How Green Becomes Wood

"I think it's called a dress. They might both be dresses, I don't know. Are they both dresses if one's in two pieces?" Xander wondered.

"Why? What did you give her? What did he give you?" Alec demanded.
 
"I don't know what this is," Sloan said over the sounds of rustling, "but it is not a dress."

When she stepped out again, she had her hands on her hips and an unamused look on her face. Immediately, Claire had to turn her back and cover her face, certain if she looked at Sloan for even a moment longer, she's fall over dead.

"You," Sloan said to Xander, "Are no longer allowed to pick dresses."
 
"Oh," Alec said in a strangled tone, his mouth twitching as he looked Sloan up and down. "Oh my. I." He turned away and coughed. He sneaked a glance at Claire, and seeing her nearly made him lose it.

Xander grinned unrepentantly and twirled the matching top hat between his hands before plunking it on her head. "Don't know what you're on about. You're fabulous! And everyone is going to know to beware your sting."
 
Silently glaring, Sloan went back inside the dressing room and pulled the curtain shut. As soon as it did, even though Sloan could totally hear her, Claire couldn't keep it together anymore and broke out into laughter.

"I'm not trying on any more of your dresses, Xander!"
 
Claire breaking broke Alec, and he cackled in delight. He laughed so hard he couldn't even speak.

"Oh, come on! Did you even look at the other one? And you could always try this one. I think you'll be a real hit. No one will be able to take their eyes off of you." He thrust one hand through the curtain - very much not looking - and dropped the final dress onto the floor. The one he'd had hidden the whole time. This was a slinky black number with some interesting straps and drapage that technically didn't show anything, but it didn't exactly leave much to the imagination. What it did leave, it taunted. He fully did not expect her to try that one on.
 
Sloan picked up the black, slinky thing. It definitely looked better than Xander's other suggestions, so, while she listened to Claire goose-laugh and wheeze, she changed into it and stepped out, unaware Xander didn't actually expect her to put it on. "I think this would probably break dress code."
 
Alec looked at Sloan. He turned bright red and clapped his hands over his eyes with a little squeak.

Xander looked her up and down and raised his brows. "I think that thing actually covers less than your leotards." The fabric - what there was of it - was not pasted to the body like a leotard was, but there was significantly less of it, and it swayed.

"Sloan," Alec said in a faint voice, "I'm not sure that thing was meant to be worn outside of the house."
 
Claire immediately saw the look on Alec's face and turned her own away, feeling uneasy about the sudden jealousy she felt. But, she supposed it was nice to see he actively avoided staring. She already thought he wasn't a creep, but that made her more certain of the fact.

"What?" Sloan asked, feigning innocence, "Xander gave it to me to try on, so I tried it on. I was just trusting my friend."
 
"Well, it does look good," Xander said, politely keeping his eyes on her face. He wasn't too distressed about everything on display, and Sloan was his friend and strictly off-limits, but he wasn't going to be looking at things no matter what. "Probably will break a few codes, though.

"Did you have any more dress options, Claire?" Alec asked, his eyes still covered, though the flush was fading.
 
"No, she's already tried all of mine," Claire said before lightly nudging Sloan and saying, "Right dress, wrong occasion."

Sloan chuckled slightly and went to change, once more yelling, "Xander isn't allowed to pick dresses anymore!"
 
"I refuse to apologize," Xander said blithely. "Come on, then, troops. Time to head out to the next stop."

Alec busily hung up the dresses on the designated hanger for refused clothes. "I think we have time for a small stop before lunch. What's your next choice, Sloan?"
 
"I figured we would just go to the mall," Sloan said, "I don't know any like... full dress stores anywhere else."

"There are a few places that cater to, like, quinceaneras, but I definitely think those aren't the style of dress for you," Claire said while Sloan changed back into her actual clothes.
 
"Agreed," Alec said. He knew of a couple of potential places, but, like Claire had said, they mostly did things like quinceañeras or weddings, and the other one was definitely way out of Sloan's price range. It was attached to one of Dark's favorite stores, and while they did excellent work, it wasn't exactly high schooler's salary."

"Mall's got a few options. Seems like clothing stores are always opening and closing," Xander remarked.
 
"Let's go," Sloan said, after removing all of the dresses to the proper area to be reshelved. The mall was fairly close by, and as they drove over there, Claire leaned over and quietly told Alec, "We're breaking our streak, we'll be at the mall for an activity not starting with B."
 
Alec giggled softly. "That's true! We skipped C and went to D. Daring dresses for dancing. Although I'm not sure what our last date's letter was." He reached over and tentatively took her hand, smiling at her. "I'm just glad to be doing it with you."
 
Claire's face lit up and she squeezed his hand back too, "I'm glad too." Then, after a moment, she said, "I think N was for our last date."

Sloan caught sight of them in the rearview mirror and then took a quick glance at Xander, not saying anything.
 
"So we can mark off B and N, and now D," he said, keeping his voice lowered for privacy. He rubbed his thumb along her knuckles very lightly, his heart fluttering. "Do you have a choice for our next letter?'

Xander hadn't noticed quite yet, focused on the traffic ahead, but when he did, he started to comment about keeping hands to yourself. He caught Sloan's glance, though, and fell into a grumpy grumble instead and pulled into the parking lot of the mall. "Alright, here we are, folks. Dress central," he said, finding a parking spot.
 
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