**IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE: PLEASE DON'T ADD CHAPTERS
“Spencer?” Evan called into the house.
“I’m in the bathroom!” she shouted back, vigorously scrubbing any trace of her night with Eric from her. The last thing she wanted her father to know was that she hadn’t just disregarded his curfew rule, she’d spent it with a boy. Granted Eric was far from the type to take advantage of her.
“I’ll go check on her.” Maggie said. Evan nodded and followed his wife up the stairs. They went their separate ways once they reached the second floor, where Evan went into their bedroom to change his clothes. Having spent the evening
“Showering?” Maggie asked, poking her head into the bathroom. A cloud of steam exited the doorway and hit her in the face. Once it clears she catches a glimpse of Spencer’s tail flicking against the shower curtain.
“Ya. Did you two, um, have a good time?” Spencer asked awkwardly.
“Yes. What time did you get home?”
“Uh, not sure. Late probably. Why? Is Dad mad at me for sneaking away?”
“No, he’s on cloud nine.” Maggie said, though she didn’t say the “cloud nine” part loud enough for Spencer to hear.
“Last night went well. I can see why you always come home with that daydreamy face.” Maggie said.
“Daydreamy?” Spencer repeated.
“Oh come on Spencer I’ve seen the way you look when you start talking about those two. Though it would appear both are off the market.”
“Kinda…” Spencer said, still scrubbing her body with at least five different body washes.
“What does that mean?”
“Uh, it’s complicated.” Spencer said, pulling the catcher from the drain and letting all the soapy water run. She turns off the shower and pulls the curtain aside. Maggie is sitting on the toilet, giving her daughter a knowing look. She isn’t the least bit phased by her daughter’s nudity.
“Spencer, what aren’t you telling me?” she asks.
“Nothing, it’s not important. Are you going to work soon?” Spencer said quickly changing the subject.
“Not until you tell me what’s going on,” Maggie said. She hands Spencer a towel to dry herself off with. Normal hair dryers never did much good against the thick layers of fur. On Maggie’s maybe, since hers is just one dense layer. But not Evan’s or Spencer’s, which is made of guard hairs and them a thicker undercoat (Spencer’s a thinner than her father’s).
“Mom…” Spencer groaned.
“Are you two having some sort of party in the bathroom?” Evan called from the bedroom two doors down.
“Just having one of those mother-daughter talks.” Maggie shouted back.
“Right well, be sure to work in the part about Spencer still being on house arrest this weekend.” Evan said. Spencer groaned again from underneath the towel, which she’s thrown over her head.
“And tell her I heard whatever noise she just made.” Evan said, knowing his daughter like the back of his hand. He doesn’t need to hear Spencer to know she’s complaining in some way.
“Are you sure he hasn’t bugged the house yet?” Spencer asked her mom, only half joking. It wouldn’t be too odd, considering her father sent a drone after her when she went on a date with Jeremy once.
“Oh don’t be so hard on your dad. He’s just worried about you. Try not to let him get under your skin.”
“Easy for you to say. You’re not the one being treated like a prisoner at Alcatraz.”
“Don’t over exaggerate, it’s more like you’re a prisoner at Riker’s.”
“Mom!”
“Alright I’ll talk to him. But you have to start behaving yourself. You can’t go through life half invested in things. What do you plan on doing when you’re done with high school?”
“I don’t know. I’ve still got two years to figure that out don’t I? Besides, you went to college to be a lawyer and ended up switching majors.”
“Touché.” Maggie sighed. She leaves Spencer to her own devices and joins her husband in the bedroom. Evan’s already in clean clothing, and sitting on the bed looking rather irritated.
“Why do you have to be so hard on her?” Maggie says, closing the door behind her.
“She takes after you, that’s why.” Evan said.
“You say that like it’s a bad thing.”
“It’s not entirely a bad thing. But I don’t think I can wait until Spencer’s in her twenties for her to finally start maturing.” Evan said. Maggie rolled her eyes.
“The less you know the better,” she thought.
Truthfully she hadn’t really gotten out of her “wild child” phase until after she married Evan. She was just a bit better than Spencer at hiding her antics. Maggie was more than capable of playing the nice, quiet girl around Evan and then sneaking out with to have her unadulterated fun.
