How Green Becomes Wood

"Or they'd feel incredibly immasculated. One day I gotta challenge Xander to a pull-ups competition or something. Men tend to have better upper body strength, and he's pretty fit, so it may not go well for me, but I know I can beat him in a number of physical competitions. Not that he'd be bothered by it." Sloan said, sitting back, "But if we did it in front of people who would be bothered, that would be pretty fun for me."

~~

"What interests me is how people are in the moment, and I like the pictures photographers take where the people they're posing are laughing and breaking the ideal, but..." He shrugged, "To get those, you need to promise the perfect ones. I'm not interested in perfection."
 
Rumy's eyes lit up. "Oh, I would pay real money to watch that! I gotta give you my phone number so that if that ever happens, you can let me know. I'd lose in a heartbeat, but I'd love to see it."

~~

Xander snickered lightly. "Perfection is overrated, man. I like yours better just to look at, but I see the purpose in, like, commemorative posed stupid ones."
 
"Oh, sure," Sloan replied, a little surprised, as she handed her phone over, "It'll be beyond embarrassing if I lose, though. I've been an athlete for years longer than him."

~~

"Luckily, there are many photographers who do the other work," Milo said, looking at Xander with a wry smile.
 
"Then you'll just have to make sure you don't lose," Rumy said cheerfully and slowly as she typed in her number. Then she took a picture of herself with and exaggerated grin before handing it back. "I have faith. Plus, he's heavier than you. It'll be harder even with the upper body strength issue."

~~

"Leaving a nice niche for you to fill," Xander said with an answering grin.
 
"That's true," She agreed, turning and scanning the room for him, "I could always challenge him now. Not to compete today, I wouldn't want to give the Hollis' a heart attack as we start swinging from random objects, but I could throw down the gauntlet."

~~

"Exactly. I'm like... a wildlife photographer. But for people." Milo told him, unable to help but grinning back at his friend.
 
"That would be kind of hilarious if you did do it here and now, but that's probably not a good idea," Rumy giggled. She turned to look as well until she spotted Xander and Milo in the corner. "There he is! Over there with that tall guy with the camera."

~~

"At least you're a fellow people and don't spook your subject matter, unlike nature photography, so there's less sitting around as still as possible," Xander snickered.
 
"Great," Sloan grinned, standing up, "That's Milo, by the way. He's cool, I guess, but quiet. I don't really know him that well, but he takes cool pictures, from what I've seen. Do you want to come with when I go challenge him?"

~~

"I sometimes spook them. Did you forget I got the s*** kicked out of me for photographing the girl's locker room? I mean, I didn't photograph the locker room, but I was accused of doing it, and either way it meant people were spooked. Or at least weirded out."
 
"Nah, I should stay here and wait for Sherri. I'm her ride, and we should probably be heading out soon," Rumy said, checking her watch. "You go ahead." She looked up and smiled at Sloan. "It was great meeting you and getting to know you. I hope we can keep in touch."

~~

"Meh, they'd have found some other reason, but point taken," Xander shrugged.
 
"Alright," Sloan said, hopping off the stool where she was sitting, "Feel free to text me! And we go to the same school, so I'm sure we'll see each other around! Tell Sheila I hope it went well."


Then she made her way across the party while Milo agreed it would've still happened--and had done so--but he immediately shut himself up when Sloan walked up and stuffed his hands in his pockets.

"Hey, you two!" Sloan said with a grin, "Having fun?"
 
Xander considered the question. "Yes," he concluded. "I think some amount of fun is being had, at least on my part."

Alec left his chair and bounced over to Sloan. "Hi! How about you? Having fun?"
 
"Oh yeah, I'm having a blast!" Sloan replied with a grin, "It's been really fun, and you all made the right call having Peter's parents chaperone instead of yours. I was thinking about it while they were dancing, you know, why it was just them two, but I remembered that since Mr. Dark is a teacher, nobody would have fun if he was watching."
 
"And they kind of volunteered, and our parents needed a break," Alec remarked.

"And no one has broken anything or started any kind of contest other than a cup-stacking contest," Xander said, sounding slightly disappointed.
 
"Oh yeah, I bet they did!" Sloan agreed, "Plus, like," she gestured at the room, "I don't know if Daizi is the best person to make sure everyone is behaving. People can be quiet and gross. But!" She grinned at Xander, "Speaking of contests--I want to challenge you to a pull ups contest. Or some sort of physical contest. I want to show off."
 
Xander smirked. "You're on!" he agreed.

"What, here? Now?" Alec yelped. "But we were just talking about how nice everyone is being! And quiet. And I don't want to get on the Hollis' bad side."

"Oh, come on. Most people are already leaving," Xander pointed out, indicating the steady trickle of teens gradually making their way toward the door. "There will be plenty of space."
 
"As long as there's something we can use that won't break," Sloan replied brightly, and then looked at Xander with a devious glare in her eyes, "I'm basically an expert at supporting my bodyweight, so good luck, kid."
 
"Nope, nope, nope!" Alec said, holding up his hands and stepping between them as it looked like Xander was about to agree. "I refuse to take the chance that something might break here. Besides, it's a bad example, and Mrs. Hollis will be very disappointed in us." He shot Milo a pleading look, hoping for back up.
 
"Well then why not ask her for permission?" Sloan asked, still grinning, "If she agrees we can do it, she won't be disappointed at all."

Milo looked at Alec with wide eyes, and shook his head to silently plead right back to not be forced to speak up and share an opinion.
 
Alec sighed in defeat when no support came - not that he was particularly surprised - and nodded. "Alright, fine. We'll go ask Mrs. Hollis for her opinion on this... competition thing."

"Awesome. Let's go," Xander said, marching off toward where he'd last seen her.
 
"Perfect," Sloan said, happily walking along with them, for the first time glad she hadn't had time to put together a nicer outfit, and when she found Mrs. Hollis, she stopped and politely said, "Hi, Mrs. Hollis! Thank you so much for helping to organize all of this!"
 
Mrs. Hollis turned and gave Sloan a brilliant smile. "You are very welcome! Actually, Alec did most of the work. I mostly picked the venue and made certain his orders were carried out. He's quite the talented party planner." She nodded to Alec, who'd trailed behind Sloan and Xander. He flushed with pride at her praise. It's been a pleasure to see all of you having such a good time, and I have to admit, I'm enjoying myself, too. Most of my parties are work-related. THis is a lovely change of pace."
 
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