A/N: This is my first shot at a one-shot (sounds weird, I know). I tend to do better with multi-chapter works, but this idea simply did not have enough material to grow into anything beyond a short story. I hope it gives some cheer before I work on my next LoVe story =)

"Do you two know each other?" Miss Dent sounded her usual casual self as she led Veronica up to the cubicle.

Veronica cringed for the next moment, knowing full well who was in that chair. She was always aware of where he was. And he, with his charm in full force, swung around to face her right now.

"Well, if it isn't Veronica Mars, president of the Logan Echolls fan club," he exclaimed with a smirk as he easily put up his arms behind his head, leaning back and kicking his legs forward before crossing them at the ankles. "How long did you beg for this assignment?"

"Oh Miss Dent, you should have seen him squirm and blush the last time I interviewed him for the club," Veronica responded dryly, her eyes never leaving her fellow student.

"Okay, then, glad to know you're well-acquainted. The dog show is just about an hour's drive away. So you think you two can carpool?" Miss Dent always sounded chill, no matter when.

"No thanks," came the flat, unanimous reply.

Veronica stuck her tongue out at Logan before she walked away, making sure to look extremely annoyed. She could swear his eyes looked merry before she tore her gaze away. But, of course, any chance to torture her, right?

Fifteen minutes later, the LeBaron was making its way down the highway with a very, very annoyed blond at the wheel. To her right, a six-foot Logan Echolls had his arms and legs all twisted just to fit into the passenger seat. He fidgeted every thirty seconds.

"Would you cut it out, Logan?" Veronica seethed when she couldn't stand the constant movement any longer.

"Hey, it's not my fault that you don't drive a limo. Some of us have these things called legs, Veronica," he snapped right back at her, still trying to fit his limbs within the confined space.

He accidentally elbowed her shoulder.

"Logan!" she screamed, her face now red with anger. "Stay put or I'm going to detour to my dad's office for a straight jacket."

"Awesome! Then you can finally have your wicked way with me," Logan promptly replied with dramatic hand gestures to his body.

Veronica tried hard not to look at him, which only meant her ending up with a peek that made her face turn a deeper shade of crimson. Logan was hot. She had never denied that fact. She smirked; he had once thought her hot too, in another life.

"Seriously, Logan, I'm not the one hitchhiking with someone else right now. You better behave before I dump you by the streets on the wrong side of town." She turned to him for dramatic effect. "You won't survive a single minute."

"Ha!" Logan scoffed, never intimidated. "How was I to know that my perfect car that is so meticulously checked by my household crew daily would break down today? For all I know, you probably made the fix."

"Oh, you got me there. I ruined your car engine because I am just dying to share a ride with Neptune High's most-likely-to-cause-a-scandal awardee." Veronica rolled her eyes as she spoke.

She looked behind her to check before she drove the car on to the next exit ramp. When she turned back to face the road, she found Logan's face poised mere millimetres away from hers. She caught her breath.

"Of course you are," Logan's voice oozed with charisma as he whispered in her ear, "cuz that student is also the hottest guy you've ever met and you can't wait for the chance to have him all to yourself."

Veronica exhaled as she felt her face warm up to an uncomfortable temperature once again. Freakin' Logan Echolls - she would so have to make him pay.

Logan's laughter interrupted Veronica's vain attempts at composing herself. As if in triumph, he turned himself around to face her completely.

"Imagine what you'd look like if I were actually trying to make you blush." He waggled his eyebrows.

Veronica shot back a glance of pure determination. "Oh, I can't wait."

The dog show was a routine assignment. If the Sinclair family had not been a primary sponsor, the Navigator would never have even covered the event. But since Neptune High could never afford to lose its saintly philanthropic patrons who sponsored every school event outside of graduation, the annual canine gathering was a permanent feature in every fall issue.

Time flew by for Veronica as she snapped pictures of the overly-primped pets, her mood lightening immediately. Dogs, if anything, were loyal; and God knew how much she needed that quality from the people in her life right now. The subconscious thought of people in her life made Veronica's eyes wander towards the podium, where a certain teenage brunette was interviewing the dog show host.

Just a couple of yards away from her, Logan was propped against a low fence, one foot extended further than the other. His left hand held a shorthand pad while his right hand alternated writing and twirling his pen. Right next to him was the host, a tall and curvy redhead who looked to be in her early twenties; and her expression towards Logan was one of shameless flirtatiousness.

