While Eric and Julie didn't take too long to finish their homework, it had been long enough for Eric's father to return home. Eric had, in fact, heard his father call to his mother as he entered. There was some desire on his part to apologize for some of the comments he remembered making the previous night, but when those thoughts entered his mind he was a bit distracted by other things that Julie provided after the phone call in which Melissa Stovall had told Julie about the Stovall family's plans to head out for the evening. He wanted to return the favor, but Julie dressed him began to lead him out of his bedroom and toward the stairs, largely with the intent on getting Eric to as his parents to go with her.
Eric needed no real persuasion in wanting to go with Julie. He found her beautiful, smart, and friendly. She'd done so much for him with regard to helping him adjust to Moon Lake and all the things that seemed odd about the small Washington State town. And while he was discovering many new desires and drives since becoming a weremerman, the thing that Eric felt he liked most about Julie was her kindness. It was something that made her special to him that went beyond physical attraction and made her more than worth fighting for. It was why he'd been so worried over Arthur casually flirting with Julie the previous day. And in this he dutifully followed his weremermaid to the stairs and down them.
As they came down the stairs, Eric could hear his parents talking in the kitchen, but it was rather soft and thus while he knew they were talking, he didn't know what they were saying. At the same time as they reached the bottom of the stairs, the front door opened to reveal Nate and Alex. Both looked a bit sweaty from practice Eric thought that Nate was even panting a bit.
"Hard practice?" Eric asked.
"Playing football is very different from watching football," Nate answered, stating the obvious.
"At least it's flag football this year," Alex offered with a smile, "so you don't have to tackle... though... you are doing pretty good, considering that you never played football before."
Nate responded with a slow nod of his head as he looked over Alex. He also gave his boyfriend a small smile, as while the practices were different from what he'd done before in his life, it was rather fun. When Alex smirked back at him, Nate also knew that some of Alex's teasing was also in good fun and had no intention of being mean or anything like that. It was something that did give Nate some fun in participating in Moon Lake High's football program. He then turned his head back to Eric, who he found holding Julie's hand and looking rather happy, which was definitely better than how Eric had seemed the previous evening and earlier in the day.
"You two are looking good," Nate commented to Eric.
"Yeah," Eric nodded, "we were just going to ask mom and dad about going out to dinner..."
Nate raised an eyebrow at this as it was a bit puzzling. He was pretty sure that their parents would be fine with Eric going out on a date with Julie, after all, they'd allowed it before. However, after some of the "drama" that had gone on concerning Eric's seeming slide back into the self-isolating habits he'd had in Minnesota, suddenly wanting to go out seemed like a pretty sudden and dynamic shift in mood. Of course, Nate wasn't a psychologist, so he really couldn't make any serious determination beyond that.
"My parents are going out to celebrate my mom's pregnancy," Julie explained.
"Wouldn't that be more of a family thing?" Alex wondered, thinking back to the fact that his own parents had been thinking on having another child, though they ultimately decided to wait on that.
"In a way it is... but Eric IS family," Julie said happily squeezing Eric's hand, "As we'll be husband and wife with all the love that we can give and share. And technically speaking, Eric is part of the Stovall Pod, since I am the one that turned him, which would mean the invitation would also apply for that reason. And that would stand until Eric turns eighteen, where he can chose to remain as part of the pod, though likely recognizing my dad as its head or start his own pod."
"But wouldn't that cut YOU off from your parents?" Nate wondered, scratching his head and having no clue on how weremer society was organized.
"No," Julie answered, "it would be more of an organizational type shift. It wouldn't mean that I'd loose my parents if Eric forms his own pod when he turns eighteen. In many ways... it wouldn't be too different from how things go outside Moon Lake. Kids grow up and move out, that sort of thing. They'd still have contact with their parents, growing up wouldn't change that."
"That's good," Nate stated, "anyway... Alex and I have homework to finish... so... we'll leave you to asking permission."
With that both werewolves advanced and made their way up the stairs. Eric and Julie moved to a side and let them pass before turning to head for the kitchen, where they were pretty sure that Eric's parents were still there. Eric didn't hear any more conversation coming from there, but he was pretty certain that they hadn't moved from where they were. And in the end, William and Martha hadn't moved. As Eric and Julie came in through the dining room and into the kitchen, they found William Anderson holding Martha Anderson in a warm embrace with one hand at the back of Martha's waist while the other softly stroked her back up and down. Eric thought he heard his mother purring a bit at the backrub that William was giving her.
"Hey dad, mom," Eric called softly as he and Julie entered, which made both William and Martha jump a little bit. They may have heard Eric and Julie talking with Nate and Alex, but it was pretty clear that they hadn't been paying that closely to it.
"Eric..." Martha said slowly, noting that Eric looked calm and better than he had in the morning and even seemed happy to have Julie by his side, "I was just... updating your father on some things."
"Okay," Eric answered, remembering that his mother had mentioned to him her worries and concerns and that it would include a formal session with Frances. Which he did accept, as his parents had a right to worry about him and to some extent he also knew that he'd worn his frustrations and jealousy over a misunderstanding on his sleeve, which would only make them worry, and he also remembered a few things that privately he regretted. However, for the moment his parents looked fairly well and there was Julie's invitation to dinner that was on his mind. "And you're okay?"
"We're doing well, son," William spoke from beside his wife, "I trust that YOU are doing okay?"
Eric swiftly nodded with a sheepish smile, "Yeah... you and mom were right on the whole patience and understanding thing. I... I reacted badly to a misunderstanding. In fact... once that misunderstanding was realized, Arthur and I made friends. He even bought milkshakes to celebrate."
Eric decided not to mention the brief conversation with Spencer Lawson after school, as that was a different issue, and actually one that he thought would fix itself out in due time. Especially as getting into that would probably distract away from getting permission to go with Julie.
"Well, that does sound good," William gave a small smile and a small squeeze of Martha's hand to assure her that all would be well, "and you two have kept up with your school work?"
"Yeah," Eric nodded.
William smiled with pride at that, "So... do you have any dinner requests?"
"Actually... I was wondering if maybe I could go out," Eric answered slowly and a bit nervously.
"Out?" Martha asked.
"My parents are going out to celebrate my mom's pregnancy," Julie answered, "I don't know the restaurant, but I'm pretty sure it's actually in Seattle..."
"Wouldn't that be more of a family thing for you, though?" Martha wondered, glancing to William.
"With Eric and I engaged, as far as weremers are concerned... he is family," Julie answered, "It's why I offered him the invitation."
Seeing Eric happy with Julie was a good thing, and in many ways William was quite happy to reinforce that. He wasn't that knowledgeable enough with psychology to really make a real judgement call based on what Martha had told him that Frances suspected. He knew enough to say that many of the effects wouldn't always be obvious and that the more formal sessions would be needed to truly confirm those sorts of issues. Though for the short term, he didn't personally see a problem with letting Eric go, though a lot of that would also relate to whether or not Julie's parents would allow for it.
"Well... I don't think we have a problem with you going, Eric," William said slowly as he looked to Martha, who nodded in agreement, "but it would be best to confirm that Julie's parents would be okay with it. If this celebration is something they want only for the Stovall family, we wouldn't want to infringe on them.
"I can call my mom and ask," Julie offered.
"That's all we ask," Martha finished.
Julie nodded and moved away to find her phone and call her mom back. Eric let her go and moved forward to hug her parents.
"Thanks, mom, dad," Eric said to them.