Disclaimer: Anything familiar to you, I don't own. This is a work of fanfiction for personal amusement, fulfillment and a bit of self-therapy. I make nothing from any of it.
Chapter Forty-One: Maenads in Ecstasy
October 15th, 2011 6:12 PM
As far as Rachel was concerned this was going to be a night they deserved. Whether it was the stress which was slowly starting to build in Chloe and Rachel as they neared closer and closer to the day of the play, the air of tension in the school in the wake of a more politicized discourse between the students (something which Chloe was participating in with little regret) or Max's discomfort at the approach of winter and thus, winter break, things had not been exactly rosey over the last few days. Rachel, who was beginning to feel like the pressure was just a little more than she could handle (especially with her mind on other things) had finally taken Hayden up on his offer of attending a Vortex Club party.
While Chloe had been dubious enough about coming for the first couple of days after Rachel proposed it, it was Max who had been the real obstacle. Rachel had promised Hayden that without both of them by her side she wouldn't be attending the Halloween party, whose theme this year was 'A Digital Hell.' Max had immediately been made uncomfortable by Rachel's suggestion that they come and it had taken her some time to get a confession out of Max as to why. Max had explained that she still had knowledge of the events of another timeline and in that timeline, a halloween party marked the day that that Max discovered that world's Rachel's body and was then forced to watch her Chloe die, again before being kidnapped. While Rachel could understand the less than pleasant associations such an event might leave one with Halloween parties, Rachel had tried to convince her to tell them more about the dark room but was met with a 'when I am ready, I promise.' On the subject of the party though, it took the better part of a day for the three of them to reason out why she did not want to go:
Nathan factored into it more than Max had wanted to admit and Victoria, who despite Max's attempts to make friends with her, remained distant towards her, if less hostile. Once Max had laid out her reasoning, there was only one conclusion the photographer could come to: she had to go, or both of them won. Nathan, especially, could not be allowed to win. For the most part, his attitude remained stable: he had not exploded on anyone and any incidents of raging out were usually no more than a grumble. In fact, for reasons Rachel could not understand, the boy had approached her once in what was the most uncomfortable moment of her life. He had looked like he wanted to say any number of things, but after thirty seconds of them standing about seven feet apart, the boy had left.
Now Max stood at her side, no more relaxed than Chloe (who was looking as if her interest in the party was waning) but less dubious and more determined. Rachel thought that maybe a year ago she would have sighed at their antics: Chloe either had some prejudices to deal with or more class-based awkwardness to fight and Max was acting as if a party was some sort of chore to be completed. This was not a year ago and Rachel understood both of their attitudes a lot more. Not to mention, a year ago, Nathan had not yet gone full-on creepmonster.
Rachel shot a look to the girls and then turned to the hall. For the most part, what she saw was what they all saw every day upon first stepping into the school building: posters, trophy cases, the faint glow of the vending machines in the distance. The difference was that the whole building was dim, there was not a security guard in sight and the series of tacky, alternating black and orange streamers lead the way to a gymnasium which was currently blaring some sort of techno. Until she got closer the specifics were going to be lost on her.
"No David, no security at all," Chloe said, laughing bitterly. "I don't know who pays Wells how much to look the other way like this, but I'm impressed." The bluenette took a look around the hall. For the most part they were alone and Rachel was about to nudge one of the two forward before the doors opened behind them, forcing Chloe to step out of the way anyway, as the three turned to see who was arriving later than they were. Rachel reminded herself that Max had not spoken in about five minutes as she matched eyes with the boy coming in from outside.
"Hey, you guys made it," Hayden said by way of greeting as he shifted his shoulders beneath his jacket and let the door to the school shut behind him. "I'm glad you guys came," he added, raising a hand to catch Rachel's proffered high five and then glancing once at Max, who Rachel thought was watching him as if she could not quite decide what to say to the boy. This is gonna be a long night unless I can get these two to loosen up. "Chloe, come find me in twenty minutes or something if you want a toke. I had to go over to Edgeton to get my hands on some grass since Frank fucked off a couple weeks ago, but it's supposed to be some decent shit." The first crack in Chloe's wall was visible as the girl grinned at the promise of smoke. Is she out, or something?
"I hear that," Chloe said by way of agreement.
