Though she was supposed to be on house arrest, Spencer slipped out the backdoor of her house while her parents were preoccupied with each other. She navigated the woods well even out of her fursona. It took all of ten minutes for her to arrive at the Anderson’s backyard.
The strong scents didn’t go unnoticed. Spencer wondered where Nate and his mystery panthress had gone after having their love session in the woods last night. Probably back to her place, wherever that was.
“Mmm, I did warn him. Anything that happens now is on him. Still, I hope things work out alright for Nate. He certainly is quite the catch. If Eric turns out to be a bust I might try for Nate. At least he’s already a were.” Spencer thought.
She found Eric waiting for her in his backyard. The two sat on the pile of gardening supplies, much like they had last night. Eric was red in the face, for whatever reason. Though he and Julie had “broken-up” he still felt like he was cheating on her.
“Hey.” Eric half waved from his seat atop two upside down flower pots.
“Hey yourself. Feeling any better?” Spencer asked.
“I guess. Still feel like an idiot.” Eric sighed. He hadn’t been able to call Julie, but he did check her various social media accounts. And from what he could tell, she wasn’t as tore up as he was.
“Don’t. Julie’s the idiot. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Are you sure about that? Because I must have done something to drive her into the arms of someone else.”
“Bottom line is, Julie screwed up.”
“Ya, I could have bit less of a blockhead. She’s the first real girlfriend I’ve ever had, and I go and royally screw up. Smooth, real smooth.”
“Hey no one gets it right the first time.” Spencer certainly hadn’t. She refrained from telling Eric about her ill romance with Jeremy Bower. But was willing to tell him she’d had her share of bad relationships. Which was the truth. Most hadn’t lasted more than a month or so. Of course her dad was always thrilled when they ended. The only guys he approved of were…. well none thus far.
“But maybe he’d go for Eric or even Nate. At least he likes their parents…” Spencer thought.
“I bet none of your exes took you on dates to bookstores or to watch documentaries on plankton.” Eric grumbled.
“Uh, no. One did drag me to the world’s most boring baseball game. I think it lasted upwards of four hours. The Orioles versus the Cubs. Think I fell asleep three times during that game.”
“Huh. So you used to live in… Delaware?” Eric wasn’t sure where the Orioles were from. He knew the Cubs were from Chicago. His knowledge of baseball was limited to the Twins, the Sox and the Yankees.
“No, Maryland. We’ve been up and down the entire East Coast.”
“How many times have you moved?”
“Too many to count. We’ve been in Connecticut, Virginia, Maryland, Florida, around the D.C. area, and now here. This is the first time we’ve been on the west coast. But Mom’s from the area, and Dad grew up on a base in Texas. Glad we never ended up back there. Wolves don’t do well in hot weather.”
“Huh, never thought about that. Guess it does make more sense for weres with long fur to live further north. What kinds of weres can you find in the southern states?” Eric asked, curious about the other species of were that existed. Up till now, he had only met the typical American were. Foxes, cats, dogs, wolves, and a handful of assorted species.
“Well you can find werecats and dogs anywhere. Were-horses and were-raccoons are more common than some people might expect. Of course there are always a few dozen wolves wherever you go. The only area specific kinds of were would be the birds…”
“Really? There are werebirds?" Eric tried to imagine what they looked like. His mind kept conjuring images of Hawkman and Hawkgirl.
“They’re not too common these days. There are so few places they can go to fly freely without risking someone spotting them. What with satellites, drones and the like. If you do encounter any it’s because of in-breeding. Otherwise they would have died out a long time ago.” Spencer personally wasn’t a fan of them, due to the panther in her. Her first instinct was to hunt them. And due to the inbreeding, they did tend to be literal “bird-brains”.
“Wow.” Eric remembered skimming the town guidebook and reading something about birds. And then a small paragraph about the existence of rarely seen “mythical” were.
“What about you? Why did your family move?” Spencer asks.
“Mom and Dad wanted a change of scenery. They’d lived their entire lives in the Minnesota area. And they thought moving would be good for me.”
“Good for you? That’s a new one.” Spencer muttered the end bit.
“Ya. You probably figured to that I’m not exactly the most socially adept person in the world. So my parents thought a fresh start somewhere new might help.” Eric sighed. And at first he thought things were working. He and Julie hit it off, Eric was getting along with everyone in school, and he was dealing with the whole were thing a lot better than he expected himself to.
“And things were going well until last night?” Spencer guessed.
“More or less.” Eric said, his face slacking as the conversation returned to the topic of Julie. Spencer noticed his dampened spirit, and quickly changed the subject.
The spent the next fifteen minutes sharing small talk, getting to know each other a little bit better. Eric was surprised at how many things they had in common. Aside from their above average intelligence. Both had enjoyed similar movies, books, Spencer even read comics like Eric. Though she wasn’t as versed on the details like Eric.
“Okay, how about… Black Widow versus Catwoman?” Eric asked.
“Really? Do you even have to ask that? Always Catwoman.” Spencer laughed.
“Don’t choose based on personal taste. I like cats just as much as the next guy, but Black Widow would totally win in that fight. She’s got more style.” Eric said.
“Ya sure she does. Really they’re just two women who like wearing black leather, and hanging around moody billionaires. Anyone could do that. Find me a billionaire with something to prove and I’ll jump into a leather body suit and dive off skyscrapers.” Spencer shrugged.
The mental image forming in Eric’s head was all too tantalizing. He squirmed on his seat, trying to resist the erection growing in his jeans. Spencer pretended not to notice. Eric resorted to crossing his legs to hide his hard on, which only made things that much worse. He just couldn’t shake the image out of his head.
“Sorry.” Eric muttered, his face a deep red. His cheeks felt like they were on fire.
“Don’t be. It’s not like you’re the first guy I’ve seen with an accidental boner. Besides, it happens to everyone.”
“Some of us are just better at hiding it than others.” Spencer thought, knowing very well she was a little turned on just at the sight of Eric’s arousal.
“Uh, thanks.” Eric blushed harder. Spencer was nice enough not to tease him about his dilema. Something Julie or Nate would have most definitely done, just because they could. Actually Julie might have taken advantage of the situation and tried to coax him into finally taking their relationship to a more intimate level. That returning sense of anxiety and nervousness killed Eric’s “excitement”.
“I’d better get home before my dad notices I’m gone. Can’t believe he hasn’t noticed already.” Spencer thought, standing. At first Eric thought she was going because of his little friend making his presence known. After she explained, and reminded him that she was technically on house arrest, Eric felt even stupider.
“Right, sorry. I forgot. I shouldn’t have…”
“I’m glad you did. I needed an excuse to get out of the house. Besides, it’s not like they know. No harm, no foul. See ya at school Eric.” Spencer bounced forward and to Eric’s surprise (and maybe even Spencer’s) she kissed his cheek.
**IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE: PLEASE DON'T ADD CHAPTERS