My Cup of Tea (snowbaz)

Chapter Five

Simon spent all day trying to find Baz on social media. He searched for him when he was in class and when he was on the tube home. He couldn't find anything, of course, because he hadn't gotten Baz's last name. And Baz, he figured, was some kind of nickname so it didn't bring up any promising results. When he finally got home at the end of the day, he was exhausted and annoyed. He wondered why Baz hadn't called yet. He wondered why he cared so much. 

Penny was waiting for him when he got home. She sprang to her feet and offered him a hug and a cup of tea. He took both gladly and sat down on the sofa.  He noticed another cup of tea on the table, still steaming, and knew that they had company. He wasn't sure if he could handle dealing with someone right now. Unless it was Baz. Simon frowned, annoyed at himself for overthinking this. 

"Agatha," Penny said, noticing Simon's annoyed looks at the cup on the table. 

This was the last thing that Simon needed today. Agatha was a girl from his past, an old crush, who had taken a liking to Penny. Penny and Agatha became close friends. It was always hard for Simon to be around her, especially recently. He had gotten over his crush, for the most part, and knew that dating her wouldn't make him happy. She knew about his crush and decided that now was the perfect time to start showing an interest in him, especially when she was lonely. He had countless texts on his phone about how she wanted to talk and how she wanted to hear about his day. He didn't really see the point--she was in two of his classes. She knew perfectly well that he felt dumb and useless most of the time. 

"Crap," Simon said. "I can't deal with this right now. Pretend I'm not here, okay?" He started to get up, hoping to escape to his room for the remainder of the evening, when Agatha stepped out of the bathroom. 

Her blonde hair was flowing down her back and Simon couldn't bring himself to look away. Even though he knew nothing good could come out of pursuing her, he couldn't help but gawk at her beauty. She was so perfect, almost too perfect if he was being honest, and he couldn't help but admit that he wanted her. He wanted to be the person that put the smile on her face, the one who she held most dear, the one that made her already perfect life just a little bit better.

"Simon, hey," she smiled as she sat down. Simon followed, collapsing back on the couch. 

He checked his phone. 

Nothing.

"How are you?" he asked, trying to be polite. 

"Good, good. I was really happy we got our papers back today. I thought I might have failed but I got top marks."

Simon wanted her to disappear. He knew what was coming. 

"How did you do?"

Now Simon wanted to disappear. 

"I'm sure he did well," Penny said. "He worked really hard on that one."

Simon nodded. He didn't want to say anything. 

He noticed that they were both looking at him. 

"What?"

"What did you get?"

"A C+," Simon sighed. He took a sip of his tea, hoping that the awkwardness would somehow go away if he looked at his tea for a long time. 

"Aw, it's okay. I can help you next time if you want. I know what professors want, you know?"

"That's true, Simon. Agatha has always gotten top marks," Penny chimed.

"Yeah, I know. I just--"

His phone buzzed in his pocket. His heart started racing as he pulled it out of his pocket. He saw that he was getting a call from a number he didn't recognize. He knew what that meant. 

"I have to take this," he said as he got up from the couch, bringing his tea with him. 

"Oh, is it that the girl from work?"

He nodded and scurried off into his room without another word. 

Agatha looked to Penny for a hint of what was going on, obviously upset at the mere thought of Simon talking to some other girl. 

"Girl from work? What girl?"

"I don't know. Simon seems to really like her, though."

"Oh, good for him," Agatha sighed, taking a sip of tea. She tried not to let her face show her contempt for this other woman that was stealing Simon's attention away from her.