The Roommate Rulebook

Rule 19

Rule 19 - As per usual, not proofread, so please ignore any mistakes.

"Where are you off to?" I asked, watching Matt grab his coat. He gave me a curious look and slung it over his shoulder.

"Cash and carry," he said slowly.

Since Ash had told me that Ryder thought Matt was behind the brake cutting malarky, I had been surveying his every move. Dev would've probably backed up my actions if he wasn't still on the fence about Ash and I.

Apparently, Ash disappeared off without Dev knowing where he was going and he didn't find out until we both walked through the door Sunday afternoon. He wasn't happy, and until I assured him that I'd insisted on a pillow barrier, I thought he was going to take Ash's head off.

"Can I come?" I asked and Matt frowned.

"Why?" I scrambled quickly for an answer, unsure of what to say. I was never brilliant at improvisation.

"Because I'm curious as to how this all works. I've also heard that you can buy a box of sixty freddos for only twelve pounds!" I replied and Matt smirked, leaning on the bar.

"You have a shift," he offered, but I shook my head.

"Sid's out back. Come on, Matt," I complained and he chuckled, holding the door open.

"Get in the car," he said, sounding defeated. I grinned and grabbed my denim jacket before following him out.

I hadn't actually intended to go to the cash and carry, which is basically a massive warehouse where shops can buy in cheap merchandise. I'd just planned on trying to find out where he was going. I decided against sending Ash a message as I knew he couldn't improve of my stalking technique.

"I heard what happened to Ry," I replied as casually as possible and Matt nodded, a grimace on his face. He didn't tense or anything, not that I was an expert on spotting liars.

"Yeah, he was alright for the first lap, he flew off the same place as Ash did. They reckon the garage are slacking on the brake tightening," he explained, turning into the cash and carry car park.

The warehouse looked quite small from the outside, but on the inside, there were so many aisles that I had to stay close to Matt for fear of losing him and never finding him again. He picked up some alcohol, some crisps and I picked up my box of freddos. I loved them, but I didn't know what I was going to do with sixty of them.

"I can't believe you actually bought those," Matt remarked on the way out, pushing hard on the trolley to get it over the lumpy pavement.

"I told you I would," I said with a shrug, trying to balance the box on my forearms. It wasn't light. Just as we were unloading the boxes into the car, I heard someone behind us call Matt's name.

"Hey," Matt replied, glancing at me. I would say nervously, but I was racking my brains for Criminal Minds knowledge so could've picked up on anything and said it was a nervous trait. I could mark FBI profiler off my future career list.