudly. “I wouldn’t say he was right to yell. But, yeah…maybe it wasn’t the best time to vocally begin your crusade to find Lilly’s…” he coughed, choking on the name, “father.”
Veronica nodded matter-of-factly. Logan dipped his spoon into the ice cream carton she still held like a stuffed animal to her body. She shot him a death-look over the sizeable scoop he took and he shook his head and laughed softly. “Hey, you have to learn how to share, little girl.”
“It was weird,” she changed the subject. “When I woke up from my nap, he was next to me. It was…so awkward.”
He swallowed slowly, amazed that she was confessing this tidbit to him. He wondered what suddenly made her so open where she was once a closed book. She was effusive, and her eyes shone with eagerness to tell him all. He took advantage of this situation.
“Why was it so…weird? I mean, you guys never actually broke up before he left. It was all a show.” This he had deduced on his own. He knew Donut would never have slept with Kendall, no matter the production that occurred in the suite the couple days prior to Duncan’s disappearance. Later, he figured out how all the pieces of the puzzle fit together. Duncan and Veronica had played him and everyone else. He was mad about it, for a time, but the quest for his own freedom consumed him so much so that he let it go.
Veronica nodded in response. “I know. But…you have to understand, Logan. I thought he was never coming back. Ever. I thought I would never see him again for the rest of my life.” She hung her head, staring at the melting ice cream in the carton cradled in her arms. “I was resigned to the fact. I started to move on.”
“Then…” the question was just building up within him, wanting to spew forth. “Why did you just go lie down in his bed?” A touch of bitterness tinged his words, and to avoid looking at her, he scooped more ice cream into his mouth, closing his eyes in pleasure and fright, letting it melt over his tongue and slide down the back of his throat slowly.
If she thought he was jealous, it didn’t show on her face.
She began cautiously, but in earnest, “Well… I thought it was the right thing to do. He thinks… I’m in love with him. He believes… that we’re going to pick up where we left off, that we’ll be together forever. I - I just can’t - crush him.”
Logan nodded in understanding. She couldn’t let Duncan down.
“I love him,” she began, and Logan swallowed hard, fighting the urge to scream or cry. “but…I don’t think…I’m in love with him…anymore.” The words poured out of her in a slow, drawling succession, as though she were fighting herself to say them.
Logan felt a surge of excitement, a sense of elation, build within him. His heart hoped and his mind prayed. These were words he had wanted to hear for months. He restrained himself from becoming overly exultant, however. Just because she’s fallen out of love with him doesn’t mean she’s in love with me.
He chuckled inwardly at the thought. Poor Veronica was like a ping-pong ball, passed between him and Duncan. His heart sank a little when he thought about it. He feared she had tired of the game, that she would want nothing to do with either of them. Maybe she just wanted to escape them both and move onto greener pastures - or at least more normal, adjusted young men.
He nodded to her, giving her a signal that he’d processed her statements. They sat and stood there in silence, looking at their hands, the floor, the ice cream, the counter - anything not to look at one another. The ice cream was near its end, and he pushed in, wanting to get a last few tastes before Veronica officially made the carton her bitch. He licked his spoon with glee, savoring the rich-tasting substance against his tongue. Veronica looked up at that moment and laughed at him.
“What? What’s so funny, Nancy Drew?”
“You’ve - you’ve got a little…” she motioned to the right corner of her own mouth. “Schmutz.”
“Ah.” He wiped at the left corner of his mouth with his fingers, mirroring her action.
“No, no. C’mere.” She motioned with her hand for him to move closer to her. Without a conscious thought as to what he was doing, he moved forward, nudging between her open legs on the counter. “Hmm?” he mumbled, asking where the ‘schmutz’ was.
Veronica began to lift her finger to point, but dropped her hand suddenly to her side. “It’s…” her eyes darted back and forth across his face, and her lips fell partially open in a gape. Logan raised his eyebrows curiously at her, and before he could open his mouth to speak, she leaned forward without hesitation and licked the right corner of his mouth.
She hovered there for a moment, mere centimeters from his face, and Logan froze. Feeling her warm breath against his skin, he closed his eyes and contemplated his next movement. He felt unadulterated need to envelop her entirely, to overtake her mouth with his, to touch the hollow of her neck, to press up against her, to feel her breasts against his chest and her ass under his hand. He wanted and needed to weave his hands through her slightly-tangled hair and to place kisses along her eyebrows. His hunger for her had never died, and he wanted so badly to sate himself.
But he was a prisoner to his newly-found conscience.
