Veronica Mars (i_chase) wrote in we_coexist, @ 2011-02-13 19:48:00 |
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Entry tags: | logan echolls, veronica mars |
marshmallows and promises (logan)
Every morning, Veronica read the paper. Some mornings it happened later than others, but it always happened. She simply had to be informed to do her job. And this morning... this morning, when she got to the personals (a favorite with her and her Dad, and always entertaining or heartbreaking), Veronica had dropped her newly-purchased coffee on the pavement:
Former playboy turned one-woman man seeking that woman. She's tiny, blonde, sometimes annoying, stubborn, headstrong, too smart for her own good. Smells of marshmallows and promises. If you're here, please call ♥221166
After responding to the personal ad that she knew was directed at her, Veronica went over to the newspaper office, her heart thudding in her throat.
Logan.
Why was he here? Did he finally go completely insane and come after her? What had happened? Was everything okay? She couldn't believe that he'd come after her, even if he was a hopeless romantic. Veronica herself wasn't sure that love like that existed. It hadn't for her parents, so why should it for her?
When she got to the newsroom, Veronica pulled a press pass out of her bag. It didn't say the right newspaper name on it, but if no one looked to closely, it was viable. It was even for the right year.
Classifieds were on the fourth floor in the back. Veronica found the desk with 'PERSONALS' hanging over it and leaned on it. The 30-something guy sitting at the desk blinked at her.
"Hiya," she said, brightly. "I'm Vicki. I'm new. I'm over in obits, and they sent me over here to look for a form..." Veronica let her face go intentionally blank, snapping her fingers for the right word to come to her.
"The one for layout? Buncha words on it like pica and pixels?"
She nodded.
"Alright. I'll scare some up for you. We've been having a problem keeping enough of those around."
The guy got up and went off, leaving his desk unattended. Veronica sat down at his computer and started running through the programs on it. The 'ARCHIVE' folder was useful--it had the origins of all the personal ads for today's paper. She kept scrolling until she found what she was looking for: an address.
City Institute. Alright. She closed out the files and slid out of the seat just as the guy started to come back. Veronica smiled again and took the papers he offered her. "Well, I'll let you get back to it," she said. She walked away, dropping the forms off on the obit desk as she passed by it, and getting to the elevator as fast as possible.
Veronica Mars used to laugh at saps in movies that did things like hail cabs and run in order to get a few seconds with their beloved. This was why, as she hailed a cab frantically, she was laughing.
"City Institute. Fast."
"Lady, that place moves around a lot. Do you know where it is today?"
.... moves around a lot? Fuck. Veronica shook her head. "Do the best you can. It's important."
The cab driver sighed. "Alright."
He peeled away from the curb and turned the car in the direction he'd just come from. Five minutes went by. Ten. Twenty.
The cab finally stopped in front of what Veronica assumed was the college. It wasn't as big as Hearst, thankfully, but it was big. If Logan was here, she'd need to find where he was living. The registrar would know that. Veronica found the campus map, in the general center of the place, and then headed off to the registrar.
A little bell was on the desk. Veronica hit it three times before an older lady grabbed her hand to stop her.
"Hi. I'm looking for some information on a student."
"We don't just give that out to anyone, sweetie."
"Oh, I know. Y'see..." Veronica lowered her voice and leaned over the counter. "...I really have to find this guy. We went out for drinks, and one thing led to another, and it turns out I'm expecting."
"Oh, my!"
Veronica nodded. "I don't know anything about him really other than that he goes to school here. I was really hoping someone could at least point me in the right direction."
The woman clicked her tongue in disapproval, but she went to her computer. "What's his name?"
"Logan Echoes? Echolls! That's it!"
The woman typed it in. "According to this, he does live on campus, but if you want to catch him today, you should go over to the cafeteria. He's got work study hours today and should be there right now."
Veronica took a second to process that. Workstudy? Logan? She blinked a few times. "Thank you, I really appreciate it. I do. Just knowing I'm not alone in thi--"
She was legitimately choked up. It wasn't an act. Logan was here. Logan. Was. Here. The tears that were welling up were real.
"Never you mind, sweetie. I always thought a baby deserved both a mother and a father."
Once she was out the door, Veronica ran across the campus at full speed until she found the cafeteria.
It was pretty empty; lunch had come and gone. There were a few people chattering in the corner over sodas. The place looked a lot like the food court at Hearst, but with more windows.
And with Logan, in the back, in a shirt that said City Institute on it. With a broom and dustpan.
Veronica walked across the room as quietly as she could, stopping about ten feet behind him, heart thudding again, and crossing her arms over her chest. "Spanning years and continents. Lives ruined, bloodshed..." she let her voice trail off.