A Wall Between

Chapter 33

"Wow, you did make a lot of deals," Cooper said.

"Yeah. People around here are really friendly."

"And also, upper middle class," Cooper said. "The drunk guy who lived next door to us was nice enough, but he was never going to just have a whole, working microwave he wasn't using for some reason. And if he did, he would sell it to buy more booze, not give it to us."

"That sounds about right," Abra said. "Anyway, if everything goes to plan, there's no reason we can't move in tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" Sasha asked.

"I know, it's quick," Abra said. "You don't have to move tomorrow, of course. You can stay here until you're ready. Hell, you don't even have to consider it moving. The house is so close that you can just be wherever you feel comfortable being whenever you feel comfortable being there. Do you want the master bedroom?"

Sasha shook his head. "No, you and Ellie should have that."

"We don't mind."

"It's illogical," Sasha insisted. "There are two bathrooms. If I have the master bedroom, I'll use the bathroom in there and then the rest of the three of you will be sharing the other one. If you two have it, it's two people for each bathroom."

Abra shrugged. "We're used to sharing with Cooper. He's not much of a bathroom hog."

"No. The other two rooms are next to one another, so. Well. I want me and Cooper to have those."

"Ohh," Abra said. "Sure, of course. As long as that's what you actually want, we're happy to take the master."

Sasha nodded. "Cooper, can I have the one on the end, or do you want that one?"

"I'm happy wherever," Cooper said. "I doubt I'll even spend much time in my room when I'm not sleeping anyway. I get lonely."

"I think that's about everything, then," Abra said. "I'll text you tomorrow and we can figure out whatever details there are to figure out, but there's not too much to worry about."

Sasha disagreed with that last part. He had so many worries in his head he didn't even know where to begin. He kept those thoughts to himself, though.

Cooper nodded. "Thanks. And thanks for talking to everyone and sorting everything out. My head's all muddled."

"I'm happy to, just make sure you take care of yourself so you can get back on your feet. Sleep if you can, don't forget to eat, and make sure you exercise."

Cooper nodded, his gaze distant like he was genuinely trying to commit those things to memory. "I didn't go jogging this morning. I'll go this afternoon."

"I think that would be good. Anyway, I'm off now. I'll see you both tomorrow."

They tried to go back to watching videos after Abra had left, but Cooper was wide awake now and he was having trouble sitting still and focusing even on the short animal videos he liked so much. After a while he planted a kiss on Sasha's forehead and left the room. He didn't come back.

That was fine. He was clearly just restless. Sometimes Sasha's brain felt a bit like that, though it mostly just happened inside of his head and made him sad. Being driven towards physical activity when you were already tired sounded exhausting.

When Sasha emerged from his room to get some lunch, he found Cooper wiping down the glass doors that led out onto their back deck. He sent his mum a quizzical look.

Sasha's mum gave a helpless shrug. "He keeps asking for things to do."

Sasha gave Cooper a kiss on the cheek and flashed him a thumbs up as he passed, because he knew Cooper could clean this entire house and then shrug it off like it was nothing when he was sad and feeling useless later. Sasha made a sandwich for himself and a sandwich for Cooper and cut up some apple slices for them both as well. He headed back out into the living room and prodded Cooper with the plate.