How Green Becomes Wood

"Does mini golf count for M or G?" Claire asked, "And what are we going to do for X?"

"Somewhere in here will be the one," Sloan said confidently as she stepped out of the car, "Hopefully, we'll find it before we go mad."
 
Alec thought about that, feeling his father had given him an idea, but he couldn't remember what it was. "I'm sure we'll figure it out! And I think G for golf, mini or otherwise." He slid out of the van and offered her his hand.

Xander glanced toward Alec and Claire. "At least two of us seem to be enjoying themselves. Come on, you two! There's a lot of fabric to fondle."
 
"Ew," Sloan said, grimacing, "Never say it like that again."

"That's so bad!" Claire laughed, taking Alec's hand with a bit of shyness. It wasn't just the two of them, now. Alec's brother was there, her best friend was there. And they were holding hands right there in front of them... It made it more serious, didn't it?
 
Xander snickered at Sloan's reaction but nodded in agreement. It was pretty bad, as Claire chimed in.

Alec hoped his hand wasn't sweaty. He hoped he wasn't shaking as much as he felt he was. Holding Claire's hand somehow felt simultaneously like the most natural thing in the world, and the most special thing ever. Holding hands in front of Xander - the one who had fought with him over dating in the past, felt terrifying and amazing at the same time. He caught Xander glancing a couple of times, but Xander didn't say a word. He seemed vaguely annoyed, but he'd seemed vaguely annoyed since the moment this started, though he'd also clearly had some fun while doing it.

Xander opened the door to the mall for them and ushered them all in, counting them like ducklings before heading to the first likely dress shop. "Here we go. First stop. Twenty minutes of looking, kids."

"Don't start the timer!" Alec groaned.
 
Claire tried to focus on anything else but the fact Alec was holding her hand in front of everyone, which must mean they were sort of public, which meant they were a they. Did that mean he was going to ask her to be his girlfriend? She knew she couldn't just assume, maybe she should ask? They had only been on two dates, so it seemed really soon, but she really wanted to be. Stealing glances with each other, she and Sloan kept trying to have a silent, clandestine celebration with each other because even if there was nothing official, this was still a big step.

"Who made you Tsar of shopping?" Sloan teased Xander as they stepped inside the next shop, "And I'm older than you, so who are you calling kid?"
 
"I'm the driver. Besides, if it were up to that one," he nodded to Alec, who was already distracted and ooh-ing and ahh-ing over a silvery dress, "you'd have never made it out of the first shop, no matter what shop you picked. This Tsar is doing you a favor. A better one than picking out your dresses." He winked at her.
 
"Yep," Xander agreed. He gestured toward the racks of dresses. "You'd better get at it. The perfect one is in there somewhere, and it's up to you to find it. I doubt the rest of us smucks will."

Alec had found a green dress and was holding it up, frowning at the ruffles. He liked the shape, but Sloan might hate the ruffles. He decided to hang onto it and see if he could find a similar cut of dress without the ruffles.
 
"Me?" Xander said, raising his brows. "I'm not allowed to pick out dresses anymore. I assume that means no opinions, either."

Alec came hurrying over as if summoned and showed Slown two dresses. "What do you think of these? I like the shape of the green one, but are the ruffles too much? And I know you didn't like the flapper-ish dress, but what do you think of this mocha beauty?"
 
"You're not sharing your own opinion, you're sharing mine," Sloan replied. Then, looking over the two, she said, "I don't think either of those are really good for me. The mocha one doesn't really suit my skintone... Claire would probably look nice in the green one, though."
 
"True. She would look cute," Alec agreed. He glanced at Xander. "Opinions on what?'

"Ruffles," Xander said. "No more ruffles."

"Fair, but nothing I gave you was as ruffly as that yellow and black getup," Alec grinned. He turned and headed back into the stacks.

"You'd better find a better pick fast," Xander smirked at Sloan. He turned and wandered idly toward the dresses, idly looking around. He spotted a price tag and decided not to touch anything.
 
Sloan took his advice and hurried off. Claire, meanwhile, came up to Xander by happenstance... Or so she'd hope he believe. She had one dress chosen, a dark blue sparkly thing, and she asked, "You weren't serious with your picks, were you?"
 
"Not really." He shrugged. "I mean, it's fine, not the worst thing ever, but I just don't really get it. The whole... prom thing and spending," he paused to look at the price of a dress, and his eyebrows went up, "a lot on a dress you're literally only going to wear once to a high school dance. I'm not trying to rain on any parades, just not my thing."
 
"That's totally fair," Claire agreed. She liked the idea of prom, and was excited for her own next year, but she recognized not everyone felt the way she did, "It is sort of silly. But at least at prom you get to pick the colour instead of being pressured into wearing white, I guess."
 
"I'll give you that. D'jaknow that the white wedding dress wasn't even actually a thing until the 80's? It kind of existed before, thanks to Queen V, but it wasn't until after that big wedding with a billion people watching that it became The Thing." He glanced around quickly and added to Claire, "If you tell anyone I know that, I'll deny it."
 
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