“Are you guys sure you want to go inside? My mom’s are out tonight. You could just hang here until your parents finish their… night.” Ben asked. They had only reached the corner to the street but Ben and Alex could smell all sorts of arousing scents coming from the direction of the Anderson house. Spencer too, but she was more capable of ignoring them. She’d inherited her mother’s brains, and her father’s stubborn willpower.
“It’s okay. I can barely hear anything.” Eric said before looking at Spencer. He didn’t realize how turned on Ben and Alex were. Spencer was. And she didn’t want to get in the way of their evening. She wouldn’t mind taking part, but the two made it clear they weren’t interested in straying. Which was totally understandable.
“It’s fine. I’m used to it. And I don’t think they’re doing anything at this very moment.” she said, putting an ear to the wind. Knowing her father, the night would be filled with a lot more howling if they were doing anything. But it was silent, eerily silent.
The two couples parted ways, Ben and Alex more than eager to start tearing each other’s clothing off. But inside the Anderson house, the adults were talking around the dining table. After Eric left, Evan hadn’t felt much like continuing. He tried not to get too bent out of shape.
“He’s not Jeremy.” Maggie kept telling him. Evan wasn’t keen on the idea of Spencer dating so soon, but he was glad that at least this was someone he approved of. Eric seemed like a good kid, and after what William and Martha told him, he was a huge improvement from Spencer’s past boyfriends.
“It couldn’t have been that bad,” William had said when Evan mentioned the long list of “throw aways”, as he called them.
“Trust me, they were. Spencer has a thing for ‘bad boys’. No offense, but I thought if she had to go after one of your sons it would be Nate.” Evan had admitted.
“Me too. But I think Eric and Spencer are better suited. From what Eric’s told me, and you of course, they at least have common interests. Not to mention Spencer’s more than capable of keeping up with Eric’s over-achieving brain.” Martha had said.
That in itself was another thing Evan was glad about. Eric wasn’t an idiot, nor was he some delinquent. And his family was good, very good as far as the more intimate things were concerned.
Eric and Spencer walked through the front door, and were more than surprised to find their parents talking, and not downstairs in the basement. Eric immediately jumped away from Spencer, and stood straighter.
“Hi, uh, we didn’t think you would be, uh, upstairs.” he said quickly.
“That’s fine. How was the movie?” Martha asked.
“Good. We ran into Ben and Alex after. Went to the diner before we came back here.” Eric said rather mechanically. He was sweating bullets, and couldn’t feel his legs. Evan Lawson wasn’t in his were form, but that didn’t mean he was any less intimidating. Even when he wasn’t trying to be.
“I haven’t seen you wear that dress in two years Spencer. Actually I didn’t think you still had it.” Maggie said, after her eyes fell on her daughter’s outfit. Spencer blushes and said something about it collecting dust in her closet for too long.
“Well you look very nice, doesn’t she dear?” Maggie said, nudging Evan. He’d been in a sort of trance, staring at the two teenagers. Not an angry one, more like surprised. In all the years Spencer had been dating, she never once dressed up. It had been a battle to even get her into that dress for the event back in Virginia. And yet, somehow, Eric Anderson managed to get her into it.
“Uh, yes. You look very, um, nice Spencer.” he said, still a bit dazed. Maggie looked quizzically at her husband, and made a mental note to ask him what was wrong later.
“Thanks Dad.” Spencer said, equally stunned. William pulled out two chairs so they could join their parents. Eric said between his mother and Spencer. And directly across from Evan. His clothes suddenly felt very constricting.
“So… um…” Eric couldn’t think of what to say. Thankfully he father came to his rescue.
“I already told your mother and the Lawsons about Julie.” he said softly.
Eric’s comment about him “getting it all out of his system” suddenly made sense after Eric asked to take Spencer out. He hadn’t spent Friday night with Julie like they thought. He’d been with Spencer. How the two ended up together William didn’t know, and would ask his son for further details later. But he was glad Eric wasn’t as heartbroken as one might expect him to be. Julie was his first girlfriend, and his first real love.
Martha wanted nothing more than to hug Eric, but knew that now was not the right time. She would have the rest of the night, and presumably tomorrow to fawn over him. Instead she gripped his hand supportively.
“I’m sorry to hear your relationship with her ended so badly.” Maggie said.
“It’s okay. I’m not upset about it. She’s had more than enough chances to come clean and apologize. I’m not wasting any tears over Julie. Besides, she’s got her otter friend for company now.” Eric said flatly.
The grown ups didn’t know Eric, once again, caught Julie in the act this evening. Not in person of course, but all the same he found out she was spending her evening wrapped in the arms of this mysterious wereotter. And while he wasn’t angry at the otter, he was curious as to who it was.
“So… what are you going to do tomorrow/“ William asked.
“Uh, spend the morning here. And, then…”
“Is it alright it Eric and Alex come over tomorrow afternoon Dad?” Spencer blurted out.
“Alex?” Evan repeated, confused.
“Ben Twist’s boyfriend. He’s interested in motorcycles, and Eric…”
“That’s enough for me. You’re welcome to come over Eric. And you can tell Alex the same. He’s the other werewolf from dinner last night?” Evan asked turning to William and Martha. They nodded their heads.
