William's day had been fairly calm. There was some of the excitement that related to getting everyone up and out the door on time, as it was a school day that morning, but that went well. Classes had also gone reasonably well, with the only real drama that he had to handle was a brief stop with the Dean's Office during one of his free periods during the day to arrange for the time off. He found the dean available, but also found that he'd been discussing something a large male were, that even in his human form was about the same size as the dean. From what William could pick up by scent, something in the back of his mind said, "lion" with regard to the were the dean had been talking to.
"Is something wrong?" William asked as he approached.
"Not beyond what appears to be some political games among the students," Dean Myers said slowly, "and it's attracting attention. Apparently one of the werelion females is not pleased that Peter Talbot chose an out of state normal to be his wife and has tried to engineer some sort of intervention with the idea of trying to talk her out of marrying him."
"That doesn't sound political," William said off hand, "troublesome if interferes with a students classes and risks a potential fight if serious..."
"Trust me... with how werelion prides in Moon Lake are organized, it can be political," Dean Myers answered, "particularly with where Peter Talbot falls in their hierarchy. That's something that needs to keep some measure of attention to make sure it doesn't escalate."
William only shrugged and then nodded to that. He decided not to get into it. He might be adjusting quite happily to being a werefox and having the bond essentially save his marriage with Martha, but that didn't mean he knew all the ins and outs of every were group and wasn't really about to go too deep into it.
"What can I do for you, Mr. Anderson?" Dean Myers then asked as he gestured with one hand toward his office door.
William gave a small gulp and then nervously followed him as he began to explain the situation that had been going on with Eric at home and the things that he and Martha were nervous over. Dean Myers quietly listened and even nodded as William finished the explanation naming when Martha and scheduled the appointment for Eric.
"I wouldn't miss the entire day, sir," William said slowly, "but... he is my son... and... Martha and I love him very much. I would like to be there for him... I can even return after it's over, if need be."
"I trust you talked this over with your department heads?" Dean Myers asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Yes, they were fine with it, though with the word of warning about cancelling any classes that would conflict with the appointment," William answered, "they just wanted to make sure you had the final say with regard to permission."
William then patted himself down until he found the leave form he'd filled out earlier in one of his jacket pockets and then pulled it out and unfolded it. It had the leave request, all its time asked for, the English Department's signature for permission with one spot left for Dean Myers to sign. The dean took the paper calmly and soon affixed his name to the line for him.
"Hopefully things go well," Dean Myers spoke as he handed the paper back to William.
William nodded in reply.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Getting the time off for the session with Doctor Twist for Eric was easy, and William was ultimately pleased with himself that he was able to get that arranged. He had a bit of other work that kept him busy a bit longer after school than normal, but that wasn't too much of a problem, though for some reason he was never able to get a signal to let Martha know that he'd be a bit late coming home. When he finally was able to come home from the college, he found a rather odd gathering in front of the Anderson and Twist homes.
Martha was on the grass closest to the property line while Nate and Alex stood just onto the Twist's driveway, but largely next to Martha. Ben stood opposite Martha and next to his car on the driveway with a young African American woman, whom William thought he'd seen on the campus grounds, but didn't have her in one of his classes standing behind him. The woman was looking at her phone with a puzzled look with a moped parked behind her on the driveway as well. To complete things, Melissa Stovall was parked on the side of the street and was standing on the sidewalk. It wasn't something William expected and he soon made his way over to find out what was going on.
"Is something going on?" William asked aloud as he came forward, noting that Martha turned toward him even before he got there.
"Eric and Julie didn't come home," Martha spoke quickly, startling William beyond belief.
"They didn't come home?" William repeated and his eyes glanced to Nate, "Did ANYTHING happen at school?"
"I don't think so," Nate answered, "Eric and I don't share classes... so I could only see him occasionally in the hall, and he seemed pretty okay then."
"And neither he nor Julie would be the sort to get detention," Melissa Stovall added with a nervous look about her.
"When did you last hear from them?" William asked to Nate.
"I think I saw them go out the front door when school ended... but I was on the way to practice for the Thanksgiving football game," Alex spoke, "so..."
