Title: "running on empty"
Author: monimala/Mala
Fandom: "Veronica Mars"
Rating/Classification: profanity, ficlet, Weevil/Other, W/V-implied, mostly gen.
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters.
Summary: Dreams are all he's got.
"You need to quit dreamin', 'Li," Maria tells him, flicking the last cigarette out of his pack without even asking. She slides her hand down into his pocket, bogarting his lighter, too. And he doesn't even bother riding her about it. He just folds his arms behind his head and keeps staring up at the sky. Better than looking at her. Her make-up is smeared and her mouth looks like it's been...exactly where it's been.
Quit dreamin'? Never. Fat chance. Dreams are all he's got to get him the fuck out of Neptune.
"You loco, you hear me?" She kicks him. Chipped toenails. The pink polish flakes off onto his jeans. Josefina does the girls' nails for five bucks a pop after church on Sundays. He knows because Maria's always hitting him up for it. Five bucks. Girl doesn't even have two nickels to rub together.
Or two brain cells.
"Yeah, I hear you. They hear you in San Diego, Sister." Maybe if he closes his eyes, she'll go away. Maybe if he closes his eyes, he won't be on this beach anymore...he'll be in Spain, taking abuela to Pamplona to see the bulls. All those hombres running and running...that's loco. Not him. Not this.
This is livin'.
Maria gets down in the sand, next to him. Her lips all close to his ear. She smells like smoke and cheap perfume and him. "You really think you can do better than me, chulo? Huh?" she asks him. "You too good for the barrio now that you had--"
"Callate. Shut the fuck up." She knows better...she knows better to even say the name.
He don't even know why he told her. One of those nights where he smoked too much weed and drank too much cheap shit beer and was just plain outta his head. She dragged him out to the beach and they got down and he called her...he called her...
"Mira, 'Ria...you tell *anyone*...and I swear to God I will kill you."
"You? Kill me?" She rolls away, onto her stomach. Laughing at his ass. "Maybe you boost my hubcaps, si? Steal my papi's wallet. But you no killer, 'Li."
Even abuela calls him 'Li.' Not 'Eli', not 'Weevil.' 'Cause he's lying to himself. 'Cause he won't quit thinking big.
He thinks if he can just run game in Neptune, he's got it made. He can save up enough cash and start over somewhere else. Somewhere where he's truth, not lies. Verdad...ver...
"Ver...on...ica..." Maria chants, dusting the sand off her legs, waving his last cigarette around like a magic wand. "There. I said it, Man. Veronica Mars. So, kill me, Stud. Break my fucking neck..."
It probably would be easy to break Maria's neck. She likes being choked. She likes the bruises. One good squeeze and, sure, she'd go. Easy. She wouldn't talk back. She wouldn't give him lip and ask him for just one more favor. A midnight ride to Tijuana. A visit to his uncle's chop shop. A distraction.
The sky is real black tonight. Not a single cloud up there.
"Pendejo," she spits, walking away. She tosses his lighter over her shoulder. It bounces off his chest. Her aim's getting better every day. "Call me when you wake up, 'Li."
Easy ain't his gig.
But he keeps Lilly's secrets. Still. Always.
And he calls out Veronica's name. Only where she can't hear it. Where she'll never hear it.
An hombre running and running...
Going nowhere.
--end--
April 19, 2005.