WIP: Nothing Can Compare... PG (for now), Chapter 1 of ? (Logan/Veronica, Ensemble)
Title: Nothing Can Compare...
Author: rubie_so_ho
Pairing: Logan/Veronica (eventually), Ensemble
Spoilers: to be safe, S1 and S2 so far
Rating: PG for now
Summary: Graduation approaches, but the focus is on the wedding event of the season.
Word Count: 2,121
Disclaimer: They belong to Robby T.!
“…but it’s not a date date right?” Logan asked, his right eyebrow cocked. He chewed on his apple slice slowly, inquisitively.
“Right-o, bad boy. You’re just a Wallace stand-in.”
“Okay, never thought I’d hear those words in my entire life,” Logan shook his head and smirked.
“Alrighty, so just to let you know, I’m wearing a blue dress, so I think you should rock the black Gucci suit, white shirt, and silver-blue tie.”
“Omigod! I finally found what I’ve been missing my whole life!” She pursed her lips, and gave him a look that urged him to finish his thought. “A personal stylist! Are you going to give me a mani-pedi next?”
“Yes, Logan, I am. So what’ll it be? French tips or pale pink polish?” Jackie shook her head at him, chuckling.
“French tips. It looks so much more…sophisticated. Maybe that special boy will finally notice me!” Logan batted his eyelashes and put his hand up to his forehead in a mock-swoon.
Jackie picked up her macchiato and sipped slowly. “This should be a fun wedding. Beach-style. I totally approve. I’m sure it will be much more tasteful than the awful Rob-Amber affair.” She started flipping through the latest issue of Cosmo, completely oblivious to Logan’s twitching across the table from her. When she did not hear a peep from him, she looked up, curiously. The boy never shut up, usually, so she had to see what was up. “Logan? You paying attention?”
“Yeah…well, not really. Jackie, you think it’s ok for me to show up at this soiree? I mean, I’m not exactly the Mars family’s golden boy. Won’t security bounce my ass right outta there?” Logan looked slightly worried. As he bit his lower lip, Jackie noticed that he wasn’t really asking the question to her - he wasn’t looking at her. He seemed to be asking the question to the masses; he let it float on the open air. He was looking off past her, and seemed off in a daydream.
“Logan. I completely informed Wallace that you would be my ‘escort.’ He said it was cool.” She smiled to herself, thinking of Wallace. It had been only a week since they had gotten back together, after she had shown him that she was much more into him - and much more cool, sophisticated, and fun - than the flake he’d sported on his arm most of spring semester.
Logan finally fixed his eyes on hers. “So…it’s cool with Wallace…but is it cool with…“ he trailed off, only to be interrupted by Jackie.
“Homeboy. Seriously. (A) Who cares? (B) This isn’t the ‘Mars’ wedding, it’s the ‘Mars/Fennel’ wedding, and (C) last time I checked, Wallace was a Fennel. To be exact,” she intoned in a fake English accent, “the patriarch of the Fennels, if you will.” He gave her an uncertain look. “Come on, besides, she’ll be all busy with her maid-of-honor duties. Maybe she won’t even notice you’re there.”
Logan chewed on this idea for a moment. Veronica not even notice him? He didn’t want to brag, but seriously. Fat chance. No matter whether she liked him or not, no matter whether it was an even-numbered day or an odd-numbered, she would never “not notice him.”
“Uh huh,” Logan muttered. Seeing that Jackie was not in the mood to argue the point further, however, he let it drop. “Okay, Miss Thang. Consider yourself escorted to this fine spring event. And…” he dipped his head low, so no one at Java would hear him admit to this, “I will wear the ensemble you suggested. But no nail-painting. I will retain some of my dignity, just you wait and see!” He stood up and dropped a few bills on the table.
“Sorry to be leaving you, but I gotta check and make sure that Gucci gets to the drycleaners before Saturday.” He bowed before her, with flourish, and a little bit of jazz hands.
“Good sir.” She giggled at him. Jackie had fun hanging out with Logan - it was chill to be around someone who wasn’t so uptight and serious like Veronica all the time, and not wanting to get in her pants 24/7 like Wallace. Logan was a good change of pace, and they had found each other to be good friends.
Logan made his way to the front door of Java when he noticed a tiny blonde entering the side door, throwing up her hands. In one, she held a scrunched-up apron. In the other, her signature messenger bag. It appeared though she was just arriving for work.
“Sorry Carrie, sorry sorry!” She sang out. “I know I was supposed to relieve you of your shift 20 minutes ago. I truly suck. I owe you for life.”
