[DISCONTINUED] string bean pt. 2 | wilbur soot

I raised my hand to knock on the door, but before I could, it opened and I was met with a familiar face- well, a familiar chest, that is. All of the Lunch Club is too tall for their own good. Except for me, of course.

"Noah said you might be coming over," he said. Carson looked at the packed duffle bag I held in my hands. "I'm guessing they finally told you about the whole moving situation..."

He moved to the side to let me into the house. I nodded my head, plopping myself onto the couch. "You already knew and didn't tell me," I asked, though it came out more like a statement rather than a question.

Carson sighed, sitting next to me. "Yeah, I did. Cooper and Travis don't though. Noah, Elena, and I just wanted to make sure you'd have a place to stay when it happened. I'd personally love it if you stayed here-"

I interrupted him. "Well, that's good because I'm gonna have to. I have nowhere else to go. No money. No actual job."

He let out a small frown as he thought of what to say next, but before he could, my second-favorite curly, brown-haired guy walked in (Wilbur would be the first favorite, obviously). "Vee! You're back! Hi!" Travis smiled brightly, walking over quickly to give me a huge bear hug. I chuckled, returning the hug. No one could ever be upset around Travis; it was nearly impossible. He lit up a room with his positive energy. "How are you?" he asked, pulling away to look at me but keeping his hands on my shoulders.

I gave him a shrug. If he didn't know about the situation, surely, he'd find out soon. I lied, "I'm good. Thank you fo-"

Travis spotted the packed bag in my hands, his eyes lighting up. "Are you staying here?!" he asked excitedly. I nodded, opening my mouth to speak, but he wouldn't let me. "Oh my, oh my, oh my! Let's go! For how long?"

"Um," I thought for a moment. "I have no idea."

"Well, you think about it and tell me because I wanna spend time with you. Hold on, did you bring your Switch?"

"I did, actually-"

"Let me go grab mine and we can play Animal Crossing," he smiled, moving like a freight train towards the stairs to his room. As I heard him go up, I also heard him shout: "COOPER! VEE IS HERE!"

My body suddenly recoiled at the thought of seeing Cooper. We'd never really gotten fully back to normal after the whole 'Vee, leave Wilbur because I love you' thing. I looked over at Carson. I'd ask him every-so-often on how Cooper was handling the situation. I'd ask Travis, but you never know 

"Has he... gotten over it yet?" I asked under my breath, just in case Cooper walked in.

Carson puffed his cheeks out, letting out a sigh. "To be completely honest, I don't know. He's in the middle of the five stages of grief currently. Right now, I think he's at either bargaining or depression. Or both," he shrugged, getting up and walking into the kitchen.

I nodded slowly, fiddling my thumbs in my lap while I waited for Travis to come back. When I heard footsteps coming down the stairs, I turned. I was guessing it was Trav, but-

"Hey," he said, giving an awkward smile. Cooper spoke quietly as if he were trying to not wake a sleeping child. I smiled back at him, giving a small wave. He shoved his hands into the pockets of his sweatpants and walked over to me. "Uh, how are you? How've you been?"

"I've been doing alright," I answered. "And you?"

He let out a chuckle. "I've been high as fuck. For months now. I gotta stop, honestly. It's not even worth it anymore-"

"I didn't ask about how sober you are. I asked how you've been doing."

Cooper's face fell a little. "Uh, pretty bad. But I'm fine, y'know? Like, I'm pushing through and shit so..."

I gave him a small smile. "So that's good. I'm proud of you, Coop."

"Thanks," he smiled. A real smile. He looked at the seat on the couch next to me. "Can I sit here? Or is that weird?"

I shook my head, chuckling. "It's not weird unless you make it weird," I joked. "I don't know how much longer I'll be sitting here, though. Travis wants to play Animal Crossing with me."

He scoffed, rolling his eyes as he sat down where Carson was just moments ago. "I have Animal Crossing, too, y'know. I'm just as cool as he is."

"Excuse me, but I heard that and there is no way!" Travis shouted as he descended down the stairs.

I laughed; all of the nerves leaving me in that instant. Maybe living here wouldn't be too bad.

a / n  -  i cannot tell you how much my head hurts rn. spoiler: it's a hell of a lot send help please. also give me pogs please bc i'm really proud of myself for something that's personal so i'm not sharing here but it'd be cool if we could get pogs pretty please