Authors: Brittany White
Nicole looked back to Gregory, a tight knot forming in her stomach. She took a step forward to him, then another one, and then another one.
“Nicole, no!”
Keeping her eye on Gregory in case he suddenly turned around, Nicole slowly walked over to her boyfriend. Her mind was screaming for her to stop and turn back now, but her heart pulled her forward, telling her to go to him.
She could hear the snap of a branch underneath her foot. She froze mid-step, looking at Gregory. He slowly turned his head and looked at her. Lewis and the other roommates prepared to run and grab Nicole away should things go south. They weren’t quite sure how Gregory reacted when he noticed other people around him. If he was anything like a normal Grizzly Bear when he turned, then they imagined they never wanted to see what happens.
Nicole and Gregory looked at each other eye-to-eye, neither one hesitating. When she looked into those eyes, Nicole swore they looked almost like his eyes. They seemed to be filled with such kindness and concern, not a primal curiosity like a normal bear.
Taking a deep breath, Nicole took a few steps more towards Gregory. He gave a mild roar in response. Lewis and the others made a move to help her, but Nicole waved them away. She turned back to face Gregory, taking a few more steps. He roared again, taking a few steps back.
“I’m not afraid of you!” Nicole said.
Gregory stopped, looking at her.
“I’m not afraid of you.”
She raised her hand as she kept moving forward.
“She’s crazy.” Seth said.
“Yes she is,” Lewis said, “but you’d have to be crazy to make this thing of theirs work.”
Nicole approached Gregory, who was watching her intently, her hand still upraised. Slowly, she lowered it until it was right under his nose. She held it there, looking back into her boyfriend’s eyes. A few seconds passed before she could feel his nose sniffing her finger. Once he stopped, Nicole slowly raised her hand and began petting him. She dug her hands into the fur as she rubbed them against Gregory’s sides. She could feel his tight, muscular shoulders rippling under the brown, scruffy fur. She massaged his sides, hearing a very satisfied growl omitting from Gregory’s lips. Nicole wrapper her arms around his big, muscular body, rubbing her body up and down his side. She could feel him rubbing up against her too, a low hum escaping his lips.
The roommates watched this scene with looks of uncertainty.
“Maybe we should go wait in the car.” Said Lewis.
“Yeah,” said Seth, “Not sure I want to see how this goes.”
The three quietly walked away, leaving the two lovers to, once again, express their love for each other.
***
An hour later, Nicole and Gregory, now back in human form, lay side-by-side in the grass, smiling and gazing into each other’s eyes.
“I love you” said Gregory.
“I love you too. That was…wonderful.”
“Was it?”
“It’s strange, I won’t lie, but I think that I will be able to live with that.”
“And what if the baby turns out being like me?”
Nicole turned away and looked up into the night sky.
“Well then that will have to be something that you have to teach him or her about. I mean, I only saw you once in that form. I have no idea how it all works.”
Gregory reached over and grabbed Nicole’s side, pulling her back to facing her.
“I can’t believe how accepting you are of this. I…I am so lucky I found you.”
“It…It’s nothing Gregory.”
“No Nicole, it’s not. This has been such a big secret for me. I mean, it took a lot of courage to tell you that.”
“Well, you probably wouldn’t have told me if I wasn’t pregnant with your child.”
It was Gregory’s turn to roll over and face the sky, “Yeah. I guess so.”
Nicole reached over and squeezed his shoulder, “I didn’t mean it like that. I mean, this baby was a blessing for us.”
“Was it?”
“Yes. It brought us together as a couple. We’re stronger because of it.”
“But what about the child?”
“What about it?”
Gregory turned to face her, “What happens during its first transformation? What if we aren’t there when it happens? They will be ostracized, if not taken away and experimented on by scientists. One slip up, and this child’s life will be ruined forever.”
“Well when did you change first?”
“I was twenty-one, already living on my own. I didn’t have any family around who could be ashamed of or worry about me.”
“And what about your family now? What do they think?”
“They haven’t heard from me in a while. It’s better that for the both of us if they don’t even know that I’m still alive.”
“But Gregory…”
Gregory stood up and turned to face her, extending his hand.
“Come on. Let’s get back to the car. I’m sure my roommates have been waiting for a bit too long now.”
Nicole took his hand and allowed herself to be helped up. The two began walking back to the car, Nicole casting glances at Gregory. He had on a look of hurt, one that she felt she would be seeing from time-to-time for the rest of her life if she chose to spend it with him.
“I’m not ashamed of you at all. “
“Thank you Nicole. That means a lot.”
The way he said that, it sounded like he imagined she would soon be gone just like everyone else he had ever come to care for and love. By the time they made it to the car, it seemed like the intentions of brining her and Gregory together had just done the complete opposite.
***
Nicole had them drop her off at her home. She kissed Gregory on the lips before walking up to the apartment. As soon as she closed the door behind her, she finally gave into the tears that were rimming her eyes. She was doing her best to try and show Gregory her devotion to the two of them since the announcement of the baby, but this event only seemed to be dragging them apart from each other. The longer this went on, the more Gregory seemed to be trying to separate himself from her and the baby. She just did not know what else she could to prove that she would love him despite any differences he possessed, no matter how strange it was.
Nicole loved Gregory, there was no doubt about it. Despite finding out he was half-bear, nothing had changed with how caring he was, how much of a good listener he was, and the length of which he seemed willing to go to make sure Nicole was happy. And she wanted to be able to show him how much his happiness meant to her, how she wanted to do everything she could to show him just that. The problem was, everything she had tried thus far had seemed to only show him that his difference prevented him from being happy. She had exhausted almost every idea she could think of to prove him he was wrong.