Logan hung by the doorway for a moment just to watch her. She was all sass and fire and sharp edges. He smirked, to himself.
“Totally okay, Veronica. I understand. I know you Marses have a big event to plan for this weekend!” Carrie Bishop rounded the corner, untying her apron as she wiped her hands on it.
“Yeah. It’s been totally crazy. I’ve been running around with my dad or Alicia all week… the apartment is a complete mess! There are favors and menus, and ribbons and lace, and…ahhh! It’s so insane. When I left 10 minutes ago, Dad and Alicia were fighting about whether Backup should be the ring-bearer.”
Logan chuckled to himself. He guessed - correctly - that Keith, not Alicia, wanted the rusty pit bull as a wedding attendant. He snorted, softly, and this alerted both Carrie and Veronica as to his presence. Both girls looked up with interest.
Veronica’s face filled with color, but she quickly composed herself. Logan noticed how she was good at this - she would get nervous around him just for a split second, but then manage to appear cool and collected in the next split second. If he didn’t know her better, he would think that she did not feel an ounce of feeling toward him at all. But he did know better. He may not have understood what exactly those feelings were, but he was wonderfully aware of one thing - she was not indifferent to him, nor could she ever be. He gathered a small sense of pride from this.
Instead of waiting around to trade barbs with her, he gave a little salute. “Ladies.”
He pushed out the door, without looking back to see Veronica’s reaction.
* * *
The last few weeks of high school loomed before the seniors at Neptune High, and most of them were lackadaisical at this point about their schoolwork. The major events lay before them - prom, senior week, graduation - and finals really didn’t seem to matter. It had been a few weeks since the craziness surrounding the bus crash had died down. When the mastermind had been revealed, and taken into custody, the town seemed to breathe a huge sigh of relief that the chaos had been settled. Jackie’s father had been exonerated, and even Veronica felt at peace. She was ready to welcome summer and college with open arms. The tumult which surrounded her teenage years had been a little too much for her to bear. However, she had to admit, even to herself, that because of the events embedded in her life over the past few years, she had grown into a pretty worldly adult. The prospects of college and the “real world” didn’t scare her as they once did; she’d been a part of the “real world” - a world so shocking, lurid, scandalous, and dangerous that she just wanted to settle into a normal life.
Ha. Normal.
She realized, for the first time, that there was no such thing as Normal. It was some lofty ideal. So maybe she wasn’t ready for normal, since it didn’t exist. But she was ready for life outside the hamlet of Neptune - hoping to find something a little less hectic, insane, and wearisome.
It was funny - she knew everything she didn’t want. But she didn’t know what she did want.
One thing she did, absolutely, want was the happiness of her father. She had been worried in the past months what her father would do without her at his beck and call. They were best friends, partners… what would he do, all alone, with only Backup to talk to at dinner time?
This became such a concern of hers that mid-spring she had decided to play Cupid. Well, with the help of her trusty BFF. She and Wallace schemed to get their parents back together. To be frank, it hadn’t taken much prodding. Even though Keith and Alicia were irked that their children were trying to throw them back together, once they were within each other’s companies once again, they couldn’t resist staying together. Keith knew that he wanted to be with Alicia for the rest of his life, and he proposed within a few weeks of their second first date. Veronica couldn’t have been happier. She and Alicia set forth to plan a wedding in May, just in time for the perfect SoCal beach fete.
Veronica rushed in the door, pins and curlers in her hair, one eye made-up and the other still make-up-free. She ran into Alicia’s bedroom to grab more bobby pins and the bottle of hairspray. Music filled the Fennel house - happy, fun music. Veronica and Alicia laughed and squealed and sang along as they got ready. Veronica was pinning up Alicia’s hair into soft barrel curls when Alicia stopped laughing, singing, and talking. She stared at the tiny blonde in the mirror and smiled a warm, motherly smile. Noticing the silence of her BFF’s mom, Veronica looked up at the mirror. “What is it Alicia?”
Alicia grinned at her. “You’re going to be my stepdaughter.”
“Yep. Face it, Alicia. You’re stuck with me. The girl who flashed your son within weeks of knowing him.”
Alicia busted out laughing as her eyes crinkled up with mock-shock and surprise. “What a hussy!” Veronica caught on that her stepmom-to-be was joking and squealed with laughter in reply. “Yes. Total hussy. I’m such a bad influence.” She picked up her cell phone off the sink. Alicia looked at her questioningly. “Oh,” breathed Veronica, “I’m just calling Sheriff Lamb to come cuff me for indecent exposure.” She said this with the most serious voice she could muster, but Alicia’s immediate giggles sent her over the edge. Both women were uncontrollably laughing to the point of tears.
