Ben, Nate, and Alex instantly reached for their respective cellphones the moment AJ went on to spread the news and invites to the other werewolves of Moon Lake High.
Ben texted Kenya first, telling her about the wolf pack meeting and the unfortunate delay in hooking up with her that night. Then he anxiously waited for a reply as he texted both his mothers.
Alex and Nate both texted their respective moms, since their fathers were at their jobs and only wanted to be texted there if it were a dire emergency.
When Alex and Nate both got replies, they put up their cellphones and resumed eating their lunches.
But there was more on Nate's mind than food.
"Say handsome," whispered Nate, using his pet name for Alex.
"Yes my stud," whispered Alex in return, while eyeing Nate with more than a passing interest.
"I was wondering about something..."
"Oh?" said Alex, turning to face Nate directly.
"We're both out to our families and closest friends, but..." Then Nate paused, wondering how to continue.
"But?"
"We haven't really made it official."
"Official?" asked Alex, now confused. "Listen. I have very strong feelings for you, but I think it's a tad too soon to start sending out wedding invitations, even if I knew which of us should propose to the other."
"No. No. Not that official," said Nate, shaking his head negatively. "At least, not yet," he said with a smile, while holding Alex's left hand in his right. "What I was wondering was, not to take anything from the new guy's welcoming party, but what if we use the pack meeting tonight to officially declare ourselves a couple?"
"I hate to tell you two this," began Ben, unable to avoid overhearing their conversation between his keen werewolf hearing and the closeness of where he sat in regards to them, "but I think just about all of Moon Lake knows you two are dating by now. Or at least, everyone of the werewolf persuasion does."
"Maybe," agreed Alex, "yet I think my Nate does have a good idea there. But how do you feel about being mutually exclusive to each other in regards to dating, romance, and everything else?"
"We aren't mutually exclusive already?" asked Nate in return, while smiling at his beau.
Alex's only response was to smile at Nate in return, while raising his hand to briefly kiss Nate's hand.
The rest of the Junior Class lunch break; Ben, Nate, and Alex just had normal teenage conversation about normal teenage stuff, although the dating couple couldn't help noticing how Ben kept looking at his cellphone, waiting for a response.
Then, just as the bell rang to signal the end of their lunch break, Ben's phone buzzed that it had an incoming text. If not for being a werewolf with keen hearing, Ben would have missed the sound entirely as he picked up his phone and anxiously read the message.
I UNDERSTAND MY WEREWOLF. WILL MISS U. PLEASE B W/ME AS SOON AS U CAN AFTERWARD. <3 K.
Ben Twist felt a foot taller and much happier as he went to his next class.