THWACK!!

The racquetball caromed out of one forecorner of the court in a radically different direction from which it had entered the corner.  Nearing the floor, it was met by a brown blur with a positioned racquet.

THWAPP!!

The ball pounded low and fast into the other forecorner and streaked out with another change of direction in a low path that kissed the floor twice before the hustling wolf-fox could get a racquet on it.  Grabbing the ball on the rebound, Lyman tossed it to the cat.  "Good hit, there," he chuckled.  "No way I could've gotten that one."

"Thanks," panted his friend through a grin.  "By the way, I believe that makes this game point."

Smoothing his headfur back with a paw, Lyman pondered and then nodded. "Yeppers, it is.  You're definitely on your game today.  Must've had a good night last night."

"I'll say," grinned Lee as he served.  The next minutes were filled with grunts, pants, and the sounds of a pounding ball as the point was fiercely contested.  Finally, the fox-wolf moved a fraction of a second too late and the ball bounced off the frame of his racquet.

"Game!" shouted the smiling feline as he straightened and shook his friend's paw.  "A hard fought one, too."

"Yeah, but you won," replied Lyman with a mock pout as he picked up the ball.  Looking at the clock outside the court, he shrugged, "Time's almost up for this week.  Take it to the showers?"

His friend nodded and the two opened the small door to the court and ducked out into the hallway.  Waving to the meerkat and orange tabby waiting there, Lee grinned, "It's all yours Keith, Dave.  Enjoy yourselves."  Lyman merely saluted the pair as he followed Lee back to the locker room.  Changing in the locker room, the two furs slid into the Jacuzzi to relax after their workout.

"So," grinned Lyman, "just how well did last night go?"

"I met her folks on friendly terms, if that's what you mean.  They're quite a combination; her dad's a Captain with the CPD and her mom's the office manager for the state AG."

"Bet they don't talk shop over the dinner table," came the chuckling reply.

"Depends, I'd imagine.  I'm sure there are times when it's best they don't."

"So what else were you two up to last night?"

"That I'll admit to?  We just had a quiet date; we went out for burgers and such and then went bowling."  The cat chuckled, "We're well matched there; we bowled four lines and each won two.  None of the wins was by more than 10 – 15 points."

"And after that?"

"We went for something cold to cool off with; then I took her home.  With her best friend leaving today, she wanted to get to bed early."

"Make sense," nodded the wolf-fox.  "Since you're at loose ends this afternoon, how about coming over and helping me pick out what to take to the range tomorrow?"

The feline pondered a moment as he let the jets of water relax his muscles through his fur.  Finally he nodded, "Sounds good to me.  I gotta run some errands on the way home; probably grab lunch, too.  I'll be over 'bout two or so.  That'll give us a couple hours before I have to get ready and pick up Debbye."

"Good enough," nodded Lyman.

Thoroughly relaxed, the pair enjoyed the Jacuzzi somewhat more before moving on to go their separate ways.

Debbye, Susan, and Amy waved as the silver Mercury pulled away from the curb and drove off; then watched until it disappeared down the street.  Susan sniffed back a tear, "I don't know about you two, but I'm going to find a gallon of Jen and Berry's double chocolate fudge ice cream and pig out."

"Sounds like a plan to me," agreed Amy.  She turned to her cousin, "You in, Deb?"

The auburn-headfurred femme nodded, "Somewhat; I don't want to mess up things for tonight.  Not after all we went through to find that dress.  Right, Suse?"

The lioness nodded, "Definitely!  Gotta do the Clique proud!"  She chuckled.

The other two femmes joined her as they headed inside to work on the ice cream's demise.

Lee stretched as he got up from the couch, "I'm feeling a bit thirsty.  Mind if I help myself to some cold water?"

"Not at all," grinned his friend.  "You know where everything is and I can trust you not to make a mess."

Lee chuckled as he padded into the kitchen and took a tumbler off the shelf.  The noise of the ice cubes dropping in masked the sound of the phone so he was surprised when he heard the fox-wolf start talking.

"Oh, heh Rava, what's up?  You're not canceling on me, are ya?"

Lee smiled at the chuckle in his friend's voice, but it faded at Lyman's sharp "What?"

Lyman's next two exchanges really caught the feline's attention:

"So, let me get this straight; you made a date for tonight with a tabby you met last night?"

"What do you know about him?  And what do you mean you don't have his phone number?  How the hell did you talk to him this morning if you don't have his phone number?"

The growl on that last brought Lee out of the kitchen.

“That doesn’t answer the question, Rava,” growled Lyman as he motioned Lee back.