“What the hell. Did you guys eat a big bowl of crazy this morning?” Wallace appeared in the doorway, looking dapper in a cream-colored suit and open-necked white shirt.
Alicia and Veronica dabbed the corners of their eyes, so as to not mess up their makeup. “Nah,” giggled Veronica, “we were just discussing how ‘Wallace Mars’ has a nice ring to it.”
“Aw, helllll no, girl. I think not.” Wallace paused for a moment, and looked at his mom. “Mom…damn! You look great!” Alicia squeezed her son’s hand, happy for the compliment.
“And you look perfect for a beach weddin’!” Veronica said, smoothing one lapel of his jacket.
“Seriously though, V. You shouldn’t expect anything less than perfection. You do recall my jump shot, right?”
Veronica nodded, smiling, applying her eye makeup to even out her complexion.
“Anyway. I was just going to tell y’all I’m heading out with Darryl to meet Keith at the hotel.” He paused, and looked at his feet. “And, uh…you remember that I invited Jackie, right superfly?”
“Yes…” Veronica answered, still concentrating on her eyeliner. “But remember, you’re technically my date, since we’ve got the whole maid-of-honor / best man thing going on.”
“Yeah. I remembered. Trust me, it’s hard to forget when you’ve been talking about it everyday. You’d think you were getting married, based on your Bridezilla act. Anyway…” Wallace trailed off. “Since I can’t be her date, I told Jackie she could bring a date.”
“Uh-huh.” Veronica was more interested in her eyelining duties than Jackie’s pseudo-date.
“And uh, she told me who she was bringing and I told her it was cool.”
“Uh-huh.”
“So yeah. She’s bringing Logan Echolls. Yeah, gotta run, I’ll see you there.” Wallace flew out of the bathroom in a flash and jetted down the stairs. Alicia, sitting on the toilet, looked dumbfounded and slightly confused at what had just happened.
Veronica dropped her eyeliner into the sink.
“WALLACE!” She yelled down the stairs. No answer. She ran out into the hallway and looked out the front window. Wallace and Darryl were in his car, and they sped off, tires squealing.
“That. Little. Sneak.” Veronica mustered, through gritted teeth.
Alicia just grinned, but kept her mouth shut.
***
(Title is from "Dice," by Finley Quaye)
Author: rubie_so_ho
Pairing: Logan/Veronica (eventually), Ensemble
Spoilers: to be safe, S1 and S2 so far
Rating: PG for now
Summary: Graduation approaches, but the focus is on the wedding event of the season.
Word Count: 2,121
Disclaimer: They belong to Robby T.!
“…but it’s not a date date right?” Logan asked, his right eyebrow cocked. He chewed on his apple slice slowly, inquisitively.
“Right-o, bad boy. You’re just a Wallace stand-in.”
“Okay, never thought I’d hear those words in my entire life,” Logan shook his head and smirked.
“Alrighty, so just to let you know, I’m wearing a blue dress, so I think you should rock the black Gucci suit, white shirt, and silver-blue tie.”
“Omigod! I finally found what I’ve been missing my whole life!” She pursed her lips, and gave him a look that urged him to finish his thought. “A personal stylist! Are you going to give me a mani-pedi next?”
“Yes, Logan, I am. So what’ll it be? French tips or pale pink polish?” Jackie shook her head at him, chuckling.
“French tips. It looks so much more…sophisticated. Maybe that special boy will finally notice me!” Logan batted his eyelashes and put his hand up to his forehead in a mock-swoon.
Jackie picked up her macchiato and sipped slowly. “This should be a fun wedding. Beach-style. I totally approve. I’m sure it will be much more tasteful than the awful Rob-Amber affair.” She started flipping through the latest issue of Cosmo, completely oblivious to Logan’s twitching across the table from her. When she did not hear a peep from him, she looked up, curiously. The boy never shut up, usually, so she had to see what was up. “Logan? You paying attention?”
“Yeah…well, not really. Jackie, you think it’s ok for me to show up at this soiree? I mean, I’m not exactly the Mars family’s golden boy. Won’t security bounce my ass right outta there?” Logan looked slightly worried. As he bit his lower lip, Jackie noticed that he wasn’t really asking the question to her - he wasn’t looking at her. He seemed to be asking the question to the masses; he let it float on the open air. He was looking off past her, and seemed off in a daydream.
