Thirteen
It was amazing how fast time apparently flew when you started adding sex to the relationship. No, really. Because between the new sex, the dates and the friends, it suddenly became the end of August. They were waiting for Joyce's knock on the door, signaling that Buffy had to go back to Sunnydale.
Wallace and Mac had given their well-wishes yesterday on the beach, and Keith had called from some Bumsville place to say goodbye. He'd be back home in four days. They wondered if he could tell by their voices that they'd been sexually active.
But that was just crazy. Crazy and paranoid. What was even crazier, was Dick Casablancas being right again--summers on Mars *were* hot.
"What're we moping for?" Buffy asked suddenly. "We're gonna see each other; we're gonna talk to each other."
"But the sex is gonna be next to nil," pouted Veronica. "Weird isn't it? Once you've had, you wonder how you ever went without."
"Guess it's like, if you don't know what you're missing, then it can't be missed," the slayer posited. "But since we *do* know..."
Looking at each other, they whimpered.
Veronica sucked it up. "Well, we had Bennigan's once."
Buffy threw a pillow at her girlfriend from her end of the couch. "Stop with the past tense!"
"See? Cynicism, right on schedule. It's been waiting to come up for air, and it knows you're leaving," Veronica groused. "Goes downhill from here. Oh, you'll pine, but pining turns to boredom so easily."
She didn't stop. "It's like the end of 'Titanic.' She says she'll never let go, but thirty seconds later? Leo's dead weight at the bottom of the Atlantic. Holding on and burying the poor bastard was the *least* she coulda..."
Buffy got on the floor and on her knees in front of her girlfriend. "I can't believe you're making me." She swallowed down her gag reflex, and went for it. "You had me at 'hello,' but you'll keep me at 'goodbye'."
They both cracked up.
"*'Jerry Maguire'*?" Veronica asked in horror, between laughs.
It was her turn to throw a pillow.
"It was short notice! I thought it was pretty good considering," said Buffy in her defense. "And he didn't say, Renee Zellweger did."
"That doesn't exactly win you many recovery points," Veronica had to say. "Renee Zellweger's like..." She couldn't think of it. "Well, the end of that simile has to be less than flattering. Bank on it."
"Ooh, got it." Buffy smacked the couch cushion in triumph. "Goonies never say die...and neither will we."
"Heart-tugging *and* nostalgic. Much better," Veronica smiled. "Just overlay some Lauper, and then stick a fork in it. 'Cause it'll be done."
Buffy sat beside her. "We're gonna be okay; there will be zero boredom. We just have to focus on carefulness, and staying rut-free. Remember, support system."
"And if you die, I shall be very put out." Veronica mined "The Princess Bride" for that one. "For true. So don't."
"You either."
They kissed as the knock came.
Buffy smiled. "Great summer, huh?"
"Great summer," concurred Veronica, though they were saying something else.
Leaving the couch, Buffy grabbed her duffel off the chair as Veronica answered the door. Joyce, and twelve-year-old Dawn were standing there.
"Hellos" were exchanged, and then the resident of the apartment said, "*Thank god*. Get her out of here. Passed my breaking point a week ago."
Buffy's tongue shot out at Veronica, and then Veronica's did the same.
"This place is totally worser than our house," Dawn said to her mother.
As Buffy passed Veronica to stand with her family, Veronica whispered to her, "She's cute as ever."
"You ready?" Joyce asked her elder daughter, taking the duffel.
"Just gotta do one more thing," said Buffy.
She went and hugged her girlfriend tight.
While embraced, Veronica spoke, "Thanks for running away."
"Thanks for being home."
Those lines were all original.
Veronica followed the Summers family outside, where Joyce said, "Oh, tell your dad I bought his book. Read it in one sitting."
His daughter smirked. "So it was either a page-turner, or..."
"Definitely," Joyce assured before hugging the girl herself. "Thanks for taking care of her. Bye, honey."
Then they separated.
"Bye, Mrs. Summers; bye, Dawn."
The girlfriends purposefully didn't say goodbye. They just smiled at one another, and then Veronica watched the females until they left the complex.
She could hear Dawn ask, "So you guys seriously kiss and stuff? Yuck."
Crap. She had to get to work. Unfortunately, life didn't wait for Veronica Mars to be ready--it just kept going.
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