veronica mars 🔎 (![[info]](https://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} sleuthy) wrote in ![[info]](https://www.insanejournal.com/img/community.gif){kind=small} dunhavenic,@ 2019-06-01 21:08:00 |
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WHERE: Lakeside cabin outside of town.
WHEN: May 26th; late evening.
WHAT: Jude and Mari reunite in the most Jude and Mari way possible.
RATING: Mild.
STATUS: log; complete.
Jude was the king of bad ideas. He had been for as long as he could remember. There had always been something a little broken inside of him that had only cracked open wider when Haley had died and when his father had gone to prison for it. When he was with Mariela, that gaping chasm inside of him felt less impossibly large, like her presence was a bridge between the child he could have been and the man he’d become, but just as much as she was a balm to the hurts he carried without reprieve, she was also a turbulent storm that tore him apart in different ways. In terms of loving people who had a tendency to hurt him, though, he was pretty sure that Mariela was the best. He did love her, too. It was a fact that he’d known when they called it quits five years ago, and something he knew he would always do without meaning to, even when he didn’t want to. But as much as he knew Manda was right in her assessment of how terrible they were for one another, he did want to. And even though he knew that there was only one way asking her to come here tonight could end, whether now or months or years from now, there had been zero chance that he was going to know Mariela was thirty minutes away from him and not doing everything he could to see her. It helped, at least, that she seemed as unable to not see him, too. He wouldn’t have to abandon Jack to an empty cabin intermittently full of rebounds and bad choices. He finished off the drink he’d poured while he’d been texting her and poured himself another one. He hadn’t been sober, in one way or another, since they’d walked into the cabin Friday night and he wasn’t planning on changing that until it was time to drive back to Dunhaven on Monday. At the sight of the beams of headlights hitting the wall opposite him and the subsequent sound of a car door shutting, Jude took a deep breath and steeled himself for her. He may have been unable to stop himself from insisting she come tonight, but that didn’t mean it didn’t tear open a well of hard memories and even more complicated feelings within him. He finished off the second drink in one swallow, winced, and pushed away from the kitchen counter, reaching the front door just as the first knock came. He buried one hand in his back pocket, took a deep breath, and opened the door, pasting a cocky smirk on his face as he did so. His defense mechanisms were almost impeccable. “Wait,” he said, “weren’t you bringing the pizza with you?” Mari looked at the bottle of Tequila she had in hand and put on a faux look of confusion as she gave it a little shake. “You mean this isn’t pizza? Damn.” When she’d asked Jude where he was, Mari told herself it was an innocent enough question. It wasn’t. Deep down, she knew her own impulses when it came to Jude Campbell. How could she not? She could pretend all she wanted that it was just her curiosity. Just the need for a little bit more context to make sense of the things he was saying. But she’d be lying to herself. Because as soon as Mari asked the question, Jude gave her an address. And there it was. The way right back to him after five very long years. She hadn’t said yes right away. Her brain was listing all the logical reasons why she shouldn’t do this. Why she would regret it. Why he would regret it. Why it would only lead to more unnecessary pain on all sides. But even as she listed these things, Mari abandoned the sofa in her living room and started rooting around boxes of clothes in her bedroom. She found clean clothes and pulled them on. Because even then she knew she’d say yes eventually. And once she did, she didn’t want to waste any time getting to him. It wasn’t ten minutes later that the moment arrived, and still texting him, Mari grabbed the tequila and her keys, threw a phone charger in her purse, and made her way outside to her parked car. She paused before getting inside it for just a moment. Last chance, Mariela. She thought to herself, hand hovering near the door handle. You can still turn back and go inside. You can pour yourself some of this tequila, turn off your phone, and wake up tomorrow with no regrets.” Dunhaven was a fresh start for her, after all. She thought about it all for half a second more before she was inside and behind the wheel. Once she’d arrived at the cabin, she’d shut the car off and sat silence for a beat or two staring at the cabin. It was beautiful, and everything looked peaceful enough. Ah irony, you bitch. Because this reunion was likely to be about the furthest thing possible from beautiful and peaceful. She took a swig from the tequila, screwed the cap back on, and then got out of the car. When he opened the door and looked at her with that cocky expression, a million memories washed through her. Both amazing and terrible. It was astounding what just being close to him could do to her. “Guess we’ll have to make do with this.” The moment he laid eyes on her, Jude stopped thinking about all of the reasons this was a bad idea. As volatile as their entanglements tended to be, there was no part of his brain that could talk him out of entering her gravitational pull once she was near. He gave a small laugh and said, “Pizza flavored-tequila? My favorite. My stalker would know that, though, wouldn’t she?” He leaned against the door jam and gave a fanciful gesture inside the cabin. “I’d say welcome to my humble abode but it’s both not mine and not humble, so I guess welcome to this gratuitous waste of money that I’m enjoying profusely for a weekend.” It took every ounce of his self-control, what little he possessed, not to pull her into him right then and there, glass bottle of tequila and being old enough to know better be damned. She grinned at that. “I guess she would, wouldn’t she?” Mari gave the tequila bottle another shake for good measure before she headed inside. “So far as gratuitous wastes of money go, it’s not so bad.” She could feel his eyes on her as she walked further inside the cabin and dropped her purse down on a coffee table. She turned around to face him again as she unscrewed the cap on the tequila bottle again. “How