Chapter 170: Interlude 38 – Moving Day

=::= Willow's PoV =::=

I watched as Gord and my dad manoeuvred the box spring out of my room and into the hall, then winced as mom cautioned them about leaving yet another mark on the wall next to the staircase.

As they slowly made their way down the stairs I followed a few paces behind, then me and mom watched as they carried the box spring out the front door. They finally loaded it into the back of the rental van next to the mattress, before the pair of them came back inside. Then it was right back up the stairs again to tackle the bed frame.

Mom moved to stand next to me and sighed, "The money we're saving by not hiring movers is all going to end up paying to patch the marks those two are leaving on the walls."

"Sorry mom," I grimaced.

I felt even worse because Cass and Nina offered to use magic to just teleport all my stuff into my room at the clubhouse. I turned them down because that would have meant revealing my friends' magic to my parents.

There was also a small possibility I could have teleported my stuff with my own magic, but I still wasn't confident that I could use magic without messing something up. I was worried that if I tried to teleport my stuff there was a good chance it'd all end up in the lake. Or halfway around the world. Or maybe it'd simply vanish without a trace and I'd never see it again.

So dad decided to rent a cube van, and Gord volunteered to help move the heavy stuff. And we picked today because it was the middle of a long weekend. It was Sunday, the the thirty-first of July. Tomorrow was a holiday, which meant I had all day to unpack and get settled in before I had to go back to my summer job on Tuesday. And I spent all yesterday packing up my clothes and books and all my other stuff, so it was ready to go today.

"Look out hon," mom said, as dad and Gord came back down the stairs with the bed frame.

I hurried off to the side and watched them go past, then they went back up again for the headboard. After that was my bed-side table, then my gaming chair. My computer and the contents of my desk were already in the truck, along with the boxes full of my books and clothes and stuff.

My desk and bookcase were the last two things, and once again mom was uptight as the guys came down the stairs with the big heavy furniture. Fortunately the last couple trips didn't involve adding any new marks or gouges to the wall, but the damage had already been done.

Dad pulled up the ramp on the back of the van, then the door was rolled down and closed up. Him and Gord were both breathing hard after that work-out, and I grabbed them both some bottles of spring water from the fridge.

"Thanks Will," Gord smiled as he took the water.

I shook my head, "Thank you. And dad, thank you both. I really appreciate you two doing this for me. Sorry I wasn't much help with the lifting and stuff."

Dad had a few gulps of water then forced a smile, "It's ok hon. We know you don't have the strength you used to, and I'd rather do the work than risk you hurting yourself."

"She wasn't exactly made of muscle before Mr. Pearce," Gord said with a smile. Then he looked at me and teased, "What's it like being weaker than a wet noodle?"

I smiled back, "It's pretty darn awesome buddy. I might not be able to bench press a sheep, but I'm cute and sexy and look great in a dress."

He rolled his eyes and made a face at me, but it was all harmless fun. Whenever he teased me about being girly I teased him about living on a sheep farm.

Then my dad spoke up again, "I'm just glad we don't have to carry things up a flight of stairs at your new place."

"Ditto," Gord added.

I reminded them, "My friends there will be able to help unload stuff so you two don't have to do all the work. Actually they'll probably be happy to do all unloading if we let them."

"I don't know Willow," dad frowned. "I've met your friends and I'd be worried about them dropping things. Some of this stuff is pretty heavy, and we can't really afford to replace it."

Mom added, "I'm sure your friends don't want any marks or holes in their walls either. Best to let the guys do the heavy lifting, hon. Even if they're not perfect, your dad and Gordon are doing a pretty good job."

I smiled, "I know all that? But trust me, a few of those girls are stronger than they look."

Mostly I was thinking of Melanie and Cerys, I knew the werewolves both had unnatural strength. I was pretty sure Nina did too, same with Cass. For that matter even Kaylee was surprisingly strong, despite being tiny. In fact come to think of it, everyone in Club Luna was supernaturally strong except for me, and maybe Sasha.

