After a few dates and with August slowly ticking away, Stephanie decided now would be the perfect time to introduce her new friends to her new boyfriend. The only problem, all her friends were at the Morelands today. "You okay Steph you seem tense."
Stephanie now glanced over at Travis, it amazed her she had seemed to win the boyfriend lottery. Travis was handsome, polite, and amazingly understanding. Sure she didn't have a wealth of experience to base things on but she knew this type of relationship didn't happen often. The couple had only been going our for a little over a week and the teen already felt like she was falling in love. Still, Travis had yet to meet Stephanie's...unique friends.
She wasn't sure how Travis would react to Nat and the others. Sure, she was used to this type of thing at this point. Over the last couple of years she had seen wizards, fairies, demons, demon hunters, vampires, and the like but, it still shocked her every so often. How would someone so, normal, react? "Nope I'm perfectly fine," Stephanie squeaked.
Travis smirked, taking Stephanie's hand and giving it a reassuring squeeze. "Steph you don't have to be nervous," he said. "I mean, they're your friends. I'm hoping I can make a good impression." Stephanie nervously chuckled, forcing a smile as they pulled into the Morelands driveway. "Your not the one I'm worried about," she thought.
As Travis and Stephanie exited the car, Nat and the others watched as the couple now began to approach. "Okay guys listen," Nat stated. "Travis doesn't know about our....unique history so we need to be as normal as possible."
"We got you covered Nat," Connor said. "Jim and Daphne are upstairs and out of sight."
"We should probably take the B.B. gun out of Aaron's hand though," Miles commented, gesturing towards the the kintaro child as he wandered into the living room. Miles and Connor had just finished practice, with Rei and Nat now watching the boy until his mother's would pick him up. Still, having a three year old walking around with a weapon and being in his anthro form was probably not a good way to make a first impression with Stephanie's new boyfriend. "I've got Aaron," Rei said quickly, grabbing the B.B. gun away from the boy. A quick chat with Aaron now saw the boy shift into human form, his fur receding as his tail vanished.
"I don't know why we're walking on eggshells for this guy," Spark grumbled. "I mean it's not like he's not going to learn about everything soon. Especially if Steph is serious about him." The others now looked between Spark and the approaching couple, wondering if the fairy may have a point. "Stephanie is very worried about scaring him off," Chenoa replied. "If we are going to be good friends we should respect her wishes." Spark simply shrugged at the Deer girls statement. "Juat saying we should treat it like a band-aid. Better to just rip it off and be done with it."
As Chenka was about to ask why they would want to rip Travis off, the couple began to knock on the door. Connor now answered, offering the couple a polite smile as he invited them in. After exchanging pleasantries, he invited them into the living room, the friends now taking the time to get to know Travis.
Over the next half hour Nat and the others began talking with Travis, everyone taking a shine to the humble and friendly teen. The guys seemed like him, while most of the girls couldn't help but find him incredibly cute. Still, after sometime talking with Travis, both Spark and Amara couldn't help but find something amiss about him. "Hey I'm going to get something to drink," Spark stated. "Amara come with me."
"But I'm not thirsty."
"Yes you are," Spark said quickly, grabbing the mara by the hand and quickly dragging her into the kitchen. "What the hell Spark," Amara hissed. "You almost pulled my arm.out of the socket!"
"Dont be so dramatic," Spark scoffed. "Besides tell me you're not getting a weird vibe from this guy Travis." Amara paused, she couldn't quite put her finger on it but something did feel odd about him. "Okay maybe," she said. "But what? I mean, he seems cool and um...he is cute."
"True," Spark nodded. "I mean, not as cute as Connor. He's close but you know Connor, especially when he has his shirt off and um....what we're we talking about again?"
"Travis."
"Oh right him," Spark replied, the fairy now fanning herself as she thought of her boyfriend. "Okay we need to figure out what's up with this guy. I have a feeling no one else I'd really able to sense anything."
"Why's that?"
"Gut feeling," Spark stated. "The others are human and really haven't been exposed to magic. Let's face it, we've dealt with things the others probably haven't."
"Why wouldn't Nat or Chenoa sense something?"
"Chenoa grew up in the woods," Spark exclaimed. "And Nat, really like the girl but she's kind of inexperienced when it comes to these things. Let's face it, you and me are the ones that are going to have to figure out what's up with this guy."
"Okay well I'm open to suggestions," Amara said, throwing her hands into the air. "What do you want to do? Just call him over and interrogate him."
"You have a better idea?"
Amara balked, her shoulders slumping before shaking her head. She didn't have a better idea, all she could hope for was that Spark wouldn't freak Stephanie's boyfriend out too much.