Veronica tried to imagine what their dialogue could possibly be. She loved dogs, but there was nothing so frivolously funny about them to require giggling every two seconds. The host placed her hand on Logan's forearm every time she laughed. Disgruntled, Veronica snapped a picture of the two.

"Ouch! What was that for?" Logan complained as he tried to steady the camera Veronica threw into his lap.

Veronica pulled a sharp turn, making her wheels screech, before she responded without taking her eyes off the road.

"Well, I figured you might want to make yourself useful and choose some pictures for me. We still have a long drive back. The one of you and Miss Auburn International would definitely make headlines in Neptune High."

Logan quirked an eyebrow and turned on the photo reel in the camera. The picture of him talking with the dog show host was the very first image to appear. Logan laughed. The photo looked casual enough, but he could still remember the discomfort he felt with every brush of that lady's fingertips against his skin. But he, of course, would not admit that to Veronica. Frazzling her was way more fun.

"I like this picture. The lighting brings out my full charm," he stated, trying to look at the picture at various angles.

Veronica scoffed. "I know my photography is amazing, but it can't make something out of nothing, Logan."

"Exactly my point," he turned around to face her, putting on his puppiest of puppy dog eyes, "you can't make two people look interested in each other if they're not."

Veronica tried to hide her smile. "I dunno. I'm pretty sure I saw her droolin' all over you."

"And I wanted to wipe off every drop."

Veronica lowered her eyes to hide the merriment in her eyes. Why was she happy?

"Why would you do that? She seems your type well enough - tall, curvy, mature." She tried to sound unintentional.

"You know my type, Ronnie." His voice was suddenly at her ear. "I like short, blond, and incredibly smart."

Veronica felt the temperature in her cheeks rise again. Stupid, freakin' Logan Echolls! Of course, she had manipulated him into saying that with her classic feminine "make him deny the opposite" trick, but she hadn't foreseen her own reaction.

Then right when she finally mustered the courage to look back at him, Logan laughed the moment away.

"Oh, Ronnie, imagine what you'd look like if I were actually trying to seduce you."

Veronica rolled her eyes, defaulting to her cold, stoic face. Sarcasm charged her every word. "Oh, I can't wait."

The sun was down by the time Veronica rolled into the school parking lot. In spite of her offer to drive him home, Logan had insisted that he had already called someone to fix his XTerra during their little field assignment. She parked right next to his bumblebee of a car.

"I guess I have to thank you for the ride," Logan began, sounding very sincere. "But we both know you got the better end of the deal riding with hotstuff here."

Before she could retaliate, he had given her a quick wink and hopped out of the car.

"Logan!" Veronica was quick to protest and quick to jump out of her own vehicle. She marched angrily after him as he made his way around his car and into the driver's seat. She didn't know why she was reacting so disproportionately. That jab was nothing, a bad one, even; but it at least it gave her something to react to. She could always count on him for that.

Logan grinned at her out of his open car window, his left elbow perched casually between them. Whereas Lilly had always been seductive, Veronica was just purely hot. Annoyed Veronica was particularly so.

"Can't get enough of me still?" Logan quipped as he turned his ignition without looking.

The car hummed alive. The car died.

"What the heck?" Logan tried his luck two more times in vain.

Now it was Veronica's turn to scoff. "Looks like 'your people' don't exactly do what you tell them, do they, Master Echolls?"

Logan's face looked too engrossed in his own puzzlement to care. Veronica crossed her arms in triumph at his predicament.

"You want that ride up to Casa Echolls now? It's gonna cost you." She loved it whenever she possessed something he wanted or needed.

Logan, ignoring her question, jumped out of his car and walked over to pop open the hood.

"Gonna try your hand on it now?" Veronica's voice betrayed a growing irritation at his lack of verbal response.

"I don't understand - " Logan muttered.

"Well, let me enlighten you," Veronica leaned back against the car as she spoke, not lowering her arms. "A broken car, even one as remarkable as yours, doesn't fix itself, mister."

"But it wasn't broken in the first place," Logan muttered back.

Veronica laughed on cue before she realized what he had said. She spun around to face him. "Your car wasn't broken?"

"Nope." Logan popped the "p."

"Then why did you - "

"Hitch a ride with you? I dunno, maybe I figured it'll be better having someone around." Logan shrugged as he stepped back from the smoking hood, resignation on his face.

"You lied to me so that I could drive you around for two hours?" Veronica's voice escalated out of her confusion.

