string bean | wilbur soot

19

"We're back!" I shouted as we walked inside. "If you aren't awake, you better be now or else I'm gonna eat your food!"

Travis's head popped in through the doorway. "Food?" he asked.

"Yes, sir. Get your butts in the living room, losers," I said. Carson chuckled at what I said as he slipped his shoes off. He waited for me to do the same and followed me into the living room.

"Cooper!" I exclaimed when I walked in. It didn't occur to me until now that I hadn't actually met Coop in person. I guess I didn't know he lived so close. I went over to him, placing the McDonald's bag on the table Noah was currently using as a footrest and gave him a hug.

"Wait, hugs? Where's mine?" Travis pouted. I laughed and gave him one too before sitting down next to him.

"So," Carson said, "Vee is gonna start streaming. I told her we'd help. Well, I said I would, but now this is a we thing, okay?"

Noah reached into the paper sack, pulling out a McMuffin. "Alright. When are we doing this?"

"We should do it right now! McDonald's mukbang! That can be her first stream. People can get to know her but she won't be on her own," Travis suggested.

I thought about it for a moment. "I guess that could work. It'll be like ripping off a band-aid; fast but painful."

"Painful?" Cooper asked.

"Coop. I'm awkward as fuck. Yes, painful."

We all talked a bit more before I handed my phone over to Carson so he could set things up for me. I trusted him enough for that. I smacked Travis each time he tried to eat something so we had food left for our "mukbang." 

When we got everything set up, each of the guys tweeted something about the stream so that people would know about it. Apparently Carson did on my Twitter, too. It wasn't long before the stream filled up with people. That's when I started regretting all my life decisions. Why did I agree to this? What am I supposed to do? Why do I look like that? People are gonna hate me.

I stayed quiet for the first few minutes, letting the guys do most of the talking. That was until I got my first donation.

A robotic voice spoke from my phone, saying: "Vee, don't look so nervous. They already love you. Wilbur."

I smiled softly to myself, looking down at the food in my hands. I took a deep breath in and out and started opening up, answering questions and stuff from chat, who I already loved.

Carson's phone started ringing and we all looked at him. "Who is it?" Noah asked.

"Kate," he replied, answering it and putting it on speaker. I gave Cooper a confused look, but he just mouthed that he'd explain later. 

"You wanna know what's trending right now when you look up your name on Twitter?" Kate's voice asked through Carson's phone.

He chuckled, "I'm guessing it's nothing good. What is it?"

"Your people are freaking out over you hanging out with a girl wearing your clothes," she laughed. I got quiet. That would be me. How would they know that these are Carson's? Kate continued, "Apparently you spilled something on one of your white tees on stream and some of your crazy fans remembered and tied it back to her shirt from a picture of you and her with a fan. Isn't that sad? It's like you can't even have a life anymore without people freaking out."

Carson laughed quietly, shaking his head. "They forget that we're people and not characters sometimes, unfortunately. Yeah, it's my shirt. She stayed with us last night after going on a not so good blind date and she didn't have anything else with her so I let her borrow mine. It's nothing more than that," he explained more to chat than to Kate.

"Yeah," I added on, "Carson and I are friends. I'm not seeing anyone right now. Well..."

I remembered the conversation I had with Wilbur about an hour or two ago. June's kind of a ways from now. Until then, what did that make us? Just friends? Partners?

"Well, what?" Travis asked, his eyes full of curiosity.

"Um. I have a date in June, I guess," I shrugged. "I don't know if he and I are like a thing though. He kinda lives... a ways away, we'll say. We talk a lot though and he's really sweet."

"Please tell me he's nothing like the guy from last night and we don't have to get into a fight again," Carson said. His phone was put away. He must've stopped talking to Kate when I wasn't paying attention.

I chuckled. "I don't think you have to worry about that again. You guys will be with us for most of it anyway. We're going to VidCon together."

"Wait, are you serious?" Carson asked. I nodded. "Oh my gosh- That's why you were excited about VidCon when I woke up! It's him, isn't it? That simp," he laughed.

The other guys looked confused. "Is it who I think it is?" Cooper asked.

"Definitely," Carson said. 

Cooper laughed, "VidCon is such a long time from now!"

"Who is it?!" Travis asked.

Noah looked at the chat. "How does Schlatt know?"

"I didn't tell Schlatt," I said. 

Caron's phone started ringing again. He answered it and gave me a look. "Hello, simp of the year... Oh, you wanna talk to Vee?... Why didn't you call her?... Oh, yeah, I forgot about the stream. Well, alright. Vee, it's for you," he said, handing me his phone. 

I looked at the caller ID just to be sure I knew who it was. I was right. It was Wilbur.