much catching up do I need to do?” Without waiting for him to answer she took another drink, pulled a face, and offered him the bottle. Jude followed her in, never once taking his eyes off of her as she surveyed the cabin, as she lifted the bottle to her lips. He reached out and took it from her, shrugging noncommittally as he did so. “More or less a lot. I started Friday night,” he replied, quirking an eyebrow in challenge. He lifted the bottle and took a healthy swig of it and, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, he took another step closer, eyes now searching hers for some answer as to what they were both doing here after five years, and why there were even five years between them to begin with. With his free hand, he started to tuck her hair behind her ear but it lingered there, barely a breath away from her, instead, before it dropped back to his side completely. He took another drink and handed the bottle back. “So what now, Mar? Are we going to trade adulting stories and braid each other’s hair? I really shouldn’t have gone in for that trim on Thursday.” She’d been on the verge of saying something witty, she was sure. But when he moved in close with that intense look in his eyes, everything went fuzzy for Mari. That simple motion of raising his hand to tuck her hair was enough to make her chest ache. He’d done it so many times over the years it felt as natural as breathing. Of course when he stopped himself, it jolted her back to the present and she sucked in a breath in response. Her fingers wrapped themselves around the bottle as he handed it back over to her. She tapped her nails against the glass before she took a much longer pull. When she pulled the mouth back away from her lips, her head was becoming nicely foggy. Despite the fact that every muscle in her body ached to stay near him, Mari turned and walked a few paces over to the kitchen countertop. She set the tequila bottle down firmly, then pressed her palms down onto the cool marble counter. She paused to take another deep breath, then straightened up and shrugged out of her jacket. She tossed it aside and turned back to him. “You tell me.” She closed the distance between them once more. “You’re the one who invited me, after all.” Jude had known this was a bad idea the moment the idea had formed in his head and now she was so close again, her eyes offering a challenge that he had never been able to resist. His nostrils flared just slightly as he took in a long inhale. He had two options here. He could step away, offer to catch up on the past several years, and then call it an amicable night, or....or he could do what he’d always done, which was to let himself be pulled into her orbit where he had no hope of escape without a fiery crash. Smart choices had always been boring, anyway. Fingertips brushing over either shoulder, Jude tried to give Mari a lopsided, mischievous grin but the way his nerves had gone into overdrive at his hyperawareness of her and how close he was to her after all this time sharpened its edges. “And you’re the one who drove all the way here to see me,” he replied, leaning toward her, nose barely brushing against hers. “But now you’re here and I can’t for the life of me remember why I wasn’t supposed to ask you to come.” Shivers raced up Mari’s spine as they finally made physical contact. Even the gentle brush of his fingertips on her shoulders was enough to raise goosebumps on her skin. And as he leaned in to touch her nose, she had to make a determined effort not to close that last inch of space and kiss him until neither of them could breathe. Her heart rate was quicker than it should be and she closed her eyes to focus on her breathing. In and out. Not that it helped, of course. He had invaded every one of her senses. And if Mari was truly honest with herself, she’d admit that’s exactly why she was there. Jude Campbell had the ability to overtake the rest of the world. When she was with him, nothing else mattered. The pull between them was so powerful that everything else just faded into the background. It wasn’t healthy. It would just complicate everything. It would end up with both of them hurting each other. Neither of them would be happy come morning. She opened her mouth to tell him these things. To say it out loud just once more so they had that last chance to make the smart choice. But as her eyes fluttered back open and she locked eyes with him, the words got lost in her throat. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. Here we go again. This…this was what he had wanted. It was what he’d wanted when he’d challenged her to come here. It was what he’d wanted when they’d parted ways five years ago. It was what he’d wanted when he’d pretended he’d wanted it from other girls, and it was what he would always want. With unsurprising swiftness, Jude wrapped an arm around her back and lifted her up onto the kitchen counter, his hands immediately coming up to frame her face as he kissed her like he’d been saving five years of kisses for just this very moment. Mari’s mouth tasted like tequila and broken promises and, God, he loved every bit of it. It was a never-ending cycle and he’d proven to himself more than once that he never new when they would circle back to this. He was always so wholly unprepared for Mariela Rodriguez, but he didn’t think he had it in him to want or ask her to change any bit of her. There was nothing, nothing that was smart about this, and he knew with every fiber of his being that it was better for both of them to have never started this again. But when had Jude Campbell ever done what was best for himself? The two of them may have clashed mentally and emotionally more times than anyone could count, but Jude and Mariela had always seemed to move with a seamless grace physically. As Jude wrapped his arm around her, Mari didn’t hesitate to wrap her legs around him as he lifted her onto the counter. She used the leverage to pull him close and keep him there. They’d both had their chance to stop this. Multiple times. And neither of them had really tried. She was sure there would be regret and hurt later, but in this moment, she didn’t care about any of it. Addiction may have been a strong word, but it felt apt. As she slipped her hands under the hem of his shirt and ran fingertips along his bare stomach, Mari lost herself in the intensity and passion between them. Something she’d never come even close to recreating in any of her other relationships. “Where’s your room?” |