for anglais

Mads
Holy shit, that sounded like more than "a bit of a pickle" to me.
"Messed up shit. So you've got no place to stay?"
Not helping, Mads. But how could I help, I wasn't exactly his family or significant other - although, the government didn't have to know that did they?
"Why don't you come stay with me then? If you want. I've got just about enough space for one your size", I smiled. "I've just got to buy a bit more stuff and we'll be alright."

Josh
Not gonna lie, I was a bit taken aback by that proposition... also the implicaton that I'm short. Yes, I get it. On the other hand, it was really kind of him, we weren't strangers after all. I didn't exactly make friends ever since I came here. Which was about a month ago. It did sound kind of crazy, though... if he was implaying what I thought he was implying...
"So, um... what you're saying is that we should pretend... uhhh... you know?", I tried to articulate while making weird hand gestures. And yes, I was making it weird, I'm aware, thank you.

Mads
I couldn't stop myself from grinning widely when he got all embarrassed.
"Well I don't reckon they'll come checking will they" I laughed. "I'll just send them a letter or something, saying you're the love of my life."

Josh
"That'll do for sure", I replied, letting out a nervous chuckle. It's difficult, okay? But the whole idea doesn't sound that stupid. "I mean... I can just say that and tell them you live alone and give them the address. Because that's kind of required from us. It could actually work, I think. And as you said, they probably won't come over to check..." My heart kind of dropped at the thought of that. I couldn't let my mind take this thought any further, though. "So... I'd say it's a deal? If you don't mind? It's worth a try, I'd say." I smiled widely. It did sound fun, having a roommate and all.

Mads
"Yeah, let's go... Oh actually nevermind, I came here to grab a few things... Do you wanna get your stuff in the meantime and I'll wait for you here when I come out?"

"Right, over here!"
Only a short while after we had arrived on my doorstep, each with a bag of his stuff in hand. I scrambled up my keys and after unlocking it, swung the door wide open.
"Voila, my palace" I proclaimed, letting josh make his way into the narrow entry space first.
"It's not much but, you know, better than nothing. I've even got a lbout a square meter of garden back there." I grinned and pointed at the shabby back door.
"I'll put these in the fridge, tidy up a bit... The remote's over there, bathroom is upstairs to the right - make yourself at home!"
And so I dropped his bag on the sofa, the orange juice in the fridge, and started collecting all the shit that was lying around as a result of me living alone.

Josh
Mads' place was... small. Pretty small. I think I almost had more space in my dorm room. But it has everything you need for survival, it even had a garden. That's one thing we didn't have at the dorm and I'd be damned if I didn't use it to get my daily dose of Vitamin D. Thinking about all these things, I chose to plop down on the couch next to my bag, setting it on the ground while I was at it.
"Say, how much do you pay for this place? I heard rent is pretty pricey around here", I asked while Mads was clattering around in the fridge.

Mads
"Well, rent's expensive anywhere isn't it? But to answer your question, comes to just over 800 quid a month, counting water and allat. Its a steal for Bristol really, or at least the landlady does a pretty convincing job at making me believe that." I grinned while I grabbed a trash bag and started throwing in empty snack wrappers and pizza boxes.
"Probably a good thing I get some company in here, gives me a reason to clean up" I pondered, looking at an empty beercan I was holding. God knows for how long that's been here, I didn't even buy that brand anymore. Guess it was time to get the new shit on the scenery...
"You want some? I mean a fresh can, obviously."

Josh
"Sure, I like any brand", I replied. Not even a second later I was tossed a can from across the room. "Are you from Bristol? Or did you move here?", I asked to overcome the brief silence.

Mads
"Nah mate, I'm from Thornbury. But I guess you could say I grew up in Bristol, I went to college here, have my lads here... I moved to be closer to the action."
The trash was collected, so all that was left to do was to pick up a few stray laundry items and throw them in the washer. After I completed that task, I grabbed myself a beer too and plopped down next to Josh.
"But what about you? So far I know you're from America, but it's a big country innit? Where you from?"

