To All The Boys I've Loved Before (Part 46)
Standing with five hours of sleep, Veronica mixes together the ingredients for her classic Christmas sugar cookies.
Heather strolls into the kitchen, plops on the chair opposite her sister about to complain about her hunger when she notices Veronica's visible eye bags and drawn in expression. She knows something is wrong. She knows something's been wrong ever since she got back from her trip. "Ronica?" The girl in question hums as she focuses on her task at hand. "Are you okay?"
Veronica looks at her sister and gives her a mild nod accompanied with a reassuring smile. "I'm just tired."
she stares at her sister's face and says, "You look like a zombie."
Veronica halts in her movements, gazes up to her little sister with a mischievous quirked smile as she holds up her flour covered hands out to Heather's face and in her best zombie voice says, "I want to eat your brains."
Heather's eyes widen, shocked and panicked as Veronica rounds the counter with her messy hands. With a high screeching yelp, the little girl leaps off her chair and runs away.
Backup scurries to his feet, alert and looking for danger and then wags his tail wildly when he realises that there's no real threat to be seen.
Veronica grins, making a show of chasing her for a minute before retreating back into the kitchen, Backup follows and reverts back to laying down.
It doesn't take long for Heather to come back into the kitchen, this time with her purple skipping rope in hand. "Are you gonna be human again or do I have to restrain you to get my breakfast?" She asks, tilting her head with an arched brow as she pulls her rope in a tight straight line.
Veronica cocks a brow, eyes settling on her sister's. "That depends. Are you gonna be insulting again or do you wanna be my breakfast?" She grins, not at all threatened as she wiggles her fingers, showing Heather that she isn't afraid to get messy.
Heather swallows, lowering her skipping rope, she settles, "The option that gets Froot Loops in my mouth." She says it in the way that makes it seem like she's not at all forfeiting as she walks to the cupboard.
"The option that gets you Froot Loops requires you to wait 'cause Meg and Dad are out grocery shopping," Veronica tells her as she meshes together the dry ingredients and the wet ones.
"Urg," Heather groans, closing the cupboard door. "I'm starving," she complains, slumping onto the bar stool.
"You want some eggs?" Veronica asks, the first thing coming to her mind that she knows she had enough of.
"With some cheese?" The little Mars perks up in her seat. "And buttered toast?"
"Sure," she shrugs. "And I'll even throw in some hot chocolate if you help clean up afterwards," she bargains.
Immediately, she quizzes, "Do I get the tiny marshmallows?"
"Sure," Veronica agrees, setting aside the cookie mix for the time being as she goes to rinse off her hands and prepare the eggs.
Heather stays put, humming, hands on the counter her eyes follow her sister and then asks, "Is Logan coming to the Christmas party?"
Veronica stills at the question. She hadn't spoken to her family about Logan, about Aspen, about last night. She hasn't told them anything; she didn't know what to say to them. She doesn't know how to explain her situation with Logan without telling them everything that's happened and she doesn't want to tell them. They don't need the heartache. What good would it do them to learn about Lianne? There's no reassuring answers that mummy loves us in this tale and she doesn't want to bring that burden to her family. They deserved more than that.
"I didn't ask him," she answers in the most honest way she can. She gets why Logan's made the decisions he's made. Even when she'd thought the worst of him, she couldn't stop her heart from loving him. Right now, she just needs time to figure out how to trust him again.
He's kept this big thing from her, she knows he had the best intentions but his choices still hurt her.
Heather inquisitively continues to question her sister, "Why not?"
Dismissively, Veronica replies, "I don't think he wants to hang out with a bunch of deputies. Can you pass me the salt, please?"
Heather drags herself out of her chair and obliges, remarking, "I think he'd like to hang out with us."
Veronica knows she can't argue about this with Heather so instead she asks her to check on Backups water and fills the minutes it takes for her eggs and toast to get ready with menial tasks to avoid further questioning.
--vm--
When Keith and Meg come back home, Heather's got The Princess Bride playing on the television, munching on popcorn as Veronica doughs together another recipe off the list.
