Page 15 of Three Meows

“But what kept me going was the idea of seeing you,” Kevin said with a smile and offered me the flowers.

Well, this was awkward. How does one say that you aren’t interested anymore?

I was saved by my neighbors coming up the stairs.

“Hey Lisa, we fixed your car!” Chester said and threw a bundle of keys in my direction.

I caught them automatically, my mind still processing the fact that they apparently stole my car keys… to fix my car for me?!

“…thanks?” I said,

“And who’s this?” Elijah asked politely, eying the man in front of my door.

“This is Kevin, Kevin my neighbors,” I introduced, not going into the names of the three men as Kevin was already narrowing his eyes at them.

“Kevin, right. Lisa never mentioned you,” Elijah smiled.

Kevin spluttered, his fingers tightening on the still not accepted bouquet.

Rowan chose the moment to squeeze past me into my flat and sprawl on the couch.

“How about we take out the car for a test ride and you take us somewhere nice, darling?” Chester suggested, throwing his arm around my shoulders, forcing Kevin to take a step back as he didn’tslink past like Rowan, but bulldozed his way to me.

“What is this farce?” Kevin hissed, his cheeks growing red with fury.

“Maybe you just have bad luck today,” Elijah smiled at him, then shifted his attention to me. “I got the almond coffee syrup you liked for you,” the man presented me with the small bottle and I took it.

Kevin threw his roses onto the floor.

“Fuck this,” was all he said as he turned on his heel and stomped out of the building.

With a sigh, I stepped back into my flat, not at all surprised when I ended up with all three of my neighbors in my space.

“Are you done pissing all over your territory?” I asked bluntly.

“Ew, pissing is such a vile term. We were just… scent marking,” Chester grinned.

“You scared my date away, you villains,” I scoffed.

“Not villains. Vigilantes,” Rowan piped up.

“Right, we were mean for a good reason,” Elijah nodded. “You looked awfully uncomfortable in that doorway.”

My shoulders slumped.

“You could tell?”

“We have come to know you,” Elijah said gently. “And you should never look like you did when someone is offering you flowers. You seemed to be in need of an excuse to call this date off so we only filled the required roles.”

“Well, I, for one, still enjoyed taunting that fucker.”

“Chester!” I scolded but had to do it through a bout of giggles.

The situation felt surreal. Here I was trying to run from them, only for them to run towards me.

“Food,” Rowan said, staring at me.

“Jeez, yes, I get it.” I rolled my eyes. “Gentlemen, would you accompany me to a restaurant? My treat, as thanks for fixing my car.”

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