“Logan. I completely informed Wallace that you would be my ‘escort.’ He said it was cool.” She smiled to herself, thinking of Wallace. It had been only a week since they had gotten back together, after she had shown him that she was much more into him - and much more cool, sophisticated, and fun - than the flake he’d sported on his arm most of spring semester.
Logan finally fixed his eyes on hers. “So…it’s cool with Wallace…but is it cool with…“ he trailed off, only to be interrupted by Jackie.
“Homeboy. Seriously. (A) Who cares? (B) This isn’t the ‘Mars’ wedding, it’s the ‘Mars/Fennel’ wedding, and (C) last time I checked, Wallace was a Fennel. To be exact,” she intoned in a fake English accent, “the patriarch of the Fennels, if you will.” He gave her an uncertain look. “Come on, besides, she’ll be all busy with her maid-of-honor duties. Maybe she won’t even notice you’re there.”
Logan chewed on this idea for a moment. Veronica not even notice him? He didn’t want to brag, but seriously. Fat chance. No matter whether she liked him or not, no matter whether it was an even-numbered day or an odd-numbered, she would never “not notice him.”
“Uh huh,” Logan muttered. Seeing that Jackie was not in the mood to argue the point further, however, he let it drop. “Okay, Miss Thang. Consider yourself escorted to this fine spring event. And…” he dipped his head low, so no one at Java would hear him admit to this, “I will wear the ensemble you suggested. But no nail-painting. I will retain some of my dignity, just you wait and see!” He stood up and dropped a few bills on the table.
“Sorry to be leaving you, but I gotta check and make sure that Gucci gets to the drycleaners before Saturday.” He bowed before her, with flourish, and a little bit of jazz hands.
“Good sir.” She giggled at him. Jackie had fun hanging out with Logan - it was chill to be around someone who wasn’t so uptight and serious like Veronica all the time, and not wanting to get in her pants 24/7 like Wallace. Logan was a good change of pace, and they had found each other to be good friends.
Logan made his way to the front door of Java when he noticed a tiny blonde entering the side door, throwing up her hands. In one, she held a scrunched-up apron. In the other, her signature messenger bag. It appeared though she was just arriving for work.
“Sorry Carrie, sorry sorry!” She sang out. “I know I was supposed to relieve you of your shift 20 minutes ago. I truly suck. I owe you for life.”
Logan hung by the doorway for a moment just to watch her. She was all sass and fire and sharp edges. He smirked, to himself.
“Totally okay, Veronica. I understand. I know you Marses have a big event to plan for this weekend!” Carrie Bishop rounded the corner, untying her apron as she wiped her hands on it.
“Yeah. It’s been totally crazy. I’ve been running around with my dad or Alicia all week… the apartment is a complete mess! There are favors and menus, and ribbons and lace, and…ahhh! It’s so insane. When I left 10 minutes ago, Dad and Alicia were fighting about whether Backup should be the ring-bearer.”
Logan chuckled to himself. He guessed - correctly - that Keith, not Alicia, wanted the rusty pit bull as a wedding attendant. He snorted, softly, and this alerted both Carrie and Veronica as to his presence. Both girls looked up with interest.
Veronica’s face filled with color, but she quickly composed herself. Logan noticed how she was good at this - she would get nervous around him just for a split second, but then manage to appear cool and collected in the next split second. If he didn’t know her better, he would think that she did not feel an ounce of feeling toward him at all. But he did know better. He may not have understood what exactly those feelings were, but he was wonderfully aware of one thing - she was not indifferent to him, nor could she ever be. He gathered a small sense of pride from this.
Instead of waiting around to trade barbs with her, he gave a little salute. “Ladies.”
He pushed out the door, without looking back to see Veronica’s reaction.
* * *
The last few weeks of high school loomed before the seniors at Neptune High, and most of them were lackadaisical at this point about their schoolwork. The major events lay before them - prom, senior week, graduation - and finals really didn’t seem to matter. It had been a few weeks since the craziness surrounding the bus crash had died down. When the mastermind had been revealed, and taken into custody, the town seemed to breathe a huge sigh of relief that the chaos had been settled. Jackie’s father had been exonerated, and even Veronica felt at peace. She was ready to welcome summer and college with open arms. The tumult which surrounded her teenage years had been a little too much for her to bear. However, she had to admit, even to herself, that because of the events embedded in her life over the past few years, she had grown into a pretty worldly adult. The prospects of college and the “real world” didn’t scare her as they once did; she’d been a part of the “real world” - a world so shocking, lurid, scandalous, and dangerous that she just wanted to settle into a normal life.
Ha. Normal.
