\n The Sunday afternoon sun was warm on my fur as I stepped over a log in the foresty area of our small town. The birds were starting to go away as the weather started to cool down considerably. September was already upon as and I was happy for Labor Day, which was when my parents would finally meet the girl of my dreams. Haley and I were strolling through the woods to find a place that Haley told me a lot about. It was a clearing with a big open area where grass had grown. She loved going there, she had told me. It made her happy, being alone, and in the quiet of nature.

\n Haley walked ahead of me, leading the way, occasionally looking behind and seeing me checking out her butt. She had a perfect ass, it wasn't bony like with skinny girls, or too... bulbous like with fat girls it was perfect. Haley laughed when I tried to play it off that I wasn't checking her out, but we both knew. She just laughed and swayed her hips in exaggeration, really trying to get to me.

\n "Stop that!" I told her, she just laughed.

\n "You like it too much." I walked faster and grabbed her waist, turning her around.

\n "Don't you know it." She smiled her perfect grin that showed her perfectly straight teeth. She was breathing shallow breaths that felt cold on my fur. She bit her bottom lip and wrapped her arms around me.

\n "You sex crazed fox." I laughed.

\n "You're such a tease." Haley sat down in the grass and stretched herself out, causing her shirt to ride up. I knew she had meant for that to happen.

\n "Who me?" I quietly went down next to her. She scooted closer to me, and pressed her head into the soft part of my chest, where the pectorals met the shoulder, and stared at me. My hand went on her side and started exploring the curves of her body. She ran track which left her body just about fat free, and perfectly toned. I felt lucky to have someone as beautiful and lovely as her to be interested in me. She played with my ear slightly. My leg started to kick because of it, and I felt really embarrassed for the involuntary motions my body would do. "You're so cute." She told me. I fought back and she just kept doing it, more and more. Haley pulled me closer and planted her lips firmly on mine.

\n I tasted her lip gloss, and her peppermint gum that she had not long ago. She pressed her tongue past my lips and she toyed with my teeth, feeling every corner of my mouth. Then she pulled away and I followed her. My tongue was a lot longer, so I was able to get farther in, and explore more. Haley squirmed when I moved past one area. I pulled out quickly.

\n "Was that bad?"

\n "No... It just... felt weird."

\n "Good weird or bad weird?" Haley rolled her eyes as I over analyzed the situation and kissed me again. I went back to work, exploring her mouth, the smoothness of her teeth, her cheeks with the 'weird' area that I loved coming back to because it made her squirm. She pushed me back out and invaded my mouth while our tongues danced. She pulled herself so she was more on top and I kept the momentum going so she would be on the bottom. My hands became idle and started playing. I brought them to her waist and went up, feeling her soft belly, and back. She was exploring me in a different way. I knew she hadn't been this intimate with a fur before, so she was more of the mindset of, 'what does this feel like?' I was more of 'hot girl, in my mouth, I'm in her shirt.'

\n I'm not gonna lie and say that my mind wasn't on sex, because hell, I was a horny teenage boy. But my mind went back to what my dad had told me about the Greeks. The Greeks had four different forms of love, which were all different forms of it. There was storge, phillia, eros, and agape. They were all very different from each other, but all fit each other perfectly. Storge was affection for family, like how I felt towards Sophie, I loved her, but it wasn't like I was in love with her or anything. Phillia was love for friends and those around you. Eros was erotic love or intimacy, like what I was feeling for Haley right then. And Agape is just pure love. Agape was something you gave to only a few, but it was perfect. I had a few seeds of Agape for Haley deep in me.

\n Haley didn't squirm as my hands eventually found their way to her bra. She moaned in my mouth which sounded really funny. She actually was getting really into it and grabbed my ass. It felt just a little weird to be getting squeezed like that, but I didn't mind it terribly bad because I had other things in my hands. I had unlatched Haley's bra and was feeling her breasts in my hands. They were completely free and smooth. Haley moaned as I toyed with her hardening nipples. Then, upon a sudden realization, Haley stopped me.

\n "Not so fast. Can we just... go a little slower?" My horny fox mind screamed inside, but I knew that Haley was a girl that would be worth it. She was worth every moment of waiting. I nodded and felt a little embarrassed. "Don't worry, you'll get your chance." I wagged my tail when she said this. She laughed. "You're impossible."

\n "Haley?"

\n "Yeah?"

\n "I just want to be sure that we're on the same page. Are we... y'know, dating?"

\n "Do you want to be 'y'know, dating'?" She mocked me in a serious manner.

\n "Yeah."

