Chapter 3: Neighbour

"Well beautiful, my new collection t-shirt all in the grass! Oh well, maybe it will wash out..." Thought Nick as he shrugged off his white shirt with his favourite player's number on it. After jumping on the grass, the front of the shirt was half green, which was not a very good sign for the new white shirt he had paid several dozen dollars for. On top of that, his favourite lost the race on the last lap! How unfortunate. Fortunately, none of the neighbours were currently in the yard, so perhaps no one but Finnick saw him jump out the window.

It was 4.30 p.m. when Nick decided to go home to make notes for tomorrow's work day. The sky had already turned delicately red, it was a little darker but as he expected it was still hot, if it wasn't for the fact that today he was representing himself in his idol's shirt he would have decided long ago to tan his back a little, in a job like the one he works natural sunshine can be in short supply as apart from going out to present flats to potential buyers he is hidden away in the estate agency office all the time.

As the fox turned behind the wall of Finnick's house he noticed that there were two, large red vans standing by the house that had recently been bought out (the house that was his other neighbour) and most likely containing some sort of goods as they had the sheets of metal open at the back.

"Could it be a move? Shucks suspiciously fast," thought Nick thought thoughtfully. He would have given his head that just yesterday the for sale sign was up, it was impossible that someone had bought a house on such short notice and I want to move here...unless someone really cares. Nick walked through the empty street and saw the sides of the vans, which actually had their purpose written on them.

"Transport/moving" read Nick quietly. Out of curiosity he walked around one of the vans, casting a glance at the flat at the time, the door to the house was locked and there was no one in the van. The situation seemed really strange, especially noting that no one was around.

"Can I help you with something?" A soft, high-pitched female voice rang out from behind Nick, startling Nick badly, who impulsively turned and jumped up gently.

"Yeez!" Shouted Nick turning behind him almost with a jump. He spotted a low, silver and rather petite figure. A low doe with large violet eyes stared curiously at the fox who, seeing his dirty shirt, laughed nervously.

"Please don't scare me, I've had enough excitement for today" said Nick after taking a calming breath.

"I heard some noises from that house, it was you with someone...right?" Asked the girl pointing at Finnick's house. Nick couldn't have felt worse than he did at that moment. He didn't know who the girl was, but he felt stupid when she recognized his voice amongst the screams.

"Ugh...well...yeah, it was me with a friend...and there was a lot you could hear?" Nick asked with embarrassment.

"No, actually no. But I heard some names...Adam and Chris mostly."

"Ah yeah, you know...that's where my mate lives, we watch races like that, we're big fans and everything..."

"I see, it's nice to see someone so committed to their passion...nothing to be ashamed of" replied the woman calmly. Nick felt remarkably relieved within himself. He was surprised by the woman's words, he had never heard anyone accept his and Finnick's cries before. He laughed lightly sending a smile in the rabbit's direction.

"Thank you...not many people say that. You know what, I'll be going now, so have a nice trip and goodbye," Nick said, then began to head for his house.

"Actually, I've finished my journey. I'm just moving in" cried the doe pointing to her new home. Nick was surprised by this news. He had not expected to have a rabbit for a neighbour. He hadn't expected to have a new neighbour.

"Well, then, welcome to your new neighbour. Make yourself at home," Nick replied, then walked into his house.

"Seriously a rabbit wants to move in here? Strange indeed, they don't usually separate from each other" thought Nick once he was inside his house. Never in his career had he encountered a lone rabbit moving in anywhere...after all, she had to be alone if no one was standing by her right?

Having a new neighbour was also puzzling, but seeing her he didn't expect anything out of the ordinary from her, and that was good news, the fox couldn't see from her that she was going to mow the lawn every weekday morning to make his nice morning miserable. The question was how she would be accepted by the neighbours, who could be...mean sometimes.

Before Nick headed to his room to prepare his notes for work, he took another moment to go to the bathroom to throw on his dirty shirt, which, surrounded by grass, had turned from white to a slight greenish-brown.

'I hope it will at least peel off' Nick thought hopefully. It was a shame to ruin such a beautiful snow-white shirt. It may not have been the prettiest, but its value Nick valued in the symbolism rather than the patterns it wore. After throwing the T-shirt into the washing machine, the fox was ready to start updating his notes for tomorrow.

The job of estate agent was certainly not one of the easiest. There were days when Nick could sit quietly in his office all day, secretly watching YouTube when no one was watching, and there were days when clients came to him first thing in the morning asking to see a house that was several kilometres away from where Nick worked. Although he didn't want to fox had to agree, that was his job. It's important that the clients are positive and friendly, then the meeting can be really fun and entertaining, but when the client is quite bitter and mean, the day seems to go on and on and on. In these situations, it's essential to be able to hold your emotions so that you don't explode with anger or pinch yourself so that you don't lose the client. Lis knew how to do this at work, but he was completely unable to do it in his private life.

Nick's notes consisted of several pages of houses for sale that his agency was offering. Each house had a description of the square footage, furnishings, a description of the nearby area, some interesting facts about the house, pictures of the home itself, and a listed price for purchase. Every day, updated information about those houses for sale flew into Nick's work mail. Nick was always transcribing the latest information in the evening, although it wasn't very strenuous work, it always took some time. Sometimes there were several pages of information to transcribe, which was needed for meetings at the houses. The company required this to be nicely organised in a document folder, to look elegantly professional. They rather rejected the idea of everything being done on the phone, it would be a sign of ignorance of the client, which would certainly not be a good point for the agency. That Sunday Nick didn't have much to improve, he only had to correct the price of one of the houses and the size of another house. Apart from that, everything was ready. Nick put the papers into the navy blue folder in which he had been jotting down his notes, then put the item back on the desk. He put his pen in the pen cup, then got up from his chair. He walked to the window, which was next to the house where the new neighbour was to live. He was interested in the new character, after all, maybe it would be a person who would not complain about everything he met. He opened the window and leaned out through it. It was definitely cooler outside now, if he had the time and inclination he would go for a walk now. The refreshing wind strengthened a little, the temperature dropped even more, which made it not so sultry and stuffy anymore. It was perfect for an evening stroll. On the other side of the pavement, he had most likely just spotted Finnick with Suzanne out for a walk.

'Apparently she didn't get into a frenzy like last time...it would be nice to have my other half and take a stroll with her' Nick thought. The longer he looked at the Suzanne and Finnick couple the stronger he began to feel that something was missing. Even though he had money, a job, a house, a car, he still felt unsatisfied, he felt he was missing his other half. Officially, he had never been looking for a girlfriend, but thoughts swirled around in his head to start doing something in that direction after all. Fox then turned his attention to the red vans parked in front of his new neighbour's house. Although no one was there, the fox noticed that the furniture in the vehicles was intact, much of the furniture was already ready in the flat, which made the fox interested in what the rabbit would do with the furniture he was moving. Admittedly he hadn't seen that much of it, it was mainly paintings or furniture like chairs etc, but since she had brought it she must be doing something with it. It was doubtful that she did not know that the house would be equipped with furniture. On closer inspection he did not see a rabbit in the flat. The houses were terraced, so he knew practically the whole layout of the neighbours' houses, and the very window from which he now looked out was the best point for observing the house. It was quite high up and a little far from the next house, so Nick could see what was happening on the ground and ground floor of the house. After observing, Nick closed the window; he was getting a little cold. He went to the bathroom so he could get ready for bed.