Chapter Seventeen: New Neighbors:

-Downtown Tokyo-

Meanwhile, Lucy and Jared just got new neighbors. The goth wife was peeking out the front door one Saturday morning.

“Babe, look!” she said.

“What is it?” Jared asked from the living room.

“Come look!”

Her husband came up behind her, peeking out. Next door, two men were moving in. One looked like a Japanese bouncer with his tone muscles and torn jeans. The black Dir en Grey t-shirt and silver hoop earring gave off a commanding bad boy appearance. The man looked more like a woman. Lucy tilted her head.

“Think she’s his girlfriend?” she asked.

“She looks too dudely,” Jared said, narrowing his eyes. Lucy turned her head.

“So you’re saying it’s a guy?” she asked.

“Don’t know,” her husband said.

“Want to go see?”

He put his arm around her shoulders. “Let’s do that.” The couple walked over to the apartment next door.

---------

Tai had just unlocked the door to the new apartment when someone tugged on his shirt.

“What?” he asked.

“New neighbors,” Lenard whispered. His roommate turned and spotted Lucy and Jared walking towards them.

“Hey ya!” Lucy shouted. Tai gave her a puzzled looked as he waved.

“Hi…” he mumbled.

“We live next door,” she told him. “I’m Lucy and this is my husband, Jared.”

“Yo,” Jared replied.

“Okay… Well, I’m Tai and this is my roommate, Lenard,” he said. Lenard slowly put up his hand to wave.

“Don’t mind him,” Tai said. “He’s a bit shy at times.”

“I see,” Lucy said. “So when did you get here?”

“This morning,” he answered. The whole time, Jared kept his eyes on Lenard. The skinny blond had hips like a woman, but almost flat-chested. He had to come out and say something.

“Are you two together?” he asked.

“Huh?” Tai asked, big-eyed.

“You know, are you…?” Jared asked again.

“No, no!” Lenard shouted. “We’re not dating! We’re just roommates!”

“Oh!” Jared said.

“Right,” Lucy cut in. “Have you eaten yet?”

“No,” Lenard answered.

“Nice. Why not stop by our place for breakfast?” she offered. The men shifted their eyes back and forth.

“We won’t bite,” Jared said with a grin. Tai dropped his shoulders.

“Sure,” he said. “You are the first people we’ve met so far. It couldn’t hurt, right?” Lenard looked up rather nervous. Tai patted him on the arm as if to comfort here. The men followed the couple into their apartment next door. As they walked, Lucy had the sudden urge to play cupid with her new neighbors. First, she needed a little background on the potential lovers.