\n "Well good, because I don't let people that I'm not dating get into my shirt." My hands were still in her shirt when she said this. I pulled a claw out and gently drug it across her skin. She squirmed and squealed. "Brent!" She giggled. "Stop it!" I retracted it and she just laughed, pushing at me.

\n "I think you liked it."

\n "I think you're a dick!"

\n "I think you want mine..."

\n "Brent!" She screamed, hitting my arm several times. I just laughed and she fixed her bra and blouse. "So why weren't you in class on Friday." I still hadn't told her about Friday. It was just going to be a little odd explaining to her that my best friend was kissing me. What the hell? I thought, and just told her the truth. Haley didn't seem that thrilled, but she also wasn't upset about it. She just kinda sat there in silence.

\n "So yeah. I mean, like I said, he doesn't like me."

\n "Brent, are you kidding me? Do you honestly think that he doesn't like you?"

\n "He said-"

\n "Of course he'd say that. It's clear that he still likes you." I wasn't sure what to say to that.

\n "Why do you say that?"

\n "He wouldn't have kissed you unless he had wanted it to go somewhere." My mind suddenly clicked and I knew she was right.

\n "But..."

\n "Just be careful, because you don't want to hurt him."

\n "Yeah."

\n "Hey, are we going to homecoming?" She asked me. It didn't feel weird for her to ask me, because she was very up front about these things. I wasn't exactly thrilled to think about going to homecoming because in the end, it ended up being a giant 'who can get farther without getting caught' party. That and 'let's rub against each other all night'. And those had never sat well with me. I was probably a little old fashioned, but I just didn't feel that grinding against someone was exactly... appropriate, or nice. But would that be different with Haley? I mean, I wasn't much of a dancer, her party had been a bit of a fluke. But, Haley really seemed like she wanted to, plus I'd get to see her in a dress.

\n "Sure."

\n "Cool." She smiled. She checked her phone. "We still have a few hours before I gotta be back."

\n "Cool."

\n "So what do you want to do?"

\n "Have you met Jake before?"

\n "No."

\n "We need to change that."

\n *****

\n I pulled into Jake's driveway and honked the horn. Haley was still sitting next to me, hand on my knee. We were talking music and movies, what we liked, and what we hated. There was a lot more of hatred than liking. Haley was a bigger fan of action movies than she cared to admit, and he adoration of Leonardo Dicaprio, even at his age knew no bounds. She had seen every movie he had been in, from the worst to the best. I disagreed on her opinions of Shutter Island which she claimed was a low point in his career.

\n "Are you kidding me? That was the performance that really got me into him as an actor." I told her.

\n "I just thought he wasn't great."

\n "But he was, I mean, not Oscar-great, but still great. You saw a clear line as the movie progressed into his madness."

\n "It just seemed a little too much like Inception- Leo."

\n "That doesn't matter."

\n "Yes it does!"

\n "They were written at different times! Inception took eight years to write, Shutter Island wasn't nearly as long."

\n "So?"

\n "So, I'm pretty sure that Chris Nolan took a lot of time developing the character."

\n "Don't get on that hack again." Haley and I had a huge disagreement about Chris Nolan. I considered him to be one of the greatest directors of all time, and she thought he was man with no talent.

\n "Don't insult my favorite director!" Haley just started laughing. "What?"

\n "Your forehead creases when you're arguing." She kissed me quickly. I heard the door close and we looked to see Jake walking out. He was wearing jeans and a blue polo that matched the blue highlights he decided to put in his hair. He got to the car and sat in the back.

\n "Hey." He said to me, and I nodded in return.

\n "Jake this is Haley, Haley, Jake." Jake extended his hand and Haley shook it cordially.

\n "Nice to meet you." She said.

\n "Yeah." Jake kinda nodded. "Where we going?"

\n "Internet Cafe." That place was pretty much Jake and my favorite place ever. Jake nodded and started asking Haley questions. How we got together, what she thought of me, if she had ever dated a fur before. Jake seemed to dwell on the rumors of her family mostly. The only reason I could guess was because of her reputation, which wasn't fair. I mean, she wasn't like her father. It was clear she was getting upset about the questions and I was desperate to change the subject.
\n "So Jake, you excited for the procedure." I figured that would shut him up about Haley's family for a while.

\n "Yeah."

\n "What procedure?"

\n "I'm going to be a wolf on September 10th."

\n "That's cool." Haley sounded sincere.

\n "Yeah. But, truth be told... I'm also pretty nervous."

\n "Why?" Haley asked.

\n "Well, I mean, a lot of humans at our school are pretty obvious about being anti-fur."

\n "Yeah. I mean, constantly writing those things on our lockers." I added.

\n "Assaulting us."

\n "Saying speciesist remarks."

