Pumpkin Mocha Breve

Part 10

Date; April 6

Another uneventful day at work. Baz didn't come in today. I hope he's okay... what am I thinking. He's fine. He didn't text me today either. I wanted him to. I wanted someone to talk to, and Penny was busy with schoolwork, and I no longer had Agatha to bother. Work was insufferable without Penny there. 

When I got home that night, I flopped down on the couch as usual, but for once I wasn't in the mood to watch Netflix. I was kind of getting tired of doing nothing, ironically. I turned on the tv anyway, for background noise, and switched on my phone. No new notifications. I almost turned off my phone when I got a text from Baz. I opened it a little too fast. 

'Can I call you?' is all it read. That's not what I was expecting. Was there something wrong after all? Didn't he have other friends to call? He barely knew me. I wouldn't turn him down though. He must be kind of desperate to turn to me at nine at night. 

'sure', I texted back. I got his call a few moments later. 

"Hello?" 

There was nothing on the line but heavy breathing for a few seconds. "Hello?" I said again. I heard him swallow. 

"Hi." His voice cracked, which seemed weird. It didn't seem like his voice was the kind to crack very much. I heard a sniff. Was he crying?"

"Baz? Are you ok?" 

He cleared his throat. "Ehh... no. Not really. I'm sorry." 

He definitely sounded like he was crying. 

"What's wrong?"

"I don't really want to get into it with you. I- I'd like to be friends, and I don't want to ruin this after like two days of knowing you."

"I mean, alright, but I'm always here if you want to talk to me. I don't care if you cry or rant or anything. It's fine."

"I-I'm not crying, Simon!" Baz retorted, obviously flustered, but Simon could hear the cracks in his voice and the lump in his throat. 

"Just saying that it's ok if you do. Ok? I'm here."

"...Ok." Baz paused and sniffed again. "Thank you. And thank you for letting me call you. It was comforting to hear your voice."

We paused. I didn't know what to say to that. For some reason, the silence wasn't awkward. It felt almost comfortable to sit on the phone with Baz, not even having to say anything. 

"Well, thanks, I guess." I heard him sigh on the other end. "Sorry for calling you out of nowhere. And thanks for picking up."

I leaned backward, resting my head on the back of my couch. "No problem."

"Bye. I guess. I should probably go."

"See ya-" I said, but I heard the click of Baz hanging up before I even finished talking. "Good night," I said to my empty room, tossing my phone on the floor. I dragged myself to bed, forcing my brain to get a good amount of sleep. My half-asleep thoughts were full, wondering why Baz had called me so suddenly.