“The more the merrier. Jonathan and I are happy to answer any questions you might have.” Evan said, starting to like Eric more and more. Eric didn’t really have any interest in cars, motorcycles, or anything mechanical. At least not as passionately as Evan or Alex. But he was happy to hang out and learn something new.
“Besides, everyone should know how to change a tire or check an engine I suppose.” he thought. It wouldn’t be long until he would take his driver’s test. It took Nate three tries to pass.Eric only hoped he could do it without hitting a Mustang, like Nate had. Boy was that a large bill.
After arranging their Sunday, the Lawsons departed. But not before Eric and Spencer snuck into the living room to say goodbye privately.
“That went much better than I expected.” Eric said, holding Spencer’s hands in his.
“I’ll say. I’m not sure what happened while we were gone, but it got my dad in a good mood. And I mean other than the physical stuff.” Spencer said, glancing at her father through the doorway. He and Maggie were close, arms wrapped around each other while talking to Eric’s parents.
“They are awfully cute together.” Martha commented, catching Spencer looking at them. She turned away the she felt their eyes turn. Spencer blushed and tried to make herself appear busy talking to Eric.
“Indeed. I wasn’t expecting Eric to bounce back so quickly. Julie really had him on a leash for a while. She’d snap her fingers, he’d go running.” William said.
“In a good or bad way?” Maggie asked.
“A little of both I suspect now. I’m glad she brought him out of that shell he keeps himself in so much of the time. I wish things had ended differently, but alls well that ends well i suppose.” William said, stealing another glance at his son. Eric was beaming from ear to ear, looking about as happy as William had ever seen him.
“Hate to break up the party, but we really should get going Spencer. Thank you for the… enjoyable evening William, Martha.” Maggie said, smirking a little. She was more than happy when Martha called asking if the two had any evening plans. The Twists were having their own private date night, and one-on-one sex was definitely a little lack luster after six-some.
“Always a pleasure. Guess we’ll see you tomorrow then.” William said.
“How good at cars are you Will?” Evan asked.
“I suspect after tomorrow I’ll be an expert. I can barely tell the window washing fluids from the anti-freeze.” William admits.
“Don’t worry. I’ll make you a regular Richard Petty in no time.”
“I haven’t a clue who that is, but I’m up for the challenge.” William said.
---------------------------------------------
The next morning…
Eric woke up feeling better than he had in a long time. He jumped into the shower, and then almost flew down the staircase. His parents were up, sharing a modest breakfast and talking about things like the news and politics. The radio was on in the background. But it was still awfully quiet in the house. Then reason hit Eric like a ton of bricks.
“Nate’s not home.” he said aloud. His parents looked up from their meal and realized they never did tell Eric where his brother had gone.
“No, he’s spending the weekend with his… “
“It’s okay, I know. Spencer told me about her.” Eric said, sparing his parents the awkward explanation of his brother’s sex life.
“Thank god for little favors,” William thought.
“So, are you ready to start Eric after breakfast Eric? I know you’re eager to go over to the Lawsons later.” Martha said.
“Ya, whenever you’re ready. What did you want to start with?” Eric asked, pulling up a chair at the counter.
“I thought we could start by figuring out the measurements. We won’t be feeding all the relatives this year, so we’ll have to cut the recipes down some. Thank god we have someone good at math in the family.” she said.
William retreated into the living room to check in with Nate, whom he hadn’t heard from since Friday night. It took a couple of rings, but Nate finally did answer the phone.
“Dad, hi. Sorry I didn’t call, I’ve been, uh, busy.” Nate said, a bit out of breath. William didn’t need to hear or smell anything to know his son was enjoying his weekend.
“That’s fine son. I just wanted to make sure you’re alright, and ask if you’ll be coming home for dinner. It is a school night.”
“I know. Don’t worry, I’ll be home by seven, eight at the latest.” Nate assured him.
“Good. I take it everything is going well on your end?”
“You could say that. How about you? Have I missed anything at home.”
William choked back a laugh. Nate had been gone a day and a half. Yet somehow, he had missed a great deal. More so than if he had been gone the past week.
“We can catch you up when you get home. But prepare yourself, there were quite a few developments while you were gone.”
“Really? Eric and Julie didn’t…?”
“No, don’t worry. Eric’s still very much normal.” William said. But he was thinking, “For now” in his head. He had a feeling, just from watching the way Eric and Spencer looked at each other, Eric would be joining his brother as a fellow werewolf.
“Or werecat, if he’s willing to go in that direction.” William thought. He wasn’t sure just how open to that Eric was, which is why werewolf seemed the natural choice. Aside from the larger cat species, he couldn’t think of an animal that would be on par with Spencer’s size and strength (even if she was a hybrid and not entirely one thing or the other).
“Eric wouldn’t want to become anything like a werebear, or horse. Would he? No, he’d want something that was more compatible with a wolf, or panther.”
“Uh, Dad you still there?” Nate asked, his father having gone silent.
“Sorry, I’m still here. Just thinking about things. I’ll let you get back to your morning.” William said.
“See ya tonight. Bye Dad.” Nate hung up. He rolled over to place his phone back on the nightstand beside the bed. His sleeping girlfriend, fiancé if all went well, was still in her panther form. Kenya purred in her sleep, and her tail swished on the edge of the bed. Nate reached over to wrap his arm around her, and quickly fell back to sleep. And in his sleep, his own tail began to wag. Thoughts of the future filled his dreams, and he couldn’t wait to see what it brought.