Dresden Academy

Arnaud was more impressed by Braden by the moment. He raised his glass with a cheerful cry of "social!" and took a big gulp. The boy was turning down a guaranteed lay with Carly. Who was an animal, no doubt, a monster of epic proportions, but a guarantee when she set her sights on someone. Arnaud thought for a moment that it might have to do with the adorable student body president presently giggling on her stool next to him, but straight guys were never very good at putting out readable signals. "I think we're too drunk to continue this round," he said sagely. "Braden, I need you to drum me up some snacks. Veronica, you need to find out where Abby keeps her paper towels. We made a damn fine mess of this counter."

Carly frowned at him, but she couldn't say anything without seeming like an even more tremendous bitch. Clearly Braden wasn't game. In that case she needed to find someone else, preferably someone cuter and maybe someone she didn't know so well. She smirked at them and popped off her stool. "Have fun assholes." She dropped her remaining cards into a spreading pool of sticky liquor and sauntered off through the crowd.

Veronica started laughing even harder once Carly was gone. "You saved us, Arnaud!"

Braden let out an enormous, long sigh of relief. "Understatement of the century." He very lightly bumped Veronica's shoulder with his fist. "Our hero, right? Can you imagine what she was going to do to us if she got president again?" He shuddered, then slipped off his stool to go looking under the sink for paper towels to clean up the mess they'd left, and bumped his head on the top of the counter. "Oooh! Look what I found!" He backed out to make room for Veronica to see all the snacks he'd uncovered, hiding in the cupboard under the sink for some reason. "My double hero!"

Veronica leaned into that fist like it was a hug. She felt stupid and giggly, her face growing hot with the blush that was creeping up her cheeks. "He deserves an award."