"I'd be down for a smoke," Max said, quite suddenly and then patted her front right pocket as if to suggest she was earned an appreciative nod from Hayden, who gestured toward the gymnasium.
"Fuckin' hippie," Rachel sighed, tossing one arm around Max's shoulders and the other around Chloe's. A hallway over, the bass dropped. As they approached, she shot Chloe a look. Despite the fact that this music was not Chloe's thing she looked to be in a better mood at the promise of a smoke. Rachel could dig the tunes but it was more about whether she could convince either of the girls at her side that they wanted to dance. I have a couple of ideas about that, Rachel mused and dropped her arms to her side so that she could grab Max by the hand and pull her toward the gym a little farther.
"Why are you late, Mr. Vortex Club?" Chloe asked the boy, falling a step or two behind Rachel and Max, whose 'game face' had not yet been replaced by what Rachel hoped would become a sign that she was enjoying herself.
"I had to make the supply run, of course," he replied. "Didn't I just say I was up in Edgeton or did I forget? I'm a little fucked up."
"You're fine," Chloe replied, chuckling. Rachel glanced back at her. While Max had not made any particular attempt to look like she was going to a party, this time Chloe had. Or, more precisely, she had cooperated with Rachel's antics. She rather thought, as she examined Chloe from a step or two ahead of her, that it had been a successful experiment. Chloe's paler blue eyes popped pretty well with her usual eyeliner and a bit of eyeshadow, but the thin dusting of silver body glitter across the contour of her cheeks gave her a slightly otherworldly look in the low light. Rachel rather hoped Chloe would get a look at herself in the mirror and maybe have the good graces to say, 'damn, good job.'
The streamers were set in a continuous line from the front doors all the way to the gymnasium and, by the looks of things did not extend anywhere else inside of the school. She wasn't entirely sure what to make of this last detail until she and Max stepped into the gym and were exposed to the sheer size of the crowd inside. Buried under the sound of blaring music and thumping bass, the dull roar of a crowd of people far too large to be students from Blackwell Academy alone hit her. The figures in the dim gymnasium, moving beneath the expensive looking lighting system were so numerous that they must have included among their number other teenagers from Arcadia Bay and surrounding cities like Edgeton or Bruss.
The gym was packed. Okay, yeah, there's some fun to be had here, Rachel told herself as she surveyed the crowd. It was when she felt Max press a little more tightly to her side and Chloe stepped up close behind them that Rachel came back to herself. While she had been gaping, Max had taken one look at the room and was now, she saw in flashes of light between darkness, once again looking as if a dignified and orderly retreat was the only thing on her mind. Chloe, on the other hand, looked more at ease and open to the party as she nudged them both forward. Hayden was not behind them when Rachel looked back but he was not her date, and thus for the moment, not her problem.
They only made it about five or six steps before one of Max's reasons became visible to them. Whatever mix was being played came to an end in time for Rachel to hear Victoria Chase five or six steps away from them. She was sitting, when Rachel looked, on a stack of old gym mats, her feet hanging a few inches above the ground. Flanked on either side by the usual suspects, Courtney and Taylor, the girl had spotted them and was taking full advantage of the momentary lull in the music to make sure they knew it.
"Oh look who stopped crying in her room long enough to come and walk among us." Rachel made to take a step toward the mats and give Victoria a piece of her mind but Chloe's arms closed around her shoulders from behind.
"No," Chloe said, still needing to speak at a comfortable level to be heard over the crowd, to be heard over the voice of whoever was emceeing. Max did not seem to notice Chloe's advice. We barely got inside and she's already starting on Max, Rachel wanted to grumble. Max, for what it was worth, broke free from Rachel and crossed the distance between them. In the rest of the gym, something agreeable must have been said, because an appreciative cheer went up. The heir to the Chase legacy sat up a little straighter as Max approached, picking at the hem of her top as if she better wanted to show off what no doubt cost more than most of Rachel's wardrobe. It's always about trying to impress people, isn't it, Victoria?
