Max Christian Coupp

“Drunk college kids with good manners?”Piper questioned before laughing. “I just saw someone doing shots off someone else’s stomach…there are no manners here,”she joked. She failed to mention she had also let people take shots off of her before. Though she did not define herself as a party girl, she did love a good get together that got mildly out of hand.  

“Oh, I’ve always wanted to go to Australia. I’ve heard it’s lovely,”the brunette admitted. “I’m from London. My parents wanted me to stay back there but I needed to find my own way for a bit, so, I came here at the beginning of the year,”she explained. Piper had a tendency to overshare about her life. It was a habit she had gained from her mother. 

Piper smiled as he attempted to explain who he thought she was. “How’d you know?”she asked jokingly. “It’s now your job to discover my deep dark secret and help me escape this place,”Piper teased as she grabbed a nearby towel form a table holding them and handed one his way. “I’m actually a studio art major, and kinda love this place,”she finally admitted as she pulled her tshirt off, throwing it to the side before grabbing her own towel to dry herself off with. “And my name is Piper,”she finally introduced.

Even before the words left Max’s mouth, he knew it was ok - it was all in good fun after all. Piper didn’t seem the type of person who couldn’t take a joke, and apparently she was good at recognizing one; or maybe he just made it way too obvious. Whatever it was, a wishful smile tried playing into his lips before he erased many of the signs, instead focusing on Piper and listening closely as she told him some facts about her life. London and Australia had a troubled relationship after all, yet Max enjoyed both settings - considering his family also had roots in there, it only made sense. He let himself enjoy some of the traces of accent in her voice. Nodding at her, it almost seemed he approved what she had to say; more like he understood it, though. He needn't his family approval but of all other people, and although the opposite was true for her, he understood where she was coming from.

Piper tried to place if she had seen the man around campus before, but she was at a loss. She knew there was no way she could meet everyone, but she had imagined that she had frequented enough parties to know a good amount of people on campus. Pulling herself from her thoughts, she offered the man a smile before swimming to the edge and pulling herself out of the water. She was at least thankful she had a swim suit on, unlike the other poor soul. 

“Never trust anyone to not throw you in a pool at a party like this,”she told him with a soft laugh. “They are animals, really,”she said jokingly as she guided him to a table where some towels were sitting once he was out of the water. “I’ve been here about a year,”she admitted with a shrug. It had felt she had been there much longer. She truly loved it there. “What about you?”

The stranger sure had a point, after all - it had been stupid to show up there not to prepared for something like that. Perhaps he indeed got in too deep on his task to minimize the burden of his family name and, in the process, forgot much of what he usually knew about parties. It’s not that Max was always reclusive, but few people managed to break his common facade, and so he couldn’t remember the last time he really had fun at a party.

He followed her quickly, arriving at the edge first for the simplest of reason: swimming had been a way of forgetting about everything negative since, as a young boy, his mother took him to a class filled with other peers. Yet he waited, sitting instead of stepping out of it completely and sighing at some of the following thoughts. “Sure there’s some hope they will learn good manners.” This time he was joking, and showed something resembling a smile before finally rising to his feet. It made sense though, they hadn’t met - a year wasn’t enough to meet many people.

“I arrived a few months ago. Used to live in Australia and study there, but they got me an opportunity after a student left.” Max never actually learned the true complete story, but then he never asked. Whatever it was, he was sure thankful somehow they were able to create an extra spot - a lot because, with the reputation and his family falling into disgrace, few where the Institution opened to give him any chance.

“Now, let me guess…” He shook his shirt so it didn’t glue to skin, what seemed to be the beginning of a smile on the surface of his lips. “You’re majoring in psychology, been here for a little more than a year and actually hate this place, but secretly can’t leave because of some dark deep secret?” Of course it was all in good joke. Asking for her name or why she was there sounded too easy, and not at all fun; now since when did he want to have any fun?

Piper had been excited for this party the moment she had heard about it. It was a time to get wasted, catch some sun, and forget about all of her problems. However, she underestimated her ability to drink and quickly lost a drinking guy. As her punishment, she was to be thrown into the pool. Apparently along with another poor sap that forgot his bathing suit. 

The moment she hit the water, Piper couldn’t help but laugh. It was all in fun to her, so she didn’t mind. However, she noticed that the other in the pool with her did seem to mind. How could she blame him? He was thrown in in his regular clothes. “I lost a drinking game,”she admitted with a shrug, though the smile never slipped from her lips. “I can show you where some towels are if you want,”she offered.“ Since, I’m guessing you didn’t bring one.”

Max was taken by surprise at the stranger’s offer - perhaps because, on top of his grumpy mood, he expected people to show him anything but kindness. That and the fact that other implications came with the invitation, even though he wasn’t much inclined to having such thoughts (maybe a consequence of the previously narrated worries). “That…” He thought for a second, licking his lips and not even realizing the action. “would be very nice of you, actually.” Suddenly his features weren’t so abrasive, and he sighed at the realization that staying there might not be so bad.

“I didn’t think I would stay here enough to swim in the pool. Obviously, I was wrong.” With that he let out a chuckle, fighting the water for a second just so he could move forward, closer. “I take it you’re new at the Castellane?” With that, he would be able to confirm one of his doubts. Having arrived less than a year ago, it made some sense they wouldn’t have met.

“Damnit.” Groaning quietly, he stared at his friends with a critical eye, only to fail miserably at his attempt to try and stop them from laughing. Sending a nice enough middle finger their way, he turned around to find the nearest border. This would have happened just fine if somebody else hadn’t been thrown as well. “So what did you do to gain their attention?” Shame that his mood was too dry, and now he sounded way too serious.

arabella held a lit cigarette between her fingers, leaning against a wall where it was surprisingly secluded, considering all the noise behind her where the pool and sound systems were. the girl didn’t know if smoking was even allowed, but it’s not like she cared anyway. she spotted a figure from the corner of her eye and the two glasses of what she assumed was alcohol, “ if that’s for me, i’m going to have to decline. i don’t drink. “ she took another huff of the tobacco stick, then moved her head to face the individual. “ i’m sorry, did you need something ? “

A bottle of beer in Max’s hand was the closest he got to comfortable at that party. After not even bothering to find a swimming suit and arriving just to greet a few friends, he wondered what had made him accept the invitation in the first place. Not that it mattered, now that he was there. Even though his stomach turned into small knots, the feelings of discomfort almost palpable, anyone should know how good he was at hiding these - therefore, the medicine student focused on the drink and alcohol, letting it wash away most worries on the surface.

Finally he found an interesting spot, a girl he’d never seen before and a wall which did a fine job blocking the loudest of noises. For the sake of politeness he walked back and got themselves two glasses - only to have it refused minutes later. “Not a problem.” Reclining his body to the wall, he peered at the stranger. Was she knew? He was too, relatively. Perhaps he’d simply missed her amongst all people… probably not, considering he observed everything. Maybe he misunderstood his own tiredness after less than five hours for sleeping. “No, I didn’t.” Drinking more of the alcohol, he shrugged before staring back at the others. Silence was a comfortable thing, perhaps for both.

Yet he found himself turning around and staring back at her. Curiosity killed the cat… or was it the snake? Maybe both. “I’m Max. You?”