My Cup of Tea (snowbaz)

Chapter Twenty

Simon Snow was starting to pull Baz's focus away from things like studying. Like functioning. He'd been with lots of guys, either as a one night stand or dating, but none of them compared to Simon. It was like his mind had been filled to the brim with Simon's laugh, smile, eyes, and every other bloody detail about him until there was no room left for anything else. Even when Baz sat in his office at Pitch Industries, he thought of Simon. The emails and the numbers he had to look at seemed so much less important than stalking Simon's Facebook page for the third time that day. 

He didn't seem to use it much these days, so most of the pictures were from over a year ago. There were a lot with Penny which made Baz smile, but then he saw the ones with the blonde girl. Those gave him a pang of jealousy, especially considering that they seemed to be holding hands in a majority of the pictures. Baz knew that Simon had a life before they met, that he had gone on dates and whatnot, but these pictures made his stomach sink. He never kept any of his pictures up if they were with someone he was no longer with. He found it a bit strange that Simon did. 

She might just be a friend, he told himself, clicking on a picture where the girl was kissing Simon's cheek. His cheeks flushed. Or not. He growled and closed the Facebook tab, trying to focus on those emails that needed tending to.

After a few minutes, a knock came at the door. 

"Enter," he said, straightening his tie and running his fingers through his hair to make sure that he looked presentable.

His father's secretary entered. She was a mousy woman with a pointy nose and thin, silver glasses that always hung too low on her face. She was around his age, he figured. Might've been a student in one of his classes. She stepped into the office and closed the door behind her. 

"Basilton," she said, looking around his sparse office for a moment. He'd never bothered to hang any pictures or put any plants around. Of course, thinking about plants made him think about Simon, so he had to push the thoughts out of his mind. He couldn't be Baz. Not now. 

He turned his full attention to the woman. 

"Your father wants to let you know that you have an important dinner tonight," she said.

Baz frowned and clicked on his calendar on his desktop. He shook his head. "I don't have anything on the calendar. In all honesty, he was planning on going to the movies with Simon tonight. It was going to be like their second official date and he could not have been more excited. 

"Your father arranged it," she said, handing him a piece of paper with information on it. "It's with Agatha Wellbelove, the heiress to the Wellbelove fortune. Your father wants you to talk to her about business opportunities."   

Baz couldn't hep but groan. "I do wish that my father would discuss these things with me first. I happen to have plans tonight." He looked at the paper, glancing at the useless factoids that someone had written down. 

"Good luck trying to tell him that," the secretary laughed. 

Baz knew that she was right and that arguing would simply be a waste of time, but he was still pissed off. He also didn't know why his father wouldn't just go to dinner with Mr. Wellbelove. They were friendly enough, both being important members of their society. Baz hadn't even seen Agatha since they were young at one function or another. It would be completely awkward to have dinner with her. 

"Leave me," Baz said with a dismissive wave. The secretary bowed her head and left him alone in his office. He checked the sheet for time and place for this meeting. It was in two hours at some upscale restaurant he'd been to once with his parents.

He picked up his phone and dialed up Simon's number. He wasn't sure if Simon would still be at work or maybe in class, but he would prefer to tell him on a call instead of text. Texting was not his strong suit. 

Simon picked up on the third ring. "Baz?" he said, his voice excited. 

Something crashed in the background.

Baz couldn't help but smile. "Crowley, Snow, whatever are you doing?"

"I'm just--" Simon paused. There was some sort of shuffling noise. "I'm just cooking dinner for us. Or trying to, anyway." 

Baz's smile disappeared. "About that..."

"I hope you like chicken," Simon said. "It's about all I know how to make. Well, that and scones. I just figured it'd be nice to eat here before we go to the movies. Or, ya know, we could just watch one here. Penny's going to be out with her boyfriend all night anyway so--"

"Simon." 

Simon stopped rambling. 

"I can't make dinner tonight."

"Oh." 

Baz deflated into his seat, feeling bad for making Simon sad. He never wanted to hear that disappointment again. "My father arranged some business dinner for me tonight. I can come round after, though. If that's all right, of course."

He could hear Simon smile over the phone. "O--of course! I'll just... I'll just put the extras in the fridge for Penny, I s'pose. What time do you think you'll be over?"

"I'll text you when dinner's winding down. Shouldn't take long, anyway. It's strictly business." A wicked grin flashed over his face. "And you, Snow, are strictly pleasure."