A Wall Between

Chapter 29

On his way into his job for the day, Cooper got a call from Ellie and Abra and they made arrangements to meet up and have a picnic style dinner in the local park. Cooper even remembered he'd agreed to go back to see George and Joy that afternoon and scheduled around it.

There was something that felt inherently chaotic to having a full schedule for the day that he needed to stick to. Cooper was pretty sure he could manage it, but it felt like he'd set up a teetering stack of boxes that he had to be constantly wary of. Remembering everything was a task in itself.

It wasn't the best day's work. They had him doing data entry, which he hated. It always started out okay, and then about an hour in he'd burn out and get fidgety and distracted. It was like school all over again, only even more boring.

The agency they got temp work through was supposed to consider their strengths and weaknesses and send them to jobs that suited them, but sometimes it felt like they were just expected to take what they were given and deal with it. That just seemed inefficient to Cooper. Abra would have done a way better job of something like this and Cooper felt he was a better match for some of the physical jobs they sometimes tossed to Abra.

He was very glad when his hours were finally up and it was time to go home. No, wait, not home. For multiple reasons, not home. Right now, it was time to go and see George and Joy.

It came as a welcome relief to take Piper out for another quick run, to be moving. When he got back, he got started on mowing the lawns.

He did end up getting a bit carried away and mowed the front lawns of the surrounding few houses as well, but he doubted anyone would mind. Well, except maybe his friends, because when he checked the time he realised he was already a half hour late for dinner. George and Joy let him take a quick shower at their house and then he headed off to meet up with Ellie and Abra.

There were perfectly serviceable picnic tables in the park, but Ellie and Abra had brought an old blanket to lay out on the grass to complete the picnic aesthetic. Abra had made stir fry, which he'd brought in plastic containers for them to share. It was still a little warm.

"So," Ellie said as they started eating. "How's life been?"

Cooper thought for a moment, then shrugged. "I'm constantly flipping between feeling like life is terrible and amazing. No inbetween, though."

"Are you stressed?" Abra asked.

"Oh," Cooper said. "Yeah. A bit, I think. That makes sense."

"I've been looking at jobs," Abra said. "And places to live. Both are tricky on short notice."

Cooper stirred his food around, but he didn't take another bite. "I could stay with Mason for a while if that would help."

"I'm not sure that it would. With the way we live, a place for two can just as easily be a place for three. Well, once we find somewhere new, anyway. I'm hoping it won't be too long. We're not even supposed to have the two of us there, really."

"I earnt a bit of extra money from the odd jobs I did today," Cooper said. "Honestly, hour for hour it's probably better pay than most of what we do. And they feed me cake."

Ellie shook her head. "They're spoiling our boy with desserts."

"They offered me dinner, too, but I unfortunately had to decline because I had other plans."

"How's Sasha doing?" Abra asked.

"Okay, I think? Tired, but... yeah. He's okay. I think he's starting to trust me more, so hopefully it's a little easier on him to have me around even when he's stressed than it used to be."