Interesting Development

[Ezra Cooper]

"Do I look young? Could I pass off as fifteen? Because I think she was eleven or twelve or something." He chuckled before laughing loudly at her next statement. "I am desperate for a man to show me the ways of the world, Zo." He rubbed his stomach at the stitch he got from laughing too much. Although it did hit home quite a bit since he actually had some daddy issues.

The way Zoe looked made Ezra very curious as to how it all actually went. "No way, you used your phone? Zo, what have I taught you?" He teased before looking at Zoe expectantly. "Can I see them then? What was she like? Your date. I'm assuming it's a she because you have that look."

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

Zoe had to giggle slightly at Ezra's protests. Did he look quite that young? Probably not. He could possibly pass for sixteen or so. She tried to imagine a twelve year old even having enough money to bid at the auction. Then again, not all of them went for as much as Zoe. She'd heard at least one more went. Naturally Ezra had to keep going though, and keep having Zoe barely suppress giggles.

Zoe winced. "I knooow, but I needed one of both of us," Zoe said. She was already nodding, but gesturing. She couldn't very well pull her phone out in the dark room: that sort of betrayed the point of the place to begin with. "And my date was---" Zoe began, before pausing to look at Ezra. "Are you saying that I look like a lesbian?" she said, glancing down. She didn't think she looked particularly butch. Was there some sort of sign or something? She'd even grown out her hair lately...

[Ezra Cooper]

He laughed and waved a dismissive hand. "I was just kidding. Are you kidding me? I use my phone all the time to take stupid selfies to send to Alex." He chuckled before his face froze mid-grin.

"What? No! Jesus, Zo." He laughed. "I meant you only get that look on your face when it's a girl." He couldn't help but laugh again before threatening to pinch her. "You're cute, did you know that? You really are."

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

The comment would've had Zoe chuckling were she not wondering what about her precisely looked so lesbian. "What? oh," she frowned at him as he moved to pinch her, not really fighting it all that much. If he tried, then he'd just get tingling fingers as a result.

"Well, yes, she was a girl, named Riley, and she's amazing and we kissed and we're definitely going on a second date," Zoe insisted. She was also backing out a little more, lowering her head slightly and nearly sprinting out of the dark room with the last few words, fairly certain that Ezra was going to follow right behind her. Given that he'd mentioned Alex, Zoe was fairly confident that she could tease him right back... well, as best as Zoe could really tease anyone.

[Ezra Cooper]

Ezra didn't intend on actually pinching her; he learnt his lesson about touching Zoe unannounced the hard way. He listened as she talked about her date and he smiled, kind of excited that Zoe was getting close to someone again.

"That's-" He was about to say great when Zoe ran out of the room. He laughed out of confusion but followed her out anyway.

"Hey, what gives?" He asked, his tone amused.

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

Zoe spent the few seconds out of the dark room finding her phone. She had it in hand by the time Ezra finally showed up. There were messages to scroll through (as always). Vera and Deyvn and Di and Liz and of course, Riley herself. Zoe let Ezra ask his question before showing him the photo.

her and her date wrapped up in one another, hugging and nuzzling against each other. Both looking up at the camera, Zoe looking downright radiant while her date showed pure affection from a pair of rather smoky looking eyes. Zoe licked her lips for a moment before turning the phone to Ezra.

"That's her," she said, pointing at it. "That's, um, Riley." She flushed, feeling incredibly embarrassed to even be mentioning this to Ezra, but she also couldn't help but show her happiness, her lips already starting to twitch steadily upwards.

[Ezra Cooper]

Looking down at her phone, his eyes went straight to Zoe, as it always did before he looked at her partner and he grinned widely. "Hey, I know her!" He exclaimed before going through his photos and taking out the ones of the girl he had met a few weeks ago.

He showed them to Zoe and grinned. "She was an excellent subject." He looked at Zoe and grinned slyly. "You can keep some if you want."

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

The exclamation almost had Zoe jumping. Yet again she just barely managed to suppress the instinct, instead turning to look at her friend. "Really?" was all she could manage before he was off to look through photographs. She scooted over, watching as he pulled them out.

"So she did have modeling experience!" Zoe said, practically chirping with excitement. She was already looking through them, shuffling. "I, um, well, I've, ah, got this one," she said, raising her phone for a moment, flushing. She chewed at her cheek, looking over the others. "Plus, this just gives me an excuse to use her as a model," Zoe offered. She tried not to think of the idea of doing a set of nudes or something. Of course, now she was thinking of doing an entire series of nudes...

"Oh, I should model for you sometime!" Zoe said, looking to Ezra. "I haven't been on that side of the camera in forever! That is, um," more cheek-chewing, "if you... want me to."

[Ezra Cooper]

"Not prior to this but yeah!" Ezra chuckled. His teasing got the reaction he thought it would and he couldn't help but nudge her a little and wriggling his eyebrows. "Oh ho ho." He teased her some more before widening his eyes at her.

"Could you? That would be great! Of course I'd want you to. You're one of the prettiest girls in school!" He exclaimed before shrugging. "And also expressive. I could definitely use you as a model." He paused and pointed at her as realisation dawned on him. "We should go on a photography expedition. We bring our equipment, drive around some place. Preferably in Montana still. And then we just take pictures. I can still use you as a model, obviously and I also get to take pictures of everywhere else!"

