“Hi, I’m Miracle.”
I grinned at them, almost seeing the spinning circles as they processed my words. Elijah was the first to get it.
“You have a place for us? Really?”
“Don’t get too excited,” I warned. “It’s a pretty small flat, so it will be a tight squeeze.”
“We will take it!” Chester pumped his fist in the air.
Rowan nodded.
“We are used to living in each other’s pockets,” Elijah pointed out. “It can’t be worse than our first flat.”
Hmm, there was history there, but maybe now wasn’t the time to be nosy…
“Alright, follow me then,” I gestured to the men, and they spilled after me into the corridor.
“The same building? Sweet. That will make carrying things so much easier,” Chester enthused.
“Yes, in fact, it’s very close…” I slid the key in with one practiced motion and opened the door to my home. “Welcome to your new abode!”
For a second I shocked the three men into silence, but, of course, that wouldn’t work on Chester for long.
“We can live with you?!” Chester shrieked, and I put a hand over his mouth, shushing him, then unceremoniously pulled him inside the flat.
Once Rowan shut the door behind himself and we were all in the privacy of my flat, Chester licked my hand like a teenager.
“I have kissed you. Do you think your saliva grosses me out?” I snorted at the redhead but pulled my hand away to let him talk.
“Are you for real? Realsies? No takebacks?” Chester chattered with supersonic speed.
“Lisa, we wouldn’t want to encroach on your privacy…” Elijah said delicately. “You don’t have to feel guilty and offer your own space. We will manage. The flat I found is not so bad, I promise.”
“Why are you trying to talk her out of it?” Chester hissed.
“It’s better to suffer than to trouble Lisa,” Elijah argued.
I put my hands on my hips and let them go at it as they traded arguments back and forth. Before they were finished, Rowan had already gone back to his flat and returned with the first of his plastic containers.
The words died on the two men’s lips as they observed their comrade calmly putting his things into the spare room.
“Well, Rowan has already made his decision.” I smiled.
“I did too! Dibs on the left side of the room!” Chester shouted.
“There are three of us! …and he is gone,” Elijah shook his head at the hyperactive redhead who didn’t want to be upstaged by Rowan and ran back to his previous flat, presumably to get a start on the moving as well.
“It will be a really tight squeeze,” I said apologetically. “But I thought one bed would do for now because, if push comes to shove, one or even all of you can sleep in your cat forms.”
“You know, there are two beds in this flat…”
“Elijah, how forward of you,” the corner of my mouth ticked up.
“I didn’t mean it like that!” Elijah protested, his hands waving frantically. “I meant just sleeping together! Oh god, that doesn’t sound better… Sharing a bed to sleep. Just to sleep!”
My grin only got wider.
“…you love to torment me, don’t you?” Elijah asked, his cheeks red.