The rest of the walk down Wood Street was fairly calm for Eric and Julie with both sipping on the straws to enjoy the milkshakes they'd gotten on the way home. The snacks were cool and tasty, though it left neither feeling cold, even though it was getting into November. He didn't think that Washington State could have as many cold winters as Minnesota could have, but at the same time he also figured that when winter did arrive it could be plenty cold in its own right. However, for whatever reason, the cold milkshake didn't seem to bother him all that much.
He guessed that weres in general had to have some special measure of keeping themselves warm, and weremers something very special since unlike other weres, weremers didn't grow fur. It was something that he found as remarkable in that generally speaking warmth was often retained through a few ways. Either something would have something insulative to keep it warm, usually fur or blubber depending on the animal. Weremers, however, had no fur and so far as Eric could tell weren't coated in layers of blubber underneath their skin either. The other way was simply to be big and that the large size would insulate the animal, but weremers seemed to be closer to the smaller end of the various sizes various weres had. Instinctively, Eric had the sense that it would relate to a much higher metabolism, fed by the hearty meals that both the Stovalls and his own family had served him as well. It was something that had the scientific part of his mind wondering exactly on how all that worked and how well it related to other weres.
But for the moment that really wasn't the most important thing to focus on, particularly as there were other and more immediate things to think over. The biggest thing was the full response to a new were who'd recently moved to town, or possibly moved back to town as far as Eric knew in the form of Spencer Lawson. Eric and Julie had come up with a basic idea on what to do with Arthur before he went on his way in response to the new female were and her very forward hello to Eric the other day. However, there had been some other things they'd noticed while talking with Spencer outside the high school had their own sources of worry, which in the end, both of them were a bit uneasy with and didn't know fully what to do. But at least they had a preliminary plan, and that was better than nothing.
The pair continued to walk along until Eric felt Julie tug on his arm, as if to pull him toward the street. He paused and looked to her for a moment, but in doing so found that they were now across the street from the Anderson home. It looked okay, but it puzzled Eric a bit, as he thought he'd been walking Julie home, something they'd done fairly frequently, and especially after he became a were.
"Wasn't I walking you home?" Eric asked slowly as he looked to her.
"You've done a lot of that," Julie answered, running one hand up to Eric's shoulder, "it's only fair to walk you home on occasion. And since I don't have any big group assignments for homework tonight... we can work on homework together."
Eric's heart soared at that. Partially in the sense that he was getting to spend more time with Julie, though a lot of that was also negated by the fact that much of that feeling was also likely inspired by the sense of jealousy and fear that he'd had toward Arthur. It seemed to remind him of some things his parents had been trying to tell him the previous evening and night before, but he'd let things get to a point where he was seriously afraid of loosing Julie forever. But the prospect working with Julie on their homework did sound good, and he smiled and let her lead him across the street and up the sidewalk toward the front door. He took the lead as they got to the door.
"After you," Eric said with a small bow to Julie as he opened the door for her.
Julie nodded and walked in and Eric followed after. He'd just shut the front door and was about to head upstairs to his room with Julie where they could work on their homework when an adult female voice cut in.
"Eric?" came his mother's voice from the living room, making Eric look in to find his mother seated on the couch where she was flipping through some of her study material for Washington's PRAXIS exam, though he also noticed a Burger King soda cup on the end table by the couch.
"Hey, mom," Eric spoke as he approached the doorway to the living room and as his mother stood up, "Nate told me to remind you that he has football practice after school for the Thanksgiving Day game and that Ben will drive him and Alex home after practice."
Martha Anderson nodded as she walked toward her son. She noted that he seemed happier, and noted that Julie was present, but that didn't shake the worries she'd had after her talk with Frances. She was sure things would be fine, and Eric's present disposition seemed better, but that didn't erase the worries she'd had.
"And... in the end... you and dad were right," Eric said slowly as he looked to his mother, "everything I was worried about was from a misunderstanding. Arthur wasn't out to steal Julie and we actually made friends at lunch today."
"Well... that's a good thing," Martha gave a small smile and pulled Eric into a hug, "Friends are always good."
"Yeah," Eric answered as he returned the hug, "anyway... Julie and I were going to work on my homework..."