He pulled away quickly and leaned against the opposite counter. A sharp breath escaped him as he stared at her, his lips partially open, his mouth watering for the taste of her. He expected her to look surprised with herself, expected her expression to mirror that which she had months ago at the Camelot - that of, ‘why did I just do that?’
Veronica failed him in that regard. Her eyes were drenched with hope, her lips quivering with eagerness. Logan knew this look.
“…I don’t have to feel guilty anymore.”
“Guilty about what?”
It was that look that had made him kiss her for the second time, outside his house after his father had just beaten the shit out of Trina’s scumbag boyfriend of the week.
Her hope gave him hope, and he moved forward, determined to retrace his steps.
And then Duncan’s door clicked open softly again, leaving Logan in limbo, standing mere feet away from her with his arms hanging akimbo at his sides.
“Hey guys. Eating ice cream?”
Veronica nodded and handed the carton to Duncan, who stood comfortably between them, blissfully unaware of the bittersweet look which passed between his girlfriend and best friend.
--
TBC
Author: Amanda (rubie_so_ho)
Rating: R
Word Count: 2,514
Characters: L/V/D (Logan POV)
Summary: Logan's mission is accomplished.
Spoilers: up to 2x13
Disclaimer: Oh Rob, you own them...lucky bastard!
A/N: Still a whore for comments and I totally am guilty of acting for my readers. Hope this isn't too disappointing!
( Chapter One ), ( Chapter Two )
Logan returned hours later, and while it was only late afternoon and sunny outside, the inside of the suite was dark and cold like a tomb. He placed the plastic bag on the counter, pleased with himself at his find. He had completed his mission, and relished in his accomplishment. He contemplated putting it away, but instead reached into the drawer closest to him and pulled out a single, clean spoon. He opened the bag and pulled out the carton and set it on the cool surface of the counter, disposing of the bag quickly. He mulled over his decision, spoon in one hand, and his other hand hovering above the carton’s lid. He bit his lower lip. There were advantages to waiting and advantages to digging in now. He needed the comfort, but sensed there was someone else who needed it more. He turned, flicking the dim light over the stove on, and resumed his pensive position. He couldn’t resist. He popped the lid open with gusto, and poised the spoon over the edge of the carton.
At that moment, as if on cue, the door to Duncan’s room clicked open and a groggy-looking little blonde crept out into the muted light. She blinked several times, pulling her hand to cover a protracted, whiny yawn.
“Your timing,” he began, “is impeccable.”
“Hmm?” she garbled, stretching her arms above her head. “Whatdoyoumean?” She mumbled her words together like a tiny child just learning to speak.
Logan chuckled low and, placing his hand around the carton, lifted it to her view. He shook it in the air with zest.
Veronica blinked several more times, trying to rouse herself from what she thought was a dream. “No. Way.”
“Way, Mars. Like, totally.” Logan put on his best valley-girl voice.
“Rocky Road?”
“You bet, kid.” He grinned at her and wiggled his eyebrows.
“From the creamery?” She looked at him incredulously. She unwittingly licked her lips, and her eyes poured over in just-realized hunger.
“Mm-hmm.” Logan couldn’t help smiling like the Cheshire cat.
“My favorite!” Veronica squealed like a child and ran over to him. “Gimme gimme gimme!”
***
Logan and Veronica, on one bored, lazy night the last summer, had decided to go roaming about Neptune in Logan’s Xterra. As the night wore on, their boredom grew, and they ran out of places to check out. They both knew Neptune as though its map was tattooed on their respective forearms. Veronica bemoaned the fact that there was nothing interesting to see, nothing interesting to do. Logan intermittently nuzzled Veronica’s neck, whispering against her ear that there was something interesting they could do back at the mansion, but she playfully pushed him away each time and shook off his advances with a cunning smile. She wanted to stay out, to find an interesting nook or cranny that she’d never been aware of before. Upon her rebuffs he would sigh, not out of exasperation, but out of pure adoration for the quirky object of his affection and her constant desire to explore.
Finally, after hours of touring the same old hangouts, Logan spotted a tiny hut at the end of one of the ’Tune’s lesser-known drags. He squinted, and leaned forward to read the sign. “The Creamery?” He asked, to himself, to Veronica, to the air. She silently shrugged in return, and he pulled into the tiny dirt parking for a better look. “I think it’s an ice cream place.”
Veronica’s ears perked up at the words, and the next thing Logan knew, the tiny thing had jumped out of the car, pulling him quickly behind her. The girl loved to eat, and ice cream was her favorite refuge; this he knew. Whether she was sad, mad, frustrated, or even bored - this was her comfort food. “You have the fattiest security blanket of all-time,” he chanted in a sing-song tone. “Lucky for us both, I have the metabolism of a hummingbird!” she sang in return, grinning.
