Julie Stovall and her fiance Eric Anderson walked proudly, hand in hand, toward the Moon Lake High School Gym and the town's annual Halloween dance inside.
She was in her Stage 2 were-mermaid form, displaying her webbed flipper like feet along with the goldfish toned scales of her legs.
Eric was only in his Stage 1 were-merman form, with just the webbing between his hands and feet visible if anyone noticed (although the tennis shoes of his Jacques Cousteau costume prevented his feet from being seen), but there was no denying the huge smiles on either member of the happy couple.
Walking up to the exterior entrance of the gym, one could see many weres gathered outside, ready to go to the Halloween dance/party.
Or at least, they might be weres. This was the one night out of the year when it might be hard to tell just what was an artificial costume and what was a true fursona.
Eric did notice a male and female weretiger dressed in togas talking to a werebull standing next to a red haired normal human female. He wasn't sure he recognized any of them, but (because of all the old movies he watched with his mother) did think the girl's costume reminded him of Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast At Tiffany's.*
Eric's parents were a few intentional paces behind the young couple. Julie's parents would be there as soon as they finished with the Trick or Treat visitors to the Stovall residence.
Inside, Julie and Eric found a spot at one table they could call their own. The table was big enough so that whenever their folks or Nate and his boyfriend Alex Ramsey arrived, they could join them.
Ever the gentleman, Eric took the light wrap off of Julie's shoulders and draped it carefully across the table.
Then Julie surprised Eric by reaching into her purse and taking out a place card with computer printing that read ANDERSONS-STOVALLS.
"Mom's idea. This way, we don't lose our place," she explained, while putting it on the center of the table.
"Good idea," agreed Eric, "but no one will mind?"
"No. People save tables at events like this all the time," replied Julie, her deep sea blue eyes meeting his.
The couple moved closer together, their lips about to touch, when a howling sound interrupted them.
"OOOOOW-WOOOOO! Hello ladies and gentlemen!" said the werewolf disc jockey near the front of the gym, to the left of the section of floor that was being used for dancing. Standing behind his audio equipment, he was wearing an unbuttoned, over sized (for his fursona) Hawaiian shirt; a pair of sunglasses that were pushed up to the top of his forehead, and apparently nothing else. "Y'all can guess who I'm honoring in this outfit, but I can't come right out and say the name and not risk copyright infringement," said the wolf with a slight chuckle at the end of that sentence. "Anyway, let's get this Halloween party started!"
Then he howled again before playing the first song of the night. David Bowie's ♫Let's Dance♫**
"Shall we?" Eric asked, holding out his hand.
"Yes," replied Julie with a smile, as they walked out to the edge of the dance floor.
Jacques Cousteau (Eric) and his mermaid (Julie) started dancing.
What specific song was playing didn't matter to either of them.
She was happy beyond all belief, but something suddenly didn't seem right with Eric.
"I'm sorry. This isn't right. Excuse me dearest," he said, before running toward the gym's inner access to the boy's locker room.
"What did I do wrong?" Julie asked herself, even as she went back to their table and sat down.
William and Martha, still checking out things before they went back home to deal with their own trick or treaters and Skulk Halloween commitments, had seen everything and came over to see if Julie was all right.
"I..." began Julie, fighting back the tears as she fingered the single pearl necklace around her neck, the were-mer version of an engagement ring. "One moment everything was perfect. Then Eric just..."
Standing behind her Martha (in her werecat fursona) put a comforting paw on Julie's shoulder, while William the werefox looked off in the direction that his son disappeared in.
"Should I...?" he started to ask.
But the question didn't need answering as Eric came running back to Julie.
"I'm sorry about that my love. NOW I'm ready to dance with you," said Eric.
Julie looked up from her seat at the table and saw that Eric had altered his costume.
Except for his "tidy-whitey" briefs, Eric was now undressed from the waist down. He was carrying the stuff he wore (khaki pants, shoes, and socks) and placed it all in a chair, for now Eric was displaying his webbed flipper-feet and blue-green scales of his own Stage 2 were-mer form.
"OH ERIC!" cried Julie, leaping out of her chair and hugging him.
William and Martha simply smiled at each other as together, the were-merman and his were-mermaid walked back out to the dance floor, holding each other's webbed hands.
There Julie Stovall and her fiance Eric Anderson smiled and continued to stare at each other as they danced close together, regardless of what type of song was actually playing, until the lupine DJ took his first break of the evening.
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*Eric has spotted Melissa Jenkins and her father Harold, along with his fiance Virginia McCoy (the weretigers) and Mel's boyfriend Trevor Tyson (the werebull), from the recent Moon Lake, Jenkins episode "Rendezvous at the Dance".
**Which is also our episode title.—tmw.