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It was going to be a dangerous summer.

Aleks exhaled through his lips as AJ pulled away from his hand, grumbling to himself about slights real and imagined all over again. It was an exhausting process, and a cyclical one, a yawning whirlpool forever threatening to suck each and every person assembled in the parking lot into hell. Well, except Katie. [color=a0410d][i]Katie![/i][/color] The Russian did a little shrug with his eyebrows, and his mouth quirked in her direction. Maybe it would help to know someone wasn't gawking over her. Or maybe not. The people here tended towards self-absorption as a general rule. Sami seemed to have the same idea; his greeting to Katie was as warm and familial as his next, and his next and his next. 

Instead of shadowing AJ, Aleks decided to follow in the Latino's wake instead, going after some of Reyna and Ava's pancakes. He balanced the bottom of his mocha in one hand and waited patiently for Sami to finish shoveling out handfuls. He seemed to wrap them up in his hands like burritos, which was a good strategy in lieu of managing his flatware. Aleks looked down; the only utensils he'd brought were for Chloé's fruit salad, not any potential food of his own. 

Fuck it. Soon they would be dying for a taste of In N Out while marooned in Montana, or Arkansas, or Missouri, or any of the other nameless states Aleks believed were made up by these douchebags to befuddle him. For this one final morning, he was in California; he would eat as the Californians ate. So when it was his turn for a plate, Aleks took one politely - and then proceeded to wrap up the pancakes in the same cylindrical shape, although it seemed too thick to take a bite out of without looking disgusting. Sami didn't seem to mind - he was still pirouetting between Emi and Josie, planting kisses and winning hearts - and more power to him, but Aleks would be damned if his kisses left crumbs on anyone. He would have sulked like AJ if someone had left crumbs on him. 

Most of the pancakes, save for one at the very heart of the breakfast roll-up, unfolded back into their original shape, resting on the plate. Aleks washed down his first bite and smiled brightly.

[color=a0410d]"[i]Spasibo[/i],"[/color] he thanked Reyna gratefully; he passed his compliments to the chef with a wink. [color=a0410d]"Glad you made it, Reyna. You too, Ava."[/color]

His eyes found Chloé amid the throng of new arrivals - she was between Ivy and Chris, both of whom had no doubt received a helping of her Nainai's hospitality recently; they'd gotten here together. He grinned at his best friend and raised her Starbucks order - drink and chocolate bar balanced aloft in his hand in his best, most coquettish impersonation of Lady Liberty. He had the mentality of a gymnast - and what's more, the body. He could hold that pose like a motherfucker for as long as he needed to. 

[color=a0410d][i]Watch.[/i][/color] His eyes dared hers, a silent challenge.

[color=a0410d]"AJ and Val are already hissing at each other in there,"[/color] he murmured under his breath to Reyna and Ava. [color=a0410d]"People aren't even out of their cars yet. By Vegas there will be fucking bodies in the van."[/color]