"We could be friends, Victoria," Max said, barely audible from where Rachel stood. "We really should be. I think, in general, you're awesome. You just need to ask yourself if there's really any reason to be a massive dick to people." Victoria glanced at Taylor, who rolled her eyes. While Rachel watched, Victoria rolled hers back. You've got her trained well, Chase. Rachel smirked at Max's back, because she knew that, all in all, this exchange between the girls was bullshit. Max had told her enough about both of those girls to be sure this was no natural reaction, just Victoria needing validation. "There is no one here that is worth knowing that you have to impress, Victoria. You're naturally talented, attractive and people want to like you. You don't have to be this way."
"Are you hitting on me? B-Because-" the remainder of her response was cut off by the start of another song and that was Rachel's cue to shrug Chloe's grasp off, as much as she quite enjoyed the artist holding her closely. Taking hold of Max's shoulder, Rachel winked in Victoria's direction before the lights went down. Max was content to be led away by Chloe and Rachel after that and, try as she might to put the moment behind her, Rachel couldn't help but wonder at the small smile on Max's face. Maybe this was a confrontation that Max had been working up to for a while or maybe the look on Victoria's face when the music cut her off in the middle of her no doubt scathing retort about her own sexuality was gratifying. It certainly had been for Rachel.
Deprived of what was likely to be some shot about Max trying to recruit her to Rachel's 'harem', the three found their way into the crowd. The girl does like to flatter herself about me wanting a piece of her. It took a bit of focus for the three of them to actually stay together as they found some small enough hole in the crowd for them to be near one another and still firmly engulfed by the bodies around them. Around them, people who Rachel did not recognize moved to the music, some of them looking more graceful than others, far more doing very little more than moving against one another. The actual dancing portion of the night was going to be something of a difficulty, Rachel thought as she turned, laughing to Max and Chloe, the latter of which was jostled to the side by a stranger's elbow.
While Chloe spent a fair amount of the next few minutes actively pretending not to enjoy herself, she did help Rachel in getting Max to finally loosen up. It took only a few seconds for Rachel to remember that, strictly speaking, Max could not particularly dance. The good news was that the majority of the warm, heaving mass of people around them, spread throughout the balmy gymnasium, was the same. Rachel gave up caring about any of that as she felt Chloe once again wrap her arms around her shoulders from behind and, pulling Max until they were face to face, she did something very similar herself.
As well as it could be called dancing, they danced. Chloe let go of whatever music snobbery she was guilty of harboring deep in her heart, Max's face went from tense to distracted by the music, by their closeness, by the complete lack of stress and finally to some sort of enjoyment that Rachel wasn't entirely sure she'd ever seen the girl wear. If she had had to pick a word for it, she would have chosen 'bliss.' At one point, not long after they found themselves buried, just one more puzzle piece in the crowd, Rachel let her eyes close as they moved. She felt Max's lips on her chin and at one point Chloe's on her neck. It was more than pleasant, it was a new kind of closeness that she craved so deep within herself that she thought it might be evidence of a soul. When she opened her eyes again, it was like another Blackwell Academy, another world.
As she felt Chloe move past her, Rachel broke away from Max to let the two of them connect, taking up a position behind Chloe, to continue dancing, to continue being tuned into that new Blackwell. This world was made up in the specific of Max's smile and Chloe's wide, enthused eyes and in the general, on the peripheries, walls of arms and legs, faces she did not want to focus on, people who lived their own lives in their own worlds. Later she would think that the school and gymnasium had not mattered, that they had simply been branches of Yggdrasil which held in its boughs a hundred mortal worlds populated by fantastic creatures, cloaked in deserts of suffering, fields dotted with desire like flowers, rivers of effort and oceans of hope.
Eventually, she found thirst enough to distract her from her own fields, her own oceans and made to break from Chloe and Max to track down precisely where these red solo cups full of beer she occasionally spotted in the crowd were coming from. It all smacked of a keg somewhere in the old, pale off-yellow gymnasium. She expected them to stay there, wrapped around one another as the music played. (Rachel had decided long since that she was bad at trying to guess a specific subgenre of what she labeled 'techno'.) Yet as soon as she tried to pull away from Max, the brunette turned and caught hold of her hand, looking at her questioningly. She did not want to leave, the little shit. Rachel grinned and tried to free her hand, to let both of the girls who were now watching her know they could remain there if they wanted and she would find them when she could.
