'What a week,' Max thought, doing up the last button on the silk blouse Courtney had tossed over the door of the changing room. 'If someone had told me two weeks ago that I'd be trying on clothes with Courtney Wagner…'
Shaking her head gently to refocus on the present, Max adjusted the collar and stepped out of the stall, carefully watching for Courtney's initial expression. She'd learned over the past few hours that Courtney found it hard to criticize, instead trying to find the positive in every outfit. While endearing, this was not incredibly helpful, but fortunately, Courtney had a lousy poker face and her first reaction told the entire story about each outfit. Based on that, she had a winner.
"Oh Max," Courtney enthused, "you look great in that!"
Max moved to stand in the mirrored alcove, turning this way and that to see this latest ensemble from every angle. Max had resisted Courtney's initial attempts to dress her in short skirts or long sundresses, just because she'd never really felt comfortable in such outfits. After some good-natured grumbling, Courtney had come up with this alternative: a green silk blouse with white lace trim at the collar and at the end of the sleeves along with a burgundy pair of slacks.
With great reluctance, Max had to agree. She did indeed look fantastic, almost like a different person. 'I wonder if this is what that person from the different world dressed like,' Max considered. Even now, trying as hard as she could to be strong and confident, to live up to the promises that she and Kate had made to each other this week, her first instinct was to get out of these clothes as quickly as possible and hide back inside her logo T-shirt and grey hoodie. She typically dressed as she lived, camouflaged to hide in plain sight.
"We should get you a light white cardigan to throw over it," Courtney suggested. "It might be chilly the night of the party and that blouse is a bit sheer."
Max blushed, realizing what Courtney was implying, and quickly glanced down to see if the cold air had caused any interesting parts of her anatomy to stand at attention. Courtney giggled and whispered, "You're good, silly, but that does remind me that we need to get you some new lingerie. You can't wear granny panties or a Target bra under that."
"'New' implies that there is old," Max joked, trying to fight back the urge to flee from the embarrassment of discussing her underwear with a member of the Vortex Club. "Besides, I doubt it matters what I'm wearing underneath."
"You never know," Courtney replied in a teasing sing-song, "maybe you'll get lucky. You never know who you might meet at a Vortex Club party."
Max looked up, making eye contact in the mirror with the girl behind her. "Um, I think we both know who I'm going to meet at the party. It's not like you didn't make a list of names or anything."
"Yeah, but maybe there will be a certain special someone who might sweep you off your feet," Courtney continued, her voice laden with innuendo of the elementary school variety. "Maybe some secret admirer perhaps?"
Max rolled her eyes and turned to face Courtney, a quizzical half-smile on her lips. "Courtney, you do remember that we spent most of the morning talking specifically about Victoria and me, right? Remember? Kate filled me in last night and then we talked at breakfast... Taylor made a huge deal about having me admit, that yes, I do indeed have a crush on Victoria Chase, something for which I will extract vengeance someday by the way, on both her and Kate, that scheming little minx. Remember how Taylor explicitly told you to find something today that would… let me see if I can get the quote right… 'drench V's panties' and how Kate almost spilled her tea in her lap? Remember how I proceeded to punch Taylor repeatedly until you pulled me away? Any of this ringing a bell?"
Courtney huffed and pouted. "You're really no fun at all. I bet Taylor is having all sorts of fun teasing Victoria."
-xxx-
"I'm not going to apologize, V," Taylor insisted, crossing her arms defiantly. "I'm your best friend and that means I have to look out for you, even… no, especially when you're the problem!"
Victoria glared at her. "So, what I understand you to be saying is that, if… no, when I figure out your secret crush, I am obligated as your best friend to plot and scheme to help make that happen." Victoria smiled suddenly and the gleam in her eye gave Taylor a foreboding shiver.
After being peremptorily summoned via text, Taylor had come down to Victoria's room uncertain of what to expect. As astute as ever at reading a situation, she had been relieved to deduce immediately that Kate and Victoria had sorted things out. She noted the telltale tracks of tears on the cheeks of both girls, the hesitant smiles and waves as Kate had excused herself and the obvious change in Victoria's posture and bearing. For the first time in a long time, Victoria really looked like Victoria. What Taylor had been less prepared for was Victoria being Victoria.
"I don't have a secret crush," Taylor insisted. As she said the words, she felt a strange lurch in her belly, the kind she got when she told a lie, though she hadn't thought she'd been lying. The confusion this generated flashed like a beacon to Victoria's malicious delight.
