Telling the Truth

Keith ended up taking Apryl to a small diner that wasn't too terribly far off campus. It was a place he frequented when he didn't want to have to go home and prepare his dinner or he was going out to eat with friends for lunch or dinner.

It was a off yellow color on the outside with a brown boarder and had Red light up letters above the restaurant that was supposed to read 'TJ's Diner' but only half the letters light up and D was mostly missing.

The inside wasn't very full as the lunch rush hour had already passed. The colors of the wall matched the off yellow color of the outside. There were fifteen mahogany tables each with a set of scattered around the main floor area of the diner while a handful of booth seats had been placed near the windows. The wood also appeared to be made out of mahogany but the seats were black leather and looked rather worse for wear.

Apryl didn't know how to handle the different smells that assaulted her nose as soon as she entered the building. It smelled like a mixture between overly greasy food and cleaning products.

"Sorry, the smell can take a little bit to get used to." Keith apologized as he waited for one of the waitress to come over and take care of them today.

"Just two today?" a bubbly young girl with a large smile on her face asked as she grabbed two menus out of the stand that was in front of them.

"Yep, thanks." Keith replied, returning the smile as Apryl stayed standing behind while observing the interaction that was taking place.

"Do you gave a preference on seating?" She asked as she motioned for them to follow her further into the restaurant.

"A booth seat would be great, kind of some place out of the way." Keith replied glancing around as he tried to decide which area would be furthest away from the other diners who were occupying the area.

"Sure no problem." The woman replied as she lead them to one of the booth seats that was in the back. Setting down the menus, she fixed the blinds that were covering the window by the table so that they didn't let too much light.

"Is this good?" she asked, double checking with them before she left to go get their drinks.

"This will be perfect, thank you." Keith said as he took a seat and motioned for Apryl to sit across from him.

"I will be right back with your drinks and see what you would like to order." The woman said offering another smile before she walked away. Apryl wasn't really sure what to think of everything. It was a lot to taken in as a completely new experience to her.

"It's a lot to take in right now I'm sure, but I promise that the food here makes it more than worth it plus it's fairly affordable as well." Keith told her as watched her look over the menu. She wasn't sure what half the food she was looking at was nor did she quite understand the value of the price aside from the fact that she presumed that the higher the numbers went, the more expensive the food was.

"Since you have obviously been here before, what would you recommend getting?" Apryl asked after looking at the menu for a few seconds longer but having no idea what to eat.

"Appetizers are a must of course. If you want something different, I would recommend this burger. Everything here is safe to eat of course. You could say it caters well to us." Keith said flashing her a smile.

"You mean?" She asked surprised as she looked at his face for the answering he thought that she was saying.

"Yup. Evidentially it's not public knowledge, it's suitable for us in a way that isn't problematic to anyone who wants to eat here without anything different being noticeable." Keith explained, only stopping when the waitress came back over with their glasses of water.

"Sorry, I realized I forgot to introduce myself before. The name's Rachel and I will be taking care of you today. Do you two know what you'd like to eat yet or do you need a few more minutes to decide?" She asked as he got her pen and pad ready to take their order.

"We do actually know what we'd like to eat, thank you. For appetizers, the boneless chicken wings and the mozzarella sticks would be great. For the main course we both want the same thing actually- the double bacon burger." He glanced over at Apryl to make sure he was right and she nodded her head in response.

"Will that be all for you then?" Rachel asked after she had taken their order.

"Yes." Keith replied as she put away her bad.

"Alright then, we'll have those appetizers out shortly. Thank you for your patience." She asked as she walked away leaving the two werewolves alone again. Keith knew that it would be a few minutes before their food would be ready which would give them a chance to talk for a bit. Apryl was still taking everything in so he knew that she wouldn't be the one to start the conversation.

"Like I told you before, I am going to do my best to tell you the truth about everything I know regarding your uncle. There are a few things that I'm not that thrilled with talking about just yet, but it's because there are still things that I am processing." Keith told her as he tried to figure out the best way to start the conversation. It was a subject that he didn't like talking about much, but one he knew he couldn't keep avoiding bringing up especially if it was affecting other people's lives. He started talking again when he saw that Apryl was paying attention to him. He made sure to keep his voice rather low so not too many other people would hear.

"I think that I mentioned to you before that I didn't come from this area. I, well my pack actually came from a place that was much further away. A place where time actually moved differently from the rest of the world perhaps. The werewolves and wolves that coexisted in that area lived far longer lives compared to those who lived outside of it. Why exactly it was we didn't know, but the one thing that was for certain was the fact that humans didn't know that much about it and left it alone because of all the rumors surrounding it."

"A place like that really existed?" Apryl asked surprised. She had heard the stories from her father about it since they also came from out of the area they currently lived from, but she thought it was made up.

"It and does still rather. It may be though that the magic has been broken by now after humans invaded." Keith replied as he got an odd look in his eyes as he reminisced about the past.

"Before I get too far off the path talking about all of this since I know we don't have a lot time let me clarify where your uncle comes into all of this." Keith paused, taking a sip from his glass of water before sighing softly.

"He used to be a part of the pack that I was from. An outsider who managed to assimilate himself into the pack by proving that he was harmless or so everyone thought at least." Keith stopped speaking when he saw the waitress coming back over with their appetizers. He had a lot to explain to Apryl, but he really wasn't sure how he could tell her everything within a short amount of time.