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 Fifty-Four: Fanous
March 10th, 2012 7:52 PM
Considering how disastrous the last February party had been, Max was far more relaxed than she expected to be as she leaned back in her chair. Maybe that was because the party was almost an hour in and Nathan was so high he was sitting alone in the bleachers, smoking a cigarette instead of pursuing anyone else. Maybe it was because she was back in possession of just enough weed to get her in serious trouble if David found it and everything about the world felt a little more relaxed after sneaking out somewhere she couldn't be seen with Chloe and Steph and having a smoke. Whatever the cause was, the world-drowning music did not bother her as much as it occasionally could and she felt like there was a decent chance that Nathan Prescott was going to spend the night listening to it, high off his ass in a corner alone. In short, it meant that Max was grinning when Rachel came back down from the bleachers where she had been, not so surreptitiously, watching Nathan alongside Chloe, who had not yet returned.
The music was still too loud to ask about Chloe's absence, even as Rachel reached her, so Max raised one hand, seized the girl's and tugged Rachel to her. The girl visibly 'oof'ed as she collapsed onto Max's lap, laughing about it. It took Max a second to get over the surprise of the sudden weight atop her, but she took advantage of the girl's clumsiness to wrap her arms around Rachel's midriff and lean in to peck her on the cheek. Max didn't think Rachel was in much of a rush to get back up, judging by the arm she curled around Max's shoulders. While it was not ideal for long term cuddling and even still a bit lit Max was still not a big fan of grand public displays of affection, she pressed her lips a second time against Rachel's cheek and then tried not to think too much about it, releasing her only when Chloe descended from the stairs.
Chloe was tired. That was evident even from where they sat almost on the other side of the room. She walked a little bit slower than normal, looked as if she was not particularly fond of her surroundings and did not look at anyone around her, even as she walked past Victoria, Taylor and Courtney who were all sitting not too terribly far away from Max and Rachel. She was also pantomiming something, pointing repeatedly to her palm. Rachel got up at that point and began to dig her phone from her pocket. Max did the same. While Rachel turned up nothing, Max's search showed a text from Chloe declaring that Nathan Prescott had passed out in a corner. It was probably, thus, safe to assume that he was out of commission for the night. Which means, Max thought as she watched Victoria's eyes follow the path Chloe was taking back to the stands, we're kind of free for the night.
Holy shit, we're free for the night.
The only downside to this development that Max could see was that as Chloe approached, Rachel was looking pointedly between the two of them and the crowd of dancing party-goers. In short, there did not look to be an excuse anymore for Max to not let Rachel lead them out onto the dance floor. If Chloe was still awake and with it enough to do so, who was she to say no, just because she couldn't dance. For the most part it was simply an almost socially acceptable for excuse for the three of them to be closer to one another than normal. Not to mention, though Max would never admit it, there was something about the music and the crowd obscuring them from others' eyes that proved cathartic and made her feel more secure in their relationship each time it happened.
By the time Chloe reached them, Rachel had somehow already convinced her to come out onto the dance floor, whether through hand signals Max missed or during a prior conversation. It was for the best, frankly, because of the two of them the only one who had any chance of really learning to dance from Rachel was Chloe. As the blonde led them both between the arms of two separate dancers and into the mass of bodies, Max watched the back of Chloe's head and wondered just how much longer the girl was going to stay out with them. She didn't think it would be much longer before Chloe went to join Steph and the others and then excused herself. Though the artist's exhaustion (which Rachel and Steph both had attributed to depression) was theoretically improving, this had been Chloe's work day. Frankly, if the girl who even now stopped and reached across the space between them to pull Max closer had chosen not to come, Max would have understood.
