Not a Fan (Wilbur Soot)

Aurora

"Sorry, can we go, not here? The acoustics carry your voice so much out here." Rori finally spoke up, returning the eye contact.

Wilbur's face dropped as he realized she was no longer fondly watching the green smoke around him. 

"Oh god, I'm sorry. You mentioned that before. Yes, we can uh, go." Wilbur did his best to soften his voice. The tea had helped a bit, a selfish part of him thankful she had denied the gesture. "The guys are inside, and your apartment probably echoes just as much as the hallway, we could um, go out- I mean, go out as in to go somewhere." He corrected himself instantly. The taunts of Tommy and Toby pressuring him to ask her out flooded his thoughts. 

She continued to stand still in her doorway, not providing much to the conversation as the blank expression on her face remained unwavering. 

"Actually, how about I just give you my number and we can text about it. I probably shouldn't be leaving my apartment when I'm sick anyway. Plus, we're neighbors, we'll probably need to exchange numbers at some point." She offered, looking back up to him. 

Wilbur wished he could mirror her demeaner, calm and composed. He wasn't even the one who was sick, yet he felt like his brain was lacking a filter. 

"Yeah, of course, here." He answered, pulling out his phone. He opened his contacts before handing it to her, accepting her phone that was held out. 

Wilbur wanted to try to lighten the mood, deciding to put in a silly name for himself. He typed out 'tall guy' , 'noisy neighbor' , and 'green' before landing on 'Will-Ber'- a play on how she pronounced his name. 

She handed him his phone back the same time he extended hers. He wondered if she also had the same dilemma of what to put for her contact name. Did she type out '606B' , 'Niki's friend' or, 'that American next door' before landing on- 

"Aurora?" 

"Will Bee?" 

They spoke over each other. Wilbur could hear the fondness in her voice, looking away from his phone to see her smiling at hers. 

"Oh, I was trying to write 'Will-Ber' because of how you pronounce it with your accent. It must've autocorrected." He explained, a rough chuckle leaving his lips. He brought the mug to his mouth, taking another sip. He hoped his voice wasn't too bothersome to her. 

"I see, oh and my name is Aurora, Rori is just a nickname. You can change it, sorry, I wasn't really thinking." Just as she began to laugh, she brought up a hand, primarily covered by her sleeves, to hide her smile. Even with her voice sounding a bit nasally from her stuffed nose, her laugh was just as beautiful. 

"I like Aurora, I like your laugh too." Wilbur heard himself speak before he even realized what he was saying. He looked away the moment her eyes met his, praying she wouldn't resort to feeling uneasy with him again. 

"I like Will Bee, too." She answered. He could see her lowering her hand in his peripheral vision. "Much better nickname than chocolate chip guy." She continued. 

Just hearing the nickname made him laugh a bit more than he was expecting, finally getting the courage to look back to her. Her smile was still on her face, her cheeks and nose still flushed with pink, her eyes shifting between his and the green smoke he knew she saw around him. 

"Well, I'll let you rest. And, um, I will send you a message later." Wilbur finally said, not wanting to keep her from laying down any longer. He still wished he could invite her over, let her rest on real furniture. He could sit and talk in whispers with her for hours. 

"Thanks, hope your throat feels better soon." She waved to him as she started pulling the door closed. He looked at her hand, wondering if it was still cold when her face looked so warm.