“Hi, are you Burt?” a gentle voice behind him asked.
“Yes,” Burt replied, standing up and turning to face her. “And you must be Gwendolyn.” Burt saw her and recognized her from the picture his coworker, Scott, had shown him. She was pretty, but didn’t seem to like she was trying to show it off. That was something that Burt liked: she was dressed like a real person and not like she was trying to achieve some sort of ideal of beauty. Burt had been on plenty of dates with women who clearly wanted to impress him with their looks but had the personality of a block of wood.
“Please, call me Gwen,” she said, extending her hand. Burt shook it, though thought it was a bit strange to shake hands on a date. After the introduction, he pulled Gwen’s chair out and helped her sit down. She wore a floral-print dress and her brown hair parted on the side, making Burt feel a bit overdressed in his suit and tie.
“So,” Burt said as he took his seat on the opposite side of the table, “Scott tells me you two went to high school together.”
“Did he also tell you that we dated in high school?” Gwen asked coyly.
“In fact, he left that part out,” Burt said, his voice a mixture of amusement and annoyance.
“It wasn’t anything serious,” Gwen said reassuringly. “He took me to get pizza once. We made out a little in his mom’s minivan, but that was it.”
“Okay,” Burt chuckled, relieved. “He also left out that he used his mom’s minivan to pick up girls.”
“Oh, yeah,” Gwen said with a wry smile, “girls love a guy in a family vehicle. It really gets us going.”
“You’re funny,” Burt said, impressed. “I like that.”
“I’m just getting started,” Gwen said, opening her menu.
~~~
Their conversation continued going well through dinner and Gwen continued to impress Burt. His dates in the past always ordered salads, which always felt fake to him (no one can fill up on a salad), but Gwen ordered a rare steak. That, along her dry sense of humor, gave Burt the impression that Gwen was a women who was…well, just being herself. It was very refreshing.
“You strike me as a very genuine person,” Burt said while he was waiting for the server to return with his credit card.
“Really?” Gwen asked, using a toothpick. “In what way?”
“The women I date tend to present themselves as the kind of woman that they think I want, rather than just being themselves. I dated a girl once who thought I wouldn’t like her if I knew she was half Colombian, so she wore blue contacts and wouldn’t tell me her last name the whole evening. Little did she know, I’m a quarter Brazilian, on my mother’s side.”
“Women like that are stupid,” Gwen said, rolling her eyes. “What’s these girls’ endgame? ‘If I get him to fall in love with me, I only need to pretend to be a completely different person for about fifty years.’”
“Exactly!” Burt exclaimed, happy to hear his own thoughts mirrored back at him from his date for once.
“I like that one quote from Marilyn Monroe: ‘If you can’t handle me at my worst, you don’t deserve me at my best.’”
“Does that mean I get a glimpse at your naughty side?” Burt asked, smirking.
“Maybe,” Gwen said, coyly. “But not tonight.”
“Not even if I take you home in a minivan?” Burt asked, which made Gwen laugh.
“Tell you what,” Gwen offered, a smile on her face, “you can come by my place, but don’t expect to stay over. We’ll just have coffee or something.”
“I can work with that,” Burt said happily as the server walked up with his credit card.
“Just warning you,” Gwen said as she led Burt into her apartment, “my roommate, Luna, is a bit wild. I don’t know if we’ll see her tonight, but she has some … interesting decorations.”
As Burt stepped inside, he saw what she meant. On the wall of the living room was what looked like a medieval torture rack, complete with manacles and chains.
“I think ‘wild’ might be putting it lightly,” Burt said, one eyebrow cocked.
“Hey, remember who your date is,” Gwen said, leading Burt by his tie to the dining room. She pulled out a chair for him to sit at the table. “How do you like your coffee?”
“Oh,” Burt said, surprised. “We’re actually having coffee.”
“I’m genuine, remember?” Gwen said, a big smile on her face. “Besides, if I’m not worth having unless you have to work to get me.”
“Oh, yeah?” Burt asked, intrigued. “And you’re worth the hunt?”
“I guess you’ll have to chase me to find out.”
~~~
“Well,” Gwen said, stretching her arms, “you’ve been a great date, Burt, but it’s time for you to go home.”
“Are you sure?” Burt asked, disappointed. “It only just got dark outside.”
“Yeah, I’m sure,” Gwen said sweetly, “but I’d love to see you again sometime.”
“Alright,” Burt acquiesced. “Are you free tomorrow night?”
“I’m busy after seven, but we could meet for lunch.”
“Sounds good to me. Mind if I pick you up?”
“Not at all!” Gwen said enthusiastically. “How does eleven thirty sound?”
“It’s a date!”
Gwen walked Burt to the door and kissed him gently on his cheek as he left. She could tell that it had been a long time since he had been so happy to get just a peck on his cheek at the end of a date, but she could have that effect on guys.
Her train of thought was broken by the sound of her phone making a dinging sound. It was her alarm, letting her know that Luna would be there soon. Gwen went into the bedroom and stripped off her clothes. She then went to the bathroom, filled a cup with tap water, and took a couple of sleeping pills. She knew that the pills would kick in soon, though perhaps not before her roommate arrived.
Gwen walked over to the rack in the living room. She attached the manacles to her ankles and wrists, the chains being loose enough for her to reach her feet. Once she was locked in, she touched a button to activate a winch, tightening the chains until her hands and feet were pulled against the back of the rack (the release was near her left hand, but inside a hold that only small fingers like hers could fit into). Once everything was place, she relaxed and leaned against the wood behind her.
“Alright,” Gwen said, the sleeping pills kicking in, “ready when you are, Luna.”
Just then, it started. Her muscles flexed against her restraints as she let out a beastly howl. Her ears lengthened, as did her feet. Every hair on her body grew, covering her body in a thick fur. Her muscles grew as she struggled against the chains, but she couldn’t move enough to get the leverage needed to break free. Her mouth and nose stretched, combining into a snout. Behind her, a newly formed tailed smacked against the wood. When her transformation was complete, she was somewhere between a wolf and a human.
The beast blinked, becoming aware of her surroundings. “This again, Gwen?” she said drowsily to herself, her voice deeper than Gwen's. “One of these days you’ll forget what day it is and won’t strap yourself down by the time I arrive. I can wait. After all, I only come around about once a month anyway…” As she spoke, Luna the she-wolf, fell to sleep strapped to rack and started lightly snoring.
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