A Gin Joint by Isabelle

Rating: PG

Fandom: Veronica Mars

Ship: Logan/Veronica

Quickie: Years later they somehow meet in that same old expected way.

Prompt: for nariya requested it

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She should know better than to sit alone in the back of a jazz club listening to a heartfelt song about love lost. Nothing good can ever come of this endeavor. Veronica Mars, you're a fool, she tells herself five and a half times before her thoughts pause as the most unforeseen yet expected catalyst walks in.

Logan Echolls. She smiles slightly and shakes her head. Of course she would run into him. In a different city, a different world – a new beginning. And there he is. Like the first sentence of a new book, one that sets the pace for what is to come.

"Of all the gin joints…" she murmurs to herself, not even bothering to hide and blend in with the wallpaper. He'll spot her. He always could.

His hair is slightly damp from the pouring rain outside; he looks like he carries baggage. Of the emotional sort. She thinks it fits him. The boy with issues in love with the girl who has even more issues. What a messed up pair they are.

She wishes she could've known with certainty that they were it. But she was always doubting. Always pulling back. Always struggling like a scared little caged animal. Whimpering on the inside.

His eyes spot her and all that Veronica Mars can do is swallow. A girl can try, you know? She can try to cut a certain man out of her life, but no matter how hard she tries he's still there. Embedded. She knows it by the way he stares at her. Logan defiantly stared at her that way and often. He'd do anything for her.

He looks good. He walks taller now, looks sober and no longer somber. There's a bit of a twinkle in his eye, and she cant help but smile back at him. He walks, hands grabbing the back of the empty chair before her.

"Veronica Mars," he declares, mouth slightly smiling, and then he swings his long leg over, sitting down before her. "Of all the gin joints…"

She stares at him, frozen. Oh, Veronica Mars, you're such a fool. Such a damn fool. She felt her hesitation melting and melting quickly. She liked being unsure of things. Being unsure of things gave her the option of backing away and leaving quickly. A reason for actions. Not now.

"Technically, you walked into mine," she corrects him, taking a sip of her gin and tonic.

He swiftly motions for the waitress for a drink for him and then glances at her.

"Didn't I always?"

And she smiles. The rain droplets are still in his hair, and she thinks that this might be the beginning of a beautiful something.

The end