Mason was standing the bathroom mirror looking at his face. He had brushed his teeth and combed his hair, and although he had started to grow a little bit of facial hair a while back, Aaron had told him before that he looked better without facial hair at all. He took a deep breath before speaking towards his reflection.
"Hi Anjelica, you look nice tonight." Mason said as he nodded. "Or maybe, hey Anj, how're you? No, no, she's told you that nickname sounds stupid." Mason remembered.
"Okay, what about: Anjelica, great to see you tonight. I'm going on a trip with my sisters to help them in the kitsune land and it could be dangerous and I...don't know when I'll see you again." Mason said as he covered his hands onto his face.
"Hey little bro!" Haley said as she suddenly opened the bathroom door startling Mason who jumped back in surprise. "Practicing for when you see your girlfriend?" Haley teased as Mason's face went red.
"She's not my girlfriend Haley, we're just.....really good friends....right now." Mason said as he looked down at the floor.
"Oh, it's okay baby bro, I had crushes on plenty of guys back in high school. Plus you and Anjelica have been tight since you two were in diapers, why wouldn't she like you?" Haley asked.
"Because I'm leaving with you and Kari tomorrow." Mason reminded her.
"Oh, right. Well, you just need a little good advice on what to say to her." Haley suggested.
"Yeah, maybe I'll ask Aaron, he's a guy, he's talked with girls before." Mason thought as he ran over to grab his cell phone from his room.
"What? No, I...I meant me. Oh god, you'll be doomed with Aaron's advice." Haley said to herself.
Mason quickly grabbed his phone as he called Aaron. Currently his brother was off with the Morelands and wouldn't be home for at least another day or two. After a few rings, Mason could hear his brother answer. "Hello?"
"Aaron, listen, Anjelica and her family will be here any moment. I want your advice really quick on what to say when I see her." Mason asked as Aaron went quiet for a moment at what to say.
"Uh....just say something about how her hair glows or her face and how it glistens in the moonlight or something." Aaron said as Mason nodded gleefully and ran off as he suddenly heard the knocking at the front door. "Okay I'll do that thanks."
"I'll GET IT!!!" Mason excitedly said as he ran past Claudia to open the front door of their house.
On the other side of the door were Ann and Jackie O'Toole-Kirkman, Mason thought his moms were loving towards each other and their kids but Anjelica's mothers were at a whole other level compared to them. Jackie had grown to be slightly muscular but still feminine holding her wife, Ann by her hip. Beside them on the right were Anjelica's older sister, Stephanie who Mason thought was her aunt when he first met her years ago. She had her hair tied up in a ponytail and was holding hands with her husband, Travis. The two had gotten married years back and debated on their name, but decided to keep each others last names. Finally right in front of them was Anjelica herself who was the same age as Mason at 16. Anjelica inherited Jackie's hair and Ann's eyes. The two of them had been best friends for years, but when they both turned 16, that was when they both began feeling weird around each other.
"Hi Mason, thanks for inviting us over." Anjelica said waving a little shyly at Mason.
"Yeah, uh....hi, Anjelica, thanks for.....leaving, I mean coming! Thanks for coming to our dinner party." Mason said trying to hide his shyness, but it seemed that Anjelica was just as shy.
"Jackie, Ann, come in!" Claudia said as she let the family in as she and Jackie gave each other a hug and friendly kiss on the cheeks.
"Ann, I swear it's hard for me to believe sometimes that you're younger than us these days." Claudia joked as Ann chuckled at this.
Pretty soon both the O'Toole-Kirkman family as well as the Harris family were conversing with each other about different things altogether. Travis was talking with Fukushu about how he was trying to help keep run the shop while Stephanie was talking with Kari and Haley about how she had been considering joining S.P.E.A.R. with her armor. Travis and Stephanie were also giggling with each other watching as Mason and Anjelica spoke with each other but were still acting awkward. Eventually the conversation got to the topic of Mason heading off with Kari and Haley to the kitsune realm.
"So what about Aaron? Isn't he going too They are his people too." Travis asked.
"He's still off with the Morelands and they won't be back for a couple of days" Kari explained.
