A Wall Between

Chapter 22

Cooper was awoken by the sound of the car door opening. He lifted his head and winced as he slowly rotated his neck. As predicted, it hurt.

He frowned as he looked out of the car window. They weren't outside his apartment building. They weren't anywhere he recognised. They were... Cooper wasn't sure. There were large buildings and manicured lawns.

His dad was still in the car. He had already gotten out his phone to catch up on work or organise an affair or whatever the fuck he did on that thing. The car door was still open and Cooper's mum was standing outside, talking on her phone.

Cooper got out of the car.

"Yes, thank you," she was saying. "We'll meet you there in twenty minutes? Fantastic. Thank you."

"What's going on?" Cooper asked as she hung up the phone.

"Well, it's a bit of a surprise!" she said, forcing a smile. He could tell from the look on her face that she was under no illusion that whatever she had planned was something he would like.

He had hoped, at first, that the car had just broken down or something, but he wasn't that naive. Deep down, he'd known from the second he'd opened his eyes and realised he wasn't at home that there was some bullshit afoot. Maybe he should have realised it when his mum had let him end a conversation to take a nap with almost no fuss, hours earlier.

Now, he looked around again, and he began to piece together what was going on. "This is a university, isn't it?"

"Yes, but please, just give it a chance. I've done all the research. You can have your credits transferred from your old university, and it's close enough that you could live at home."

"You mean your home," Cooper said, because this sure wasn't anywhere near where he lived.

"It's the family home, Cooper, but yes. I don't see what's so terrible about that. You don't even have your own room where you're living now, do you? If you lived at home, you would have your own bedroom, your own bathroom, even your own study if you wanted it."

Cooper folded his arms over his chest. "I don't care about having more rooms. I'm happy where I am."

"Well, life is about more than happiness, Cooper. Just... give it a chance. I've arranged a tour. We'll have a look around, have a chat, and if you're still really not interested, we'll drive you back to that awful apartment of yours."

Cooper took a deep breath in, let it out, and turned and started walking away.

"Cooper!?" his mum called out.

"I'm going to the toilet," Cooper shouted back. He hadn't really had any specific plans when he'd started walking, but there was a toilet block up ahead and he could think of no better place to hide from his mother than the men's toilets.

Cooper went inside, shut himself in a stall, and sat down on the toilet with his pants still up.

Had he just been fucking kidnapped? Was he being held hostage? He fucking hated universities. The few months he'd spent at one had been the worst in his life. He still had nightmares about it. To be fair, that had more to do with his parents than the university itself, but his parents were heavily involved in this situation, too, so the distinction didn't really matter. He could not emotionally deal with a tour and then a condescending conversation about his future. He just couldn't.

What the fuck was he going to do?

#

Sasha contemplated his text message history with Cooper. Cooper had told him he would be back before four. It was now after four. Sasha had sent him a few text messages over the last hour, but Cooper had yet to respond.