Not a Fan (Wilbur Soot)

Feelings

"Guess we're getting a sneak peak of tomorrow's studio session." Wilbur heard Tommy joke to Toby downstairs. He didn't even mind- because he was right. Wilbur wanted to scream the song from the top of his lungs as soon as he could.

Wilbur was thankful the rest of the night went by quickly and quietly. Both boys were already sleeping on the couch, the TV barely audible, by the time Wilbur ventured down to find food just after one in the morning. He tucked away the random lyrics scribbled onto a note into his wallet. 

Wilbur brought his snacks upstairs with him, eating them quickly before climbing into his bed, begrudgingly setting his alarm for 8am. 

A series of loud beeping and vibrations woke Wilbur from his dreams. He was surprised Rori hadn't ventured into them. The only difference was when he took a drag of his cigarette in his dream, the smoke he blew out was the same green as in the painting. 

Wilbur silenced the alarm, shocked to look over his railing to see both younger boys already awake, silently scrolling their phones from opposite sides of the couch.

"What are you guys even doing awake already?" Wilbur's voice was hoarse, his vocal chords still a bit strained from his hours of singing the night before. 

"Morning." Toby answered, his voice still groggy like he had just woken up.

"Tubs had a bad dream, woke me up like 20 minutes ago." Tommy answered, throwing a pillow in Toby's direction. 

"We need to be out of here by nine if we're going to make it to the studio on time, I'm going to hop in the shower now." Wilbur responded, already shutting the bathroom door behind him. 

After nearly an hour of rotating turns in the bathroom, constantly hushing each other, and three cups of tea, the boys were ready to head out. 

"Can we get take away for the drive?" Toby asked, following behind Tommy and Wilbur to the door. 

"If we have time." Wilbur answered, looking down to his phone, 9:05am. 

Wilbur swung open the door, ready to hurry in order to fulfill Toby's request, only to be halted by Rori standing outside, her eyes opened wide with her arm still hanging in the air like she was about to knock. 

She was wearing the same pajamas as the night before when he was in her apartment. Her hair was normally down, hugging around her sides. It was in a bun today, allowing him to get an unobstructed view of her. Even though the morning had just begun for the boys, she looked like she had been awake for hours, not a hint of darkness under eyes. The sunrise beamed in between the clouds, mixing with the warm toned lights of the hallway, illuminating her a golden glow. She looked incredible. Breathtaking. Perfect.

She looked like what  he wished he could wake up to every morning.

"Um, good morning." She spoke faintly, lowering her hand to her side after their moment of prolonged eye contact. 

"Good morning." Wilbur answered, a smile on his tired face rising as he heard the voice he had been singing about all night. Wilbur suddenly realized that her knocking on his door when all three boys were home could only mean one thing- they must've woken her up. He looked over his shoulder at a still half asleep Toby and a confused Tommy before turning back to her. "Were we too loud?" Wilbur asked, worry heavy in his tone as his smile slowly fell.

"No! No, not at all. I actually didn't even think you guys were awake yet. I just wanted to, um." Her voice faltered as she shifted her weight between her feet, looking away from the group. Wilbur noticed the heat rising to her face as she sighed, continuing. "I just wanted to bring you guys these, for breakfast or whatever." Presented before him was a bag of pastries, a note attached.