The Roommate Rulebook

Rule 11

Rule 11 (Not proofread so please ignore any mistakes, I'll fix 'em all later!) Filler chapter to give a bit of a boost to Ash and Alex's friendship.

            Ash shot me a look as I held the door open.

            "Rule 11, no 'I told you so'," Ash grumbled, hobbling through the doorway. I raised an eyebrow and shut the door behind him, following his incredibly slow pace through the passage and into the living room.

            "Of course, you just should've listened to me," I commented, dropping onto the armchair. Dev had taken Ash's bike down to the garage to find out what had happened but Ash had already said what he thought. The brake lines had been cut and when Ash got to the corner, instead of braking and turning, he went into the wall at the end of the alley.

            The night after that seemed to go at 100 miles an hour. Ash, when we got to him, was tangled in the metal of his bike unconscious and the race had to be stopped. I had to give Ryder his due, he either didn't do it, or was a very good actor. He looked shocked to say the least.

            In the end, Ash had woken up by the time the ambulance had arrived but he was woozy and didn't seem to recollect the night's events.

            "That's just another way of saying 'I told you so'," Ash retorted, lowering himself with a grunt onto the sofa.

            "It's abiding to the rule," I said with a shrug. He didn't answer me, just scoffed and looked around for the TV remote. Instead of helping him, I went into the kitchen and made myself a cup of coffee. Dev and I had been at the hospital for the majority of the night. They didn't have time to see Ash straight away and because he wasn't in critical, they took a while to see to his injuries, leaving him to the paramedic.

            He'd been diagnosed with a few bruised ribs, concussion and a sprained ankle but other than that, was free to go home.

            "Can you grab me one while you're there?" Ash shouted out.

            I joined him on the sofa and shot him a look as I passed him the drink. His face was slightly bruised and I did feel a pang of sympathy whenever I looked at him. Pretty much everything he did came with a wince.

            "Are we going to talk about the note, or?" I asked and Ash sighed.

            "What is there to say? Some prat cut my brake line and I'm lucky to be here," he said. I rolled my eyes and resisted the urge to nudge him.