Instead, Max held tight to her hand and, slipping beneath Chloe's arms, took the artist by the hand with her left. The message in either girls' face was clear: they were coming with her and that was fine by her. This place is so hot, she thought, using her free hand to wipe sweat from her forehead. She caught the sheen of sweat displayed across both of their faces before she turned and began to shoulder her way through the mass of people around them. She was sure as she bumped past this person or sidestepped that one, that it had not taken them this long or this much effort to get into the crowd. It had grown since they arrived. Rachel was pleased to realize she had absolutely zero concept of how long ago that had been or even how many songs had passed. Frequently one ran into the next, anyway.
Strangely, she was not any cooler once first she, then the other two pierced the outer wall of the crowd. Somewhere behind the mats in question, where Victoria had either never left or recently returned to without her cronies flanking her, was a table laden with solo cups. All attempts at conversation whether between her and Max who did not look ready to come down from the endorphin high or between her and Chloe, who was suddenly eagerly eyeing the table, were complete failures. Behind that table, a boy with a Vote for Pedro tee who Rachel did not recognize had to pantomime the cost of a beer, but eventually Chloe and Rachel walked away with the drink, toward the doors of the room.
Victoria either did not try to say anything to them as they walked past her or could not be heard over the crowd. Rachel was no longer interested in what the blonde photographer was up to, all she could do was struggle with the urge to empty her cup all at once. Her throat was parched and she felt as if there was a fire in the room; that fire was emanating from somewhere in the center of her chest. Oh, she found herself thinking, confused by the realization. She must have had some kind of look on her face because Max's gaze transformed and she pulled Rachel from the room with Chloe in tow.
The hall was cooler, sure, but it did very little to quiet the heat that Rachel knew was coming from inside her chest, from warmth pooling like a shield around her heart. Okay, am I about to set Blackwell on fire? She did not think she was. The fire was content to sit there and shift in response to her still rather rapid heart beat, her expanding and contracting lungs. They weren't alone in the hallway. Two or three couples lined walls, necking as if it was the end of the world. Rachel took in a long breath through her nose but felt no cooler, no calmer.
"You okay?" Max asked her, face contorting into concern as they stepped a little further away from the doors to the gymnasium. No, Rachel thought in Max's direction, feeling a little dejected. Go back to being happy, damn you! I'm fine!
"Yes," she promised, and then took a large drink. Chloe moved around her to get a better look at her face. Rachel could tell that she was not the only one of them drenched in sweat, and couldn't help but wonder how much of that was the ambient body heat of maybe a hundred, hundred and fifty people on the floor of the gymnasium and how much of that was from being close to her. "I'm, warm," she told them when Chloe reached out for her, a searching gaze on her face. "You know," Rachel clarified, hitting her chest with a closed fist. "Warm."
"Do we need to go outside?" Chloe asked, now concerned, too.
"No, it feels different this time." When she turned back to Max, the girl was smiling again. Rachel pondered whether or not the photographer was a little redder than she had been a second ago, but they all looked like they had just run a mile. The air between them relaxed and then Chloe shrugged, pulled her phone from her pocket and announced she was going to go find Hayden. Gotta get your smoke on before your girlfriend starts smoking? Rachel thought to herself and, hazy, lightheaded, she almost laughed at the poor joke. When Chloe started to slip away from them, for a second Rachel had the urge to reach out and grab hold of her, back her against the wall and kiss her.
Instead, she watched the bluenette turn, blow them both a kiss and set off into the building, texting. Exhaling, Rachel turned to Max and instead wrapped an arm around the girl's shoulders. Max did not seem to realize that she was being pulled close to Rachel until it was too late and the look on her face, of intense awareness of their proximity was so endearing that Rachel decided to spare her any teasing over it. She did not, however, deny the way the girl's face changed, the familiar gestures and body language that let her know Max was about to kiss her. Rachel set her abandoned cup on a table near the door and gave in to the coursing chemicals produced in her brain, telling her that she didn't just want to return that kiss, she needed to and there wasn't particularly a downside, so why bother fighting?
