10. Edward

Meowing and scratching noises were not how I wanted to be woken on Christmas Eve at bloody eight o'clock in the morning. I tried to ignore it, but it was getting louder, and seemed to be coming from the lobby. Annoyed, I got out of bed, threw on a hoodie over my t-shirt and pyjama bottoms and moved towards the noise.

I flung open my front door irritably, to see an absolutely massive tabby cat scratching at the door to Number Six. When I opened the door, he ran past me, over to Number Four, and started pawing at the cat flap. It seemed unable to get the flap to open. Tentatively, I approached it and when I was closer, it turned to me, giant paw on the plastic gate, and looked at me as if to ask me what it should do. I crouched down to see if it would come to me, but it wouldn't, so I knocked on my neighbour's door. There was no answer, which surprised me because I knew that they'd just moved in the day before.

"Sorry, cat, your owner doesn't seem to be home. Guess you chose a bad time to venture out." It eyed me as if to say 'no shit, Sherlock!'

I petted it, and it purred a little, so I attempted to pick it up. It allowed me to do so. Bloody hell, it was heavy for a cat, more the size of a small dog. It was wearing an ostentatious, glittery, festive, green and red collar with a gold nameplate.

Bloody Nora. Who calls their cat 'Mr Wibbles?' My new neighbour had to be female or gay.

The moment we were through my front door, Mr Wibbles wriggled and fussed in my arms, so I put him down, and he went straight to my kitchen and sat by the fridge. Clearly, he was clever, albeit a spoiled beast. I grabbed a bowl and poured him some milk. He lapped at it greedily, sloshing a little onto floor. He then pranced into my living room, took up residence on my favourite armchair, and closed his little, amber eyes.

"Well, make yourself comfortable, Mr Wibbles," I snarked.

It was too late to go back to bed, but I was still exhausted from the Meyer High staff Christmas party the previous night, so I lay down on my sofa and closed my eyes, too, after making sure I'd left the living room door open so I could hear my neighbours return.

The party had been fun, but by the end of the night, I felt so bloody alone. All my fellow teachers were either dancing with their other halves or flirting at the bar. I neither had a partner nor felt like flirting with any of the far-too-young-for-me, drunk women in tiny skirts giving me the eye. I wasn't interested in any kind of relationship at all.

I was still hung up on a girl who didn't want me, and hung over thanks to all the cheap booze I'd consumed.

Mr Wibbles and I fell into a comfortable doze for a while, until the faint sound of high heels clacking, and men's boots clumping on the stairs made me stir. I opened one eye and looked at Mr Wibbles, who did the same. A minute later, screeching started to come from next door.

"Mr Wibbles? Mr Wibbles! Don't hide from Mummy! Where are you?" called a high-pitched, frantic, female voice.

With a little huff, the cat heaved himself onto all fours, stretched and jumped onto the floor. With a groan, I got up too. Scooping up Mr Wibbles, I went outside and began knocking on my neighbour's door. A moment later, it opened.

"Jazz?"

To my utter surprise, my best friend opened the door.

"Edward?"

"What are you doing here?" we chorused.

"My new apartment is next door," I explained. "What about you?"

"This is Alice's new place."

So he was still seeing Alice, the girl he met the night before leaving for the Far East, the 'the sexiest little minx ever.' He proclaimed that he intended to make her the next Mrs Whitlock within six months of his return. As attractive to women as he was, Jazz preferred monogamy, and had a tendency to fall hard and fast for girls when one took his interest. I just hoped that Alice wasn't another Maria. Jazz's ex-wife was the dictionary definition of psycho-bitch, and made Tanya seem tame.

"Does this," I indicated Mr Wibbles in my arms, "belong to her, by any chance?"

"Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, you found my Wibbler!"

A cute, petite, raven-haired, elfin woman, wearing massive high heels, with a tear-stained face, came barrelling down the hallway, radiating energy. She almost collided into me. The cat meowed loudly and clambered out of my arms across to her. She cradled him like he was a baby and stroked his tummy. He purred loudly.

"Thank you so much! Oh, Mr Wibbles, don't scare Mummy like that ever again!" She suddenly leaned over and kissed me on the cheek. "Do you boys know each other?"

"This is my best friend, Edward, baby. He's also your new next door neighbour."

"Oh, wow, you live in number Five?" I nodded. "That's so cool! What are you doing this morning? Do you have plans?" Wow, the girl could talk!

"Um ..."

She didn't wait for me to answer.

"Great, we should have coffee! I have a special Christmas blend! Just give me ten minutes to change and get my old flatmate. She's just moved into Number Six. You'll adore her; everyone does!" She glanced at me and looked me up and down for a split second with a mischievous grin. "I think she could be just your type." She barely paused for breath before adding, "I need to put Mr Wibbles to bed in his carry-box anyway. He likes it in there when he's had a bad day."

My surreal morning just got weirder.

"Okay ..."

I looked at Jazz. He nodded slightly.

"Alice, I'll just go with Edward and we'll come back in a few, okay, baby?"

"Okay, great! See you then!"

She gave Jazz a deep, slow, kiss goodbye and winked at me. She then went back into her apartment and kicked the door shut with one of those scarily high, spike-heeled shoes.

Jazz followed me back to mine.

"So that was Alice, huh?"

"Isn't she fucking gorgeous! I swear, Edward, I'm totally in love."

"She's very sweet, although very ... perky." I chose my words carefully. "She, uh, really seems to adore that cat," I added, expecting him to laugh about his new girl's crazy-cat-lady streak.

"I know. Oh, she was so upset when she thought he'd run away."

Shitsticks. He didn't laugh.

I looked my best friend up and down. He had a properly loved-up grin on his face.

Jazz, my hard-as-nails, fifty percent tattooed best friend, who had once been shot when filming in Beirut, was utterly, fucking whipped, by a girl with whom he'd spent two nights. That was good-going, even for him. I wasn't jealous. Not at all.

Grr. The lucky fucker.

After I had changed into jeans, and a hooded sweatshirt, Jazz and I caught up for a few minutes, and were about to head back to Alice's when I got a text from my brother.

"Important text?"

"It's just Emmett. He and Rose are coming round later if you're interested?"

"Maybe. I think Alice may have plans."

We started walking back, but I dawdled, unable to walk and text. I told Jazz to go on ahead without me as I finished sending a reply to Emmett. Carlisle then texted me as well, and I ended up inviting him round to hang out with us as well, before quickening my step to get to Alice's.

-cc-

Next post will be on Saturday. It may be a double post too, depending on how busy my Sunday's going to be.

Thank you for reading and being patient. The ExB meet is imminent!

CC xxx