As his parents walked the Lyons to their cars, Eric turned to his older brother and asked, "Didn't you have a date with Alex?"
"That's tomorrow night. He wants to take me to an early dinner after school and then show me something special. His words," replied Nate, as he moved to start clearing the table. "But I am seeing him later on tonight."
"You two are starting to get very serious, aren't you?" asked Eric, as he set his stuff down on the coffee table and moved to help Nate.
"As serious as you and Julie," admitted Nate, to which Eric could only nod his head in agreement.
"So. Is he the one?" asked Eric, stopping to look at his older brother.
"I never expected to find somebody so soon in my life, but it's gotten to the point where I can't picture myself with anyone else," confessed Nate.
"I know the feeling. Every time I close my eyes, all I see is Julie," replied Eric with a smile.
"So. Have you two set a date yet?" asked Nate, staring at his brother.
"What do you mean?" wondered Eric, almost dropping the dishes in his hands at the suddenness of the question.
"Alex is Moon Lake born and bred. He waited until we were totally alone, but told me what a were-mermaid wearing a single pearl necklace means," answered Nate, looking closely at Eric.
"Do mom and dad know?" asked Eric, a bit defensively.
"I haven't told them. Come on, spill. I know neither of us want to know the specific details of each other's more intimate love life moments, but regardless of how you feel towards Julie, don't you think 14 is a little young to be engaged?"
"There was no conscious planning on my part," admitted Eric. "Mom actually made that necklace for me out of the blue to give to Julie as some kind of promise token, because she could tell how we felt about each other, so she and dad probably won't be surprised whenever Julie and I do make our engagement public. Yet despite the fact I had with me all the time, for whatever reason I kept forgetting to give it to her until after Julie ushered me into were-mer society when we declared our love for each other. Then doing so just seemed so..."
"Perfect?" said Nate, suggesting an ending to his brother's sentence, as they carried their respective handfuls of dishes to the kitchen.
"Yeah. I always hoped to find love one day," confessed Eric. "Especially considering how the other kids picked on me for being so smart and the girls ignored me for being so... nerdy and non-jock-like back in Minnesota. Yet Julie is a whole lot more than I ever dreamed I'd find in a girlfriend, and I don't mean just because of the whole were thing. It's like I found my soulmate on the very first try and everything's wonderful now and I miss being with her even though I just left her place a short while ago and we'll be chatting on Skype later and..."
"I get the idea. Alex's presence in my mind and heart is increasing every day," revealed Nate.
"So when are you two..." began Eric, as they started rinsing dishes to put in the dishwasher.
"We've talked about it," admitted Nate. "We're thinking the summer in-between graduating high school and starting college."
"Us too," said Eric, referring to him and Julie. "But you'll want to do it that July, so you have time for your honeymoon while getting ready for school that fall, but not until after the Fourth."
"You have put some thought into this, haven't you?" asked Nate, while smiling at his brother.
"Julie and her mother are more the wedding planners than I am," said Eric. "All I want is to be with her the rest of my life."
"I know the feeling," agreed Nate, while thinking of Alex. "You know, we may not have moved to Moon Lake under the best of circumstances, but I can't picture being anywhere else now."
"Me neither. So, I'm assuming Julie and I have an invite to your wedding?" guessed Eric.
"While me and my husband will definitely be at yours," said Nate, before surprising Eric by hugging him.
"Looking forward to it," said Eric, as Nate broke the hug. "By the way, you and Alex should really consider Julie's idea of each hyphenating instead of one of you having to choose."
"Sounds like a great idea to me, but right now we're not even sure who should propose to whom when the time comes," admitted Nate. "Yet I do know we still have a dining room table to finish clearing," he added, before leaving the kitchen with Eric following close behind.