"I hope you're hungry, 'cause we've got Mama Leone's," Keith sings, dangling the bag tantalizingly in the air.
Veronica breaks out into a wide grin, "My favourite."
"I could eat," Heather calls out from her seat still munching on her popcorn.
"Veronica!" Meg loud-whispers, coming around the counter with a giddy smile. "You'll never guess who I ran into!"
"Hmmm," Veronica hums in fake thought, rolling out her cookie dough. "Was it Carlita, Biff, or Rocco? They always were our favourite imaginary friends."
Meg rolls her eyes good-naturedly, her smile never falling from her lips as she says, “Hamilton Cho.”
Veronica’s brow quirks at the enthusiasm radiating from the name. She knows him. Everyone does. His father owns Cho’s Pizza. He used to be in Meg’s class but she doesn’t recall them being particularly friendly. She doesn’t know how to respond to it so she says, “Was it awkward with you carrying takeout from Mama Leone’s?”
Her brows furrow at the question, shaking her head she dismisses it and continues, “Did you know he goes to NYU too? I mean, I’ve never seen him before.”
“It is a big school,” the petite blonde offers, shrugging.
“He wanted to hang out,” she says, biting her lip and eyes bright. “I asked him to come to the Christmas party.”
Duncan flashes through her mind like a red stop light and she fights the urge to question her sister about Duncan and if she’s sure about this. She fights it because the familiarity of standing in their kitchen with her hands pressed into cookie dough as they chat about anything and everything is something Veronica’s found herself needing ever since Meg left – and especially since Meg came back home.
Instead she grins and teases Meg with everything she knows about Hamilton Cho.
“The food is getting cold,” Keith calls from the lounge.
“Inconceivable!” Heather mimics loud enough for her sisters to hear.
Without missing a beat, Veronica quotes back in response, “You keep using that word, I don’t think it means what you think it means.”
--vm--
"What?" Veronica asks, she's got her leg up on the bathroom sink and tries to shave as quickly as she can without cutting herself while Mac's stands behind her, grinning as though she's got an inside joke with herself.
The brunette shakes her head, letting out a silent chuckle. "Miss Mars uses Venus razor."
Amused, Veronica smiles and remarks, "Because if she doesn't, her legs look like Pluto’s."
"And she's down-to-earth to boot," Mac quips with a grin and Veronica laughs.
For the last few days, Veronica had been cooped up at home baking for the upcoming Christmas party or helping Inga with the planning arrangements or at work. Wallace – demanding BFF time – had convinced her to take time for a beach trip. She knows he just wants to test out his toy plane (he’d just finished fixing it after an unfortunate collision with the wall).
--vm--
"Man, this new wet suits like a cheap motel. No ballroom," Dick says, snapping the latex suit against his crotch as he walks with Logan up shore. They’re both dripping with water having just finished a much needed surfing session.
Logan shakes his head at Dick, carrying his surf board with one hand and running his fingers through his wet hair with the other. They come to a stand still when a flying object comes crashing into the sandy ground. “Hey, look a toy plane,” Dick says, going to pick it up.
”Don’t touch the plane,” Wallace shouts from a few feet away, jogging to catch up to his plane while Veronica and Mac follow behind him.
Everything fades into background noise when Logan sees her, she stops shortly in front of him, her blue eyes staring into his and he silently sucks in a breath.
"Hey," she says, offering a half smile without turning her gaze away from him.
His eyes solely focused on hers as he takes in her presence and lets out, "Hey."
It’s in this moment that she truly feels how much she’s missed him, it’s only been a few days and this tug in her heart makes it feel it’s been months. She mentally checks herself, remember the rules, Mars – no pining, no whining. Keep it light.
“Hey hey, look who’s slumming it at the beach,” Dick grins, head bobbing up and down as he checks out both the girls. "Hey, we're blowing off a little dead-week steam if you kids want to hang.”
--vm—
While Wallace tends to his crashed plane, the rest of them make themselves comfortable on the benches - except it’s Dick that makes himself comfortable next to Mac and Veronica’s left to fill the space next to Logan which makes it all the more difficult for her to keep her cool.
