The world was small, Aikens was smaller, and word along the grapevine traveled alarmingly quickly. Archie couldn’t be anywhere near offended when the gossip train reached his ears of Aspen and Avery’s engagement long before his friend ever grabbed the chance to tell him themselves. Of course, if the eldest Rabbit had any room to protest, family affairs weren’t actually his business despite his determination that may likely land him with a slapped face one of these days. You cannot continue proverbially poking the bear without it retaliating, but why should he not care about someone else’s family even he doesn’t care for his own? Both of them are screwed up beyond repair, both caused irreparable damage due to either absent or not-too-friendly parental figures.
Yet, those thoughts could not distract his mind from one party. He can’t recall exactly when a beer was thrust in his hand, he preferred something a bit more on the sophisticated side, or how long he spent floating between each cluster of bodies that crowded the sidewalks. Archie engaged in the usual polite chatter every now and then, winding up with a group of people he grew almost content with before those hopes were immediately dashed. Someone had decided to pass around a joint that landed in his general vicinity. “Oh, darling, that is kind of you, but I have better respect than that.”