Allowing the other two to direct how things went, on this occasion, Max tuned out most of the people around them. Hell, doomed to look ridiculous attempting to dance to this kind of music anyway, Max all but tuned it out, at least as much as one could tune out a force that seemed to make up ninety percent of the world within the walls of this old, neglected gymnasium. There was also the matter of it being kind of difficult to ignore the other people when on occasion an elbow would find its way into her side or Rachel or Chloe might bump clean into a stranger. No one looked back to see who they bumped into, either, unless it was a particularly hard hit.
It was not too difficult to get a glimpse of Rachel even with Chloe roughly between them. Rachel always started these nights at a dull roar. Her mood might be good beforehand and all but it was never anything like the giddy, laughing girl she ended up leaving the 'dance floor' as. Not to mention she was typically all over Chloe, Max or both, as if she desired some form of touch, no matter how inane it might appear to the outside world. Max didn't particularly mind it, but it often felt like an odd, extreme behavior especially considering she rarely had more than a drink. In retrospect, Max had probably had more to drink than either of the others at one of these parties the first time she came. Tonight, Max hoped for prolonged closeness. It tended to take away the pressure that Max could swear was building behind her own eyes. One day, she feared, that pressure would burst and take her brain with it. Occasionally looking past Chloe she spotted the smile blooming, widening across Rachel's eyes, she saw the wild dilation of her pupils and could literally watch the thespian relinquish her worries.
Max didn't entirely understand it, but that night, even as her fingers settled against the rough edge of Chloe's blue jeans where they rested at her waist and the bluenette placed a kiss against Max's cheek and remained close against Max, she badly wanted whatever happened to Rachel at these parties to happen to her. If it wasn't worrying about Nathan or who is next victim would be (or when, for that matter), it was trying to come up with a plan to handle him and dealing with Jefferson on a daily basis. She saw the man twice a day every weekday and try as she might she could not get him to leave her alone. Having resorted now to pretending she wasn't paying attention to his class, her frustration at him repeatedly calling on her as often as or more than anyone else felt a bit like being robbed. Rather than risk his ire by not answering, she typically did and then had to endure his praise or, even worse, that barely perceptible and shudder inducing nod that suggested he was 'proud.' Contrary to her sincerest wishes when Jefferson first arrived, none of these things had gotten any better. She didn't know how to tell Chloe and Rachel that sometimes looking at him when he smiled summoned up thoughts, impressions of a dirt-covered blue tarp that contained something horrible inside.
The tightening hand on her shoulder drew Max back to the present, to dropping bass and the unfortunate smell of sweat from the crowd around her, to Chloe's hands and her girlfriends' concerned faces. For a moment, Rachel's all too keen concern was blocked from her view as Chloe lowered her forehead and pressed it against Max's. It was, if the look in her bright blues were to be trusted, a gesture of concern. I think I lost track of the music. I mean, more than normal. She hoped she had not slowed or stopped all together, but Jefferson and Nathan were vexing problems that, had she not been freshly in supply of her favorite-not to mention most effective-treatment for excessive anxiety, she wasn't sure she would have been able to think straight in the moment. Her only hope in getting by was to think of them as little as possible unless she had to either when confronted with some problem one or the other created or when she finally decided what to do with them.
Max did not pull away from Chloe as she moved but she did keep her eyes locked on the girl's, even when the back of Rachel's hand brushed her shoulder. In Chloe's eyes she saw flagging energy reserves, confliction and most of all, an inordinate amount of whatever it was Chloe looked at her with. Ideally, Max would like to believe it was love and not just some teenage crush. She chose to do so. However, the one thing she was clear on for sure was that unless they got out of the crowd soon, Chloe was going to be making an escape from the party well before Max and Rachel left the gym to seek out the smoke circle which again had gathered in the science lab.
It was rather a wonder that the lab didn't smell of the indulgence the Monday after a party. It might be less risky if we found somewhere else to smoke? She knew there had been talks about where else to host a party: the gymnasium and cafeteria were getting a little bit stale. Max thought it was only a matter of time before someone brought up the pool building, but she was going to be the one to bring it up if no one else did, soon. There was plenty of space around the edges of the pool, a couple of rooms for the party to spill over to and, not to mention, it would be easier to follow Nathan around in that building with its relatively open layout.
