How Green Becomes Wood

She shook her head, "It's tomorrow, unless I slept all the way through Saturday. I wouldn't have gone to a party the night before a competition. I'll be fine for tomorrow."

"You are welcome to be here for as long as you like, but if you wanted to sneak away early in the morning, you're running out of time," Daizi interrupted gently.
 
"Got my S days backward," Xader muttered. "Anyway, she's right."

Alec came over to join the conversation. "Maybe you can come over again later, if you want, just to be somewhere calmer. In the meantime, I got these for you." He held out the hoodie and his special grey coat to Sloan. "I think they'll fit well enough."
 
"Thank you," Sloan said, taking the clothes from him, "I think I'll probably just sleep for a lot of today. But you're coming tomorrow, right? So we'll see each other then... Oh." She paused, staring at the front hall, "I wore heels here."
 
Xander followed her to the hall. "I'm guessing you changed clothes in your car on the way to the party, right? They should be there, then. Or I guess you can say something happened to your shoes and you had to borrow a pair from your friend."
 
"Oh," Xander said, feeling ridiculous. "Right. Well..."

"Your feet can fit in my shoes," Alec said, fighting down a smile. "They won't be that comfy, but it's just to the car, right?"
 
"Do you have an opaque bag I can put my shoes and the rest of my things in? I can wear my shirt from yesterday under it, but my shoes and skirt from yesterday are probably best hidden." Sloan asked, "I guess you could probably just bring it to me at school, but I don't want to leave my stuff lying around your house."
 
"No, I think that's it... I'm nervous, is that weird? I know the chances of them looking out and seeing me is small, but I'm still nervous, like they're going to look out and immediately tell." Sloan replied, pulling the hoody and jacket on and looking in the mirror to make sure the differences between her body and Alec's weren't too obvious between the layers she was wearing. It wasn't perfect, but she could hold the bag up and it would probably solve it. "I guess that's all."
 
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Alec put a hand on her shoulder. "Deep breaths," he told her gently. "It's going to be okay. I promise. Just breathe and let things slide back to normal. If you need anything at all, we're here for you. Anything at any time."

Xander picked up the car keys and moved to open the door. "Alright, let's get rolling. I'll be back soon."
 
Sloan made quick goodbyes to Dark, Daizi, and Alec, then pulled up her hood, making sure to tuck her hair back, and followed after Xander, holding her bag of belongings to her chest, keeping her eyes trained on the ground as she got into Dark's car.
 
Xander got into the driver's seat, it still felt weird to sit here, and waited until Sloan was settled and buckled before starting the car. Once they'd driven a couple of blocks, he said, "I figure I'll make sure you get your car alright and give you a few minutes' head start before heading back. Might look weird if we're back to back, but even five, ten minutes won't be so weird."
 
"Sure," Xander said with a slight nod. It never occurred to him even for a second to not go get her. Not once. "Oh, do you know a girl who shares the same math class as me?" He described her briefly. "She came up to me last night and said she was scared to invite me or something."
 
"I might have seen her? But you're a year younger than me, and I don't know everyone in all of your classes. What does she look like?" Sloan asked, able actually look at Xander, "It sounds like she's into you."
 
Xander described the girl as best as he could, but he hadn't been paying too close attention that night. Or in that class. He still managed to pull up a decent description of her. "I dunno why she'd be into me. I don't think we've said two words to each other. Must be the guitar."
 
"It could be Hope Spencer? I met someone who looks kinda like that when they were taking yearbook photos during a SC meeting." Sloan suggested, but she wasn't certain at all. "You don't have to know someone well to develop feelings for them, unless you're demi, aro, or ace. I doubt it's the guitar, though, if she doesn't speak to you, she probably doesn't know about your pizza gig, and I doubt she'd have a crush on you for an entire year if it's just because she saw you in the talent show. She probably likes the way you dress or the way you push your hair or the way she sees you talk to others. Maybe she saw you get into a fight."
 
"I don't know what demi or aro means, but I guess I get the gist," Xander said, feeling a little uncomfortable but not wanting Sloan to catch on. He was the one who'd brought this up. "I dunno, I guess I don't pay enough attention to other people to get the idea of feelings without getting to know them." He shrugged. "Could be I'm just a weirdo that way. Anyway, I was just wondering since she came to talk to me. Not used to that kind of thing."
 
"Demisexual is when you fell sexual attraction to others, but only after you've developed a strong emotional bond with them," Sloan explained, looking away again, very much wondering, with what Xander had said, how he was going to react to that description, "You can look at people and in an objective sense know they're attractive, but you're not going to fantasize about 'being with' a celebrity. Demiromantic is like being demisexual but for romantic feelings, and Aromantic is like that but for Asexuality, if that makes sense. You can be any combination of the four, or none of them, and it can change throughout your life, and that's all without figuring out which, if any, genders you're attracted to."

At the end of her explanation she paused for a few moments and then, definitively, said, "You're not a weirdo."
 
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Xander's head was swimming by the time Sloan finished the explanation. Not from any fault of Sloan's, just from the sheer amount of unfamiliarity terminology. "I think people like to make a hard thing even harder for themselves by chopping it up into tiny pieces and labeling it all," he grumbled quietly. He shook his head slightly. It didn't matter to him if he was considered ace, demi, or any other thing. Whatever the case, he wasn't interested. Boy, girl, or penguin, it was more trouble than it was worth and not a heartache he was interested in exploring.

He glanced at Sloan at her quiet statement. "Thanks." He looked ahead. "You aren't either."

He turned the corner, and their destination lay in sight at the end of the street.
 
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