Raising both his eyebrows, he beamed at her. "Whaddya say?"

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

The teasing made Zoe giggle again, before tucking her phone back into her chest as if it were, well, a picture of a teenage girl's crush. Sometimes it really did feel good to actually slide into just doing that, being normal and whatnot for the time being, even if she did still have to worry about holding her crush's hand too long.

It seemed as though her offer to model went over fairly well. The compliment had her looking down and flushing slightly. "That's not true," She insisted. "There are quite a few more appealing girls than me around here," she wasn't really going to argue the expressive point, however. She also knew all too well that being expressive sometimes made a good deal more difference than just having a blank pretty face to photograph.

No sooner had Ezra finished that then he launched into a little scheme, suggesting an entire photo trip. Zoe found herself fighting off giggles again. "You mean like a shorter version of what I did in June?" she asked, half teasing. She chewed her cheek. "I don't know, I mean, I guess we could? There are definitely some pretty spots that are fairly local, if you wanted to..." Zoe chewed her cheek again, wondering if they should try inviting other people, or if this was Ezra's way of hinting that he wanted some friend time.

[Ezra Cooper]

"That's true but you're definitely at the first top half of my list." He nodded with a grin. At this point, he would have ruffled her hair or even punched her playfully on her shoulder but he was still admittedly rather scared of what would ensue so he kept his hands to himself.

Ezra snapped his fingers when Zoe reminded him that she had indeed done the expedition thing. "Oh yeah. Of course you did. Well, I was thinking of bringing Alex around and using her as one of my subjects for my portfolio. Maybe you can bring Riley too and then you two could...I dunno...canoodle in the middle of the forest or something while Alex and I goof off elsewhere. You know you want to." He grinned, playfully poking the air in her direction.

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

The mention of being at least in the top half of the list had Zoe giggling, but at least she was willing enough to take the compliment. She knew that she was at least good looking enough that other photographers asked to take her picture, which was generally enough for her. She'd also seen the pictures herself, and, well, she did have enough of an aesthetic eye to realize that she had good features.

The further description of the planned road trip had Zoe flushing. The idea of "canoodling" sounded very dirty to Zoe, and she was willing to bet that Ezra had already pieced together that she had to be a virgin. Most people could connect the dots easily enough, though Zoe was willing to bet that Devyn would cover if outright asked.

"I wouldn't want to make you and Alex uncomfortable though," Zoe argued, lowering her eyes. "I mean, it seems almost rude if I'm bringing my---date and you're bringing a friend. Maybe I should, um, bring...Quinn?" She looked up at Ezra, nearly bursting into another fit of giggles. Just the thought of dragging Quinn off on a road trip was almost enough to make even the more reserved Zoe start with the giggles.

[Ezra Cooper]

It was definitely nice seeing Zoe giggling. He had to admit, the times when he would see her hiding in her room or just avoiding any outside contact, it broke his heart. She was slowly coming out of her shell and she was starting to liven up a bit, it was definitely a sight to see.

The idea of him being uncomfortable around Alex in any situation was laughable to Ezra. He did in fact laugh at the notion and shook his head before another big laughter occurred. "Quinn? I think I'd have an easier time ripping a coconut up with my bare hands than get him to come along anywhere." Ezra shook his head and chuckled.

"But whatever it is, Alex and I are always gonna welcome you and whoever you're with anywhere. Even if they don't end up being your date. We'll just hang out as friends!"

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

"Maybe not you, but I could probably convince him," Zoe said, not helping but smiling broadly at the idea. Just the thought of asking Quinn along, and yes, she was fairly certain he would go along if she phrased it in terms of a photo expedition, crammed in a car with a bunch of other teenagers. The whole picture was just so amusing, even to Zoe, who certainly didn't want anyone, especially someone like Quinn who she considered something of a friend, to suffer unduly.

Ezra insisted on bringing Alex along though. Zoe flushed at the mention of the date again. "Well, I do think that Riley would certainly get along with you, and probably Alex as well," Zoe admitted. She added a little chuckle. "She's, um, probably the most agreeable person I've ever gone out with. And she's an artist too! Well, a musician, but still, she's quite impressive. And nice! She Skypes with her sister and I'm sure she'd get along great with Alex, from, um, what you say," Zoe nodded, moving to chew her cheek again. She seemed to rewind and recall everything she just said and flushed.

"Sorry, I, uh, just, sorry," she said, lowering her gaze and flushing. Like Ezra didn't already know all this: he'd met Riley, after all, and she was very much an open book.

[Ezra Cooper]

"You could definitely coax a turtle out of it's shell so yeah why not. It'd be nice to see him outside of the dark room." He nodded.

He grinned and nodded at Zoe's agreement. The mention of things Ezra had already found out from Riley herself had the heat manipulator grinning widely. The girl was totally smitten. He had to tease Riley about this. He just had to.

"No way you don't have to be apologetic. Do you know how long it's been since I saw that look on your face? Too long that's how long it's been." He wriggled a finger in her direction and chuckled.

He slapped the table in front of him lightly and nodded. "That's settled then. I'll ask Alex, you ask Quinn and Riley and we'll try and set a date for it. I mean...not date but d- oh you get what I mean."