"With milkshakes, I see," Martha commented.
"Sort of a celebration," Julie commented, "Arthur's apologizing for the misunderstanding and sort of a "present" for making friends with Eric."
She remained silent on the part that Arthur had had romance in mind with her. He'd likely seen a slight glow around Julie, just enough to show that it was possible but not enough to be truly certain the way Julie had felt with Eric, and that was what got Arthur interested in her. However, after remembering what Eric had told her about his life in Minnesota and the sort of depressed and distant tone that Eric had had that morning before school, she didn't want to reveal anything that might make Eric too nervous about anything. After all, while weres could physically endure a lot of punishment, Julie was pretty sure that mental issues and stresses could still give weres a lot of trouble. And since Arthur backed off once he saw the pearl necklace that Eric had given her and that Julie proudly wore, there was no reason to reveal the full nature of the misunderstanding.
"Well... that was nice of him," Martha commented.
"Yes, yes it was," Eric answered happily, "I'm... I'm sorry if I worried you."
While he still had concerns regarding Spencer Lawson, the biggest thing that his mind had been dwelling on was in relation the fear of Arthur taking Julie from him in the past couple of days. Now that the situation with Arthur was resolved and with his mother holding him in a protective hug, Eric began to realize that his parents had truly noticed how worried he was and were in turn worried about him. And Eric never wanted his parents to worry, for even with all the issues between his parents before they became weres, they had always been good parents and they always looked out for him.
"Well... I'm glad you're feeling better," Martha said slowly and glanced to Julie who stood by quietly, "as... you'd put quite a scare into your father and I."
"I'm sorry," Eric apologized.
"It'll be fine," Martha said slowly, "and things will get better... though... it may take some work. If we could talk in private for a moment..."
"I can wait up in your room, Eric," Julie spoke, "our homework load is a bit lighter today than yesterday."
With that, Julie went up the stairs and Martha listened to her movement up the stairs and didn't turn down to Eric until after she heard Eric's door open. She then looked down to Eric and he looked back up to her.
"We were really worried," Martha said slowly as she looked to Eric, "and it felt like nothing your father and I could do helped..."
"You did a lot," Eric said slowly, "I was just too nervous over things recognize it."
"I'm sure," Martha said slowly, "but it still worried me... and I went to Frances to see if there was anything that could help you..."
"I'm sorry," Eric apologized.
Martha continued to hold her son to her, "It'll be okay. Frances would want you to come in for an official session, just make sure things are fine and that you can get all the stressful things off your chest."
"Okay," Eric said in acceptance and hugged his mother back.
"But we can talk more on this after dinner," Martha eventually spoke, "go on and get your homework done."
With that, Martha let Eric go and he made his way to the stairs. He got up a couple of stairs before his mother called to him again, making him look back to her.
"And Eric," Martha spoke.
"Yeah, mom," Eric said slowly.
"Your father and I love you... so does your brother, always know that," Martha said to him.
"Right, mom," Eric did smile with that and then hurried upstairs.
He found Julie seated on his bed with his computer chair moved out and across from her. She was just setting out the textbooks she had homework for beside her. She calmly turned to him as he came in and set his own backpack down and sat down in his computer chair.
"So, everything okay?" Julie asked.
"I think so..." Eric answered, "though... I think that I might have been a bit too nervous over things regarding you and Arthur and my parents noticed. I mean... you're the first girl that I've seen or interacted with in a way that wasn't strictly school related. You're smart and caring... pretty... and you did a lot to help me with all the things about Moon Lake that are different from the outside world, and I didn't want to lose that..."
"And you NEVER will," Julie told him, "from the moment I saw you... and you glowed brightly... I knew you were the boy for me."
Eric smiled and nodded as he leaned over to set his milkshake down on the computer desk, being careful to make sure it wasn't on a wire or on the keyboard. He nodded and began getting his own homework out, as that would be something to do.
"And I'm glad for that," Eric said with a small smile, "but it apparently worried my folks. My mom just wanted to make sure that I understood some things."
With that Julie nodded and the two were soon working at their homework, which provided some distraction from all the other things that had been issues to worry about.