Logan shrugged again. "It was good while it lasted."

Veronica searched her mind for something smart-mouth to say before the sound of a revving motorcycle interrupted her thoughts. She turned around to see a lone biker screeching down to a halt mere inches away from the back of the XTerra.

Veronica furrowed her brow; the dull twilight didn't exactly aid her face recognition skills.

The biker swept himself off the motorcycle before removing his helmet.

"Chardo," Veronica stated blankly. "What do you want?"

He swayed from side to side in a ridiculous swagger as he moved towards her, stopping just a foot away. He obviously smelled of alcohol.

"Well, if it isn't Veronica Mars?" Friendliness was very much absent from his voice. "If you wanted to fool around with mister hollywood kid here, you could've just said so. I would've even punctured the wheels to let you lovebirds get stuck here longer. You didn't have to drive Caitlin away. She didn't deserve what you did to her."

Veronica leveled her eyes. "Chardo, you can't blame me for what you and Caitlin chose to do. She was somebody else's girlfriend."

Chardo laughed. "Well, you know what they say. History repeats itself." He lifted his face to address Logan. "Hey Echolls! You have good taste in women. Maybe you could share this one with me too?"

Chardo lunged forward at his last word, sticking his face into Veronica's neck. Veronica gasped in shock, instinctively trying to push him away, before she felt Chardo fall to the ground in a heap. She blinked several times before she regained her bearings.

"Logan, stop!" she cried out once her mind reconciled the sounds of punches and groans to what was happening right before her eyes.

Logan pulled back for a moment, his breath heavy, brow sweaty, and knuckles bloody. He kicked Chardo as the biker lay groaning on the ground. "Don't you dare touch her again," he seethed, his brown eyes burning.

Veronica flinched, unaccustomed to being fought over. Duncan had always been the perfect gentleman, both to her and to anyone who went against her. The diplomat in him would never take sides.

"You'll pay for this, Echolls," Chardo growled as he pulled himself up. Logan responded with a death stare, his arms suddenly wrapping protectively around Veronica.

Veronica shuddered.

The two former friends stood right where they were as the motorcycle noises faded away into the night, their breathing slowly stabilizing.

Another silent moment later, Veronica pulled away. Logan quickly moved his arms back, but his eyes remained locked on her face.

"Are you okay?" He whispered.

Veronica nodded lightly. She pursed her lips before she spoke, "I guess I have to thank you for the save."

Logan didn't answer.

"But we both know you're the one needing a ride tonight."

Now Logan relaxed as a small smile creeped on his face. "I guess I have Chardo to thank for another sweet trip."

Veronica chuckled softly. She looked up at the face of her deliverer. "Thanks, Logan."

Impulsively, Logan placed his forearms on her shoulders. "You're welcome, Veronica. Always."

She smiled back at him. It's been too long since he's been like this - so close, so kind.

"I mean, I could taunt and I could tease you all I can," he continued without prompting, "but no guy is ever gonna get to hurt you until he's killed me first."

Veronica blinked, very rapidly.

She nodded.

Then she tiptoed, and she pecked him softly on the lips.

Her heels never got back to the ground.

"Thanks for the ride, Ronnie," Logan shouted out as he backed away towards his house, his hands making an exaggerated wave.

Veronica laughed as she stood next to her open car door, waving back.

Then just when she was about to sit back in, two large hands lifted her by the waist and twirled her in the air.

Veronica squealed as Logan whirled her around several times before setting her down on the pavement. He leaned forward, trapping her between himself and the LeBaron, his hands placed squarely on both sides of her.

"You know, last I heard, that ride was gonna cost me," he whispered, certain she could hear the whoosh in his belly.

Veronica smiled and leaned forward, allowing their lips to meet. His lips felt soft and warm against hers; and chills ran down her spine as he curled his arms around her, securing one hand on her neck and the other on the small of her back.

Her fingers crawled up to the sides of his face. He pulled her tight against himself, until her body was fully pressed against his.

The world stilled, leaving only the deep, intense kisses, and the charged beatings of their hearts.

They parted minutes later, and Logan pressed his forehead against hers. His eyes were dark and deep, his face flush. His shallow breathing betrayed his excitement.

"Look at you," Veronica cooed, her eyes twinkling. "Imagine what you'd look like if I were actually trying to kiss you."

Logan smiled, right on cue. "Oh, I can't wait."