The Tea Shop [mxm]

X: Angus, Grumpiest of All

Elliot wasn’t sure he wanted to go back to the tea shop. On the third day after the incident he was still lying in bed, buried under a heap of blankets with close to ten tea cups filling his nightstand. Whenever he was feeling down he drank tea - obsessively. His cupboard was at this point completely empty, and the ones that didn’t occupy the nightstand were in the dishwasher. All but the one he was clutching desperately in his hands.

      Abigail was currently sitting at the foot of the bed, cross-legged and pouting.

      ”Come on, Elliot, you can’t stay here forever! I know you want to come back; don’t you miss being in the kitchen, surrounded by the wonderful smell of freshly baked cupcakes just waiting to be frosted?” Abigail tried her hardest to persuade Elliot into going back to the shop. She knew that her big hazel eyes and that pout would definitely convince him.

      Elliot refused to look at her, instead he focused solely on the cup in his hands. He swirled the tea around, as one would do with a fine glass of wine. As far as Elliot was concerned, tea was way better. And less expensive; one didn’t get far with the salary of a baker.

      As Elliot sat quiet, Abigail crept closer.

      ”Come on, Elliot. Pretty please?” She didn’t let the pout leave her face - Elliot knew that without having to look at her. He had known her long enough to tell such things.

      Elliot still refused to look at her, though. Instead, he looked at Angus, spread out by his side.

      ’Help me,’ Elliot mouthed at him, but in true cat-fashion, he merely closed his eyes and turned his head. Elliot was about to give up. Not even his bestest friend in the whole world cared enough to help him, then he truly had no other choice. Reluctantly, he lifted his head. Abigail was indeed looking straight at him with her puppy eyes.

      ”Fine,” he grumbled, but made no move to get out of bed. The days since the incident had been exhausting, and Elliot truly wasn’t ready to go back. He wasn’t over what had happened. He still felt the anxiousness twist his guts whenever he thought about it, and the panicky feeling and self.loathing was still there. He’d simply managed to suppress it enough to hide it from Abigail’s intrusive gaze.

      ”I knew that would work!” she exclaimed triumphantly. But soon her expression softened, and she placed her hand on Elliot’s arm. ”I know you don’t bounce back this quickly after an episode like that,” she said. ”But I really don’t want to leave you alone with your thoughts like last time. I think that’s what made it even worse. I trusted you when you said you’d be fine alone, when you obviously wasn’t. This time I want you close,” Abigail concluded, and Elliot knew she was right.

      Two years ago they didn’t know each other as well as they do now, because it was the tragedy that brought them closer together. At that time she couldn’t read him as well, and he managed to convince her he was fine. But being left alone made everything worse, and the voiced in his head echoed louder and louder in his head, intensified with every passing moment.

      This time Abigail didn’t leave his thoughts alone for more than half an hour, as she constantly texted and called and checked up on Elliot. She didn’t let him fall into the bottomless pit of despair, as last time.

      ”You know, Abby, I really appreciate you being here. You help, a lot, even though I don’t want to talk about what happened. You don’t push me to tell you all the details, and you don’t try to analyze my every word like that stupid therapist. Without you I would be in the exact same spot now as last time.” Elliot was truly grateful, and he couldn’t help but get teary eyed when thinking about everything Abigail had done for him.