John quietly made his way into the Jenkins home from the door that lead into the garage. He found no one in the laundry room that he entered, but he could hear the television running in the living room. That meant that Janice, Harry, and or Lisa were watching something at the moment, which was nice in a way. The Jenkins were far more relaxed with Janice and John with what they could or could not watch, and John figured that if they were watching television, he could go about his business of getting himself cleaned up from his painting job and try to catch up with Ginger, as it was now pushing four PM.
"So how did the painting job go?" came Lisa's voice as the Jenkins family matriarch came into John's line of sight from the adjoining kitchen. It startled John a little as he didn't expect to see her there, though thankfully he didn't jump too far.
"It went okay," John answered as he looked past Lisa Jenkins and toward the living room for a moment, "We got everything painted and Henry is pretty sure that unless it rains tonight everything should be good..." His voice fell off at the end, as he did wish to see Ginger, at least to see how her day went, though he was a bit nervous on some of Janice's excitement on the issue.
"And collected a bit of paint, I see," Lisa gave a small chuckle, noting some small splotches on John's clothes. Thankfully they were some of Huck's hand-me downs that had seen a lot of use. The clothing wasn't falling apart, but it was old enough that things like painting and the heavy maintenance/construction work was about all it would be good for.
"I tried to be careful," John said nervously.
"Oh that happens," Lisa laughed, "it's no big deal. Just place the clothes on the washing machine and I can see that they make to the wash tomorrow morning."
"Take it off?" John asked.
"Yes," Lisa answered, "Wouldn't want to get wet paint on anything."
"But..." John began, concerned that Janice might tease him for being in his underwear. And he knew that this would also relate to catching up with Ginger, and while he knew that Janice meant well, he had a lot he needed to work through first.
"If you're worried about your sister seeing you," Lisa offered, "she is in the living room. You can go around through the dinning room past the front door and to the hallway leading to the guest room you and Janice share. She won't see you."
"Okay..." John answered slowly.
"And John," Lisa spoke as she turned to head back toward the living room, "say hello to Ginger for everyone."
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Showering didn't take too long and Janice didn't bother him when John made his way out of the Jenkins home. He was only in a clean pair of jeans and a tee-shirt and his hair was a bit wet from his shower, but for the moment being able to talk to Ginger remained on the forefront of his mind. It wasn't a long walk and John remembered it fairly easily from both his and Janice's adventure when they first met Fred and Ginger O'Toole, and then the brief visit he'd paid to the house with Ginger to ask permission to go on the walking tour of Moon Lake scheduled for the next day. In this, John made the easy walk to the sidewalk that lead up to the O'Toole's front door.
It was only when he got there that he got a bit nervous, as he noticed two cars on the driveway, which made him assume that Ginger's father was home. He hadn't met Ginger's father on the previous visit, and while Ginger's mother had seemed friendly, there was a bit of nervousness in that he expected Ginger's father to be more protective of Ginger than her mother was. Especially when there were likely plenty of rumors that went around Moon Lake concerning his own father's behavior. Those rumors were likely confirmed given all that the Jenkins had told him about what Dieter Wilhelm had done trying to secure possession of Jenny. That would certainly lead to anyone being suspicious of any male member of the Harper family.
But, Ginger was his friend, and so far his only friend outside his family and the Jenkins in Moon Lake. He worked up his courage and walked up the sidewalk to the O'Toole's front door and knocked on it. He hoped that he didn't "just miss" Ginger again. He waited quietly until the door pulled inward until John found himself looking up to a man, that even with the man in rather relaxed clothing, was easily far more heavily muscled than John presently was and even more heavily muscled than Harry or Huck. This made sense, as Tigers were bigger and more powerful predators than either dogs or foxes. By this, John could only assume that this man was Ginger's father.
"Hello, Mr. O'Toole," John said weakly, "Is Ginger home?"
The man looked down to him, and sniffed for a moment, and John practically trembled. He knew that Ginger was a bit taller than him, and for a teen of her age, she looked stronger than him as well. From what John remembered of Ginger's mother, she was even more impressive than Ginger. And all that reminded John of was that if they wanted to they could easily kill him. The only reason for confidence that John had was that Ginger had told him that permission had been granted
"Yes... may I help you, young man?" Mr. O'Toole spoke slowly with narrowed eyes.
