string bean | wilbur soot

40

sorry for this being uploaded so late

"Vee! C'mon, wake up! Stop moping around!"

I jumped awake at the sudden shouting in my apartment. It could hardly be heard over Wilbur's cover of 'Acolyte.' I couldn't tell who it was over the sounds of my boyfriend's deep voice and guitar playing. Well, ex-boyfriend, I guess.

It couldn't have been Elena; she left to go hang out with the guy she was seeing. Or that could have been yesterday... I don't know.

The questions were answered when my bedroom door opened and four people walked into my room, turning on my light. It took a minute for my eyes to adjust to the light (and to open at all, for that matter). 

"Jesus, you look like shit."

I looked to the voice that said it; Ted. I paused the YouTube video and sat up to look at him and the others that decided to join him. "What're you guys doing here?" I mumbled.

"We wanted to see how you were doing," Travis said.

"Well, you're looking right at it. I'm not doing good, obviously."

Carson frowned, looking at my greasy, unshowered hair, the used tissues all over my floor, and the bunches of takeout boxes on my nightstand. "When's the last time you showered?" he asked.

"I dunno. The hotel, probably. I don't leave my bed anymore."

Cooper shook his head. "What've you been eating?"

"I order UberEats and Elena brings it to me. Well, when she's here."

"What do you do when she's not here?"

"I don't eat," I shrugged.

This was true. I only ever left my bed to use the restroom. Even then, I didn't have to often. I didn't drink a lot and I spent most of my time crying, so I was pretty dehydrated. 

"Is that his sweater?" Ted pointed at what I was wearing.

"Schlatt didn't take it with him," I looked down at the bright yellow fabric.

"This is pathetic," Carson walked over to me, pulling me out of bed. "Get in the shower. We're taking you out."

I protested for a bit, but I knew they wouldn't just let me stay here all day, so I gave in.

As we were out and about, I noticed that the things that used to make me laugh weren't as funny anymore. Cooper's failed skateboard tricks didn't even get a smile out of me. Travis's random 'Travis noises' as we called it were just noises now. Ted's different voices were just voices. Carson's jokes were just words.

Everything was plain. Nothing was the same without Wilbur in my life.

It was like a raw string bean. But with Wilbur, my life was a cooked string bean. Like one with salt and butter. Not boring compared to the raw one.

Wilbur's a string bean. He's tall and skinny.

God, I make no sense.