All of this left a worrying feeling in William's stomach. Some of it related to his past actions and the affect it had had on his family, which Eric had made him well aware of when Eric was frustrated over something regarding his relationship with Julie earlier. Some of it also related to how quickly things had progressed between Eric and Julie. William was glad his youngest son had found true love, but he shared Martha's concern about rushing things.
"They wouldn't have..." William said slowly as he glanced to Melissa.
"No," Melissa said firmly, "Your son has been Julie's favorite topic of conversation... but she's never done anything that would indicate that she would just runaway for any reason."
"So where are they?" William could only wonder with a small frown.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Meanwhile the subjects of that question were at a different part of Moon Lake and were looking over to Morgan Barr, who had asked to go along with Spencer as she drove Julie and Eric home. It was a bit of a surprise for everyone there, from Eric and Julie to even Spencer and Morgan's mother. Eric and Julie were a bit surprised in that Morgan would want to ride along with them. They'd gotten along fairly well with Morgan, and he seemed fairly interested in Eric, but since this was a first meeting, Eric didn't think that there would be any great interest in following them home, particularly with something going on with their cellphones.
Spencer was surprised as she didn't expect the meeting to have the sort of impact that it had. A part of her figured that Morgan might have some interest in something other than just friendship, given that he had been available to help her deal with her heat issues, and some of that was still there, but she didn't think that he would be so willing that he'd potentially miss dinner to hang out with new friends. She had looked for a way to help Morgan make new friends, but she didn't think it would have had the success that it'd had. And that was a good and bad thing, as even Spencer knew that in most cases her own parents could be strict if she truly got out of line, and a part of her also figured that at some points her mother would want words about playing with her mother's toys.
Morgan's mother was a bit surprised in that her son had openly been willing to miss or at least be late for dinner. In a way, she was glad to see her son being willing to go out and interact with others, even if two of them were weremers. It did her good to see that, as she had often seen how shy and silent Morgan had often been at social functions outside the family home, even at pack meetings and so forth. Though, some things like dinner were still important and she was surprised that he was so willing to miss it.
"Uh... why would you want to follow us when your dinner's likely ready?" Eric asked after a moment.
"Well..." Morgan began, a good part of his reasoning was to essentially invite Spencer for dinner and maybe have some more fun with her, if that would be allowed, but a part of him figured saying that outright wouldn't come off well. "I think your brother joined the pack I'm in... and well... I was kinda on the sidelines that night. I figure it would polite actually introduce myself and explain that you were late to your dinners because of me."
"I can explain that," Spencer commented, "and it was really whatever is going on with cellphone reception at the moment."
"And our dinner will be ready soon, Morgan," Morgan's mother spoke up, "I'm glad to see you making friends... but that doesn't mean your father or I will want you avoiding dinner."
"And given the lack of phone coverage... my folks may want me home," Spencer answered, "at least for dinner and likely to explain why I didn't come straight home."
"Oh," Morgan answered in a defeated tone.
"But... if your looking for more fun... I might be free later this evening," Spencer offered, "Depending on what my parents say... we can meet again in the same spot we did last night."
"And if you're really wanting to meet my brother," Eric added, "You could probably drop by my house around five o'clock in the afternoon tomorrow. That is when his football practice ends and he'll be coming home."
"What about you?" Morgan wondered.
"I kinda have an appointment with Doctor Twist tomorrow," Eric said with a nervous smile, "Some things happened that got me a bit jealous and fearful and my family noticed and got worried."
"Oh..." Morgan sighed.
"It may be rough... as some times schedules often shift and aren't easy to keep track of," Julie added, "but that's where as we said earlier, sometimes it takes a little openness and willing to step outside of where you're most comfortable. Some things for tomorrow may not be great, but that doesn't mean that Eric and I wouldn't be opposed to having werewolf friends. That's one of the things that you sometimes have to work with."
"Okay," Morgan sighed, "See you later then?"
"Sure," Spencer said for both Eric and Julie and the three politely made their way out.
They left Morgan with the hope that at least he'd get a shot at Spencer again. For the moment that was all he had, but at the same time, Spencer had to feel reasonably confident that they'd made good progress at least getting Morgan willing to make start at opening himself up.