Who: Logan Echolls, Leo D'Amato, Veronica Mars What: mini-golf that may or may not be a date Where: mini-golf When: Saturday, July 24th Warnings: just some juvenile ridiculousness Status: closed/G-Doc
Logan sipped on an iced coffee as he walked to the mini-golf course. His body language read far more relaxed than ...in quite some. Back home he hoped to clear his name, He arrived here and found Veronica freezing him out. But, since her honesty, the two of them reached an easy friendship. Sure, he missed her as a romantic partner, but he saw how happy Leo made her and that mattered most to Logan. Maybe a relationship like that might find its way into Logan’s life, but for now at least he had friendships.
He realized he arrived first, so he chose his coloured ball first; pink, because no way the other two would choose pink. Once the cashier rang through the three of them, Logan paid and waited for Veronica and Leo. When they entered he grinned. “Pick your ball colour.”
***
The whole telling Logan the truth thing had gone better than Leo had expected it to. So much better that Logan remained friends with him and Veronica. Leo was glad for that. He liked Logan, and knew he was important to Veronica so it was good that their friendship had withstood that whole mess.
Like Logan, they’d had to stop for coffee on the way. Still being summer, Leo got an iced mocha. He was in a good mood and kept trying to knock Veronica into the grass by walking into her. So he was grinning when they got to the miniature golf course.
At Logan’s suggestion Leo grabbed the green ball. “Mine!”
***
Now that Logan knew everything, Veronica felt like a huge weight was lifted from her shoulders. She wished she had told him sooner, not realizing that he thought her distance was because he thought he’d done something wrong. It was too late to change what happened though and she was happy to look forward. It seemed like the three of them would be able to be friends and Veronica was glad to have him as part of her life that way.
Idly, she wondered how serious he was about this being a date, but she kept those thoughts to herself. When she realized that the boys had taken her two favorite colors, she gave them a mock glare. “I guess I’ll go for blue,” she said. “Tonight’s theme can be blue balls.”
Yes, someone was feeling sassy.
***
Logan choked on his coffee and then needed a few seconds to clear his throat. “Good to know your sassiness didn’t change in your time here, V.” He mostly joked about this being a date, but if it actually turned into a date? Logan wouldn’t fucking complain. But mostly, these two friends of his were the most important people to him in this fucking town.
“Okay, so are we gonna place a wager on this game?” ***
This was a date? There was even a joke about this being a date? Leo knew nothing, and that was probably for the best or he’d overthink the whole thing.
“Uh, yeah.” He made that sound as if the word Duh should be in there somewhere. “How about, however many strokes over final par you are is how many shots you have to do later? That way, we’re all screwed.”
***
Veronica gave Leo major side eye for his suggestion. “Aren’t we too old for drinking games?” she asked. “Maybe we go something a bit tamer? Loser has to buy dinner next time?” Even now, she tried to be careful about her alcohol consumption, afraid of falling back into that dark hole again.
“I dunno. I’m open for other suggestions,” she said with a shrug.
*** Logan recognized someone attempting to remain sobre. And, while he thought Leo’s suggestion sounded fun, he didn’t want to cause problems.
“Um. Wait. Middle ground. I don’t feel like dying of alcohol poisoning and dinner is a bit lame. No offence V,” he added with an apologetic look. Then his grin grew. “Winner gets a favour from both losers. The caveats are it can’t cause harm to anyone, and has to happen this week. Maybe V doesn’t want to file paperwork this week for example.” If his friends had a better idea, he felt game for it, but so far they both struck out with good ideas.
***
Leo grinned in the face of Veronica’s askance glare. He felt she was doing just fine with her alcohol intake, or he never would have suggested it. Besides, he liked pushing her buttons sometimes.
“And a favor isn’t as lame as dinner?” He gave them both a look that said he thought they had lost all the fun in life. “How about, loser is the winner’s personal Uber for a day?”
***
“How is personal Uber not lame?” Veronica said, rolling her eyes at him. “All right. I got it. Truth or Dare. Every stroke over par is either one question you have to answer or one dare you have to complete.”
She was well aware that could be a minefield for the three of them, but what was life without a little danger.
***
“Deal. Truth or Dare it is.” Logan noticed the employee roll her eyes and he grinned. “Now, shall we go and regret our decision making skills?”
After the first hole, Logan groaned. He definitely went over par first. He blamed Leo’s ball for getting in-between his and the hole.
***
“Aren’t we a little old for Truth or Dare?” Leo mimicked Veronica’s voice but made sure he was out of reach.
And so it began. Leo was looking to be below par...until Logan’s ball hit his out of the way. He gave the other bro a look of Gee Thanks. “Cheater.”
***
Truth or Dare was not the most mature thing, but then again, was placing a wager on mini golf in general a mature thing? Probably not. At the end of the day, Veronica didn’t care as much about being mature as she did about having some fun. The past eighteen months had been brutal for her in so many ways and while there had been some bright spots here and there, largely thanks to Leo, this sort of carefree playfulness was something that had been seriously lacking.
She chuckled as she watched the boys bicker and then grinned when she scored exactly par on the first hole. “Oh, this is going to be so much fun,” she said.
***
“Says the person who somehow managed to get his ball between mine and the hole.” Not the most mature response, but Logan’s voice showed he joked. “Good job V. I guess you get to ask truth or dare first.” Logan’s ball went in the hole, but two over par. Honestly, he felt happy this wouldn’t end in copious amounts of alcohol. Although, he regretted not grabbing a drink. Ah well.
***
Leo followed by sinking his ball next, leaving him one over par. It would have been on par if Logan hadn’t bumped his ball off. But this could prove to be fun so he wasn’t taking the game overly serious.
