Closed Stray Cats

[Lexy Fletcher]

Lexy was doing business as usual now that Seraphiel was back in school. Dressed in a Yellow long sleeved top and jeans, with rain boots to match she often stuck out in bleak street like a sore thumb, but she could defend herself and that was what mattered. Her braids thunked her back gently as she walked, she needed a hair cut soon. All her thoughts of what she needed to do before summer break were halted though when she spotted someone familiar - being absolutely bombarded by the cutest little mews she'd ever heard. He was standing there being begged for love and affection by at least ten different stray cats. Her hand fled to her mouth to cover the small chuckle she nearly let loose.

She watched for a moment before approaching. "So if I were an animagus would you smile at me like that too?" She asked softly, grinning at him.

 

[Lawrence Irvine]

Lawrence was, for the most part, smart enough not to hang around in Bleak Street any longer than was needed to finish a job. Then again, for the most part, he wasn’t surrounded by almost a dozen cats, each of whom was fighting for his affection. He wasn’t even sure where they’d all come from; one moment he’d been gliding past Borgin and Burke’s, the next he was crouched amongst a ring of feline friends.

“I don’t have room… I can’t… you’ve got to go…” he was saying, but he couldn’t bring himself to step over them. In truth, he was rather enjoying the attention, and since the feeling seemed to be mutual he saw no reason to hurry.

Until he heard that voice.

Of course Lexy would be here. Lawrence stood up, but the cats continued to nuzzle at his ankles. One of them had both front paws on the toe of his boot. After a moment the smile came back, albeit accompanied by a blush. “Oh, I’m sorry, you’re too late,” he said, gesturing downward. “I’m taken.”

 

[Lexy Fletcher]

Lexy gave a snort laugh at his banter, but didn't ignore the blush on his cheeks. She didn't think she'd ever find someone cute doing that again after Gabriel - thinking he'd soured romance for her for the rest of her life. She approached, leaning down to pet a few kitties as well before standing up and speaking bluntly. "So that's why you've been avoiding me, got someone special. Well someone's." She said in a joking tone. However she meant to call him out on his avoiding her in general and she was sure that point was gotten across at the minimum. "How have you been?" She asked him, trying to keep the conversation going.

 

[Lawrence Irvine]

“I wasn’t avoiding you,” Lawrence said quickly. Perhaps a little too quickly - but he was telling the truth. “I had a thing in London. I’ve been there for months.” And a miserable three months it had been, too. He was supposed to get eight grand for that job, but he’d been stitched up and had to walk away empty handed. It stung, but he’d known the risks. And he was still alive.

“Good. Good,” he said. Pause. “Do you ever just want to, you know, get a normal job? Adopt a cat? Maybe ten cats?” A pretty ginger one was about to climb up his leg if he didn’t pet it, so he bent down to scratch its head. “Maybe not the normal job part. Just the cats.”

 

[Lexy Fletcher]

Lexy raised an eyebrow at him quickly defending that he hadn't been avoiding her. She didn't quite believe that though. He had a good excuse though. "London? Must have been an interesting few months. Hope you got something out of it." She said, unaware that he hadn't.

He talks about doing normal things and adopting cats and she laughed genuinely at what he was saying. She hadn't laughed like that in a while. "I actually have a cat, but he goes to school with my son." She offered information to him that would probably be shocking, but she hadn't really had a chance to get to know him or him her, and if he was going to be busy having a crush on her he should know. And she was sure he had a crush on her.

 

[Lawrence Irvine]

“Just a bruised ego,” Lawrence admitted, still smiling. In a way, he was pleased the job hadn’t worked out. Something about the entire scheme had made him uneasy. Walking away might have saved him a huge amount of trouble. He’d never know for sure, but he liked to think so - it made him feel better about his bank balance.

“Sounds like you need another one. Another cat,” Lawrence clarified quickly. He had already figured out that Lexy must have a child from the comments she’d dropped, intentionally or not, into their previous conversations, so he was unsurprised to hear it confirmed. “Take your pick.”

 

[Lexy Fletcher]

Though she kept smiling along with him the feeling in the pit of her stomach nagged her. She let her smile fall to a more neutral expression before speaking. "So what gives." She said, giving a small pause before explaining. "We go out to dinner for a wand sales and you act like we're strangers. But months pass and we can just pick up like this?" She was pointed, sure to make her point clear. "Are you going to ask me on another date or did I blow the first one?" She finally said. The implication was of course that she wanted him to ask her on a date, but she was of course going to let him have the free will to say no and tell her to get lost.

 

[Lawrence Irvine]

If it had been up to Lawrence, he’d have pretended the dinner date had never even happened. Not because he hadn’t enjoyed it, but because he hadn’t had a clue how to act and came across with all the charisma of a plank. He stopping petting the cat. “Sorry, did you blow the first date?” he said, wondering if he’d misheard. Lexy couldn’t possibly think she was the one who’d screwed up, could she? “Wait, I thought we said it wasn’t a date. Was it a date?”

 

[Lexy Fletcher]

Lexy waited for him to answer and wasn't expecting his shock at her assuming she had blown their date. She nodded at his question, but then he posed a better one. "I don't know, I didn't think it was a date but then you were acting so weird I thought maybe you did think it was a date. And i didn't hate the idea of it being a date so yeah, it was a date." She finalized. "No are you going to ask me on another ever or would you like to live alone with ten cats?"

 

[Lawrence Irvine]

Lawrence hesitated. He liked to act as if he always had everything under control - as if nothing could phase him - but the truth was, he was pathetic. Lexy had seen a more vulnerable side of him that night over dinner, but she’d only scratched the surface. Would she still like him if she knew that, after he’d gone home, he’d been so distraught he hadn’t left his flat for two days? Would she still like him if she knew he was such a coward he’d let a man die?

“I’m not who you think I am, Lexy,” he said at last. The cats were losing interest and had begun to wander off. “It wouldn’t work. You wouldn’t like the real me. Even I don’t like the real me, so.” He glanced at her. “It wasn’t you.”

 

[Lexy Fletcher]

Lexy was surprised by his answe and scoffed a little. "It's not you it's me." She replied, a tone of perhaps sadness to her voice. She licked at her chapped lips, looking down for a second before looking back up. "Do you always try to decide others options for them, Lawrence?" She asked boldly. After all, wasn't it her right to decide if she liked him. "And what's the harm if we try? I mean we aren't ruddy teens anymore we can be adults about feelings." She said.

 

[Lawrence Irvine]

Lawrence knew it was corny, but it was true. He tried his best to hold her gaze. “I’m not deciding for you,” he lied, gently. “I’m just saying, you don’t know what you’re getting into. This-” he gestured broadly to himself, as if he were about to make a point, but then he only shook his head. “We should meet somewhere. Away from here.” How far? How far did he need to go to shake off the feeling of being watched? “Come to England with me. Just for one day. No-one’s looking for me there. Not up north, anyway. We can just be us - no pretending.” He was offering Lexy something he hadn’t offered anyone else before. If she didn’t take it… he wasn’t sure when he’d bother to try again.

 

[Lexy Fletcher]

Lawrence's gentle lies fell on deaf ears. Lexy actually considered just walking away if he were going to continue to push that she shouldn't do something. But then he didn't. Instead he invited her for a one day get away. It was a silly notion, why not a whole weekend and make a trip out of it. Was he so convinced that after one day she'd lose interest? "I mean this is literally what I'm always like so if you like this you'll love spending a whole day with me." She said laughing wryly. "Fine, one day. Let's do it." She said with a finalized nod. "Gotta be before summer hits though, I'm not ready for Sera to know I like boys."