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Max is a wallflower. It's not usually so literal, though.
She's leaning against the wall next to a bar that, in theory, is serving only punch. It burned a little when it went down, though, so she asked for a can of soda instead (and made sure the guy serving didn't open it before handing it to her). Rachel's hanging out with her, still, and Max appreciates that, but she can tell that she's holding her friend back.
Rachel's thriving. Max knew she was an extrovert, because, like, come on, but it's another thing to see it. When they spend time together, it's usually just them, even if people come up and chat. Now that Rachel's surrounded by people, Max gets what she meant when Rachel told her that even if she couldn't stand the Vortex Club, she ran the place.
"Rachel!" someone else says, and Max stopped trying to remember names an hour ago. Or ten minutes ago, according to her phone, but hey, ADHD timeblindness is hard enough when she's not completely overwhelmed.
"Hey, Sam," Rachel says brightly, pulling him into a hug. Max thinks it looks less--genuine than when Rachel hugs her. That might be wishful thinking. That's probably wishful thinking, honestly, because when Rachel pulls back, her smile is as sunny as ever. "How's it going?"
"Fine," the girl says, smiling at Rachel with the same lovestruck look everyone here has. "Steph says hey, by the way."
"Oh, tell her I say hey back!" Rachel says with a little laugh.
They start talking about Dungeons & Dragons and how Rachel was way too busy to join in, especially now that Steph (whoever that is) has moved to Portland, or something. Max is only half-following along. Sam hasn't made the slightest effort to include her in the conversation, and Max would be insulted if she wasn't so relieved to be quiet.
"Well, I promised to dance with Max here," Rachel lies, and Max is sure she's not imagining the disappointment that flashes across Sam's face. "See you around!"
"Sure," Sam says, glancing back at Rachel as she leaves.
"I didn't know you had so many friends," Max says quietly.
"Not really," Rachel says. "I mean, I know a lot of people. But that's not--friends, you know?"
Max doesn't, really. If "friends" means more than "person she gets along with sometimes", her friends here are pretty much limited to Chloe and Rachel and maybe Kate and Dana, sometimes. "Sure," she says anyway.
Rachel frowns. "You're a bad liar, you know."
"Sorry," Max says.
"It's cool," Rachel says with a little shrug. Still, Max can see it bugs her.
"It's just--you know all these people here. They all want to talk to you."
"Everyone wants to talk to me," Rachel says, leaning against the wall with Max, finally. "But they don't really want to talk to me. They just like the way I am with them."
"I wanna talk to you," Max says, leaning a little closer.
"Yeah, but you're special," Rachel says. She throws out compliments so easily.
"Oh," Max says, looking down at her feet. She's smiling a little.
"I mean it," Rachel says. "Like, this is fun, but I'd leave here in a second if you wanted to. Do you?"
"Yeah," Max says. "I thought, uh, it was sort of obvious, actually?"
"Well...yeah," Rachel says, grabbing her hand. Max squeezes it a little. "But it seemed a little rude to point that out."
"Wanna go back to my room and watch something?"
"Not that terrible Fire Emblem movie, but yeah."
"It's Final Fantasy, Rachel."
Max holds Rachel's hand all the way back to her dorm. (And a while after that.)