After another couple minutes both dad and Gord were finished their water, and they seemed to have recovered from the workout. Then dad got to his feet and asked, "Are we ready to head over to the new place? Who's riding in the van with me?"

My mom suggested, "Why don't all three of you go over in the van? I'm going to stay here and see what I can do about the marks on this wall. I also want to clean and vacuum Willow's old room, now that it's empty."

"You're not going to come over to the -" I started to ask my mom, but cut myself off before I could call it the clubhouse. "You're not coming over to my new place?"

She shook her head, "I'll only get in the way at the moment. I can come and see it after you're all moved in."

"Ok mom," I nodded.

She gave me a hug, then I grabbed my purse and headed out with dad and Gord. My dad was behind the wheel and my friend on the passenger side, and of course I ended up squeezed into the middle of the bench seat between the two of them. Then dad started it up and we pulled out of the driveway.

It was kind of a bittersweet moment in a way. I was definitely excited, my heart was almost racing knowing that I was moving in with all my new friends. Soon I'd be in my new room in my new home, where I'd be living with a goddess, a couple part-demons, and a pair of werewolves. At the same time I was a little sad, leaving the only home I'd ever known before, and my parents.

Then again we were only like twenty minutes away on foot, it wasn't like I was moving across the country or anything. And with all that stuff going through my head the drive from one house to the next was way too short, but also felt like it took forever.

As we made the last turn I suggested, "It's probably going to be best if we can back into the driveway? Then the easiest way to get stuff to my bedroom is going to be walking it around the back and going in the back door. There's only one step, and my bedroom is like right there."

"Sounds good hon," dad agreed. "I recall the front door had three or four steps up."

I nodded, "Yeah. There's a side-door right at the driveway, but that's on a small landing with stairs up to the kitchen and down to the basement, and it'd be just as awkward as the front door."

You are reading story Club Luna at novel35.com

A half minute later we were there, but it took dad more like a full minute to get the van safely backed into the driveway. By the time it was in position and parked Melanie and Cerys had already come out to meet us. They were both in their fully-human forms, I figured they didn't want to freak out my dad any worse than he already was. And for that matter it was probably best that Gord didn't find out they were both werewolves either.

Although that left me wondering, and worrying, whether or not Kaylee would make an appearance. I knew sooner or later people were going to find out about her, but I wasn't ready to deal with either my dad or my friend finding out about that sort of thing while we were trying to get me moved in.

The blonde werewolf greeted us as we all climbed out of the van, "Hello Willow! Hi Gord, hi Mr. Pearce."

"Hi Cerys," I smiled to her and her girlfriend, "And hi Melanie. Are the others inside?"

I tried to make it sound casual, but I was sure they knew I was really asking if dad and Gord were about to meet Kaylee.

The older wolfgirl responded, "Hey Will, hi Mr. Pearce, hi Gord. Kaylee and Nina are staying out of the way down in the basement, Cass and Sasha are busy as well. Me and Cerys are here to help though, so what's the plan?"

My dad smiled, "Hello Cerys, Melanie. The plan is me and Gordon will handle all the heavy stuff. If you girls want to clear a path and open the doors for us, that'd be great."

"Hi there," Gord awkwardly greeted the two girls. He added, "Uh, Willow said we should head around back then carry stuff in the back door?"

I volunteered, "I'll go open the doors and make sure there's a clear path around back and into my room."

"Thanks hon," dad smiled as he opened up the back door of the van.

After that things actually went surprisingly well. Dad and Gord brought out the first piece of furniture and I led the two of them around and into my room, then pointed out where I wanted it to go. Then Melanie and Cerys were right behind them with the next heavy item. I ended up just staying in my room where I pointed out where things went, and between dad Gord Melanie and Cerys I had a steady stream of stuff coming in.

It got a little ridiculous as the two guys worked up a sweat and struggled with a few things while the two girls just breezed through it without even exerting themselves. I knew the wolfgirls could have pretended to get tired, and they could have stopped for a break when the guys did. But no, they seemed to want to show off, so they kept going and made it look easy.

