A Wall Between

Chapter 7

Cooper lay on Ellie and Abra's bed, reading through Wikipedia articles on his phone. It was date night, and that meant Cooper was home alone. Though the three of them did most things together, going on dates was not one of them.

They always talked about it like they assumed Cooper would enjoy having the place to himself for a few hours, but he just got lonely. He didn't tell them that, though, because he didn't want to be weird or make them feel bad for wanting to have something that was just for the two of them. He had no desire to take that from them.

He was reading about Manx cats. They originated on the Isle of Man and came about through a natural mutation that shortens the tail. It was a dominant gene, so a cat only needed one of them to have a shortened tail, and in fact could only have one because if they had two it would kill them before they were even born. Also, some Manx cats were born with shortened spines which could fuck them up in all kinds of ways.

Sasha needed to know about this. Cooper tossed his phone aside and left his apartment.

He had raised his hand to knock on Sasha's door before he realised what a bad idea this was.

It was after dark. Sasha did not seem like the kind of person to enjoy surprises, and honestly even for Cooper having someone knock on his door at night in this building would have been more concerning than exciting. Not that most of the people who lived here were bad, but most of them had their own things they were dealing with and that could lead to some unpleasant situations.

Cooper walked the few steps back to his own apartment and then stared at the door that he had shut behind himself. They locked automatically when they shut. Cooper did not have his key. He was also not wearing pants, which was another reason knocking on Sasha's door would have been a bad idea.

Well, what now? He couldn't remember where Abra and Ellie had gone for their date, but sometimes they were out quite late. The hallway was cold and Cooper hadn't had dinner yet.

He tried knocking on Brian's door, but there was no answer. Not surprising. He was usually out drinking on Friday nights. And most other nights, honestly.

Cooper sat down against the wall and pulled his legs up against his chest in an attempt to keep himself warm. He considered walking a few doors down and trying Maria, but he thought better of it. She had always been nice to him, but he didn't know her super well and he wasn't wearing pants and her five year old daughter who she had joint custody of was staying with her right now so that probably wouldn't be the best idea.

He was getting really cold, though, and he felt kinda vulnerable just sitting out there, pantsless. He let out a sigh and stood up. He hoped Sasha wouldn't hate him too much for bothering him.