"Okay, I think that's enough dance lessons for one night," commented Martha Anderson, as she looked at the living room clock and saw it was almost 9:30. "How do you feel?" she asked Eric.
"I think I'm starting to get the hang of this. I just hope I'm good enough to dance with Julie next weekend," replied her youngest son.
"Don't worry son. You will be," said his father, confidently.
"There's one thing that maybe I should point out," said his older brother Nate, as he rose up from the couch. "Mom and dad have been teaching you a lot of couples dances, and that's great for romantic moments. But nowadays not every dance involves the couple being so close to each other."
"What do you mean?" asked Eric, as everyone looked at Nate with somewhat of a confused expression on their faces.
"I don't know all their names, but there are plenty of dances where it's just basically the couple moving around together in time with the music and the rhythm of the song's beat more than actually dancing. Here, I'll show you," offered Nate, as he went back to one song from earlier on his parents' CDs that they skipped during Eric's dance lessons.
As Micky Dolenz announced, The local rock group down the street is trying hard to learn their song to the opening bars of The Monkees' "Pleasant Valley Sunday", Nate just began dancing around in a relatively small space on the cleared floor. He moved his arms, shuffled, and jumped about for the weekend squire who just came out to mow his lawn.
"See what I'm getting at Eric?" asked Nate, hoping he wasn't making a fool out of himself. "You're still dancing, but neither you nor your partner will actually be holding hands or even remotely touching each other, unless you decide to bump hips for some reason during a number."
"That does kind of look like fun," replied Eric, as he began dancing around as Mrs. Gray took pride in her roses and Mr. Green was happy to have a TV in every room, although why anyone could or would watch so much television was beyond him.
Soon even his parents were happily dancing together until the last strains of the final coda echoed through the speakers.
"What Nate was trying to point out in his own unique way," began William Anderson, as he shut the stereo off for the night, "is that there is a wide variety of music out there. We would have saved what we just did for later, because it's pretty much the easiest to learn, but there's no way to know for sure what will be on the play list until the Halloween dance actually begins."
"And what you get to dance to will also be influenced by all the requests whoever's there will make to the DJ on duty too," added his mother.
"Wow. I hope I can master it all by next weekend," commented Eric.
"Some of the great dance masters of our time will be the first to admit that they are still learning too," replied Martha, which made Eric smile. "The most important thing to learn from all of this is that you and Julie love each other so much. Otherwise, why take dance lessons?" added his mother.
"That we do," replied Eric with a smile. Then he thanked everyone for their help before going upstairs to get ready for bed, hoping there was still time to catch Julie in chat.
MEANWHILE...
Samantha, Frances, and Ben Twist spent another hour or so well past dessert talking with Ben's new girlfriend Kenya Adaeze.
Despite the kind of awkward position of Ben expressing a romantic interest in a slightly older woman, Samantha and Frances soon warmed up to Kenya, even to the point of telling past tales about themselves and Ben.
"In all honesty, I don't know who it was most embarrassing for, Ben or us," said Samantha. "It wasn't until we were sorting laundry that we realized that somehow, one of Frances' red lace bra and panty sets had gotten mixed in with the load of whites we were doing."
"The accident completely bleached out that set, and thankfully we all had other underwear available, but Ben just refused to wear anything from that now pink load," added Frances.
"That's not quite true," Ben said politely. "I did wear a couple of the shirts between Mothers' Day and Breast Cancer Awareness month, until I outgrew them," he reminded his mothers.
"You are a good son," said Kenya, smiling at Ben, "and you are wonderful parents," she added, looking at Samantha and Frances. "You are all a wonderful family that I am proud to welcomed into, but I'm afraid it is getting late and we both have school tomorrow," observed Kenya, while looking at Ben again.
"Can I walk you out?" asked Ben, rising up and offering Kenya his hand.
"I would be honored Benjamin," she replied, rising as she took his hand in hers.
"I'm only going as far as the end of the driveway. Back soon," announced Ben, before holding the front door open for Kenya.
As the new couple left, Samantha turned to Frances and asked, "Did we do the right thing?"
"Ben's happy, and Kenya is definitely a competent and capable woman," replied her wife.
"I still have some slight reservation about the age difference," admitted Samantha. "I know it won't make much difference to them as weres, but until Ben's of legal age as far as the normal world is concerned..."
"Sometimes I wonder if we might have been more of an influence on Ben than we thought."
"What do you mean?" asked Samantha.
"Well, ever since his first transformation, Ben's always acted like he's never quite found whatever it is he's looking for in life. I suspect he's never been happy, at least romantically, with female weres his own age. Yet he sees us all the time as older, intelligent women," observed Frances, now in therapist mode again.
"You mean..." replied Samantha, stopping to think about things for a bit.
"Whether he knows it or not, Ben is looking for someone bright, mature, and intelligent to have a long term relationship with. In that respect, he's kind of like Eric falling for Julie Stovall," pointed out Frances. "They're both very smart kids too, even if they haven't quite gotten the hang of the rest of the world yet."
"OH!" realized Samantha. "I was afraid you were going to say Ben was into MILFs."
"What's a—" Frances began to ask, when Samantha answered her.
Frances looked lovingly at her wife and purred, "Well... considering you are a year older than me..." as she started running a finger lightly and seductively in the valley between Samantha's breasts.
"Just wait until I get you alone in bed for the night you sexy kitten you," said Samantha with a smile, before she held Frances close to her.
OUTSIDE...
"Kenya, I—" began Ben, using his right hand to express his nervous tic of scratching the back of his head while trying to find the right words to say.
"If it was your intention to do so, there is no need to apologize for your parents. They are both kind, loving mothers who care about you very much," replied Kenya, looking lovingly at her new boyfriend.
"It wasn't just that," said Ben, raising his head to look at her, because Kenya was slightly taller than him in normal form. "What I wanted to say was that... while we've only known each other a very short time, you have become very special to me, and I'm grateful they have given us permission to date, because I want our relationship to grow and—"
"Then be sure to thank them again once you are back inside. Now quiet, my young werewolf," Kenya said sweetly, while gently putting a finger on Ben's lips. "Sometimes it is our actions, instead of our words, that fully express how we feel."
With that Kenya took a step closer to Ben, and then removed her finger to replace it with her own lips.
Ben put his arms gently around her, as he began to return the kiss.
Soon, both lovers were holding each other tenderly as their lips continued to express their feelings toward each other.
Finally, quite reluctantly, they broke the kiss; but continued to stare at each other as they remained within their partners' arms.
"Parting is such sweet sorrow, but I must say good night, till it be morrow," said Kenya, quoting Shakespeare.
"Not the exact quote, but Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 2," replied Ben. "Although I hate how that play ends."
"Me too," agreed Kenya, "but I really must go now. Our tree, tomorrow night. Seven-ish?" she asked, reluctantly pulling away from him.
"Until then, my dear panthress," said Ben, taking a slight bow in her honor.
"Such a gallant werewolf," said Kenya, smiling at him even as she put her helmet on.
Ben stood in the Twist family driveway, staring off into the night and the direction Kenya Adaeze rode off on her moped, long after she was no longer in sight.
ELSEWHERE IN MOON LAKE...