Josh
"I'm from Florida actually, Jacksonville to be more exact. I know, we all heard of Florida Man before and I can confirm, they do exist in real life. I came here about a month ago to study abroad and we already know the end of that story", I smiled.

Following that Florida Man statement, Mads of course asked me to tell him about my personal experiences with them and so we kept on talking for quite a while, had a few more beers, we must've turned on the TV at some point but I can't remember exactly since I drifted off to sleep at some point.

Mads
A clattering noise from the neighbours startled me awake.
A bit disoriented from waking up outside of my bed, I let my gaze wander across the room and stopped at Josh, whose head was leaned against my shoulder. We had a good time yesterday, although I didn't remember all of it. I hope he wasn't mad that I essentially fell asleep on his bed.
Carefully, I sat up a little straighter and let his head roll onto the backrest.
"Morning, sleepyhead" I mumbled through a smile and messed up his hair a little more than it was already. With my other hand I summoned my phone from somewhere to take a look at what was going on.
At the very top of the screen, an aggressive looking notification popped up

Govt. Alert!
Due to the current events regarding COVID-19 all businesses excluding grocery and pharmaceutical retail will shut down starting Friday.
We urge all citizens to practice social distancing and refrain from leaving the home for non essential affairs.
Gatherings of five or more people will be pursued with a fee upwards of 250£.

Please respect these security measures and help us protect those in need.
For more information, go here

Great, so starting tomorrow, everything was gonna shut down... It was just perfect that Thursday was my day off work now wasn't it?
"They've finally done it" I informed my new roommate, unsure whether he was awake or not.

Josh
"Done what...?", I asked, my voice breaking from just having been woken up. By a hair ruffling. Interesting. I thought we were only pretending in front of officials asking about our relationship status? Brushing the strange thoughts aside, I sat up and peered into Mads' phone since he was staring at it so intently. "What's going on?" He tilted his phone so I'd be able to get a better look at the message he'd just gotten. I couldn't help but let out an amused huff.
"Called it", I mumbled and reached for my own phone to check if I'd gotten the same message. I realised I couldn't have since I was still using my phone number from the US. I threw the phone aside again and closed my eyes after a lengthy yawn. "Looks like we picked the right time to move in together, huh?"

Mads
While Josh fell back into the sofa, I forced myself to get up and walk over to the fridge to start the day with some orange juice. I could definitely need some hydration after last night.
"Yeah, so it seems" I sighed, "but I wouldn't be mad about another workday to be perfectly honest, I'm off today" I admitted while pouring us both a glass.
"There ya go." I changed back to my usual cheery tone as I sat down next to him again.
"Sorry I fell asleep in your bed tonight, I hope that's not moving too fast for you" I joked while putting my feet up on the wooden pallette I was using as a side table.

Josh
"You know, that actually goes against my abstinence oath, I'm gonna have to call the police on you now", I replied, taking my glass from the table. I've started to accept Mads' almost constant flirty remarks as a personality trait. To be fair, I had no idea if he was like that with his friends as well, on the other hand, I didn't wanna know for some reason.
"To be fair, my 'bed' is not exactly my property around here. So I'll be only calling the police for sexual harrassment, not theft", I said while grinning. I'm at least getting better at turning his remarks over. Kind of.
My gaze shifted back to my phone. 10:39 AM. "So are we gonna get breakfast or what?"

Mads
"Splendid, no jailtime for me then" I laughed, then I looked at the clock after he shifted my attention to the time. He was right, it was about time we got some solids in our stomach.
"Are you implying we shall savour this our last day of freedom outside of these four humble walls? Or do you just wanna run to the shops together to get some bread cause I ain't got any in the house, totally slipped my mind yesterday. I could fry us some eggs though."

