Jumping forward again….
The Andersons “get to know you dinner” went quite well. Martha did most of the talking. Asking Cassie and Alex questions about themselves, they’re families. And then in turn, she’d embarrass her sons by telling their significant others about their pasts.
“Mom!” Eric turned red when Martha started to tell the “Play-Dough Story”, in which a four year old Eric decided to eat the meal he made of Play Dough. Long story short, he didn’t get sick but his poops were very vibrant colors for a few days.
“What? You were just a kid then. No harm, no foul. Besides, it’s nothing compared to your genius brother here stuffing an entire box of Chiclets into his mouth on a dare when he was seven.”
Nate slouched in his chair while Alex asked what happened after he ate all that candy.
“What you’d expect. He threw up in school, and I had to take him home covered in multicolored vomit.”
“Come on Mom, we’re eating!” Nate said in an attempt to get her to stop talking.
“Don’t worry, I’m sure when you meet my parents you’ll get the chance to poke fun at me.” Alex rubbed Nate’s shoulder and smiled at him.
“Do they know about you two?” Martha asked.
“Yes. They wanted to wait to meet Nate, until after things quieted down.” Alex phrased the aftermath of William’s death as best he could. Martha understood, and simply nodded her head before asking if his parents were also weres.
“Yup, Dad’s a werewolf like me obviously, but mom’s a werefox. They were both normal when they moved to town. They each became their respective family’s were.”
“What about you Cassie? You mentioned that your mother was the one who changed your father.” Martha looked to her left, where Cassie and Eric were seated.
“He was going to the college when he found out. No one forced him to make the change, but he did it anyway. And most of my mom’s family are weres. Either wolves, or something similar. Though I do have a cousin or something that’s a wereraccoon. Not sure how that happened, but it did.” Cassie said with a quick shrug.
“Huh. I didn’t realize there were so many interspecies couples. I assumed you and Dad were kind of an oddity.” Nate said.
“Well they’re not rare, but they’re not common either. And most interspecies couples are at least compatible, in the sense that predators don’t usually end up dating their prey.” Alex explained.
“So lions don’t date zebras?” Eric tried not to laugh, but the image in his head was just too funny not to.
“Not that I’ve heard of. But you never know.” Cassie said.
Eric nodded, his smile fading a bit when he thought of Julie. He hadn’t realized how important it was that he was the same kind of were for her. He just assumed it was something they’d have to get around, but it wouldn’t drive them apart. Now that he really thought about it, a werewolf and a mermaid was a bit strange.
“That’s a lot of wet fur. I guess I wouldn’t be much of a swimmer.” Eric thought of trying to keep up with Julie, who at one point told him she could swim to Hawaii and back in a few hours.
“Yoo-hoo, Eric? You in there buddy?” Nate waved a hand in front of his brother’s glassy face. Eric was so startled by the sudden movement he almost flipped his plate onto his lap. Instead a meatball flew up into the air, and landed in Cassie’s plate.
“Uh, thanks Eric. But you have it.” Cassie said, putting the food back on Eric’s plate with a grin. Nate, Alex and Martha unashamedly laughed while Eric quickly popped the meatball into his mouth and tried to make himself appear as small as possible.
“Now that Eric’s done playing with his food…”
“I was not trying to send that meatball into the air!”
“…I think I’ll go get the dessert.” Martha was still laughing when she went into the kitchen.
“Don’t feel so bad, that was some nice shooting.” Cassie said, trying not to laugh as well. She was pinching her thigh to keep a straight face. While Nate and Alex kept pretending to send their meatballs into space.
“…three, two one…blast off!” Nate catapulted a ball into the air and then caught it in his mouth.
“Nice catch.” Alex said, leaning over to wipe some sauce from Nate’s mouth.
“I’m just talented that way.” Nate smirked at his brother. Eric rolled his eyes and said something about Nate being a show off.
“Haters gonna hate.” Nate shrugged and launched his last meatball. Unfortunately his mother happened to stick her head around the corner.
“Nathaniel William Anderson stop acting like you’re ten years old. Don’t make me send you to bed without dessert.” She appropriately scolded him like he was ten. Nate flushed and swallowed the meatball whole in one uncomfortable gulp.
“Sorry Mom.”