“That must have been so frustrating to be unable to talk,” said Angie.
“I agree, but at the same time we struggle with it all the time,” said George as they walked back to the car.
“What do you mean?” asked Angie.
“When we shift, the jaw, lips and even vocal cords change shape. If we are inbetween wolf and man, we often get a bit stuck. Right head, wrong vocal cords. Trying to go one way or the other can be a real pain and frustration,” he explained.
“Oh! George, I’m sorry, I was insensitive. I shouldn’t have suggested this movie. I’m so sorry,” said Angie. “Oh god I screwed up!” she thought.
“Stop. You did nothing wrong. You had no way of knowing. Hell, the only one of us you’ve seen shift is Kevin,” said George with a little more force than he expected. The last thing he wanted was for Angie to feel guilty about anything, especially a movie.
Angie blinked. She stood there for a moment trying to collect herself. George sounded so fierce for a moment that she shivered involuntarily.
George stopped, looked at Angie and then realized that he had scared her as the scent of fear touched his nose. “Angie, I… I didn’t mean to scare you. I’m sorry. Will you forgive me?” he asked. He held out his hand to her.
Slowly, Angie took his hand. It dwarfed hers. She’d never seen puppy dog eyes on an adult, but she could see that he was earnest about not wanting to scare her. She moved forward and pulled the hand she held around her waist and put her free arm around him. They stood there for a moment just holding one another. Neither one of them moved. Angie went to look up at George and realized that she barely came to the bottom of the pocket on his shirt. She started to giggle.
“Angie?” George asked wondering what was going on now.
“I just realized how small I really am in comparison to you,” she said. “I don’t even reach your pocket,” she said giggling.
George looked down and realized that she was right. He started giggling too. After a minute, he let go of her long enough for the two of them to walk to George’s car.
“So, where to now?” he asked as they pulled out of the parking lot and into traffic.
“How about my house?” Angie asked. “Your’s is a construction site and full of small children.”
“Your house it is,” said George.
*
They pulled into Angie’s driveway and parked the car. Angie had forgotten to turn on the porch light and was having trouble seeing the lock.
“Let me have your keys,” said George.
“Okay, but I don’t know how you’ll do any better,” said Angie.
George took the keys and let his eyes shift just enough to see the lock. His night vision was superb and he had the door open in a few seconds. They went inside and Angie turned on the lights just in time to see that George’s eyes were more yellow-gold than the blue they had been earlier that evening.
“Oh,” she gasped softly.
George blinked hard a time or two and when he opened his eyes, they were their normal blue. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you, but I can see better as a wolf,” he said.
“It’s… it’s okay. I just didn’t expect it. I’m still so new to this whole thing that to be honest, I don’t know what to expect,” she said.
“You okay with this?” he asked pointing to his eyes.
“Yeah, it just startled me,” Angie said. Taking off her coat, she draped it over the back of a chair and then went into the kitchen to make coffee.
George followed her and watched as she set out cups after filling the coffee maker. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to start the conversation he knew was needed. “Damn this is difficult!” he thought. Taking a deep breath, he cleared his throat which made Angie turn around.
“What is it George,” she asked.
“Would,… would it help if you saw me shift? If you knew what I looked like as a wolf and not just a man?” he asked.
Angie thought about what he said for a second and then nodded. “Let me get our coffee and then we can go back into the living room,” she said. She turned her attention to the cups and poured the coffee. She knew that George liked his sweet while she took hers black. When she was done, they walked into the living room.
George looked around the living room. He wasn’t sure how body conscious Angie was and didn’t want to just flash her. He moved behind the couch and used it as a bench to lean against and started to take off his clothes.
“Oh! I’d forgotten about that bit,” squeaked Angie. “I’ll turn my back if you want.”
“Angie, it doesn’t matter to me. It’s what you’re comfortable with,” said George.
“Oh, Okay,” she said and concentrated on her coffee but didn’t turn her head. She wanted to see him shift, and if she was nervous about him being naked, she’d miss the change.
George undressed quickly. The couch just covered him from the waist down. He took a breath and then shifted.
Angie thought she was ready for the whole man melting into wolf thing. What she wasn’t ready for was having the couch shoved over nearly two feet while George changed from a large man to an even larger wolf. He was huge! Beautiful too. Tentatively, she reached out a hand to touch his head that was well over the back of the couch. She had just touched his head and began to stroke his ears when the floor began to creak.
“What?” was all Angie managed to say before the wolf scrambled for the area beyond the couch as the floor under him cracked and fractured. His forepaws grabbed the back of the couch which fell with him as he fell through the floor. Angie screamed and tried to leap clear of the disaster as her couch partially covered the hole that the wolf had fallen through. She heard the thuds of wolf, wood and plaster as he hit the floor in the basement. An indignant yip came up through the floor.