And soon enough the van was empty and my room was full. My bed was all put together, I just needed to get the bedding out of the bag it was stuffed into so I could make the bed. And I had a big pile of boxes to unpack, my clothes needed to be put away along with my books and everything else. But that was all stuff I planned to do on the holiday Monday.

"Thanks everyone!" I said as we all sat down in the living-room with bottles of spring water. "I really appreciate all the help. Dad, Gord, you two were amazing."

Cerys asked, "Are you going to need a hand unpacking stuff?"

I shook my head, "I'll unpack a few things today, get my bed made and stuff like that? But most of it will wait till tomorrow, that's my big holiday project."

"Anyways I was thinking of ordering pizzas," I added as I looked at the guys. "That's the traditional moving food, right? Dad, Gord, are you two up for some pizza?"

Gord smiled, "Sure, I'm always up for pizza."

My dad glanced at his watch then shook his head, "Actually I should get the van back to the rental place. Otherwise we'll be stuck with it until Tuesday and I'll have to pay for two more days. Then I'm going to head home and see how your mother's doing."

"Aw," I pouted as he got to his feet. "Thanks for everything dad. I'm sorry you have to go so soon."

He gave me a hug then said, "Your mom and I will probably come and see you tomorrow. I know she'll want to see how you're settling in."

"Ok dad," I hugged him back. "Thanks again! I'll call or text or something tonight."

I ended up walking him out to the driveway to see him off. He already had the ramp put away and the back door closed, so I just waved as he got into the cab and headed off. Then I went back into the house to join the others and figure out what we all wanted in terms of pizza. Or mostly I just confirmed it, I already knew what Gord liked and I had a pretty good idea what the rest of Club Luna liked. Then I put in the order.

The others joined us in the living-room when the pizzas arrived, and that's when things got a bit awkward.

Cass and Sasha came out of Sasha's bedroom so I did the introductions. Gord had never met or even seen Sasha before but that went ok. He knew who Cass was, and more importantly he knew what she was since Kyle and Danny told him all about what the petite brunette chaos goddess did to them. So he was more than a little uneasy being around her.

When the last two came up from the basement I didn't need to introduce Nina, she shared a few classes with me and Gord so he already knew her. I did have to introduce Kaylee though, and my friend's jaw practically hit the floor as he stared at the tiny demonic kitsune.

Fortunately he didn't freak out too much, and everyone was able to relax and enjoy the pizza. We also had lots of soda and water and stuff to drink. And as we ate there was some typical conversation, like Sasha asked how the move went and Nina apologized for not being there to help and stuff.

Then after we all had enough to eat Melanie fired up the big TV and the game console, which got Nina and Gord and me involved as well. I was glad to see my old friend getting along with my new friends, even if he was still kind of freaked out around Kaylee and Cass.

We all sort of settled into a typical evening, with video games and conversation and stuff. There was some leftover pizza to munch on and lots of cola and orange soda and stuff to drink, and it was all pretty relaxed and fun.

The only awkward bit came when Kaylee asked out of the blue, "Hey Willow? Did you hear anything more from Steph Ford? I asked Cass the other day but she doesn't want to discuss it, she says prayers are confidential and private."

"Yeah," I grimaced as I noticed Gord giving the kitsune and her goddess girlfriend a nervous look. "Steph sent me some texts a few days ago? Thursday I guess. She's really happy and grateful for everything. Like Cass said, everything happened that night? She said in the morning her ID was all fixed, and the stuff she wanted changed about her body was done too."

"She didn't actually go into details about that part," I added. "I guess next time we see her we might notice some differences though."

Gord continued to stare at Cass and Kaylee for a few more seconds. Then he looked at me and asked, "Who's Steph Ford? Or do you mean Steve Ford?"

I sighed, "Yeah, it's the same person. Her new name is Stephanie, or Steph for short."

"Oh," he mumbled as his eyes widened in surprise.