Lee stepped back, eyes widening as Lyman snapped, “Oh really? Ever occur to you that dating someone new right now isn’t such a good idea considering last weekend?”

Whatever response Lyman got made his voice rise more as he snarled, “No, you did that once already.”  Shock as he realized what he'd said made the fox-wolf stop and speak more calmly, "Rava, I didn't..."  The slam of the other phone being very forcefully hung up made him wince; he sighed and softly set the pawset down on the phone.

“What the devil was that all about?” inquired his wide-eyed friend.

Lyman answered in a low voice, “Rava's going to the party with someone else.”

"Who?"

“I don’t know… Some leopard she picked up and took home last night," answered Lyman in a venomous tone.

Uh-oh thought Lee as the implications hit.  “Rava’s not like that Lyman.”

The wolf-fox just shrugged.

A concerned Lee continued, "What has gotten into you? She is a big girl Lyman, she doesn’t need you to play big brother protecting her. We both might not agree with her choice of method but did it ever occur to you that this may be what she needs for her healing?"  His thoughts continued, I can't believe Rava took the Tabby home to her bed, but I know Lyman too well to doubt his word.  Dammit, I'm missing something here!  His mind quickly pondered the other data, Wait a minute, Lyman's never pulled that type of attitude with Rava before, not even when they've clashed on a topic.

"No, but..."

"Or is something more basic at work here?”  Asked the cat carefully.

"Lee!  She's a good friend and I'm concerned for her," replied Lyman as he looked up in surprise.

"If this had happened with the Rava we knew before her marriage, would it have bothered you?" persisted Lee. I'm certain jealousy is the problem here, but what's the cause? Is it that she went to someone else rather than either of us or is it something more than that?

"No," quietly answered the fox-wolf.

"Look she's my friend too, but she's also her own person. Give her room; you wouldn't want her or me second guessing you, would you?"  The feline's eyes narrowed, "Is it just the selfish motive that you don't want to rush around and get another date?"

Lyman shook his head quickly, "No, nothing like that. That thought hadn't entered my mind at all."

"Well, then, what's the problem?"

Lyman sighed and sat down on the couch suddenly feeling very weary and put his head in his paws, "I don't know, my friend.  I really don't know."

With a matching sigh, the cat eased himself into the chair across from his friend.  "So what exactly did Rava say?"

"That she'd met a really nice leopard last night and that, apparently, he spent the night with her since she talked to him this morning without phoning.  She forgot that she had a date with me and asked him to be her date to the dinner-dance."

Lee nodded, then quietly spoke, "His spending the night with her doesn't mean that anything happened."

The wolf-fox snorted loudly, "Yeah, right.  Could you spend a night alone with Debbye and not do anything?"

Thinking of the agreement he and the femme squirrel had reached, the cat replied simply, "Yep."

"Well, perhaps," came the skeptical reply.  "But she doesn't have Rava's sex appeal."

"I beg to differ," offered the cat with a quiet smile.  "Debbye affects me far more than any other femme I've ever been with and she reacts just as strongly to me.  However, that's neither here or there; you still have no grounds for jumping to conclusions about Rava and this leopard."

Lyman looked over quizzically, "You're adamant on defending them?"

A small shrug, "Innocent until proven guilty.  You've got nothing but suspicions that anything happened."

"Maybe, but..."

"But nothing, Lyman.  Let it rest.  You know I support my friends, all of them; even when they're in conflict with each other."

"I'm not in conflict with Rava!"

"If you say so.  As I said, I support all my friends and you'd best not bring this nonsense into the dinner-dance; it's supposed to be a time to celebrate our successes, not stir trouble."

Lyman grudgingly nodded.

Lee grinned, "Meanwhile, I think you've got other things to worry about."

"Hmmm?"

"You need to line up another date," replied the cat as he stood up and stretched.  "And I need to start getting ready, myself."

"Ever the gentlefur," chuckled the fox-wolf as he stood and padded over to search his desk for a certain slip.  "Mind letting yourself out?  She may have dumped me but she's not the only femme."

"Lyman," cautioned his friend, "self pity ill becomes you."

"Don't worry 'bout me," snapped the wolf-fox as he found what he sought.  "I'll recover."

"Okay, okay," soothed his friend.  "Just don't give into it and remember what I said about disturbing things tonight."

"Yeah, yeah.  See you later."

As the feline let himself out, he heard the other on the phone, "Hello, Mandy?"

Debbye hummed along with the Phil Collins CD as Susan drove her home.  "I'd love to hit the mall with you tomorrow Susan, but I'll be going shooting with Lee."

