Chapter 12: Two Hot Dogs

“Hi,” I say as I greet Lina, putting on my best customer service smile.

“Nice ears,” she says, her face remaining mostly solemn.

“Thank you,” I reply, “did you want to talk to me about something?”

“I do, but I don’t know where to begin,” she replies, rubbing her arm.

“Let’s begin with: what do you want from me?” I ask.

“I…I want to be with you, forever,” she replied.

“O…okay I was not prepared for that answer,” I mutter, but quickly add after realizing it was said aloud, “I mean, I would really not be opposed.”

“You wouldn’t?”

“No, of course not, last night showed me that you can be kind, that you’re intelligent and protective and sweet. And you were mean to me for a while, that’s true, but when you really got to know me without having the angle of me being a guy to it, it seemed like you genuinely cared about me, from the moment you saw me,” I said, twisting my feet anxiously in place.

“Oh. Then I have a lot to apologize for. I’m sorry for being so smug last night when I found you with Tom. I just thought you were trying to play a prank on me when this happened, and were trying to be vindictive and mean. I saw you texting him and I was pretty sure I knew what was going on, until…I saw you crying.”

“Lina, why would I do that?”

“Because I’ve done worse to you every day in school, and it would only be fair, okay? I’m guilty as fuck for how I treated you and I have been forever, but I couldn’t just forget about you, so I kept going.”

“Yeah, and that’s not okay,” I reply calmly, “but I’ve already told you that it seems like you have had a genuine change of heart in how you see me. I mean, I can tell from how you’re talking to me right now. Besides, other than that one time, it’s not like we’ve ever really had a fight.”

“Yeah but–”

“Lina,” I say as I put a finger on her lips, “it’s going to be okay. You don’t need to apologize further, I’m trusting you to not do it again. If you won’t do it again, we’re cool, capiche?”

“Okay.”

“Good, now, you’re not skipping class, are you?” I ask.

“Eeee, maybe a little, I thought this was more important,” she replies.

I sigh as I put my palm on my face. “Okay, look, you wanna come in for something to eat? I was just gonna eat a hot dog, but after I explain things, I’m sure Mama will be okay with me making something downstairs.”

“Isn’t the restaurant open?” she asks.

“No one wants pizza at two in the afternoon on a Tuesday, so we close from one thirty to three thirty,” I explain, “besides, if they do, they all went out for it last night, Valentine’s, right?”

“Yeah, I guess,” she replies as she walks in the door to our restaurant, me following closely behind her.

“Give me a minute,” I say as I run up the stairs and open the door to the apartment, where Mama is still making stuff.

“Mama, I made up with my girlfriend, can I make us a little pizza for lunch?”

“That’s fine, dear, just remember to clean up after yourself. Don’t forget, your father’s going to be here soon, too, by the way.”

Crap. I didn’t know that. “How long’s he gonna be here?”

“Not too long, just dropping me off some choice beef cuts,” she replied, “if you’re worried about him catching you before the big reveal, though, he should be here any minute. You shouldn’t have to worry.”

I sigh in relief as I ran back down the stairs. I can deal with dad like this, though the ears would need a little explanation. I can come up with something for sure, though, it won’t be a big deal.

“She says it’s okay,” I said, “but we’ll need to watch out for my dad coming in soon. Let me handle any mention of my transformation.”

“Why’s that, he’s a wolf too, right?”

“Yeah, but we’re not so sure he’s keen on the whole ‘having a girl’ thing,” I reply, “it’ll probably be fine, but we’d like him to find out at family dinner tomorrow.”

“My lips are sealed,” she replies, grinning at me eagerly, “so how do we make this stuff?”

“Well, normally, we’d make the dough starting about twelve hours early and let it rise,” I reply as I grab a small ball of dough out of the fridge, “but seeing as we just got here, we’ll just steal some from the batch for dinner.”

You are reading story Lupercalia at novel35.com

“Do you do that thing where you toss it?” she asks.

“No,” I reply, “too hard and wastes too much time. We’re a front, yeah? Not a fancy parlor. We roll it.”

“Huh, interesting,” she says as she pokes at the dough experimentally.

I take a rolling pin out, along with a handful of flour, and dust the table. I then throw some sauce and cheese on, followed by a heaping helping of bacon, mushrooms, and finally, lots and lots of prosciutto. It’s not as expensive when you get it in bulk from your Nonna who loves to make the stuff.

I then pick up the pizza peel, shuffle it under the pizza, then shuffle the pizza into the open oven. “Now we gotta wait just a few minutes, there’s a certain smell when it’s done that you’ll be able to tell with a little practice.”

“Well, when you do all that, you make it look easy,” she jokes.

“Takes a little practice, about ten years of it,” I reply, “I’m sure you’ll learn if you hang around enough.”

“Fair enough,” she says.

My ear twitches. I can hear Pop’s whistling through the door. Lina looks in the same direction I’m blankly staring now. Sure enough, a few seconds later, my Pops bursts through the door, looking like he’s about to belt out a song, before he notices us.

“Well don’t let me get in your way,” he says, before he notices Lina, “hey, you’re not one of mine.”

“Oh, uh, Ottolina Fischer, Wolf’s girlfriend,” she says.

I nearly yell ‘GIRLFRIEND!?’ before remembering now’s perhaps not the time.

“And you two crazy kids are skipping school to make pizza? Not what I’d use my skip day on, but you do you,” he says as he puts the meat in the freezer, before dusting his hands off and shaking Lina’s paw. “I’m Mr. Lupo, his father, but you can call me Paul.”

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Lupo,” she replies nervously.

“Hey Darren,” he says, causing me to wince at my birth name, “I like your ears. You’ll be transformed for the full moon, that means, yeah?”

“Yeah pops,” I reply, trying to seem nonchalant.

“Perfect, perfect,” he says, grinning at us and waving as he steps out of the door, “well don’t you kids let me get in the way of whatever it is you do, just remember to use protection. I’m not gonna have another litter here after Maria’s about to shoo out the last of ours.”

“DAD” I yell.

“Only joking!” he says as he closes the door.

“Your father…seems nice,” Lina says.

“Yeah, we’ll just have to hope he’ll remain that way tomorrow night,” I reply as I notice the pizza smells done.

“Tess,” she says as I slide the pizza out of the oven with a peel and onto one of the pans, “only if you want, but I can come with you tomorrow night if you need moral support.”

“Really?” I ask as I put the peel away, “I’d love that!”

As I walk up to hug her, I notice I’m feeling a bit off balance. I fall into her arms, once again, and I start feeling my body contort in transformation. None of my clothes rip, but a button does pop off my pants as my hips grow. When the dust is settled, she’s actually lifting me off the ground.

“I don’t know about you,” I joke, “but I like this.”

“I like it too,” she replies, causing us to both burst into a fit of laughter.

“Now if you’ll excuse me,” I say, “I have to go get some better clothes.”

I rush upstairs to snatch a dress, throwing it on with a bra as quickly as possible. As I’m walking back out the door, Mama asks, “Teresa, dearest, could you please bring up a quarter of that beef your father got once you’re done down there?”

“Sure, Mama!” I reply as I rush down the stairs again.

Lina’s jaw drops as she sees me, and I can see her tail nervously wagging behind her. “You look great,” she says, “like, um, really great.”

“Thanks!” I reply as I giggle, “I’m starved, what do you say we dig in?”

You can find story with these keywords: Lupercalia, Read Lupercalia, Lupercalia novel, Lupercalia book, Lupercalia story, Lupercalia full, Lupercalia Latest Chapter