"Oh really? Seriously, T, you never could lie to me. I will find out and when I do, I will extract my revenge."
"Revenge for what? For helping you get laid?" Taylor snickered. The blush this caused made her laugh all the more.
Victoria coughed lightly to cover her loss for words. "That's a bit ahead of ourselves, isn't it? Just because you got me to admit…"
"That you have a huge lady boner for Max Caulfield," Taylor filled in helpfully.
Victoria glared again, but the slightest shy little smile at the corners of her lips gave her away. "… that I may have a romantic interest in Maxine…"
"Not quite the way I put it, but, do continue."
Victoria plowed forward. "Just because I like her, doesn't mean she likes me, or that we are…"
"I thought we were past that," Taylor said. "You like her, she likes you, you guys will make a disgustingly cute couple, what's the problem?" Taylor noticed Victoria staring at her, eyes wide.
"What the fucking fuck do you mean she likes me?"
Noting the confusion and disbelief on her friend's face, Taylor stepped forward and took Victoria's hands in her own. "Sweetie, I thought Kate told you."
"She said I should talk to Max, but I assumed that meant I should apologize to her for how nasty I always am," Victoria said in clipped tones, still trying to wrap her brain around this new information.
"Well, yeah, that's not a bad idea, too, but no, honey, no, I wouldn't have done all this if I hadn't thought she liked you too. I'm not that mean."
"I am," Victoria replied automatically.
"No, you're not," Taylor objected. "Not any more, right?"
"I don't know," Victoria admitted. "I don't want to be that person any more, not after seeing what it could lead to. I don't want to end up like Nathan."
"You're nothing like him, V," Taylor insisted, squeezing Victoria's hands. "He's not well, we all knew that. He needs help and maybe now he can get it, now that his fucking parents can't just ignore everything. But you're not him. Sure, you could be a…"
"A total bitch?"
Taylor paused, but couldn't disagree. "Yeah, I suppose, but it's not like the rest of us didn't do our parts. I certainly never stopped you. I guess… I just… I'm tired of being a mean girl, V, and I think you are too."
Victoria sighed heavily and lowered her gaze. "I am," she agreed. "But… how could Max like me? I've been such a shit to her."
"Maybe she gets off on it?" Taylor joked, yelping as Victoria kicked her suddenly. "Kidding! Kidding! Seriously, though, you're a total catch, babe! Smoking hot, super smart, dressed to kill, what's not to love? Maybe she saw through your BS to the sweetie underneath. She's pretty sharp."
Victoria flushed at the praise but did not look convinced.
"Why do you like her, V?" Taylor asked.
"She's so fucking hot!" Victoria groaned. "With those fucking freckles and that hair. And you've seen her photos, right? With that Polaroid? Imagine what she could do with some real equipment." She paused, and her voice grew quieter. "She's everything I'm not, T. She's sweet and kind and she doesn't care what anyone thinks. She just lives her life the way she wants to."
"She cares what you think, I bet," Taylor teased. "I bet right now she's trying to find the perfect outfit to drive you nuts at the party." She ignored Victoria's disbelieving snort and pressed on, enjoying how easy it had become to turn her best friend pink. "Imagine it, V, maybe in that vintage clothing shop Court loves so much, you know, with those little changing rooms and the mirrors… shrugging off her hoodie, and pulling her T-shirt up over her head…"
"Get out!" Victoria shouted, as red as Taylor had ever seen her. The blond girl shoved her friend playfully towards the door. "Just you wait, T… one day… "
"'Try it without the bra, Max,' Courtney says. 'Ok, if you think so,' she says in that shy little way, as she reaches behind herself…"
"Out! Now!" More blushing, more pushing.
With a triumphant laugh, Taylor flounced out of Victoria's room. Who knew it would be this much fun teasing Victoria!
"Oh, and hey, T?" Victoria called from the doorway. Taylor turned, amazed at the uncharacteristically soft expression on her friend's face. "I'm sorry, about last night," Victoria said quietly.
"I know, V, me too."
-xxx-
Victoria spent the rest of the afternoon recovering from the onslaught that was Taylor Christensen. She'd had quite a week. 'If someone had told me two weeks ago that Max Caulfield had a crush on me…' she considered. Truthfully, she didn't know what she'd have done. 'Probably destroyed whoever told me that,' she admitted to herself. That Victoria seemed like a different person, given all that had transpired. Taylor was right, she did not want to be a mean girl any more. She'd learned all too well where that path led. She'd seen true evil in what that scumbag Jefferson had done and real tragedy in what had happened to the Price girl, to Nathan, even to Rachel.
