Portrait of Him | Wilbur Soot ✔️

Boy Problems ?

It's been exactly a week since Wilbur was at her house. Ever since then, there was radio silence. Val thought about texting him, but every time she typed in a message, it sounded too cheesy, too interested, too uninterested, too random, too specific, too blunt. And he didn't text her either. She kept on wondering if maybe she had done something wrong that she couldn't remember. But surely he wouldn't ghost her for that. He'd tell her, right?

"Boy problems?" Completely ripped out of her thoughts, Valerie remembered, that she was in a call with someone. After what felt like months, she thought it would be time to get into proper contact with her parents again.
"What no! Papa?!" How'd he even get that idea?
As if he's reading her mind, he got back at her. "Oh come on. I know you. Last time you acted like that, was when you had that terrible heart break in 10th grade. You didn't come out of your room for a week. So what happened?"
Was she really gonna talk about Wil with her dad. Did she have a choice? He wouldn't shut up about it if she tried to drop the topic, anyway.

"Arg... I met someone when I had freshly moved here. He was super kind and helped with with the flat. We were getting along well and now he hasn't texted me on a week. And I don't know if I did anything." There was a short silence on the other end but then he asked. "Have you asked him? Like have you tried talking about it?" Valerie knew he'd say that.
"...no." She heard a suppressed laughter.
"You can't expect him to do something that you can't do yourself, ma chérie. You have to give if you want to receive." She really couldn't argue on that with him. He wasn't entirely wrong, those just weren't the words she wanted to hear. So she said nothing. 

He sighed. "How about you meet other people? Having more than one friend in such a big city is more than necessary. You still remember Josh, right? I'm aware that it's been a long time since you last saw him, but he lives in Brighton now. I'll give him your number and you two get in contact. I'm sure he's gonna be happy to see you again." 

Josh. She didn't expect to hear of him ever again. When Valerie was younger, her family would go to England for the holydays and spent time with a befriended family. Josh was a year older and she always looked up to him. She didn't ever tell anyone but she used to have a secret crush on him. Never made a move of course. As a teenager, she didn't even dare to dream of a long distance relationship. 

And now she was supposed to text with him again. She was over him, but still. Something about it made her nervous.

"Ah... I mean yeah why not, I could try that." Then she heard something incoherent in the background of the call. It sounded like her mothers voice but she couldn't make out what words it were. Some hurried french words as if out of another room. 

"I have to go now, my dear. Your mother needs me. Call me whenever you need me. You know you can always count on me. Oh and one last thing!" Her dad said before hanging up. "I'm so proud of you. This was a big step and I don't know a lot of people who would have been as brave as you. We'll make sure to visit you in a few months, ok? Bye, take care!" A moment later he was gone. 

Valerie had no choice but to go on with her day. Doing laundry, getting groceries, cleaning the flat. Anything that would keep her from checking her phone. There it was on the living room table flipped with the case showing. There could be a new text any second and she didn't know which person could make her more nervous, Josh or Wilbur. Sometimes she just stood there starring at it waiting for the familiar beeping sound. But for the longest time, it didn't come.

It was only when she went to bed and had to set her alarm that a text popped up her screen.

Unknown number

Hello Cherry, it's been a while. Still remember me? ;)

Oh god. That name. He gave it to her the first time they met and afterwards she never heard her actual name out of his mouth. It's been eight years since they last talked. Eight long years and he still hasn't forgotten it. Her heart skipped a beat. 

She replied with a simply "Of course, how could I ever forget you?!" and they briefly got into catching up with each other. Josh showed a lot sympathy for her, when talking about the situation with her ex boyfriend. It still felt like a slap through the face but the face was beginning to be numb. 

Josh

So I'm going out this Saturday, you wanna come along? I know this insider-tip of a bar where we could go. Drinks on me!

Cherry

You know what? Yes! I'm so down. 

They agreed on a time and a place to meet and said good night. With a smile, she put her phone on the bedstand and fell asleep. 

Little did she know that if she had stayed online just a little longer, a certain brunette would have finally collected the courage to text her. His week had been packed but he wanted to spent more time with her and had planned something special. If only he wasn't such a coward. He was so close to sending her the message, but when the status "online" switched to "offline", he chickened out.