As Samantha pulled her car away from the curb where she’d parked, Spencer stood at a window watching. Her bedroom, almost completely empty, gave her a perfect view of the front yard and the forest which surrounded the side of their house. While her parents and Samantha talked downstairs, Spencer drew circles in the dust on the floor. She’s heard most of the conversation between the adults, but none of it was interesting to her.
When she went downstairs her mother asked her how much she’d heard.
“Enough. So was that the Sam you’ve been talking about for years?” Spencer asked. Maggie had told Spencer plenty of stories about her high school friends, though none about her “excursions”. She didn’t want to give her daughter any ideas.
“I did say she worked for the town didn’t I?”
“Well ya, but I didn’t think she’d show up on our doorstep at seven in the morning.” Spencer said.
“She’s invited us to dinner this Friday, but maybe you’ll meet her son before. So try and be nice.” Maggie said.
“What makes you think I can’t be nice?”
“If we do not learn from history, we are doomed to repeat it.” Evan quotes from his place at their makeshift kitchen table (really just a tarp on the floor). Spencer rolls her eyes, and mumbles that she’s leaving now. Maggie sets the box she had in her arms down and runs to see Spencer off.
“MOM…” Spencer groans, not wanting to be kissed in front of all the tough, burly, moving men. A few smile and laugh as Maggie squeezes her daughter and wishes her good luck at school.
“Don’t worry kid, I’m seventy four and my mom treats me the same way,” one of the movers whispered to Spencer as she passes by. It offered little comfort, but the sentiment was still appreciated. Spencer hoped that when she was that old her mother would stop babying her.
It was one extreme of the other. Her mother coddled, her father treated her like she was a soldier. Up until she was five she had the same horrible haircut because Evan brought her to a military barber. The day she came home with highlights and layers he almost resorted to shaving her head in her sleep.
As she walked down the street, she unknowingly went right past the Anderson and Twist homes. There was a strong fragrance in the air that told her she was definitely living in a town of weres. Normals didn’t exude “sex” the same way were did. The breeze made it hard to tell which direction it was coming from (pun intended). All the same, it sent chills up Spencer’s spine, and reminded her that since her breakup, her social life was seriously lacking.
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Inside the Anderson house, Nate was practically oozing happiness. He’d kept his word, and not told a soul about his new “friend”. The relationship thus far mostly consisted of them meeting in the woods, exchanging a few pleasantries, and then jumping straight into (literally jumping into) the fun stuff. Today, he was having a tough time hiding his happiness. He didn’t even make some snide comment about Eric sitting on the couch eating his Cheerios while watching Doctor Who
“You seem to be in a good mood, did something happen last night?” Martha asked.
“Nothing out of the ordinary. I guess I just woke up on the right side of the bed.” Nate said, quite dreamily. William and Martha exchanged a knowing glance, but remained silent.
His parents pretended to be ignorant of his nightly excursions. For the past few days he’d been sneaking out immediately after dinner, and returning home smelling like wet fur and sex a few hours later. Obviously this wasn’t a serious affair, but Nate’s parents still wished that their son would at least tell them he was “seeing” someone.
Eric, on the other hand, (again, literally), was still dealing with his own “problems”. Commitments weren’t his thing, and truth be told he enjoyed the fact that many of his romantic partners weren’t real people. Well they were real, but they didn’t ask about his feelings, or need to be taken out on romantic dates.
“What about you Eric? Do you have any plans with Julie tonight?” Martha asked.
“Um, no I don’t think so. Her dad’s supposed to be coming home today.” Eric replied.
That one sentence spoke volumes. As hard as the Stovalls tried, they couldn’t keep Martin’s roaming eyes a secret. The objects of his affection weren’t shy about talking. And in Moon Lake, a town with a population of about 6,000 or so, gossip spread like poison ivy on skin.
“What about on Friday?”
“No, why? Is there something going on?” Eric asked. Nate snapped out his trance-like state and listened in. He wasn’t keen on the idea of missing a night with his secret lover. Of course if he said he had other plans, then she’d probably go elsewhere for her “fun”.
“Samantha is having that new family over for dinner and she asked us to join them. It’ll be nice, and I’m sure their daughter could use someone to show them around town.”
“We just moved here ourselves.” Eric points out.
“True. But it’ll give you an opportunity to see her again,” Nate snickered. Eric flushes with embarrassment and anger.
“I have a girlfriend!” Eric reminds him.
“What’s your point? There’s no harm in shopping around. Besides, you don’t seem that interested in Julie. You shouldn’t string her along if you’re not gonna be in the relationship for the long run.” Nate shrugged.
“Easy for you to say,” Eric said.
“Nate stay out of it. And Eric, you do what you feel you need to. Just make sure to keep Julie’s feelings in mind.” William said.
“I know Dad, I know.” Eric says. A knock at the door tells the Andersons that Ben and Alex have arrived. Nate and Eric grab their belongings and depart. Alex is driving them to day, h is silver Jetta is idling by the curb.
“Hey, what’s up? Did you two get into another fight or something?” Ben asked.
“You could say that.” Nate says, glancing at his brother. Eric looks at Nate and the two, in a very juvenile move, stick their tongues out at each other.
“Glad to be only children, right Ben?” Alex said, trying to break the tension.
“I don’t know. I always wanted a sibling. And who knows, maybe I’ll get one.”
“I didn’t know your moms wanted another kid,” Alex said surprised.
“They’ve never said it outright, but I get the feeling that with me going off to college in a few years they want to ‘fill the void’.” Ben said. He wasn’t opposed to the idea, though the thought of his being “replaced” was a little hard to swallow.
“Hey, isn’t that the new girl?” Alex said, interrupting the thoughts of his passengers. Eric leaned across his brother to look out the left window. Spencer, with headphone in her ears, was walking to school. She had pulled the hood of her jacket over her head, and had a particularly “exasperated” look on her face. Alex stopped at an intersection and the four boys watched Spencer jaywalk across the street. She apparently didn’t care about the oncoming cars, or that a few of them were honking at her.
Very casually, Spencer flipped them off and continued on her way.
“Wow, not a morning person I see.” Ben remarked.
“More of a morning person than Eric,” Nate said. Eric glares at his brother as the car passes Spencer. Eric takes a moment to look out the back window, and would swear he saw Spencer grinning right at him.