"So,” he starts, eyes drifting over her form to the fading fire. He has so much to tell her. He wants to tell her how much he’s missed her. He wants to tell her that it seems like even his mother and Trina miss her. He wants to tell her that she’s all he thinks about even when he tries not to. “Heather wants me to come to the Christmas party," he glances at her and sees her brow pick up in surprise and her gaze land on him. "Is that cool?"
"You've been talking to Heather?" She swallows, trying to keep her emotions at bay but his question brings about agitation in her and she feels warmth surging from within; it’s this convoluted package of feelings that she had needed a break from so she could sort out her feelings between her head and her heart. Seeing Logan, being with Logan, speaking with Logan makes it impossible for her to make sense of anything.
He tries to keep his tone as casual as possible but he knows he’s not as nonchalant as he wants to him. Even a simple hey makes him feel things. "We have our matches more often now that she's on break.” He pauses, letting her process, assuming that this hasn’t come up in conversation between the two sisters. “She asked me if we broke up."
A quiet gasp escapes her and she stares at him in shock. “She asked you that?” She lets out a breath. “What'd you tell her?"
They were playing together in an online Mario Kart championship when she'd broached the subject of his and Veronica’s relationship. He'd tried his best to not say much, lightly joking that they were on a Christmas break - he hadn't wanted Heather to worry but in the saddest and quietest of voices she'd asked him, "Don't you love her anymore?"
It's the way she sounds that makes him wish he had lied and given her an excuse for not being physically present. "Of course I do," he says, honest and soft.
"Then why are you on a break if you still love her?" She asks, urgent and confused. She tries on concentrating on the game but she's more in tuned with the sound of his voice.
He sighs and he knows he can't explain everything to her so he gives her half a truth because despite his want to lie to Heather, he can't really bring himself to it. "Because I screwed up."
"How?" She demands, completely losing focus what's in front of her as she listens.
"I did something I shouldn't have," he vaguely says, knowing he should stop talking about this with her now. There's nothing more he can tell her. "Look, kid, you’re falling behind," he intentionally remarks on the game trying to take her focus from his relationship back onto the game.
Ignoring his last comment, she insistently asks, "Did you tell her you were sorry?"
"Yes," he sighs.
"Like, in a way so she knows you mean it?"
"Yeah. Look Heather, don't worry about it, okay? You need to keep your mind on the race, you're getting beat, kid."
"The truth,” he confesses. “The parts of the truth that I could tell her anyway. I didn’t know how to not tell her."
“She’s too nosy for her own good,” Veronica grumbles, sighing. She wonders if Heather gave the same inquisition to Duncan when him and Meg broke up or if she's over compensating now because she didn't.
He chuckles, teasing, “It must be in the genes."
She gives him a half-hearted huffing laugh before turning it into a little smile. “Thank you.”
His heart thumps. “For what?”
“Keeping your promises,” she softly tells him.
--vm--
Heather happy bounces in her room with the phone in her hand, Ophelia shakes her head chuckling at her overly hyped best friend.
“Hello?” Comes the voice of a groggy Logan.
Without wasting time on pleasantries, she speedily explains, "I called KRAC like two hundred times. I kept getting this recording, and then finally, I got through. They're gonna play my request."
“I really wish you hadn’t done that,” his soft voice comes through.
Heather chooses to ignore him, opening her room door, she yells with the phone pressed to her chest. “Ronica! You've got to turn on the radio."
"Why?" Her sister shouts back from downstairs.
Impatiently, Heather demands, "Just do it!"
“To a very special girl. So, if you're out there and you're listening, Veronica...”
Veronica’s eyes widen, she stills frozen in time as she listens to the DJ.
“This is from Logan. He's sorry, girl, and he wants you back.”
Meg lets out an audible gasp, eyes wide and giddy as the oh my god slips out.
Upstairs, Heather stands with complete and total satisfaction as she listens to Nick Lachey’s What’s Left of Me play from downstairs. “You’re gonna thank me,” she says with her smuggest tone as she ends the call.