It's less than 15 minutes that Max is at Veronica's estate, speeding home for a quick change of clothes and a shot for the road. From what emotional shitshow she had just gone through, she was planning to get some kind of fucked up tonight. Veronica opens the door and it's almost picturesque, her long flowing robe and effortless makeup and hair looking like something straight out of Great Gatsby.
"Damn girl, you look good." She gives Veronica a quick hug.
"No, that's you." Veronica coos back, closing the door behind them.
"Smithers!" She calls, and her voice actually echoes off the grand architecture. The butler is quick to serve, a tray full of champagne in his hand. Max takes one, immediately throwing it back and setting it down on the tray. Veronica laughs.
"Rough day?"
Max nods. "The worst," She comments playfully, grabbing another and thanking Smithers as they made their way up the stairs.
"I am so excited for this. This is the best idea I have had in ages." Veronica laments, grabbing her drink from the dresser in the parlor and taking a hefty sip. "High school has been so dreadfully boring lately, I am going to die if we don't do something fun and unique for once."
Max places herself on the sofa comfortably, sprawling over the couch and letting her feet rest comfortably on the fabric.
"I literally have never agreed more in my life. I have officially decided I am getting fucked ass up tonight. School can be another problem." With that, she takes another sip, and smiles warmly at her friend.
"I brought out the guitar for Archie, since he hasn't really done any music for us lately and the boy loves to show off. Specially if girls are going to be here," Veronica mentions, waving her hand to the musical instrument in the corner. Max snorts.
"Good lord, Andrews is going to die when he sees. I feel like he hasn't gotten the opportunity to make girls swoon with his music in weeks." Max giggles at the thought.
The doorbell rings.
"Wow, how coincidental." Veronica smirks, before heading down to open the door for the ginger. Max lazily checks her phone, killing time while waiting for the pair to return.
One (1) New Message.
She opens her phone to find a text from Jughead staring her right in the face.
Glad you came by, thanks for help on the story. Green Book forever
She can't help but smile at the message, despite her brain telling her to 'stop it you idiot'. She pauses, thinking of what to reply.
"Let's get trashed!" She can hear Archie's voice as it creeps closer to her, and laughs at the sound.
green book is good, but your story is definitely better
She hits send before she can tell herself otherwise, and puts her phone down on the table, refusing to pick it back up again for the rest of the night. Archie and Veronica appear in the doorway with laughter, Archie carrying one glass in each hand.
"Woah tiger, that's a lot of champagne for a Thursday." Veronica is chastising him as they enter, and Archie playfully grins at her.
"I already got one down, you better keep up." Max chimes in, standing up and walking over to give Archie a hug. They both erupt into smiles, linking arms and both downing the glass.
It isn't long before Reggie and Josie arrive, along with a few other people that Max had recognized from their junior class. The night progressed, their cheeks getting rosier and their banter more embedded with laughter. Veronica has taken it upon herself to present Max to the people she had not gotten the chance to meet with the most grandiose introduction, and Max had, to her surprise, been immersed in various dialogue with her newly established friends.
She almost paid them as much attention as the bottle of Veuve on the table in front of her.
Almost.
As Max looks around the room, she takes in Archie lounging on the couch in the most Archie way possible, cheeks as flushed as his hair and chatting with two girls looking at him with doe-like eyes. Veronica was in a heated discussion with Josie over what they classified as the top artist of the year, and Reggie and a number of others were passionately chatting about the football stats for the year.
"I brought out the guitar for Archie, since he hasn't really done any music for us lately and the boy loves to show off. Specially if girls are going to be here," Veronica's voice rang in her head.
Max gets up, shifting her glass to the other hand and grabbing the guitar from its stand, heading to Archie. His eyebrows raise as he gets sight of Max, guitar in one hand, champagne in the other, grin on her face.
"You gonna play this or is it just gonna catch dust in the corner, Elvis?" She teases him, prompting Archie to grab the guitar out of her hand and matching her smile.
"If you insist, Max." He adjusts his positioning to begin to play, and Max can visibly see the thirst on the faces of the girls he was talking to before. She rolls her eyes, headed back to her seat with a smirk on her face.
"Arch is going to play everyone!" Veronica announces unnecessarily, and the room begins to quiet. Max relaxes comfortably in her seat, for once feeling calm and content in the life she led.
Too bad it was short lived.
Archie gets through about two songs before the door opens, and in walks none other than Betty and Jughead. The room greets them warmly, and Max feels some emotions she shoves deeper inside than her repressed anger towards her father. She puts on a smile and greets them, and it must be her fucking lucky day because the only open spot on the couch happen to be on the other side of her. It's luck sent from God that Veronica is in the grandiose blue velvet chair next to them and prevents Max from having to make small talk with the couple.
Max turns her body as far as she can without being impolite.
She's deep in a conversation about appetizers with Reggie when Betty calls out for the champagne bottle, which happens to be on the other side of the couch. It becomes a sort of train of exchange, each person passing it to the left so it could get to its intended target. A short blonde girl named Rose Max had met earlier passes it to Josie, who passes it to Kevin, who passes it to Reggie, who passes it to Max, and Max hands it to–
Oh.
She meets his eyes.
Jughead's eyes.
His hands are touching hers, and they just–freeze. He's not grabbing it from her, his hands are just resting on hers. And he's looking at her.
Why is he looking at her?
It's not like they were having a conversation, it's not like he is expecting an answer to something, is he? Sometimes her heart beats so loud she can't tell.
No, he doesn't look like he's expecting an answer to anything.
And suddenly she can read his face, she can read him all at once. The spark she felt when he touched her hands–it wasn't just her who could feel it.
He could too.
He was confused, he was surprised, he was looking at her and it felt like this was going on for an eternity. Her heart was beating, and her stomach did flips and this time she knew something was happening to him too.
He felt it too.
Her cheeks burned. She was the one who adjusted her hands, not because she wanted the moment to end, but she remembered her place. He fumbled for a second, and her gaze met the floor, feeling embarrassed. He turned to give Betty the champagne, and Max felt incredibly guilty.
She gave him another glance.
He was staring at his hands.
heres the tea–this story was started at the end of season 1, and a lot has happened since then. we both know that. i dont watch the show anymore, like i stopped after season 2 because it became garbage and i wanted to do better things with my life so lets just think of this as kind of like–an AU. where i invent a character i try to make the least annoying one as possible, the characters from the TV show are exponentially less complicated and dramatic and reasonable and nothing weird about magic or gangs or whatever shit is going to occur. im sorry if thats what you were looking for but like tbh i dont do drugs to come up with storylines and i try to keep things more concrete and manageable than the riverdale writing team lol.
any feedback or things you want to see though hmu in the comments or something because i have an outline for this story but i write as i go (hence the horribly sporadic updates) and maybe ill add it in! unless its about jingle jangle. or the gargoyle king. or whatever nonsense is going on in like season 4 or whatever they are airing nowadays
anyways peace