“Kinda feel like if all of us get a hole in one we should play spin the bottle.” Because that sort of shenanigans was right in keeping with the theme of the night.
***
Veronica pulled out her phone so she could keep track of their scores. Well, how many over par they went. The actual scores didn’t matter nearly as much as their bet. At Leo’s suggestion, she gave him a puzzled look. “Hey, if you two wanna make out, you don’t need to play spin the bottle. I won’t stop you.” There was a light, playful tone in her voice though she wasn’t necessarily completely joking.
It was time to move on to the next hole and she found herself glad there wasn’t a huge crowd here tonight so if they lingered a bit, they wouldn’t be holding up another group.
*** Logan gave Veronica a look and shook his head. “I don’t want to make out with anyone at a mini-golf course. That just asks for me to not be allowed back here. Maybe later,” he mostly joked. At this point, Logan really didn’t know where the joke started and ended.
The next hole he scored a hole-in-one, which made him grin. “Well, at least I sucked less at this hole.” He patiently waited for his two friends to give this hole a try.
***
“I haven’t cleared it with Sherlock, but maybe I should?” Leo thought they were all still joking because at times Leo could be extremely clueless. At least he had come to laugh at that time the dome put him and Sherlock together.
“That’s what she said.” Leo couldn’t let that go! Someone had to say it! He hit the ball, it hit a wall, then a rock, and came right back to the beginning.
***
“Yes, I suppose your boyfriend might have something to say about you making out with another man,” Veronica agreed. She wasn’t sure if Logan knew about that whole thing, but if he asked, she would be more than happy to show him the video she made.
She rolled her eyes and slugged Leo’s shoulder at his sophomoric joke. Apparently they had all reverted about a dozen or so years this evening. It was kind of nice though, considering how much tension there had been before Logan knew the truth about the future. “Looks like we’re going to have to come up with some good questions or dares for him,” she said to Logan.
*** “Hold up. Tell me more about Leo and Sherlock. I missed something.” As far as Logan knew, Sherlock was with the Gina look alike who he avoided. Once he haw where Leo’s ball ended up he snorted. “Well played, dude.”
At Veronica’s mention of truths or dares he gave her a look of innocence. “What makes you think I could...aww forget it. I can’t even pretend with a straight face.” This joking felt amazing to Logan. He missed this banter with Veronica, and Leo added a much needed dimension. “Leo, you know you are supposed to hit it towards the hole and not back at you, right?” ***
“There’s video I’m sure Veronica will be happy to share.” Sherlock was the one that was mortified by the whole thing. He also knew that Veronica had made at least seventeen copies of that video just in case he or Sherlock ever got their hands on one.
Leo stepped up to try this hitting the ball thing again. “The gravitational pull abruptly and temporarily shifted. This game cheats.” He at least got it on the green this time.
***
Before Leo even mentioned the video, Veronica was pulling up one of her many copies so she could show Logan. The swell of “I Will Always Love You” filled the air as her video played and Veronica giggled like a middle school girl talking to her crush. This was one of the dome shenanigans that would never, ever get old. At least not for her. Leo and Sherlock probably felt otherwise. Especially Sherlock.
“Sure, yeah, blame gravity instead of your own failures,” she teased her boyfriend once the video finished playing.
*** Logan watched the movie and knew, without a doubt, he hadn’t laughed this hard since his arrival. His giggles subsided, and then erupted again. “Okay. Okay.” After a couple deep breaths, he gained control of himself again. “Let me guess. Dome influence?”
Because he really couldn’t fathom another reason for this video’s existence. Once Leo hit the ball, Logan clapped for his friend.
***
“Definitely dome influence,” Leo answered with his typical puppy dog grin. “Sherlock normally only has eyes for Veronica. I’ve tried to get him to cheat on her repeatedly. It took the universe shaking things up to make him finally see what a fine specimen I am.”
He took a bow for the applause.
***
Veronica laughed. They all clearly needed this completely ridiculous night out after everything they’d been through. “It’s true,” she told Logan. “Sherlock is my soulmate. We got matched at speed dating and everything. Alas, our love is not meant to be.”
With a deep sigh of faux regret, she stepped up to take her next turn and ended up two over par. Apparently her good luck had run out.
*** “At least he finally gave you a chance, Leo.” Logan didn’t bother hiding his grin. “I’m sorry I missed this.” He felt so much lighter than when he first arrived.
After the rest of the holes, Logan’s score could best be surmised as ‘hole-in-one’ or ‘three over par’. “Next time I need to try using the orange ball. See if I have better luck that way.”
***
Leo’s luck went straight downhill after that. He seemed to hit every obstacle there was, including some that weren’t meant to be obstacles like people standing nearby. By the end of the game, he was so far over par he stopped counting.
“Ok, ok,” he said with a genial smile on his face. “Whatever you guys are going to do to me defines how many drinks I’m going to need later so hit me.”
***
Even though she’d won the game, Veronica was enough over par overall that she wasn’t getting out of this truth or dare game unscathed. “Well, I think maybe we should save that for another night,” she said. “Cause right now? I want some ice cream.”
She looked between them, waiting to see their responses.
*** “Ice cream? Yes please. Truth or Dare can happen later. I want a milkshake or ice cream in the meantime. Should we do pizza and Truth or Dare sometime soon?” Logan felt no need to rush into the game right now. Not when he wanted to cool down and eat some food.
***
“I’ll spring for ice cream since I lost and yes,” he skewered Veronica with an amused stare, “I know that doesn’t get me out of the Truth or Dare thing.” She really was tenacious about things sometimes.