Chapter Thirteen
I wasn’t a morning person.
In fact, I was one of those zombies who couldn’t fully comprehend the world before the first cup of coffee. So when I dragged myself out of bed I was on autopilot. When I heard meowing I opened a can of cat food and deposited it in a bowl. I watched the cat eat while the water for my coffee was heating up and only when Rowan was halfway through wolfing down his food a thought struck me.
“Oh my God, you are human! Rowan, why are you eating cat food!”
The black cat sent me a condescending look, not stopping stuffing himself even for a minute.
“Some of the cat food tastes pretty great,” Elijah piped up, and only now I noticed he was observing everything with amusement from the armchair. Next to him, on the couch, Chester was clearly awake, but refusing to join the world of living if the blanket pulled over his head was any indication.
“You buy good brands,” Chester mumbled from his cocoon. “This is some gourmet shit.”
“But… but… will you get all the nutrients that way? Vitamins! Minerals!” I said desperately.
“More than from a Mac hamburger and fries,” Elijah pointed out. “As long as we don’t keep solely to the processed cat food there shouldn’t be any problems with an occasional feline meal.”
“This is weird,” I murmured to myself, then looked guiltily at the three… two men and a cat… but they seemed more amused than offended.
“You are taking all of this quite well,” Elijah noted.
“I guess if someone told me about cat shifters I would have trouble believing them, but I trust my eyes, you know? Seeing is believing and all that,” I made my coffee and gratefully took a first gulp, even if it scalded my tongue. “Ah, did any of you want some coffee?”
Rowan stopped his after-the-meal grooming and raised his paw.
I stared.
“Well, I guess I have to get used to this now. One coffee for a cat, coming right up!”
Life in such a full house proved very interesting. And yes, a bit of a challenge. We had to tackle problems like lack of space for all of our workstations, Elijah’s notes, and my and Chester’s art projects or other prosaic hurdles like not enough electric sockets. During those everyday challenges, I got to know the trio’s adorable quirks and annoying habits.
Chester liked to steal my gold pens, even though he had his own.
Elijah hummed songs under his breath in the morning and tended to give me a new earworm I couldn’t shake off every day.
Rowan always forgot to put the milk back in the fridge. What in the nine hells, Rowan?
I collected all of those little idiosyncrasies and kept them close to my heart.
For the first few days we orbited each other cautiously, but after a week had passed I had decided to make my move.
“I want to go on a date with you,” I declared to the room and three pairs of eyes turned to me.
“We have already been on a date, no? I think the time when we snatched you from that ferrety guy counts,” Chester said brazenly. “But count me in for more dates. Where are we going, sunshine?”
“I was thinking about doing something a bit different this time… How about some one-on-one time? A date with each of you separately and then one with all of us together?” I asked, a bit nervous, as I was unsure what the etiquette in this sort of relationship was. Would they get offended that I wanted them separately? Or the opposite; maybe even though they agreed to be with me they didn’t want this to be some kind of polyamorous relationship where we had dates together as a group?
It was all so confusing!
But when the three men looked at each other and came to an agreement in a split second, I could stop holding my breath.
“Me first!” Chester hopped in place like a little kid.
Rowan changed into a cat and bit him in protest.
“Lisa will be the one to decide,” Elijah said. That’s why he was my favorite. At least until he leaned to whisper in my ear. “But you will choose me, right?”
“Shameless, all of you,” I pushed Elijah away playfully. “I will tell you who goes first when I have an idea for the date. I wanted to confirm you were on board with this before I concocted any elaborate schemes.”
“Surprise us then,” Chester said. “For you, I’m always free.”
“Don’t you have a hundred sketches to make for the next week?” Elijah asked skeptically.
“Yeah, but who cares? I will just pump myself full of energy drinks and draw the entire night before the deadline,” Chester shrugged as if that wasn’t an insane thing to do.
“Alright, this is an intervention.” I crossed my arms. “Do not put our dates above your health or I won’t take you on any.”
“But you are an artist too! You should understand me!” Chester whined.
“I know I may find myself binge-animating through the night at some point but it will be because my efforts to do it earlier proved not to be enough not because I planned for it,” I shook a warning finger at the stubborn redhead.
“Alright, alright, I will try to start on this assignment, ugh,” Chester sulked but pulled out a pencil and paper and started sketching the view from our window.
“Can the topic be anything?” I asked, observing the graphite flying over the sketchpad.
“Landscapes. And at least 50% of the sketches have to be of some kind of nature landscapes, not thirty different storefronts from the city,” Chester explained. “I have a suspicion it’s the prof’s ‘touch some grass’ agenda in play.”
As he spoke, an idea started growing in my mind, like a green seedling sprouting from the earth.
“How about…” I started slowly. “We combine those two things?”
Chester blinked at me, tilting his head like his cat alter ego when he was confused.
“A date and your assignment,” I clarified. “Let me show you my favorite nature spots outside the town?”
Chester looked stunned before he placed his sketchpad and pencil on the windowsill and threw himself at me in a hug.
“That sounds brilliant!”
The smug cat got the first date, after all.