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Part 23

I woke up Saturday with a sort of energetic high I hadn't felt in a long time. Carson and I were meeting for dinner at a pizza place he said was to die for. I'd never heard of it but it sounded good. It was supposedly real Italian, which thanks to growing up in a world where practically everywhere said "Real Italian" and maybe one-third meant it, I had never had genuine Italian cuisine.

But, I was more interested in the after dinner "activities". We both told our parents we'd be staying at friend's houses and since my mother wasn't home, my father said okay. Our plan was to get a hotel room for the night and go on from there. The plan wasn't perfect. There were always things that could go wrong. But the excitement and thrill of doing this was...invigorating.

Rarely had I ever done something this reckless with Brent. Drinking was one thing, especially for a teenager whose boyfriend was popular, but I never really took risks. I know, I know, drinking can be risky. I was careful. I'm talking about sneaking out or staying over at someone's house to have sex. Brent and I did it, but I always went over to Kit's or came home a little later (blaming it on a variety of things). With a fox's nose it was probably easy to smell a lie, even if I did shower afterwards. They never said anything, though. I think it was the fact that I came home and was not psychically dying. Whatever it was, it probably wouldn't be as bad as this.

Well, not bad. Risky. Very risky. Thank God Kit's house has shitty wifi. I can turn off location services to my phone and my mother can't track me. If I blamed it on Kit's wifi then she'd just text me with a "I hope you are where you say you are, but you're going to do whatever you wanted to anyways". That usually pissed me off when I was over at Kit's and was where I told her. Now, though, I had to act pissed off.

Sometimes I loved being a fox.

"Where are you going to all dressed up?" my father asked as I came down the stairs.

My ears splayed. "It's only a v-neck, dad."

"No hoodie?"

"Do I have one on?" I rebutted while crossing the living room.

"Don't be snappy and tell Kit I say hi!" he called after me.

"I will!" I yelled and shut the front door behind me.

Carson's sedan was waiting outside; the husky seemed to be patting his fur down with help from the mirror. He quickly put his paw on the wheel when I opened the door, giving me a big smile, ears flicking.

"Hey," he said and leaned over to nuzzle my cheek when I sat down.

I giggled (yes, really, I giggled) before nuzzling him back. "Hey, how was your day?"

"Better now that you're here."

"You know that's not exactly original."

"I make it original with my charm and grace- don't give me that look."

It went on like that until we came up to the restaurant. The smell hit me as soon as I walked in. The assorted spices wafted up my nose and sent my head spinning (in a good way). The space itself was small; it could maybe seat ten people at most. There was a mural of what I could guess was a scene of some little garden villa in Italy. The colors blended so beautifully, I was honestly shocked that this little place could afford such artwork.

Carson's tail thumped against my thigh, shaking me from my awe. I followed him up to a large bear who greeted him in a heavy Italian accent.

"Ah! If it isn't Carson! Where's your pals? You ditch them with...uh-"

"Scout," Carson introduced me.

"Ah, Scout. Well what can I get you boys?" the bear asked, both paws spread on the tiled counter.

"The usual for me and- what do you want?"

"Just cheese for me."

"You insult me sir," the bear said with a smile. "But I can make do."

He disappeared in the back through a swinging door, shouting something in Italian at the other workers. I moved for one of the booth but Carson grabbed my arm and pulled me towards the left side of the counter. I assumed it was the bathroom and, not going to lie, I started to get pretty excited.

But we passed the bathroom (sadly) and made for a glass door at the very back of the narrow hallway. Sounds of people's voice rose to my ears, and the clattering of forks and knives on plates sent them flicking. Here is where everyone was. For good reason too. There were about twenty to thirty tables, almost every one filled, all under a canopy of grape vines with small lights entangled. Waiters and waitresses hurried around making sure everything was okay, their tails trying to avoid chairs being pushed out by patrons. Music played in the background, but over the people talking I couldn't hear it clearly. Classical maybe.

"Like it?" Carson turned to me with a smile.

I looked back up at him. "This is incredible. It's beautiful."

"That's not the only thing."