The lioness pouted, "First 'Brina, then Cindy; now you.  I swear; I'd worry about the Clique if I didn't have Josh.  As 'tis, we never do stuff together anymore."

The squirrel squeezed her friend's shoulder, "We'll get together during the week; I promise."  Her face took on a wistful look, "But weekends are the only time I really get to see Lee."

Glancing over quickly, Susan chuckled, "You've got it bad, I recognize the symptoms.  I take it Lee survived meeting your dad?"

The femme squirrel chuckled, "More like he wowed both him and mom."

Both were chuckling as Susan pulled into Debbye's parent's driveway.  Susan put her paw on Debbye's arm, "Knock 'em dead tonight."

"Thanks, Suse," came the reply as the squirrel got out.  "Call me real early tomorrow afternoon?"

"Sure will!"  Susan waved as she backed out and drove off.

Debbye waved to her mother as she passed through the kitchen.  Entering the bathroom, she took an antacid and then washed her face; using a paw-held dryer and her mother's brush to fix herself up.  She reflected, "It's gonna be a loooong three weeks."

Her mother's knock on the door broke her reverie, "Debbye, your friend Sabrina's on the phone."

Lee finished adjusting his tie, checked his appearance in the mirror, and fixed the flying eagle tie-tac in place.  The dark brown, with subdued dark gold pinstripes, suit, antique gold shirt, and off-white and tan striped tie fit his markings perfectly.  He grinned at his reflection, "First time in ages I've put this much effort into my appearance; but then she's the first one in ages I've wanted to do that for."

Picking up the corsage he'd bought for Debbye, the feline exited his apartment for his freshly washed, cleaned, waxed, and polished car.  Humming quietly to himself, he headed over to pick up the femme who'd laid claim to his attentions.

Linda Squirrel answered the cat's ring of the doorbell.  "Debbye's almost ready, she'll be with you shortly."  She chuckled, "Her friend Sabrina called as soon as she reached Pennsylvania and they talked a good while."

Lee grinned, "Far be it from me to take exception that; friends are important.  'Sides, I'm a touch early and I left us plenty of time to get to the dinner–dance."

The older femme squirrel chuckled as she let the cat in and led him to a chair in the family room.  "You're learning early, it took George a bit longer to get that practical."

"I resemble that remark," laughed Debbye's father as he greeted Lee. The three furs made small talk 'til a noise from the hall doorway caught Lee's attention. Looking up, his face took on a stunned expression as Debbye padded into the room, pirouetted, and modeled her dress for him. The basic dark royal blue dress fell to mid-calf and featured a center section, with collar, and 3/4-length sleeves of a shear ivory on dark ivory brocade. The front center panel, had it been solely lace, would have given the feline quite a view of the femme squirrel's cleavage. In the back, the center panel tapered down to the base of her tail while the royal blue fabric wrapped under her tail. Recovering, the cat whistled and grinned, "you're quite a vision, m'dear; even more than my fondest fantasies."

The femme squirrel blushed and, with a twinkle in her eye, curtsied. "Thank you, kind sir."

Amidst general laughter, Lee stood and padded over to pin the corsage in place, enjoying the brief touch of fur and claiming a quick soft kiss as payment.

George Squirrel looked his daughter over, his experienced eye evaluating her dress; his eyebrows rose as he noted details. "Sweetheart, just how much did you pay for this?"

Mother and daughter looked at each other and laughed.  "Susan helped me find a real bargain, dad," answered the younger femme.   Linda placed her paw on her husband's arm. "She showed me the receipt right after she brought it home," she assured the Captain. "You should be proud of your daughter, she hunted 'til she found a real bargain."

The male squirrel nodded and smiled. "You see how they double-team me," he told Lee with a soft chuckle. "Beware."

"Yes, sir," replied the cat with an answering chuckle. Turning to his date, he offered his arm. "Shall we be off?"

"Certainly," accepted the young femme as she slipped her arm into his.  Turning to her parents, she continued, "We'll probably be in late; the dancing will probably give me an appetite.  So I'll wish you 'good night' now."

"Good night, dear," answered captain Squirrel.  "You two enjoy yourselves."

"I'll take that as an order,'" quipped Lee as he turned and escorted Debbye to his car.

Holding the door for his femme, the feline made certain she was properly belted in; the "casual brushes" and quick stolen kiss being purely coincidental.  Moving quickly to the driver's side, he rapidly buckled himself in and took another quick kiss from the very willing femme before driving off.