Nate is almost skipping when the school day is over. He had a date with his secret werepanthress, and there was the possibility of the two spending a weekend together. Nate didn’t need to know anything else about her, but it would be nice to be on a first name basis. He’d told her his name, and putting a name to a face makes the whole arraignment seem less shady.
Julie, who is watching him skip down the hall, wonders if Nate’s happy disposition has anything to do with the text he go earlier. She’s heard his phone buzz in his pocket, but he hadn’t answered it until after class was over. The two didn’t have any afternoon classes together, so she hadn’t gotten the chance to ask him what it was about until now.
Nate’s head bounced up and down, and there was a considerably large grin on his face. He was so absorbed in his own thoughts he didn’t notice the stares, or the teasing his male friends directed at him. It was only when Spencer caught up to him that he was jarred out of his trance.
“What’s with you?” she asked.
“Holy crap Spencer, don’t do that!” he says breathless.
“Sorry, but maybe if you weren’t in la-la land you’d have heard me. What’s up? Why are you strutting down the hall like you’re the King of Denmark?” Spencer snickers. Nate blushes, not having realized he was “strutting”.
“Uh, it’s nothing. Just happy the day is over. How was yours? First day nerves gone?” Nate asked, quickly changing the subject.
“First day nerves, that doesn’t happen after you’ve gone to at least four different schools in three years.”
“Wow, must be some kind of record.” Nate said, a little surprised how “bad” Spencer is. His first impression of her was that Spencer was a solitary kind of person, not a rule breaker.
“I guess.” Spencer says. They leave through the front entrance of the school. Spencer starts towards the sidewalk, while Nate searches the crowd for Ben, Alex and Eric. He catches the latter standing near the curb with Julie.
“So, we’re still on for tomorrow night?” Julie asked, fully aware Nate was eavesdropping on their conversation. He was about ten feet away, with his werewolf hearing it wouldn’t be a challenge to listen-in.
“Of course, why wouldn’t we be?” Eric asked confused.
“I don’t know. Just thought I’d ask. Plans can change. Speaking of, do you have any plans for the weekend?”
“Uh, I don’t know. Probably not. It’s the week before Thanksgiving, my mom and I have this tradition of prepping everything in advance together.” Eric said.
“I didn’t know you cooked.”
“Nothing special. I’m just the able body willing to help. Nate used to help, but he bailed as soon as I was old enough to take over his duties.” Eric said sheepishly.
“So I guess you’ll be cooking for me eventually then.” Julie says, her mind drifting to the not so distant future. Eric, on the other hand, was thinking more along the lines of a future date. Not twenty years from now.
“If you really want me to, sure. But I should warn you, I’m not that good. You really want a nice meal, ask Ben.” Eric said.
“He’s not my boyfriend, you are.” Julie said pointedly, before leaning over to kiss him. Julie waves goodbye to Eric as she enters her mother’s car. Eric watches, still oblivious to the fact that his brother has been listening to his conversation. He walks over to Eric and asks him how things with Julie are, feinting ignorance.
“Good. But she wants me to cook for her. I guess I should ask Ben for some pointers.” Eric sighed. Again, Nate couldn’t believe how thick his so-called genius of a brother was. He doesn’t say anything, as he knows it’s pointless. Eric will have to figure things out on his own.
Driving back to their house, Melissa Stovall casually asks her daughter how school was. She’d seen Julie and Eric talking together, and wondered what had put Julie in such a good mood, but at the same time left Eric with a nervous look. She hoped it was nothing drastic. Melissa doubted Eric was ready for anything more serious than movie dates and make-out sessions.
“Did you know Eric cooks?” Julie said dreamily, still trapped in her fantasies. Thankfully nothing too racy, since she was sitting beside her mother and wearing a skirt.
“No, and I have to say it comes as a bit of a shock. Eric never took me for the culinary type.” Melissa said.
“But then, cooking is essentially like chemistry, which Eric does seem to have an interest in,” Melissa thinks. She glances at Julie, who looks a million miles, and years, away. While Melissa is happy her daughter is in love, she hopes Julie isn’t taking things too far. The last thing she wants is for Julie’s wishes to be crushed by Eric’s uncertainty.
“They’re only in high school,” she kept thinking to herself. Over and over and over, like a mantra. But that didn’t ease her concerns in the least.