Not a Fan (Wilbur Soot)

She Knows

Aurora's canvas quickly became a muddled with deep greens, brilliant yellows, and a purple that reminded her of the sound of rain pattering against her window. To anyone else, it was a mess. However, to her, it was life. It was walking on a crowded sidewalk. It was sitting in a coffee shop. It was a congested airport. It was everything. 

The song ended and Aurora hesitated to pull her brush away from the canvas, trying her best to get every last dwindling color down before it disappeared from her vision. The paint was thick in spots where colors had become dense in her vision, which were surely going to take many days to dry completely. 

Looking between her paint covered hands, the left over paint on her palette, and the ever-growing mess of fallout on the plastic around the floor, she wondered if maybe abstract painting wasn't worth the wasted paint after all. She quickly brushed off the feelings of doubt and slight regret, trying to remain proud of herself for stepping out of her comfort zone. 

It wasn't until she took out her headphones and began cleaning that she noticed how quiet it was. For once, even the roads down below that were often filled with honking cars seemed to have taken a break. It felt eerie in a way, like something was off. Aurora wondered if the world felt so quiet because she was just listening to a rather loud song and she just needed to readjust. 

Wait. 

Didn't Niki say that she was going over to Wilbur's apartment to stream with him? 

Although Aurora knew that Wilbur had tried to be more considerate and lower the volume of his voice or instruments for her sake, she could always tell if he, or one of his friends, was streaming. Faint laughs through the walls, loud groans when something must've gone wrong in a game, and bickering that would rise and fall quickly. 

There was none of that. Just, silence. 

Did Wilbur and Niki have a fight? No, that wouldn't make sense. Niki seemed to be in a great mood when she stopped by and surely if they weren't on good terms they wouldn't be streaming together. Maybe they aren't and it's just for the fans? Then again, Niki could've just streamed with him from her own apartment if that was the case. 

Aurora didn't know why she felt so uneasy about the situation. Truthfully, it was none of her business. It was their careers, their lives, and their friendship. She had no right to be sticking her nose into what could possibly be going on. 

Maybe it was the people pleasure inside of her- no doubt from her parents' somewhat messy divorce, but she felt like she couldn't just do nothing. Just one, small, kind gesture couldn't hurt, right? 

Aurora abandoned her disheveled art corner, promising herself she would clean it up before going to bed, and made her way into the kitchen. She had an array of stray pastries and treats that had begun to pile up from the larger than life batches she would bake. She picked out a few cookies, muffins, and scones to bring over to her friend. 

As she pilled the treats for them into a bag, she was already beginning to feel a bit more relaxed with the ongoing silence. Before she knew it, she had a full bag prepped and ready to go. Her body moved so quickly her mind didn't have time to catch up. She found herself standing directly outside Wilbur's door, the 608B copper letters just above her eyeline, her hand frozen in the air. 

Frozen in place because her mind was too focused on the faint pink and green clouds muddling together in her vision- the muffled voices of her friends lingering just past the doorframe. 

Frozen in place because the words she heard exchanged were making her stomach churn and eyes water. 

Frozen in place because they were words she never wanted to be said about her.