alderwitch Posted August 4, 2009 Author Posted August 4, 2009 Alex glanced up as Mark got out of the pool. It was poor timing as Mrs. Albright called out from the doorway and Alex nearly jumped out of her skin. Shaking her head, she floated over to her parents for a quick goodbye. "Enjoy your party and have fun, sweetie! Remember not to fly too high. Bye, kids!" And with one more teary wave the parents were gone and the kids were left to their own devices. Alex floated back over to the pool and scooped the ball out of the basket and tossed it back at Chris and Eddie's end of the pool as she sank into the water next to Erin. "Mom's not so nervous about the neighbors noticing us flying anymore. She used to freak out when we were kids though. We had the tallest bushes around the whole fence. Hard to believe she used to do the superhero thing."
quotemyname Posted August 4, 2009 Posted August 4, 2009 Eddie fished the ball out of the water. "I don't think I am as good a shot as Mark, but here goes nothing!" He sent the ball flying at the hoop, but it went wide. Luckily it missed the two girls. "Man! Guess its a good thing I still have my day job!" "Hey, what do you think the chances are of us getting Erin to dance?" He asked James as he waited for the ball to be returned.
angrydurf Posted August 4, 2009 Posted August 4, 2009 Sport or game the basketball-esq pursuit of the others didn't really appeal to Mikes sensabilities so he took the oportunity to pop out of the pool his normally loose pants clinging like he was in some kind of Calvin Klien ad. With a small laugh as he slicked his hair back out of his face he told the group, "Be right back I'm gonna get into an actual swim suit." After changing he took a few extra minutes to toss his sopping clothes in the drier in the garage before returning poolside his simple black bermuda shorts not as flashy as some suits but they got the job done.
Cyroa Posted August 4, 2009 Posted August 4, 2009 James looked at Eddie for a moment. "If by dance you mean to put on a display of fancy footwork that comes with fighting, and showing us some cool moves, I think that's possible. As for regular dancing," he shrugged, "why don't you just ask her?" He snagged the ball himself before tossing it for the basket. Not quite perfect but at least it was closer than Eddie's shot. "She is right there and can hear perfectly well you know," he said with a grin.
Electra Posted August 4, 2009 Posted August 4, 2009 Erin, at the moment, was more interested in talking to Alex than in what the boys were doing, and didn't pay them much attention besides tossing the ball back when they whiffed it. "It's probably different when it's your kid doing hero stuff than when it's you," she suggested to Alex, looking over for a moment to where the Albrights had exited. "Especially when you were too little to know what you were getting into. But you're getting trained now. Have you told them about being on the team yet?" She picked up the rubber duck, squeezed it so it made a wheezy squeaking noise, and lobbed it cleanly into the floating basket.
quotemyname Posted August 4, 2009 Posted August 4, 2009 "Heh" Eddie chuckled as he threw another shot that went wide. "That's not what I meant an' you know it. That girl is way to 'serious-face' for me. Besides I am pretty sure she only puts up with me because the rest of you do. I doubt she would come near me with a ten foot pole if it were up to her." He looked pointedly at James for a moment before deciding something. "Now you on the other hand she might dance with." Eddie smiled.
Cyroa Posted August 4, 2009 Posted August 4, 2009 James chuckled. "Ten foot pole? You're being generous. I was thinking 100," he added with a laugh, joking. He had no idea if Erin disliked Eddie or not. Nor did it matter to him either way really. Not his problem. "Me? Nah, we're just friends. She's not interested in being with anyone as far as I know." He looked over as Eddie missed yet again. "Dude...you really suck at basketball."
Avenger Assembled Posted August 5, 2009 Posted August 5, 2009 Mark came wandering back with a paper plate of nachos and a big drink, giving a cheerful wave to the others as he reclined in the sun near the pool. "Don't mind me!" he called. "I'm just going to catch some rays and enjoy the view." He smiled at everyone there, but especially Alex as he dug into his food. What the heck, he couldn't spend all day in the water.
alderwitch Posted August 6, 2009 Author Posted August 6, 2009 Alex ducked the most recent dramatic miss and went to fetch the ball in question, returning to Erin's side she cast a look over at the boys chatting and pointed out in undertone, "I'm a little socially behind, I know, but I'm pretty sure that Eddie and James are 'checking you out'." She gestured to the boys chatting at the far end of the pool to emphasize her statement as she lobbed the ball back at them.