After a few more minutes, it became very obvious that Chloe was getting sluggish and losing both her enjoyment and her will to remain upright. Apparently, Max thought, it was a shitty day at the brake shop. For once, Max took the initiative herself. It did not take much work to reach around Chloe and take Rachel's hand in her right, Chloe's in her left. What was more difficult was not getting elbowed in the head by people as she passed by them making for the largest gap in the wall of bodies she could find. Jostled by an elbow here, a shoulder there and nearly knocked on her ass by a completely unintended body check there, Max did manage to make it out with both girls still following her. There was a reason Chloe or Rachel typically led the way, but of the three of them, Max had done the least work that day. Who was she to say no to leading once in a while?
Making right for the doors, Max smiled briefly at Victoria and Courtney, who were not even trying to talk over the music but sitting together, eyeing the crowd as if they wished they were on the dance floor. There was nothing saying that friends could not go out and dance together, or that one needed to have a partner out there. Max wanted to tell them that. She was not sure how well the comment would be taken even if being heard in the gym was practical. Max looked back to make sure neither Chloe nor Rachel seemed overly upset about leaving the gym and, receiving no objections, paused as they reached the table by the doors.
There were only about half a pack's worth of red solo cups sitting behind the table in front of the keg. Also behind the table, waving absentmindedly to them as they passed, was Trevor, who seemed to be busy on his phone and having what she hoped was not a free beer. Chloe slowed her a bit so she could yell something to Trevor. The boy shared something with her in a loud voice which Max still could not hear standing halfway out of the doors and then they were out standing on the pale, tiled floor of the hallway. I'll try to remember the cups after Chloe's off. Frankly, she thought she might have one of her own.
Inside, the gymnasium was still packed to a degree that it dwarfed either of last month's parties. That was part of why it disturbed her when she stepped out into the hallway and realize that the party had spilled out into the halls. Oh, sure there had always been couples sneaking out to find a dark place to mack or groups who wanted to talk who sought out the far ends of the school as Max intended to do so she could see Chloe off. This was different, though. There were at least thirty people hanging out in the hall closest to the gym, where talking was still impractical at best, impossible during the worst moments.
Apparently, Max marveled at them a bit too long. Rachel walked around her and began to make for the hall that contained, among other things, the science lab. As they got farther and farther from the gymnasium the crowd thinned out. It just did not do so as significantly or as quickly as Max would have liked. On the other hand, they eventually came to the point where Max could hear something other than the music blaring from speakers throughout the gymnasium. Chloe let loose a low whistle as Max glanced back at her.
"Okay, so, I'm sorry," Chloe started as soon as Rachel had turned to look at her too. The girl pulled absentmindedly on the end of one sleeve of her shirt and went on. "I'm super tired. I really gotta get outta here and get to bed so I don't fall asleep behind the wheel." Momentarily, Max considered teasing Chloe about staying in her room and sleeping. There was, however, a vague chance that Chloe might have bit on the idea and Max didn't really fancy the girl getting caught trying to sneak into the dormitories that night.
"Don't go apologizing for nothing," Rachel chided her, crossing her bare arms over her chest. Her attempt to scold Chloe was rendered ineffectual when she snorted and began to laugh to the point where she had to bury her face into her hands. It's actually really bad tonight, Max thought, before glancing away from Rachel. Seeing her girlfriend laughing and happy was not entirely unpleasant, even if it almost seemed as if she had taken some sort of drug that had come on a little strong.
"We're just glad you came out for us for a while," Max followed up. "Do you want us to walk you to the truck?" At this, Chloe waved a dismissive hand.