Josh
We ended up spending the rest of the day outside after all, along with what probably were thousands of people in the area who likely had the same plans. Or they were panic shopping, of course. Either way, we spent a great and unusually sunny last day in freedom together, but the night slowly started to creep up on us. To be honest, I kind of didn't want the day to be over just yet. I wondered if Mads was sharing my thoughts.
"I kinda don't feel like going home yet, but we gotta go at some point, huh?", I broke our comfortable silence with a disappointed undertone.

Mads
The day was slowly coming to an end and the streets were finally clearing of all the other people who were enjoying their last breath if fresh air.
As the sky started to become a dull white-blue colour, I started thinking - if Josh didn't have anywhere else to go, he probably didn't have any friends from here, right? So wouldn't it only be logical to get up to some Great British Mischief tonight, as long as we still could?
Just as I was juggling with the thought of proposing a night out, Josh seemed to read my mind and expressed that he didn't want to go back yet. I smiled.
"Well, we've still got a shit ton of beer and a bottle of Whiskey in this thing", I tapped my backpack, "so what do you say, we hit the streets and get intoxicated? You've gotta experience a proper English night out before we lock ourselves in."

Josh
Right, Mads did run off to somewhere while I was running another errand earlier. So that's where he'd been. My surprised face quickly turned into a big grin, only to fall apart seconds later. "But where do you think of going? It wouldn't exactly be a great idea to go sit in a crowded pub now, no? Or overcrowded, even", I said while glancing in the direction of the pub we were just passing.

Mads
"When I say the streets, I mean the streets", I made a sweeping gesture at the nearly empty one lane street ahead of us, "Bristol is our Pub tonight. We just gotta see that we find our way back before midnight, wouldn't want the men in boots to come pick us up would we now?"
I wondered if they were really gonna start patrolling the streets to see if people were still linking up outside. Maybe we should have written that thing to Josh's Uni before we went out, technically we weren't exactly registered as living together.
But like I just said, as long as we made it back in time it wouldn't be a problem, and we still had plenty time.

Josh
It somehow completely slipped my mind that you were allowed to drink in public in the UK. Of course. Why'd I ask such a dumb question again? But I felt all giddy being able to spend the night out literally out.
"Alright, Cinderella, let's hit the streets then! I'll be sure to bring you home before midnight", I giggled. Being with Mads was just... fun, it was fun all the time. And I really appreciated his company. To think I wanted to spend quarantine cooped up in my dorm room all by myself...

Mads
After I insisted we start the night out by chugging a beer which went over quite successfully, things got fun pretty quickly.
We walked down the street rambling, with no idea where we were going, I convinced Josh to climb some fire exit ladder with me which led to us finding a cool spot - which we had to leave after getting in a round of Uno (the drinking game) because, as Josh had presumed, the owner of the building found us and shood us away, and we kept walking and talking and drinking for a while.
After approximately three beers, about half of the whiskey bottle and god knows how much time, my phone rang.
I took the call without looking and immediately became victim of the pleasure of having James scream my ear off.
"Maadsss mate what are you doing?"
He was clearly already another kind of drunk, which didn't surprise me per se, but the music in the background made me suspect there was a reason to his state.
"I'm at uuuh...", I looked around for a street sign, "Barlington Road it appears, with a new mate of mine, Josh. What about you man, sounds like a party in the back there."
"Oh you can hear the music?"
"Yeah I can hear it alright" I said quietly to myself and Josh while James screamed at someone else for a second. His mic was overriding so hard, the noise could probably be heard by the old couple on the other side of the street who were shooting us some looks of disapproval.
"You gotta come man, Alby is hosting, the last get together with the lads before the apocalypse. You can bring that mate of yours too, Mini is coming over in a minute too."
"Mini... That idiot can't get enough of her eh?"
"Well he's gonna have to now"
I don't know how he did it, laughing and screaming at the same time.
"Right. Listen bruv I've no idea where the fuck we're at right now, so I'll try to find a way over to you yeah?"
"Alright mate see you in a bit-"
Before I could return his sincere farewell, the call had already ended.
"Tosser"
I let my phone slip back into my pocket and turned to Josh. At some point during the call we had stopped walking, I think it was when it became clear that we were gonna have to find out where we were even.
"Alright then, I think you heard him. You ready to meet the lads?"