She realized, for the first time, that there was no such thing as Normal. It was some lofty ideal. So maybe she wasn’t ready for normal, since it didn’t exist. But she was ready for life outside the hamlet of Neptune - hoping to find something a little less hectic, insane, and wearisome.
It was funny - she knew everything she didn’t want. But she didn’t know what she did want.
One thing she did, absolutely, want was the happiness of her father. She had been worried in the past months what her father would do without her at his beck and call. They were best friends, partners… what would he do, all alone, with only Backup to talk to at dinner time?
This became such a concern of hers that mid-spring she had decided to play Cupid. Well, with the help of her trusty BFF. She and Wallace schemed to get their parents back together. To be frank, it hadn’t taken much prodding. Even though Keith and Alicia were irked that their children were trying to throw them back together, once they were within each other’s companies once again, they couldn’t resist staying together. Keith knew that he wanted to be with Alicia for the rest of his life, and he proposed within a few weeks of their second first date. Veronica couldn’t have been happier. She and Alicia set forth to plan a wedding in May, just in time for the perfect SoCal beach fete.
Veronica rushed in the door, pins and curlers in her hair, one eye made-up and the other still make-up-free. She ran into Alicia’s bedroom to grab more bobby pins and the bottle of hairspray. Music filled the Fennel house - happy, fun music. Veronica and Alicia laughed and squealed and sang along as they got ready. Veronica was pinning up Alicia’s hair into soft barrel curls when Alicia stopped laughing, singing, and talking. She stared at the tiny blonde in the mirror and smiled a warm, motherly smile. Noticing the silence of her BFF’s mom, Veronica looked up at the mirror. “What is it Alicia?”
Alicia grinned at her. “You’re going to be my stepdaughter.”
“Yep. Face it, Alicia. You’re stuck with me. The girl who flashed your son within weeks of knowing him.”
Alicia busted out laughing as her eyes crinkled up with mock-shock and surprise. “What a hussy!” Veronica caught on that her stepmom-to-be was joking and squealed with laughter in reply. “Yes. Total hussy. I’m such a bad influence.” She picked up her cell phone off the sink. Alicia looked at her questioningly. “Oh,” breathed Veronica, “I’m just calling Sheriff Lamb to come cuff me for indecent exposure.” She said this with the most serious voice she could muster, but Alicia’s immediate giggles sent her over the edge. Both women were uncontrollably laughing to the point of tears.
“What the hell. Did you guys eat a big bowl of crazy this morning?” Wallace appeared in the doorway, looking dapper in a cream-colored suit and open-necked white shirt.
Alicia and Veronica dabbed the corners of their eyes, so as to not mess up their makeup. “Nah,” giggled Veronica, “we were just discussing how ‘Wallace Mars’ has a nice ring to it.”
“Aw, helllll no, girl. I think not.” Wallace paused for a moment, and looked at his mom. “Mom…damn! You look great!” Alicia squeezed her son’s hand, happy for the compliment.
“And you look perfect for a beach weddin’!” Veronica said, smoothing one lapel of his jacket.
“Seriously though, V. You shouldn’t expect anything less than perfection. You do recall my jump shot, right?”
Veronica nodded, smiling, applying her eye makeup to even out her complexion.
“Anyway. I was just going to tell y’all I’m heading out with Darryl to meet Keith at the hotel.” He paused, and looked at his feet. “And, uh…you remember that I invited Jackie, right superfly?”
“Yes…” Veronica answered, still concentrating on her eyeliner. “But remember, you’re technically my date, since we’ve got the whole maid-of-honor / best man thing going on.”
“Yeah. I remembered. Trust me, it’s hard to forget when you’ve been talking about it everyday. You’d think you were getting married, based on your Bridezilla act. Anyway…” Wallace trailed off. “Since I can’t be her date, I told Jackie she could bring a date.”
“Uh-huh.” Veronica was more interested in her eyelining duties than Jackie’s pseudo-date.
“And uh, she told me who she was bringing and I told her it was cool.”
“Uh-huh.”
“So yeah. She’s bringing Logan Echolls. Yeah, gotta run, I’ll see you there.” Wallace flew out of the bathroom in a flash and jetted down the stairs. Alicia, sitting on the toilet, looked dumbfounded and slightly confused at what had just happened.
Veronica dropped her eyeliner into the sink.
“WALLACE!” She yelled down the stairs. No answer. She ran out into the hallway and looked out the front window. Wallace and Darryl were in his car, and they sped off, tires squealing.
“That. Little. Sneak.” Veronica mustered, through gritted teeth.
Alicia just grinned, but kept her mouth shut.
***
(Title is from "Dice," by Finley Quaye)