If one of my favorite things to do ever since I was little was to dine outside under the stars like this, I would've made a rebuttal.

We chose to sit closer to one of the walls of vines, well, I chose to.

"How could I have missed a place like this?" I asked after a curvy vixen poured us water.

"A lot of people miss it actually. I'm kind of glad, though. Gives it that small town feel. I like when I walk in the door, get greeted by name, and don't even have to order. He just knows."

I nodded and changed the subject to some news story about this model who came out as gay and got a lot of support and even has his own brand now. Carson's ears lowered but perked up a bit. I decided to tab that for later. Right now, with him, I just wanted to have a nice evening out. Eat. Talk. Go to the hotel.

"Which, if I may ask, hotel is it?"

"That, my dear fox, is a surprise."

I narrowed my eyes. "C'mon. Juts tell me."

"Uh-uh."

"Please, Carson. I'll be extra generous."

I may have said that a little too loud. Several heads turned our way, some looked a half second more than others, but no one made a scene. It was enough to make Carson's ears fold and his tail to stop wagging. Odd, considering he was all ready to go for making out in the open and didn't care who saw.

"You okay?"

His ears pop up to their usual perkiness, albeit slowly, but his tail doesn't start wagging. "Fine."

"I thought you were okay with being out in public."

"I am. I mean, not really. It's just- could we not talk about this? Now. Later we can. Please?"

Interrogate.

I imagined myself frowning at my thoughts. "Sure."

And that was the end of that. We didn't have to wait long after that for our food to arrive. We ate silently, only talking about how good the food is (that's not even close to describing how the sauce and cheese with the semi-hard dough made me drool). My mind kept going back to Carson's embarrassment about being out with a guy. I tried hard to not say anything, especially because he was so ready a few days ago.

People change their mind sometimes.

Because that makes me feel better.

Oh he's not going to end it with you. He fell head over tail for you. Maybe a little too fast.

Let's not get into it now.

"Watcha thinkin' about?"

I focus on him. "It's not polite to interrupt."

"Foxes." He smiles before taking another large bite of his pizza, the cheese hanging off his muzzle.

"The perfect before-sex food," I mutter.

He chuckles. "I thought the ambiance was the real seller, not the food. Although, there was a new study out that women react more to romantic situations better wen they have a full stomach."

I have to hide a toothy grin. "You're more fox-like than me."

"Now_that_ is hard to believe."

I snort. "Ass."

We finish up dinner and get back in the car with only minor insults being told to each other. On the way to the hotel, he asked me questions of what I liked, what I didn't liked, what I thought about current events. I replied those should've been asked during dinner, but I answered them anyways. We differed on some key issues, but honestly, I liked that. I loved to debate (shocker, right?) and the issues that we differed on could keep me satisfied for days. I hoped that wasn't the only thing to keep me satisfied for a long time.

Even after I hated myself for saying something a middle schooler might say to try and impress his friends, the excitement was still there. My tail wouldn't stop swishing and thwacking the seat, Carson's thumped against his own from time to time. Nowhere near as much as mine, though. The whole way there I thought of how I would get him into bed. The ideas were pretty ridiculous, some of them anyway. One of them involved something called the "whirlpool technique". Don't ask. Seriously. Don't ask.

My phone buzzed while thinking about taking a shower afterwards. My mother texted me with a "Hope you're with Kit".

I promptly respond with, "Yes mom I'm with Kit"

"I hope"

"I am"

"I believe you"

"Sure."

"I do, Scout. No matter what you think. And even if you're not, I can't do anything"

"Definitely sounds like you believe me."

"I do"

"Okay."

And that was the end of that. Well, there goes my...excitement. At least now she won't bother us later on. She usually only texts a couple times after I start being snappy. I felt bad lying to her but...

I look over at Carson. His distinct markings and chiseled body. He was worth it. Not just because of how attractive he was, but because of his personality. And that he cares about me. He would never cheat on me, or lie to me. The pills were one thing and he wasn't lying outright-

"You okay?"

I shook my head, forgetting I was staring. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm good."

I turn to look out the window and rest my head in my paw.

"Don't get too comfortable," he says. "We're almost there."