"I'm a big girl, I can make it home. I do think I need a kiss for good luck, though." Rachel laughed, a little too long and a little too hard. She had been on the verge of laughter at absolutely nothing for several minutes. At this, Chloe turned her head, waggling her eyebrows suggestively. "Might have to make it two. I'm awfully tired." And she calls me the dork, Max thought, not bothering to roll her eyes in the low light of a hallway which was barely lit at all. Max was the first of the two of them to lean forward and place her lips against the girl's cheek. Once they both had, Chloe seemed content to turn and make for the doors at the end of the hallway on her own. With Little Psycho unconscious in the stands and Big Psycho theoretically not on campus, Max had few compunctions letting Chloe go off on her own. She was, as she said, a big girl.
"You know something?" a new voice queried. "I think that's the first time I've seen her walking outside of school hours in like two weeks. It's a good thing she still can." While it was true Chloe had taken to her skateboard again like a fish to water, that was a bit of an exaggeration, if only a bit. Turning, Max and Rachel were met by the sight of Victoria and Courtney approaching. Courtney's hands rested firmly in her pockets. She was not looking away from Rachel (who had stepped closer to Max at the unexpected voice, and still looked to be on the edge of giggling) or Max herself, so that was a step in the right direction as far as Max was concerned. Victoria, on the other hand, seemingly oblivious to how off put her friend was by the blonde being friendly to Max, Rachel and Chloe in the least, greeted them by name. It truly was as if Courtney thought this tendency Victoria used to have of being, frankly, an asshole to Chloe and Max was some sort of key component of her personality and the shift over the last few months disturbed Courtney. One day, Max hoped the girl knew what to do or say in a civil conversation. She was not usually a quiet person and the way she so often crossed her arms over her chest and glared away from them came off as obvious and not at all unlike a petulant child in Max's mind. "Max, Rachel." There was something both formal and a little too serious about Victoria greeting them that way. Max became freshly concerned.
"What's up, Victoria?" Max asked. She found it pretty unlikely that the girl was approaching them so seriously over something small like the fact that they were running low on solo cups by the keg. How are we running low, anyway? Just keep hold of your cups, people. Jesus. Beside her, Rachel cleared her throat and did her best to make the snort that followed immediate after sound like a sneeze, to some success.
"Yeah," Rachel said, swallowing once in the middle of her sentence, "what's wrong?" When Victoria got closer, nerves could be seen in her features, though she was clearly trying to maintain her typical look of haughty disinterest.
"I was just wondering if you'd seen Taylor anywhere. She slipped away like ten minutes ago and I couldn't hear where she said she was going?" In that context, the concern made sense and Max decided to put it at ease in plain language. There was no one else near enough to hear them.
"Nathan passed out in the bleachers like, twenty minutes ago. Taylor's probably fine. Have you tried to text her?" Though relief washed over her features blatantly, Victoria answered her question.
"I sent a text just a minute ago, but I guess I was worried... you know." Max did know. Everyone present knew precisely what Victoria was thinking, including, she thought, Courtney. Try as she might, as she stood behind Victoria, the shorter blonde could not hide her own sense of relief. Max watched as Rachel once more tried to get herself together and say something.
"She's probably in, you know, 'the circle'," Rachel suggested, punctuating the line with a single soft chuckle.
"What are you on, Amber?" Victoria asked her.
"Fuck if I know," Rachel answered. "As far as I know, nothing." When first Victoria and then even Courtney turned to raise an eyebrow to her, Max held up her hands as if to say she was innocent in the situation.
"She just gets like this sometimes," Max told them. "Frankly, I'm fucking jealous, my girl's in a good mood." Throwing one arm over Rachel's shoulders resulted in Victoria immediately looking away which Max felt guilty for. Maybe there was credence to Chloe's theory about a crush on Rachel, after all. "Which," Max said, trying to redirect the conversation while Victoria toyed with the pearls around her neck, "is probably what Taylor's trying to get into right now. Let's go check the science lab." They were, after all, maybe ten or fifteen feet from the door. Tonight at least the circle was going to be down Chloe and Brooke, but she suspected she would find Stella there since it was quiet and Steph had gone to the dorms for the sake of retrieving her shortly after arriving at the party.
