Eric Anderson had a lot on his mind as he quietly left his house and started walking over to his new friend Julie's, so he could attend the pool party he was invited to.
He had excused himself to go upstairs to bed the night before, but stayed hidden near the second floor landing to overhear Nate and his friend Ben talking while they were cleaning up the living room.
"Mom as a werecat doesn't bother me," his brother said. "I'll admit that I was surprised to find out she's bi, but what I'm worried about is their marriage."
"Oh?" asked Ben, while throwing trash into an empty pizza box.
"This increased libido aspect of being a were certainly isn't going to help."
"It's not that bad. You're still in control," said Ben. "You're just more interested in the possibility of having sex if an opportunity comes up, and enjoy it a lot more if you do," he explained, speaking from his first hand experience as a werewolf.
"That's just it. Even if this time truly isn't dad's fault, this is far from the first time he's cheated on mom," revealed Nate. "You know the basics about the incident with the co-ed that got him fired and forced us to relocate here."
"Which hasn't totally been a bad experience. It's gained me and my mothers new friends," pointed out Ben.
"True," agreed Nate. "Yet I know dad's cheated before," he added. Then Nate explained how one day, when he was about Eric's age, his dad said he was going out for a walk. Not unusual, but Nate discovered that his dad forgot his cellphone. Nate thought he could catch him, and did, only to discover William Anderson going inside a neighbor's house down the street. Which might have been an innocent situation, except for the facts that the lady wasn't wearing anything and was intensely kissing his father as he went inside!
Walking back to his house, Nate went through his father's cellphone and discovered several text messages from different women besides the one he just saw. Some even included images that left nothing to the imagination.
"I see your point," admitted Ben after hearing the tale. "We can talk about it more with my moms if you want, but even Frances will say that your mom has to at least try to see if the marriage can be saved. Otherwise, there will always be that nagging doubt in the back of her mind, wondering if she truly did everything she could."
"Thinking about being a therapist yourself?" asked Nate, looking at his friend.
"Who knows?" asked Ben in return, shrugging his shoulders.
Eric didn't sleep well that night, having bad dreams about being the only human in Moon Lake, and winding up being thrown in a zoo as an oddity for all the other weres to look at.
Having slept in late, he got dressed for the pool party, putting a regular pair of shorts over his best swim trunks. Coming out into the hallway with his small travel bag of stuff (towel, suntan lotion, etc), Eric saw that Nate's bedroom door was wide open, which meant he must be with Ben meeting his new Pack Alpha, or whatever they called the guy. He was about to go downstairs and find something to eat, when he saw his mother going into her room.
He went over and was about to knock on her door, when he heard his parents talking.
Being alone this time, he put his ear to the door and listened. Their conversation left him even more confused about the future of his family and himself than ever before.
Sneaking downstairs, he fixed himself a sandwich to go, grabbed a bottle of water, and left for his friend's house.
Having eaten along the way, he was now in front of Julie's place. It wasn't much bigger than his house, but it did look nicer.
Julie's instructions said the back gate would be unlocked and to let himself in.
Eric did so, but was surprised to discover...