BACKTRACKING...
After Eric Anderson got up and dressed for school that Thursday morning, the next thing he did was call Ben Twist and asked his friend and neighbor for a ride to school, with a return trip for both him and Julie Stovall that afternoon.
"Will we have Nate and Alex too?" Ben asked, referring to Eric's older brother and his boyfriend.
"Not sure. I can ask."
"Okay. I don't mind taking all of us, but an extra person on the way home might make it a little... cozy for you and Julie in the back seat," pointed out Ben.
Eric said he didn't mind, glad that Ben couldn't see him blushing over the thought of being that near Julie for any length of time.
But what neither boy knew was that Eric's eyes had momentarily changed color again, from their normal brown to deep sea blue, at the thought of being with his girlfriend again. While the were-mer family had already figured it out, none of the Stovalls had seen the point in informing Eric (yet) that he and their daughter were destined soul mates who would eventually marry and live the proverbial "happily forever after" together.
Or at least, the very extended existence of were-mers as a loving couple.
On the ride to school, Ben said to Nate, "So, I understand that you're giving Eric and Julie a dance lesson this afternoon?"
"Yea," confirmed Nate, from the back seat, sitting next to Alex Ramsey. "Our folks and Julie's parents are teaching them the more traditional, couples' style dances. I'm going to show them the more modern stuff."
"That's nice. My moms' taught me all that stuff back in junior high, so I wouldn't look like a complete social wallflower at school dances and stuff," revealed Ben. "But does Alex know how to dance?"
When there was no answer forthcoming, the brothers Anderson turned to look at the fourth passenger in the car while Ben kept his eyes on the road.
"You mean, do I know any dances besides the horizontal mambo?" asked Alex, which received a brief, but light elbow into his rib cage from Nate, since Eric was sitting in the front passenger seat.
"No. I don't," admitted Alex, refusing to look at his boyfriend.
"Would you like to learn?" asked Nate, hopeful.
Alex turned to face Nate and said "Yes."
Nate just simply smiled and put his arm around Alex's shoulders.
The four teenagers left Ben's car and crossed the student parking lot toward the main building of Moon Lake High School.
Amazingly, Julie Stovall was already there, waiting for Eric. He didn't know how she always managed that. Eric only cared that her warm smile was the first thing he saw at the start of the new school day.
He gave his girlfriend a quick peck on the cheek, before explaining to Julie about making ride arrangements for them that afternoon.
"Thank you Mister Twist," said Julie, holding out her hand to him.
"It's Ben. Remember?" he asked, for they had met before during past town functions. Then he briefly stared at Julie and Eric before saying, "You two really do make a cute couple."
Surprisingly, both Eric and Julie started to blush, but considering how their heads were turned facing each other at that moment, only Julie saw that her boyfriend's eyes briefly changed color again.
She wondered, I wonder how long we actually have until...
Eric, who saw Julie staring at him lost in that thought, asked his girlfriend what was on her mind.
"Just you," she replied with a smile, before giving Eric a quick peck on his cheek. "Walk me to first period?" she asked, grabbing his hand in hers.
"With pleasure," said Eric, as they said goodbye to the others before turning to leave.
"And that's your little brother?" Alex asked Nate in amazement, watching the couple enter the school.
"Taught him everything he knows," bragged Nate, before grabbing his boyfriend's hand and saying, "We better get to class ourselves. See you later Ben," since the three older boys were all in the same grade.
Ben stood there by himself for a moment, looking wishfully in the general direction of Moon Lake College. Brief, but loving thoughts of his new girlfriend Kenya Adaeze crossed his mind, before Ben realized he had to get to class himself.