“Isn’t house arrest a little extreme? She didn’t start a fire, she just changed a few slides in a powerpoint.” Maggie asked.
“You mean she didn’t start a fire YET.” Evan said, throwing himself back onto the bed.
“That, I believe, really was an accident. I mean how does a person set a pool on fire?”
“Ask Spencer, she did it.” Evan huffed, rubbing his temples. Maggie smiles and leans over Evan. The two stare at each other for the longest time.
“Would you like me to relieve some of that stress?” she said. Maggie leans forward to gently kiss Evan’s neck.
“Don’t you have to be at work soon?”
“I can be a little late. Or a lot late…”
----------------------------------------------
“So Eric, do you have any plans for the weekend?” Martha asked over the family’s lunch. It was just her and Eric, William went out to run some errands. And Nate was off having his adventure with his mystery girlfriend.
“No.”
“Really? Weren’t you and Julie going to…”
“Julie had something come up last minute.” Eric said a little too quickly. Martha knew better than to ask, but her suspicion were getting raised higher and higher. Something definitely happened last night between the two. But if Eric wasn’t ready to talk about it, there was nothing she could do. Eric could be as tight lipped as a CIA agent.
“Well since Nate has his plans, are you going to get together with any of your friends? This is the last week before Thanksgiving.” Martha reminded him.
“Um, well… maybe. I might have something later. I’m not sure yet.” Eric said.
Martha was surprised to hear Eric say he had plans. In the months since they’d moved to Moon Lake, the only times he went out of the house were for dates with Julie. Otherwise he was as much of a home-body as ever.
“Let me know if you do have any plans. I’m happy to drive you and whoever else might be involved.” Martha said.
“Thanks Mom, I will.” Eric said.
After lunch, Eric went upstairs and paced around his bedroom. He’d spent the morning trying to work up enough courage to call. He’d found their number online (the internet is wonderful like that), but couldn’t muster up the nerve to call. Partially because he wasn’t sure what he was going to say. But mostly because Eric was scared Evan Lawson would pick up. Navy SEAL or not, were or not, the guy was scary.
“Just do it you big weenie. You want to see her again, just pick up the phone, hit the numbers, and tell Spencer you’re coming over whether she likes it or not!!” The uninhibited part of Eric’s brain screamed at him.
Finally, after a good ten minutes of staring at his cell phone, Eric dialed the Lawson’s house number. Three rings later, and Eric almost breathed a sigh of relief when Spencer answered the phone.
“Hello?”
“Spencer, hey. Uh, it’s Eric.”
“Hey. What’s up? Did you and Julie…”
“No haven’t worked up the courage to call her. Besides, I don’t think I’d be able to form a complete sentence.” Eric said, mentally noting the irony of that statement.
“Uh-huh. So…?” Spencer trailed off. She was downstairs in the living room, thankful for the distraction. Her parents were busy “getting it on” upstairs, and she couldn’t take much more. Her father’s joyful howls seemed to get louder and louder the longer they were at it.
“Well, um, I was wondering if you want to, and it’s totally cool if you don’t, but if you do, maybe I, or uh we could…”
“Before your tongue ties itself in a bowman’s knot, yes.”
“…hang out wait what?”
“Yes. You did want to know if I wanted to see you again right? Well the answer is yes. You don’t mind if I come over do you? My parents are, uh, kinda busy.” Spencer said as another long howl cut through the air. Eric hear the background noise, and quickly realized what Spencer meant.
“Sure. Nate’s not around, he’s gone out. But my mom and dad are around, is that cool?”
“So long as they don’t get naked in front of my, sure.” Spencer joked, but Eric took it literally, and immediately started assuring Spencer his parents would do that.
“Poor guy, maybe I should limit the sarcasm around him. Eric’s a few short in that department. Guess the gene pool gave Eric the brains and his brother the funny bones.” Spencer chuckled to herself before she hung up.
On the end, Eric was gleefully jumping up and down, much to the confusion of his mother downstairs. She assumed Eric was playing video games and won something. Because that was usually the reason for Eric’s sudden bursts of excitement.