Electra Posted August 6, 2009 Posted August 6, 2009 Erin snorted, looking over to the boys with raised eyebrows. "They're obviously jealous of my extraordinary ability to put a projectile in the basket. I'm kind of amazed we haven't gotten beaned yet." Alex obviously didn't seem to want to talk about her folks and the team, so Erin didn't pursue it. "We could always leave them to it and get the board games out, now that we've gotten to see everyone in their swim trunks."
quotemyname Posted August 6, 2009 Posted August 6, 2009 Eddie received the ball and shot it again. "@#$%, man! I really suck at this!" Eddie cried as the ball sailed wide once more. Eddie looked back and forth around the pool. It seemed like the water was losing everyone's attention. "Aww screw basketball. I'm gonna go do something I'm actually good at!" Eddie swam to the side of the pool and hoisted himself out. After drying himself off most of the way he decided he would let himself air dry the rest of the way. He flung the towel onto the ground on the concrete away from the pool, and flattened it out. He briefly visited the DJ table, pressed a few buttons, selected another play list, and let it go. Before anyone could say anything else, he was back to the towel that he had set up and was using it to break dance. And he had been right. He was good at it too!
alderwitch Posted August 7, 2009 Author Posted August 7, 2009 Alex blushed furiously at the mention of swim-suits on the boys, averting her eyes. It wasn't her fault the boys were being distracting after all. As far as Alex could tell, teenage boys - at least ones like her teammates that spent a lot of time doing athletic activity - seemed to take off their shirts whenever opportunity arose. Not that she was complaining per say... "Ah. Yeah. I can go get boardgames. Anyone have any preferences?" She floated out of the pool and grabbed a towel to dry off while she watched Eddie dance. She really hoped that wasn't the kind of dancing he wanted to teach her. Alex would probably kill herself, "Or I can grab a bunch if someone wants to give me a hand with them.They're all up in the attic."
angrydurf Posted August 7, 2009 Posted August 7, 2009 Mike chuckled softly this was the birthday events he remembered, "Sure I'll give you a hand." He said. He hadn't gotton back int he pool yet so was still dry though shirtless as the other boys. He followed Alex towards the house, "So long as its not monopoly people get way to vicious over that game." He joked
quotemyname Posted August 7, 2009 Posted August 7, 2009 After his third spinning handstand, Eddie back flipped back onto his feet as the song finished. "Wooo!" Breathing heavily, he cheered. "That was awesome. I haven't danced like that in ages!" Eddie wasn't completely oblivious. Well, not most of the time anyways. He noticed Alex's look. "Woah, hey, don't get the wrong idea. It took me years to learn to dance like that. I won't make you do anything like that in your first lesson. But if you want a lesson before you crack open the board games I would be happy to oblige." Eddie went to his things by the DJ table and collected them. "Either way, I am getting really pruney. I think I am done in the pool for a while. I'm gonna go change. Then we can do whatever you want, Birthday Girl."
Cyroa Posted August 7, 2009 Posted August 7, 2009 Seemed like water time was done. James pulled himself out of the pull and stripped off his soaked clothes. Throwing them in the water had been totally worth it. He stripped to the the bathing suit, tossing the wet clothes of to one side where the rest where. A little flick of his mind and the temperature in a small area around them started rising fast. He figured the clothes would be dry in a few minutes at that rate. Good enough. He wasn't shy, so leaving just his suit on, he headed over for some food. More like nibble food and not a full meal.
Electra Posted August 7, 2009 Posted August 7, 2009 Erin put a hand on the ledge around the pool and jumped out, scrubbing herself down with a beach towel, then wrapping it around herself like a sari. "Candyland should work pretty well for everyone's attention span," she suggested as she followed Alex and Mike towards the house, veering over at the last minute back to the snack table. With a can of soda in hand, she stretched out on one of the beach chairs as well, pretending like she had some chance at actually tanning. As far as she could tell, the weather would need to be much more supernova-y for that to happen. Still felt nice, though. Turning her head, she looked over at Mark in the adjacent chair. "So what did you get Alex for her birthday?"
