shiver | wilbur soot

16

wilbur's fingertips combed through the ends of hope's hair when he had noticed she had fallen asleep on him. this had never happened before, she was sober and fast asleep on him. it was surprising, but as he listened closely to her deep breaths, part of him thought that it was something he could get used to more often - yet, he desperately wanted someone to kick those thoughts out of him. hope was is best friend, she had been for two years and always will be, he could not allow himself to even think that he was falling.

a couple of soft knocks were placed on wilbur's bedroom door, causing him to huff and quietly shout, "come in."

"i just wanted to - oh." jack walked into the room, instantly spotting hope fast asleep on wilbur, "i was just gonna ask how you both are, but it's clearly obvious." he laughed.

"she's alright." wilbur hummed, leaning his head back down to glance at her, she looked so peaceful, "she never usually gets that drunk, she has a massive fear of being sick so it was surprising to see her like that."

"think she got a bit carried away, doing shots of vodka with me on the beach at like twelve in the morning." jack chuckled, "i'm guessing she was sick."

"yeah, it wasn't great." wilbur nodded and looked back up at jack, realising he had been staring at hope that whole time and his cheeks burned, "what time is yours and george's train?"

"not for a few hours yet. just wanted to check on you both, i don't feel too great myself." jack huffed, wiping both hands down his face.

"oh, well i'll get up and chill with you guys for a bit." wilbur began shuffling, attempting to lift hope's heavy head from his chest.

jack instantly stopped him, shaking his head, "no, no. don't wake her up, it's fine."

"what? are you sure?"

"yeah, wait til she wakes up. anyways, me and gogy are chilling." a cheeky grin plastered itself across jack's lips, finding himself hilarious as he called george by his nickname. wilbur lightly chuckled at jack's words, watching as he left the bedroom and shuffled his body deeper into the cushions, nearly falling into slumber himself simply because of how serene and somewhat perfect everything felt, even with an awful hangover.

hope finally awoke and although her head was still pounding, the sensation in her stomach began to ease and she felt much less fragile than she did earlier. shuffling around, she realised that the weight of her body was on wilbur, whilst he sat quietly watching a youtube video on his phone, "oh, fuck. sorry, i fell asleep on you." she lifted her neck which was stiff.

"it's fine." wilbur smiled softly, turning off the video, "don't worry about it, how you feeling?"

"i feel a bit better, you should've woke me up." she stretched out her body, a couple of the bones in her body clicking as she turned to face him, "or you should've pushed my body off of yours." she smirked, tucking both hands under the pillow beneath her head.

"honestly, it's fine." he smiled, turning his head to face her, "it was actually pretty comfy."

"what time is it?" she furrowed her eyebrows, "are jack and george still here?"

wilbur nodded his head, "think their train is in a couple of hours."

"oh, fuck." her eyes widened, "i should really see them and apologise for the state i was in last night." hope laughed awkwardly, instantly embarrassed at how she probably behaved the night before.

"honestly, you weren't too bad, you were just really drunk and i had to more or less carry you to bed, but other than that it was okay." wilbur reassured her.

letting out a sigh of relief, she ran her tongue over her teeth and instantly pulled a face of disgust, "do you have a spare toothbrush?"

"yeah, bathroom cupboard." he snickered softly, gazing at hope slowly pull her body from beneath the covers. air hit him and the space beside him was no longer weighed down, which sent a shiver down his spine at the lack of her presence as she shuffled towards the bathroom. when she emerged from the bathroom, her hair was thrown up into a ponytail, she had managed to wipe away the excess mascara from beneath her eyes and she smelt like him after using his deodorant. for some bizarre reason, wilbur was in awe at her as stood still in his t-shirt which managed to drown her.

after wilbur made himself look more presentable, they left his bedroom and made their way to his living room where george and jack sat laughing in unison at the tv, "she's alive!" george chuckled, turning to look at hope.

"yeah," she laughed shyly, seating herself beside jack whilst wilbur went into the kitchen, "apologies for getting so drunk last night guys, i'm not usually like that." trudging back into the room, wilbur handed hope a fresh, cold glass of water to which she offered him an appreciative smile.

"don't be sorry," jack laughed, "it was a laugh, i had a good night."

george nodded his head in agreement, "yeah, it was fun, don't worry." he grinned.

the four of them sat for a while longer, chilling and blabbering nonsense to one another whilst also trying to deal with their hangover's, including george who did not drink anywhere near as much as the other three did. jack even mentioned that the night before was the first time he had drank vodka, making hope feel guilty for chugging the spirit on the beach with him, but he reassured her that it was funny and he was okay with it.

wilbur and hope both walked george and jack to brighton train station, "thanks for a good night guys." jack grinned, turning to george to wait for him to say his goodbye so they could walk through the barriers.

"yeah, it was great." george smiled, hugging hope before finally setting off with jack to the barriers.

"fucking hell," hope sighed, looking up at wilbur with tired eyes, "i can't wait to sleep." wilbur laughed quietly, throwing his arm over hope's shoulder as they made their way out of the station. leaning her body into his embrace, hope practically pushed all her weight into him, instantly feeling weak from the short walk. once they made it to where they typically separate to make their own ways home, hope instantly wrapped her arms around wilbur's torso, "thank you." she mumbled.

"thank you for what?" he huffed out a laugh, rubbing small circles on her back as her body pressed tightly against his which radiated so much warmth and comfort.

"for last night," she lifted her chin up to gaze at him, "you looked after me, i appreciate it."

wilbur offered an affectionate smile and simply shrugged his shoulders, "that's what best friends do for each other."

"yeah," she said quietly, slowly peeling herself from his body, "best friends."