How Green Becomes Wood

"Well, congratulations, and you should probably clarify that with her," Sloan replied, taking a sip of water, "Communication is key. For the date, if you're officially a thing, you don't have to keep reinventing the wheel, because you should be able to enjoy each other's company even if you're doing the same thing you've done before. And you should probably tell your brother at some point." Her smile faded and she glanced down at the table, "If I've learned anything from a year ago its that people you date in secret tend to get upset about it."
 
Alec touched her hand gently. "That wasn't your fault," he said quietly, "but you are right. I do need to. I'm just... not ready. But ready or not, I need to soon." He cleared his throat. "Still, got any recommendations for low key eateries? Like cafes or whatever?"
 
"Maybe not, but it's why she said she did it. Or why she said it was okay she did it." Sloan told him with a shrug. "Anyway, I'm not one to advise you on how to tell your family something important. I do know some good cafes, though, I can text you a list of ones I like."
 
"Sane isn't harsh, dude. Somebody has to be." She replied with a little smile, "Oh, I haven't told you, I'm training to qualify to move to Elite. I've been hanging out at 10 because I wasn't sure what I wanted to do next, but I decided I want to try to move up."
 
"Wow!" Alec breathed, his eyes wide. "Really? Whoa, that's big stuff! That's really cool."

"What's cool?" Xander asked absently.

"Sloan's moving up in the ranks."

Xander looked up from his book to look at Sloan. He reached out and offered her a sober fist-bump and a serious nod, impressed, but knowing how much went into something like that.
 
Sloan returned the fist bump, "It's not official, I haven't gone to the qualifying meet yet, I'm just training for it. I mean, I'm pretty sure I will qualify but it's no guarantee. I have to learn compulsory routines and get a composite score of 35. It's weird because I've been in level 10 since I was like, in 8th grade. My coach is delighted I finally decided to try to qualify, she's been telling me to since." She shrugged, "For a long time. Did you know I've been in gymnastics since I was, like, three?"
 
"I knew you were in it for a long time, but I don't think you ever gave me an age," Alec remarked. "That's a long time!"

"The dedication shows," Xander remarked. "Whether you qualify or not, this is good for you, and congratulations. You'll keep us in the loop, yeah?"
 
"It's weird, right? I'm only here getting ready to go elite because my mom decided that's what she'd put me in when I was a kid. In another life I'd be a ballet dancer or something." Sloan mused, "Yeah, I'll keep you posted. Right now I'm just training hard."
 
"I don't know if I would be," Sloan replied, "but I guess it's hard to imagine because at this point I've, you know, built a gymnastics body. Ballet dancers are crazy powerful but they're not really supposed to look super powerful. Gymnastics used to be that way, at least for women, but it's not really that way anymore. I'm tall," she gave Xander a quick look because she knew he'd have something to say about that, "for a gymnast, you've seen the other girls on my team, but if you look at really powerful gymnasts like Simone Biles, she doesn't really have the look of a ballerina. It's weird to imagine I'd probably look different if that is what I had been brought up to do."
 
Xander smirked but let it slide by. "I guess you're right about that. Takes a bit of doing trying to imagine you in a tutu."

"I don't know. I think you have enjoyed it if that was the life you'd been given," Alec said thoughtfully. "It is really hard to imagine, though."
 
"Maybe, but I'm glad enough to live in this one," Sloan grinned, "You cannot imagine the sense of power you feel when you're in a crowd and you know that you can do a backflip any time you wanted."
 
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