She promptly ordered Rocky Road for the both of them - “I could have totally ordered for myself, thankyouverymuch,” Logan intoned in a huff. “Hush, boy,” she shook her head at him. “You’ll thank me later.”
Upon slipping the first spoonful into her mouth, Veronica emitted a low, guttural moan. “This…is…the…best…ever.” Another spoonful crossed her lips. “Mmmmmmm.”
Logan giggled at her, and shook his head. “Girl, if this is the way you get over ice cream, I can just imagine how you get during…”
“Shh. Try it.” She silenced him, placing her finger over his lips. He attempted to nip at the finger before she quickly withdrew it, dipping it into her whipped cream and licking it with a flourish.
Although he was getting thoroughly aroused at watching her consume the ice cream - or rather, watching the ice cream consume her - with all her little moans and sighs, he lifted the plastic spoon to his mouth at her behest.
“Oh. My. God. This is fucking amazing.”
“I told you!” She exclaimed, her mouth half-full, shaking a finger at him.
“Like…wow. This is almost as good as sex.” He took another heaping bite.
“So sex is better? Hmm.” She furrowed her brow in mock-seriousness. “This makes me really want to have sex.” She licked her lips, avoiding eye contact.
Logan dropped his spoon and it clattered, plastic against plastic, on the table. He sat before her, mouth wide open. He closed it a moment, and then opened it again, but words never came.
She giggled loudly as she shoveled another bite into her mouth. Her laughs reverberated against her spoon as her eyes twinkled at her boyfriend.
“Okay, that’s it, we are so leaving…” he grabbed her hand from across the table, and she followed in abeyance, snatching the remainder of her ice cream, her laughs ringing out through the abandoned street as he dragged her to the Xterra.
***
Veronica ripped the spoon out of Logan’s hand and greedily dipped into the carton. Bringing it to her lips, she uttered a moan that rung out in Logan’s head in sweet remembrance. “Mmm…so good.”
“Hmph. You could have gotten your own spoon.”
“Hee.” Veronica ate another bite giddily.
As Logan watched Veronica eat bite after bite with a look of pure contentment gracing her face, he secretly commended himself for buying the ice cream. Part of him was wishing she would notice that he remembered her favorite, and that she would silently praise the sentiment. He wondered if she gave it only a fleeting thought or whether her mind settled upon it; whether she saw it for the significance he’d orchestrated. While he pondered this, a light lit within him - he realized she looked truly happy for the first time since Duncan had returned.
Is it because of the ice cream or is it because of me?
Veronica climbed atop the counter and coveted the carton, hugging it close to her body. “This is just what I needed.”
Logan drew in a long breath. “Yeah. That’s what I figured.” He fought back the onset of a dopey grin; he didn’t dare let on how pleased with himself he was.
She smiled, into the ice cream, her eyes tilted downward. “You always know what’s best for me.”
A silent moment passed and Logan convinced himself he could hear her heart beating against the darkness. He wasn’t sure how to respond to her statement, so he chose a different course. “So…Duncan’s back. It’s…”
“Weird. Awkward. Crazy.” She finished his sentence with just a few qualifiers that had come to his mind.
“Yeah,” he said simply, agreeing with a nod. “I’m sorry I didn’t…”
“No. I understand,” she said. “I shouldn’t have launched into that whole litany in the car earlier. It’s just the P.I.’s daughter in me. I couldn’t help it.” She sighed. “Once a Mars, always a Mars.”
“He shouldn’t have yelled. And I shouldn’t have let him, but…”
“But, he just came back. And, you don’t want to fight with him… and, he was partly right. Right?” She spooned another bite heaping with melting whipped cream into her mouth, licking both sides of the spoon clean.
He sighed loudly. “I wouldn’t say he was right to yell. But, yeah…maybe it wasn’t the best time to vocally begin your crusade to find Lilly’s…” he coughed, choking on the name, “father.”
Veronica nodded matter-of-factly. Logan dipped his spoon into the ice cream carton she still held like a stuffed animal to her body. She shot him a death-look over the sizeable scoop he took and he shook his head and laughed softly. “Hey, you have to learn how to share, little girl.”
“It was weird,” she changed the subject. “When I woke up from my nap, he was next to me. It was…so awkward.”
He swallowed slowly, amazed that she was confessing this tidbit to him. He wondered what suddenly made her so open where she was once a closed book. She was effusive, and her eyes shone with eagerness to tell him all. He took advantage of this situation.
