"Let's sit here, there's a great view out the window," Penny suggested, and Agatha nodded, setting her food onto the table.
I could care less about the view, Simon thought, as he practically fell into the rickety metal chair and sighed in content as his pained feet started to regain feeling.
He, Penny and Agatha had arrived at the mall two hours ago, and so far, he'd found nothing he wanted except a new pair of socks, with little flamingos sewn into them. The mall had sounded fun earlier, but now all Simon could think about was returning home and doing something fun, like filming a new video.
At least Penny and Agatha seem to be having fun, Simon thought, watching them talk while sipping his cherry coke.
The two girls had accumulated more bags than they could carry, full of new clothes and some kind of fancy makeup for Agatha and new shoes for Penny.
Too bad they're not interested in YouTube, Simon thought. They could make a great haul video with all that stuff.
Simon tuned back into the conversation, realizing that if he was quiet for too long, they might think something was wrong.
"I'm just saying, he looked too much like a vampire for my taste," Penny was saying around a bite of chicken sandwich.
"He might have looked a bit like a vampire, yes, but he definitely made it work," Agatha replied. "You can't tell me he wasn't even a little bit hot."
"Who?" Simon asked.
They ignored him.
"He wasn't! Not unless you like pale skin and under-eye bags!" Penny retorted.
"Honestly, Penny, no wonder you need glasses. You're blind."
Penny glared, but the conversation stopped, so Simon tried again, tentatively.
"Who looks like a vampire?"
"The barista at Starbucks today. The hot barista who did not have under-eye bags and did not look like a vampire," Agatha answered, with a pointed glare in Penny's direction. Penny harrumphed but didn't reply.
"Oh," Simon said, not sure what to say. "Did you guys catch his name? We could look him up and then I could see," he suggested.
"I didn't catch his name," said Penny, after thinking it over for a moment. "I was too busy texting you."
"I did," said Agatha. "But all his nametag said was 'Baz.' No last name."
"What kind of name is Baz?" Simon mused, pulling out his phone and opening safari. He typed in, 'Baz' and looked at the suggestions. All about Baz Luhrmann. Okay, so that probably wasn't it. He typed in 'Baz starbucks Austin.'
A wiki-page popped up, for a guy with about the same number of subscribers as him, who made videos at work and, yeah, totally looked like a vampire.
"Sorry, Ags, I'm with Penny. That guy looks like he's about to suck somebody's blood."
"Seriously, neither of you think he's hot?"
"I didn't say he wasn't hot, I'm just saying he looks like Snape and Dracula's semi-attractive love child," Simon said, laughing, and even Agatha had to giggle.
"You guys are the worst," she said, smiling.
"We know," Simon and Penny said simultaneously, before looking at each other in surprise and beginning to laugh all over again.
Baz was pretty much in love.
It'd been three days since he'd discovered Simon Snow, and it'd been three days since he'd watched anything except his channel.
Editing his latest video had been complete hell, because all he'd wanted to do was finish and get back to the tab in his browser that was now permanently open to 'TheSnowShow'. Baz had a problem, he knew it, and yet he couldn't tear himself away.
Baz clicked on a new thumbnail, titled, "Truth or Dare! With: the Penn-ster!"
Apparently, gaming videos aren't the only things Simon does, Baz thought, as the video loaded and Simon started talking.
"Hey, everyone! A lot of you guys have been asking on Twitter for me to do something that's not gaming, so here it is! My lovely assistant, Penny, or the Penn-ster, as I like to call her-" He gestures and Glasses from Starbucks comes onscreen, glaring. "-Will read me some questions and dares from you guys! And maybe at the end she'll do some, too, stick around and find out!" Simon says with a wink, ignoring Penny's protests and requests not be referenced as "the Penn-ster".
Baz watched the whole thing, smiling at how cute their friendship was. He wondered if the blonde one from Starbucks was just as close to them.
Baz pulled out his phone and opened the Twitter app. He typed in, "Simon Snow", and found the right account. (It was tough, as Simon wasn't verified, but Baz decided that that many terrible nicknames could only be created by one person.)
Baz followed, but didn't tweet at him. He didn't even know what he would say if he did want to start a conversation. Baz sighed as he looked at the clock. He should have left for his shift a few minutes ago. Luckily, he lived right around the corner, but he still should have been paying attention.
(Though, it wasn't his fault really, that Snow was so attractive. If anyone were to blame, it'd be him.)
Back at home, Penny, Agatha, and Simon were on the couch, sitting in silence. It was a comfortable silence, however; Penny reading, the other two on their phones.
Simon was bored; none of his favorite YouTubers had released any new videos, and he didn't feel like doing anything except watching today… Maybe he should expand his tastes.
He scolled though the 'Trending' page on YouTube, not seeing anything that really interested him, when he remembered Mr. Vampire. What was his name again? Simon couldn't remember.
He went to his search history and found the guy- Basilton Pitch, StarBucks vlogger.
On his YouTube channel, his videos were mostly Q&A's. Simon picked one randomly, not particularly impressed. Q&A's didn't take nearly as much skill as the high-caliber gaming videos made by a seasoned YouTuber such as himself. Simon snorted at his own thoughts as the video loaded.
It starts off with a bored, vampiric guy scrolling through his phone, when he stops momentarily to purse his lips and look into the camera disappointedly.
"Magicath wants to know if I'm allergic to garlic. Guys, I've already covered this. Twice. You've gotta stop asking."
Simon cracks a smile as the video cuts to Baz's intro. Maybe he was gonna like this guy after all.