Alex did not understand what was so complicated about registering for a class. He had filled in the same form at least 3 times already, and it was frustrating that he had to keep repeating the same information. He clicked on the next button furiously and groaned when he saw yet another form.
Kiel came out from the kitchen and looked over his shoulder. "I thought you'd filled this out already."
"Yeah, tell me about it," Alex muttered. "I'm signing up for one singular class. Why do they need me to enter my real name and preferred name ten gazillion times?"
Kiel sighed and dropped a kiss onto the top of his head. He had become a little more impulsively affectionate with Alex following their conversation.
Alex still had not gotten around to having the whole "Dad" conversation, but he was happy with how their relationship had deepened. He had thought he would hate physical affection, that it would trigger his trauma, but he had talked with Pandi about it and the therapist had told him that sometimes physical closeness could help heal trauma. Even the kind Alex had been dealt. So he was glad to let Kiel kiss his head and told his brain to accept the endorphins. It was all good. Nothing bad or scary.
Finally, Alex hit the submit button at the bottom of the page and sighed in relief when there were no other forms to fill out. "Thank god," he muttered, shutting the laptop once he had gotten an email confirming his registration.
Kiel smiled when Alex looked up at him. "I'm sure the class will be far less painful."
Alex laughed dryly. "It better be, cause this was a nightmare and a half."
Kiel shook his head, the smile still on his face. "Don't worry, you'll have fun. And if you do end up hating it, just text me and I'll come pick you up. It won't be a bother. I'll be downtown all afternoon, so I'll be in the area." Kiel anticipated Alex's worries almost perfectly, maybe because of their conversation or maybe because his own worries were similar. He squeezed Alex's shoulders gently before slipping away to return to helping Adelynn make muffins in the kitchen.
Alex dared a look into the kitchen and stifled a laugh at how absolutely messy it was. He had heard that three-year-olds were agents of chaos, but seeing it with his own eyes was a whole different experience. But he did not want to hurt Adelynn's feelings, so he kept his laughter to himself. Maybe he should offer to help Kiel clean up before they left. Dammit, now he was thinking about the class again and how many new people would be there and far more skilled they would be. It's an introductory class, he told himself as he stared at the confirmation code on the computer screen. Everyone is going to be there to learn, not to show off. You're fine. It's all going to be fine.
But once he stood in the lobby of the modeling academy offering this three-day course, Alex could not find it within himself to be quite so optimistic. The place was huge, and he was not quite sure where he was supposed to go.
Thankfully, the woman signing people in there in the lobby pointed him in the right direction.
He followed her directions until he arrived in a large room that was about half full of kids ranging from Cassie's age to probably 17 or so. He found a good place to observe without it looking like he was staring and watched the interactions that happened around him.
Most of these kids seemed to have no fear of society and happily started up conversations with complete strangers without any sign of reluctance. Well, these kids had never had the person they were supposed to look up to hurt them in unimaginable ways. No wonder they were so friendly and happy among other people.
When the three teachers entered and called the class to order, Alex reluctantly joined the group that matched the number on his file. As he looked around, he realized that they had not been divided by age. Huh. For a group with this range of ages, it seemed strange not to group kids based on age. There were definitely enough kids in each age to make such a division reasonable.
The teacher of Alex's group led them to another, smaller room, had them all sit down, and started teaching. The first lesson was on expression, the teacher demonstrating minute changes in her face that changed her presentation.
When she had them practice, Alex found that he liked focusing on each little thing to make his expression match the one that the teacher had put up on the screen.
The boy next to him, someone who looked like he fell in the 16 to 17 range, smiled at Alex when the teacher stopped practice and gave them a chance to rest their faces before the next expression. "You're really good," he complimented, his dark brown eyes smiling along with his lips.
"Thanks," Alex replied, hoping he did not sound rude. "You, too."
The boy shrugged. "I've had a little practice, but none this detailed. I mean, we're here to learn, so I'm not surprised it's new to me. I'm Ara, by the way."
"Alex."
Ara raised an eyebrow slightly. "I know we just met, but you don't really look like an Alex."
Alex shrugged. "It's my English name. I don't exactly like people butchering my Chinese name."
"Which is?"
Alex sighed and gave into Ara's curiosity. "Xuejian."
Ara nodded. "It's a beautiful name. No wonder you don't want people to mess it up. I mean, if my name wasn't so simple, I'd have to do something similar. And even with three letters people still manage to mispronounce it. Like, why is it so hard for Americans to pronounce literally any other country's names?"
Alex felt himself smile before he could stop it. "I know. It's ridiculous." Was this a friend? Had he just made a friend? As the teacher moved on to describing the next micro-expression they would take on next, Alex found himself sitting a little closer to Ara. He had to hold himself back from laughing out loud when they were practicing and Ara exaggerated every little movement while looking him dead in the eye. He made a calm down gesture with his hand while still smiling, and they managed to practice seriously a few times each before they had to smother their laughter again.
A couple of the other students around them gave them some strange looks, but no one seemed to be annoyed.
After a few more expression lessons, the teacher gave the class a fifteen minute break.
Most students got up and left the room, but Alex did not move and was surprised when Ara stayed too. "I don't feel like walking around right now," he said, trying to use a tone that would tell Ara that he did not have to stay. "I'm fine by myself."
Ara gave a little half-smile. "So am I, but that doesn't mean I want to be alone in a strange place. If you want me to leave you alone, I can."
"No," Alex replied hurriedly, "that's okay. I like talking with you."
"Is it the mockery of American pronunciation that's doing it for you?" Ara teased.
Alex laughed quietly. "Probably."
They chatted until the room filled back up and the teacher stepped in front of the class again to begin instructing them on the basic poses.
During practice, it was even harder to keep a straight face, so Alex did his best not to glance at Ara too often. But they always seemed to glance at each other at the same time, which made it really hard not to start laughing despite the social pressure of their concentrating classmates. When everyone was dismissed at 5:30, Alex and Ara walked out to the lobby together as Alex texted Kiel that he was done.
Ara was also texting someone, probably also asking someone to come pick him up. When he slid his phone into his back pocket, he leaned against the wall next to Alex. "Will I see you for the session tomorrow?"
Alex thought about it and then nodded. "Yeah, I think I'll be back tomorrow. I liked this."
Ara grinned. "Great!" He pushed off the wall and glanced out the window. "My ride's here. See you tomorrow!" He hiked his bag over his shoulder and pushed open one of the glass doors, getting into an SUV that looked like it had driven straight out of a luxury magazine. The person in the passenger seat even got out and opened the back door for Ara. Ara's family had to be super rich, but Ara himself seemed nice and down to earth, so Alex did not have a problem with it. Rich people were fine as long as they were not jerks.
When he saw Kiel's car pull up, Alex left the building and slid into the front seat.
Kiel gave him a smile with a hint of worry behind it. "Did you like it?"
Alex nodded. "I did. I think I might have made a friend?"
The worry vanished from Kiel's eyes. "That's good. I'm glad." He leaned over and half-hugged Alex. "Ready to go home?"
Alex nodded again. Yeah, he was ready to go home. But he was also ready to come back tomorrow and smile with Ara again.