What Goes Around...

Part One

Chapter One

 

Three months earlier

                "Your sister? I didn't even know you had one." Coop stared at his friend and temporary housemate Oscar in bewilderment.

Oscar shrugged, "she's a bloody geek, been in Uni since she could walk. But she says she's hit a rough spot. Needs somewhere to stay. She can't go home, apparently."

Mitchell Cooper looked at his mate as he rolled his eyes, "since when did I become a freaking charity case?"

Oscar laughed, "you LOVE having me live here. Look, since she hit her teens she's been focussed, done everything asked of her. I don't EVER remember her asking me for help. She sounded so lost. And you KNOW what my folks are like. She doesn't want them to know she's in a hole, she wants a little time to get back on her feet, you won't resent her that?"

Coop didn't answer. He loved his own space and time, always had, but in the six months since his old friend had moved into his home he was reluctant to admit that he'd had some fun times.  He had seemed to rattle around the three story converted warehouse without much purpose until his friend had arrived. Now they had a kind of symbiosis living in the open plan home.  And he was right, he'd met his parents a couple of times, and the Wickers were capable of killing someone with love and over attention.

Would he wish that on anyone going through a rough patch? He'd been so grateful for his godfather when he'd been in a hole a few years back. His support and care had been invaluable. And meant he hadn't had to return tail between legs to his parents, who unlike Oscar's didn't give a shit about him. Well not since he'd dropped out of his sport. When he was the perfect jock, the professional hockey player then they loved every inch of him, he could do no wrong. But he'd always known that the moment he lost that, they'd change...he wasn't wrong. Without Uncle Pete he'd have been lost. Everyone needed that port in a storm.

He was never going to deny any one that.

                "Suppose she can have the rooms above the garage for a while, and that's as much as I'll offer.  It's bad enough having your girlfriend wandering around in various states of undress so much of the time, I have no desire to have a woman in HERE, my home, full time." He looked around at the boy's haven that his home was. The large open plan living area was a mass of worn beams and exposed bricks, and housed every boy toy known to man, from the seventy two inch TV that dominated one wall complete with latest model of X-Box to the 1980's space invader machine that didn't just work, but was in immaculate condition next to the full size pool table. This place was the haven he'd always dreamed of. And that never included women...not permanently anyway.

So how come he had first his English friend, then more often than not his girlfriend, and now his fricking sister invading that?

Because he didn't say no. Another trait that had influenced his relationship with his parents. But on the plus side, Oscar Wicker was great company. He kept himself to himself for large parts of the day, and his job took him away for large chunks of time. But he was fun, when the football was on and they had a few beers to share, or when they played a pool marathon, or some sort of Xbox tournament, and he cooked...a bit, which was more than Coop himself did. So he was anything but a nuisance.

                "You sure? I don't want you to think I'm putting on you. You know taking the piss."

Coop laughed at the term, wondering if he'd ever get used to the variation of language from either side of the Atlantic. "You are always doing that, it's my generous streak. But you'll have to clean it up, get it ready for her I haven't used the rooms over the garage, so it'll need some TLC."