"Well... yes... you see," John stuttered nervously a bit, and he hoped that the other man's ears could hear him, "I'm John Harper, sir, I've been staying with the Jenkins since my sister was able to get me and my younger sister from my father and mother. Ginger has commonly stopped by on her way home from school, and we'd talk about things and she's been teaching me how to play chess... but I was helping Mr. Harper with a painting project and wasn't home when Ginger came by today... and..."
"Easy," Mr. O'Toole raised one hand and stepped backward, "You promise to be kind to her?"
"Of course," John answered, "she's been a good friend to me here."
"Good," Mr. O'Toole answered and watched John gulp a little bit. He had no intention of doing any harm to the young teen, but Ginger was his little girl and he would do what he could to make sure that she was safe. After all, his wife had shared some of her private worries with him, but they had agreed that they could trust Ginger to be careful and that the situation wasn't yet such that truly making sure of things was needed at the moment.
John finally got some ease with a voice that was more familiar cut in, along with a familiar face coming into view.
"Dad... I'm not planning on clawing him and he's not going to hurt anyone," came Ginger's voice as she came into John's line of sight from the right of the open front doorway, "there is no need to scare him."
"I'm not scaring anyone," Mr. O'Toole answered, "I'm just making sure that there is an understanding and that my baby girl is treated the way she deserves to be treated."
Ginger was quiet for a moment as her father then left the doorway and moved deeper into the home for a moment. John stood by quietly as he watched Ginger look to him and then come forward to stand outside her home and shutting the door behind her.
"I'm sure he was just protecting you," John said to her, "Something that he'll have the right to... after everything my father did before Jenny's wedding."
"Yeah... but he knows me well enough to know that I'm not going to jump you or force you into anything," Ginger answered, "and that I am more than capable of defending myself."
"Yeah... but your folks probably don't know ME well enough yet to not have worries and concerns," John admitted. Ginger didn't offer much more than a shrug at that, but she didn't argue the point further, which came as a relief to her. He'd come to see how her day went, not debate with Ginger's parents if he was "boyfriend" material, and he was still trying to figure things out as it were. In that, John really wasn't ready for any sort of romantic relationship.
"Did you get my message?" Ginger eventually asked.
"Yeah... you'd come by at eleven," John nodded, "I was hoping to be there... but the painting job at the Johnstones took a little bit longer to clean up after. We got back around three forty and you'd already been by..."
Ginger was quiet for a moment, as she'd actually jogged to the Jenkins home from the school, privately eager to see him and get away from some of the rumors that had been dominating the school.
"So... I'm sorry to have missed you," John finished.
"It's okay," Ginger managed after a moment, "I might have rushed over a bit faster than normal..."
John gulped, this time more because of his own private concerns and questions over who he was than anything else. That gave Ginger a bit of time to continue and keep herself under control, as a part of her was seriously interested in John. But since John had trusted her enough to tell her about some of the things that he'd privately questioned himself on, she didn't want to push things. That would only make things worse for him and ruin a friendship that was really only just forming.
"Much of it is to get away from some of the rumors flying around the high school right no... weird stuff about the meeting that's supposed to be going on tonight," Ginger commented, "though there was something that might be something that could be good news..."
"Good news...?" John wondered.
"Yeah... another freshmen who's been new to school has apparently been thinking of a chess club or something like that," Ginger said slowly, "nothing super competitive... but something that new players could learn the game and think strategically with the pieces and the moves of the game. It's not a bad idea... and from one actual class I have with him... he seems to be something of a smart guy. That might be something else for you two to bond over..."
"I'm... I'm not sure I'm really ready to get into anything..." John began nervously.
"Don't worry, he's a weremer and definitely into the mayor's daughter," Ginger commented, "you bring up romance and he'll talk to you about Julie Stovall until your ears fall off."
"Okay..." John said slowly, a bit lost on that update, but if Ginger was interested in this club thing... he found himself having some interest.
"He's also a fairly nice guy who might be able to help in other ways," Ginger commented, "I think his mother became a werecat and his brother is involved with Alex Ramsey."
"Who's she?" John found himself asking.
"Alex Ramsey is a MALE werewolf," Ginger commented, "so... while the guy may not have first hand experience with what you're wrestling with... I'm sure he'd still be able to understand... in a way. It'd help you adjust when you get into the system."
John nodded and then sighed, "that may take awhile though... with how fast things have gone, and some other stuff in Alabama... it'll be awhile before things are in order. The last update I had had it sometime before Thanksgiving... and definitely before Christmas break."
Ginger nodded, and after biting her lip for a moment, pulled John into a warm hug, "that won't matter. You'll still have plenty of friends who will accept you. Myself among them."
John happily hugged her back.