"Oh, those Moreland boys can be so uptight at times." Ann said shaking her head as the others nodded noting how Chase, Caleb, and even Connor could act sometimes.
Mason then motioned for Anjelica to follow him out into the backyard. The night felt colder and a little windy with the fall season having just started. The sky outside was clear with the full moon out as Anjelica stared up at the sky amazed at it.
"Wow, it's so beautiful out here." Anjelica said.
"Yeah, and I've got to tell you: I think your eyes....uh, are pissing in the moonlight." Mason said as Anjelica looked over to him looking confused and a little angry.
"No! I...I mean your hair blows, ugh! No! I mean....oh....!" Mason said as he covered his face in embarrassment and sat down on the ground. Anjelica then got down on the ground and sat next to him.
"I know how you're feeling." Anjelica admitted after she moved her hair back behind her ear. Mason looked up at her a little surprised. "We've been friends for so long now. When I heard from my moms that we were going to your house for dinner, I got a little excited." Anjelica took a deep breath at this moment. "But then when my mothers told me we were going to say farewell to you because you were going to be gone for a while, my heart sank a little. I thought of all the times we've spent together and on the way over, I wondered what would happen if I never saw you again. So then I had an epiphany: I want to go with you." Anjelica said.
"What?! No, you can't....Anjelica, you can't be serious about this. I mean, what are your parents going to say about this? My moms are only letting me go because my sisters will be there. How would you convince your mothers to let you go?"
"I'll just ask my sister and Travis to go with me. Stephanie has been wanting to do something interesting lately and Travis, well, it should be kind of obvious why Travis is a good idea to go."
"Even so, Anjelica, going there could be pretty dangerous. You could get hurt." Mason said looking directly into her eyes.
"That's why we'll have your sisters with us, so we won't get hurt. Besides, I know, whenever I'm with you...I feel safe." Anjelica said as she put her hand gently on Mason's hand making the two of them blush.
Before either of them could say anything else, a red fox suddenly came up to them almost out of nowhere.
"Well, hey there miss fox, where did you come from?" Anjelica asked as the fox happily wagged her tail in front of them.
"Whoa, are you from the kitsune realm?" Mason asked as the fox didn't say anything to the two of them and just looked confused.
"I guess you aren't, but what are you doing here?" Mason asked as the fox began jumping up and down excitedly at them. Mason and Anjelica found this a little fun as they chased after the fox in the backyard, before it began to ran towards the woods.
"So long little friend." Mason said as he waved goodbye to the fox.
But instead of leaving the pair alone, the fox came back and pointed her nose up towards the two, then towards the forest.
"It's not a kitsune, but it certainly seems a little smarter than most foxes." Anjelica noted.
"Yeah, I think she wants to follow us." Mason said as they looked back to the house for a moment before going off towards the woods and following the fox.
They almost lost the fox a few times before they caught up with it again. They followed the fox until they reached a clearing with a large tree in the center of the forest.
"Okay fox, what exactly did you bring us all the way out here to....." Mason said before the two of them got closer to the tree the fox sat by and saw a sword that had been thrust into a tree.
"Whoa, is this sword Excalibur?" Mason wondered.
"What? No, didn't your parents tell you about Katie? She has that sword, remember?" Anjelica reminded him.
"Oh yeah, think we should pull it out?" Mason asked Anjelica who shrugged and grabbed the hilt of the sword and tried to pull it out of the tree, but to no avail.
"Well, I guess you can try, but I don't know if it'll budge." Anjelica said as Mason went over and breathed a little heavily before grasping the hilt of the sword and seemed to almost pull it out with ease.
"Whoa, do...don't you think this sword was meant for me." Mason said as he looked over the sword. He saw what appeared to be weird markings on the hilt.
"What are these weird scribbles?" Mason asked showing it to Anjelica.
"It looks like runes, likes from the vikings. I have a mythology book I could check out later."
"Yeah, and I can show my moms I got an awesome sword to take with me on my trip." Mason said excitedly as he jumped up and down. Anjelica smiled at her best friend's enthusiasm.