As Murphy from next door approached, Meghan started to feel a bit warm.
It was a rather hot day for early fall, so she discretely unbuttoned the top button of her blouse, revealing a little more of the lion tooth necklace around her neck.
Eric and Murphy simply smiled at her, for they were the only ones to notice that Meghan was now about an inch taller, her hair was a little more blondish than before, and that her eyes momentarily displayed a more distinctive feline look.
"Hey Meghan, who's your friend?" asked Murphy, distracting both ladies.
"Murphy, Julia. Julia, Murphy," said Meghan, by way of introduction.
"Hey Julia," said Murphy with a smile, while holding out his paw to shake Julia's hand.
Her friend didn't care whether or not it was polite as she leaned closer to Meghan and whispered, "Are they for real?"
"Yes, we are," said Eric and Murphy practically in unison, for they were close enough to the girls for their acute lion ears to hear the whisper.
Meghan expressed perhaps a little more toothy smile than she used to and asked, "What about that movie?"
"What movie?" asked Murphy, before Eric explained the situation to him. "Want to see it over at our place?" Murphy asked afterward, indicating the house next door.
"Err... sorry I can't," said Julia, taking a step backward. "Sorry Meghan, I just can't deal with this right now. See you in school tomorrow."
With that, Julia turned to leave. She wasn't in an outright run, but definitely walking faster than her normal pace as she soon disappeared from sight.
"Geez. Too bad," said Eric, shrugging his shoulders. "So, what about that movie?"
Meghan replied, "Sorry guys, with Julia gone, I can't. My mom would freak if I either had a man in the house unchaperoned or if I went to your place unchaperoned. She wasn't much, but technically would have qualified as a chaperone."
"A shame. We were hoping to hang out more with you. You're the first person we've met around here who's accepted us," replied Murphy.
"Hey, I'll admit I was a bit taken aback when I first met you, but you're nice guys," she said.
"We like you too," said Eric. "Rain check?"
"Definitely. See you around," said Meghan happily, before she went inside her house, not noticing there was now a bit more sway to her hips as she walked too.
Eric and Murphy watched Meghan until the front door closed behind her. Then they smiled and "High Five'd" each other before returning to the frat house next door.