recreational idiocy | wilbur soot

𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐧𝐞

 𝐢𝐟 𝐢𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐲, 𝐦𝐢𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐞𝐥 𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐚 𝐩𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐧

𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐛𝐮𝐫

"just get away from me!" via says so lowly that i can barely make out the words, especially from outside her flat. "haven't you done enough?"

"i meant what i said, liv! i'll always wait for you. he's not going to be here for you forever! how well do you even know him?" he shouts back, sounding as though he was trying hard to keep his voice controlled.

they'd started arguing the second carter started talking about his love for via, and how they never should have broken up, and he was so sorry, and would she just give him a chance?

he'd come through the door at nearly one in the morning, pissed up and punch-drunk and tripping over himself, his dress shirt wrinkled and buttoned up the wrong way.

apparently he'd heard about via and i announcing our relationship, and you can figure how he reacted from there. i'd almost forgotten carter existed- he was the one person i didn't expect to take the news so harshly.

via told me to wait outside while she started in on carter, listing all the reasons that he was an absolute pig for using their friendship against her in an attempt to get back together as i strained to hear through the thin walls.

"i know him better than i know you, don't you think? he keeps his promises, and he isn't a complete tosser, unlike you" she spits out, venom dripping from her every word. 

truthfully i'm beginning to get a bit uncomfortable at my inability to do anything about this whole situation, but that never ends well in the films and i don't want to make it seem like i think she can't handle herself.

after some more muffled quarreling, followed by some much louder  arguing, i hear a thud- then glass shattering. there's a short period of silence before carter yells, "what the fuck!" and i re-enter the flat.

via's sat on the floor her head in her hands, her shirt rumpled, whilst carter stands at the other end of the room. there's a very small porcelain vase laying smashed at his feet, and blood running down the torn arm of his dress shirt. 

"im sorry! i meant to hit the wall- i dunno why i.." she trails off, staring at the vase.

"alright, let's go," i say, leading him from the room, "i have a feeling she'll do much worse if you stay in her line of fire." he's so disoriented that he doesn't bother objecting, and via doesn't move. 

-

"jesus fuck," he hisses, cringing away from the washcloth i've pressed to his arm. 

"don't be a twat. sit still before it gets infected," i reply, holding his arm in place. he obliges, albeit grudgingly. i haven't decided yet if it was a mistake bringing him to my place, and i hope he doesn't give me reason to think it was. 

I finish cleansing the wound and dry it before wrapping his arm in gauze, and i grab a shirt for him to borrow, since his is ruined.

"did you think it would change anything?" i ask once i've got enough coffee in him to sober him up. we're sat at my kitchen table with a bowl of crisps and the entire coffee pot sat between us, along with two mugs. 

"not really, no." he answers with a sigh. 

"so why then? why bother with it at all?" i question, wondering how someone could be sure of an unsatisfactory outcome and still give it a try regardless.

"i'm not exactly sure, if i'm being completely honest. it was a daft thing to do," he says, taking up his mug and draining half the contents. 

looking at him now, i can tell that carter's not a bad guy. bit of a prick yeah, but he's got good intentions. he loves her too, that much i know. 

"is she happy with you, d'you think?" he asks quietly, staring down at the table. 

"god i hope so," i respond truthfully. i can't say for sure, but i think she is. i've been spending more time at her flat than at my own place, and we stream together every week. my friends love her, too.

"i'm leaving for the states next week. i was going to ask if she'd come with me. it's a stupid idea, but i just thought that maybe.." he trails off, "anyway, just tell her i went, will you?" he finishes, sounding as tough trying to keep it together.

"sure i will. but maybe call her this time, yeah? she'd want to hear from you at least." i answer. he nods and gets up from the table, and i call him a taxi and lead him to the door, where we wait for it together.

"i just want her to be happy," he says earnestly. "just make her happy, okay?" 

"of course, that's all i want to do. we aren't so different in that respect" i say honestly. "right. well cheers, mate." he says by way of thanks when his taxi arrives, and with a last look at me, he's gone. 

-

when i reenter via's flat, it's even emptier than usual. in the few hours that i was gone, she seems to have packed up quite a bit of her admittedly meager belongings and cleaned up the sitting room, leaving no trace of the argument.

"alright, v?" i call out, walking through the room and towards the bedroom. 

"has he gone?" she asks, putting a box of her belongings away into her closet. she seems to have amassed a few of these boxes in this space even before today without even attracting my notice.

"he has. he'll be going back to the states soon," i respond, sitting on the edge of the bed. "it's nearly three in the morning- why've you packed all your things?" 

she closes the closet door and takes her place beside me, resting her head on my shoulder. "i couldn't sleep. anyway, i'm moving to a different flat soon. one with more sunlight and a bigger kitchen."

that makes sense, considering what a struggle it was to cook anything in her current one. and more sunlight would certainly be beneficial to the plants she's begun to collect.

"do you want to talk about what happened?" i ask.

she shakes her head. "not just yet. i've got something else i wanted to bring up to you if that's okay." 

"yeah, of course." i respond curiously. "what is it?"

"i want you to move in with me, wil. i've thought it all out- we'll have a streaming room and plenty of space for each of us. we've been going out a while and seeing as you spend so much time here anyway.. "

for a moment i'm too stunned to speak, but once i regain control of myself, the answer comes easily. "yes. yesyesyes. when?"

"we could go as early as next saturday, if you wanted. most of my things are packed up, and i could help get yours together." she answers, grinning as i kiss the side of her neck and her cheek happily.

"right now?" i ask eagerly. 

she laughs, shaking her head. "sure, beanpole. anything you want."