Avenger Assembled Posted August 10, 2009 Posted August 10, 2009 "That'd be telling," said Mark with a half-smile. "And you never know how much Alex can overhear," he added. "You want a nacho?" he offered, passing the big plate her way invitingly. He'd loaded them down with lots of cheesy salsa dip, evidently not worried about gaining weight from the fatty food. "Actually," he murmured to Erin when he was leaning close, "it's a big book on the history of psychic superheroes. I'm sure she's read it already, but it's got a big section on some of her favorites like the Scarab. Also, a gift certificate to Starbucks." He grinned.
Cyroa Posted August 10, 2009 Posted August 10, 2009 James grabbed a soda and wandered over to Erin and Mark. "Discussing Alex's gift?" He paused and continued. "I gotta ask. Do people normally play board games on their sixteenth birthday? It's a new one to me, but whatever she wants to do right?"
quotemyname Posted August 10, 2009 Posted August 10, 2009 Tossing his towel off onto the pile of his other belongings, Eddie chimed in at what seemed like a good moment. "Most of the kids I knew from home that were older than me always had wild parties for their 16th birthdays." He added, "But your right, it's her party, she can cry if she wants to...So to speak of course. Not that I want to see her crying. Because I don't!" Eddie shook his hands dismissively as if to say, 'I would never think of it!'
Ecalsneerg Posted August 11, 2009 Posted August 11, 2009 "If she cries, I could cry," suggested Chris as he joined the group. "Nothing's more distracting than having a good laugh at a crying man." "And Eddie, man, you clearly have not played Monopoly until the end of the game. It gets wild. And often violent."
alderwitch Posted August 11, 2009 Author Posted August 11, 2009 There were a lot of boxes in the attic, and a lot of board games. Alex gestured vaguely at a stack of dusty and obviously older boxes for Mike to take down, saying, "I think Candylands in there somewhere. Just take them all down and we'll look through by the pool." Alex picked up the smaller stack of old stand-by games that weren't packed in a larger box and proceeded her friend down the stairs.
quotemyname Posted August 11, 2009 Posted August 11, 2009 "And Eddie, man, you clearly have not played Monopoly until the end of the game. It gets wild. And often violent." "Dude... Don't even get me started." Eddie said frankly. He started munching on some snacks from the snack table while they were talking. "Back home my friends and I usually never even made it past buying properties." Eddie's look soured. "And Risk... oh man... Jack was never allowed to play risk. Whenever he started losing he would just flip the board over as hard as possible and yell, 'Blitzkrieg!' at the top of his lungs..."
angrydurf Posted August 11, 2009 Posted August 11, 2009 "You got it birthday girl." Mike said as he hoisted the larger box onto his shoulder stirring a not so small cloud of dust as he followed Alex down the lader. He waved the dust away from is face with his free hand saying, "Its been awhile for these ones I think." Once they reached poolside he deposited the box well away from the pool where it would stay dry and pulled up the top layer of boxes to see what all they had uncovered.
Avenger Assembled Posted August 11, 2009 Posted August 11, 2009 "Eh, whatever floats her boat. I went for a ride to the Lighthouse for my sixteenth, but my dad had to pull a lot of strings for that." Mark shrugged at James. Having dried off quickly in the sun, Mark was more than ready for a few board games. "Ooh, I think we'd better go check that out," he said to James and Erin. "Did I hear someone say something about Candyland?"
alderwitch Posted August 11, 2009 Author Posted August 11, 2009 The box lid came off with another puff of dust, revealing no games inside but rather a folded up red and white costume. Alex looked over confusedly then set aside Monopoly to peek over, Mike's shoulder. Her brow wrinkled in confusion, she moved the tunic aside to reveal several photographs of super heroes from two decades ago. The photos were all candids rather than press shots and grainy. "Oh, this is mom's Flightpath stuff," Alex said a touch guiltily.
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