A Wall Between

Chapter 34

Today was a day of too many things.

The first of them was a doctor's appointment that his mum took him to in which his doctor prodded his leg and told him that it was healing well and to finish his course of antibiotics, both of which he could have figured out for himself.

Next on the agenda was a few hours of nothing, which was kind of a good thing because he definitely needed a break, but kind of a bad thing because the fact that he had things coming up later in the day turned it into a few hours of waiting.

Cooper had gone over to the new house to get things ready for the move, or at least that was what he'd said. Sasha wasn't exactly sure what things there were to get ready over there, and he suspected Cooper had just wanted to be restless without bothering anyone.

That maybe wasn't ideal for Cooper, but it was also a very temporary problem. Once he had Abra and Ellie around again, they would balance out the more energetic, social side of his needs. Even if he and Cooper did start dating, Sasha wouldn't have to be the person who took care of all of Cooper's needs, would he? He was pretty sure it was okay and maybe even healthy to have more than one person you relied upon.

Sasha wasn't looking forward to going to the furniture store, but he was determined that he would indeed go. He wanted to pick his own bed frame and they didn't have a good online catalogue for him to search through.

When Cooper came back from the new house, he seemed extra needy. He wasn't a grabby or clingy person, which Sasha appreciated, but he had a way of gently snuggling Sasha, of welcoming him into his arms and swaying him back and forth in a way that made it clear he wanted him to stay there.

Sasha's parents came home in the middle of this and, as seemed to be the new protocol, they acted like it wasn't happening and asked if they were ready to go. They didn't seem particularly uncomfortable and they definitely didn't seem upset, but it continued to be funny to Sasha that they still hadn't brought it up.

Abra and Ellie had also arrived and everyone convened outside while they solidified plans and then Abra and Ellie got in the ute and Cooper, Sasha, and Sasha's parents got into Sasha's mum's car and they drove to the furniture shop.

Sasha had thought the only real decision to be made was around bed frames, but when they got to the furniture shop he discovered that there was an entire world of mattresses. He'd kind of just assumed you got one in the right size and then you had a mattress and that was it, but there were so many options.

Abra and Ellie didn't want to spend too much on theirs so they only had a few cheap ones to pick between, but Sasha's parents didn't give him any price restrictions. He tried laying down on the mattresses, but most of them didn't feel that different from one another.

Sasha lay down on a mattress and waved his arms around his head like he was making snow angels. "Cooper?"

Cooper sat down on the edge of the mattress and bounced on it. "Yeah?"

"What is best mattress?"

"That's a question for the ages, isn't it?"

"The most expensive mattresses cost like ten times as much as the cheapest ones. What are their secrets?"

Cooper contemplated the question. "...Springiness?"

"Hm. It might be springiness."

Abra and Ellie had already selected and paid for their mattress and then left to load it onto the ute so they could take it back to the house. They would come back for Sasha's purchases.