She was just beginning to consider whether or not she felt high when Max pulled away from her, took her right hand and began to lead her back into the gym. Rachel made sure to lace her fingers with Max's as the girl led the way. They crossed into the realm of loud pounding beats and Rachel barely noticed the shift in temperatures: she was warm because of herself as much as the room around her. For a moment, she had to be careful not to bump into Max as the girl suddenly slowed but, assuming that this was just Max looking for an entrance point in the crowd, Rachel did not react overmuch until the photographer set off in another direction entirely, for the mats they had last seen Victoria sitting on.
Nathan was on one end of the set of gym mats stacked one atop the other. Eliot and Courtney stretched out in the center and on the farthest end, trying to send "get the fuck away" signals that even Rachel could spot from the doorway, amid the flashing lights, was Victoria. Rachel recognized the boy leaning almost over Victoria by the Vote for Pedro shirt and his pathetic caterpillar moustache. He was trying to engage her in talk despite the fact that she was making 'I can't hear you' gestures with her hands and spending most of her time looking away from him. Max released Rachel suddenly as Victoria reached for her drink and began to sprint.
Rachel did her best to follow, able to sense the change in Max's body language even from the back. She was running like a leopard that had spotted its prey. Did Victoria do something to piss her off that badly? Rachel wondered as the brunette reached the mat. It drew the eyes of everyone there when Max reached up. For a moment Rachel thought she was going to slap Victoria, but instead that open hand seized the cup the blonde was holding and then Max spun on her heel. Nathan was watching with open frustration, Eliot with contempt and Courtney as if she had seen a rather disgusting bug. Victoria was obviously cross after she got over the surprise of Max's hand that close to her face and then her eyes widened in genine surprise as Max hurled the cup, contents and all, at the boy's face. Dumbfounded, Vote-for-Pedro stumbled backward, looking kind of like he had seen something unexpected. He was drenched a moment later.
"If you ever try that shit again, I promise I will kick you in those pathetic things you call balls hard enough you'll be the first to learn what they taste like." How Max was so clearly audible, even to the immediate area, Rachel was unsure. She just knew that Max's words were a vehement promise, dripping with rage. For a moment, Vote-for-Pedro gaped, eyes a color Rachel could not guess going blank as he processed what had just happened. Rachel could remember some fairly blatant threats coming out of Max's mouth but few so colorful and specific. Victoria was coming back to her senses, enough to look simultaneously amused and annoyed when Max turned away from the boy as if he did not matter, leaned in close and called something into Victoria's ears that made her recoil and stare at the boy and discarded cup as if they were both snakes ready to rise to bite her.
While Max turned back to her with a dark look on her face, Victoria rose and made an escape from the situation with a surprised looking Courtney in tow. They made for the far wall of the gymnasium where the doors to the locker rooms could be found. Rachel didn't want to imagine exactly what might be going on in there if the doors were unlocked but Victoria apparently vastly preferred that to whatever was going on.
The boy with the caterpillar 'stach shot a hateful look at Max's back and then hurried past Nathan and Eliot toward the crowd, the front of his shirt stained. Over Max's shoulder as the girl approached, she watched Eliot make some sort of unkind statement to Nathan, eyes locked on Max's retreating form. Rachel was more interested in Nathan, who was watching Max, even if his face was impassive. That, Rachel decided, was not okay. Dancing was fine and all but all of the sudden the gymnasium's humid warmth felt a bit threatening. When Max was in range Rachel positioned herself behind the girl, between her and Nathan and pushed her girlfriend toward the doors again after sharing a long look with Nathan's blank stare. Wasn't he supposed to be high off his ass at these parties? More involved in dancing?
Once they were in the hall yet again, Max began to lead the way, instead, going roughly in the direction of where they last saw Chloe heading. It took Max a second to look back toward Rachel, her face distinctly uncomfortable, and then shake her head. They agreed as a trio to stay at the party and that was what Max seemed intent on doing but there was nothing saying they needed to sit around the gym. Following behind Max, she waited patiently for the girl to find the words she needed to explain what was happening. When they were in a quiet and frankly rather dark portion of the school, Max exhaled. No one was immediately visible in the hall with them.
"The guy was up to no-fucking-good," Max told her. Despite her attempts to calm down she was still upset and her words dripped with rage.
"Did you see it or was this something that you, you know, 'rewound' because of?" If it was the second, was Rachel then talking to Max from the future, technically? What an odd thing to be wondering about.