If Nathan was going to do his level best to not be a threat, the idea of sitting around the circle and having a smoke sounded good, even with Courtney's occasional passive aggressive bullshit and Rachel already cackling as if she were high. When Max removed her arm from the shoulders of the blonde in question, Rachel immediately wrapped one of her own around Max's waist as they walked. It was pleasant enough but it did make walking slightly more complicated. At least the girl's pout when she was forced to let go of Max so they could enter the classroom in question was adorable.
Max was surprised that Victoria had not put on any kind of show about not caring if she and Rachel came along to look for Taylor but as she pushed the door to the lab open and Victoria and Courtney followed them in she could have sworn she sensed some tension in the air between them as she glanced back. She just wasn't sure what it was all about. After all, Victoria had calmed toward them as of late and in fact actually greeted them most of the time. Hell, that morning Max thought the blonde had even smiled at her from across the cafeteria. It was clear she wasn't entirely comfortable doing the whole 'being friendly with Chloe' thing, though she was trying. The door to the science classroom was unlocked as expected and as the door opened several sets of eyes rose to watch who was entering.
Those small, blue portable lanterns were gathered on one table today, around which stood or sat several people who were still looking Max's way when her eyes adjusted to the slight uptick in light. Hayden was the first to say something as they entered and Max responded by raising her hand in greeting. While Rachel, Victoria and Courtney followed her in, Max gave a quick sweep of the room. Hayden, Taylor, Justin, Dana, and Steph were all the room held. There was no sign of Stella. Not even Warren Graham was present. It was, all in all, an empty circle to be in. On the other hand, it wasn't necessarily the least pleasant group. It was missing Chloe and maybe Juliet, but that was just the way life worked out. One of them needed her rest and the other was likely off somewhere fooling around with her boyfriend, a burly jock from a school in Edgeton.
"Hey-den," Rachel greeted, before chuckling at her own joke just loudly enough for Max to feel a little mortified for her. The sound of her face meeting her palm was enough to set Rachel off on another brief cackle and then the blonde tugged her along toward Hayden. To Max's knowledge, Victoria had never particularly joined this particular crowd before. She suspected that that was part of why Taylor did. For all that Taylor claimed to love Victoria like a sister, there were some major unresolved problems between them. Max didn't want to even try to count the number of nights something callous Victoria said had set Taylor off and out of fear of losing Victoria, Taylor had kept it to herself, causing the girl some serious and very literal unrest. The wealthy Seattleite sighed a little more audibly than she probably wanted to when she spotted Taylor over Max's shoulder. Max decided not to look back and potentially embarrass her. It would be interesting to see what Courtney or Victoria did next.
"So, where's Stella?" Max asked as she approached the table with an empty chair retrieved from one of the other islands around the room. Rachel seemed content to stand. Steph, who had just finished elbowing Hayden in the side and whispering something into his ear that Max suspected was about how goofy Rachel was acting, looked up at Max.
"Took off a while ago, said she was gonna go by the gym and then head back to her room." Max nodded as if to say that made sense and then plopped her chair down just to Steph's right. Rachel took up a position on Max's as she sat down. Eventually, it became clear that the only tension in the room came from Victoria and Courtney so as soon as the blunt offered to Max met her fingers, she took one long draw and gestured to the two girls who had stopped a step or two back from the circle. Looking past her at Taylor, Victoria was the first of them to shrug and step up to Rachel's right. Max passed the smoke to Rachel as she held her breath and dug into her left front pocket. From where it sat wrapped up in a small plastic bag, Max produced another joint. If they were essentially doubling the size of the circle it only seemed fair to contribute, especially since Hayden (who looked a little more tired and had been thus far more quiet than usual) was the only reason she had a connection at all. The assembled group was talking about some news event that she had not really been paying any attention to, so when the conversation started back up, Max stayed quiet, though Rachel partook.