Josh
I nodded excitedly. "Sure!" I was still curious about his friends and by this point I was already tipsy enough to not feel too awkward about meeting a bunch of strangers anymore.
After what felt like an eternity of seemingly aimless walking and having to go back and forth constantly (it didn't seem like Mads knew exactly where we were going either), we managed to arrive our destination. Or more like in front of it. We still had a short wall to climb over - which was easier said than done while tipsy - before we, or Mads, was greeted overwhelmingly by this buff guy. Seemed like the owner of the house.
"And you are?", he wanted to know the second I got into his line of sight. "Josh, nice to meet you", I replied, going into a quick handshake at the same time.

Mads
"Right everyone shut up for a second please!" I tried to calm the bunch of then down, which was successful to a moderate degree. But it was calm enough for me to introduce everyone.
"Everybody this is Josh, I know him from the grocery store - Josh, this is Alby, he's our host tonight, this is Pidge and this is James, you've already witnessed his angelic voice."
"Alright, welcome to the shed Josh" Alby grinned and gave way to the door. Seconds later Josh disappeared in a pile of flesh and clothes as James and Pidge didn't shy back from greeting him like he had always been one of us.
"And your parents are fine with this?" I asked Alby while the pile pulled us all inside, but I didn't really get an answer, he just shrugged and smiled the Alby smile.
"So, Joaash" James started to interrogate him, "You're from the Americas eh? What are you doing in this shithole of a country then?"
"What you think the States are doing better? No offense" Pidge interjected.
"Ah mate come on, we're not here to have political discussions. I'm just trying to make conversation, something you don't know a lot about."
"Piss off"
James just blew a kiss at him as an answer, and a bat of an eye later they were play-fighting like two puppies. In the meantime, I climbed over the back of the sofa to sit down next to Josh. Couldn't leave him alone with these idiots.
Alby then decided to actually pick up that conversation James had been talking about.
"But really though, tell us - what brings you here?"

Josh
I laughed at the little fight Mads' friends had just started without me having said anything to them. Having Mads sit down next to me already made this "interview" much easier.
"Oh, you know, I'm a professional grocery store examiner so I travel a lot to keep standards in check everywhere. And then I met Mads and decided I'd stay in this city for life. We got married last week, actually." I chuckled. "I came here for my abroad semester, actually. I didn't feel like going to the Philippines because my family is a bit too much but I also didn't wanna go to a country where I didn't really know the language. And my parents were pushing me towards cities with a big 'community'", I gestured air quotation marks, "so I ended up here, I guess." I paused for a second. "Also", I gazed in the direction of the playfight, "no offense taken, the States really aren't all that."

Mads
"Ah, young love" Alby went along with the joke. Pidge and James ended their little quarrel when attention was brought back to them, Pidge finishing off James with a slap to the back of his head.
"Ah, we've got ourselves a Uni student. Alby, finally someone for you to banter with!" the latter remarked unphased. "And what are you studying?"
While they were calming down a little and getting to know each other, I left my seat at Joshs side to go to the back of the room where a table was quite adequately decked out with all sorts of alcoholic beverages. I had to chuckle at the beer choice.
"Alby you dickhead, did you really buy Corona?" I shouted back at him over the music and the chatter of the others. Alby laughed. "Nah mate, you're just seeing things. Get you some glasses would you?"
I rolled my eyes. "Pidge brought them along, actually." he then added more sincerely. Alright, sounded like a Pidge thing to do.
"Makes sense" I mumbled while pouring a glass of cheap whiskey and off brand cola. Then, after a short consideration, I turned around to the others.
"Lads, I think it's time for some shots."