Tom has a relatively uneventful drive to the hotel where he was staying in Spokane. There wasn’t any major traffic on the highway, so he didn’t arrive at some ungodly hour late in the night. He unloaded his bags from the car and took them into the lobby, where he checked in and received the key to his hotel room.
When he arrived in his room, Tom put his bags on the floor by his bed and locked the door behind him. He sighed in relief as he sat down on his bed and pulled out his phone, dialing Alice’s number. He then held the phone up to his ear and listened to the sound of the phone ringing on the other end.
“Hello?” A female voice answered on the other end.
“Hey Alice,” Tom said. “Just wanted to call you and let you know that-“ He was cut off.
“Oh my God Tom, are you alright?!”
Tom was confused by his fiancé’s sudden and rather panicked response.
“Yeah...Yeah, I’m fine Alice,” he responded slowly. “Is...is something wrong?”
He heard Alice sigh in relief on the other end of the phone.
“There’s a...a protest…” Alice said slowly.
Tom sighed. He knew that it was only a matter of time before people began to protest against the reveal, but that didn’t make it any less frustrating.
“Just...just don’t go into town,” Tom responded.
“No Tom, you don’t understand...they’re outside our house…”
This got Tom’s attention.
“What?! Are you okay?! Are you hurt?! Are your parents hurt?!”
“No Tom, no one is hurt,” Alice reassured. “They haven’t resulted to violence...yet…but they did…”
“What?!” Tom almost shouted. “What did they do Alice?!”
“They called me a...a slut…” Alice said slowly. “You don’t know since you’re new to Moon Lake, but that term is almost never used. When it is used, it’s used to refer to someone who has a reputation of being overly sexual, even for a Were.”
“So it’s like a taboo,” Tom assumed. “Like calling someone who’s gay a…”
“Kind of,” Alice said with a sigh.
“So they’re protesting my idea to reveal Weres to the rest of the world,” Tom said slowly. “God, I’m so sorry that I had to drag you and your family into all of this Alice. If only I hadn’t stuck my nose where it doesn’t belong…”
“But if you didn’t, you wouldn’t have met me,” Alice said, trying to reassure her lover. “People are just scared of change. You need to show them that there’s nothing to be afraid of.”
“Right...you’re right,” Tom said. “I’ve got to get going. I need to unpack some stuff and get some dinner. I’ll call you tomorrow morning, okay?”
“Alright,” Alice said. “I love you Tom.”
“And I love you too Alice,” Tom responded before he heard the sound of the phone on the other line being hung up.