“Why was it so…weird? I mean, you guys never actually broke up before he left. It was all a show.” This he had deduced on his own. He knew Donut would never have slept with Kendall, no matter the production that occurred in the suite the couple days prior to Duncan’s disappearance. Later, he figured out how all the pieces of the puzzle fit together. Duncan and Veronica had played him and everyone else. He was mad about it, for a time, but the quest for his own freedom consumed him so much so that he let it go.
Veronica nodded in response. “I know. But…you have to understand, Logan. I thought he was never coming back. Ever. I thought I would never see him again for the rest of my life.” She hung her head, staring at the melting ice cream in the carton cradled in her arms. “I was resigned to the fact. I started to move on.”
“Then…” the question was just building up within him, wanting to spew forth. “Why did you just go lie down in his bed?” A touch of bitterness tinged his words, and to avoid looking at her, he scooped more ice cream into his mouth, closing his eyes in pleasure and fright, letting it melt over his tongue and slide down the back of his throat slowly.
If she thought he was jealous, it didn’t show on her face.
She began cautiously, but in earnest, “Well… I thought it was the right thing to do. He thinks… I’m in love with him. He believes… that we’re going to pick up where we left off, that we’ll be together forever. I - I just can’t - crush him.”
Logan nodded in understanding. She couldn’t let Duncan down.
“I love him,” she began, and Logan swallowed hard, fighting the urge to scream or cry. “but…I don’t think…I’m in love with him…anymore.” The words poured out of her in a slow, drawling succession, as though she were fighting herself to say them.
Logan felt a surge of excitement, a sense of elation, build within him. His heart hoped and his mind prayed. These were words he had wanted to hear for months. He restrained himself from becoming overly exultant, however. Just because she’s fallen out of love with him doesn’t mean she’s in love with me.
He chuckled inwardly at the thought. Poor Veronica was like a ping-pong ball, passed between him and Duncan. His heart sank a little when he thought about it. He feared she had tired of the game, that she would want nothing to do with either of them. Maybe she just wanted to escape them both and move onto greener pastures - or at least more normal, adjusted young men.
He nodded to her, giving her a signal that he’d processed her statements. They sat and stood there in silence, looking at their hands, the floor, the ice cream, the counter - anything not to look at one another. The ice cream was near its end, and he pushed in, wanting to get a last few tastes before Veronica officially made the carton her bitch. He licked his spoon with glee, savoring the rich-tasting substance against his tongue. Veronica looked up at that moment and laughed at him.
“What? What’s so funny, Nancy Drew?”
“You’ve - you’ve got a little…” she motioned to the right corner of her own mouth. “Schmutz.”
“Ah.” He wiped at the left corner of his mouth with his fingers, mirroring her action.
“No, no. C’mere.” She motioned with her hand for him to move closer to her. Without a conscious thought as to what he was doing, he moved forward, nudging between her open legs on the counter. “Hmm?” he mumbled, asking where the ‘schmutz’ was.
Veronica began to lift her finger to point, but dropped her hand suddenly to her side. “It’s…” her eyes darted back and forth across his face, and her lips fell partially open in a gape. Logan raised his eyebrows curiously at her, and before he could open his mouth to speak, she leaned forward without hesitation and licked the right corner of his mouth.
She hovered there for a moment, mere centimeters from his face, and Logan froze. Feeling her warm breath against his skin, he closed his eyes and contemplated his next movement. He felt unadulterated need to envelop her entirely, to overtake her mouth with his, to touch the hollow of her neck, to press up against her, to feel her breasts against his chest and her ass under his hand. He wanted and needed to weave his hands through her slightly-tangled hair and to place kisses along her eyebrows. His hunger for her had never died, and he wanted so badly to sate himself.
But he was a prisoner to his newly-found conscience.
He pulled away quickly and leaned against the opposite counter. A sharp breath escaped him as he stared at her, his lips partially open, his mouth watering for the taste of her. He expected her to look surprised with herself, expected her expression to mirror that which she had months ago at the Camelot - that of, ‘why did I just do that?’
Veronica failed him in that regard. Her eyes were drenched with hope, her lips quivering with eagerness. Logan knew this look.
“…I don’t have to feel guilty anymore.”
“Guilty about what?”
It was that look that had made him kiss her for the second time, outside his house after his father had just beaten the shit out of Trina’s scumbag boyfriend of the week.
Her hope gave him hope, and he moved forward, determined to retrace his steps.
And then Duncan’s door clicked open softly again, leaving Logan in limbo, standing mere feet away from her with his arms hanging akimbo at his sides.
“Hey guys. Eating ice cream?”
Veronica nodded and handed the carton to Duncan, who stood comfortably between them, blissfully unaware of the bittersweet look which passed between his girlfriend and best friend.
--
TBC