Not a Fan (Wilbur Soot)

Will Bee

Aurora sighed, deciding the note would have to do. She walked quickly out of her apartment, sticking the note to his door, before returning to hers. Aurora heard the elevator bell ring and the familiar clouds of green, maroon, and yellow. She scurried into her apartment, closing the door quickly and quietly behind her.

She was grateful to hear silence soon fall over her, no longer seeing the muddy mess of colors. She made her way into her apartment, gathering the dishes her and Niki had accumulated and bringing them to the sink. Just the strong scent of the soap caused her to sneeze several times. 

"Karma's a bitch." She groaned, grabbing a paper towel to blow her nose. A few knocks on her door stopped her in her tracks. She knew Niki was going to come back, no matter how much she insisted her not to. The lone time Aurora had gotten the flu in university, Niki had missed more classes than her- constantly checking in, bringing soup and crackers, and keeping her company. 

"Niki, I told you I'm fine." Aurora spoke up before even fully opening the door. On the other side stood a half soaked Wilbur, the rain still clinging to his jacket and hair. 

"Oh, hi Wilbur." Aurora finished, trying to hide her surprise. Aurora rubbed her eyes, making sure they were actually seeing him in front of her. She had no idea he would want to talk so soon after she left her note- figuring the conversation would be postponed to morning at the earliest. 

"Hi, Rori." Wilbur finally spoke. His voice was much raspier than normal. His normal fluffy green clouds were much darker and opaque, muddling her vision more than usual because of the way his voice carried through the hallway. 

"Is this about the note? I hope you didn't feel like you needed to.." Rori paused, letting out a sneeze. As if that morning in her pajamas wasn't embarrassing enough, now she was bundled up even more, spreading her germs around. "Sorry, I was saying I hope you didn't feel like you had to come talk to me. I just wanted to apologize." She brought her sleeve to her face, hoping he wouldn't pay any mind to her sniffling. 

"Oh, no, I mean- kind of. I bumped into Niki in the lobby and she said that you were sick. I wanted to check in on you. Then I saw the note when I got home. This morning was.. Not my finest moment." Wilbur spoke, his voice cracking several times. She looked down to the tea he was holding, debating on telling him he should drink some. The cracks in his voice were the brightest in her vision. 

"I didn't mean to pry about your job, I just, I don't know." Aurora wanted to say more, to explain her apology thoroughly. She couldn't, her head beginning to ache from her cold, his voice's almost unrecognizable color, the hallway's acoustics making the clouds take longer to dissipate. 

"Here, chamomile and lemon, hope that's alright." Wilbur spoke as he held out the tea to her. She looked at the mug, befuddled, before looking back up to him, his smile barely visible behind the echo of his voice. 

"You sound like you need it more than I do, Niki brought me a big thermos of tea earlier I'm still working on." Aurora realized her words sounded a bit insensitive. This was the second time she brushed off his generosity. Aurora tried to muster up a light laugh, showing that she was poking fun more than disregarding him, only to have another sneeze follow. 

"Um, so, this morning." Wilbur paused, pulling the tea back to himself. She noticed this was the first time he wasn't making painful eye contact with her. "I'm sorry. I wasn't upset with you, I know it must've sounded that way. There's just some.. Embarrassing stuff I was afraid Tommy or Toby was going to bring up. I mean- I talked about it on a stream, but I guess I thought it would be better to hear it in person. Does that make sense?" He finished, finally taking a sip of the tea he had originally brought for her.