string bean | wilbur soot

27

I drove over to Carson's house to pick up Wilbur. He decided that he had to go there before our date and refused to let me come with him. He said I'd figure it out later. It was currently 6 o'clock; the time Wilbur told me to pick him up at. When I got there, he was sitting on the curb waiting for me dressed in a suit that looked a little small on him.

I stopped my car right next to him. He got up from the ground, brushing the dirt off of his pants before sitting in my car. He looked at me. "Wow. You look... You look great, Vee," he smiled, putting his seat belt on.

I smiled. Elena insisted on doing my hair and makeup again, just like the last time I had a date. My olive green dress reached around my ankles but there was a slit that reached about my knee. "You too. Where'd you get the suit?" I asked him, starting to drive again.

"It's Carson's. I'm taller and skinner than him, so it's not a perfect fit, but it works," he chuckled. "You grabbed my guitar right?"

I nodded, "Yeah, it's in the trunk. Why do you need it?" I asked him as he fumbled with the buttons on the radio, trying to find a station that actually came in, probably. 

"Okay, here's the plan," he smiled, sitting up in his seat a bit (which wasn't ideal for him considering his height). "After dinner, which is where we're going right now, we're going to this little place my buddy Techno recommended. I might play a song for you there. He says the place is really only fun for about 15 minutes, so when we're done there, we can get ice cream and head to a beach and we can sit there in the dark and it'll be awesome."

"You thought about this a lot, didn't you?"

"Yes, I did. I wanted to make sure it was perfect," he said. I smiled, grateful for the boy to my right. He decided to finally give up on the radio and checked to see what CD I had in. I didn't even know honestly; I normally use my AUX cord. It was a Cavetown album. "You're such a softie," he chuckled at my choice.

I scoffed at him. "Hey, that's been in here since I got the car. I use my AUX, which you can use right now if you want." His eyes lit up and he grabbed his phone from his- well, Carson's- pocket. In just a few seconds a song I was unfamiliar with came through my speakers. I'd never heard the song, but I knew that the artist was someone I've heard before. 

"Who sings this?" I asked. He just shrugged, sitting back and enjoying my confusion and frustration. I groaned, upset with myself for not being able to figure it out. But then he started singing along.

"I wanna be the guy that you fall asleep on call with. I'll make you forget every guy that came before me-"

"Holy shit! Is this you?" I asked, looking back and forth between him and the road. 

"Took you long enough," he laughed.

"You wrote this?"

He nodded. "I write music sometimes. You didn't know?"

"I knew you could sing and play guitar but I didn't know you made your own stuff! Why didn't you tell me?"

"Figured that Elena would've mentioned it or you would've figured it out," Wilbur shrugged. "It's all on SoundCloud if you ever wanna give my very depressing stuff a listen."  

"Oh, I definitely will."

We listened to the ending of "I'm In Love With An E-Girl" before we walked into the fanciest restaurant I've ever seen. It was ten times fancier than the one whats-his-name brought me to.

The hostess looked up at us with a friendly smile. "Good evening. Do you have a reservation?"

"Oh, um..." I looked at Wilbur, worried. But he just smiled and said:

"Yes, it should be under the name Wilbur."

She typed something on a little tablet thing and looked up at us. "Follow me."

Wilbur and I followed the hostess to a table in the middle of the room, right under a glass chandelier. He really did go all out, but it was amazing. We sat across from each other. There were candles, cloth napkins and holy shit it was so fancy.

"Did your Techno friend recommend this place too? 'Cause damn," I mumbled, looking at the menu as soon as the hostess walked away. 

He chuckled. "No, Carson did. Said his mum told him it's really nice and I agree now that I see the place."

"It's almost too fancy," I laughed. "Like, I feel underdressed for this."

"Vee," he said, grabbing my hand. "You look gorgeous."

"I didn't say I didn't, but thank you."

He laughed, shaking his head and I joined him.