shiver | wilbur soot

23

it was their date night. sure, they had both been out on many 'mate dates' and had definitely been accused of being out on a date by passers by, but this was an official first date, something that was going to make those feelings finally have a meaning. although the feelings were not necessarily new as they were hidden deep down, expressing them to one another was definitely fresh and still confusing.

there was no doubt that both of them were nervous for this date, questioning whether having these feelings for one another was a mistake and they would soon find themselves in a mess, wondering what on earth happened to their friendship - only the date could tell.

wilbur had planned the date perfectly and hope was looking forward to it. through being best friends for a while, they already knew one another's likes and dislikes, which only made the idea of a first official date much more exciting.

swiping her lipgloss over her lips and leaning forwards extremely closely to the mirror to take one last glimpse at her appearance, hope heard a knock on her front door. she glanced over at the time and realised it would be wilbur before taking a long, deep breath in and made her way to the door. opening the door wide with an excited grin, she was met with wilbur holding a bunch of flowers and her eyes instantly widened, "are they for me?" she questioned, placing a hand over her heart.

"no, i actually bought them for myself." a smirk tugged itself at his lips as she ushered him inside, "of course these are for you." he laughed softly, delicately handing her the colourful arrangement.

"they're beautiful," she hummed and her eyes focused on the flowers in front of her, the soft, subtle scent wafting under her nose as her finger gently danced over the petals, "thank you so much." hope placed them down on the coffee table, unable to avert her attention from the elegant flowers, until she caught wilbur in the corner of her eye. his hands were tucked into the front pockets of his jeans as he watched hope intently. her eyes followed up and down his body, clad in black jeans, a dark sweatshirt (which was no surprise), but he wore a white shirt underneath which he had buttoned all the way to the top and hope found herself staring for a little too long.

"what?" wilbur questioned with a quizzical expression, his brows furrowed.

"nothing." shaking her head swiftly, she quickly brought her eyes up to his face, noticing how he had styled his hair a little more than usual, "you just uh - you look good." her cheeks slowly turned a gentle shade of pink beneath her makeup and her skin burned without the need for the abnormally warm weather outside.

"oh, thanks." he laughed awkwardly, "so do you."

"well thank you." she blushed - complimenting one another was definitely a new thing. they were so used to teasing one another, telling the other person that their hair was a mess even if it was not, or that the outfit was a bad choice and stupid insults which were always a joke anyways, "should we get going?" she swallowed harshly, grabbing her shoulder bag and phone.

wilbur quickly slid his phone out of his back pocket, fumbling it between his fingertips and nearly dropping it in the process. he only wanted to check the time. "yeah, uh - we should."

"you seem nervous." she said as they walked out of the front door, glancing back at him as she locked it, "you can't be nervous around me." hope snickered, shoving her keys into her bag as she followed his lead.

shaking his head at her, wilbur refused to be accused of being nervous, "i'm not, it's just different. this is an actual date."