Ben's evening was rather calm as he sat down to dinner with Kenya Adaeze and her aunt and uncle. He was happy to have time with her and she had seemed quite happy to have more time with him too. Most of the times when they'd met, it had been in the woods behind the Twist home near a tree that Kenya had spotted him from while on a late night jog. A lot of that had to do with their ages. Ben was getting closer to his seventeenth birthday and was a Junior at Moon Lake High while Kenya was enrolled at Moon Lake College and was a legal adult, though the age difference wasn't that great and everything they'd done had been consensual. Kenya had also gotten along fairly well with his moms and he'd gotten along with her aunt and uncle and one Skype call with her parents living in New York.
"I must say... I'm still a bit surprised that your mother called us to set this up," Kenya's uncle, Barry, said with her aunt, Tanya nodding in agreement.
Ben swallowed the bite of turkey he'd been chewing on before answering, with some awareness on this. He liked meeting with Kenya and it really didn't take much to get him interested in visiting with her and meeting at "their" spot in the woods, though after recent events had put a great deal of strain on his moms they had arranged for the meeting for some "quiet" time for them at the Twist home. And while he was fairly sure that Barry and Tanya were more than comfortable with him visiting Kenya, it wasn't common that Samantha in her role as Town Chancellor contacted new families that ALREADY had weres in them or after a member of the family had joined one Moon Lake's various were groups. The fact that Ben and Kenya were dating was the real reason for the call and the fact that the Adaeze family was relatively new to Moon Lake was a coincidence.
"I think it was just some of the stuff that's been going on of late," Ben said after he swallowed his food, "the wedding between Harry and Jenny Jenkins... not to mention the battle between the police and that werekomododragon... Dymixious, I think his name was..."
"I read about that in the paper," Tanya shook her head, "that was quite the altercation... one I didn't think we'd see here..."
"Anything can happen, I suppose," Ben gave a shrug as he really hadn't read the newspaper article on the incident and had been off with Kenya when the battle took place, "though with everything... it's stressed my mom, Frances, and scared my mom, Samantha. I think they just wanted to have a quiet moment to themselves."
"I'm sure they deserve it," Barry gave nod, "you'll give them our best when you see them next, right?"
"I can," Ben answered with a small smile and nod.
"In the meantime, I'm glad that you were able to come and join us for dinner," Kenya smiled from the seat beside Ben.
"Yes," Tanya agreed, "you're always welcome."
Ben nodded and took another bite of his turkey, which tasted very good. He could hear some of the clicks and clinks of the silverware being used impacting the plates ever so softly and the chewing of the food. It was a calm and relaxed setting that was very peaceful and a bit different from some of the other dinners going on that evening. A part of Ben's mind was thinking on his parents and hoping they were okay and even had some standard hopes that Alex and Nate got through their homework okay, but those worries weren't enough to distract him from his dinner or his present company.
"So... this football game you mentioned..." Tanya said slowly, changing the subject slightly, "It's played every year?"
"Every Thanksgiving for the High School," Ben nodded, "something to give weres some ability to indulge in sports without risk of someone setting state records and reporters coming to Moon Lake to find out why."
"Yeah... it was rough going through school outside a place like this," Barry commented, "I actually got more into basketball and in pick up games had a fair amount of fun, but I could never be on an organized team."
"The school will do a tournament in March for basketball, too," Ben told him.
"Awesome!" Barry declared.
"Now you've done it..." Tanya spoke, "remember, dear, that by March a lot of our business starts to pick up as winter ends and spring planting begins."
Kenya gave a small chuckle at that exchange. Ben guessed that her uncle really enjoyed the NCAA tournament which would have the potential to lead to problems when they had a flower/gardening shop to run. Eventually she looked to Ben with some curiosity.
"These games have never had real trouble, have they?" Kenya asked.
"Not really," Ben answered, "some of the biggest worries have come with the fact that the school can't say "weres only" and that some Moon Lake normals have tried out and played. They've done okay... though last year, one weretiger got tackled and caught by surprise as well and ended up clawing his normal tackler by accident. Now the kid was actually looking into joining were society already, so there was no worries about Statute 1A, but the weretiger was ultimately lectured on maintaining his "center" so that he wouldn't accidently let parts of his were form come out as it were... and we're going to a flag football match this year just to play on the safe side."
"Makes sense," Tanya commented.
"And can still be fun," Barry nodded, "and then I assume you'd have Thanksgiving Dinner?"
"Some families do... some have it later," Ben shrugged, "a lot of that depends on the family."
"Would you and your moms enjoy coming over for dinner after the game?" Tanya asked, "we'll have the best turkey we can get and I've got some recipes that I know would go well for it..."
Ben blinked and then gave a shrug. Normally his folks had Thanksgiving diner with Samantha's mothers, though on occasion Frances's brother was able to make it too, though he seemed to be the only member of Frances's family that would often join them. Frances's parents seemed to keep their distance, which would mean there was the potential for stress, but Ben didn't want to rock the boat there. As he looked over to Kenya and saw her smile to him, he also realized that previous Thanksgivings had been before meeting her. His thoughts on that as he smiled to Kenya did make her smile.
"Well... I suppose I could talk to them on this," Ben said to her which made her smile, "and we'll let you know from there."
"I hope you'll be able to come," Kenya said to him and reached out for his hand, "Everyone could meet and mingle..."
Ben nodded as they continued on with his dinner as well. They ended up staying up for a little while longer talking over some mundane things that were fairly normal in nature, but eventually they did make their way to bed. Barry and Tanya went first, though not before making the standard reminder that both had school the next day, and soon shut the door to their room. Ben quietly followed Kenya toward her room, where she'd had him place his travel bag when she arrived. He walked in and noted the room was clean and smelled nice, though a part of his mind told him that it was because it was Kenya's scent.
"While I am sorry to hear that your moms have been stressed by things," Kenya said from behind him as she shut the door, "I am glad you were able to spend the night..."
"Well..." Ben began and turned to find Kenya undressing and down to her bra and panties while pushing her bedroom door shut with her other hand. The rest of her clothes were for the moment at her feet. "... I love you..."
"A nice answer," Kenya gave a giggle and picked up her discarded clothing, putting the shirt in her dirty clothes hamper, "though not exactly the one I expected at this exact moment..."
"Sorry," Ben managed as he began to take off his own clothes and knew it wouldn't be too long before the "effect" Kenya was having on him would be impossible to ignore, "I was distracted by your beauty."
"If this keeps going, my handsome wolf," Kenya said to him, "I'd gladly distract you for a lifetime."
And then she kissed him.