Well she thought, pulling out her cell phone and moving through the contacts, almost every one.
***
The ringing of his cell phone awoke Gregory from his rest. Turning into a bear sapped a lot of energy out of him then he ever would admit. Luckily for me, his urges usually arose when it was in the evening, so he would appear normal if he slept into the early afternoon. He turned to the clock, which read that it was eight thirty-seven in the morning. He turned to see who was calling. No surprise, it was Nicole. Gregory sighed and let the phone go to voice mail. When it did, it showed that she had tried to call him several times already. His phone lit up again, saying that Nicole was trying to call him. It must be important if she was willing to continue calling him over and over again.
“Hello?”
“Gregory! Thank goodness you picked up.”
“Yeah…I usually have to sleep after the transformation. It takes a lot of energy out of me.”
“Oh. Sorry about that. I just really needed to tell you something.”
“Tell me what?”
“You’re coming with me to dinner with my parents tonight.”
There were a few seconds of silence from Gregory’s side, “What did you say?”
“You’re coming with me to my parents for dinner-“
“Why?!”
“Gregory, I understand that you do not think that someone can love you in the world because of your thing, but I want you in my life. I want you to come with me and do things that couples do, like meeting the parents of your girlfriend.”
“But Nicole, what if I go into my urge-“
“We will work it out. I’m not asking you to divulge to my parents who you are. I just want to feel like you can belong and be with someone who you love. You do still love me, don’t you?”
Gregory gritted his teeth, “Of course I still love you. I just…I don’t know if I can do this.”
“Yes you can. I will be there right you, supporting you through all of this. You aren’t going to be alone in this. So, will you come?”
Gregory held the phone in between his hands, thinking about what he could possibly say to save both of them from this tragedy waiting to happen. Deep down, he knew she would not accept anything but him to say yes. She wasn’t the same timid woman he had met on that first date at the movie theater. She had found something to believe in, someone to believe in.
He brought the phone back up to his ear and took a deep breath.
“Gregory? Are you still there?”
“Yeah baby, I’m still here. I’ll come with you to your parents. I’ll pick you up from the apartment and we can head over to their place. How’s that sound?”
“That sounds lovely! Thank you so much! I’ll text you the details later. I love you. Bye.”
“I love you too.”
A small smile spread across his face as the phone clicked. She had sounded very happy that he was coming. Now, it was time to get back to bed so he’d be well-rested to meet the parents.
***
Gregory pulled up to the apartment around four –thirty in the afternoon. He looked down to inspect the purple dress shirt he had on, hoping that he was dressed appropriately for this. He got out of the car and walked up to the apartment. He knocked on the door and waited, thrusting his hands into his slacks and bouncing on the balls of his toes.
The door opened and there stood Nicole, dressed in a white cocktail dress with matching pumps. Gregory’s eyes widened as he looked her over.
“Wow.”
“Wow, yourself. You also shaved the stubble off.”
“Yeah, well,” Gregory said, averting his gaze when she stroked his chin, “This dinner means a lot to you, so I wanted to look my best.”
Nicole retracted her hand and kissed him on the lips, “Thank you.”
Gregory linked arms with hers and led her to the car. After helping her into her seat, he got in and they drove off. He could feel her hand rubbing his thigh seductively. He sensed a boner beginning to form as a result of that. One of Nicole’s fingers reached out and lightly brushed against it. Gregory tightened up slightly and looked at Nicole.
“You’re feeling very frisky aren’t you?”
“I just can’t wait to introduce you to my parents. We’re all really excited that I finally found a man I can be comfortable around.”
“Is this what you call comfortable?”
‘I’ll show you how comfortable I am when we have a moment alone.”
Gregory chuckled and turned his eyes back on the road. This was going to be an interesting trip to say the least.
***
Nicole’s parents lived in a cream colored two-story house with large, rectangular windows facing out of the front of the home. The lawn looked fresh and newly trimmed which, complete with the white picket fence, gave this place the look of someone who was quite well off.
Gregory looked at it all from the car, mouth agape. A tap on the window brought him to his sense. He looked to see Nicole waving at him from outside the window. He grinned and got out of the car. He followed her up the paved walkway up to the front door. As Gregory knocked on the door, Nicole planted long, passionate kiss on his face. They were caught in the moment as the door opened and a man with well-combed graying hair stood in the doorway.
He harrumphed, which brought the couple back to reality.
“Sorry daddy.”
“While I am very happy you found a man sweetie, there is such a thing as too much PDA.”
“It’s nice to finally meet you sir.” Gregory said, extending his hand, “I’m Gregory. “
The man shook his hand, “Carl. Now, there’s no sense for you to be kept waiting out here, please come in.”
Gregory and Nicole walked in, looking around at the scenery. There were a number of paintings, probably from the Renaissance period, up on the wall. What really caught the eye of Gregory though was the bear head hung up over the stone fireplace. He looked at Nicole, who saw it as well and turned white.
“I completely forgot about that.”
Carl appeared from down a hallway with a woman with light brown hair. Nicole ran to the woman, the two embracing tightly.
“Nicole. How nice to have you back. And with a man too. I hope he’s been treating you well.”
“Oh he is just a dream in every way possible.”
“Well, isn’t that nice?”