\n "So it's pretty clear to see why we act afraid sometimes." He paused, and I knew the cogs of his brain were working debating if he was going to say what I thought he would... But he certainly didn't disappoint. "Even for someone like you." Haley's jaw clenched suddenly, and I saw the anger.

\n "Someone like me? Are you kidding? Do you think I like being known as the daughter of the psycho? Or have people say things about me behind my back simply because of my father? I hate my father. I hate what he does, I hate what he says. I never hear the end of it. If he knew I was dating Brent, he'd probably kill me. I've missed out on friendships because people would sit far away from me at lunch. No one talked to me until middle school. I mean, even among humans I'm ostracized. Not because I think those things, but because my father does. It's so infuriating. But I couldn't exactly go home and say that I was humiliated because of him. That I wish he didn't feel how he did, because what would he say? So don't talk to me like I'm one of those people who do those things. Don't act like I don't have feelings too. Don't-" Haley was nearly in tears. I grabbed her hand and held on for support. Jake was in the back, and I could tell was regretting saying what he said.

\n I parked the car and we just sat there for a second. No one moved, and no one said anything. Just as the awkwardness felt like it couldn't get worse, Jake apologized.

\n "I'm sorry Haley. I- I really am. I didn't mean... I didn't. Shit. I'm just an idiot, I'm sorry." Haley looked out the window distantly.

\n "It's okay. I've been holding that in for years now." Haley opened her door and we walked into the cafe.

\n *****

\n Jake was finishing his burger when a waiter came around and started saying that Picard was better than Kirk. In true Internet nerd fashion, Jake retaliated. The two were screaming loudly. Haley and I just looked at each other and began laughing. It was such a ridiculous argument that Haley and I joined in. I had never seen either show, but Haley was a pretty big fan and was actually citing real episodes. I was just making stuff up, and the waiter was constantly calling me a noob. Jake and Haley joined in too. Eventually we got our check from the waiter and sat there waiting slightly.

\n "Alright, how should we split up the check?" Jake asked. I kinda looked down. Without the job, I wouldn't have all this money to spend, so I wasn't exactly jumping with joy to be paying the bill. I didn't want Haley to have to cover it, so I just decided to pay for it myself. I put the money and the table and took Haley's hand. She held it and looked at me happily. Jake and her had actually gotten along pretty well during the meal. They didn't argue, and were actually cracking jokes together. Usually at my expense. "Get a room." Jake mocked, but there was that hint of pain in his voice that told me he was being a little hurt by that sight.

\n "Jake," Haley looked over at him with the coy look in her eyes. "Have you ever met Logan Statford?"

\n "No..."

\n "You should go talk to him sometime. Nice guy. Single. President of the GSA"

\n "So?"

\n "He's cute, and I think he'd like to meet the newest gay guy in the school."

\n "Meaning?"

\n "Dammit Jake," I said, smiling at his ability to be difficult."She's saying you should ask him out."

\n "What's he like?"

\n "I dunno, he's nice, funny, smart-" Haley began.

\n "No, I mean, what's he like?"

\n "6'4", blond with grey eyes. Horse. Likes guys with parental issues, in theatre, has a Pontiac coupe, likes video games, writes occasionally." I knew what Jake liked to hear better than anyone else.

\n "Sounds nice." Haley nodded and sat up a little.

\n "I'll introduce you to him. You'll love him." We stood to leave and walked out. Haley had to go so the first thing we'd be doing would be dropping her off, she was closest anyways. I opened the door for her and we took off. I felt a little bad for Jake, because I'm sure he felt a little like a third wheel to us. I kept telling him that it was no big deal but you could tell he wasn't buying that.

\n I dropped Haley off and Jake crawled up front. "Dude, I'm happy for you."

\n "Wyzzat?"

\n "You... You've got a great person there."

\n "Thanks?"

\n "I'm serious. You're so happy with her, and I like seeing you like that."

\n "I know. I feel just so much more... exuberant with her there."

\n "You look it man..." Jake looked out the window.

\n "Jake?"

\n "Yeah?"

\n "You still like me, don't you?"

\n "Yeah..." He looked over at me.

\n "You didn't like that did you?"

\n "It wasn't the most pleasant."

\n "Yeah, and I'm sorry about that, but... I thought you'd like to meet her."

\n "She's the right person for you." Jake was really sentimental a lot, and it really... it was nice. I pulled up to his house and said goodbye. He went in and I drove home, lost in thought.

I had a lot of ideas which is why  I was able to update so fast. I have a lot of ideas for the next few chapters. Also, I'm changing the format a tad, instead of going through every day, it'll skip around so I can advance the plot more. -Kergiby