Speaking of partaking, Max watched with absolutely unshuttered curiosity as Victoria took the joint from Rachel and inhaled. Almost immediately, Max knew what was going to happen. A look of tension crossed her face and not long at all after passing, the girl leaned forward at the table and began to cough. Max could not help but grin slightly but was taken aback when Victoria glared at her. She wasn't surprised the girl didn't care for her smiling at Victoria's expense, but it did surprise her that Victoria was paying attention to her even though she had to look around Rachel to do it. The girl didn't have a chance to admonish her for laughing for a few seconds, by which time almost everyone had forgotten about the moment. Judging by the way Rachel's hand resting on Max's upper back shook slightly, she was trying not to laugh. Max thought it might have been schadenfreude in Rachel's case. In Victoria's, well, there was something priceless about seeing Victoria surprised.
"Look," Victoria shot back as soon as she had found her air again. "I usually vape or- or bake if anything."
"The hell do you mean bake?" Max asked her, trying to keep her voice playful and light. "Because I promise, everyone in this fucking room but us is probably baked, and I will be in two or three minutes." At this, Justin looked up from across the table, and made what she thought was supposed to be a crossed face.
"Hey," he said, as if offended. "Oh, wait, right, yeah, I'm pretty fucking baked." The boy looked back down at his phone. Max liked him, for the most part. He played up the stereotypes of a stoner a bit much but she thought he did so mostly for the sake of bringing people amusement or ending tense moments he might or might not have had a hand in creating. Then again, sometimes she suspected he might have genuine memory issues, though she was fairly certain that if that was the case it was either unrelated to the ganja or he must have stayed baked 24/7.
"I mean edibles, I guess," Victoria told her, then looked up at Rachel, who laughed. Max thought she was going to get mad, but upon realizing that Rachel was reacting to Justin, the girl dropped it. "I just think it's more fun that way." Max hadn't vaped in a long time, but there was a small vaporizer hidden in the back of her closet at home waiting on her the next time she had some privacy. "Other than that I really don't do anything unless N- um, nevermind." For a second, Max didn't catch what had happened. She was too busy paying half of her attention to Victoria and half to the joint that was making its way to Steph's fingers. When she realized what Victoria had almost said, Max grimaced slightly and nodded, looking away to give the girl time to think and maybe see if Rachel, who was talking over her head to Hayden, was calming down. As she did so, though, something in front of Justin caught Max's eye. Sitting to the right of his phone was a small, familiar looking pill. It was familiar in that she had seen a bag of ones that looked precisely like it last before passing it off to Hayden to drop off at Nathan's door.
"What's that?" Max asked, as Justin brought the pill to his mouth absently. He blinked up at her, his mouth hanging half open and then swallowed the pill before answering.
"Yellow Vs," he told her. Valium. God damn it, Nathan. Rachel had gone silent in the middle of a line and looked down at Max, suddenly looking a little serious. In fact, if Max looked around the table, it seemed like everyone there except for Courtney, Justin and Taylor caught onto the implications. Justin wasn't here the night Nathan hurt Victoria. "I can tell you where to get them if you want."
"I know where you're getting them," Max assured him, sighing a little. If Justin understood what was happening he didn't let on. If that shit was in the school, chances were decent that Nathan was selling the stash that Max had had left in front of his door several days ago in an attempt to give him a chance to get better. Max shared a look across the table at Hayden, who had been nice enough to have drop them off for her. The look of frustration on his face told her he had done his part. Max shut her mouth at that, but could sense Victoria's discomfort and Rachel's tension. Even Steph looked as if her mood was souring at this revelation. She passed Max the second joint, freshly lit, without taking a hit. Well, Max thought as she took a long draw and passed it on to Rachel, I did my part, too. More than. Time to watch Nathan closer. She had been wondering why there hadn't been any sign of change in his behavior considering how significant the change had been when he last went on his medication. Now she knew.