The last hurt her to admit. She hated Rachel Amber so much. Victoria marveled again at the strength of character Kate Marsh must have to forgive what she'd done to her. How much less a sin to reject an unwanted advance, albeit poorly, and yet Victoria had never been able to forgive it. She'd carried the humiliation of that rejection for so long; only now did she realize that it no longer mattered. Rachel was dead, cruelly abused and murdered, far beyond any retribution Victoria could ever have wished upon her. The weight of perspective crushed the thin walls of angst and drama she'd constructed inside herself. But what was left?
'I like Maxine and she likes me.' Victoria started with this basic premise. Taylor had told her this, but she'd read the same message in the things Kate had been unwilling to say. Victoria noted the differences between the two girls, smiling to herself. For so long, Taylor had spent her days in a fog, worried about her mom's illness, unable to be her typically vivacious self. It felt nice to see the old Taylor re-emerging. 'The old Taylor and the new Victoria,' she mused, "an unstoppable duo!' She felt a twinge of guilt and realized she'd left out poor Courtney. 'I hope you never change, Courtney,' she thought. 'The old Taylor, the new Victoria, and the normal Courtney, an unstoppable trio!'
This too though felt incomplete. Victoria recalled her comment to Kate about friend groups merging and realized that it wasn't happening. It had already happened. Kate and Max and Courtney and Taylor, sitting together at breakfast, had looked like they'd been friends for years. Was that just this morning? 'Long day,' she realized. Unlike what she'd thought then, though, Victoria now realized there was a place for her in that group, too. She wasn't the only person changing because of recent events. Kate and Max had also decided to change for the better. What had Kate said? Something about trying to be more confident and make new friends. So much change in the air, but maybe that's just what Blackwell needed, a strong wind to blow away the old stale air of the place.
'Like a vortex,' she considered, smiling. Of course, Kate and Max would have to join the Vortex Club. It only took a few moments for Victoria to devise a scheme to convince Hayden and the others. They'd take direction and do what they were told. The Vortex Club needed new blood anyway, to restore its justly damaged reputation. That would sell the reluctant, if nothing else. Then, she and Max could both spend the party in the VIP section, doing the things that went on in the VIP section….
Nope. She stopped her train of thought from heading out towards that particular station. First things first, she liked Max and Max liked her. Now what? She knew she still had to apologize to Max, but that didn't seem like the best way to start a relationship. New Victoria and all, she remained Victoria Chase. It would not do to crawl on hands and knees to Max, begging pathetically. Images swirled in her mind and Victoria shifted her thighs uncomfortably as new trains threatened to rush off to very interesting stations indeed. No! Focus!
Victoria Chase did not pursue. Others pursued her! Max probably knew by now that Victoria liked her. Given Taylor's involvement, that seemed certain. That did not mean, however, that she could assume anything. If Max Caulfield wanted to be Victoria Chase's girlfriend, she'd have to work for it!
-xxx-
As they arrived safely back on campus, armed with shopping bags, Courtney nudged Max with her shoulder. "So, what's the plan, Max?"
"Plan?"
"You know, with V? Are you going to go straight to her room, knock on the door, and sweep her off her feet when she opens it?" Courtney sighed, lost in the fantasy.
"Not really my style, Courtney," Max mumbled, embarrassed at how attractive that plan sounded. "I mean, it's Victoria we're talking about."
"But T texted and said that all is good with her and V and Kate," Courtney complained.
"I know, but… "
"But what? You like her, she likes you, what's the problem?"
"It's not that easy, Courtney," Max insisted. "I mean, I've never even… you know…" Looking over at the confused expression, she realized that Courtney in all likelihood did not, in fact, know. "I've never even kissed a girl. Or been on a real date. I have no idea how to even bring it up."
"Oooo, you should totally invite her to the party!" Courtney advised.
"Isn't she already going to the party?"
"Well, yes, but not with you! Not yet, anyway. That's why you ask her."
"Wouldn't it be better for her to ask me?" Max suggested. Not only did that seem much easier, since she couldn't wait to say yes to Victoria, but also much more in line with how Victoria typically operated. "Victoria likes to be in control of situations, right?"
Courtney gave this some thought. "Maybe you're right. I'm sure she'll ask you right away!"
"Do you think?" Max asked dreamily, imagining the moment.
"I know it!" Courtney declared.