"Oh, no, I saw it, that piece of shit. I think I'll be good to go back in a few, I just need to chill." Rachel momentarily wondered if the girl was making some sort of pun about the fact that she, Rachel, was currently operating something like a small, inefficient space heater but realized when Max began to try classroom door after classroom door that there was something else on her mind. Rachel checked her phone and saw that maybe an hour and a half total had passed since their arrival; the night was still young.
Max found what she must have been looking for all along when she pulled on the door to the science lab and it opened. By dim lights that seemed to be emitting from a few small battery-powered lanterns, seven sets of eyes rose all at once to the door. An eighth person, who Rachel could not identify from behind Max as she entered the room, was passed out hunched over a table. Rachel blinked once or twice and faces bearing various looks of relief came into focus. One of those faces immediately jumped out to Rachel as Chloe and as Max split off toward the front of the room, Rachel shut the door behind her and sought out her taller (and likely higher) girlfriend.
All told, the people in the room were sitting in something of a ellipse, trying to circle as best as the tables allowed. Rachel took in the crowd: Steph, Chloe, Hayden, Warren, Justin, Taylor, Brooke and, interestingly, Stella. Trevor seemed to be the boy passed out over the table. Chloe was sitting on the end of one table next to Justin and, surprisingly, Taylor. Rachel hadn't seen her since she and Victoria were being dicks to Max earlier. They were passing around a joint that probably came from Chloe's dwindling supply. Hayden sat at a chair only a step or two away, though, so it could certainly have been his. Sitting only a bit farther from the table, Steph raised a solo cup full of beer in greeting and returned to her conversation with Warren, who Rachel reflected she didn't know a ton about except that he seems to be all manner of interested in Taylor as of late and it was the world's worst kept secret.
"You're late," Chloe told her and then looked past her for a moment. Rachel turned in time to see Max sliding down the aisle between the desks toward them on Ms. Grant's rolling chair. Oh lord,she thought as Max pulled to a stop just short of running into her. Unable to entirely resist, Rachel worked her fingers into the brunette's hair and leaned down to place a kiss on her lips. "Hey," Chloe objected. "What about me?" The girl passed a joint to Taylor as if the two of them hanging out was as natural as anything.
Indulging Chloe in a kiss and then accepting the smoke not from Taylor, but from Justin, Rachel found a chair to settle onto as Max eased up beside her. Brooke was pressed up against a counter reading that damned Stephen King novel she was obsessed with by the light of one of those lanterns, but occasionally took a sip from a red solo cup. Across the room, from beside Steph, Stella began to couch. When Rachel looked she saw that a second joint was being passed back and forth among the smaller group and, by the sound of things, Stella was having a rough time getting the smoke down.
"And I didn't expect the science lab to be unlocked," Rachel mused.
"It was definitely not," Warren called from the other side of the room. The boy excused himself from the other circle and approached, not to clarify but perhaps to join in on their own. Or, Rachel thought, it's a thinly veiled excuse to talk to Taylor. The girl in question was rather quiet, as it turned out, as if not entirely comfortable. When Taylor saw Rachel looking, she seemed decide to engage in the conversation. Max rolled over toward Steph but Rachel couldn't hear what she was saying.
"The Chemistry class has to turn off the smoke detector all the time, so it the lab's the best place for a little puff-puff-pass." Rachel nodded, wanting to appear chill with the girl, but the bottle blonde's behavior toward Chloe or Max under Victoria's guidance rubbed her the wrong way, especially knowing that Max often spent hours at night keeping Taylor company as she dealt with issues of her own. Issues, which if Max was to be believed, stemmed a bit from the way Victoria treated her.
"Hey," Rachel said, scooting past Justin to lean against the opposite side of the table as Taylor. "Max was right about one thing. There's no reason for you guys to be shitty with her, you know. I think Max would like nothing more than to be your friend. Probably Victoria's too, but I don't see it." Taylor looked conflicted for a moment before she sighed, making a noncommittal hand gesture that Rachel suspected was a request for her to go away.
"You don't get it," Taylor told her, sounding defensive. "Victoria can be a real ass some time but she is the most fierce, loyal friend a person can have."