Max leaned against Rachel quietly when no one engaged her in conversation and was rewarded with an arm around her shoulder. She had no problem sitting quietly and letting the rest of the room talk. It was actually somewhat comforting. The tension between Victoria and the room at large seemed to be dying, occasionally she even joined in on the conversation, especially as she started to loosen up and get better at holding her smoke. Courtney barely partook at all, but there was a limit to how far Max would go to worry about that girl. She was going to have to get over the idea that Victoria's identity (and thus her own) was tied to acting like they were better than someone, frankly anyone else. Whatever Victoria's faults, and Max believed there were many, Courtney was the one who had started to weigh on Max's nerves, started to add pressure to that balloon waiting to burst behind her eyes.
The next half hour passed fairly peacefully, especially once even those standing had settled onto stools and into chairs and just talked about school, and life. Sometimes, Max regretted not being more engaged with the school's football team, she thought listening to almost everyone there save Steph and Justin recount their antics after the last game of the season. She used to go to all kinds of things with her father, though his interests lay more in the realm of hockey. It wasn't that she cared especially for any particular sport over another but there was no denying that some of her favorite memories about her father involved sitting in the stands at a hockey game amused and a bit in awe of the people performing below. Even if you weren't a fan of sports, there was value in the community, she considered. Maybe she needed to go next season.
"What are you grinning about?" Rachel asked her at one point, causing Max to all but jump at being caught. She was embarrassed and so answered with her voice as low as she thought she could while still being heard by her girlfriend.
"I think I feel like I'm finally part of Blackwell?" Max confessed. To her immense displeasure, Victoria chimed in from Rachel's other side before Rachel could answer with anything beyond a hug.
"That's the spirit, Caulfield." Max did not look her straight in the eye. Instead she turned out to the rest of the group and raised a hand as she broke from one-armed embrace and made as if to stand. It was immediately evident that she was completely and unquestionably baked. Steph lifted her head.
"I need to go make sure Trevor doesn't need anymore cups in the gym." Max had intended to text someone to help Trevor out on that front but it had slipped her mind. Now it felt like an excellent excuse to get her away from a momentarily mortifying situation.
"Want I should come with?" Rachel asked.
"No, no," Max assured her, grateful that her red face was not as clear in the dark room. "Stay here, have some fun, enjoy yourself." Lightheaded, Max turned to step away from them all, aware of Rachel, Dana, Victoria and Courtney watching her. Steph was not. Steph had stood and stretched her arms high above her head about the same time that Max had. Before the photographer could make a clean retreat from her embarrassment, Steph announced she was coming with and Max had to slow and glance back. She did, however, wait until she got out of the room and it was ostensibly just her and Steph out in the hallway to breathe an exaggerated sigh of relief. Max jumped as the auburn-haired girl tossed an arm around her shoulders.
"Max," Steph said, "it's gonna be alright, you dig it?" Max chuckled.
"I 'dig it, man'," she promised Steph, throwing up a peace sign in the low light. Teasingly she asked, "who's the hippie now?" This earned a shrug from Steph, even as her free hand rubbed at her eyes.
"You must be rubbing off on me. Damn dirty hippie."
All in all, the rest of the night went well. When Max and Steph went back to the gymnasium and ascertained that they were going to need to bring out another package of cups from the cafeteria kitchen, she also took a second to head up to the bleachers. Nathan was gone which, frankly, Max couldn't have been more relieved by. She hoped he had had an annoying trip back to the dormitories and tripped on his way there, metaphorically or literally. Max had been glad to drop off the cups and return to the science lab, delivering the news of Nathan's absence as casually as she could. What she didn't understand and never found out an answer to, was why him being gone worried Victoria.