## 𝐇𝐄𝐘 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑 !

O9

A moment of silence hung in the room for a moment before Cynthia spoke up. "Even if it were true, Tom, I doubt he'd want to date me. Also, it's your friend. Isn't that a little weird?"

Wilbur stopped by the door, feeling a small tug of guilt in his gut while listening to Cynthia's conversation with, who seemed to be, Tommy.

Another moment of silence passed and Cynthia chuckled. "Yeah, right. You'd just use our relationship for that golden content, wouldn't you?"

Wilbur's mind spun; dating, friend, relationship.

What was she on about?

He shook his head, clearing his thoughts, and knocked on the door frame, peeking into the room and holding out the water bottle. "I've got your water," Wilbur said, fully stepping into the room and going over to Cynthia to hand her the bottle.

Cynthia thanked him and took the bottle, holding out her phone. "Tom's on the line. Do you wanna talk to him?"

Wilbur shrugged, "Alright."

"Put it on speaker," she said before taking a sip of water.

"—hia?" Tommy was saying. "What are you—"

"Hey, kiddo," Wilbur said into the phone. "How're you doing?"

"Will! Big Dubs! Hey!" He said, enthusiastically. Then Tommy's voice dropped, sounding like he was leaning into the phone. "You're not secretly dating my sister, are you?"

Wilbur's cheeks flushed and he suddenly understood the earlier conversation he overheard.

He cleared his throat and shook his head. "Nope. Still very single, Big Man."

A relieved chuckle came from Tommy. "'Course you're not together. But you—" Tommy hesitated then fell silent. "Nevermind," he said quickly. "I've got to edit a video so I'll talk to you later, I guess. Where's Cynthia? I want her back."

Cynthia smiled lightly and held her hand out, setting the water bottle on the bedside table. Wilbur reluctantly handed her back the iPhone and leaned against the wall in front of her. "Right here, Toms," she said, "no worries. Have fun editing."

"Mhm," he hummed and said, "see you later," before ending the phone call.

Cynthia set her phone down on the nightstand and looked up at Wilbur, catching a small smile on his face. "What are you smiling about, Soot?"

He laughed and waved a hand. "Soot? Really?" Wilbur asked, an amused look on his face. "I'll start calling you Simons, if that's the case."

She looked at him with disgust. "Cynthia Soot," Cynthia said out of the blue. "Kind of a nice ring to it, right?"

Wilbur snorted and shrugged. "Doesn't that count as a ship name? Y'know," he glanced sideways, "if we were dating."

"Or," Cynthia added into the still silence, "what the fans said."

"Right," he nodded, "that too."

Cynthia glanced at the clock above the headboard, seeing that it was half six. "I'm gonna edit a video," Wilbur said suddenly. "You can hang out with me, if you want. I'll be in my room—just next to your's."

She nodded. "Alright," Cynthia said, "have fun, Soot."

Wilbur started exiting the room and turned, rolling his eyes. "Okay, Simons."

!

IT WAS AROUND midnight and Cynthia couldn't sleep. She stared at the ceiling blankly, awkwardly tapping her thigh. Cynthia accepted the fact that she wasn't going to catch much sleep, so she got up and threw the blanket to the side.