Neighbour

14.

Brett was very quiet the whole lunch. Mike kept a conversation going and Eddy answered politely despite some of the jokes that seemed to be kind of putting Brett down. It was obvious from his face that Brett didn't want him to comment on it, but Eddy honestly just wanted to punch the guy the whole time. 

Mike decided to walk with them back to the rehearsal too, and arm lying heavily around Brett's shoulders the whole way. Eddy tried to strike up some conversation with his new friend, but Mike just talked over Brett's answers every time so he gave up. 

"I'll see you at home, slut," Mike said in an obviously joking tone before pulling Brett into a sloppy kiss that the smaller of the two seemed to accept more than enjoy. Then he slapped Brett's ass, drawing out a whimper from him, before walking off. Eddy honestly wanted to punch the guy at that point, and even more so when Brett ran ahead of him inside with clearly red burning cheeks. 

Eddy stopped to talk to some of the other people on the way inside, grabbed himself a cookie from the pile the nice bass clarinetist had baked for everyone to enjoy and went to sit down by their desk with just a minute to spare before rehearsal started up again. Brett was not there, though. His violin and his bow rested in its case next to the chair, the music was still on the stand and the chair was empty. 

Five minutes in, Brett still hadn't shown up. Maybe he needed some extra time to gather himself? Eddy found he couldn't really concentrate properly with his desk mate missing. He grew more annoyed with Mike for clearly making Brett upset. How could the guy not realize how lucky he was to have such a precious man?

Fifteen minutes later, and the conductor had very obviously glared over at the empty seat. Stupid conductor. He was probably too young to realize that it was probably those kinds of looks that made it uncomfortable to not be at 100% constantly in rehearsal. Not that the old grumpy ones seemed any better. Eddy had seen enough video clips of those to know he preferred the glances over getting straight up told off in front of everyone. 

After an hour, Eddy figured Brett wouldn't be coming back to the rehearsal. At least he would have to come pick up his violin, though, and he was Eddy's ride home too. He would get the opportunity to ask how he was, so he managed through the rest of the rehearsal without worrying too much. 

"That's all for today, thank you. I'll see you for our last rehearsal tomorrow," the conductor said, stepping off the podium and walking off like he had somewhere better to be. Eddy didn't really like him much. Sure, the young Finnish guy had a lot of talent and knowledge, but he wasn't really appealing to Eddy. 

Eddy packed his violin slowly, wiping it off more thoroughly than he normally would, to see if Brett would come back after everyone else had left. He couldn't drag it out longer than until the last few woodwinds finished dragging their spit cloths through their instruments and left the rehearsal space. Where was he? 

"I guess I'll… I'll pack it for him," Eddy muttered to himself, putting his case next to Brett's and starting to carefully wipe off the instrument before strapping it into the case. He had seen how Brett had packed and unpacked the instrument with careful gentle hands. He knew how he liked it cleaned and packed. 

Brett had not come back by the time Eddy shut the locks either, so he stood for a second considering what to do. At this point everyone had left but him. 

"You staying long or can I start cleaning?" 

Eddy turned to see a teenage boy with colourful hair and a ring in his lip pushing a cleaning cart into the room. It pulled him out of his thoughts. 

"No, no, I'm just about to leave, no worries," Eddy said quickly, getting his own violin on his back and holding Brett's in his hand. Then he made a quick exit through the same door the teen had come in, giving him a small smile on the way out. Maybe Brett was in the car?