“Is it dangerous?” He asked.
I blinked, doing a double take and kind of understanding why it would warrant the question. I relaxed. Okay. He didn’t hate it yet.
“Nah.” I replied,fishing some rusty keys out of my pocket and struggled with the lock until it clicked and the door swung open with a creek.
The inside was only mildly better than the outside. There were five rooms- two bedrooms, a bathroom, kitchen andtinyliving room made up of a sofa and a carpet. Everything was ofmismatched colours- red, grey, brown, yellow, green- and of no impressive size.
I eyed a cookie jar on the kitchen counter, wondering how long it had been there for. I shrugged, going for it and crossing the room in four strides, grabbing one from the jar to bite into anyway. They tasted a little stale, but whatever.
“I would advise against that.” Matthew mumbled.
I flipped him off.“So, what do you think?” I asked with a small laugh “how you imagined it?”
“Not quite.” Matt confessed “could be worse, though. No broken windows or peeling walls.”
“Hmm. Guess so. My sister’s a designer, y’know. You can tell she didn’t help with this.”
Matthew laughed, eyes twinkling.
We settled on the sofa, me bringing the jar of cookies with me.
Matthew stretched himself out, resting his feet in my lap. “So, how come you don’t live with your parents? Because they always put you in a shit mood?”
I winced, adverting my gaze “mostly, yeah. Didn’t feel welcome. Dad was never there, like yesterday, and…mum was having a bit of a bad time, didn’t really appreciate company much. I needed space.”
Matthew snorted “sorry, sorry, but…space is…rich.”
“Metaphorically.” I stuck my tongue out childishly “Ididtry to borrow my dad’s place, but we got into an argument because he wanted me back home looking after my sister and mother in his absence so I told them all to go fuck themselves and moved here.”
“Ah. Classy of you.”
“Wasn’t it?”
We stayed on the couch for a little while longer, making small talk and joking around, finishing cookies, in my case,before Isuggested heading to bed. I was beginning to feel a little funny, truth be told, but didn’t mention it yet.
We made a pit stop to the bathroom to brush our teeth.
I chewed my lip and leant against the sink as Matt did “hey, so, I know I brought you here for a reason.” I murmured, glancing at the other “and that you probably came here for the same reason,but…I’m kinda…not feeling up for sex tonight?”
I held my breath, waiting for him to raise an eyebrow and tell me to head back to Stryker’s and sleep on a much comfier bed, then.
Instead, after a second long pause and with a small shrug, he replied “that’s fine, lovely.”
That was a pet name. I was pretty damn sure that was a pet name that he’d already used once before and it had made me feel all funny and tingly inside.Did we do that? Give each other pet names? I wasn’t capable of it, but him givingmeone was…oddly delightful. It made me feel special.
Matthew didn’t even seem to notice that he’d used it.
“I mean, we still can, I’m just feeling a bit run down.” I continued sheepishly “might not be as good as usual.”
“You don’t have to justify yourself.” He assured me softly, opening his mouth as if to say more but thinking better of it.
“But-“
“No buts. You alright, though?”
"Just think I’m tired ."
Matthew visibly fought back a smile, handing me the toothbrush and moving behind me to squeeze some tension from my shoulders, drawing a little moan from me.
