A Wall Between

Chapter 47

Cooper had to admit, his day hadn't been bad so far. His mom had caused some drama, as expected, but other than that, he had been busy chasing kids, dancing in his cool suit, and having a fun time with Abra and Ellie, challenging the bartender to make fun non-alcoholic drinks.

Now it was late afternoon and it was time to move over to the other side of the garden where tables had been set up for dinner. Cooper stopped by the picnic table to pick up Sasha and Mason.

"For you," Cooper said, offering Sasha the little umbrella that had come with one of his drinks.

"Oooh," Sasha said, immediately opening and closing it as soon as Cooper handed it to him. "This is very cool. Thank you."

Ellie and Abra walked ahead of them, arm in arm. They were just having a nice day. Everything always seemed so much simpler in their world. They just went out and had a good time and then they went home and that was all there was to it.

Cooper envied them, but mostly he was just happy for them. It was nice that they got to have that. Even though Cooper's own day had also been a relatively good one, he could never be at peace like they were most of the time. Neither could Sasha, though in a somewhat different way.

There was beauty in that too, though. A sort of special closeness that came only from two people who desperately needed kindness and understanding finding that in one another. It wasn't necessarily better or worse than any other kind of love, but it was theirs and it made Cooper's heart feel all soft whenever he thought about it.

There was a glowing lantern set in the middle of the table the five of them sat down at and flowers set out in vases.

Ellie took a deep breath in and let out a contented sigh. "You know, Cooper, we talk a lot of shit about your family, but we've talked to a lot of people today and I liked most of them. I think your parents just give your family a bad rap."

"Well, that and not every member of our family was invited," Mason said. "Logan just wasn't quite brave enough to not invite our parents, so you still got some shit in there."

"We met some of Bianca's coworkers, and they were very nice too," Abra said. "One of them was a farm vet. He had some hilarious stories about horny goats and birthing calves."

"He was also hitting on you, if you didn't notice," Ellie added.

"Oh, I noticed," Abra said. "He may have misinterpreted my interest as reciprocation, but I just wanted more farm stories."

Sasha sat as far back as he could in his seat as he stared down at the complicated place setting in front of him, crowded with cutlery and glasses.

It wasn't as complicated as it seemed. The glasses were for water and wine, and the cutlery was arranged on either side of the centre plate in such a way that you started from the outside and worked your way in as each dish was brought out. Cooper could have explained this and guided Sasha through how to use everything, but honestly, this whole meal was going to be stressful for Sasha. There were going to be a lot of things he wouldn't want to eat and he'd have to worry about people outside of their little group noticing and questioning him about it.

"Hey, how about we just go and eat our food in the little private garden?" Cooper offered.

Sasha looked down at the place setting again, his expression tensing just from the sight of it. "You don't mind?"

"Nah, of course not," Cooper said. "I just want you to be comfortable."

"Do you want us to come too?" Ellie offered.

Sasha shook his head. "It's okay."

"You guys should stay and enjoy your fancy date," Cooper said. "It's not Sasha's style and I got so much of it growing up that I'm not easily impressed, but I know you guys love this stuff."