Here's round 2 of my "quick update". Something happened the to HTML when I uploaded it the first time and I had to strip out a bunch of tags. Hope two-times is a charm...

Thanks to Rob Thomas and co. for creating these characters I can't keep out of my head! Hope you enjoy and if you do (or don't), please leave a review! And many thanks to those that have reviewed and favorited. You are truly the best!

Mac didn't hear from Dick for a few days, which she figured was for the best given how weird she had been on their 'date'. Trying to sort out her emotions, all she could come up with was that anyone would be a little messed up with hanging around their psycho dead boyfriend's brother, especially when brother was basically a living personification of the California golden beach boy. Mac didn't believe that she judged Dick wrongly—he was still a dick, but maybe he wasn't a complete monster. That Dick might have hidden depths was a little disturbing, but shouldn't come as a surprise, given what she knew of the Casablancas family.

Weirdly, the two brothers reminded her a lot of a line from Pride & Prejudice, '"one has got all the goodness, and the other all the appearance of it". Not that Dick all good, but Austen knew what she was writing about; Cassidy knew how to appear good, and maybe Dick, while not exactly "good", had a little bit of goodness in him, despite his best efforts at pretending otherwise.

Mac wished she could talk to someone about how she was feeling, but Veronica and Wallace were both out of the question, and she didn't have the sort of relationship with Parker where she could unload anything heavy. Parker was…well, Parker despite her best efforts, lacked that sort of emotional heavy-hitting that Veronica or Wallace did.

'Maybe this was growing up?' Mac thought to herself. Those moments of clarity when you realize life isn't like what you always thought it would be, because never in her wildest dreams would she have ever thought she might like Dick Casablancas, even a little.

xxx-xxxx

Today Mac had agreed to meet Dick for one last dinner and planning session before the big reveal to Dick's father. They had agreed to meet at the Grand. They would have a public dinner and then would go up to the penthouse—Logan was in Baja on a final trip before school started, and they would have the place to themselves. Mac was fairly sure she could feel Dick's smirk through his phone as he explained that last part, but rolled her eyes at the insinuation that they would need 'alone' time. Dick had thus far been a total gentleman, and she was pretty sure she wouldn't be tempted by being alone with a Casablancas and an empty hotel room.

Dinner this time was much less awkward, with Dick again putting a lot of charm out there. Of course, Mac's mood wasn't hurt by the fact that Dick had ordered them rum and cokes—"to celebrate", but one drink wasn't going to hurt and would probably make her better company, 'not that she cared enough to be good company', she reassured herself.

Mac knew that Dick's plan involved a dinner with "Big Dick" where Mac would be introduced as his girlfriend, and then Dick would present proof of Mac's "pregnancy" a few days later. Mac still had doubts about how this was supposed to work, but Dick was positive they had it 'in the bag'.

"So Ghostworld," Mac scowled at the nickname, but Dick ignored the look and went on anyway, "what are you going to do with your final payment? You've already corned the market on hoodies and cargo pants, so I'm guessing you're going to buy a big ass geeky computer? A few extra big books to add to your collection?" Mac couldn't muster the energy to be indignant at his comments, especially when Dick was smiling earnestly and there was that little twinkle in his blue eyes that took the edge off the comment (and the rum was probably working its magic too).

Mac just rolled her eyes and him. "Actually Dick, if you must know…" Mac hesitated.

"What is it Ghostworld? Custom-made sex doll. Let me know if you need any measurements."

"Eww. Now I've lost my appetite." Mac scowled and crossed her arms.

"Okay, okay, Mackie. I'm done." Dick held his hands up and waited for her to go on.

"Actually, I was planning on traveling next summer. I've always wanted to go to Europe, maybe Japan…I've been hoping to get away fro Neptune, but I've always had to have a summer job, and helping you…well, it will make that happen. I was thinking of maybe even taking a semester or year abroad for Junior year. So I guess I have to thank you for making that possible."

"What's that? I couldn't hear you." Dick smirked and cupped his hand to his ear. "Did you say 'thank you'?"

Mac gritted her teeth, shook her head and rolled her eyes (which seemed like a permanent feature of any conversation with Dick), but smiled sweetly at him, "thanks Dick for making it possible to pursue my dreams".

Dick waggled his eyebrows at her and took a swallow of his drink, "anytime, Ghostworld. So this time next year, you'll be saying 'sayonara' and drinking saki. Do you think you'll be wearing one of those geisha outfits. God, I've always had a thing for those."

"Ugh, gross, Dick, and no. I will definitely not be wearing any geisha costumes, and you know, you only say 'sayonara' when you aren't going to see someone again. It's like a permanent goodbye. You would say bai-bai or ja-ne, especially to a friend."

"Nerd alert." Dick rolled his eyes at her, and Mac blushed, then laughed because she had been lecturing him a little. Dick smiled at her and motioned to the waiter, making the universal sign for him to bring them another round. Surprisingly the thought of another drink actually sobered her up a little because she was worried Dick would get too drunk and they wouldn't have a chance to talk about the big dinner with Big Dick.

"So Dick, um, I guess we should talk about dinner with your Dad? Do you have any advice?"

Dick ran his hands thought his hair, clearly hesitating, "so yeah, um, I know this won't be easy, but you will have to like pretend you're really into me."

Mac laughed at Dick's unusual lack of confidence, which she found really endearing, biting her lip, she smiled at him. "I'll do my best lovey-dovey, girlfriend." Eyes wide and smiling at him, she joked, "it will be really hard, but that's what you're paying me the big bucks for, right?"

"Ha, ha, ha. Good, one, Ghostworld. Seriously though, it might be harder than you think. You'll have to hold my hand without flinching, no eye-rolling, or snarky retorts to things I say even if they are factually incorrect. If I try to kiss you, no dry-heaving."

"I'm not that bad and I've never dry-heaved when you tried to kiss me." Mac protested.

"Okay, no pushing my face away in disgust."

Mac winced, but smiled sheepishly at him, "gotcha. I will be on my best model-girlfriend behavior. And I'm sorry for that."

"For what?"

Mac stared at Dick and hesitated.

"You don't have to apologize for that. I was really drunk and never should have tried."

"Not for that, you deserved that." Mac smiled, "No, I'm sorry for flinching...," she hesitated, "I didn't mean anything by it. I didn't think you noticed, but I'm not sorry for the snark," she joked, trying to lighten the conversation.

Dick smiled but, looked down at his drink, as usual avoiding her eyes whenever the conversation took a turn for the heavier. "No worries, Mackie. I know that this whole thing, my family...everything...it's fucked up, and if it wasn't for friends like you and Echolls...well, I'd be even more fucked than I am."

"Are we?"

"Are we what?" Dick looked up from the swirling dregs of his dink and stared at Mac, with a confused look on his face.

"Friends, Dick."

"Of course we are." Dick scoffed. "You, Logan, even," Dick shuddered, "Veronica, are like the only friends I actually trust." Dick knocked back the rest of his drink, "where's that waiter with our drinks?"

Mac waited in silence as Dick looked around for the waiter, processing his words, and took a large gulp of her drink, letting the bubbly, sweetness wash down her throat and warm her belly.

"Here he comes." Just then the waiter materialized from the direction of the bar and arrived with another round of rum and cokes, silencing them both as they looked at their drinks. Dick grabbed his drink and raised the glass, "What should we drink to?"

"Old friends," Mac lifted up the new drink and clinked her glass with Dick's.