"Maybe," Rachel told the girl as Justin passed her a blunt, pretending not to be listening to them. Rachel was dubious. "It's just that if to be her friend you have to act like her when she's being a jerk, I wonder if it's worth it." Taylor shrugged and looked uncomfortable. That was, all in all, the opposite of what Rachel had wanted so she backed away from the table, took her hit and then offered it to the girl. Justin and Chloe had been not-so-secretly watching but Hayden was already off at the other group and Warren is busy texting. She wasn't sure to who, but suspected that perhaps it was an act and he, too, was paying attention to their conversation.
"Max isn't as weird as she acts, sometimes," Taylor said, taking the smoke. When Rachel glanced back toward Chloe, she looked irritated at the comment. She doesn't get it, Rachel thought. This was Taylor trying to maintain face while showing some recognition of her failures. Might just be bullshit, but could be a good sign.
"She's not weird," Rachel told the girl. "She just deals with a lot of shit and whether you want to admit it or not, something tells me that you'd understand some of it better than we do." Taylor had the good grace to genuinely look embarrassed. "Honestly, fuck the whole thing with you both wanting to be Victoria's friend. I think you'd be the kind of person she should be friends with: you take a lot of shit, but you also seem to recognize that the things you do are shitty, too. The other two don't even pretend." Taylor's dismissive 'whatever' was a bit quieter than usual, a sign, Rachel hoped, of thoughtfulness. Well, I did my part.
The music from the gym was still blatant and obvious. Rachel wondered again how the school was convinced to look the other way for Vortex Club parties. It made very little sense, but if security staff were crawling all over the place, that would include David Madsen tonight, as he was back at work. There would be no beer, no loud tunes, no group of people fumigating the science lab while drinking and talking about fuck knows what. The party would be akin to a middle school dance. Rachel, took one last hit before passing the smoke again to Taylor and decided as she surveyed the room that she was pretty okay with staff being away. The worst part of it all was that the Vortex Club did not inherently turn her away as it did Chloe. She could see the appeal of coming to and even planning these parties.
"I wanna go dance," Rachel declared some ten minutes later, her head hazy, the smoke thick in the room. She had begun to notice that the room was getting uncomfortably warm and figured, judging by the long-lingering, familiar sensation of unnatural heat in her chest, that it was probably her fault. "Any takers?" She looked first at Chloe and then Max. While the photographer looked pretty middle of the road about the idea, Chloe rolled her eyes, scooted off the edge of the table and intercepted the joint going from Taylor to Justin. She took one last, long draw and passed it on to the boy who raised it in salute. Max only shook her head and said that she was fine here for a few minutes.
That's okay. She still came to the party. She's still talking to people. Hell, she and Brooke even talked Stella into coming. Rachel just wished that they had managed to convince Kate, who was nervous about being "exposed to that lifestyle." The girl who barely blinked at the walking rainbow that was the trio's relationship found something about the partying "lifestyle" scary. Rachel had just accepted it, but now she felt bad to think that Kate was upstairs, ostensibly alone.
"I'll be back and anyone who passes out gets their faced drawn on," the artist approaching Rachel called to the room at large. Chloe's hand pressed into hers and the girl pulled insistently toward the front of the room. "Goes double if your name is Max Caulfield, I think you'd look pretty hot with a mustache." Rachel snorted and, as Chloe pulled the door open, caught Max's reply.
"You're already baked if you think you're outlasting me tonight." That, at least, is promising. As the door shut behind them, Chloe gave a great, long-suffering sigh as if the music that was now much clearer was somehow offensive to her ears.
"Work, work, work," Chloe joked, shooting her a look that Rachel did not care to take the time to decode. As long as in a few moments she was lost in a world made up of her and Chloe, nestled somewhere near the trunk of The Ash Yggdrasil, Rachel did not care about much else. Whatever was to blame for the almost otherworldly euphoria earlier as they danced, Rachel had long since decided not to worry about it. In fact, she rather thought she wanted it back. So, to sum it up, they're both having a good time, I'm having a good time and Max got to tell off some skeevy mother fucker. It could be worse. "Rachel?"
"Yeah?"
"You're really hot."
"Girl, I know it," Rachel promised her, preening for a moment. Chloe laughed and did not bother to clarify if she had meant it as a compliment or a commentary on the unusual heat radiating from her. "You're not so bad yourself."